First Impressions
Well, already I'm behind on my blogging. I've been here 4 days, and there is so much to talk about, I'm really not sure where to begin.
Right now I'm sitting in O'Leary's Irish pub, a popular destination for the ex-pat crowd on account of the familiar environment and free wireless internet. Other than the patio adorned with flowers and palm trees, it looks like any Irish pub at home - a well-worn bar with a wide selection of whiskey and Guiness taps (not working today), sturdy wooden furniture, cricket on the television, a clock that doesn't work. I'm told the Irish stew (2-for-1 on Mondays) is excellent.
Emily is back to work, so today I set out on my own with a modest goal: take public transportation to Nakawa, the site of one of Kampala's larger open-air markets, and buy a chain and padlock for my bike. Open-air markets like this one are where many Ugandans fulfill everyday needs - food, clothing, livestock, housewares, small appliances, hardware, and so on.
Shopping in the markets is an adjustment. Shops are tiny and selection at any given shop is limited. Yesterday I went to some 10 “hardware stores” in another, smaller market near our apartment looking for chain and found nothing suitable. Today, in Nakawa, I was fortunate to find a section of the right size and length after seeing a smaller piece hanging in the doorway of a shop. I was quite proud of myself until Emily asked me later if I had negotiated....I guess I could have saved a few dollars. Alas.
There are 2 worlds here. My first day here I had a BLT and a pretty decent latte for lunch, and we spent new year's eve with some of Emily's ex-pat friends at a bar full of white people and watched fireworks on television. Our apartment is one of 6 units in a peaceful, gated courtyard with trees, flowers, and a small grassy lawn. I can have a Guiness (if the taps work) at O'Leary's and buy chicken breasts at the ShopRite supermarket.
Or, I can buy a live chicken in Nakawa and have a lunch of chapati (Indian fried bread) or grilled goat or roasted corn from a tiny roadside stand. And right outside our tranquil apartment complex is a dirt road where children, goats, and dogs mingle between metal shacks and small piles of burning trash. To own a car here is a luxury - most rely on cramped public mini-buses, or a bicycle, or their own 2 feet.
It's possible to live in Kampala and largely avoid the scene right outside our gate - many foreigners, and indeed some Ugandans, do. I may tire of it all, maybe quickly, but right now I'm happy we don't have a car, happy we live on a dirt road, happy we buy vegetables from a roadside stand.
And happy we can afford to go to O'Leary's once in a while.
Right now I'm sitting in O'Leary's Irish pub, a popular destination for the ex-pat crowd on account of the familiar environment and free wireless internet. Other than the patio adorned with flowers and palm trees, it looks like any Irish pub at home - a well-worn bar with a wide selection of whiskey and Guiness taps (not working today), sturdy wooden furniture, cricket on the television, a clock that doesn't work. I'm told the Irish stew (2-for-1 on Mondays) is excellent.
Emily is back to work, so today I set out on my own with a modest goal: take public transportation to Nakawa, the site of one of Kampala's larger open-air markets, and buy a chain and padlock for my bike. Open-air markets like this one are where many Ugandans fulfill everyday needs - food, clothing, livestock, housewares, small appliances, hardware, and so on.
Shopping in the markets is an adjustment. Shops are tiny and selection at any given shop is limited. Yesterday I went to some 10 “hardware stores” in another, smaller market near our apartment looking for chain and found nothing suitable. Today, in Nakawa, I was fortunate to find a section of the right size and length after seeing a smaller piece hanging in the doorway of a shop. I was quite proud of myself until Emily asked me later if I had negotiated....I guess I could have saved a few dollars. Alas.
There are 2 worlds here. My first day here I had a BLT and a pretty decent latte for lunch, and we spent new year's eve with some of Emily's ex-pat friends at a bar full of white people and watched fireworks on television. Our apartment is one of 6 units in a peaceful, gated courtyard with trees, flowers, and a small grassy lawn. I can have a Guiness (if the taps work) at O'Leary's and buy chicken breasts at the ShopRite supermarket.
Or, I can buy a live chicken in Nakawa and have a lunch of chapati (Indian fried bread) or grilled goat or roasted corn from a tiny roadside stand. And right outside our tranquil apartment complex is a dirt road where children, goats, and dogs mingle between metal shacks and small piles of burning trash. To own a car here is a luxury - most rely on cramped public mini-buses, or a bicycle, or their own 2 feet.
It's possible to live in Kampala and largely avoid the scene right outside our gate - many foreigners, and indeed some Ugandans, do. I may tire of it all, maybe quickly, but right now I'm happy we don't have a car, happy we live on a dirt road, happy we buy vegetables from a roadside stand.
And happy we can afford to go to O'Leary's once in a while.
Comments