The Senses

Kampala, Uganda 20 October 2010

Enough about roads

Sights:

Our apartment is a spacious 2-bedroom with balcony, tv, bathtub, and large kitchen in a walled compound in a suburb. I'll try to take photos this weekend. My housemate took some photos of our environment in Nairobi which she posted on her blog; you can scroll through to see where I've been (thanks Joy!)

http://www.jewganda.blogspot.com/

Sounds:

I’d been curious about the medley of sounds that would surround my life in Kampala – there is often a generator at work rumbling outside my window and many voices. At home there's the thrilling sound of laughter from a bird I’ve never identified, energetic music, and our neighbor the rooster, who cheats by waiting for the Muslim call to prayer to initiate his morning call…and then tries to redeem himself through number of repetitions. Sometimes we hear voices of the Canadians living upstairs, with whom we bonded in candle light during a brief power outage. We’ve been going without running water for a couple days, which I have to mention because I like adding “jerry-can shower” to my list of experiences. Fortunately the handyman is the most attentive and helpful I’ve ever had, and I’ve struck gold with my housemate Joy, another American volunteer.

Tastes:

The pineapple here is sweet; the best I’ve ever had – ever. The avocados are 3 times bigger than in the US and the papayas (paw-paw) are 3 times bigger than your head. Seriously. We eat a lot of ground-nut sauce, which is a little like peanut sauce, on sweet potatoes, rice, or mashed plantains. I’ve heard the peas-in-a-pod are the best in the world but haven’t tried them yet. In Nairobi we encountered a green Mango, which was supposed to be chopped into salsa, not so sweet or soft.

For lunch a bodaboda is sent to bring orders. All meals cost about $1.50, including delivery fee. One can choose any combination of rice, mashed plantains, and sweet potatoes, plus groundnut sauce (akin to peanut sauce) cooked in a banana leaf with beef or dried fish. Personally the quantity could last me about 3 meals, though people here tend to eat large meals and never snack. Fortunately they give all the leftovers to refugees who don’t have enough to eat. The food is heavy enough that for dinner Joy and I have been gorging ourselves on pawpaw, pineapple, avocado, skinny eggplants, small red onions, and hardboiled eggs.