Day in Owino Market

I thought Ugandans liked to party when I heard their loud music on week nights. But Friday nights are insane! The music from one of the nearby clubs was blasting till 4 or 5 in the morning. I ended up not going to a club last night. Instead I hung out with half our group and had some great conversations. We played an intense game of spoons. Then the girls and I watched "Ghost of Girlfriend's Past" on my laptop. It was a really nice and relaxing evening. It is so nice to be in warm weather where you can get in bed and lay on top of the covers. It was hard to sleep with the loud music

I woke up to a thunderstorm again. We met our Ugandan guides at breakfast. Five guys from the local university came to show us how to use the public transportation. I was in a group with Morgan and Ryan and our guide's name was Charles. He was really nice.

We walked down to the bottom of the big street off our road and flagged down a Matatu (taxi). They are basically vans packed with people. We rode into downtown Kampala. Charles showed us the matatu parks that we would need to know if we ever came by ourselves. He gave us a tour around the city and then we got lunch. At the restaurant we got all the native Ugandan foods. Everything was very starchy. It kind of had the texture of potatoes but with no real flavor, and then beef chunks in a sauce. I started feeling really sick, probably from dehydration, but the smells were overpowering so I almost threw up. I asked the waiter for the nearest bathroom and he took me out to a shed in the back. There was a toilet seat in the ground and it was full of stuff. The smell was off the hook and I had to squat very carefully to not fall in. I knew that I could not throw up in that bathroom so I held it down and went back to the table.

We got to Owino market and it was not what I expected. I thought maybe it would be a large open field with people selling things at tables. That was NOT at all what we experienced. Charles lead us into this maze. Basically it was a bunch of little booths with roofs but they were so close together that it seemed like one roofed in building with 2 foot wide little stone paths that were filled with mud from the rain. It was dark and hot and very very crowded. I was unfortunatly in the back of our line. People would reach out from their stand and grab my hand and tell me to buy something. I was called "Mzungu" (white person), "lady", "sister", "beautiful", "my future wife", "American", and then finally "white monkey". I was uncomfortable when people grabbed my hand because I felt myself slipping farther away from my group, even though they were only a few feet ahead, there were so many people that I couldn't see them. At one point a guy grabbed my wrist and wouldn't let go. I kept pulling and he would pull me back. Finally I twisted my arm and yanked with all my strength and ran to catch up with my group. I don't think the guy really meant me harm, but I think some locals find it funny to intimidate the white people. We were given 1000UGsh to buy something unique for our unique item contest. We bought a cool loofa that is made out of the peel of a fruit that falls from a certain tree. I was very happy to get back on the matatu and get back to the guesthouse.

I changed out of my super sweaty and muddy clothes and then came down to the dining room to talk with the Ugandan guys. They were really friendly and we talked about politics and college and our lives. We are going to church with Charles tomorrow.

Dinner was tacos with lots of guacamole . I am every day SO BLESSED to have a fantastic cook. I hope that when I have my internship I will be able to eat the food. I am normally not a picky eater, but my stomach is not happy here in Africa. We all sat around the table and talked for a long time and looked up our states on Urban Dictionary for a good laugh. I love being able to have good conversations, and it is starting to feel like a little family... almost :)

Emily and I had dish duty tonight and cleaned up. Now I am skyping and writing this blog. I need to go do some homework soon.
Much love !