June 20

June 20, 2009

I really don’t worry about getting up at any certain time here unless we have an appointment. One reason is that my research partner didn’t bring a computer so we are having to share and I am not good at sharing. So, she gets up early to work and I stay up late, is suites me though. We had told our housekeeper and laundry lady to come on Saturday instead of Friday since we were going to be gone all day, and they were already working by the time that I got up. She must have not been feeling well because she nagged the hell out of us. We don’t eat enough, we drink too much beer, we drink too much water, we don’t know the right kind of groceries to buy, we don’t know how to tie up our bed nets correctly, and on….and on….and on….all day. We decided to have her write out a detailed grocery list and head to the store, which I hate. I have been trying to just go by myself because it is easier.
Anywho, after spending all day inside we decided that wanted to got out. We made the long walk to town and attempted to find Andrew. We have a lot of trouble understanding him on the phone so after another 30 minutes of grabbing bota-botas to bars we thought he was talking about, we finally made it the Efendy’s where he was. Come to find out it was close to where were we live and would have been easier to get to if we hadn’t walked all the way to town first. This was also our first time to ride bota-botas. We had decided that we weren’t going to ride one but our frustration with finding a taxi and the correct bar led us to just hope on a bota (motorcycle taxi) and ride. To be honest it is much more comfortable than riding in a minibus, and it is only a little scary. We finally “Hotel Africana” out of Andrew which we actually knew how to get to. The place he was at was called “Efedny’s” which sounds similar to Friendlys like we thought. It was actually a compound of businesses; 3 restaurants and a bar which was our destination. I have to say that we were a little apprehensive about being “out” for the first time, but we where also excited.
The bar was mostly outside, again, with a cobblestone walkway and the grass areas filled with plastic tables and chairs. The major area of the place was taken up by a two story, log framed, thatch roofed structure that contained a bar on each story, a good number of couches on the second floor, and very little dance space. We got there around 11:30 and I was really surprised to see nobody dancing. This continued throughout the night too, very few people danced. We started to ask Andrew and his friends about dancing to find out that many of them were either very self-conscious about dancing or didn’t dance at all. That surprised me. It also surprised me that not all black people can dance and some dance just like “white boys.” It was hilarious. I also noticed that people don’t dance that close together and don’t really dance on each other as in the U.S. ……..for the most part anyway. Now there are exceptions, as always, but his was the case for the most part. Also, there were very few women not in dresses or skirts and very few men not in pants and collared shirts. IT was weird through, it was all American and European dance, pop, and R&B music. People would switch back and forth from English to Lugandan without even a second thought, and it all felt very familiar. Pushing your way through the crows to get to the bar with Kanye West blaring and lights flashing red, green, and blue all felt very comforting. We spent the night people watching and learning about the school/university system and answering question about the U.S. with Andrew and his friends. We decided to leave right when the party was at its prime which happened to be around 5 a.m. I had no idea. Can’t say I will do that one again.