July 3

July 3, 2009

Days Events: Mentor meeting, walk to town, pictures to a CD, talk with Muslim man about Bush, the High Table, coffee shop, girls wanting to adopt, waiting for Joan, hair cut, conversation on culture

OMG, today was an extremely busy day. I spent a good eleven hours outside of the house and it was exhausting. The good thing is that it was an extremely productive day, so that kind of makes things a little better.
Ok, so I woke up around 10 after getting to bed around four. I just can’t sleep well here. Anyway, I quickly got ready and we headed off to the local café that we like a lot (Mochas). I had a “chicken burger” which I found very enjoyable. That left us with just enough time to grab a bota-bota to the foundation for our first meeting with all of the mentors. We arrived five minutes late which drives me crazy but we were the first to arrive. As is typical Ugandan culture, people arrived at around 2:30 for a 2:00 meeting. This is something that still drives me crazy yet it is just the reality when it comes to the transportation and traffic here. It was an interesting experience though in that every single person came and personally greeted us and introduced themselves. I am not sure what I expected exactly, but they made us feel so welcomed and a part of the group that there was never any uncomfortableness or anything. It was great. We got to hear the mentors discuss the problems they were facing in the field like language barriers and too many students. The supervisors (whom also serve as the mentor supervisors) gave suggestions on forming effective discussion groups, class management, and some of the upcoming events. We were even asked to get up and talk a little bit about what we are doing here and the reason why this kind of research can be important. The really big challenge is that we have to talk so slow that you start to forget what you are talking about.
After that meeting ended, Ginger walked back to the house to relieve the housekeeper and I walked into town. Granted, it is about 3 miles, but I just put in my I-pod and took off. It took me a while since people were getting off work and the streets were flooded. My destination was the internet café at the other end of town so that I could get my pictures added to a CD. I was by myself in the city and it was very refreshing to be out on my own. Waiting for my pictures to be transferred took some time and I got to talk to one of the guys that works there. After he found out that I was American, the conversation quickly turned to Bush. We talked for a long time about how one person should never wage war on a religion and that the blood of those people is on his hands. Granted he is Muslim (Ugandan and Sudanese), he is very well educated and this is one of the first times that this opinion was expressed in a way that I actually agreed with. I found this guy very interesting and will probably seek conversation again from hi in the future.
I still had a lot of time left before I needed to meet Joan so I headed to a bar that I have been interested in seeing if it would be a good observation point. And I think it will! The place was littered with stages, dance poles, and very little seating which would allow for a good observation on gender relations. After a beer I headed off to the coffee shop. I was still about an hour early but didn’t mind waiting. I had a cappuccino and piece of banana cake to pass the time. I also had an interesting conversation to listen to. The table next to me was occupied by two twenty-something girls trying to convince their daddy to pay for child adoption for one of them. Their valley girl vernacular and “like” riddled conversation didn’t allow me to take them seriously, at all. It was also the fact that deciding point for them was that a street kid paid attention to them and gave them a hug and the kid’s “aunt” said that the kid could be adopted. Yeah, I don’t think so. I finished my coffee and went on to read the paper. The drawer fro the shop was off so it took Joan longer than usual to get off work. After, we headed deep into south Kampala to find the arcade where her friend worked that was to cut my hair. The streets were still crowded with people which is a little more terrifying at night. The arcade (mall) had already begun to close. Here malls are all open air which leaves a lot to be desired when there is no breeze. We walked up to the fourth floor and entered a “men’s salon” only big enough for two barber chairs and a TV. The six men in the place were all crowded around the TV playing playstation. Everyone turned to look as I walked in and then the man to cut my hair introduced himself. He sat me down in a circa 1950 hand-made barber chair and covered me with a piece of white cloth. My haircut was just using clippers but probably one of the best that I have ever had. I am inclined to say that I got special treatment, but regardless I enjoyed it. He took a good 45 minutes cutting my hair and getting me cleaned up and for only 10,000 Ug.Shs. I had Joan take pictures of the experience as well so I will have those to share with everyone. Joan had yet to eat dinner and asked me if I wanted to join her. I had some questions for her so I agreed and just had a beer, big surprise.
We went to a restaurant inside a hotel, as most are. The cool part was that it had a balcony that overlooked the busy street. I started by asking Joan to translate some phrases for me such as: how much money, yes/ok, let’s go, I know, you’re lying, no, thank you, and right here. Just some of the many things I have needed to say here and finally will be able to. I also asked Joan about different areas of town that have come up in the newspaper in relation to prostitution or slums. Prostitution was then our next topic of conversation: what constitutes a prostitute here and why people go into the profession. This is very blurry but I think I am getting a handle on it.
I was ready to go home at this point so Joan help in negotiating a bota for me and I was on my way home. Once I got to my street I used my new terms for “stop right here” and “thank you very much” which made the driver laugh, but he told me “thank you for learning our language” which I thought was pretty cool. Then the real adventure started. I began my walk home and a slender young guy charged at me with arms flailing. We was extremely high on something and speaking English but too fast for me to decipher. He was saying something about “no money,” and “work, work, work,” and “20 cents a day U.S..” Anyway, at the point that I was getting thoroughly freaked out the bota-bota driver came back and asked if anything was the matter. The driver chased the guy away while I walked quickly home. Needless to say it was unnerving.
I got home quickly and told Ginger about my hair-raising encounter. After this she headed to bed and I stayed up to write as usual. Tomorrow is the fourth though so I am excited!