Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Is Ohio really hotter than Uganda?

I'm pretty sure the answer is yes - right now at least. But no one here seems to believe me. When I try to argue they seem to just roll their eyes and ignore the poor confused Mzungu. But I swear its true. In the sun it might hit 85 here and in the shade it can't be any hotter than 75. At night I swear its in the low 60s if not high 50s. My room here is cool enough that I have not only sheets but a blanket as well.

Good news at the pool hall. After usually getting beaten badly (I think I won 4 times over the first two weeks and probably lost 9 or 10) I broke through yesterday winning 5 games until I finally lost. My best performance by far. I'm improving, which is good.

Also, have I mentioned that I have earthen floors in my home? Well, I do. And they are actually pretty sweet at times. Washing my face has never been so much fun. Why go to a sink when you can sit in your room and wash your face there. And showers? Who needs a bathroom when you can shower in any room? (I use our shower room. But I could just shower in my room if I wanted...)

A little girl on the bus the other was fascinated with my arm. At first I thought it was my white skin but her father told me she was fascinated by the hair. Apparently Ugandans (even men) don't have much if any hair on their arms. Another baby was fascinated by my beard and kept trying to hang from it.

O, I haven't shaved since June 9th. But it's ok because there isn't a mirror in my house. I usually will go 5-6 days without seeing my reflection, which is probably ok. Wanting to know what I looked like, the other day I took a picture of myself and then zoomed in on the photo to see.

I attended Caesar's sister's gradation last Saturday. It was all in Lusoga but they were blaring U.S. music before and after from two large speakers hooked up to a computer. Mixing bad boyband pop music (I swear I heard backstreet boys. not that I would recognize them...) with rap. Hearing 50 cent cursing loudly at a graduation ceremony in Ugandan was slightly hilarious. Also, I got the opportunity to address all the guests (apparently it is traditional to allow guests to speak) so I impressed them with a handful of the lusoga words I know. They enjoyed my effort but then Caesar has to shoot me down and inform me that I had mixed a Lugandan word with my Lusoga greeting. It's ok. I got him back by beating him in pool yesterday.

I'm learning to iron my clothes to prevent Mango Fly episode number 2. It's going well, I'm using a hot coal heated iron. Matooke with envuluga is getting a bit old.

3 comments:

Rick Kennedy said...

July 8, 5:40 pm: Columbus temp has dropped to 85 degrees. Low tonight forecast: 74 degrees.

Unknown said...

Maybe you can teach me Lugosa (is that right? I keep spelling it wrong but I don't want to keep clicking back to the blog) when you get back!

Also, Beth means Neiman, in case you know another Beth. My account name should have been more specific.

Teresa said...

HAHAHA about the 50 cent at the grad. u crack me up, jk.