Day 3

12/19/08

We left the clinic yesterday at around 4:15pm. 14 people packed into the van and we dropped people off at different points in town (either one of the banks or the post office), and then came back to Anne’s house. Several people came over because Anne, who is the director of the center, has not been feeling well, and everyone wanted to offer any comfort they could. I sat with everyone here for a while. There was some chatting, several people asked about Maital and Adam, but there was plenty of what Americans would call “awkward silences” which didn’t seem awkward at all. I eventually passed out on my bed until dinner, which I ate with Anna the Swede, Rasmus the Danish/German, and his German friend Yen who is doing his civil service duty instead of going to the army by teaching computer classes to kids pulled off the streets in Uganda and put into a program. For dinner we had white rice and some sort of pea/cabbage/onion dish which we, of course, mixed together. I’m really starting to like the simple, to-the-point foods they have here that provide energy without providing obesity. It’s very refreshing actually. After dinner, at around 9pm, Rasmus, Yen and I walked to the Mount Elgon Hotel nextdoor which usually offers internet service and has a few bars. The internet was down (I swear, that was my true purpose in the trip) so we sat at the bar and watched British MTV, which is brutal. I order a “Club” beer and the Germans ordered 4 each. Rasmus and I finished the night with a shot of Bailey’s and then the Germans smoked the obligatory European cigarette before we left. We got back to Anne’s around 12:20am and I went straight to bed. It was strange to me not to shower but that is just the way it is here.
I woke up at 6:30am today and washed up (still no shower! The water is just too cold in the early morning). I then had a banana and tea for breakfast and decided that I was not going to go to the clinic today, but rather take a boda into town and find my way around, buy some bottled water, get to an internet café and post this, and then prepare to go to the Abuyadayya Jewish community for Shabbat. So that is my plan for the day. I think Anna and I are going to plan a trip for sometime next week to go to Sipi Falls which is supposed to be the most beautiful waterfall in the country. The scenery just around town is incredible. It is like we are in this massive valley plain with mountains around us. And because of the dust and hot weather, the mountains are always covered in a fog of some sort, adding to their mystique. It is really quite breathtaking.Anyway, I wish everyone a great weekend, I’m sorry internet has been such a disaster here, and I hope to hear from you soon!