Our first afternoon in Kampala I made a rookie mistake. After six weeks of beef stew, rice, posho, beans, etc (and the occasional piece of pizza) we decided to have our first meal back in the "big city" at Java's, which is the trendy ex-pat hangout we went to upon first arrival. For the record, their food is awesome and their juice is tasty, but they are PRICEY. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I went to order the beef burger and chips (fries), thinking to myself 'I haven't finished a meal since I arrived in Uganda, I think I'll be able to get through half of this.' HA. Apparently I'd failed to converse with my stomach in advance. The burger came, I smothered in it Heinz Ketchup (funny how much I missed that stuff!) and inhaled that and half of my salty, greasy, chips.
By that evening I was thoroughly regretting this decision. My stomach reacted against the grease, or against the spices, or against any number of things that were in that burger and chips that were not in my average Gulu diet. Ye-e-ech. Yesterday's main meal consisted of a bean, cheese, and guacamole wrap that I shared with Apio because we figured "the blander the better". I'm suddenly re-thinking my initial plan to hit up Five Guys Burgers for a burger and fries when I get home. Maybe we'll give me a plate of rice and beans and I'll ease myself back into the American menu.
Other than that we've just been trying to stay busy getting our final tourist shopping out of the way, receiving some last minute visits to friends (Lowna was down for 1-1/2 days of this Kampala stay, and that was really nice), and getting our final packing out of the way. NUFU House is really pleasant and we spent some time last night in the grass with the chickens just talking about not-a-whole-lot.
Today was spent at the National Theatre being overcharged for crafts and other random Uganda/Africa goodies. Then a trip to the Garden City Mall where we attempted to find Apio an Africa United jersey (turns out the guys up North weren't kidding..they're NOT for sale and you CAN'T get one ANYWHERE. Sheesh!). I took a stop by the Aristoc bookstore to pick up a copy of the much-talked-about Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (crime thriller) so that I'd have a book to read on the plane. It seems like every third person I've spoken to since being here either had the book in their hand or was talking about it, so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm so far not that impressed, but I'm only 25 pages in. Maybe my 8 hour plane ride from Amsterdam to Detroit on Saturday will change my mind.
At this point, I've processed Gulu and put it in its box. I'm ready to come home -- I've got so MUCH left to get done this summer! Tomorrow afternoon we'll do one more lunch at Java's and then take showers, change, and pack into the private hire for the two hour drive to Entebbe. From there, checking in, a several hour wait for the airplane, and (barring all malfunctions) we'll take off at 10:50 PM, Uganda time. There's wireless in Amsterdam, so I'll probably update from there. Then I'll be Stateside on Saturday.
Until then!
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