An update on our social lives....

And now, for an update on our social lives!

Uganda has proved to be quite the place for all types of adventures, from clubbing to beaching to whitewater rafting!

So the slums where we are staying is ok. By now, the locals have grown accustomed to seeing us "muzungus" walk by, although they still shout "muzungu" or "china" or "japanese" now and then.

The road leading up to our hostel in the slums.

Funny sign in front of the American Hostel.

(apparently, police in uganda carry either shotguns, rifles, or ak47's)

Last weekend, two members of OLPC staff, Paul and Lynn, came to visit us in Kampala, as did the director of OLPC Paraguay, Miguel. Along with the three of them, we’ve been having some pretty great adventures!

We discovered the Americanized part of town, a place called Garden City, which is essentially the equivalent to an American shopping mall, and we saw more mizungus (white people) than I think we’ve seen on the entire trip just in the few hours we were there! After some delicious Indian food, we hit up a bar called Sax’s Club, which is not the jazz club you think it would be, but actually where all the prostitutes hang out. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our Nile Specials (a Ugandan beer) very much, and had a great night out.

African Clothing!

Jeff with a cloud of gnats over his head

(he swore he showered that day...)

Group photo at Garden City Mall (the mizungu hangout place).

Other highlights from the week have been going to the Mosque, the National Theatre and seeing a Michael Jackson tribute, clubbing at Hi Table, a rockin’ club even on a Monday night for dancing and drinking, and going to more Viva Stars concerts and dancing on-stage with them!

Clubbing at Hi-Table

Dressed for a visit to the National Mosque.

Victoria waving a Viva Stars flyer as we head to the concert.

Rocking out live with Viva Stars!!

(it's like hanging out with the spice girls)

We’ve also taken several trips to one of the biggest markets in Kampala to purchase clothes, cheap food, headscarves for Victoria and I, and countless other small items. The market is a maze of stalls and people and anything you could ever want to purchase, bargaining, yelling, and occasionally getting run over by someone carrying a huge sack of flour or beans on their back.

Victoria adopted a kitten off the street and fed it milk.

Kristen enjoying ice cream at Nandos Diner.

Thursday, we all took a trip out to Jinja, a city about two hours east of Kampala, to go whitewater rafting at the source of the Nile! As you can see from the pictures, it was really an incredible trip – we went on five Class 5 rapids, and 10 rapids overall for the day. We managed to only flip over once, and that one was questionable – our guide was upset we paddled so well that we hadn’t flipped yet, so it was a bit more of an induced flip. Especially after lunch, there were nice long periods of calm water that we spent sunbathing, swimming, and animal watching. We didn’t get to see any monkeys, but we saw many kinds of birds, and even some snakes swimming their way to the other side. Luckily we weren’t in the water then!

First Rapid: Miguel, Lynn, Kristen, Victoria, Jeff (class 3 rapid)

Rapid 8 of 9: broadsided by the wave (class 4 rapid)

Rapid 8 of 9: holding on for dear life.

Rapid 8 of 9: too late... lol.

Class 5 rapid not shown... due to its graphical nature.

Yesterday, in honor of our American Independence Day, we took a trip down to Entebbe, a city about an hour south of Kampala, to go to the beach, which proved to be a great day full of sun, swimming, eating fresh fish (except for me!), and relaxation. And a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Victoria for the rest of the beach to hear.

A Beautiful Day for 4th of July.

The water was so warm!

Sunset on the beach at Entebbe (Victoria, Jeff, Hady, Kristen)

It’s been a great couple of weeks here in Uganda!

-Kristen