Ugandan Cultural Immersion Day

Yesterday, James took a trip to Kampala on the bus. The day started early for him – about 6 AM which is before sunrise here. He got up and dressed and then got ready to meet Osbert and Dennis – two Ugandan men – at the gate here to go to the bus. He arrived right on time and so did Osbert but Dennis didn’t show up right away. Finally, at about 5 after 7, Dennis arrived. Then they went to the bus. No need to have worried about time. Hehe. The bus driver wasn’t going to leave until every seat was full. So the bus that was to leave at 7 AM didn’t leave until 7:45.

They rode to Kampala and Dennis got the title for the vehicle we bought from him. James got some money exchanged. Then they went to Uchumi’s (pronounced “you chew me”) and got three of the appliances we need. But they could NOT find a stove or a dryer. They had the stove we wanted but the only one left was the display stove and they couldn’t find the oven racks anywhere. They found a dryer but it was half the capacity of the washer so would have required doing two loads in the dryer to every one in the washer. They looked in a couple different stores and still found nothing.

Then they drove back. It was late in the day and the roads are terrible. It also started raining and rained for several hours. Thankfully, the man whose truck they were using had a tarp over the appliances so the boxes weren’t completely destroyed by the water when they got back. On the way home the men got into a political discussion. It seems that the Muslim Bugandan man from Kampala whose truck they were using disagreed with the two Runyunkore Christian men from Mbarara. It got quite animated with lots of discussion. James said it was like being at a Spilger family meal where we discuss things and get louder and louder, even though we aren’t arguing. Finally, they switched to Runyunkore and lost James then.

They got back at about 12 AM this morning. Thankfully, the rain had stopped so they were able to get the truck unloaded without getting soaked.

The children and I went to church for the first time here, yesterday. It was quite an experience. The services are done in both English and Ruyunkore. It was fascinating to listen to the interpreter and I even figured out a couple words on my own, though I’m pretty sure one of them changes form based on usage. Gaelin didn’t know how to handle the whole thing. He thought he could wander in and out of the service as he wanted and found the pit latrine quite interesting. He made at least three trips over the course of the morning. Heh. 😀 Once, when he wandered off, I found him sitting in front of the church on a bench out there.

After church we went to a local restaurant where we had Ugandan food. We got to taste posho, matoke, sweet potatoes, beans, and rice. It was all good! I’m going to have to learn how to make matoke and posho. Gaelin thought the beans and rice were really good and ate it right up. The rest of us also tried their pumpkin and beef.