1. Apparently levels are in short supply in the construction business.
2. Driving Law of the jungle - If I'm bigger then you I have the right of way.
3. Taking on a set of stairs in the dark is not advised ... each step varies in height by an inch or two.
4. Funny billboards - "Avoid morning sex Africa" is probably my favorite.
5. "Yes please" translates into "I have no idea what this Muzungu is trying to tell me, but I don't want to look stupid so I won't ask him to repeat himself"
6. African Idol - nuff said
7. AlJazeera news actually has some of the best reporting I've seen in ten years
8. I get sick when I eat western food, but never when I eat African food.
9. Regular power outages when you are less than one kilometer from a hydroelectric plant
10. In Burundi, the steering wheel is on the right side of the car ... but they drive on the right side of the road??? That has to cause some head on collisions.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Rafting the Nile
I had a decision to make yesterday morning. Bungee jump into the Nile, or raft its rapids. I would have liked to have done both, but funds are limited and I figured I can bungee jump a lot of different places. So I decided to hit the rapids! It was one of the best thrill moments of my life. Actually, a few of them. We were on the river from 11AM to 5PM. All in all we hit three classV rapids, six class IV, and two class III's. There was a class VI, but the rafting company only takes kyaks down that stretch. I also picked up a video with highlights from the trip and I'll post some of my favorite clips when I get back on Sunday.
Today we hit up a few of the tourist destinations, mainly focued around Speke, the man who "discovered" the source of White Nile. I put discovered in quotatuions because, really, it was when Europeans discovered it. I also got some good footage of an African dance/music troupe that I'll post when I get back.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Email posting is much easier
OK .. so I figured out how to post to this thorough email. That will be much easier for me to keep this updated because I haven't had an internet connection this slow since 1994. On a good note, I've played enough spider solitaire waiting for pages to load that I think I'm just about ready for four suits!
The long ride over
I'm posting this on Tuesday morning in Jinja, Uganda. I wrote it Sunday night but this is the first time I've had a good enough connection to get this on so ....
I'm sure there are worse ways to go to Africa than ethiopian airlines, but I haven't found it yet. I think the stewardress timed her food and drink distributions on my sleep schedule. Every time I was able to nod off in my my seat/cocoon she would come by and slam my seat tray down ask me if I want some thing to eat/drink. Emerging from five minute hibernation, I occasionaly got out a cohesive sentence that would result in a meager ration. Most of the time I didn't and she would move to the next row, forcing me to wait until she came back through with the scraps. this continued through three crew changes in four cities, until 24 hours later wheels touched down in Entebbe. But the journey wasn't over yet. We had a four hour ride over crappy roads to get to Jinja. But with leg room, fresh air, and space to spread out that ride was actually a lot of fun. The streets and roads reminded me a lot of Cote D'Ivoire, and after we got out of the city we were surronded on our skinny road by lush forests that cast scenic shadows across the road.
Jinja sits on the north easterly section of Lake Victoria. The headwaters of the Nile River come out of Lake Victoria and make some great rapids that I'm going to kyack and raft this coming weekend. It is also the seat of Ugnadan military officer training, where I'll be working for the next two weeks. The hotel isn't as nice as Club du Lac Tanganyika in Burundi. But my room does have a great view of Lake Victoria as it narrows down and eventually becomes the Nile river. And no bed bugs here! I had to spray half a bottle of inseticide on my matress there so I wouldn't get eaten alive. But the room is a little monastic. You have a bed, small desk, and a chair. That night some of the guys took me to a Muzunga(White) bar called Nile River Explorers where I met lots of people from New Zeland and Australia. I guess the Class V rapids brought most of them here. It's a real hole in the ground type of place( I can't say hole in the wall because it was in the middle of nowhere).
I'm sure there are worse ways to go to Africa than ethiopian airlines, but I haven't found it yet. I think the stewardress timed her food and drink distributions on my sleep schedule. Every time I was able to nod off in my my seat/cocoon she would come by and slam my seat tray down ask me if I want some thing to eat/drink. Emerging from five minute hibernation, I occasionaly got out a cohesive sentence that would result in a meager ration. Most of the time I didn't and she would move to the next row, forcing me to wait until she came back through with the scraps. this continued through three crew changes in four cities, until 24 hours later wheels touched down in Entebbe. But the journey wasn't over yet. We had a four hour ride over crappy roads to get to Jinja. But with leg room, fresh air, and space to spread out that ride was actually a lot of fun. The streets and roads reminded me a lot of Cote D'Ivoire, and after we got out of the city we were surronded on our skinny road by lush forests that cast scenic shadows across the road.
Jinja sits on the north easterly section of Lake Victoria. The headwaters of the Nile River come out of Lake Victoria and make some great rapids that I'm going to kyack and raft this coming weekend. It is also the seat of Ugnadan military officer training, where I'll be working for the next two weeks. The hotel isn't as nice as Club du Lac Tanganyika in Burundi. But my room does have a great view of Lake Victoria as it narrows down and eventually becomes the Nile river. And no bed bugs here! I had to spray half a bottle of inseticide on my matress there so I wouldn't get eaten alive. But the room is a little monastic. You have a bed, small desk, and a chair. That night some of the guys took me to a Muzunga(White) bar called Nile River Explorers where I met lots of people from New Zeland and Australia. I guess the Class V rapids brought most of them here. It's a real hole in the ground type of place( I can't say hole in the wall because it was in the middle of nowhere).
Thursday, June 12, 2008
On My Way
It's three in the morning and I'm an hour away from my last day at UPS (take two). I have to admit that I'm sad to be leaving a great group of Upsers behind, but working at UPS is not where I'm supposed to be. I'm taking the big leap to work in Africa. I'll be working on an African Union contract that prepares African military personnel for deployment in peace keeping operations in African conflict zones. ??? I know what a lot of you are thinking. Will doesn't have any military experience. I was lucky enough to land the one civilian job in the group. The NGO position. I'll be helping prepare the officers to deal with NGOs ( non-government organizations, international non-profits) and reporters. I never thought studying political science and french would get me anywhere like this, but I was lucky enough to get this breakthrough job. So in around six hours I will take the big jump from Kansas boy to world traveler. I'm thankful for everyone who helped bring me to this point and I hope I can live up to the examples that have been set for me. I spent a week in Bujumbura, Burundi in May and this job will take me to Uganda. I'll try to put some fun entries in here mixed in with cultural and educational posts about the places I'm at!
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