Friday, August 29, 2008
A beautiful morning
Yesterday didn't begin like all the other days. When I woke up in the morning I saw that it was dripping a little bit of water from the tube that goes between the wall and the basin. I knew it had done it last night too, but then I was just too tired to care about it. But, now it was a new day and I thought it needed to be fixed. I moved over to have a closer look at it, I wanted to see if I could fix it myself or of I would have to tell the people working at the hostel. As I bent down and touch the tube -I hardly touched it all!- it said "PLONK" and the tube fell on the floor and lots of water was coming out of the little hole in the wall and straight into the rest of my room. That took me by surprise...I quickly shut the door to the bathroom and put my thumb over the leaking hole in the wall, wondering what to do next. There I was standing naked and I couldn't really leave my room since someone (= me) had to stand by that leaking hole. I decided to quickly run after my phone and then back to my place in the bathroom. I called my Austrian friend who is also staying at the hostel and asked her for help. She went to get some of the staff while I was still standing in my bathroom naked and with the door to my room locked. So, once again I had to leave my leaking hole in the wall so I could put on some clothes and unlock my door. When Eva, my friend, came with some people working at the hostel I was completely drenched with water and the floor in my room was flooded! Could you start the day in any better way? I thought it was good, because when I woke up in the morning I wasn't feeling too happy, but after this I was just laughing. :o) It all went well, they turned off the water and said they'll fix it the same day. I didn't really believe them, because "today" doesn't have the same meaning here as in Finland. Today could mean tomorrow or next week or never....But, I was lucky and this time "today" really meant tooday, so now everything is fixed and I have a new and very shiny tube in my bathroom.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Arriving in Uganda
I know, I've been here in Kampala now for 12 days but I've been slow with starting to write on my blog...and I want to do it right and start from the beginning :o)
Although I haven't been here any longer than 12 days it feels like I've been here for months! I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that so much has happened during these days. The first thing I saw when I landed at the airport in entebbe almost two weeks ago was green fields, the victoria lake and a cow.I loved it! Uganda is a small country with a tiny airport and even if Kampala is quite a busy and noisy place it still doesn't feel or look as if it's a big city (I think it has about 1,5 million inhabitants)
I arrived in Uganda together with two girls from Norway that also are studying at Makerere University. It didn't take very long until I found out that Norway has quite alot to do with Uganda, because there are Norwegians everywhere! I think only at the guest house I'm staying at there are aroun 12 girls from Norway, all studying at "my" university. So, at the moment I'm learning more of the Norwegian language than Luganda, the local african language the speak here in Kampala.
The hostel I'm living at is close to school and the city centre, that's nice but sometimes I'd loooove to live somewhere a bit outside of the city. This place gets noisy, trust me! Cars beeping their hornes, people yelling "musungo" (white person) as soon as they see you walking in the street, music is played very loudly and you can forget to have a sleep-in on Sundays! People here are VERY religious and there are churches everywhere. On Sundays it's nice to be out walking in the streets, because there aren't that many cars (crossing the road doesn't feel like suicide...) since everyone is at the church. And they stay there aaaaall day, they sing and pray aaaall day and it's all very loud! I can't stay at home on Sundays because all I here is the same church music over and over again...You go insane for less...Anyway, apart from this, my hostel is ok. It has guards and a wall with barbed wire on the top, it feels quite safe. My room is very basic and I have a balcony with a view over the slum. It feels a little awkward to stand on the balcony knowing that I live in quite a nice house next door to little kids running around in a dirty backyard where women are washing clothes by hand.
The climate here is good. It's not too hot and it's not too cold, althogh yesterday when I was walking home from school I decided that I'm having soup for dinner because I was COLD. I think the temperature is around 26 celsius degrees. It's not very humid here either and the sun doesn't try to kill me like it did when I was in Australia.
One thing that surprised me when I came here was that people here don't really stear at you. Yes, it happens very often that people are yelling hello after you in the street, but they're not stearing at you. I like that!
The time here is "African time". Everything happens so slooooowly here! People are walking slowly in the street, if you want to go out and eat at a restaurant -go before you're hungry, because by the time you've finally got the food you ordered, then you're STARVING. It takes four people making a hamburger at a fast food place or fixing something on a car or whatever. It's driving me crazy at the same time as I just have to laugh. What else is there to do?
There's still so much more to tell, but I think this has to be it for now. I'm gonna go and have a real coffee! Although they're growing coffee beans here in Uganda, they still don't know how to make a descent cup of coffee. It's mostly hot milk with a little bit of instant coffee in it. Blaeh...
Although I haven't been here any longer than 12 days it feels like I've been here for months! I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that so much has happened during these days. The first thing I saw when I landed at the airport in entebbe almost two weeks ago was green fields, the victoria lake and a cow.I loved it! Uganda is a small country with a tiny airport and even if Kampala is quite a busy and noisy place it still doesn't feel or look as if it's a big city (I think it has about 1,5 million inhabitants)
I arrived in Uganda together with two girls from Norway that also are studying at Makerere University. It didn't take very long until I found out that Norway has quite alot to do with Uganda, because there are Norwegians everywhere! I think only at the guest house I'm staying at there are aroun 12 girls from Norway, all studying at "my" university. So, at the moment I'm learning more of the Norwegian language than Luganda, the local african language the speak here in Kampala.
The hostel I'm living at is close to school and the city centre, that's nice but sometimes I'd loooove to live somewhere a bit outside of the city. This place gets noisy, trust me! Cars beeping their hornes, people yelling "musungo" (white person) as soon as they see you walking in the street, music is played very loudly and you can forget to have a sleep-in on Sundays! People here are VERY religious and there are churches everywhere. On Sundays it's nice to be out walking in the streets, because there aren't that many cars (crossing the road doesn't feel like suicide...) since everyone is at the church. And they stay there aaaaall day, they sing and pray aaaall day and it's all very loud! I can't stay at home on Sundays because all I here is the same church music over and over again...You go insane for less...Anyway, apart from this, my hostel is ok. It has guards and a wall with barbed wire on the top, it feels quite safe. My room is very basic and I have a balcony with a view over the slum. It feels a little awkward to stand on the balcony knowing that I live in quite a nice house next door to little kids running around in a dirty backyard where women are washing clothes by hand.
The climate here is good. It's not too hot and it's not too cold, althogh yesterday when I was walking home from school I decided that I'm having soup for dinner because I was COLD. I think the temperature is around 26 celsius degrees. It's not very humid here either and the sun doesn't try to kill me like it did when I was in Australia.
One thing that surprised me when I came here was that people here don't really stear at you. Yes, it happens very often that people are yelling hello after you in the street, but they're not stearing at you. I like that!
The time here is "African time". Everything happens so slooooowly here! People are walking slowly in the street, if you want to go out and eat at a restaurant -go before you're hungry, because by the time you've finally got the food you ordered, then you're STARVING. It takes four people making a hamburger at a fast food place or fixing something on a car or whatever. It's driving me crazy at the same time as I just have to laugh. What else is there to do?
There's still so much more to tell, but I think this has to be it for now. I'm gonna go and have a real coffee! Although they're growing coffee beans here in Uganda, they still don't know how to make a descent cup of coffee. It's mostly hot milk with a little bit of instant coffee in it. Blaeh...
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