One thing I didn't expect to gain from my experience in Uganda is a newfound appreciation and love for outdoor activities. I'm going to work to prioritize time outdoors when I'm home, especially once I'm back in California this fall. 

A friend from work mentioned his kayaking hobby the first week I was here. After I saw some of the photos on the Kayak the Nile website I knew I had to try it. Kayak the Nile is owned by a British couple, Sam and Emily Ward. Sam is Great Britain's Freestyle Team Coach, so I felt incredibly lucky that he coached my lesson this past Sunday. They've done a great job building well-paced but challenging lessons where you can really feel your own progression day by day. Compared to other rivers, you don't have to worry as much about rocks or shallow water. Also, most rapids will end in a deep, calm pool so if you flip or swim (fall out of your kayak), you can float down and just wait at the bottom. Just like the rafting, there's always a crew of safety kayakers who will help you out right away, so I've always felt really safe. 

After just four lessons, I'm able to roll and am starting to feel much more comfortable on the rapids. While I still have a lot to learn in terms of reading the water, I'm eager to find a way to get on some white water when I'm back stateside. 

Also...right outside the entrance to Kayak the Nile, you can get the best rolexes in the country. My recommendation is to get one with avocado, chips (freshly fried potatoes), and green peppers. You can't go wrong. Plus, I'm told it helps your rolling technique :)

Here in Uganda, when asked about my religious practices, I usually just say, "my dad was raised Christian." For the most part, that deflects an otherwise longer conversation that I don't have the energy to have.
​

...woah woah woah, back it up. First, you have to participate in an "introduction."

Christine, the woman who cleans my apartment, invited me to her cousin's introduction. An introduction is a traditional pre-wedding ceremony where the man's family is formally introduced to the bride-to-be's family. This is also where the exchange of the dowry takes place. The introduction took place in Mukono, about 40 minutes outside Kampala. Different cultures within Uganda have slightly different types of introductions. The one I attended was Bugandan (of the Banganda people) which my colleague tells me is known to be more dramatic and eventful. 

The women are all dressed in traditional gomesis which are long silk dresses with pointy shoulders and a big bow. Some men wore long white tunics, kanzus, but others were in suits. 

Unfortunately, I could only stay for the first hour, but I hear that these introduction ceremonies can go on for 7+ hours - there was a big meal, Christine said a chicken for each person(!!), and of course, lots of dancing. ​

​​The bride’s brother was also there and when we were ready, he walked in front of the caravan of cars and led us to the area where the ceremony / party would take place.  I asked why we kept stopping, and Christine explained that the brother had to pretend that he was deciding if he wanted to invite us and lead us to the right place. The first car therefore has to play along and was also stopping on its own as retaliation.
 
Once we got to the main area (I think outside the father of the bride’s house), we parked over to the side…Christine says they made us park “in the bush.” Everyone got in two lines, one for women and one for men as they prepared to ask permission to enter the area. Both families are represented by a spokesperson. The emcee on the bride’s side I assumed was her father, but my colleague says that he was probably hired and that people who chair these introduction ceremonies can make a lot of money. 

The 2016 Ugandan presidential elections are in just over two weeks and we’ve somehow timed our site visits perfectly with some presidential rallies happening in a few small towns in Central Uganda. After a long day at the field, we returned to our hotel to see a campaign handing out cold hard cash for votes.

How much do you think it costs to buy a vote? Let’s play! Price is right rules. Answer to come in my next post! Bonus points to those who want to comment about how much it costs to buy an American vote these days…
 
In the meantime, I thought I’d share some other cost of living snippets of life so far here in Uganda.
 
Rent: $100-500 per bedroom per month

• My apartment is definitely a steal at only $200 USD for a 2 bedroom place. I would say most expats pay around $200-$350
• For a nicer house in a more residential neighborhood, I found some places at around $500 but I think after you cross $300, you’re paying more for location than quality of the actual room / apt / house
• The high end can get up there with other big cities at home. Developers are building modern furnished apartments that will go for $1k and up

Electricity: $20 a month

• I pay a little under $20 a month for electricity (note that my place is pretty small and my roommate isn’t home most of the month). While it’s not a lot, this is a disproportionately high cost for most Ugandans
• My friend with a 3 bedroom / 2 bath place pays about $45 a month – they also have a washing machine which uses a good amount of power
• Costs here aren’t that much cheaper that what I was paying in Chicago, but there are frequent power outages and it’s not always reliable. Luckily my neighborhood is better than most it seems

House cleaning: $45

• Christine comes twice a week to clean and do laundry…this is a luxury I’m sure going to miss when I head home

Local beer: $0.75-2

• Popular and cheap brands: Nile Special, Tusker, Club. I don’t think I’ve actually had a Club, but I would say both the Nile Special and Tusker taste somewhere between a Nicaraguan Tona and a Heineken
• At the grocery store, you can get a 500ml bottle as cheap as 75 cents a pop. You’ll pay a bottle deposit which you can get back when you return the empties
• Most of the local beers come in a 500ml size. In the states, our beer cans are 355ml

Mango: 15-60 cents

• In the city, it’s usually 2000 shillings (about 60 cents) for a mango but if you can find a roadside stall on the way back from a weekend road trip or field visit, you can get even better quality mangoes for cheaper

Avocado: 15 cents

• Yeah…you read that right. And they’re huge and so tasty. The texture is a little more watery than what I’m used to so at first I was convinced I kept buying bad avocados, but they’re just a little different here

Hotel we tried to stay at: $132

• Accommodations can be weirdly expensive throughout Uganda. We were in a small town about 2 hours outside Kampala and were looking for a place to stay during our field visits. The hotel grounds were nice with an open garden and a pool, but I would say the rooms only looked a little better than a motel. So for that…$132 seemed crazy for one night. Most of my M-Th consulting homes have been cheaper than that!
• As I’ve been looking into travel throughout the country, the range of prices goes from $5-15 at a hostel for shared dorms or campground space to around $40 for midrange stuff. The high end though, has been way higher than I would expect from a country that doesn’t seem to have all the tourism infrastructure in place. Compared to Southeast Asia, for the same quality, you’ll spend much more here on travel accommodations

Gas: $4 per gallon

• I’ve been advised to only fill my tank at Shell and Total stations because local stations (which are a bit cheaper) sometimes dilute their petrol

1GB data: $10

• Data is really expensive here and unlimited home internet isn’t widespread (compare this to Kenya where data is cheap and wifi is easily accessible)
• CHAI pays for mobile internet dongles which plug into the USB port of our laptops which is nice. We get a monthly data allowance that I’m learning to ration

WTF mobile data package: 60 cents each week

• This is an awesome package that includes unlimited W(hatsapp)T(witter)F(acebook) on my Ugandan phone
• I can make calls through Whatsapp and Facebook so it allows me to use less of my airtime
• I’ve been able to survive almost exclusively off this and then I just buy 100mb of data here and there if I really need to look something up. This means I scroll a lot of news headlines / shared articles but can never click on them when browsing haha

Usual dinner entrée: $10

• There are a lot of restaurants in Uganda that cater towards expats. Even at these, I average just $10 for my dinners pretty consistently

Coffee: $2

• I still don’t drink coffee

Glass soda bottle: 30 cents (excluding bottle deposit)
Plastic soda bottle: 60 cents

• The plastic costs are incurred by the consumer
  

Tupperware: $5+ each

• I’m glad I bought a bunch at Costco and brought them with me because this is one of the strangest high cost kitchen items

Electric water kettle: $22

• I bought a small, cheap one so that's just the low end

Laundry drying rack: $23-45

• Costs are driven up by quality of the metal, these were surprisingly pricey 

 
Curious about other costs? Let me know!
 
My general observations is that “stuff” isn’t as cheap as you might think, probably because most of it is imported. However, food and then time / labor costs are pretty low. An example of this is that taxis and private hires all charge only on distance and not time. Given the Kampala traffic, this was surprising to me. A short, cheap ride could last 5 minutes or 20 minutes depending on the time of day, but it’d cost you the same amount. The culture here is very relaxed when it comes to time. Meetings unapologetically start or end late…or just get cancelled after you’ve already arrived. We once told data collectors to come pick up their money and materials for field visits and then due to some bank delays made them wait around THREE hours before we starting handing things out. While I was anxious and embarrassed leaving them to sit around the office waiting, I don’t think we got one complaint or question about when things would get started. That was insane to me and I’ve realized I place such a high value on time – both my own but also respecting others’ time. This probably stems from all the hours I “wasted” sitting alone waiting at the Millbrae BART station…just kidding Mom. 

In case you were wondering, James Blunt is still on the radio...in Uganda.

The radio here is an eclectic mix of throwbacks - don't hate it.   

The quickest way to get around Kampala is on a "boda boda," or motorcycle taxi. They can cut through the jam and take you door to door to door which is really convenient. You can get a boda at a "stage," which is essentially any street corner, sidewalk outside a popular bar / restaurant, etc. One of my boda drivers told me that they actually register their stage with the police / government, which surprised me. 

While you may hear horror stories about boda accidents / robberies, I haven't had any issues yet (knock on wood). Here are some tips I got about riding:

• Buy a full face motorcycle helmet from the states (they're expensive and not high quality here)
• Always get on / off on the left side. The exhaust pipe is on the right and will burn you!
• Get the number of boda drivers you trust. Especially for women, especially at night. 
• While you may want to hold onto the driver as you ride, that's not the norm here (easy to pick out new muzungu's this way). Most people are able to ride without holding on (like my coworker to the right), but I can't do it. I'm convinced my legs are too short to put enough pressure on the seat...? Anyways, I hold onto the little handle you see in the back. If you're lucky, the handle may actually wrap around the sides. Those are the best / most comfortable. Once I'm settled on the boda, I'll say "tugende" which means "let's go" - one of the few Lugandan words I've learned.

​Since it's not safe to walk around at night, I have a few bodas that know where I live and will come right to my gate to get me. I can see them approach from my balcony, and run down once they're here. 

I usually spend 3k-6k ($1-$2 USD) on bodas. It's kind of a gamble. Sometimes I negotiate before I get on (if I take one from a stage), but I find that if I hand them a sum I think is fair upon arrival, usually that works out. Every once in awhile, drivers will be fussy because they know they can rip off expats, but it's not work arguing over 30 cents here and there. 

The cheapest mode of transportation are "matatus" which are Toyota vans - you can see a bunch in the left of the videos below. I haven't taken these yet because I have no idea how to figure out where they go, but I think you pay about 500 shillings (~15 cents). There's a driver and a "conductor" who will lean out the window and yell at people / try to find passengers. You tell the conductor when you want to get off (say "parking"), and they'll pull over. 

While safer from a physical standpoint (during the day), petty theft can be common and the vans aren't always in good shape some sometimes they can break down.

Here are some video clips shot from a car to give you a sense of traffic in Kampala!

I'm feeling a lot less transient these days now that I have my own apartment. It's about a 10 minute drive from work (up to 20 or so depending on the jam). My neighborhood is Bukoto, which is adjacent to Ntinda, where I was living in CHAI housing last month. 

I have no idea what my address is, but here in Kampala, everyone uses landmarks to describe where they live. Gas stations are commonly used because they're big and well-lit at night, so they stay noticeable. When I tell people where my apartment is, I will first say it's in Bukoto near Froebel School. It's hit or miss if people will know that because it's not on the main street. If they at least know Froebel Street, that's a start.

If I'm getting blank stares, then I will direct people by saying..."coming from Kololo, take Kira Road past Kabira club. You'll pass a sign that says Kadic Medical Center and soon after it will be on the left. You'll see a small blue sign that says "Link Inn." Slope down there. Then continue down the street until you pass Froebel School and see another "Link Inn" sign. Turn right and then my gate is on the right."

The easiest thing is to just send a pin via Whatsapp. 

I'm sure I do actually have an address, because I get a printed water bill each month that somehow has a unique identifier...nonetheless, I don't think anyone gets mail to their houses / apartments. Instead, you'd use a PO Box which is what most organizations use as well. I've successfully gotten one Christmas card in the mail (thanks Japh!) so my confidence in the postal service is increasing. 

There are definitely some safety concerns about me writing about and posting photos of my apartment, but I'm fairly confident that anyone nobody reading my blog is actually in Kampala. And that anyone in Kampala that doesn't already know where I live (friends / CHAI drivers) would never be able to load my blog given the cost / speed of internet / data connections.

I have one roommate, or flatmate, as they would say here. She works for One Acre Fund and is actually based in Western Kenya (Kampala is closer than Nairobi), so travels very frequently. I'm excited for her to come back in a week or so, but in the meantime have befriended the couple across the hall. They both work in development (UN / some German foundation?) and seem great! They also have a tv... :) 

There are also some lizards / geckos keeping me company. I'm pretty sure they live above my closet (either in the top cabinets or between those and the ceiling). I can hear them scratching around / making some sort of lizard noises...not ideal but harmless and much more desirable than cockroaches. Sometimes they leave me some droppings but so far, nothing major. 

Another perk of living here is that I now don't have to clean my apartment. I did do a pretty intense mopping / de-molding of the fridge when I got in last weekend. But now, Christine will come twice a week. She works at a few other CHAI apartments too - we all trust her enough to leave her a key to our place which means we don't need to be home when she comes to clean. Christine has three kids: a daughter and two sons. Isiah, her youngest, is just two months old, but he's big! She brings him with her and he's a happy camper except when he wants to eat (which is often). When he's on his stomach, he can lift his head to look around which seems advanced for a 2 month old. I feel like he'll be able to roll over soon. I met Isiah last week when we were working from Ina's apartment. Glad I had a napping buddy :)

It's been over a week now since I arrived in Kampala and I'm starting to feel settled in - of course, a lot of that has to do with how much great food there is here. While a Ugandan colleague described the food as "bland," I would say that at least there is a lot of variety and we have hot sauce stocked in the office kitchen. Maybe I'll start to get bored in a few months, but for now, I'm more than happy spending my time outdoors rather than in the kitchen :)

"YOU HAVE TO TRY ROLEX!" was probably the most consistent reaction when I spoke with people who had spent time in Uganda. So last night, when my boda driver offered to take me to get some rolex on the way to my apartment, I happily obliged. Key ingredients: egg and chapati. What you see in the picture to the right is essentially an omelette cooking on a rounded metal hotplate over a charcoal cook stove. Before the eggs cooked too thoroughly, he threw a chapati on top. 

Chapati is like a mix between a tortilla, Indian roti, and Malaysia roti prata. I have to imagine its prevalence in Ugandan cuisine is a result of the large Indian population in Uganda. It’s not as dry as roti, but not as flakey or thick as roti prata. Anyway, once the chapati is added, he presses it to the eggs to get them to stick together. Then, he flips it over and adds a few final ingredients before rolling everything up. This particular stand had fresh tomatoes and cabbage. It seems like there may be more variety and it just depends where you go. Once it’s rolled, it gets put into a plastic bag (think newspaper bag) which then gets put into a paper bag to help with the heat as well as the excessive amount of grease haha.   

Why is it called rolex? Apparently the name came about from Ugandans saying "rolled eggs" or "roll of eggs" in an Lugandan accent. It seems like the farther you are from the center of town, the better the rolexes are...I'll be sure to taste test my way around and report back soon!

With the recently released Hello Food, food delivery app (think Grubhub / Seamless without an integrated payment system), I can access a huge variety of cuisines without even leaving my office / apartment. Within a delivery radius of my office, I can order Thai, Chinese, Italian, American (burgers, salads, wraps, etc.)...you get the idea. That said, it's apparently and understandably not all that great. At dinner last week, a German colleague said that the two types of food that are better in Uganda compared to home are Ethiopian and Indian. From the little of both I've tried, so far, I'd agree. 
 
Left: mysore dosa from Chaat House, which was amazing. @Mia Divecha, I think you'd approve :)
​Center: tiffin delivery we ordered to the office last week. Just found out that the non-veg option which I chose was goat liver (and potentially chicken hearts?)...we're specifying a chicken meat preference next time we order haha
Right: this "American Garden" brand has been in most of the grocery stores I've been to. I checked the labels and all the products are actually made in the states, it's not just a branding thing. Regardless, besides the peanut butter, their stuff leaves a lot to be desired.

That's good luck right?