Chicken and Beads

Back in February, a friend had his birthday party at the bead shop.  

He hired a guy to grill chicken for his guests. Inside the shop.  

There was pizza.  And jewelry of course.

It was probably the best chicken we've had in Kampala.  

Qaddafi's Mosque

There aren't many tourist sights in Kampala.  But there is a cluster of religious buildings (a mosque, baha'i temple, and cathedral) that get some attention from sight seekers.  

In certain parts of town, the Mosque dominates the view.  It's huge.  But it hadn't even occurred to me to visit it until some friends decided to go.

For the tour they wrapped us up in scarves (heads and legs).  A man wrapped me and he didn't seem to confident in what he was doing.  At one point he seemed to be getting frustrated and asked "Don't women do this where you're from?"  I told him yes, but I don't.  So I ended up stumbling about, trying to hold my scarf up while taking pictures.  

The inside of the mosque was really peaceful and impressive.  

The mosque was started by Idi Amin and completed with funds donated by Qaddafi.

We climbed up to get a view of Kampala.  

While at the top, we managed to get attention from the male tourists and guides.  Once we made our way down they were very eager to have photos with us, and take English lessons, and hold our hands...

Another day in Uganda.  

Mozzarella

I found cheese.  It turns out there is a "farmer's market" here, which is basically code for a market where vendors sell food white people like.  

All the markets here on the roadside selling piles of onions, pineapples, and carrots are technically farmer's markets, but we simply refer to them as The Market.  A farmer's market seems to take on the meaning of what we see in the U.S.  There is mozzarella, ricotta, fresh baguettes, and basil.  They even import fruits like orange oranges (Ugandan oranges are green), apples, and pears.  These are fruits that are simply not grown in Uganda.  

Ugandans know their audience though.  The money is where the foreigners are, so you should sell what foreigners like.  Even if that means importing fruits from South Africa to sell at the "local" farmer's market.  

Look, I love mozzarella.  No, it's not as good as what I can get in the U.S., but I wasn't going to turn it down.  I bought mozzarella made from a Ugandan cow's milk, and it was pretty good.  

Something I could turn down was the tortilla chips and salsa.  First of all, the label said "torttilo chips", and the salsa looked watery and just made me unhappy to look at.  Just as I hesitated to trust the east coast to make delicious Mexican food, I also mistrust Ugandans.  

This meal reminded me of summer in California.  I was pretty pleased with myself that I was able to eat this food in February, which would generally never happen in the U.S. at this time.  

Performers

I've seen a couple different types of performances in the past few days.  

These guys showed up at a farmer's market that's held at someone's home.  They did some pretty amazing and awkward looking poses with their bodies.

This guy was super tall, but he jumped through a hula hoop!

I also saw some Ugandan musicians playing acoustic.  One performer (not these guys) got up and did an awful rendition of Ben Harper's "The Drugs Don't Work".  He then proceeded to do awful renditions of other songs as well.  

There were also some really fantastic artists with beautiful voices.  The guy pictured here was extremely talented.  

Asian in Uganda

Uganda has a surprisingly yummy array of Asian restaurants.  

Arirang, the Korean restaurant, is one of my favorites.  I love that I can count on these places to get some flavorful and spicy veggie dishes.  

Whenever we go to this restaurant it's full of people, mostly Koreans, singing their hearts out to karaoke.  Best background music ever.  

Even though I've seen these restaurants jam packed with Asians, I have no idea where they go during the day.  

Last night was the first night I've had sushi since I left the U.S.  It definitely satisfied my craving.  

Something German

A bbq we went to had this game that called for beer and quick feet.  I didn't play, but I enjoyed watching.  Especially since they were playing right in front of an awesome view of Kampala.  

As the game was explained by a German guy, there seemed to be a confused consensus that the game originates from Germany. 

I really like the movement in this shot.  The purpose was for one team to pick up the bottle you see sitting in the grass after it had been hit by a ball.  They have to be speedy.  

Australia Day

We went to a party to celebrate Australia Day.  I still don't have a very clear conception of what Australia Day is, but it has something to do with James Cook "discovering" Australia.  

That's the end of what I'm going to say about Australia.  This is the view from the apartment building, aka, the view that will soon by mine! Mua hahaha. ...We are thinking of moving to a new apartment.

Yes, people did swim in this.  

Peter lets me take pictures of him.  He's a good model.  

This guy on the other hand...Just kidding, Derrick is just very sensitive to the camera.  If you could see his expression right now it would be mostly uncomfortable.  It's too bad I have to focus on the back of his head whenever I want a photo of him now.

End of post dreamy picture.  

B Boys of Kampala

Last week we went to a break-dance and hip hop tournament that happens every January.  The show was somewhere around seven hours but we were there for about two.

This style of dance is used as a community building tool.  They teach classes and hold workshops throughout the week for people of all ages.

Forgive the photography.  I'm still learning to take action shots.  

He reminds me of a cat pouncing on it's prey...in a silly way.

The guys we saw compete were extremely talented, agile, and STRONG.  

In between the dancing there were hip hop artists.  Some sang in Luganda, but I had to take the MC at his word when he said the lyrics were "very deep."  

During the dance offs, the competitors would just watch each other perform from the other end of the stage.

Look at me!  Look at me!

Two young Finnish girls choreographed and performed a hip hop dance.  I thought it was particularly cool that they had become so involved with this community of people since coming to Uganda.  

                             

These guys were more amateur hip hop dancers, but still quite good.  They seemed to have a fondness for doing robot and vogue-like dance motions.  It got a little tiring after a while.  

Graduation Party 2

So another friend of ours had a graduation party last week.  John has been studying for his MA at the University in Kampala and wanted to celebrate his degree.

Camera hands!  This graduation party was a lot less formal than a typical Ugandan grad party.  The main fare of the night was goat and beer.

Tee hee hee!  

John scoffed at the head table (a table embellished with flowers and sodas that is elevated and covered).  Tables such as these are usually meant for the graduates, but John spent most of the night mingling with his guests.  He did not scoff at the awesome cloth fire.  In fact he placed it directly by his side for his speech.

Sometimes I let Bridget get a hold of my camera so that there are also shots of me.  She does a pretty good job and is a very eager picture taker.  

For all you supernatural believerfreaks, what do you make of this picture?  I guess Ann's hand was moving so quick that it was somewhat transparent in the photo?  Or she temporarily transformed into a ghost...

He is watching you!

Graduation Party 1

Last week Derrick and I were invited to our friend's graduation party.  It was really neat to see how these parties differed from those we're used to the the States.  Overall we had a really wonderful time and it was great to be a part of an event that meant so much to our friend.   

The party was actually for five graduates, and each of them gave a speech.  Some had a knack for claiming they weren't going to speak for very long and then plowing on through never ending monologues.  

Our friend's uncle was the one who threw the party.  He seemed peeved that he had to give a speech.  

On the other end of the spectrum, one man with a phd was not even asked for a speech, but rose to share some "advice" anyways.  He basically held our hands through his entire CV, continually mentioning how the graduates should look to his achievements when thinking about their futures.  Very modest.

My friend and some of her guests.  Many of the women adorned themselves in their most vibrant outfits.  I love how everything is so bright and dramatic.

They shoot confetti onto the graduates and, unfortunately, the cake.  This seems to happen at a lot of special occasions, like the wedding I went to way back when.

Have I mentioned that cake in Kampala is a sham?  My standards have gone down, so I eat it here, but sometimes I wish I could have a rich, soft cake with creamy frosting. This is basically the opposite.  

Friends!  They all look sickeningly happy don't they?