Our first day back in Uganda has been full of detours. Once
again, we’re reminded that the plan must always be flexible.
The first realization of uncertainty came when we were half
way between the USA and Uganda. Floyd suddenly realized that he had left the
keys to our house back in Texas. So, he spent the rest of our travel time
pondering how we’ll break into our house. I’m secretly pondering where I’ll be
hiding a key to prevent any future repeats of this scenario.
Once we landed at the airport, Floyd called our friend that
was supposed to pick us up. He was back in Kawempe (that is the north side of
the capital), so it would be more than an hour wait for him to come. He had
gotten confused and came to the airport to pick us up at 8 am instead of 8 pm.
All day, he’d been trying to reach Floyd through Facebook Messenger, but since
we were in the air, we never got any message. It was already 10 pm, so we didn’t
want to wait.
Fortunately, we found a taxi driver who has been driving in
Uganda for 12 years. He was a very nice man and drove very safely. He got us to
the hotel and even stopped at a fuel station so we could get a drink and snack
(most places would be closed before we reached the hotel since it was nearing
midnight). Of course, we bought him a soda of choice (Orange Fanta) and a
Snickers bar as well to show our appreciation. J
We finally settled into the hotel room just before midnight.
We woke up very early. I had time to take in the view from the hotel patio and we were the first ones down to the
hotels breakfast at 7.
Not long after that, we had a phone call from David, the
mechanic and our friend. In order to help us out, he has kept our vehicles at
his mechanic shop. He starts the car often enough to keep everything working
and it’s a safe place for the cars to rest. However, he didn’t get the message
that we were coming. Two days ago, he had gone about 6 hours north to help a
friend and wouldn’t return until late in the evening today. Our car keys were
at his home because he didn’t want to leave them at his shop. So, nobody would
be able to get our keys for us until he arrived. We’d have to stay another
night in the city.
We had to switch hotels because we went to one that was more
expensive (it's nearly $42 a night) because it’s on the main road, was easier for the taxi to get to, and
would have more options late at night. However, they charge a lot for their
driver to take you anywhere and another night would be too expensive. We reached
our friend Davis (the one that was supposed to pick us at the airport). We
arranged for him to pick us up at 10am and take us to the other hotel (where he
works). We then asked for towels to shower at our current hotel before having
to leave. It took an hour, but we finally got towels.
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| KFC in Uganda is Floyd's favorite, but we don't ever eat KFC in the US. :) |
When our friend picked us up, we dropped our things at the
other hotel and he drove us into the city. We took care of a few errands and
got lunch. We also ran into a friend and chatted for just a minute, which was
great. On the way back, Davis took us by a new shop that recently opened. It is
a huge shopping center that carries a lot of home goods, grocery items, kid’s
stuff, and other random things. Our only purchase was toilet paper (simple
necessities).
Floyd talked to our friend Henry, who’s a welder. When we
head to the house tomorrow, we’ll pick Henry up. He’ll help Floyd break into
our house. J
David returned to the city as planned, so he drove our van
over to the hotel where we’re staying. That means we can leave in the morning
without much delay.
Since we know this place so well, Floyd put in an order for
dinner around 2:30. We wanted to eat about 6:30 and plenty of notice is
necessary to get your food at a reasonable time. Just as 6:30 rolled around,
Elli (another young man that works at the hotel) knocked on the door to tell us
it was ready. We went to the dining area and found our chicken and chips (French
fries) already on the table. The reason that this story is worth sharing is really
just a bit funny. There on the table sat two forks and butter knives, the
chips, and a WHOLE chicken. Floyd said, “I did tell them we’d like the chicken
cut into pieces.” We considered just using our hands to rip it apart, but that
gets messy and you lose some of the precious meat. The chickens here are
definitely on the skinny side, so you can’t afford to lose any. Floyd called
Elli over and told him we’d like the chicken cut into pieces. In just a few
minutes, he came back with that chicken split into 4 pieces. It just strikes my
funny bone. Imagine being served a whole chicken and not even a knife. Am I
just high maintenance???
Now, as I’m typing this, Floyd is outside trying to help a
man whose car won’t start. At first he wanted a jump, but Floyd noticed the car
has power. The lights, radio, and everything else are on, it just won’t start.
It’s funny to hear their exchange outside as the man continues to try the same
thing over and over again and Floyd keeps repeating that the problem isn’t the
battery.
Also, I called my mom on a Wi-Fi call because she messaged
that Troy has something a bit concerning on his leg. It’s possible that he got
bit by something at Big Bad Burly back on Friday or Saturday (Big Bad Burly is an
overnight camping event through our church for the boys in the youth group and
their dads). In the middle of a sentence, the power went out. Now, I’m on my
cell phone and the modem is just a little chargeable device, so it shouldn’t
have been affected; however, the call suddenly dropped. The local tower probably went out with the power.
The power came back on in less than a minute but the
internet was not reconnecting. I decided to type on Word and then just copy it
into the blog once the internet was working again. Can you believe that I got about
half way through the 4th sentence and suddenly nothing was happening
anymore? The top of the screen said, “Microsoft Word (not responding)”.
REALLY??? It just struck me as so ironic and simply annoying that even
something as basic as Microsoft Word was getting in on the trouble making
today. Fortunately, it only lasted a a few minutes before I was able to resume
typing.
*side note, the kids are back in Texas with my parents. We are only in Uganda for about 17 days, so it's just Floyd and I. We still don't have work permits, but we came to see how things are going and check on everyone.
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