there is a mzungu sleeping on the bus

and i know i can leave in the night, just a moment in time, a moment in

time, don't be scared of what you find, in the night. [us royalty]

After finishing my second work week, i left on a night bus to head to jinja, uganda to meet up with the other fellows and indulge myself on rolex's (a chapati with nutella and a banana = kind of awesome), white backpackers and beer. Moral of the story is the bus was completely harmless. I was the only white person on the bus, which essentially meant i did not go unnoticed. there was a rumor going around the CDC about travelers who shook hands with a stranger, then felt woozy and woke up to find their belongings gone. The scientific rationale for said scam seemed debatable as we discussed it, yet when my bus neighbor sat down and offered his hand to introduce himself, I was a little weary (i am a sucker for urban legends, i have only ever flashed someone driving without headlights maybe once). But, I shook his hand. and LIVED! Huzzah! and I took a nap and woke up to my wallet and passport and camera exactly where I had left them! Praise Jesus.

The bus was comfortable. The seats are constantly in a super reclined position, just like a bed in first class. Before we left we said a prayer for a safe journey, and the conductor gave a little speech that ended with, "...i hope you have an enjoyable ride, even if the road is in terrible condition." I fell asleep immediately and slept like a baby the whole way. I was pushed awake at the border (4:20am) and when I stumbled to the border agent at the window, he said "Oh! We heard there was a mzungu asleep on the bus." I can only imagine the gossip train that took place before I got there between the passengers, the driver, the money exchangers and the random people that congregate. I also had a man on my bus wearing a stunning 1984 Nike track jacket that was brightly colored. I just followed him for the border crossing, and never got lost. Even in the dark.

eastern uganda speeding by at sunrise

I made it to Jinja (the main mode of transportation are boda bodas, or motorcycle taxis, so, again I'm sorry for breaking the "no-motorcycle" rule, dad. but they're just SO FUN) I met up with Christina and we had coffee and wandered into town and through the market and had chicken for lunch and the roads were so dusty that every time we got to our destination Christina has a layer of red dust on her face (she sat in the middle of the motorcycle, therefore I got to use her as a shield)

sitting over the nile and waiting for jinja to wake up

just being stereotypical in a coffee shop

christina with new friends in the market

omg. shoes.

That night, Jonathan arrived (for those that are concerned, he survived the rafting and in standard fashion, was underimpressed) as did Wingo, Becca and Purser. We spent that night meeting new people (plenty of Americans, as the Peace Corps Uganda team was also camping out at the hostel), drinking beer, dancing, talking and having an all-around carefree, white-person-in-a-foreign-hostel-experience. The next morning, my headache, rolex, Jonathan and I got in a matatu and rode the hour back to Kampala. We had a lovely burger at a Japanese restaurant (Sushi? in Uganda?) then parted ways.

a view from inside the safari tent

jonathan and wingo outside of the tent, on our lil porch

...it'll make you lazy?

I wandered to the old taxi park when you can get a matatu going more or less anywhere. Organized chaos, definitely. But, I found my bus to head to Entebbe (the airport is an hour or so outside of Kampala) and napped and then got off and wandered to the beach front and sat for 2 hours, napping, reading, and taking a soda (I may turn into a bottle of Coca-Cola before too long). I am half-way through The Road to Hell by Mike Maren and so far the take away messages are: NEVER, EVER work for Save the Children. And that the politics of development work fueled the crisis in the Somalia in the 80s and 90s. And if you're working on your MPH in Global Health and have life-long aspirations of working "in the field" you may want to further develop your justification for said activity or find a career change so you don't look like an idiot. (errr, awkward.)

from the vault: justin in front of the old taxi park in 2005

a view of the lake

where i camped out for the afternoon

Otherwise, I am almost done with Season 1 of Mad Men, and I am hooked! I downloaded a lot of jams from here: www.thisbandissick.com. I learned how much Asian-Pacific geography I don't know: Nauru, Kiribati, Niue and Borneo, to name a few. I read about how if you're not on Facebook in Tunisia, you just may miss out on the revolution. I went out to a delicious dinner with my roommate and his brother and girlfriend who have since left Nairobi to head back to Spain. I looked at these photos from Cote d'Ivoire. I toyed with the idea of getting up at 5am to watch the State of the Union. I had a few meetings and played around in Excel with DHS data re: resettled refugees. I ate a lot of fruit from the canteen on the KEMRI campus and
enjoyed the candy my mom sent in my birthday package.