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20 May 2001
The days move slowly but the weeks and months go by fast. That's what the Peace Corps volunteers used to say, both as a reassurance when the tedium of village life was too much, and in appreciation of how fast two years can pass by. I guess I'm thinking of it again because I'm amazed at how fast these first couple of weeks have gone by. It seems I'm running around in circles trying to find things - my way around, a job, a house, a car - this is one of those times in life when there's so many loose ends hanging that it feels like they'll never get tied up. At least not fast enough for me... Last Sunday we travel to Jinja, the city that has grown up around the source of the Nile. It's located about 1 1/2 hours East of Kampala. We had hoped to see the falls and have lunch. Tourists go to the falls to do white water rafting - something I definitely want to try in the future. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the entry point because it was blocked for a visit by the newly inaugerated president of Uganda and his good friend, Col Gaddafi. Guess we had the same idea for a Sunday drive. At least they didn't get in the way of lunch. This Sunday morning Askan and I played tennis - 9AM and it was already blazing hot. We played at the Lugogo Tennis Club, which is actually public courts. It costs 10,000 Ugandan Shilling for non-members to play for 1 hour (I think there actually a financial disincentive to membership). For an addition 1000 Shilling (about $.60) you can have the services of a ball boy for the hour. We're both beginners, so I really didn't want anyone observing our balls flying everywhere, but this barefooted kid wants to collect our balls so... By the end of the hour, the so called "ball boy" is giving us pointers on the game and our form (or lack thereof). He probably would be the star of his high school team anywhere else in the world. Askan's grumbling that he wants to go to dinner, so I have to cut this short. Until next Sunday...
The Nile at Jinja