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1 July 2001

Here's a experience I'd like to record for posterity: Last Thursday night I awoke at about 3 am due to my shaking bed. I stood up right away, annoyed, but with a sense that something was wrong. The shaking immediately stopped, and I was left wondering what the heck Askan was doing on his half of the bed. I couldn't sleep well afterwards, and felt a slight bouncing a couple more times. At about 4 am I finally told Askan that whatever he was doing over there, it felt like an earthquake, to which he mumbled something unintelligible and rolled over. I forgot about the whole affair until today when another person mentioned their sleepless night this week due to the earthquake. Nothing was in the paper or on the radio about it that I know of, so I guess either an earthquake is so common that it's un-newsworthy, or Uganda is a nation of very sound sleepers, like Askan. It never occurred to me before, but 'Rift Valley' equates to 'New Madrid Fault'. I've associated that geologic feature with emerging infectious diseases, not earthquakes. Anyway, I'm actually happy to hear that my bed was moving due to an earthquake.

It took two hours and three semi-filled cars to pack, load, move and unload all of of our stuff into the new place. The owners of the house, the Lukomas, were there directing a small army of workers in cleaning and painting operations, so we put everything in one room and got out of the way. We picked up Kirsten Hell, a friend we met in Benin about 8 years ago, for lunch and sourvenir shopping. It was her last day in Uganda after spending the week consulting on a maize crop protection project. The three of us gossiped (ahem, I mean caught up) about people, of couse, and discussed the differences between Cotonou and Kampala. She commented that Kampala in general has more stuff - supermarkets, variety of produce, restaurants, paved roads, high rise buildings, green space in the city, cell phones, and guards walking around with guns. Cotonou is more polluted, but Benin in general has a more vibrant culture and better local cuisine. You still can't beat "les baignet avec du piment" bought on the side of the road and a serving of foufou. (Or is it fufu? That doesn't look right...)

Have to admit Saturday night in the new house was a bit disappointing. There was a water problem from some construction going on next door, so the water coming out of the tap included brown solid pieces of who-knows-what. I was up most of the night due to the yelping, howling and barking of dogs. (Needless to say, Askan slept like a baby.) It seemed we were surrounded and as I layed there frustrated I couldn't help but think of doggie murder plans. Do dogs have a mating season? July is it from the sounds of Saturday night. But on the other hand, Sunday morning was great, sitting on the balcony with a coffee, watching Lake Victoria emerge from the mist while birds chirped away. We saw wierd looking hammerheads (the name says it all) and a pair of bee eaters, who have a nest hanging off one of the rose bushes. Maybe I'll get used to the dogs.