Oh where oh where is my apartment?

I thought I would share a little about how fun things are here...

I went to see the head of my department the other day. I asked him when classes were starting and this is what he told me...


"Jenny, you are in Africa now, things happen slowly. There is not a rush to get things done. DON'T WORRY...CLASSES WILL START SOON...SOMETIME TOMORROW, NEXT WEEK, OR SO...MAYBE"

Ok...that is fine...things happen slower:) I am still waiting to find out when the orientation is, where the classes are, when they begin, how is teaching them, what time they are...and the official day to start classes was yesterday. It's ok, I am waiting...

As for my apartment...I was so strong on stating that I want to live alone...and everywhere I go I see apartments that are $800-$1000 and I can't come to terms with that. Now, I am looking for a house...that has 2 rooms that I can share with Elle, the other Rotary Scholar...because houses are more common-and local Ugandas are paying around 150-200$ a month for them. BUT, if I show up...HAHAHA the price becomes 400-500-600-700$$$$ love it:)

Then there are the taxi's and boda-boda's (a motorcycle taxi) imagine traffic, bikes, people, chickens, cows, and whatever on the street going fast, slow, all over the place...then picture me sitting on the back of this motorcyle, whose driver could very well be an Olympian or F-1 driver, dodging in and out of the cars, trucks, chickens...it is a hair raising experience that is highly additive...although I am worried that my leg will get ripped off if he happened to get just a sliver closer to anything/one else...

The drivers try to make money out of the Muzungu's...(white tourists) so it should cost about 1,500 (90cents u.s) BUT when I try to get on them they tell me its 5,000 (3.00) OK so I admit its not going to make me poor, but I get bothered by the fact that I am constantly expected to single handly raise the economy of Uganda...Atleast hey try...I just laugh and shake my head...I wont even bargin...I just move on to the next one. Now, I always go to the same spot to get on the boda boda and one of the men is very nice...he takes me where I want to go and doesn't seem to be ripping me off! so I give him tips:)

I am just so anxious to get into my new home...I want to be able to go shopping and buy some little decorations and make my place my own. I have seen these woven carpets that are so beautiful, these wooden masks, wall hangings ...etc... Then I get to go food shopping and find new fun vegetables and fruits to experiment with. I heard that they even have the food network here...wow that would be so much fun:) I cant wait to be baking and trying new concoctions!

Oh...so I was asking how much it costs for food....beef is $2.00 a KILO

3 Mango's cost 1000 shillings (60cents)
Bananas -the short sweet ones for a huge bunch with like 20 of them costs about 75 cents.

What is really nice is that here (unlike China) it is very easy to buy flour, baking soda, baking powder...so i can make cakes and muffins and breads....

ummmmmmmmmmmmm...now I am hungry.

Is anyone coming to visit me, so I can cook for them?

Till next time,

P.S. I will upload pictures as soon as I can get my apartment and use my laptop. I can't upload from here. So, because I am in Africa that might be...sometime soon, next week or something...maybe.HAHA