Re-Entry

Ian and his boys

A month ago I woke up in my bed here in Uganda disoriented from 30 hours of travel and time changes the day before, and I asked myself, “what do I do here again?”  Well, to quote Shawshank Redemption “get busy living or get busy dying.”  Here’s some of the highlights of the last month.

Micro Brewery Visit

In Kampala is a night club, (Venom or Viper.. not sure… something that will kill you and starts with a v… I always say it wrong) that claims to be East Africa only microbrewery.  A couple friends and I decided to check it out and sample their oat sodas.  Not wanting to experience the “club” aspect we went early around 8 pm. 

Although it was empty you could see they spent some serious money on the place, evidenced by the light up dance floor, flat screens, and plush seats.  The sound system blared late 90’s rap and r & b.  We walked through the VIP room to see the brewing tanks decked out in neon lights which made them look like the engine room of the starship enterprise.  I guess the owners were like, people like clubs and people like micro brews, why not combine them.  The combination feels a little weird, like gum and nuts, both enjoyable but maybe not at the same time.      

We found a booth but had a hard time getting beverage service as most of the staff were still in a meeting.  Finally we got some Chocolate Stout that was pretty good.  The only problem was that it is was then hard to drink a Ginger Lime Ale after drinking a dark beer… rookie mistake.   We also ordered “nachos.”   When they arrived an hour later they looked like little meatballs.  Apparently nachos meant globs of tomato relish on a cracker with a dollop of sour cream on top.  Overall good times, good beer, weird vibe. 

Rafting

With his time in UG coming to a close, our housemate Tim organized a rafting trip on the Nile.  Although it was a little unnerving to hear the air leaking out the boat as we started we had a great time lead by an expert guide and surrounded by a crew of kayakers that were there to catch people and paddles when they were catapulted out of the boats.  The Nile is a little bio-polar with manic rapids and then long stretches of calm.  Our boat never flipped we all got thrown once.  I’ll let the pictures do most of the story telling here.   

Watch that first step 

A Formidable Crew

Duck and Cover

Tim Falling Out

Me Laughing at Tim Falling Out

Splish Splash.. Taking a Bath

Let's Go Surf'n Now

Birthday Parteee

To celebrate the existence of Kathryn and myself on this planet we had a little party.  Stealing a page from our days in Athens Ohio we made it a talent show party, starting of with the youngest attendees dancing around to the Harlem Shakes.  Talents included limericks, headstands, capitals of the world, ventriloquist (sort of), bad jokes, singing, and my favorite a beat box and rap about the Wilkes Family. 

It was awesome to have settled in enough that we could invite friends for a party.  Unfortunately as we looked around the room about a fourth of the people will be gone in a couple months or less.  Such is the life of the expat. 

Everybody have fun Tonight...Everybody Wang Chung Tonight

Dropping some knowledge