More Of The Day To Day

The longer my stay in Uganda, the harder it is for me to relate to you, the reader. Day to day living here is quite different than in the U.S. and I’ve become quite comfortable with the ins and outs of it. From time to time I’ll use a word or phrase that is quite common here but you may not be familiar with. I try to inform you of the meaning as we go along but lets review, shall we?

Muzungu = White skinned person but is also used to describe any foreigner including Asian and Indians. It’s just like honke or haole. Amber recently asked to learn the word for black skinned person (omwiraguzu) and now we get to give them a dose of what it feels like.

Boda-Boda = Scooter taxi. They are everywhere and really come in handy. I usually walk to town for groceries and take a boda back. This ride takes about 3 minutes and costs 500Ush (27 cents U.S.)

Matatu = Mini van bus or combi if you’ve been to Mexico.

I guess that’s it for now. There will be more later I’m sure.




Using A Cell Phones

It doesn’t take long to see that cell phone companies probably spend the most on advertising out of all businesses here. There is a lack of large franchise organizations in Uganda. There are no McD’s, no Burger Kings’, no Subway’s, no Borders or Barnes and Nobles, no Best Buy, no WalMart, no Starbucks, no KFC, nothing. But you could find yourself driving way out in the middle of nowhere, through neighborhood buildings half built of brick and half of mud and sticks, and see some shops painted head to toe with the colors and logo of one of the four or five cell providers operating in Uganda. It’s nice not to have phone poles and wires running every which way, interfering with the beautiful scenery. Cellphone promotions are the majority of billboard advertising too. One phone company has been clever enough, which I really appreciate, to put up the signs on the highway that tell you how far it is to the next major town.

Paying for airtime for your cell phone here is quite unique. You see, a lot of Ugandans don’t have a mailbox. Heck I’m not even sure they have an address given the system, or lack of a system, for demarcating property lines (bushes and rocks). Without a mailbox it would be hard to receive a bill for your cell phone plan so the cell phone company has setup a pay-as-you-go system. Upon arriving in Uganda one of the first errands Amber took me on was to get a SIM card for my phone. By the way, American cell phones work on a bandwidth that no one else in the world uses (Shocking!). I bought an unlocked quad band phone (a phone that can utilize four different frequencies and isn’t locked into any particular phone company) before I came. When you buy a SIM card you are essentially deciding which phone company you are going to use. We didn’t try to comparison shop but, from what I’ve heard from others, they’re all about the same price (3,000ush approx. which isequal to $1.63 as of this writing). After you get a SIM card in your phone you then purchase some airtime. This comes in the form of a scratch ticket much like the lottery. The ticket will have a number to dial and a small patch of scratchable grey area. You simply send a text message to the provider containing the number you’ve revealed and the credit is added to your phone accordingly. You can buy airtime in many different increments from 1,000Ush up to I don’t know how high. I think it’s a great system. It’s very easy and convenient.

There is no voicemail here, which may seem hugely inconvenient, but it’s not. People mainly use text messaging which works very similarly to voicemail (the message goes into your inbox to be read at your convenience). A text message will cost you between 3-9 cents U.S. depending on the time of day you send it and a phone call will cost between 10-20 cents per minute. So you can see the reason everyone sends texts. Another practice used here is to “flash” someone. This is to call someone and let it ring just long enough for them to see your name on their screen. This can be used in a number of applications. For example, you agree with someone ahead of time to meet somewhere when you flash him or her. Or you flash them to tell them you are on your way.

Watching A Movie

There are lots of DVD’s in Mbarara. They all have a slightly different selection but one thing they all have in common is they’re all bootlegs and they’re all in pretty bad shape. There have been many times when sitting down to enjoy a flick we’ve not been able to watch it due to the terrible amount of scratches on it. I’ve taken these discs back to the store and they usually let me take another free of charge. If you do manage to get one going, you’ll often find that the movie was recorded by someone sitting in a theater with a video camera. You can tell because eventually someone sitting in front has to get up, presumably to pee, and their head is blocking the screen. The first few times it’s really funny, especially when they come back to find their seat again, but eventually it becomes nostalgic of actually going to the movies. An advantage to bootlegs is that the selection at the store is quite current. You can rent movies here that are still in the theatre back home. We’ve mainly been renting television shows. It’s more bang for your buck since there can be 10 hours of tv show on one disk. We’ve watched a few seasons of Cold Case and ER, and now we’re working through Six Feet Under and The Wire. Something else they do at the DVD store is put several movies that relate onto one disk. We rented a quadruple feature of Leonardo DiCaprio flicks once. There is also a HUGE section of Nigerian cinema, called Nollywood, to pick from. I’ve seen some clips playing in the store while looking for something to rent and I couldn’t imagine sitting through a whole Nollywood movie. Not only are they worse than a Mexican soap opera, atrocious acting and inconsistent storylines full of superstitions and customs you’re not familiar with, but they’re often 4 hours long! But in the spirit of trying new things, next time I’m in the video store I will ask which Nollywood is the best and try to get through it. A full review will follow. Africans in general have different tastes when it comes to video entertainment. After football (soccer to you in America) the next most watched thing on tv is the African version of Big Brother. In their version the participants don’t do anything. There are no contests or challenges. They just sit in a room and annoy each other. And this show is on everyday!


Nose Picking

It is not uncommon to see people pick their nose in public here. It is socially acceptable to pick your nose in public. Since everyone picks their nose, you don’t have to admit it to me cause I already know you do, you may find it convenient. No more trying to hide it from the other drivers while waiting for the light to change. What’s the big deal? You have an itch or something poking you inside your nostril so go ahead and scratch it.

Grasshopper trap

Ingredients:

1 Big, Bright fluorescent light mounted approx. 10 feet off the ground.
1 Full sheet of corrugated metal roofing, 2’x8’
1 Bucket, as big as you can get

Place the bucket directly underneath the light. With the metal roofing bend one of the ends into a funnel. Place the funnel into the bucket, leaning the roofing up against whatever you have the light mounted to (whether it’s on a pole or on the side of a building). When night falls turn on the light. You will discover that the light attracts the bugs that grasshoppers feed on so in turn attracts grasshoppers. For some reason unknown to me the grasshoppers will jump into the metal roofing so hard that they will be stunned and fall right into the bucket. The small hole of the funnel is enough to keep the grasshoppers from escaping.


Fried Grasshoppers

As many grasshoppers you can eat
Enough frying oil to fill a pan to 1” deep

Peel the legs and wings off the live grasshoppers. Heat the frying oil in the pan. Fry the grasshoppers until golden. Allow to cool. Enjoy! Kinda’ shrimpy I’m told.