Top 5s

As we close in on the end of our stay, here are the top 5 things I will miss about Uganda:

5. The vistas. Uganda is a country of beautiful landscapes from the Rwenzori mountains, to Lake Victoria, to the savannah lands, and everything in between. There is a breathtaking view around each corner.

4. The colors. In addition to the views, everyday life here is injected with vibrant color. The bright colors of the traditional clothing, the flowers, and the fruits and vegetables.

3. Extremely cheap organic produce – Ah, the 10 cent giant avocado…the 30 cent stack of tomatoes…. the 50 cent pineapple. Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market will seem like an absolute rip off in comparison.

2. Living the good life – Here in Uganda we can afford massages ($7 an hour), a daily housekeeper, and a house on the golf course.

1. The people we’ve met along the way. We’ve met some really wonderful people here that have been incredibly welcoming and helpful – from the impressive doctors and researchers, to our fabulous housekeeper Sandra, to the general people we meet in our travels. Ugandans have a reputation of being incredibly friendly and that has surely been our experience.

Still, here are also the top 5 things I am looking forward to back in the US:

5. Reliable utilities – I have a new appreciation for the utilities in developed countries and I’m looking forward to bathing Ani in water without having to boil it first and having electricity on a daily basis.

4. Anonymity – While Ani will probably be depressed that she will no longer generate stares and smiles from everyone around, I’m looking forward to blending in a little more to my surroundings.

3. Trader Joes – and all its ready-to-eat goodness.

2. Relaxation – I’ve had plenty of time to relax here in Mbarara, but I’m looking forward to sleeping without the anxiety and vivid dreams courtesy of Larium (antimalarial medication) and not having to fret about mosquitoes, Ebola, etc….

1. Seeing our friends and family. We’ll be in Michigan from December 19^th to January 5^th and hope to catch up with family, especially my new niece Amata. After that it is back to Berkeley and into our new apartment in UC Village.

Ssese Islands

We took a short vacation on the Ssese (pronounced “say say”) islands this week – sort of an early Christmas and celebrating the end of Ben’s data collection. The main island was very laidback and absolutely beautiful. Here’s the view from our hotel balcony. The only problem are the many, many mosquitoes at night. They were also apparently getting their Christmas dinner early as well – courtesy of my blood. Here’s hoping the antimalarial medication really works!

Our Holiday E-Card

Seasons greetings to all! Here’s a photo of us in our matching Kitenge clothes we had made earlier in our stay. We know, it’s the ultimate in cheese but we did it anyways.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season. We have had a nice break from the onslaught of Christmas advertising but I am looking forward to some holiday cheer next week. Ani and I are headed back to Michigan next Wednesday – leaving Uganda on Sunday night and spending about 24 hours in California. Originally our plan was to stay with Ben until early January but for a number of reasons – including the recent Ebola outbreak – we’ve decided to cut our stay by two weeks.

On that note – Happy Holidays!

Booted!

For those who know of our terrible, terrible luck with parking tickets, we thought you’d get a kick of out this. Apparently we neglected to pay our 15 cent parking fee last week when shopping downtown. There is a pay for parking system with attendants who collect fees when you return to your car. Sometimes, they aren’t there though and we didn’t realize it was our responsibility to track them down and pay our 15 cents. Of course, we tend to stand out here and as a result, no parking infraction goes unnoticed. So, yesterday when Ben went shopping for some Thanksgiving wine he found our car was booted. Yep, apparently they have 1 car boot in all of Mbarara and it’s reserved for us. We aren’t thrilled about the $12 fine but we can’t help but laugh at how our Berkeley parking karma has followed us all the way to Uganda.

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! We had a fabulous feast provided by Nneka (the UCSF research coordinator who lives up the road from us). We gorged on all the traditional fare – turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, greens, pumpkin and apple pie and so much more. It was all incredibly delicious and I think I consumed more calories in that meal than in all of the past week. Many thanks to Nneka and those who helped her with the feast!

African Pigeons

When referring to animals and petulance, it seems that often the adjective “African” denotes a more extreme version of what we westerners are accustomed to (e.g. African killer bees, African ants with their 4 feet anthills, etc…). In this spirit, I’ve deemed these birds “African Pigeons”. These things are all over Mbarara – mostly scavenging out of trash dumpsters and in parks. I think they are called Maribous and they are huge creatures with a massive wingspan (around 5-6 feet). At first, I was intimidated by these birds but I’ve become quite fond of them.

Last week I pulled a lower-back muscle and for the last few days I have been suffering from an “African cold”. Thankfully we don’t have any mirrors in our house but occasionally I glimpse my reflection in a window and wonder who that hunched old woman is. It’s at these times, I make sure to take a stroll past the nearest trash heap and look closely at the marabous. I feel absolutely radiant by comparison.

Books

Well, we’ve crossed the half-way point of our stay with 9 weeks in Uganda and 7 more to go. Looking back on my previous blogs, I’m not sure the posts have conveyed how bored I have been. Don’t get me wrong – the scenery is beautiful and the people are friendly, but I don’t have much to do and I don’t have the wonderful distraction that is television. Ani is good company but conversations with a 1 year old only take you so far. I’ve even come to relish the task of doing some of Ben’s data cleaning and anyone who has spent time cleaning data knows that I am truly, truly bored.

So, I have been doing a lot of reading. I scope out books from the libraries of other muzungus who are mainly British and Canadian, so I’ve expanded my knowledge of British and Canadian authors. Here’s a list of books I have read thus far. I have starred the ones that were particularly good in case anyone is shopping for a new book:

• The Mighty and the Almighty – Madeline Albright*
• The Invisible Cure – Helen Epstein*
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey – Thornton Wilder
• March – Geraldine Brooks*
• This Body – Tessa McWatt
• In the Skin of a Lion – Michael somethingorother
• Life of Pi – Yann Martel*
• The Foreign Correspondent – Alan Furst
• A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby
• How to Be Good – Nick Hornby
• Neither Here Nor There – Bill Bryson
• The Birth of Venus - Sarah Dunant
• Cargo of Orchids - Susan Musgrave
• To Be Someone - Louise Voss
• Slave - Mende Nazer*
• Their Eyes Were Watching God-Zora Neale Hurston*
  

Fort Portal

This weekend we went on an excursion to Fort Portal, a town about 3 hours north of Mbarara. The drive went past incredible scenery – glistening tea plantations, the Queen Elizabeth Park savannah lands, and the Rwenzori mountains.

Here are a few photos: (1) lunch at a hotel overlooking Queen Elizabeth park, (2) A family photo of us taking a walk in the jungle where thankfully there are no snakes this time of year, and (3) Ben and Ani in front of one of the many crater lakes.

Happy Halloween

We hope everyone had a fun holiday. Halloween is definitely not celebrated here in Uganda and if we thought everyone was staring at us before, they surely were perplexed to see Ani sporting wings fashioned out of mosquito netting and wire hangers. Ani was either an angel or a mosquito, depending on her disposition. We went “trick-or-treating” at the Canadian NGO house and scored some good produce.

Food

A few folks have asked about the food here in Uganda. It’s no accident that you have never been to a Ugandan restaurant. In general, the cuisine of this country can be described as bland and starchy. The national dish is called “matoke” (mah-TOE-kay), which is steamed mashed plantains and looks like congealed banana mush. I guess it makes sense if you live in a country with serious diarrhea problems but I think it is pretty unappetizing. I get constipated just looking a matoke but Ugandans love it and seem confused when you don’t order it at a restaurant. A typical Ugandan lunch plate consists of a big ol’ heap of matoke, a side of boiled potatoes called “irish”, some white rice, beans, and groundnut sauce, similar to peanut sauce. You can swap out the beans for some other small portion of protein like some fried goat bits or a skinny chicken thigh and there are plenty of other starches to choose from as well (boiled sweet potato, chapatti, French fries, etc…).

Before you start to feel sorry for us, though, I should mention that we don’t eat generally eat Ugandan fare that often at home and instead opt for locally made cheese and yogurt, pasta, and fish from Lake Victoria. The one Ugandan dish we eat a lot of is beans and rice, primarily because Ani loves it and one bonus is that the fresh beans, once removed from their pods, are quite lovely (see photo).

Also, there are some bright spots on the food landscape. Much of the fruit is delicious and very cheap – pineapples, passion fruit, extra-sweet little bananas, papaya, and melon. In my opinion, the best thing about Ugandan food is the glorious avocado. Avocados are abundant here and are usually about 3 times the size of those that you see in California supermarkets, have a milder and creamier taste, and cost about 10 cents. We eat loads of avocados – salted slices, guacamole, and blended into yogurt smoothies for an extra creamy morning treat.

Of course, there are the foods we can’t get here that I crave and look forward to diving into in January –dark chocolate, pizza, decent breakfast cereal, and chicken I don’t have to look in the eye before purchasing. When I start thinking about these things my mouth waters so I just grab another slice of avocado and try to savor that instead.

Safari in style

This weekend we went on safari, meaning we went driving around a game park looking at animals. Lake Mburo National Park is about 40 minutes from Mbarara and is considered underrated and underutilized compared to the larger and more popular parks to the west. We took in some great sites and kept track of the main animals we saw: impala, topi, zebra, warthog, buffalo, waterbuck, hippos, monkeys, baboons, and several species of beautiful and interesting birds. I think my favorite of all the animals were the weaver birds who use the papyrus that grows along the lakeshore and weaves these elaborate nests (see photo).

Instead of camping, we decided to treat ourselves to the fabulous Mihingo lodge at the park. We stayed in beautiful thatch huts with amazing views and really good food. It was probably the nicest lodge-like place I have ever stayed in and we are already thinking about when we might go back for another night.

Ani continues to be a fun and adaptable traveler. At one point on our drive through very rough terrain, she got car sick and vomited all over me, but besides that, she was in good spirits and continued to charm the other guests and lodge employees.

“Muzungu, how are you?”

This is the phrase I hear at least 25 times a day as I traverse the markets and take my walks. English is the official language of Uganda, however, there are 33 local languages that dominate day to day conversation. Apparently, anyone who has had any schooling learns this exchange: question - “How are you?” and reply - “I am fine.” Seeing a white person seems to spark memories of this tutorial and everyone springs this little conversation on us. Another popular query is “How is baby?” I always reply that we are “fine” or “well” or “good”. I’ve already tired of these responses and am considering responding with “I am fabulous” or “I have had better days”, depending on my mood.

In Mbarara, the local language is Runyankole. The only words in Runyankole that I know are “Agandi,” which means hello and “muzungu,” or white person. I usually know when people are talking about me when I hear murmurs of “muzungu” but I haven’t a clue of what they are saying. The attention is starting to get a little tiresome and I have a smidgen of sympathy for celebrities. At least I’ll appreciate our anonymity when we return to Berkeley. Ani, on the other hand, will likely need therapy to recover from the attention withdrawal she will face when we return. She has started to wave to everyone like she’s the local festival queen in the 4^th of July parade.

For now, at least, we muzungus are doing fine.

Weekend Update

Our first weekend in Mbarara was spent moving into our place and Ben worked through last weekend with the pilot testing of his survey. So, this weekend felt like our first real weekend here in Uganda. Originally we planned on the rather ambitious tourist agenda of going to Queen Elizabeth Park – about 4 hours from Mbarara for a safari drive. We scrapped that plan on Friday after a couple of nights of very limited sleep due to Ani’s teething and Ben’s huge workload. Instead, we went on a beautiful hike on Saturday with a handful of doctors (British and American) working at the University. Ben carried Ani on his back and she seemed to enjoy the scenery as much as we did.

On Sunday afternoon we checked out the English mass at the nearby Ugandan Martyrs parish. Mass was reasonably the same as in the States, although a bit longer with more singing interspersed throughout. I won’t be attending with Ani in the future, however. She was fine, really, by normal American standards, but Ugandan children seem to always be very quiet and well behaved in public, so Ani’s perpetual babytalk babble seemed distracting and inappropriate in that setting.

On Location

From Nicole's desk ...

When packing for our time in Uganda, I had this notion that I would bring comfortable, utilitarian clothing that could withstand hand washing and then I would leave most of my clothes behind when we leave in January. As soon as we started hanging out in Mbarara, however, I noticed that we were quite possibly the worst-dressed people in the city, followed by the other mzungus (white people) and that nobody here would be the least bit interested in our clothes except to use them for cleaning rags. The people of Mbarara take great pride in their appearance and amaze me in how they are able to stay clean and unruffled after a hot and dusty day. I live in one of the nicest and cleanest homes in the city and still by the end of the day I am covered in dirt and sweat and half my hair has sprung free from my ponytail.

In contrast to Mbarara, today Ben brought us along to a village where they were pre-testing the survey for his study and we got a glimpse into village life. The villagers are not immaculately dressed and coifed but rather fit more into the images you might see of Africa in the US media – barefoot and pantless children, a few goats along a dirt road, and tired looking women wearing old clothes. The kids we encountered were fascinated by Ani and all wanted to touch her and socialize. She loved it, of course, and it became clear that one of the benefits of being a one-year-old was that she wasn’t put off by a language barrier or cultural differences. Ani laughed, babbled in baby-speak and shook hands like she met these kids on a playground in Berkeley.

I’d like to say that I was very cool and gracious during our visit, but that wouldn’t be accurate. Looking at the kids with their distended bellies and runny noses, I did consider the twist of fate that separated them from Ani, who was dressed in her preppy outfit and leaving shortly in a SUV for a nice clean house in town, not to mention back to the US in a few months. In spite of this awareness, however, the main thing on my mind was “Oh dear, they keep touching Ani’s hands and face. Where is my hand sanitizer?” I spent the next couple of hours waffling between the emotions of a sympathetic visitor and a germaphobic mother.

Perhaps this nervousness will wear off in a few weeks and perhaps not. In any event, at least I know where I can leave behind our clothes.

Lodging and transportation

Some people have asked to see a picture of where we are living so here’s a shot of the house (to post later). It’s quite nice and at least twice as big as our last apartment in Berkeley, so no complaints here. The place is also extremely clean thanks to Sandra, a woman Ben hired to clean and cook, for the supposedly generous salary of about $2 a day. It’s a bit unnerving having someone toil away scrubbing the floors and making lunch while I yawn about how tired I am as I play stack-the-cups with Ani.

Ani and I are still trying to figure out the best way to get around town and fill up time in our day when Ben is working. I have found that my one daily errand – walking to the market to get more cleaning supplies (Sandra goes through tons of bleach and laundry detergent in her efforts to make this place hospital-worthy clean) and food for lunch – totally exhausts me. Part of the reason why it tires me out is because I’m a total wimp, but another factor is that I’m carrying Ani while we battle over whether or not she is going to wear her sunhat and it’s very dusty and hot for someone acclimated to Berkeley weather.

Yesterday I decided that for our second trip to town, I was going to take the jogging stroller. As if we didn’t stand out before, now we looked fully, fully ridiculous navigating this neon green monstrosity through town. People stare and nudge the person next to them. The kids – all decked out in their school uniforms – thought it was hilarious and we had throngs of them following us through town on our way to the bakery. Ani, already prepping for an ambassador position, sat up in the stroller smiling and waving to all the onlookers. In spite of our making a spectacle of ourselves, the stroller is probably the better way to go since I am freed of carrying Ani and whatever we buy and the canopy on the stroller provides some shade. So, let the staring begin because we are off to town…

Grandma Josie

My grandmother, Josephine Starkweather, passed away this week at age 94. Grandma Josie did not adhere to the stereotype of the average grandmother. Instead of baking cookies, she sold mutual funds. Instead of knitting scarves, she organized Republican fundraisers. Instead of moving to Florida when forced into retirement in her 60s, she moved to Louisiana to start a new job selling stocks and continued working until her mid 80s. When I was seven or eight years old, I remember a friend showing me a doll that her grandmother bought her for Christmas and I responded that my grandma gave me stock in Pepsi.

I have always loved telling stories of Grandma Jo. My favorite is probably the one when she got carjacked in her early 20s and, being the phenomenal saleswoman that she was, she talked the guy into letting her go and giving back her engagement ring. After that, she promptly contacted the police and assisted in his arrest.

There was an intriguing complexity to Grandma Jo that most people cannot recognize in their own grandmothers. She was both notoriously frugal and exceedingly generous. She had a knack for getting what she wanted from people, but was also genuinely interested in helping them improve their finances and better their lives.

I will always be grateful to Grandma Josie for her support and encouragement growing up, her financial generosity, and her example as a woman of great strength and accomplishments.

The Road to Mbarara

Friday we drove 4 hours west of Kampala to our home base for the next few months, Mbarara. The drive through the countryside was quite striking – very lush with green rolling hills. We stopped briefly at the equator for some iced coffee and a photo op. In the few days I’ve been here, I’ve become somewhat accustom to what it feels like to travel around – bouncing around the potholes and narrow misses with people, cattle, and oncoming traffic. At one point though, I alerted Ben to a huge animal perched at the side of the road – a water buck – that looked like it was ready to make a break across the street. Apparently, it’s rather unusual to see game out on the road, so I’ll count myself lucky for the glimpse and the fact that we didn’t hit it.

Today (Saturday) we got settled into our new living quarters, a very nice house with lots of space and decent breezes. The power hasn’t been on for the most part and seems to be on more at night than during the day. I got up around 11pm last night and found the lights on with the power back, having gone to bed early since it was so dark. I can’t sleep because there is some insanely loud festival blaring music and shooting off fireworks.

Mbarara does not appear to be at all affected by the floods in other parts of Uganda. Everyone seems to be going about their business as usual and for the most part, it isn’t all that different from what I’m used to – folks going about their routines of running errands, preparing and eating food, socializing, and preparing for the next day. Of course, there are also not-so-subtle differences as well and we definitely stick out. Walking through the market, people often call out “Muzungu!”, meaning white person or foreigner, and just seeing us and announcing it seems something of an amusement.

Sunday morning we walked into town with Ben carrying Ani in the sling and people just stared in disbelief that a man would carry a baby about town. The women, in particular, seemed baffled by this and I walked behind Ben and Ani and saw the women nudging their friends nearby to check out this bizarre occurrence. Who knows, maybe Ben can start a trend and give the ladies a little break. :)

In Uganda

Hello all. After talking and planning for months now, we finally made it to Uganda. The flight (San Francisco to Seattle to Amsterdam to Entebbe) was LLLOOONNNGGG but we made it without too much incident. Ani was a real trouper and spent most of the time sleeping or playing with the in-flight entertainment remote controls. We spent last night (Tuesday) at a very nice bed and breakfast in Entebbe and this morning we went to the Entebbe botanical gardens where the first Tarzan movie was made and we saw Colobus monkeys and fishermen on the shores of Lake Victoria pulling in their nets of Tilapia. Tonight we are in the substantially larger and busier capital, Kampala.

Ben asked me if the sights and sounds of Uganda were how I imagined and I realized that I have been so focused on the health aspects of this trip (vaccinations, malarial meds, insurance, etc…) that I hadn’t even gotten around to putting a good picture of what I thought Uganda would look like. So, here I am trying to soak it all in. Since watching traffic is completely terrifying to me, I sit in the back seat with one eye on Ani and one eye out the window. So far, I guess it does fill some expectation of what “Africa” looks like -- people walking into town with heavy baskets balanced on their heads, motorcycles racing by loaded up with bananas, belching diesel vehicles (including our own) clouding up the air.

Part of me wishes that we had done this a few years earlier so I could enjoy the whole saturation of the senses that comes with travel to a different culture without being on edge about what Ani is putting in her mouth and whether she is flushed because it is warm out (we are at the equator, after all) or because she has a fever. I take each mosquito as a lethal threat even though we are well protected by drugs, bed nets, and bug spray. I’m giving myself a couple of weeks to linger in this fearful nervousness but am hoping I can relax after awhile once we get settled in and survive our first and inevitable bout of travelers’ diarrhea.

In the meantime, Ani is already the absolute star attraction. Everyone wants to hold her and while she is very open with smiles and blowing kisses, she is not too keen on being held by others yet, which I am somewhat grateful for and hope it continues for awhile. Our girl loves being the center of attention, though and I already fear it will become a substantial blow to her ego when we return to Berkeley and she is just one in a sea of other babies and toddlers.

That’s all for now…. In fact, that might be a bit much considering I have only been in Uganda for just over 24 hours now. Oh well, I guess you were warned in the previous post ;)

Warning: Text-heavy emails ahead

Hi everyone,

Normally my blog postings are photos with quick descriptions so family and friends from afar can track Ani's progress. Now that we've arrived in Uganda, however, I'll probably be posting a lot of text-heavy entries as a way to communicate efficiently with everyone and to take up time in my yet-to-be-scheduled days.

Birthday girl

Ani turned 1 yesterday! In addition to cake, Ani received 7 immunizations (Yikes!). She's handling them pretty well and we are looking forward to our adventure to Uganda on Monday.

From Baby to Toddler

Ani's stay in Michigan is coming to a close. Here are a couple of quick video clips showing her transition to a bonafide toddler.

Better late than never

We've been a bit negligent in updating our blog lately but here's a few recent pictures. The first one is of Ani taking a bath with her cousin Dominick in the cooler after a particularly messy dinner. The next one is of Ani sitting with her cousin Ryan on a recent visit. And finally, Ani with her Grandma Elaine who has returned from her service in Iraq. So good to have her back!

Chatterbox

We are trying to up our game on our website to include YouTube videos. It might take a few tries, but if this link works, here's Ani doing her gabbing that is typical of her these days. She tends to be very expressive with her hands. :)

Cousin time

Here's Ani with two of her cousins, Emily and Nick Barrett, from a visit last month. Somehow, I didn't catch a photo with her other cousin Ryan. :( Next time, we'll have to make sure to get a good picture of him too.

In Denmark with Dad

We spent the past week in Denmark where Ani and I met up with Ben. It was a great trip - we enjoyed the pristine farmlands, beautiful castles and churches, and Viking history. Most of all, it was great to hang out as a family.

Baby feet

Aren't these little piggies cute?

I'm waiting on perpetual hold with Delta airlines, which just may be the 7th circle of Hell. Anyways, I thought I'd try to cheer myself up by looking at cute pictures and posting them. It's almost working, almost....

Beach day

Pictures and lies

Isn't it great how pictures can capture a moment and give the false impression of reality.


For example, here's a great photo of Ani's Uncle Brian reading a story to her and cousin Dominick. Doesn't it look like Ani is listening intently to the story? While Dominick may enjoy story time, I've pretty much given up on reading to Ani for now because she always insists on devouring the book herself, quite literally.


This second picture (taken just moments later) better captures reality, but I'll save the first one for the albums to brag about what a good listener my little girl was :)

Real food

I'm convinced I choked to death on something in a previous life, because I've been very hesitant to give Ani any real foods. Since Ani is completely over babyfood and has 8 teeth now, I've put my fears aside and let her go for the solids. Although Ani is only 1/4 Italian, spaghetti is clearly her favorite food.

Rub-a-dub-dub

Ani and Nicole have made it to Michigan -- our home base until September until we go with Ben to Uganda. Here Ani is taking a bath with her cousin Dominic (18 months). The two have become fast friends and Ani wants to do everything Domi does. It's pretty adorable.

Little red Ani B.

With the flurry of moving activity and visitors we are a little behind on our photos. Here's Ani in an adorable outfit made by Uncle Nate's girlfriend Melissa. Ani loves it. Thanks Melissa!

The power of prunes

For indelicate reasons, we fed Ani stewed prunes this morning. In the process, she took on many characters.

First, she looks like a Revlon model sporting the newest lipstick color "Prunella":












Next, she decided to venture into a Charlie Chaplin routine:


Finally, she decided to transform herself into one of her favorite characters, DAD:

'sup?

In reverse

Watch out everyone! Ani's on the road. Ok, just the playground. She's old enough now to enjoy all the great communal toys lying around the village.

Not your average 7 month old

Ani is trying to help her dad understand the intricacies of multilevel statistical modeling. Hmmm...maybe we should start with ABCs.

I just wanna fly....

When she's not scooting across the room --- she has the military crawl down now --- Ani assumes the skydiving free fall position. I get a sore neck just watching her.

Sitting pretty

It's official, Ani is a bonafide sitter. With her long torso and little bottom, Ani has not been inclined to sit but rather has been working on her crawl. She's mastered it now though and is happy to sit and play for almost 3 minutes before getting bored and rolling into her crawl position.