July 8, 2007

Yesterday morning, Joe, Julie, and I caught a taxi, picked up Erin along the way and headed into Kampala to celebrate Julie’s 19^th birthday (that was actually last week). Kampala is overwhelming, there is so much to take in all at once, the traffic, the buildings, and all the people. The sights, sounds, and smells are enough to put you on sensory overload. Every time I go there I am so thankful that I am in the village. Even after just a night in Mokono (which is not even a sliver of Kampala) I am ready to return to my quiet village once again. Once we got into downtown, we headed to a craft market by the National Theater, I didn’t get anything, but I started forming ideas of what I would like to get before I leave (everything at that market was way expensive and Julie thought it was funny because it was all set at a Muzungu price). After shopping we went to Garden City (the mall) and bought tickets for Die Hard 4 (Julie got to choose). Then we got lunch at the food court and then bought candy for the movie (there was a lot of eating involved yesterday, but it was Julie’s first time to a movie theater ever and so we wanted to do it right). We also got popcorn and drinks before we headed in. The movie was actually better than I expected, it was totally a guy action movie with not much of a plot other than trying to get Bruce Willis to blow up as many things as he could within a two hour time period. But I think it was a good first time experience for Julie, she really enjoyed herself. Then Erin left to meet some friends in Kampala, and I got off in Mokono to stay the night at the guest house. It was pretty quiet at the house there were 3 new volunteers that got here on Monday. They were all really nice, but it was weird to be more experienced and to share my stories, while they were still trying to grasp the concept of living here. I picked out some books from the “library” at the house to take with me to the islands this week (I am already half way through the last Lord of the Rings books and am desperate).