Day 17 - July 22

Sometimes I forget the color of my skin. I only look in the mirror once or twice a day with I’m brushing my teeth or my hair in the morning and then I don’t usually glance again until I go to sleep. The rest of the day I’m walking around with my mom and Angella or looking at the crowds of Ugandans going about their daily lives. I think in my mind I just assume that I look like everybody else. It turns out, I don’t! I’m clearly very white and most people are very black. I find myself wishing I could just blend in with them and become a normal citizen of the country. It’s taken two and a half weeks, but I think I’ve come to a point that I feel like I am one of the locals! I don’t really fit in that well, but I like to think I can navigate my way around the country. I’ve done it without Angella’s help and although I ALWAYS miss her when she’s not around, I know I could survive at least a little while without her constant guidance!

This morning we went to the craft market at the National Theatre. Although there are a few unique things, most of it is the same old stuff but the prices are higher and the people are not as friendly as they are at the market near Watoto church. It was pretty cool out today. Probably only got to around 70, but you would have thought it was 20 degrees! Everywhere we went, people were in winter coats and scarves. I was comfortable in a skirt and t-shirt. It was a perfect day to be walking around the markets because the temperature was not hot so you weren’t sweating and feeling the suffocating heat of a normal day.

After the market, we walked to Garden City to get lunch. Security has gotten TIGHT! There are not airport style metal detectors to walk through and security guards on every floor, pacing back and forth. I think that some of the added security has to do with the bombs, but even more because of the African Union summit that has been going on in Kampala all week. Any time that the presidents of these countries are in an area, the security gets more serious. Hopefully since it is ending tomorrow, things will go back to a somewhat normal state.

Despite looking at all of the other menus in the food court, we again settled on the Wok Chinese food. Luckily, our server was slightly more attentive this time. We actually got our drinks right away and he explained that our spring rolls would be a little later than our fried noodles. Nobody took away our sauces without asking. It must have just been the guy who served us the last time, who, by the way, was just sitting in his uniform at the table next to us almost the entire time!

My mom wanted to check out the gift shop in the shopping center. Banana Boat is nice, but most of the stuff is something I’ve seen before and usually at a higher, fixed price. I usually don’t mind it and in fact, every year I’ve purchased at least something there. Today I wanted to get out! There were Mzungus completely infiltrating the place! There must have been 30 people from the same group. They all had name tags on. Two Ugandan guys with matching shirts were their tour leaders. Most of them were wearing their backpacks in the front, which is great if you don’t want stuff stolen in the flea market, but seriously, in the mall? It’s probably the safest place you could go! I think I was just so used to not being around that many white people, that I was overwhelmed by it. It was like I was in the wrong place. I didn’t want to be in there, so I just walked out and sat on a bench to wait. It’s going to be totally weird when I end up back in the states in northern Minnesota surrounded my only Mzungus!

We ended up having to wait for Jozeph for nearly an hour because he was stuck in a jam and security does a really thorough check of the car, making every person get out to be checked and then looking in every compartment of the vehicle. At least we really didn’t have anything important to do! On the way home, Jozeph found some great ways to avoid the jam by taking side roads. I love that he knows his way around the area so well. There have been many times on previous trips that our drivers really have no clue where they are going. It’s been a blessing to have a caring cab driver who seems to like his job and does a really great job at it!

We decided to have a game night today, so Angella invited over Gloria and we told Susan and Gloria to come over. We had a bottle of wine, a bottle of Fanta, an assortment of chocolate, some cheese and crackers, and Doritoes! What a classy mix of treats! We spent a long time just chatting about life and how blessed we have been, especially on this trip. Angella has a really great core group of friends that have their hearts set on Jesus. It makes a huge difference when you can connect with people on such a deep level. I consider these people to all be my friends. They have helped me out so much on this trip and I enjoy their company immensely. The rest of the night was devoted to Uno, Phase 10, and a short-lived interest in spoons.

After everyone left, we watched a another crappy movie. We need to not let this get to be a pattern. This one was about a random group of travelers on a Greyhound that accidentally killed a biker gang member who was strung out on meth. Then the rest of the meth-addicted bikers chased them into a junkyard and they had to defend themselves against even more gangs guys that showed up. It was horrible acting, a unbelievable plot, and super violent. I can’t believe we even watched it, but I think I needed to stay awake and watch the end just so I could find out who was going to live at the end! No more of those movies for me. I will stick to happy ones!