kampala on foot

Like I said last night, today’s task was to buy a cell phone, which involved a 45 minute walk across town to the Lugogo shopping mall. Lugogo Mall has

• 1 Shoprite (equivalent to a cross between Walgreen’s & Safeway),
• 1 Game (equivalent to Wal-Mart),
• 4 Ugandan cell phone companies: MTN, CelTel, Uganda Telecom, Simba Telecom,
• 2 branches of major banks: Barclay’s, Standard Chartered, and
• 1 Banana Boat (one of Kampala’s only classic, artsy-touristy stores).

Needless to say, it’s a gathering place for ex-pats. We didn’t buy anything other than the cell phone, but at least we now know where to go if we ever need anything.

Today reminded me a lot of one of the first days I lived in Chicago. It was (probably) the first Saturday that I lived there – I still didn’t know a soul in the city and still heavily relied on my trusty map to get me around. It was the day of the annual Air & Water Show and I’d heard that the best place to see the planes was at North Beach. I still hadn’t reached my love affair stage with public transportation – I was only months out of college having lived in small town Minnesota my whole life…public transportation, huh? – so I decided to hoof it to North Beach. I lived more or less at the Addison & Damen intersection at the time. If you know anything about Chicago geography you know that it’s a hike from there to North Beach. It took me a good 1 ½-2 hours to get there, my feet hurt, and I missed the air show, but in the end I learned more about the city and its layout and its character in an afternoon than I could’ve expected. The same happened today. After the Lugogo Mall, Phil & I decided to seek out a satellite radio (we can’t live long without our NPR). Little did we know that we were heading out on a wild goose chase that would take us all afternoon and all over the city. We walked and walked and walked, got a ride from a nice woman who told us we now have a Ugandan family, and I don’t think once talked to someone who actually knew what a satellite radio is. But, by the time we got home, we had essentially circumnavigated the city and had learned more about the city, its layout, and its character today than we could've expected when we woke up this morning.

I think it sunk in today that we’re actually here…in Africa. It’s unfamiliar with unfamiliar faces. That’s why our new friends Majo & Luc came into our lives just at the right time. They’re a young thirtysomething Belgian couple with a 1-year old daughter who live across the way from us in the same complex. They invited us over for drinks and we stayed chatting for over 3 hours. They were super helpful with tons of suggestions on how to get things done – buying a car, hooking up the internet, getting electricity – and really friendly. It felt good to be social and to know there are people who have the answers to all the questions we have. 101paige 101africa