Culture Shock

Today we got to see so much of Kampala; it was literally overwhelming.

The day started off cloudy, but ended in warm sunshine. It wasn't too terribly humid today, but there was some humidity. My guess would be the temperatures was probably in the lower 70s until the sun came out. Then maybe we went to the upper 70s. I can honestly say I don't know though, sorry.

Once again, I had a horrible time trying to sleep here. I went to bed around 11:30 pm and woke up to loud noises around 3 am. I then continued to wake-up about every 45-50 minutes until I finally gave up around 7. We all got ready and loaded the bus for breakfast at MUBS.

I wasn't feeling well (don't worry Mom, it was just a bad headache, probably due to lack of sleep), so I only ate toast for breakfast. We then went to the Protea Hotel, which was absolutely gorgeous, and go to listen to Patrick Bitature speak. Patrick is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Uganda. He is a founder of Simba Telecom, a large provider of cellular service in Africa, and has moved into a wide range of other businesses, including the hotel we listened to him speak at. He was an amazing speaker, and he really captured my attention. This really surprised me since I have absolutely nothing to do with business when it comes to my major and expected to be bored out of my mind. However, he was extremely engaging the whole time and gave lots of advice on how to be successful.

(the back part of the hotel)

(part of the lobby of the hotel)

After listening to Patrick and asking our questions, we went back to MUBS where we had lunch. Today at lunch, I had a little matokee, more potatoes, fish, rice and chipolli (which may or may not be spelled correctly). Chipolli is similar to a tortilla. Anyway, lunch was once again delicious, much to my delight. No starving here yet :)

(today's lunch, yummy :)

After lunch, we visited Owino Market. I have never seen so many people or so much stuff in one place. They were literally selling anything and everything. Shoes, clothes, food, chickens, some crafts; if you can name it, they were probably selling it. It was very similar to a farmer's market, except it was much more crowded and there was so much more stuff. I was called a muzungu a lot, which mean white person in Lugandan. We were also touched a lot to try to get our attention to buy from them, which became extremely uncomfortable and awkward. I'm really glad we had MUBS students with us because I literally would have been lost without them. The market was almost maze like. Sadly, I wasn't able to get pictures of this because they said pick pocketing was a major concern.

(I had to choose one picture to represent Kampala, and I chose one of one of the many pharmacies I've seen so far. Each time I see one, I announce it (to whoever is sitting next to me)...such a nerd :)

After being completely overwhelmed by Owino, we went to Namugongo Catholic Martyrs Shrine. This shrine was dedicated to 22 Roman Catholics who died for their faith. They were ordered to be killed by King Mwanga in 1886, for refusing to deny their Christian faith. It was a very beautiful place, and it was exciting to see since Martyrs' Day is June 3rd. They told us people from Kenya and other surrounding countries have already started walking to the shrine to celebrate the public holiday. We were also told we will stay very far away form the area on that day because of how many people will be there.

(the shrine)

We ended the day with supper at Fang Fang, a Chinese restaurant. (Yes, Mom, I did eat something there.) We ordered lots of dishes and just kind of passed around everything. I had some chicken, some pork, some beef and some rice. It was actually good, as long as I avoided the vegetables ;)

(part of my supper, I promise I ate a little more)

Now it's just journaling and hopefully a better night of sleep. We saw so much of Kampala today, and I have taken so many pictures already. Tomorrow we are off to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, where I should get to see monkeys, native birds and flora. We will also be visiting the equator tomorrow. In other words, at some point tomorrow I will be in two different hemispheres. I can't wait!

Until then, I leave you with this...

(yep, this thing is living in my room, crawling around on my wall....we'll see how well I sleep tonight :/ )