{"id":358,"date":"2010-06-05T09:59:15","date_gmt":"2010-06-05T14:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/?p=358"},"modified":"2010-06-05T09:59:15","modified_gmt":"2010-06-05T14:59:15","slug":"you-are-very-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/you-are-very-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"You Are Very Welcome!"},"content":{"rendered":"
I love the greeting here that is said to everyone, “You are very welcome!” \u00a0 I was greeted this way at the airport, my guest house and many other places I’ve been to. \u00a0When is the last time you welcomed a stranger to your city in this way? \u00a0 The people here I’ve met are genuine and I love that. \u00a0They are open and lovely to speak to. \u00a0One thing that I noticed is if you talk about something that is not necessarily nice or involves something hard or difficult or sad, they give you genuine sorrow for that. \u00a0“I am so sorry for this….so sorry for her….” etc. \u00a0 That is when I realize that I probably need to be more positive in what I say. \u00a0It is a great check and balance for me to gear myself in the right direction. \u00a0Since I have a tendency to be sarcastic, I have to put that on check here as sometimes sarcasm translates very poorly!<\/div>\n
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I am sitting in the gazebo this afternoon relaxing and enjoying really doing nothing at the moment. \u00a0That for me is unusual as I’m always on the go! \u00a0 It is peaceful here listening to the birds and the African daily sounds. African Drums\u00a0cadence\u00a0in the distance. \u00a0I hear children and dogs and people shouting occasionally, roosters crowing and cows mooing, \u00a0but this guest house is on the hill and quite a relaxing area…quiet…retreat-like. \u00a0If I am quiet and listen I can hear something new each moment.<\/div>\n
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I was up most of the night because there was a huge party at the International Hotel, that went well into the wee hours of the morning. \u00a0 I wish I had remembered ear plugs but I hate sleeping with them because I sleep way too soundly. \u00a0 Luckily I had my trusty Tylenol PM.<\/div>\n
Yesterday I went first to get my internet working. \u00a0This was a huge problem as I had some other software conflicting with my connection but we finally got that worked out. \u00a0 I also had to buy more airtime for my phone. \u00a0 You don’t realize these things because as an American I have unlimited talking capabilities on my cell. \u00a0 Here you must pay for airtime and even the cost fluctuates from minute to minute. \u00a0 You buy a card and then add that amount to your airtime. \u00a0I will need to recharge soon!<\/div>\n
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There is a custom here I now understand perfectly. \u00a0People “beep” or call and hang up to each other. \u00a0 If that person needs to talk to someone then the other person might call them back if they have airtime. \u00a0 These things signal also that you need something or want something or just need the other person to call you back. \u00a0 My driver has beeped us when he was arriving so we know he is there. \u00a0 This saves greatly on airtime. \u00a0 There are people EVERYWHERE on the streets selling airtime. \u00a0 When you stop your car they are leaning in the windows trying to sell airtime. \u00a0 This is a precious commodity and someone is getting mightly rich!<\/div>\n
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I visited with my attorney yesterday, and he explained the situation here with international adoption. \u00a0Because we are not only providing humanitarian care to children, our main focus is adoption and so I’ve come here to make those connections. \u00a0 Adoption here is not easy but certainly possible, but I feel it will take a family that is ready for quite an adventure. \u00a0 To see some of these children find permanency in their lives will be such a blessing.<\/div>\n
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TOMORROW: \u00a0In the morning early about 7 AM I will travel with my driver to Kitgum. \u00a0This is in the Northern Part of Uganda. \u00a0 I will do a separate post specifically about this area, and you won’t want to miss reading that one. \u00a0While I’m gone I will leave my big bag here at the Guest House and will travel only with a small one. \u00a0 I’m going to make sure to take plenty of water and food and all my medicines.<\/div>\n
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I’m getting the phone number of a Boda Boda driver that is good, reliable, honest and safe. \u00a0 One of the adoptive families uses him. \u00a0Yes I might get on one! \u00a0 What is a Boda Boda? \u00a0 Well basically it is a driver on a motorcycle. \u00a0 I plan on writing about this specifically too in another post…the craziest things I’ve seen on a Boda Boda. \u00a0 Boda Boda’s transport people and things from one place to the other. \u00a0 I guess they can be quite dangerous in the traffic. \u00a0 Some of the long-term missionaries here staying at the guest house had to sign a contract with their mission group that they would not get on a Boda Boda. \u00a0 In exchange they have a van that takes them to their destinations each day. \u00a0 Unfortunately they are on their own to get anywhere else. \u00a0 Boda Boda’s are cheap and easy to manuver in the traffic grid. \u00a0They are certainly not for everyone.<\/div>\n
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Traffic is the craziest thing here. \u00a0 First, people drive on the wrong side of the road! \u00a0 Haha all my Brit friends will be laughing to hear me say that but it is true. \u00a0I’ve almost gotten used to it though because people travel all over the road here so I’m not sure there is a right side anyway! \u00a0Public transportation is the craziest. \u00a0Taxis sit in a park in the center of Kampala, and I will post a pic of this later. \u00a0They are dispatched from there and they are quite cheap but people pack in like sardines and they make a lot of stops, so it takes you a very long time to reach your destination. \u00a0You cannot imagine the chaos though with the taxis and the gridlock in the city when traffic is high.<\/div>\n

It is 5 PM here and the smoke fills the air. \u00a0 It smells like a campground as people cook their meals mostly outdoors. \u00a0 Inside it is too hot to have a kitchen in most places so they have a detached kitchen or they cook on fires outdoors. \u00a0 The smoke is thick at this time.<\/p>\n

FOR THOSE ASKING ABOUT PHOTOS: \u00a0It takes a great amount of broadband to upload my photos, I can only upload them one at a time and it is completely frustrating when you get to the end of the upload, and it just dies out and you lost that bandwidth but don’t have an upload so I may have to just upload pics when I come home! \u00a0The street scenes are amazing though, yes we have a banana lady here! \u00a0 I love it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love the greeting here that is said to everyone, “You are very welcome!” \u00a0 I was greeted this way at the airport, my guest house and many other places I’ve been to. \u00a0When is the last time you welcomed a stranger to your city in this way? \u00a0 The people here I’ve met are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}