Spiderwoman

So, as I’m sure many of you have heard by now, I (Deb) was bitten by a spider on my leg and have been undergoing some pretty painful visits to the Dr’s office to have the bite lanced, cleaned of dying/dead tissue, and packed with gauze.  I won’t go into all of the details – they are just too gory for a blog post, but I will let you know that I am doing fine and that I am well on the road to recovery.  I have been going to the Dr’s office daily to have ‘the hole in my leg’ (as I now woefully call the site of the bite) cleaned and re-packed with gauze, but I was told today that I can scale back my visits to every 3 days!  Yippee!!

I think the fact that Ashton now calls me ‘Spiderwoman’ makes this whole ordeal just a little bit cool.  At least to a three year old.  To the rest of us, this ordeal is a reminder of one of Dad’s favourite Shakey quotes, “Security is mortals’ chiefest enemy”.  Yes, we live in Africa and we can never forget that things are just a bit different here no matter how ‘at home’ we feel.   

Me and the wound before packing it with gauze.  It looks so benign in the picture – and I appear to be smiling, but it’s a disguise. 

The Kampala Symphony Orchestra

The Kampala Symphony Orchestra (aka the KSO) has recruited a new member – Me!  Deb!  DD!  I went last night for my first rehearsal with the KSO and it was...noteworthy!     

The KSO is made up of mostly amateur and a few semi-pro players from a range of backgrounds.  I have taken my usual orchestral place in the 2^nd violin section which I am very grateful for; I haven’t played my instrument in years, so I am more than rusty.  

I am renting a violin from the Kampala Music School.  The case is broken so you can’t actually carry it by the handle or else the instrument will fall out, I don’t think the bow is full size (then again, it has been years) and the pegs are all different colours.  But it’s a great instrument, and I am so happy to be able to play again.

We rehearse in the basement of the YMCA in a tiny room about 8 feet x 12 feet.  Imagine an orchestra: violins, violas, cellos, bass, flute, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, French horn, etc...  then think of cramming all these people and their instruments into a little room in the heat of Uganda’s dry season.  Fresh.  Our music stands are falling apart; you have to balance your stand against your neighbours’ for leverage and we do not have enough sheet music or parts for every instrument.  So there I was in my debut rehearsal with the KSO with three other violins crowding around one piece of music on a wobbly stand and the trumpet player with his back half turned out the window balancing his music on the window ledge.  I wondered why the conductor had a shiny bow on his baton but when the power went out and we were playing by the light of our mobile phones, we could all still follow the beat from the glint off the bow on the baton.  And, well, we played on with smiles on our faces – a must says our conductor.

There is something about the people, culture, dancing, movements, and life here in Uganda that has really been waking up my inner musician, so I am really happy to be part of this group that is just about making music regardless of the circumstances.  

I’ll be sure to let you know how we progress – anyone want to come to our concert in April?

New Year's in Zanzibar

So after a whirlwind December, we headed to Zanzibar for a week of relaxing.  Zanzibar is interesting because even if you have no idea where it is or why it's famous, you've surely heard of it (I just hope the first time you heard of it was not in a Jack Black/Tenacious D song...)  Everybody's heard of it.  Everybody wants to see it.   We were excited to find out what all of the hullabaloo was about.

We were lucky enough to be meeting Kason and Leslie in Stone Town, Zanzibar, to share our New Years with some friends from Canada.  Having them around made our time walking through the twisting streets and lapping up all of the sun we could all the more enjoyable.

We left Kampala bright and early to catch our flight to Zanzibar.  We hadn’t done any research into Zanzibar and all we knew was that the island of the cost of mainland Tanzania was renowned for its spices and that there were great beaches in the north.  We hoped to enjoy both.

We landed at the tiny little airport and were instantly in for a shock.  Even though Zanzibar was a very short flight away, it has a distinctively different feel from Kampala.  It clearly lives on island time and has an island vibe, but Zanzibar is also 95% Muslim, 4% Christian and 1% Hindu, a drastic difference from the predominantly Christian Uganda.  Most women are covered in burqas and Hijabs, and there is a clear division between men and women.  However, the women were clearly very empowered and proudly walked around at night with some of the most beautiful garments and jewelry.  It was a far cry from the stereotypical oppressive Islamic society. 

The first day in Stone Town, we walked aimlessly through the winding narrow streets.  The city is a beautiful relic of its former self with beautiful terraced buildings and immaculate Arabian architecture.  The city shows of its history as a hub for the slave trade and a former Portuguese and British colony.  Although the city offers much of the same tourist kitch as most other African destinations, it is also very easy to see how every day residents live. 

On the second day, we decided to take a short trip to Prison Island to check out some giant tortoises and to snorkel.  Prison Island was formerly used to hold bad behaving slaves and then to quarantine sick patients.  It has since been renovated into an overpriced and empty hotel.  The main attraction on Prison Island is the 120 Giant Tortoises which have been there for over 100 years.  They were brought as a gift from the Seychelles and are now trapped on the Island (ironic isn’t it!).  Some of them are over 150 years old and stand over 1 metre tall. They wander around and love to be pet and fed by the tourists.  It is quite a sight. The snorkeling in the area wasn't fantastic but we get to see numerous types of tropical fish on the reef.

One of the most interesting features of Stone Town was Forodhani Gardens, a night market area serving up fresh seafood grilled in front of you.  We ate here every night!!!  The street food should really be used as an example for other cities to emulate.  The area is clean and obviously very organized and regulated.  Even though there are many tourists here, we are clearly outnumbered by the locals.  The men are parading around in new jeans and western t-shirts advertising Prada, Echo and Sean Jean, while the women gather with the children in elaborate and beautiful garb.  It was such an interesting sight to watch.

After a nice stay in Stone Town, it was time to head up north to the beaches.   On the way, we stopped by a spice farm to learn about all of the different spices grown.  It was very interesting seeing the spices in the wild.  It was hard to associate most of the wild spices with the end product on the table.  Peppercorn grows on a vine, cardamom is a root, nutmeg is a beautiful pit, cloves are red, green and juicy.  Deborah loved this part and made sure we left with some locally grown spices.

As soon as we reached the beach, we understood Zanzibar’s reputation.  The beach was lined with palm trees, while the turquoise ocean was dotted with dhow boats.  Everywhere you looked was a postcard.  And then the sun began to set.  It was absolutely spectacular!  We knew the next five days here were going to be perfect.  Our relaxing was only interrupted by several SCUBA diving trips, indulging in amazing fresh seafood and sunset cruises in a dhow boat.  It was all we could have asked for. 

We also did some great SCUBA dives.  The water was crystal clear and an amazing 28 degrees!!!  It was actually hot in our shorties.  We decided to dive at Mnemba Atoll which is a protected marine park and it was so worth it.  There was lots of fish life and beautiful coral.  After two long dives we were exhausted and ready for our nice cruise back in our motorized dhow.  The dhows are truly amazing boats.  They have been sailing in the Indian Ocean for hundreds of years.  It is believed that the boats traveled to Polynesia more than 400 years ago and returned with spice and fruits currently found on the island.  Today the boats have hardly changed from the centuries old design.  Everyday, the fisherman leave around 3 or 4pm as the tide is going out and travel hundreds of kilometers before returning around 6am to sell their daily catch.  All travel is using the tides and odd shaped sail.  After a sunset boat trip on board one, I can only imagine how difficult it must be.  Every tack and jibe requires the manual moving of the boom, adjusting the sail, and retying of all knots.  It is an amazing skill that has been passed on.

The best part was being able to celebrate a new year (decade!) on the Zanzibar beach as the warm Indian Ocean lapped up to tickle our toes.  The beach parties were great and we made full use of the night by walking up and down the beach to various bars & parties.  The best part was watching New Years Eve turn into New Years Day with the optimistic feeling of another wonderful year ahead of us.

To view more of our pictures from Zanzibar, follow this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/globeroamers/NewYears2010?feat=directlink

 

Kristmas in Kampala

Lots has happened but we have suddenly become even busier than normal with work and parties.  More updates to come.  We just thought we would share some pics from our Christmas so far.

Christmas cookies and our Disco Christmas tree

Deb posing with the tree.  Note the My Little Ponies, a gift from our cleaner.  Not sure what it is suppose to symbolize, but is a nice addition as our nativity scene.

Christmas Eve lunch with our friend Rachel.  No snow here, just lush trees.

We are off to Zanzibar.  See you in 2011!!!

Lots of love from Kampala and we will chat soon! 

Deb's first publication....sort of....

Okay - so it's a bit of a stretch, but I can now claim that my name has been published in the academic domain!!  Here's the link to an article I helped work on (I did some editing, made the figures, and did all of the online submitting (which takes a lot of time)).  You can see me if you scroll all the way down to the bottom to the 'Acknowledgments' section.  I told you it was a bit of a stretch...haha  The paper itself might be interesting for you clinical and public health folks... ;)

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0013438

Otherwise, all is well here.  In my new 'less work' lifestyle, I don't work on Saturdays, so yesterday Stu and I went to a music festival in town and then to the finals for the Uganda Basketball Association aka UBA (like the NBA - but a lot less flash).  The game is played at the outdoor concrete court at the YMCA and people crowd in everywhere to get a slice of the action.  Luckily, the team we were cheering for, D-Mark Power, won the championship!  We cheer for 'Power' because my colleague used to play on the team, but had to leave this season to come and work for us.  Playing in the UBA is not nearly as lucrative as the NBA, so many players have to leave when a good job comes up.  I'm sure Stu will have more to write about the game itself and the style of playing, I just enjoyed being in the action.

Well, I have to get back to work now...yes it's Sunday...but this time next week we'll be off to Zanzibar, so I can't really complain!

Thanksgiving, Glühwein and Chanukah

So after a great visit to Canada we are getting back into the daily grind here in Uganda.  It was so nice to be back to see friends and family but with so much going on, we almost feel like we need another vacation.

While some things in Kampala have changed (most notably that everyone is electioneering leading up to a national election in February), we have setting back into our routine with surprising ease.  Within the first month we have already had two visitors come and stay with us.  As always, we are happy to have people visit and it provides and excuse to travel a little bit. 

Erin actually timed coming to Kampala to arrive on the same flight as Deb back from Atlanta.  While I am sure they got lots of gossiping in on the plane, we thought that we still needed a relaxing weekend out of the city.  We headed to the Hairy Lemon, a resort on the Nile farther upstream than we normally stay.  We didn’t paddle this time around but did relax on this beautiful island.  It was the perfect place to get away.  While we usually stay on the other side of the river, which provides a great party, the Lemon is unbelievably serene and a perfect place to read in a hammock, go for a swim, or play water-volleyball.  I am a little surprised that we have not made it up there yet.  All I can say is that I am looking forward to going back.

We have also been bringing in the festive season in style.  As Melissa is American we decided to host another Thanksgiving dinner (as if we really needed much prodding….).  Last weekend we had 12 friends over for dinner from around the globe to celebrate the British colonies first harvest in America (I have sworn that I won’t discuss the true history of American Thanksgiving anymore, but it is interesting to see the different histories from those around America (and a British, American History grad)).

This thanksgiving was a little different than those in the past.  Yes, we had the usual, pumpkin pie, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., but this time our turkey was a free ranger who was walking around our own backyard!  Since we see so many chickens and turkeys running around, we thought we should get some of our own.  We have chickens for eggs (not going so well, they don’t seem to be laying for some reason), meat and then our thanksgiving turkey. 

Needless to say, the process of getting a walking turkey onto the table was interesting.  Having never killed a turkey before, we asked two locals to help us navigate the way through.  They were happy to show us what to do in exchange for a taste of the turkey once it was cooked (they had never had turkey before as it is too expensive for many locals here due to its size).  Getting the turkey ready for roasting was surprisingly easy and (as Mel remarks in the video) was very more ‘tame’ than anticipated.  For those interested in watching the video it is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgVmIwR4Sm4).

Dinner was a resounding success.  Once again, everything seemed to make it on the table just at the right time and everyone had a blast.  It is always so fun for us to get together in an international environment and share our culture with others and also learn from them.

 As if we didn’t eat enough at thanksgiving (we were all way over stuffed to the point that one couple needed to go home!), we were invited to two separate parties the next day to celebrate the first advent.  Apparently advent is a very big part of German’s Christmas celebrations so we could not turn the invites down so off we went to see what advent is all about.  The core of the celebration surrounds lighting the advent candles (there are four), but along the way much Glühwein (mulled wine) and baked goods are consumed. We could not be happier to have partaken.

To round out our holiday week, this Wednesday was the first night of Chanukah. Despite the fact that we don’t have a menorah we were not to be swayed from our latkes. We assembled a menorah made from used bottles and went to shredding the onion and potatoes, while trying to avoid taking of our knuckles (Stu already cut of the top of his thumb while making Thanksgiving). The latkes were delicious and happily shared with our friend Mark.

Who knows what the plan is for the next holiday but we are looking forward to it!

Update on our update

I just came home to find these three little chickens sitting on my kitchen counter...and Stu sitting on the balcony drinking a beer. See, all is well in Kampala.