Week 78 (13 – 19 Jan 2008)
Apologies for the delay in updating the blog – I have been writing it faithfully but have not been able to get a good enough connection to upload.
Sunday was the last day of the conference in Kampala and a busy time for the members of the conference committee. Everything seemed to run fairly smoothly although the accommodation did not meet all expectations. It’s hard to find a venue that can accommodate 70+ delegates on full board. They are renovating the site so there is a lot of building work and the new rooms will be too expensive for us to use in the future. We returned to Lyn’s flat in the early afternoon. I spent several hours counting the cash and trying to balance the books.
On Monday morning we set off to face the full might of Ugandan bureaucracy and administration as we had to get our Ugandan driving licences. Lyn had arranged a private hire (taxi) but had to remind him be on time! He is a member of her church and currently studying for his BA to become a pastor. We arrived at the distant venue to get our digital photos taken and expected to be in queues for at least two hours. We were called for out photo after about 2 minutes and although we had to visit a further three desks, the queues were short and the whole process was completed in 50 minutes! I suppose Monday mornings are fairly quiet. We also expected to have to wait a week for the licences to be made but were told we can return on Thursday! Bosco (our driver) waited for us and as we took less time than expected we stopped off at the bank and for some food shopping for Lyn. By the time we returned to the flat, Margaret had washed our clothes and they were nearly ready to be ironed – which she did later. A very productive morning with much less effort and frustration than expected! Maybe CHOGOM did have a lasting effect. Let’s hope it lasts till Thursday.
While with Bosco, we realised the extent of the events in Kenya. We haven’t heard recent news but many the petrol stations are still dry. The prices of fuel rocketed but do seem to be dropping again. All the fuel comes via Kenya.
On Tuesday there was no electricity in the flat. This is common in Kampala and often frustrating – we didn’t use the laptop though it would have been a good time to catch up with some planning etc. We had to read instead! We were still very tired to Andrea slept for several hours in the afternoon – it’s noisy sometimes at night with dogs barking or music playing. I took the opportunity to experiment with a Christmas present. We pooled our Christmas money to get a portable DVD player. This will run directly from a 12 volt battery and will save our laptop battery life. It’s also quicker to set up although the main disadvantage is the smaller (8.5”) screen. It’s fine for one or two people to watch but no more. However, it can connect to an ordinary TV – like the one at Ushindi – so we can show the occasional DVD to the students while being in control of what is shown! I watched Ireland beating Namibia from the Rugby World Cup. It’s taken until now to be able to watch it! But I’m also aware that the 2008 Six Nations tournament begins on 2nd Feb – and I’ll miss it again unless a kind person records it for me! I’d even rather watch England playing rugby than Arsenal playing football but we don’t get the rugby here as far as I know. I’m not sure if the African Cup is televised either.
On Wednesday we “looked forward” to our last Conference Committee meeting so made our way up to Matoke Inn for lunch and fed the laptop on the internet too. They have a wireless broadband connection! After lunch we found seven people in the lounge area in silence, each one on their own laptop. I was the eighth. The reviews from the Conference were positive and the finances are in the black so we made a few final decisions. Only one of the committee is likely to be around for the next conference in January 2009.
Bosco collected us on Thursday morning for another foray into Ugandan bureaucracy to collect our driving permits. It took nearly an hour to get across Kampala and less than 5 minutes to collect the licences! Such efficiency is unusual, apparently but bodes well for the future. We stopped off for some more shopping and returned to the flat. We booked our return flight to Arua for Monday morning. We had though of going on Sunday but realised that we will be out later than usual celebrating Lyn’s birthday on Saturday evening and it would be unfair to get her up at 5.30am on her birthday! We had power in the afternoon so spent most of the time either on the internet (using Lyn’s laptop) or working on our own – then swapping when we got bored waiting for downloads. It’s not broadband but faster than in Arua. We’ve found some useful materials for teacher training with will supplement a book we brought back with us. Andrea has been looking and knitting patterns and recipes too.
We have power again this morning (Friday) so have continued with our internet searches and laptop work. And a few games! It’s been wet so slightly cooler, which helps us to concentrate. By cooler, I mean 24°C (76°F).
We worked all day Saturday – it’s good to have peace and quiet and it’s not too hot either. In the evening we went to Fang Fang’s Chinese restaurant in Kampala with four others to celebrate Lyn and Elaine’s birthdays. It was a bit odd eating Chinese food in Uganda – but probably no different from eating Chinese food in Essex! It was a very “up-market” establishment compared with the usual Ugandan fare and I was a bit concerned about how much it might cost – Chinese in UK is expensive. But we thought £8-50 each, including four of us paying for the birthday girls, was reasonable – and the food was great! We felt that we were having a late night out and as we were preparing to leave realised it was only 8.30pm! The younger generation were just beginning to set out for their evening’s entertainment!
Sunday was the last day of the conference in Kampala and a busy time for the members of the conference committee. Everything seemed to run fairly smoothly although the accommodation did not meet all expectations. It’s hard to find a venue that can accommodate 70+ delegates on full board. They are renovating the site so there is a lot of building work and the new rooms will be too expensive for us to use in the future. We returned to Lyn’s flat in the early afternoon. I spent several hours counting the cash and trying to balance the books.
On Monday morning we set off to face the full might of Ugandan bureaucracy and administration as we had to get our Ugandan driving licences. Lyn had arranged a private hire (taxi) but had to remind him be on time! He is a member of her church and currently studying for his BA to become a pastor. We arrived at the distant venue to get our digital photos taken and expected to be in queues for at least two hours. We were called for out photo after about 2 minutes and although we had to visit a further three desks, the queues were short and the whole process was completed in 50 minutes! I suppose Monday mornings are fairly quiet. We also expected to have to wait a week for the licences to be made but were told we can return on Thursday! Bosco (our driver) waited for us and as we took less time than expected we stopped off at the bank and for some food shopping for Lyn. By the time we returned to the flat, Margaret had washed our clothes and they were nearly ready to be ironed – which she did later. A very productive morning with much less effort and frustration than expected! Maybe CHOGOM did have a lasting effect. Let’s hope it lasts till Thursday.
While with Bosco, we realised the extent of the events in Kenya. We haven’t heard recent news but many the petrol stations are still dry. The prices of fuel rocketed but do seem to be dropping again. All the fuel comes via Kenya.
On Tuesday there was no electricity in the flat. This is common in Kampala and often frustrating – we didn’t use the laptop though it would have been a good time to catch up with some planning etc. We had to read instead! We were still very tired to Andrea slept for several hours in the afternoon – it’s noisy sometimes at night with dogs barking or music playing. I took the opportunity to experiment with a Christmas present. We pooled our Christmas money to get a portable DVD player. This will run directly from a 12 volt battery and will save our laptop battery life. It’s also quicker to set up although the main disadvantage is the smaller (8.5”) screen. It’s fine for one or two people to watch but no more. However, it can connect to an ordinary TV – like the one at Ushindi – so we can show the occasional DVD to the students while being in control of what is shown! I watched Ireland beating Namibia from the Rugby World Cup. It’s taken until now to be able to watch it! But I’m also aware that the 2008 Six Nations tournament begins on 2nd Feb – and I’ll miss it again unless a kind person records it for me! I’d even rather watch England playing rugby than Arsenal playing football but we don’t get the rugby here as far as I know. I’m not sure if the African Cup is televised either.
On Wednesday we “looked forward” to our last Conference Committee meeting so made our way up to Matoke Inn for lunch and fed the laptop on the internet too. They have a wireless broadband connection! After lunch we found seven people in the lounge area in silence, each one on their own laptop. I was the eighth. The reviews from the Conference were positive and the finances are in the black so we made a few final decisions. Only one of the committee is likely to be around for the next conference in January 2009.
Bosco collected us on Thursday morning for another foray into Ugandan bureaucracy to collect our driving permits. It took nearly an hour to get across Kampala and less than 5 minutes to collect the licences! Such efficiency is unusual, apparently but bodes well for the future. We stopped off for some more shopping and returned to the flat. We booked our return flight to Arua for Monday morning. We had though of going on Sunday but realised that we will be out later than usual celebrating Lyn’s birthday on Saturday evening and it would be unfair to get her up at 5.30am on her birthday! We had power in the afternoon so spent most of the time either on the internet (using Lyn’s laptop) or working on our own – then swapping when we got bored waiting for downloads. It’s not broadband but faster than in Arua. We’ve found some useful materials for teacher training with will supplement a book we brought back with us. Andrea has been looking and knitting patterns and recipes too.
We have power again this morning (Friday) so have continued with our internet searches and laptop work. And a few games! It’s been wet so slightly cooler, which helps us to concentrate. By cooler, I mean 24°C (76°F).
We worked all day Saturday – it’s good to have peace and quiet and it’s not too hot either. In the evening we went to Fang Fang’s Chinese restaurant in Kampala with four others to celebrate Lyn and Elaine’s birthdays. It was a bit odd eating Chinese food in Uganda – but probably no different from eating Chinese food in Essex! It was a very “up-market” establishment compared with the usual Ugandan fare and I was a bit concerned about how much it might cost – Chinese in UK is expensive. But we thought £8-50 each, including four of us paying for the birthday girls, was reasonable – and the food was great! We felt that we were having a late night out and as we were preparing to leave realised it was only 8.30pm! The younger generation were just beginning to set out for their evening’s entertainment!
posted by J & A McAdam at 9:15 AM
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