What next….?

Our immediate run of visitors had ceased now and we have the place to ourselves for a bit. The first two months of life in Uganda was spent settling in. Finding a home. Moving into it, furnishing it and so on. Within the first month  here we had guests and then again through until last week. (It was great having them don’t get me wrong). Now they’ve gone and its just us and a big African capital city to contend with.

The initial honeymoon period of excitement has worn off and it’s now time to figure out what we are doing here. What does it mean for us to be here and what can we achieve. We are trying to get into a daily routine that fits around our life back in the UK and our new lives here. That is harder than it sounds because we don’t quite know what are new lives here entail yet! We’re working on it.

It’s also a learning curve figuring out how Uganda works. Every country has its idiosyncrasies and Uganda is no exception. There’s the road rules for starters. Or complete lack of them. its literally insane. No one understands or acknowledges right of way. It’s a free for all. There’s cars, matatus, boda bodas, pedestrians and animals on every road. Yes even in the capital city it is not unusual to see a goat wandering across a main road. And don’t even get me started on the potholes and neverending speed humps! On a long journey Alex’s running commentary about the road conditions and choice of place for a speed hump is hilarious!

I’m trying to figure out the lingo here too. Ugandan English seems to come in two forms. Either it is very proper. At times almost old fashioned with choice of words and at other times it is littered with words and phrases I’ve never heard and don’t understand. For example yesterday someone asked Alex to ‘frash’ him. After a blank stare it was explained to us that this was drop calling. Today I got a boda to work. The driver had no idea where I wanted to go. However I explained that he needed to ‘extend and then slope down right after hotel int. Take right and extend before sloping down left’. Job done!

There’s a lot to learn here and it can all feel a bit overwhelming at times but we’re starting to get the hang of it.