Day 2: Mukono

I love Ugandan food. LOVE. it's simple, it's portioned perfectly, and it's meant to sustain. it's interesting that here, we eat when we're hungry and we eat enough to get through the next period of the day. no one here overindulges simply because they like the food. eating is practical here.
Woke up to the sound of birds and monkeys screeching, singing, chirping, yelling and laughing in the trees. I have yet to actually see one of the evasive little monkeys though. A failed attempt at hiking yesterday left us covered in red mud and monkey-less, but hopefully tomorrow morning i'll actually get to trek up Monkey Hill behind campus and spot some buggers coming out for fruit at dawn.
Only one mosquito bite, no spider sightings (Fisher Farms you'll be happy to hear that!), and today we finally get to go into Mukono to explore. Started learning Lugandan today- the regional language, and successfully got myself through formal greetings with two Ugandan instructors who congratulated me with "Webalennyo" (good job, thank you).
Had a dance party last night with some Ugandan girls with infinitely better rap music than the US has to offer. score. Had lunch with Lazarus - who has promised me to take me to a club and wants me to introduce him to techno music. Got to go into town today on a "scavenger hunt" with some girls- and we soon learned how to bargain (don't worry Hannah I'm sending you something), where to find the best mango juice (cold), and how to leap across ditches to avoid traffic…which goes wherever it feels like. Got lost on my way back to school, but a nice old man on a bicycle pointed me in the right direction and as soon as I stepped through the gates back to school two small Ugandan girls started yelling at their mother who instructed them to just "go touch her!" by what I could gather of her hand gestures and hearing the distinct word "muzungo" (white person)…followed by the two girls running up to me saying "hello! Hello!" and just holding onto my arm as I walked for a while.


The kids in town all wave and stare and jump up and down yelling "Muzungo! Heya muzungo!" One man asked me how to buy pantyhose for his girlfriend and asked me how to make friends in the United States. I was with two other girls that informed me this was what he had actually asked…I heard "how to you get trained in the United States" (assuming he meant schooling) and answered "oh, it's very expensive." An hour later when my friends told me what he had actually asked I understood his confused expression. Stupid Muzungo: party of one.