DeannaInUganda

Can I still post, even though I'm not in Uganda anymore?

2005-12-03T20:50:00.000+03:00

There is a not-safe-for-work photo (unless you're at a moderately liberal workplace) at the bottom of the post. I'm just warnin' ya!I've been home for three weeks now, and woohoo hasn't it all just been one crazy thing after another!! Oh, and by "one crazy thing" I mean "sitting around" and by "after another" I mean "almost everyday". (Which, i guess, is actually what "one day after another"

I'm home!

2005-11-11T23:04:00.000+03:00

My tan is fading already. Get in touch! (So I don't go bonkers with the "I'm 29 and living with my parents in the suburbs"-ness of it all)

London, baby

2005-11-08T14:20:00.000+03:00

I'm in London, staying with Karisia for a few days, and am currently using the free internet at SOAS, where Karisia goes to school. I've been horrible about the blogging lately; I had a whole halloween-themed entry all made up in my head, with clever photo captions and everything, but the internet in Heather and I's apartment was being really crappy, and it just didn't happen. In sum, though: I

Slacking, sort of

2005-10-15T16:02:00.000+03:00

It's been a while since I've posted my Epic One Hundredth Post. But don't get me wrong, it's not from a lack of things to write about. It's more as a result of having so much to say, but not being sure how to say it or even if its appropriate to say. I know, you're expecting something incredibly salacious now. (I'm probably going to disappoint you, then.)I'm at a new 'job' now. 'Job' gets the '

A Special Ye Olde Poste of DeannaInUganda

2005-09-26T15:17:00.000+03:00

This is Post #100 on this here blog, a Milestone Of Sorts, I suppose. Also, i'm going to finally get some Ye Olde Photoes up, since i haven't posted photos in ages. And so, our tale begins like this…A long long time ago, way back in April, in a land far far away, Karin and Toby and I journeyed through the land of Malawi. (That’s the long skinny country on the right hand side of the Africa map,

i re-goat you re-goat we all re-goat

2005-09-06T21:29:00.000+03:00

I went to the Royal Ascot Goat Races again. I've been here long enough that I've been to annual events twice. Krazee. I haven't had time to upload my own photos or to formulate opinions distinct from last year's opinions (click the post title to read last year's entry), so why don't you just read what the folks over at Kampala Live have to say. (That's the website I guest-edited a few weeks

The moral of the story

2005-08-29T16:40:00.000+03:00

This past Wednesday I picked up a package from the airport that my parents had sent me. It was full of fabulous goodies, plus a bottle of the moisturizer I’d run out of. Goodies included:- Three precious precious magazines (a product category that retails in Uganda for about 4 to 6 times its’ Canadian cover price, and which prompts, in women expats, expressions of delight of the type normally

Oooh exciting... wonder when the coup's going to be?

2005-08-16T12:27:00.000+03:00

I'm going to blatantly cut and paste this article from the New Vision (Uganda's fairly independent but government owned newspaper) so that you actually read this ridiculousness. I thought that government leaders abusing their power and shutting down media who question them is something I'd only know about from books and movies and journalism coming out of countries that I don't live in. I've been

Lets play pretend!

2005-08-12T12:48:00.000+03:00

According to BBC News, there is "Shock as Uganda shuts down radio". As someone who has so far been tear-gassed twice, I'm not so much with the shock, you know? (It should be noted that this is the second time this radio station, formerly called Monitor FM, has been shut down. The previous time? It was because they'd questioned the ethics of some government minister. So... again... where is

occupations

2005-08-11T01:05:00.000+03:00

Feels like the weekend today! Why? Cuz I haven't gone to work in two days! Why? Because, starting yesterday, I'm refusing to go to work until I get paid (something that hasn't happened since April), and also because today was declared a public holiday, in honour of the Ugandan crew of a helicopter that crashed last week, killing the crew and its passenger, the Sudanese Vice President. This is

i coke you coke we coke

2005-08-04T10:15:00.000+03:00

The Historical Present demystifies all the various kinds of low-calorie coke products. Except for diet coke, all these products have been released during the time I've been in Uganda, and I hadn't heard of any of them, so I was especially mystified by the necessity for so many variations. How in the world would consumers choose between all of these, with such slight product differentiation?

Wah wah wah.... wah

2005-07-29T12:55:00.000+03:00

This week has sort of sucked the big one.A couple of hours after going to bed last friday night, I was woken up by fairly bad eye pain. After half an hour of flushing it with water didn't help, I went back to bed and hoped it would magically feel better by morning. It didn't. Instead, I ended up rushing to The Surgery, where i was informed I had a "massive" corneal ulcer on my right eye,

Fishing for chicken

2005-07-22T09:53:00.000+03:00

Three of the ways that Medy, my driver, used to catch wild chickens in the bush around his village:- A kernel or two of maize, skewered with a needle, threaded with.. a thread. Let the chicken peck away at the bait maize on the ground until it pecks at the needled grain, and while it's choking on the needle, reel it in with the thread.- Create this fairly complicated sounding trap involving

Stress headaches

2005-07-19T11:28:00.000+03:00

I thought my head would explode yesterday when I found out that one of my colleagues is lying to my face on a regular basis. It doesn't appear to be a malicious, but he was supposed to do something (under my direction) and he hasn't, and he's lied to me three times about it. (He was supposed to fire or demote someone, and hasn't. I thought the employee in question seemed a little too cheerful to

I prefer ‘background actor’, thankyouverymuch

2005-07-12T10:00:00.000+03:00

Thursday morning started like any other day – I pretended I was too sick with bilharzia to go to work, and headed over the set of a Hollywood movie filming in Uganda, for my day’s work as a movie extra. Just like I do every Thursday.The set was conveniently located near my house, at the Makerere University library, a hallway of which had been converted into a 1970s-esque airport lounge and

I'm gonna look so hot

2005-07-05T17:36:00.000+03:00

I just came from my wardrobe fitting for my part as a 'background actor' (aka 'extra') in The Last King of Scotland. I tried on about 5 different dresses, and the best one, beleive it or not, turned out to be a pink-and-white striped polyester number. I'm going to need to lather my entire body in deoderant, oh my god i started to sweat just trying it on.So now I get to show up at FIVE THIRTY IN

The Third Wave

2005-07-04T13:28:00.000+03:00

The Third Wave was an interesting and somewhat accidental experiment into how the social conformism of nazi-era germany became so effective. I read it, it was interesting, thought you might want to read it too.

well well

2005-06-28T17:19:00.000+03:00

Looks like this is what i rode into tear gas for (see below.)

so, i guess peaceful protest ain't on the 'yessir' list

2005-06-28T14:02:00.000+03:00

So, a couple of hours ago I headed downtown on a boda boda to meet Katie for lunch at Cafe Pap. As we (me and the boda driver) headed into town and onto Kampala Road, I felt my phone vibrate and answered it while still driving along on the motorcycle. It was Katie calling to warn me 'not to go on Kampala road, there's this massive protest going on.' To which I replied, "Too late! Already on

Never wear your gym socks twice, even if you "didn't sweat much" yesterday

2005-06-24T21:09:00.000+03:00

God, I just had to take my socks off and throw them to other side of the room. Yeesh.But anyways.My week this week has involved the gloriousness of all glories: I have been supervising my employer's booth at the East African Construction Exhibition. As if exhibiting chainlink and burglar proofing grilles wasn't exciting enough, i actually added 'nail polish chipping' as an activity to my day, in

Uhhhhhh.....

2005-06-15T16:53:00.000+03:00

I feel, like... hungry, man.

This has nothing to do with Uganda, its just interesting

2005-06-07T10:39:00.000+03:00

This article is interesting.

Le Citron Velu

2005-06-06T14:27:00.000+03:00

This past long weekend (it was Mothers Day on Friday, a civic holiday here) myself and four friends hopped on a privately-hired matatu for a relaxing weekend at the Hairy Lemon, a chillout/camping/swimming/ tanning/napping spot on a small island in the middle of the Nile River. It was lovely and relaxing, except for the fact that I am turning into a nervous wreck over the recent addition of

oh god how i wish this was actually a dream

2005-05-30T14:50:00.000+03:00

We have a maid who cleans and sweeps and dusts and airs out and all of that three times a week.The sheets get changed at least once a week.We wash our clothes with almost every wearing.We each wash our own bodies, separately of course, at least once a day.We don't have any pets.And yet.And ... yetwe have... fleas.I am itchy.

this is my chance to be discovered

2005-05-21T14:29:00.000+03:00

Hey, remember a while back, when I recommended a bunch o' books about uganda/east africa, and one of them was The Last King of Scotland, about Idi Amin??? WELL, randomly/interestingly, that book is being made into a Major Motion Picture starring Forrest Whittaker, filming right here in Kampala (and environs). Neato, right? Well that's not all... This morning, myself and about 150 other whiteys

they go marching two by two, hurrah!

2005-05-18T14:59:00.000+03:00

Last night, I twice woke up, bounding up because my bed was swarming with ants. The first time, I ran out of my room, and decided to flop down onto the couch to sleep. I lay on the couch for a minute or two, went into the kitchen and got the can of Doom spray, and went and sprayed insecticide all over my bed. I was about two-thirds of the way through the spraying process that i realised it.There

ch-ch-changes

2005-05-12T17:07:00.000+03:00

I switched templates. Partly because i couldn't seem to get the whole 'comments' thing to work, and i suspected it was because of my incompetent Mucking Around in Things I Don't Understand (ie even the most basic html.) So I decided to just start over. So now there are comments again, even if they are all empty. (*shakes fist at Comment This*) Plus, now you get that fabulous picture of me over

comments go kablooey

2005-05-05T11:41:00.000+03:00

Comment This!, the comment service I had been using, has gone and had a server meltdown, and so now any and all comments ever left on my blog are gone forever. (That sucks a bit, you know?)Additionally, I'm having problems getting Blogger comments to work. Although hopefully i'll either miraculously develop a greater understanding of html in the next few days, OR somebody from Blogger help will

Malalalalalawi, wowee! (I just couldn't think of anything dorkier.)

2005-04-28T11:14:00.000+03:00

I'm back in Kampala, and i've recovered from my vacation. If I was in first grade and I had to write a story on "What I Did On My Vacation", and i was one of those classic six year olds who focus on the wrong-but-most-honestly-true Thing (like those kids in that granola bar commercial where you're supposed to give your kid something chewy to shut them up), my story would probably begin with "On

Breaking the Break

2005-04-06T11:22:00.000+03:00

I'm breaking my blogging break. After a month and a half of either not posting at all, or posting short non-content posts, and after getting a few nice emails letting me know that my intended audience does actually read this (even if they don't comment), I've decided to break the break by summarizing the past few months with photos. After all, with two months worth of stuff I haven't written

Lunch break

2005-03-15T12:37:00.000+03:00

So, you know the other day, when I said, “Real post coming later today”? Well, I guess I lied. Sorry! The truth is, I’m getting a little bit blogged-out. For various reasons I've edited out because they sound too whiney, I feel a bit like I’m mostly writing for the anonymous-internet-void (which i know is actually only partly true), and that’s just sort of losing its motivational power. And so

2005-03-07T13:31:00.000+03:00

The Principles of Jewish Buddhism made me laugh. Real post coming later today.

Human Development Reports

2005-03-04T17:17:00.000+03:00

In the course of my final, final FINAL I MEAN IT THIS TIME bits of of research for the marketing plan I am writing, I found this remarkably encompassing set of statistics about Uganda. Some of them are really interesting. Its interesting to compare some of the statistics - on the distressing side, see the % of the population living on under two dollars a day, life expectancy, and fertility

Get in touch - that's an order!

2005-02-24T18:52:00.000+03:00

Hey, Family And Friends, did you know that you can send me text messages to my cell phone for free, online?? Yes, you can! And did you know that I would be PUMPED to get messages from the folks back home every once in a while? Yes, that's right, PUMPED!Go to www.trueafrican.com, and in the 'Send SMS' box on the left of the page, and beside the number 256 (uganda's country code), you can enter my

This is why I am proud to be a Canadian.

2005-02-18T10:52:00.000+03:00

Grumble grumble grumble vent

2005-02-16T17:15:00.000+03:00

Today I had to get some passport photos done (necessary for processing my Ugandan work permit), so I went the fastest/easiest route, which are those automatic photo booth things that give you a strip of four photos. Now the photo booths in Uganda are old crappy booths that have been thrown away by malls and subway station managers in North America and Europe, and so the money-accepting mechanism

The word "tuneage" crosses cultural boundaries.

2005-02-13T22:49:00.000+03:00

Last night I was on the way to party with my friends Kelly andKatie. The cab driver's radio was tuned to static, so Kelly asked "Hey, can we get some tuneage?" And want to know what happened next? He actually started to flip around his radio to find some. (Keep in mind why I am amazed: Por ejemplo, when I first arrived in Uganda, and didn't know any better, I asked a boda-boda driver to take me

Things I thought I'd urgently need but that have never come out of their packages or had their tags removed

2005-02-11T17:46:00.000+03:00

- A travel/camping mosquito net- 1 Liter refill of SPF 30 sunblock- Water purification drops- Gravol- Cypro antibiotic tablets, at 8 bucks pop- Imodium- 'Safari' shirt, complete with pit zips and lots of pockets and tabs and things- Zip-off pants/shorts (Okay, i wore these once, but then i decided to NEVER WEAR THEM AGAIN.)- 'Conservative' (a.k.a. 'shlumpy') skirts and tops, outfits 1-5 of 6-

Oh, Neat!

2005-02-09T15:13:00.000+03:00

I'm going on exchange!! Dispatches from France, the weblog of an American living in France, is hosting a 'secret' expat-blogger gift exchange thingy, that I've just signed up for. I send someone in some other country some stuff from Uganda, and then somebody else (it's a secret who!) sends me stuff from whatever country they're in. Neat, huh? The deadline to sign up is tomorrow (the 10th),

Booky McBookerson: The Recommendations

2005-02-07T15:35:00.000+03:00

I don't have a TV, or access to reasonably-priced trashy magazines (yes, I can purchase a Cosmo or a Vanity Fair here, but for the bargain price of about 20 dollars), and so I read a lot of books. A lot. Of books. Lots. But anyways, many of these books fall into the 'good, but nothing to write home about' category, and quite a few of them are very good, but are not specific to being in Africa,

Not sure if

2005-02-01T23:42:00.000+03:00

It's about 11:30 p.m., and the sound of at least several hundred people cheering and hollering somewhere in the vicinity of our apartment has just begun. Heather (my roommate) figures that either there's a soccer game, or somebody new just seized power over the government.

That's reasonable.

2005-02-01T13:10:00.000+03:00

Sailing lessons these past few weekends have been a really nice, fun change to the monotony of the usual 'lie by the pool/go out for dinner/go to a bar' routine of most weekends. (Wow, that sounded really obnoxious. All I can say is this: that routine actually does get monotonous, and you’ll just have to trust me on that.) Sailing has provided a really nice excuse to get out of the city, meet

Venn diagrams gone mad!

2005-01-28T13:14:00.000+03:00

I like Venn diagrams. This one is funny, so I might not actually be completely alone in that opinion this time. Also, on a completely different note, i found this article interesting. And because because I feel this post should have some substance to it, I will say this: The sailing? It is harder than it looks. It's surprising how tired one can get doing a sport where you're sitting most of the

The only thing we have to fear, is procrastination itself! (or something)

2005-01-21T11:56:00.000+03:00

Back in the day when I was a poli sci student at Queen's I wrote an essay on JFK's inaugural speech for my Political Communications class. Apparently, I didn't do a very good job, as I was awarded a lowly 67%.(Well, okay actually 62%, including the penalty for handing it in late.) And while I will still maintain that my professor was blinded to my brilliance by an arbitrary dislike for me (or

2005-01-20T15:02:00.000+03:00

Guess what? No, guess! I signed up for sailing lessons! Along with my friend Karisia, i attended the first 'dry' lesson last night of the Victoria Nyanza Sailing Club's Beginners Sailing Course, held in the upstairs party room of a pub. I'm pretty excited - I've never really tried anything like sailing before, and I'm looking forward to maybe finding something that is technically called a '

why oh why

2005-01-18T14:10:00.000+03:00

Yesterday I was walking along Makerere Road towards my apartment, when I started laughing out loud at the cows that were running along the side of the street. I mean, cows aren't really a running kind of animal, you know? So when they DO run, its pretty damn funny. Kinda like short, bulky giraffes. And then it occured to me that there is something very strange going on with my brain when it

It's Little People day; plus a Quiz!

2005-01-13T16:34:00.000+03:00

I took a trip from my normal home in the Land of Grown Ups today. This morning, our housegirl, Nelly, brought her eldest son with her to work. At the age of 26, her eldest of five is 8 years old, and was very smartly dressed in jeans and a matching jean jacket. I gave him the free Shark Tale toy out of our box of Nutty O's, or whatever those replica HoneyNut Cheerios were called. Then, on the

counteracting, but not really

2005-01-07T17:23:00.000+03:00

okay, so i sounded a little negative in my last post. But you have to understand, some days here a bit tough. The days that don't seem tough are often just days when you are feeling more resilient. The constant on-the-street harrassment, and being taken advantage of, and being used, and being ripped off - it doesn't mean anything but it builds up a bit after awhile, you know? Wow that sentence

Sometimes

2005-01-03T16:00:00.000+03:00

Last week (or was it the week before?) I ‘shadowed’ one of the company salesmen on his afternoon round of construction sites, as part of my research into the preparation of a marketing plan. Because the salesguy (Ronald) hadn’t called ahead, we only saw one actual customer, a man building a small retail complex. This customer, however, was seemingly quite impressed with my presence, and

Happy 2005

2005-01-03T11:02:00.000+03:00

New Years weekend went like this: Friday, came home from work a bit early, napped, tried on 3 different outfits 4 times each, showered, dressed, met some friends for dinner at a Thai restaurant, proceeded to Rouge (a nightclub), went home at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, slept in, lay on the couch reading for a couple hours, made a beaded necklace, got bored of beading&reading, went into town for a

I am Uganda's Domestic Goddess

2004-12-27T14:20:00.000+03:00

I am just so proud of myself! I MAKE MY OWN YOGOURT!!!! That's right, you read it here first. I am actually creating yogourt, at home, with only my instincts and cunning ability to read instructions to guide me. You see, I eat A LOT of yogourt (it is both healthy and magically delicious). And when you consider that one cannot buy fat-free yogourt in Uganda, and that most brands here specify

I'm convinced it was just a bar that happened to have some Indian food menus lying around.

2004-12-21T14:53:00.000+03:00

On friday night I went to this small random Indian restaurant for dinner. (I'd never heard of it, it was "behind Save The Children" which seemed to me like a pretty random place for a restaurant.) So anyways, myself and my three 'dinner companions' sit down, open the menu, marvel at the selection (about 30 0r 40 different items) and the very reasonable prices. We choose four items, carefully

Shouting at People is a Mental Fault

2004-12-16T16:01:00.000+03:00

Or so it says in the headline of the article taped up in the window of my co-worker's office. I'd believe it. Did you know that... 1) There is no Luganda word for 'please'? 2) Men hold hands here, just as an every day matter of course? It's sort of sweet seeing two big burly men walk along the street with a few fingers intertwined. (Oh, and "there are no gays in Uganda!", so that's not it.)

Oh my god, another one?

2004-12-09T19:08:00.000+03:00

I just got invited to a ugandan wedding. ANOTHER ugandan wedding. This will now be my fourth. good lord people, i barely know you, stop inviting me to your relatives weddings, who i don't know at all. (by the way, i'm at a computer with a sticky 'shift' key, so i'm avoiding unnecessary capitalization - it's just not worth the trouble.) also, bizarrely, i just picked up a friend in a coffee

Ahhhhhhhhhh

2004-12-05T23:44:00.000+03:00

I spent this past long weekend up at the supremely relaxing Nile Safari Camp with my friend Emily and her boss Zahid, who are, rather conveniently for me, the general manager and owner of the lodge. My oh my, it was lovely. Lovely and relaxing. There's something about sitting up in bed and seeing the Nile river (photo) just feet from your tent to make the day start off right. I even didn't mind

An intro to my digital camera.

2004-11-25T07:52:00.000+03:00

I present to you, dear readers, the fruits of my spankin' new digital camera (a fabulous birthday gift from my parents this past month.) I inaugurated it at Saturday's wedding of my friend Tina (from Victoria, BC) to her now-husband Hassan (from Kampala.) The wedding was held at the Bahai temple (one of only 6 Bahai temples in the world!) - which proved to be a beautiful spot for photos, and

Back on the bodas again.

2004-11-16T16:20:00.000+03:00

Scene: London's Heathrow Airport, last thursday evening. We are at Gate 6 (Terminal 4), about one hour prior to the departure of a flight bound for Entebbe, Uganda. Note: Text in regular font are an accurate account of the scene; Italics represent the scene as envisioned by the author, prior to the scene actually taking place. ***** Me: Excuse me, sir? Could you tell me what time boarding

These are all the countries I've visited

2004-11-07T21:38:00.000+03:00

I need to spread around some more blobs of red. Don't want those colourless continents to feel left out! create your own visited country map or write about it on the open travel guide

I bought it.

2004-11-02T10:58:00.000+03:00

I finally did it. The waiting is over! This afternoon I walked into my local Flight Center, and an extraordinarily helpful travel agent sold me a plane ticket to Uganda. I leave next Wednesday!!! Woohoo! (Would you beleive that in the 7 years the agent had been working for Flight Center, I'm the first person she's ever sold a ticket to Uganda to? First ever!) I'm going to be genuinely sorry to

Expedition Updates

2004-10-21T08:38:00.000+03:00

This is quite an incredible & interesting journey. I first heard about this via a satellite-phone interview with CBC radio. Two canadian guys are 'self-propelling' themselves (i.e. hike/bike/row) from Vancouver to Moscow. They're somewhere in Siberia right now. Also, I'm 28 today. Oh, and happy birthday to my twin brother Michael. (He's 28 today too. :-)

This blog is getting boring I know

2004-10-19T09:19:00.000+03:00

So who could have predicted that almost three-months of 'sitting around and waiting' would produce a boring blog? I, for one, could not. I only wish i'd signed up to work as movie extra so that at least i could be paid to sit around. That being said, i should be heading back to Kampala in a couple weeks, at the latest (although I've been saying that for a couple months now!) and this blog will

The night's big news.

2004-10-01T09:15:00.000+03:00

Well, it's official. Chocolate brown is definitely the new black. There's also a pretty high likelihood that purple is the new charcoal grey. Also, I've come to beleive that if all political analysis was filtered through Jon Stewart, that a much greater percentage of the american population would be interested in politics. And finally: (i) John Kerry kinda looks like a robot that has aged

Argghh, blorsh....

2004-09-26T22:49:00.000+03:00

So. I am STILL in Toronto. (That's what the arggghh was for.) Not only am i not back in uganda, but at this point I have no idea when I will actually be returning there, although i am attempting to remain confident that everything will fall into place, and that i will in fact be flying back to Kampala at some point in the near future. The problem you see, is this: My new employers (let's call

Slow news week

2004-09-02T20:17:00.000+03:00

Wow, life in toronto, especially when you spend most of your time lazing around the house in pajama pants, sure doesn't supply a lot of blog fodder. (I kept myself in quarantine until i finished this document i needed to write for the new job in uganda; since i kept putting it off - i'm a great procrastinator - i ended up trapped inside the house for quite a while.) Anyhow, now that i've

And i did it all without the ruby slippers

2004-08-14T02:22:00.000+03:00

Well, I'm home. I can't tell you much about why i'm choosing to write this at 2:30 in the morning, but I can tell you that this means that i definitely have adjusted to the time difference. I can also tell you that that means this will likely be short and/or slightly incoherent. I've been back for a week now. I understand what my 'uganda friends' (those who returned to canada before me) meant

Whoa... really happy this time....

2004-08-01T20:31:00.000+03:00

I'm coming home to Canada! On Wednesday! So I'll be in Toronto by thursday evening! And the reason I can be so unequivocally happy about this, is that I get to return to Uganda, a couple of months later, to start my new job! (Don't get me wrong... I am having some unpleasant thoughts about the fact that I will be away from my family and friends for a cumulative almost-two years. But the

the NYC project gets all the big stars

2004-07-28T02:28:00.000+03:00

The NYC project has gotten some more press in uganda's leading daily newspaper, the New Vision online. Uganda's reigning beauty queen apparently pulls in the journalists, but not apparently the ones who put a premium on getting their story straight. (i.e. we aren't raising money for who they say we are, and the contact phone numbers they've provided so people can donate are wrong too.) But hey

HappyHappy

2004-07-21T21:15:00.000+03:00

Here's a picture from of the NYC committee at the end of our big fundraising bazaar in June. We had all been working really hard since about 7 that morning, and were finally getting a chance to chill out and watch the 3-on-3 basketball tournament. I have no idea what we're laughing so hard at. From left to right is Emily Wissanji (my fellow NYC marketing manager, and the *first person i met in

Sorrysorry*

2004-07-21T19:41:00.000+03:00

Okay, so its been a while since I've updated. A lot has happened within the last three weeks, and yet absolutely nothing has happened at the same time. For those who are wondering, no i haven't been not-posting because i'm busy backpacking through kenya, as originally planned. I'm still sittin' in Kampala. There's been a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. And because i'm still waiting, I haven't

I just can't answer all the fan mail, but i thought i'd just do it this once

2004-07-02T16:20:00.000+03:00

Dear Deanna, You work in Uganda, right? I'm nosy, and i was wondering, what does your office look like? How about your co-worker Ruth? What's the view look like from the doorway of your office building? And I hear that the street your office is on is quite lovely? And besides, your work days must be pretty relaxing, what with you spending all that time going for lunch with your friends? I know

There's something fishy going on here

2004-06-27T16:45:00.000+03:00

Ok, so there are certain things that seem quintessentially africa-for-the-non-african. Going on safari is one. So is exploring places like Zanzibar. Eating local food. Taking part in local celebrations like weddings. Discoving the natural wonders of the country, like the rainforests and the mountain gorillas. So last week when i had salmonella poisoning, I sort of chalked it up to "another

I goat you goat we goat

2004-06-21T16:28:00.000+03:00

This weekend i went to the Royal Ascot Goat Races at Speke Resort Munyonyo, one of the premier events on the Kampala social calendar. It seemed like a really strangely foreign event to have in africa (it really is quite posh) until you remember OH RIGHT. ITS GOATS. Its exactly what it sounds like - an annual spoof on the British royal ascot races, complete with fancy dresses, big hats and lots

it's funny/it's awful/it's brilliant/it's totally sacriligious..i can't decide

2004-06-14T11:01:00.000+03:00

This is one of the funniest websites i've seen in a while: the weblog of Anne Frank. I know it's wrong, but it's just too funny. In other news, my life has been 100% taken over by the NYC project. Everything revolves around it - i haven't even considered going away on weekends for about the past month in a half, and I'm at the Aga Khan high school about four days of the week, either after school

Contrasts

2004-06-08T01:06:00.000+03:00

It’s a been a busy, crazy, heartbreaking, fascinating, relaxing and fun exercise in contrasts these last few weeks. One of the things that I find to be a big shame is that when I’m doing the most is also when I have the least amount of time to write in either my personal paper journal or here, on my public electronic journal. I’m hoping to do a bit of catching up today, though. Last weekend I

So much excitement in only one post

2004-05-21T13:28:00.001+03:00

Okay, first of all, the excitement of excitement (even i'm not sure if i'm being sarcastic right now): I'm a lucky randomly-selected Blogger user who gets a beta Gmail account!! Woohoo - I never have to delete an email again!! I probably won't start really using it til I'm back home (my yahoo 'deannainuganda' address would just be too inconvenient to abandon right now) but for those of you who

More for the Ick files

2004-05-17T17:28:00.000+03:00

This week has been marked by two fairly significant events for me here in Uganda: (1)I've decided to move houses - yes, again!, and (2)I was bitten by a spider. I currently live in a wonderful house with a wonderfull, older Ugandan woman. The house is great, and the woman I live with is lovely. The only problem is this - it is at least 30-40 minutes into the city, and almost all of my friends

Another time waster...

2004-05-11T12:32:00.000+03:00

I've had time on my hands the last couple days, okay? Philosophy Games: A time waster that is a bit more mind-engaging: do-it-yourself deities, moral judgements, frozen chickens, and the yuk-factor. Oh, and by the way: I should have photos of my village walk and trip to see the gorillas posted by the end of the week.

Sushi, barbecued hot dogs, caesar salad, wholly intact shoes, jewellery, coffee 'to go', traffic laws.

2004-05-10T12:04:00.000+03:00

In the absence of anything substantive, I offer you this time waster: How Old Do You Think I Am? Like HotOrNot, but without the self-esteem issues.

Quite possibly the boringest post ever

2004-05-04T13:16:00.000+03:00

I'm going to sound really dorky when i say this, but i think it's pretty neat how the ads at the top of this page always relate to what I've written in the most recent post. Those Google folks are pretty smart! It's occured to me that the content of my weblog would probably lead people to believe that I spend all my time either doing very western-oriented stuff (like going to relatively new

Not really an 'upper', this one

2004-04-26T15:27:00.000+03:00

Well, I've decided when I'm coming home: I'll be departing Uganda on August 2nd, arriving in Toronto very early (middle of the night, really) on August 4th, with a 24-hour layover in London in between. So now you all know! The last little while has been sort of strange: After a big night out on friday for a friends's birthday, my friend Tina got a phone call at 6:30 a.m. from her mother in

today, it is sunny.

2004-04-19T17:02:00.000+03:00

Well, i've made my wedding-speech debut, and I eased into the job by doing it at a wedding where I don't speak the language of every other speech-maker and speech-listener there. My co-worker, Ruth, was married on Saturday, and in the Ugandan tradition of keeping the speeches looooong, and of showing off the white people, I was asked to make a speech, despite the fact that I've only been

Happy Weekend Everyone

2004-04-16T17:24:00.000+03:00

Happy Weekend!! I'm off to meet somebody 15 minutes away in 5 minutes (I just thought everyone at home might be comforted to know that some things, like being chronically late, never change!) I've been really crappy about emailing lately - so here's a hello to everyone, and a message that the realisation that staying here an extra three months means not seeing my friends and family for an extra

Take two

2004-04-14T13:12:00.000+03:00

This entry is called 'take two', because, well, its the second time i wrote it. Trust me, the first time (before the power went out and I lost all my work) it was so absolutely hilarious and eloquent. This time, you're just going to have to settle for this: Its tuesday evening and I'm about to leave work. I have a really bad cold, so i'm feeling kind of draggy and I'm looking forward to getting

2004-04-07T12:21:00.000+03:00

I've done a bunch of stuff... Here's some photos (follow the links)... Around Christmas & New Years, I went to Zanzibar. I played the "bathing beauty" (note use of "air quotes"), went snorkeling , took walks on the beach at low tide, saw gorgeously dressed Zanzibari women take their kids to collect water, and shelter from the rain. About a month ago, my friend Heather and I hosted a potluck

More, just... social stuff...

2004-03-29T12:21:00.000+03:00

Ok, so this past few weeks or so have been quite stressful for me at work... The thief is still thieving, and is giving me attitude about it, and it's all just making work quite not-so-fun for me right now. I think push has come to shove, and I'm going to have to fire her, which is not something I'm looking forward to. I end up leaving work at the end of the day clenching my jaw and just trying

Slow news day today

2004-03-23T14:27:00.000+03:00

Okay, so just last week, I say i'm going to start posting at least every monday... And then I go and miss my first self imposed deadline... I'm in africa, ok? I'm working on 'Africa Time'! (ie. what's the difference between monday and tuesday? Or even between monday and three mondays from now?) This past weekend was a bit less exciting-africa-action-packed than my previous posts. The Rwandan

I know that you've got nothing else planned...

2004-03-18T18:48:00.000+03:00

Hey everybody, I've just decided to stay here for an extra month and travel around Kenya for the month of May. Anybody feel like joining me for a leg of the trip? It'll be fun, I swear!

What? I didn't tell you? I didn't think it would be a problem...

2004-03-15T16:16:00.004+03:00

What's better than a long weekend away? Leaving for another long weekend away... two days later. Yup, I came home from Murchison Falls, spent Tuesday and Wednesday at work, and then took off on Wednesday evening on a flight to Rwanda with three other Canadian girls - Tina, Larissa and Jen. Tina and Larissa are also CIDA interns, working for the Uganda Cooperative Alliance, while Jen is working

The um, south part of the north ...

2004-03-08T17:49:00.000+03:00

I had the day off work today - beleive it or not, International Women's Day is a civic holiday here. There is piles o' irony in that, when you think about the actual status of women here, but the point is that i had a long weekend and hence the chance to get out and away from the city. Myself and 8 others (7 of whom were canadian, and 2 of whom were Queen's grads - i've oh so diversified my

The LRA continued....

2004-02-23T11:44:00.000+03:00

To put a real-life spin on my last post about the LRA, this happened yesterday. Yikes.

Gots me some culture this weekend

2004-02-16T14:37:00.000+03:00

This past friday night I attended a Ugandan dance festival - it was absolutely fascinating and beautiful. The event featured dance troupes from all over Uganda, as well as from Mozambique and Rwanda. This was totally one of those - 'Whoa, africa is really... african" moments, when all sorts of preconceptions turned out to be (happily) true - amazing movements, huge smiles, bright costumes, crazy

Ok, this is it

2004-02-10T15:32:00.000+03:00

Welcome to my weblog about my trip to Uganda. I hope that at least some of the people i'm sending this to will find it interesting (hi mom! hi dad!). Since i decided to do this retroactively, you can catch up on what i've done here since I arrived in december by scrolling to the bottom of the page and working your way back up. The entries that are posted so far are basically copied versions

Photos

2004-02-10T14:52:00.000+03:00

I split the price of the overpriced picture CD that Adrift was hawking - so now i've got images to share. Here's two rafting pictures - I'm visible in both of them; imaginary prizes to whoever can tell which dorky-helmeted person is me:

White Water - Feb 10

2004-02-10T14:30:00.000+03:00

I went white water rafting last weekend in Jinja, which is the source of the Nile. (About an hour and a half away from Kampala.)If you're curious, I went with a company called Adrift. It was absolutely the most incredible, awesome experience. The source of the Nile is supposed to be pretty much some of the best rafting in the world, thanks to lots of big huge rapids. All the rapids have names,

For the Ick Files - Jan 25

2004-02-10T14:24:00.000+03:00

Oh, here's something for the 'ick' file: Apparently during my trip to zanzibar, some kind of parasitic sand flea that lives in the beaches hopped onto two of my toes, dug in, and laid a few thousand eggs inside my toes. It was extraordinarily pleasant, let me tell you. I went to the doctor, the dug 'em all out, and now i'm completely larvae-free. I feel like i've gotten the *full* african

Settling In & What's the food like? - January 24th

2004-02-10T14:15:00.000+03:00

Things here in uganda are going well, althogh after a month and a half i am getting a little bit, well not 'homesick', but more 'tired of being here'. Don't get me wrong, its interesting and i'm enjoying myself, but the constant harrassment of white women, the extreme poverty surrounding you, the language barrier, not having any close friends/family around you - its just gets a little fatiguing,

Will I ever get all the sand out of my backpack? - January 5, 2004

2004-01-13T11:23:00.000+03:00

I'm back in kampala again, home from my 'vacation'. From Stone Town, zanzibar's main city, I took a dalla-dalla (the tanzanian equivalent to a matatu, a minibus) to Nungwi, a little village at the tip of the island, a trip which took about an hour and a half. The dalla-dalla trip was actually kind of a fun adventure- it was all open air, and it was nice travelling along being able to loook at

Lions and leopard and giraffes, oh my - December 29, 2003

2004-01-13T11:18:00.000+03:00

I'm in Stone Town in Zanzibar right now. Its incredibly incredibly hot here (kind of what i thought africa would be like in general, actually.) I'm checking my email in an internet cafe mainly as an excuse to get out of the sun and in front of a fan! (Besides, internet is only about $0.75 an hour, so why not!) Stone Town is interesting, but the touts are driving me up the wall. You can't walk

2 weeks of work/2 weeks of holiday - December 23, 2003

2004-01-13T11:12:00.000+03:00

Well, I'm off on my safari tomorrow!! It was a bit of a hassle getting this trip organised (first i was going fly, then i wasn't, then i had a safari booked, then i found i wasn't going to make it on time, etc etc.) But, its actually worked out really well. I had confirmed a safari to depart this morning, and was going to take the bus to Arusha in Tanzania, but then found out that the bus

I sound really naive, but i'm posting anyways - December 18, 2003

2004-01-13T11:05:00.000+03:00

My one main thought recently has been about the huge gap in 'general knowledge' that even very well educated Ugandans appear to have. My co-worker Sophie has a university degree (which is extremely exceptional in the African context) and has won an international award from Junior Chamber International, and founded a young professional association here in Kampala: in short, fairly impressive.