You think America has a hard time keeping up with its pot holes think again… Kampala's pot holes are large…correction they are massive! Pretty sure if you fell in one you would not come out. All the manhole covers have been stolen because they are made of iron so you’re walking along minding your own business and a second later you’ve fallen in and the stuff on the other end is not something you want to have on you. Anyways back to the pot holes…You see there is what I like to call the parting of the sea of Boda Bodas and Taxies and anything else driving along the road. It’s kinda funny to watch the parting of the seas, until you end up having to drive into one of them in a taxi that has no shocks left then it is not so funny.
Anyways…Today (Sunday the 8th)
was a tough day. Nothing went to plan and by the end of it all I wanted to do
was scream. The Peace Corps did tell me along with my parents “during your time
in the Peace Corps, sometimes nothing goes right.” Well it is true and
especially in a third world country. We had our first tour of Kampala today and
on Sunday’s it is considered the quiet day of the week… If Sunday is the quiet
day I don’t want to be anywhere near Kampala on a weekday holy Moses. Kampala
traffic makes LA traffic look like a town with one stop life… LA traffic is
nothing compared to Kampala traffic. Somehow it works, I have no idea how it
does but it does. We arrived just outside of the New Taxi Park and made our way
past the Old Taxi Park (picture below).
I thought sitting in LA traffic was bad. (Side note yesterday Tuesday the 17th we did sit in Kampala traffic. It’s horrible the fumes from all the cars and trucks which would have LA pollution control giving out fines to everyone and the smoke from all the fires cooking for dinner combined with the fact that there was a 7MPH wind blowing makes you gag – Trying fitting the 405 down to two lanes during rush hour ).
I thought sitting in LA traffic was bad. (Side note yesterday Tuesday the 17th we did sit in Kampala traffic. It’s horrible the fumes from all the cars and trucks which would have LA pollution control giving out fines to everyone and the smoke from all the fires cooking for dinner combined with the fact that there was a 7MPH wind blowing makes you gag – Trying fitting the 405 down to two lanes during rush hour ).
Also the Boda Bodas and Taxies DO NOT STOP
FOR YOU! They play “how close can we get to other vehicles and people without
crashing or hitting there?” Trust me they get close and by close I mean the
person/car is within inches or under the vehicle… I need to learn how to say
"Hey! I'm walking here!" (In whatever language I will be speaking)
and smack the hood of the taxi or boda… man what movie is that from?!?! You
have to live on the edge. I guess. I did have some good pizza and we had some
fun traveling the streets and everything is in British English which is great
because I love it. I am excited to start language classes so I can communicate
with people here. It’s hard not being able to and I really want to. But I don't
plan on going to Kampala unless required by Peace Corps after training. Not my
cup of tea.
All of the trainees are working on our bids
for our sites in Uganda. We write brief sentence on why we want to go to the
top three places of interest. It has been stressful for many of us. Me it’s
like whatever! :)
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