Shopping in Kampala

Thursday I got a ride to Kampala with Marie Ester, IHM. She has an appointment in town so Sr. Prisca and I tagged along. Of course, we did not do the driving--Peter, the same driver I had last time was driving. Fortunately, he is a safe and careful driver. Given the potholes, lack of lines for lanes and overall craziness of the drivers between here and Kampala, Peter's caution is a wonderful attribute.

One great experience about this trip was Marie Ester. She knows where to find American-type food. Now, I've been doing well with local food. Believe me I haven't gone hungry, but it was fantastic to find cheese and good quality meat. Stanray with his chickens have been just fine, but I've had a taste for hamburger, or more accurately, things I can make with ground beef. Thursday night we had cheese burgers, last night I made chicken casadillas (the store with the meat had flour tortillas) and tonight I'm making spaghetti.

All the meat here is organic. With the chicken, free range organic is just another way of saying scrawny. The chicken isn't worth baking. I've found that if I boil the chicken and take the meat off the bone I can make things like casadillas, soup and casseroles, but there's not really that much meat. The way I'm talking you'd think I'm a big meat eater, I'm not, but I'm trying to make sure Bry'Chell gets enough protein. When I asked if her school served meat to the students I was told, yes, on Sundays. That means the boarders get meat once a week.

By the way, Bry'Chell left for school at 6:30 AM this morning. Yes, it's Saturday. They have tests this morning and soccer this afternoon, at 2 PM. The boys play, the girls watch. Bry'Chell wore her soccer shorts under her skirt. She plans to play. However, I wouldn't be surprised if she chickens out.

Back to Thursdays shopping (sorry for the stream of consciousness writing style), I was able to find a stabilizer/step-down machine, so I can plug in my stuff that won't accept 220 volts. Surprisingly, there are only a few things. Unfortunately, one of those is the battery charger. I charged one set of "D" Batteries last night and have some "AAAs" in right now.

Marie Ester and I went out to lunch. It was the same restaurant Bry'Chell and I ate at the night we arrived. The food was good. It wouldn't be exceptional at home, but I enjoyed Western style food for a change. We splurged and shared a banana split for dessert.

At the Embassy Market (so named because it's across the street from the US Embassy and sells quasi-American food) I found a small sauce pan, so I have an alternative to the big pots for heating up leftovers.