s23

at a few points in every day, i notice something, or something happens that makes me think, "wow, that's something worth writing down and remembering." and when i get around to writing anything down, my mind goes blank. there are two things i can think of right now: traffic, and language.

yesterday we went to kampala. people say it used to only take a bit more than an hour to get there. it took us an hour and a half to get to the outskirts of town. and then it was traffic jam. an hour of inching along, trying to get into town. but, that's expected. most cities don't grow in a way that will make traffic good. once we were in town, though, holy.. it was insane even trying to cross a road. there was a ridiculous (extravagant, even) of all variety of travelers. people on foot, on bicycles, on bike-bodas, on boda-bodas, in cars, mini-taxis, buses, and sometimes an oldschool greyhound bus. it took me a little while before i could figure out exactly why everything was so hectic: it's the combination of the sheer number of people moving around... and that every single one of these people (regardless of their mode of transportation) thinks that they have the right of way. pedestrians just barge accross streets, bike and bodas almost never wait or slow down before crossing a jammed and fast intersection...
as entertaining as the traffic is in that city, i hate kampala. it's basically a huge version of jinja. if you look 150 jinjas and crammed them all together, without widening the streets for traffic, you've got kampala. and might as well throw another 10,000 bodas into the equation. crazy!

language. so every once in a while, when i forget that i'm in uganda, and i'm somewhat sleepy or disoriented, i'll be incredibly surprised when i tune into the sounds around me, and the talking that's happening, and notice that none of these people are speaking english.

i'm heading out now, but just a quick note: i took a D in a long drop for the first time!!!