Friday, December 22: Moving Day!

After a nearly sleepless night of roasting without power and “enjoying” too much pork too late at night, I suddenly awoke to the sound of a large vehicle that sounded like it was in the building. It stopped and I heard two doors slam, then the door to the building downstairs slammed open and pounding on a door on the first floor. I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but since the 21st was supposed to be the day Immigration ruled on my Work Permit, I did take a bit of interest! I could hear loud talking and then someone coming up the hall. But this wasn’t military jack boots. It sounded more like flip flops. In a few seconds, I saw light underneath my door from a flashlight going by in the hall. About a half-hour later, I heard the swishing sound again, and the flashlight passed by my door again.

As I lay there for the next hour waiting for the alarm, I finally convinced myself that Malarone must be capable of causing unusual dreams. I got up and went in to take a shower because since the power went off unexpectedly last night, I had decided not to shower again by flashlight. But there was no hot water at all, so I dressed and went down to breakfast. Just to make sure my event last night was only a dream, I detoured to the side of the building to see if there was any sign of a large vehicle. Of course there wasn’t any, except four huge, very deep tire tracks!

Okay, so what did that mean? I puzzled over it while I ate my scrambled eggs with Japanese pepper flakes (which I brought from home). I was no closer to an insight when I went back to my room and started the shower. There was still no hot water!

So I reached an executive decision as I stood there freezing. Whether last night’s visitation was real or Malarone, it was time to move!

I quickly toweled off and got out my phone. First, I called the Sheraton which had a $160 nightly special for Christmas for a single room and dial-up Internet. So I decided to try another hotel I had used before and found a much better rate. It is African run and reasonably modern and I instantly took their deal. The reservation agent took all my information and said I could come in before noon if I wanted to.

So with less than an hour to go until my ride was due, I frantically packed everything into my two suitcases, and it even fit! Then I rushed downstairs and got a balance from the desk. I didn’t have enough cash, so told the clerk I would leave my stuff there until I could go by the bank and exchange more money.

It was a few minutes after 9:00 so I called Vincent. He said he was close by, but it took about twenty more minutes before he arrived. I was anxious to get moved, so I jumped in the van as soon as he stopped. We drove to the Garden City Mall and I learned that the exchange rate had fallen by 20 more shillings per dollar, making 80 since I started working on the trip. We drove back to the guesthouse and I checked out. It was a long and laborious process which involved much carbon paper, many copies, even more signatures (several of the pages required multiple signatures per page). several staples, and finally, an envelope!

I asked to talk to the manager but was told she was busy, so I hurried back to my room and brought down the last two bags. The manager was waiting for me when I returned, and we talked a bit about the guesthouse and how it was going. She said power was a terrible problem because the black outs were rather random. She said it was actually a bit better now, but still a terrible problem. She said she has a diesel fuel budget based on what they are charging. She keeps power as much as she can within that budget, but more power would mean much higher rates. She said they hoped to install a solar system soon that would take some of the drain off the generator and make the fuel go further. I hope we can return there this summer!

So it was time to move downtown! We drove through mild traffic to the hotel, and I hurried up to the security check. They have a metal detector and I emptied my pockets. The buzzer still went off, but the guard waved me through. I waited my turn at the desk, then spoke to a young man who couldn’t find my reservation in the system. He said it didn’t matter because they had many rooms. So I gave him all my information and he assigned a room without Internet. I had him change it, and I went upstairs with the bell hop. I believe this is the same exact room I was in with Dan two years ago! The grayish wall paper is pealing a bit worse now and the carpet is no less worn, but the air still works!!

I was told to go to the Business Center to learn how to connect my computer. I went to where it was, but a sign said it had moved to the new business center and there was no clue where this might be. I asked and was directed outside to a new wing of the hotel where a woman sitting at her desk with nothing to do seemed far too busy to talk to me. She finally filled out the paper work, and charged me $100 for ten days instead of $70 for seven! She corrected her mistake and showed me what to do.

I carried my computer upstairs, and it didn’t work! So I went back down and she said she would send someone up. I asked if she meant now, and she glared back at me. I explained that there were people waiting for me so I needed help now, if possible. “Then go to your important appointment,” snapped the woman. “We are here until 10:00. We can look at it later.”

So I went to the front desk again to get a safety deposit box. I waited behind an obnoxious black guest who couldn’t understand the concept of since she was owed 8,980 shillings, she could get back a 10,000 note if she would give the clerk 20 shillings. The woman kept yelling, “What do you mean? I am hear to collect money, not give you money.” The clerk finally counted out 9,880 shillings!

A man saw me waiting and asked what I wanted. I told him and went and got a key. I asked what it was for, and he said, “You mean you don’t have a box? Then you must wait and speak with this lady.”

So I waited another ten minutes while the woman shuffled paper importantly. She finally gave me the new key and I got my box. I had forgotten how much I hated this place the last time I stayed here!!

Michael and Vincent had waited patiently in the lobby through all of this. Michael ran into his brother, who works for one of the cabinet ministers. He was hosting a man from another African country and acting as a French translator. I told them I was ready, and we went out to the van, then I remembered I didn’t have my backpack. So I went back up and we were finally ready to go.

We were to see a young man that we had missed earlier out on Entebbe Road and Vincent began winding through town trying to avoid the building traffic. But we became trapped in a jam and sat still for nearly a solid hour! The problem wasn’t an accident, just far too many people trying to drive on a terrible road, along with bicycles, pedestrians, and boda bodas, of course!

We finally reached an intersection and Vincent managed to wiggle off to another short cut. This one worked, and we were soon speeding along toward Entebbe. We turned down a dirt road between two “stores.” A young man was waiting for us and he climbed into the van. I had seen this man before at church. He was probably in his late twenties, tall for a Ugandan, and today, very well dressed including brand new shoes. He directed us through a minor maze of homes then told Vincent to stop. We climbed out at a nicer house with concrete floor and a tiny courtyard. An elderly man was sitting outside. We started up to the house, and the old man began yelling at Michael, who didn’t seem to have any idea what to do. He finally introduced me, and the man grabbed my hand and began yelling at me in Luganda. Michael explained that I only spoke English and he told me if I was in Uganda, I should speak Luganda. The young man tried to talk, but the old man wouldn’t allow it. Finally, Vincent took control of the situation, and the man turned and yelled. A small boy came outside. He seemed frightened by all the commotion, but he shook my hand. The old man invited us all to come inside and sit down. He had reasonably nice, newer furniture and once he settled down, he seemed glad that we were there. The boy, however, remained all but terrified. He told me he was entering P1, so he was probably six years old. He didn’t have much else to say! Finally, the man told him to leave. We only stayed a moment longer, then we returned to the van.

I had picked up that the father of the child wasn’t coming around as he should, but I had missed a couple of important facts. The young man in the van was the father of the child, and he had gotten the mother pregnant while he was married to another woman. He became a Chirstian, and so couldn’t take a second wife. He was still married to the other woman, so he couldn’t marry this girl. The older man wanted him to marry his girl, even as a second wife, so he was mad at the young man for getting his girl pregnant and at all Christians for not letting him marry her!

We took the young man into town and dropped him off in a shopping area, then drove up to the Shangrila Hotel, where I had been looking yesterday. They had a Chinese restaurant, and the guys were hungry. Grace was at the church and Joseph was with his family in Lydia’s village, so I decided we could eat there.

It was another large, nice looking Chinese restaurant with a mix of Chinese women running the show and Ugandan men serving as waiters. We were taken to a table on the porch and given menus. I ordered for everyone: chicken and mushroom soup for Vincent, hot and sour for me, egg roles for everyone, then lemon chicken, pork with peppers and vinegar, and Shanghai squid. They were having a fit that I NOT order shrimp, which they like, but find disgusting. Neither knew what squid was, so they enjoyed it! It was a good lunch, with more great tea.

Afterward, we had planned to go to the University, but Jacinta said no one was there. We had also planned to go see Mebel’s new school, but she had to go to a meeting at the school where she works part time, so we missed that. Vincent asked if we should go to the shrine for the Uganda martyrs. We had passed it the other day on the way back from Jinja, but didn’t take time to stop.

So we drove back across town to the shrine. It’s in a rural area and it stands on a hill. We’d heard the story yesterday at the tombs, so I didn’t miss anything from our guide who seemed far too busy to be bothered with us. The story is that in the early 1800’s, the king’s advisors convinced him that the Christians were They got a copy of the Lord’s Prayer and showed him that Christians prayed for some other kingdom to come, and told him it was one of his enemies’ kingdoms they wanted. The king had 18 Catholic and about the same number of protestant believers seized and burned alive when they refused to renounce their faith. This was the Catholic shrine, and it was huge. It was built like the palace we’d seen yesterday, but it was all brick and concrete rather than thatch and wood. Inside the towering roof was a church that seats 1,000 people. The alter at the center of the building sits on the site of the massacre. It was open earth for a time, but so many people were taking dirt from the site that they have now bricked it over. There is a tiny piece of bone from one of the martyrs in a crystal broach under the alter.

We looked around at pictures and the stained glass windows depicting each of the killed men. The pictures of the deaths were disturbing. The men were tied up in bundles of reeds and set foot to foot in a large circle. Then, their feet were set on fire.

There was also a small lake at the bottom of the hill below the shrine. We walked down to it and saw a couple of interesting blue birds and a brilliant blue lizard that was quite large. I told Michael and Vincent that the man at the tombs was better. I asked them again why neither had gone into the tomb with Joseph and me. They had been telling me that it was because they didn’t want to take off their shoes, but Michael finally admitted he didn’t want to go in because he was afraid of what he might see. He said he thought there would be dead bodies on display. Vincent wouldn’t comment. Then we returned to the van.

The Anglican Church had a shrine of its own for its 18 martyrs. It was behind a large gate which was partly open. The gate keeper told Michael to open the gate himself, which Michael did. We drove down a hill and parked beside a very run down block church. We got out of the van and a young dog ran up carrying a stick in his mouth. He ran to Michael and would dash away when Michael reached for the stick. Eventually, he got close enough for Michael to grab one end of the stick, and they wrestled for a bit, then Michael through the stick. This went on for our whole visit. A young boy came up and Vincent asked if he could show us the site. He said his grandmother could, and the elderly lady soon came to meet us. She took us through a gate and into a garden behind the church. We walked up the hill to a round topped brick structure. It was open all around and there was something in the center of the structure. We walked in and there was a model of the eighteen martyrs all wrapped in straw. Their feet were touching at one end and their heads stuck out from the ends of the straw at the other. It was an incredibly gruesome and unexpected site!

On up the hill was a traditional thatched structure which was place where the executioner lived. It was a well built thatch building, but not impressive at all after the tombs yesterday.

A very strange, distorted tree stood across the yard from these two structures. The woman showed us a small stump in the middle of these limbs. It was the only part that remained of the tree where each of the martyrs was tortured and given a chance to renounce their faith. The tree had died, and this strange one had grown up over it.

The church itself was very small. A larger structure had been built down the hill for worship. This one was only used now for classes from the seminary on site there. The bones of the protestant martyrs rested under the alter of this church.

We looked around and played with the dog for a few more minutes. The dog would play with me for a minute, but it obviously preferred Michael. When it got near me, it sniffed my leg suspiciously. Vincent doesn’t like dogs, so it basically avoided him.

We drove back toward town and I was asleep as soon as I climbed in the van. When I woke up, we were turning into ShopRight. I had decided that since I now have a refrigerator, I could have some of the great looking fruit juice I’d been seeing! So we went inside and I found cartons of blood orange, mango, and guava juice. I also got three Stoney’s and some bananas.

As we’d come in, I noticed a store that carried soft ice cream. I knew I wouldn’t want much for dinner, so I asked them if they would like ice cream. Both said they would. Standing at the counter waiting for service was a Ugandan experience! There was a large group of customers standing there and they’d all try to get the servers’ attentions when they turned around. I thought I was in a line, but people kept jumping in, so I finally gave Michael the money and asked him to get the ice cream. I walked to the building next door and bought air time for my phone.

I got back just as Michael got his order. He had bought two cones, one for Vincent and one for himself. He gave me the change I had expected him to use for my ice cream!

We came back to the hotel and I came upstairs. I was expecting a fight over my Internet connection, but I found it more or less working. It continued to work for a few minutes, then crashed again. I had on a cable movie, and it also crashed. The man on the phone from the business center wouldn’t listen at all to any of this! He simply said he would come up. He didn’t of course, but the connection improved again and I got a lot done.

But around 9:00 it failed again. I called and he assured me he would be here by 10:00 to look at it. He came in around 10:30 and couldn't get it to work, so he went out in the hall and checked at the router. The cable for my room was unplugged! So it's fixed now, and I have a connection! And Air! And a tiny refrigerator!!!