Free Range Rhinos

7/16/08

Have you ever had ants in your pants? Before tonight, I always thought that was just expression, a turn of phrase if you will. I now know why you might imagine someone jumping around, practically ripping pants off not caring about how many people happen to be present to witness such an event. As I was so unfortunate to be occupied picking ants out of my leg hair, I must continue to imagine what that looks like and the hilarity that ensues. For you, the reader, you will just have to use your imagination as I did not manage to get my camera out of my pants before hurling them away from my person.

Also today I went to the IC office to do a mentor shadow. I called the night before to make sure that I had not been forgotten and that I would not be waking up early to take a boda across town for nothing. The appointment was confirmed and my morning was splendid. . . until I actually got to the office and they told me that they needed to postpone the shadow. I was rather frustrated with this news as several friends had been postponed this week, which is why I called to confirm. Blah! Whatever.

Anyway, there have been a few things that I have not expanded upon since being here that I need to write about. First of all, its crazy to me how a country as developed as Uganda can possibly have random power outages. In the past two weeks, every other evening the power has gone out about 7pm. This is not so bad as we have candles and make the most of our quiet time together. What is so shocking to me is that during the day, it is not uncommon to be walking down the street and just see lights go off. I would be so frustrated if I was a business owner and the power was so inconsistent. The internet business, Ma Computers, has a generator as most establishments do, but the fuel is so expensive. While many people are complaining about the price of gas in America, petrol is approximately $8 per gallon here. Four-fifty at the pump doesn’t seem quite as bad now, does it?

Relationships are so important to everyone here. I was told that handshakes are a little extended compared to what we are used to in the US, but I was unprepared to have entire conversations with my hand continually turning over in a 180 degree rotation. It’s just odd. Also, it’s still strange to see grown men walking down the street holding hands. This is common practice for anyone who is walking with someone they know. At first, I just thought it a little. . . maybe another word for odd, but now, at least, it doesn’t get a second glance from me.

Tonight, I was talking with Ester, and she informed me that her and her fiancé will be getting married in another year or two. He has not raised the 50 cows needed to present to the bride’s father to have a proper wedding. Because he is not of her tribe, he must only pay half of the required 100 head of cattle dowry. I laughed at her story, but then she told me that in a neighboring tribe, the man simply has to wrestle a woman to the ground and then she belongs to him. Apparently, the women of the village start getting buff early on so they might be able fend off the Steve Buschemis of the world and maybe take a dive for the Brad Pitts. Ester looked at my arms and told me that I might be out of luck and that I might try another route.

7/20/08

I touched a Rhino. Ok, that’s a lie, but I came very close to touching a Rhinoceros yesterday. We went out to a Rhino sanctuary yesterday to track some Rhinos through a 70K square kilometer reserve. Eventually, we found 5 of them, just standing around, grazing on some delicious African grass. We were able to get within about 10 yards of them before our guide shooed them away. I was ready to jump on top of one and ride it around the reservation, but after consulting the guard with the AK-47, decided against it.

So seriously, I know one can see rhinos at the zoo and be in awe of them, but imagine being in the cage with it. After watching them for about 10 minutes, I realized that they are really just 1 ton cows with horns on the front of their face instead the side of their head. They just eat grass and defecate. We saw plenty of both during the hour or so that we walked around taking pictures of the 5 beasts. Supposedly, two of them were from Disneyland and are being put back in the wild. Although Adam was a little disappointed that they weren’t “wild”, they are only 7 years old and working on being readjusted back to the wild. I told him that many child stars have no choice in their careers but at least we didn’t have to worry about them saying “Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout Phyllis?” Although I was informed by the guard they do understand Swahili and English, they don’t speak.

The rest of the weekend was filled with Mafia and Up the River, Down the River. We ate delicious beef pot pie and other homemade delights during the monsoon type storms that passed through. It was like a little vacation in the middle of a vacation. The Rhino reserve was nearly 4 hours away so it was definitely worth the $15 for the bed for the night.

I’ve also learned that time is relative here in Africa. Just after passing the Nile river, I asked our driver if were nearly there or it was going to be awhile. Ben, seeing that my knees had been in my chest for the past two hours, offered to trade seats with me as he was in a more comfortable, not-supposed-to-but-does reclining seat with some leg room. Since the driver told me we were close, I declined Ben’s offer. I declined it again an hour later since we were an hour closer to our destination that had been “near.” After another hour, I took him up on it and enjoyed 20 minutes of reclining, leg room abounding, first class style comfort.

Once we got back today, Casey, Adam, Breawna, Ashley, Matt, and myself walked in to Kope Café. Kope is the one place in town that can make American food correctly. Every other attempt at American in town is appreciated, but still very foreign. Keeping in mind that I’m not picky when it comes to food, something other than posho, beans, and rice is nice occasionally. I did have one of the most delicious smoothies that I’ve ever had and it only costs 4000 shillings (about $2.25). I was so happy.