Skip to main content

Uganda Update #8: A Miscellany

I am almost done talking about Uganda. I still need to share about my Compassion visit and post the photos, but I think that's it. Except for these random thoughts:

a. Disney songs are so fun and catchy. I've been humming "Hakuna Matata" and "Bare Necessities" a lot. Being around kids makes me want to cuddle up with them and have a marathon of the best animated movies. I think I'd choose Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, Lion King, Aladdin and Mulan. I've never  seen Mulan. Apparently the Madagascar series is also worth watching. I also am a fan of Ice Age and Shrek, but they're not the same as classic Disney musicals.

b. I read The Worst Date Ever and fully enjoyed it. I recommend it, if you're interested in celebrity tabloids, slightly crass Brits or Joseph Kony. How are these connected, you ask? Great question. Read the book!

c. The Food Network is addictive. Vanessa and I watched a whole bunch of Chopped, which was amusing and interesting and a little bit sad. Shows that require chefs to use strange ingredients kind of mesmerize me. I also acquired a crush on Andy Bates, an adorable Brit who specializes in street food. Ah! A deadly combination of cuteness and culinary skills.

d. Fruits taste best in the lands where they grow. So apples are better in Canada than Uganda. And Uganda has better bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and avocados. AVOCADOS THE SIZE OF A BABY. I'm hardly exaggerating. Also, I love smoothies, especially in foreign countries. If it's a fruit-growing country, I will drink smoothies every day (or whenever possible). Also, honey is delicious and more potent in Uganda.

e. Using transit in foreign countries is usually really fun. Whether it's squishing into a packed vehicle, negotiating the cost of a ride, or figuring out what a taxi is (a bus, while a taxi is called a “special hire”), I love it. I loved riding on the back of a little motorbike called a boda-boda. I only partially minded that we sat on our bus for an hour, waiting for every. seat. to be filled before departure. 


f. The weather is perfect in Kampala. PERFECT. Not too hot, not too cold. I love it. I could happily live there year-round. 


g. This was a great vacation. Restful, adventurous, thought-provoking, laugh-filled. After the gong show of getting going, it was supremely worth it. 


Comments

  1. I'm so glad it was worth it for you. And I miss you already!
    xo
    Thanks for coming and "doing life" with us. :D

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Simone Weil: On "Forms of the Implicit Love of God"

Simone Weil time again! One of the essays in Waiting for God  is entitled "Forms of the Implicit Love of God." Her main argument is that before a soul has "direct contact" with God, there are three types of love that are implicitly  the love of God, though they seem to have a different explicit  object. That is, in loving X, you are really loving Y. (in this case, Y = God). As for the X of the equation, she lists: Love of neighbor  Love of the beauty of the world  Love of religious practices  and a special sidebar to Friendship “Each has the virtue of a sacrament,” she writes. Each of these loves is something to be respected, honoured, and understood both symbolically and concretely. On each page of this essay, I found myself underlining profound, challenging, and thought-provoking words. There's so much to consider that I've gone back several times, mulling it over and wondering how my life would look if I truly believed even half of these thi...

The ROM, The Earth & Procreation

Disclaimer: This post is intended to generate discussion and a sharing of many opinions. It is NOT intended to judge or condemn anyone's life choices. I had an unexpected moment at the ROM last month. C and I were listening to a presentation for kids on wildlife conservation (or rather, I was listening, and C was eagerly anticipating what live animal would come out next), when a statement caught my attention and still hasn't let go. For most of history, the earth could provide enough resources for the earth's human population. But today, our population is growing rapidly, increasing by 250 000 people every day... Forty years from now, it will require 2 Earths to provide sustainably for our survival as a human species. But we only have 1 Earth. 250 000 people. Every day. That is roughly twice the size of my hometown. In one day. So I did a little math. (First, I rounded down to 200 000, just in case the figures were inflated or failed to account for some sort o...

Esse - Czeslaw Milosz

I'm on a bit of a poetry binge this week, and Monday afternoon found me lying on the luxurious shag rug of a friend's tiny apartment, re-reading some of my favourite poets (ee cummings, William Carlos Williams, Czeslaw Milosz). It is an adventure to re-open a collection and wonder what will pop out, knowing something you've read before will strike you afresh, or you will be reminded of a particularly moving line that you had somehow forgotten. Like this piece from Milosz, which floors me. Every. damn.* time. The first time I read it, I lay in a park with a friend (this same friend who offered me her rug as my reading burrow) and demanded that I share it with her. I spoke it carefully, and then, into the post-reading silence, I slammed the book shut, and dropped it as loudly as I could onto the grass. "I'm never reading anything again," I declared, "What else is there to say?" Esse I looked at that face, dumbfounded. The lights of métro st...