OBSERVATIONS
I was walking this evening, and it suddenly occurred to me that there are some things I haven't seen or heard since arriving in Uganda two months ago. This is not a judgment or indictment in any way....just an observation.
1. planes flying overhead
2. trains
3. robins, bluejays, or any other birds I'm used to seeing
4. McDonalds, Starbucks, or any other American franchise
5. oranges that are actually orange in color
Things I LOVE about Uganda:
1. the dark nights where street vendors still have candles lit and people continue walking along the road (see video clip below)
2. the people -- the friendliest people on the planet
3. the climate -- temperatures mostly in the 70s year-round
4. the children
5. the dignity of people who may be living in hopeless situations
Things I've seen here in Uganda that I had never seen back home:
1. people walking around carrying dead chickens they just purchased
2. vendors walking around selling fried grasshoppers as a snack
3. traffic jams with motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians winding through
4. a bug that looks like the "golden snitch" from Harry Potter
5. everyone well dressed and looking extremely well groomed
6. thousands of black people and I'm the only white one in the crowd
7. goats wandering along the roadside
8. huge, waist-high vulture birds
9. young men riding bicycles stacked with 8 crates of soda pop to sell, or carrying huge truck tires, or a mattress or bed frame, or long poles of metal re-bar, or several large sacks full of charcoal, or several big bunches of plantains for matooke
10. a driver, plus two adult riders and two children all on ONE motorcycle
11. brooms with no handles
12. matooke (the main food eaten here)
Things I will never take for granted again when I get back home to the United States:
1. fresh air
2. drinkable, good tasting, safe and free tap water
3. freeways, freeway lighting, road signs, painted lines on roads
4. stop signs, stop lights, sidewalks, relatively few potholes
5. electrical power 24 hours a day
6. fast internet
7. a variety of restaurants with different ethnic foods available
8. getting to choose which pieces I get when I order fried chicken
9. ordering food and not fearing food poisoning
10. cold milk
11. free education
12. variety of breads and other foods
13. stores with new clothing rather than used, dirty leftovers from thrift stores from other countries
14. excellent medical care
15. the U.S. Post Office and postal service that actually DELIVERS
16. reliable garbage, recycling, sewage, utilities services
2. trains
3. robins, bluejays, or any other birds I'm used to seeing
4. McDonalds, Starbucks, or any other American franchise
5. oranges that are actually orange in color
Things I LOVE about Uganda:
1. the dark nights where street vendors still have candles lit and people continue walking along the road (see video clip below)
2. the people -- the friendliest people on the planet
3. the climate -- temperatures mostly in the 70s year-round
4. the children
5. the dignity of people who may be living in hopeless situations
Things I've seen here in Uganda that I had never seen back home:
1. people walking around carrying dead chickens they just purchased
2. vendors walking around selling fried grasshoppers as a snack
3. traffic jams with motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians winding through
4. a bug that looks like the "golden snitch" from Harry Potter
5. everyone well dressed and looking extremely well groomed
6. thousands of black people and I'm the only white one in the crowd
7. goats wandering along the roadside
8. huge, waist-high vulture birds
9. young men riding bicycles stacked with 8 crates of soda pop to sell, or carrying huge truck tires, or a mattress or bed frame, or long poles of metal re-bar, or several large sacks full of charcoal, or several big bunches of plantains for matooke
10. a driver, plus two adult riders and two children all on ONE motorcycle
11. brooms with no handles
12. matooke (the main food eaten here)
Things I will never take for granted again when I get back home to the United States:
1. fresh air
2. drinkable, good tasting, safe and free tap water
3. freeways, freeway lighting, road signs, painted lines on roads
4. stop signs, stop lights, sidewalks, relatively few potholes
5. electrical power 24 hours a day
6. fast internet
7. a variety of restaurants with different ethnic foods available
8. getting to choose which pieces I get when I order fried chicken
9. ordering food and not fearing food poisoning
10. cold milk
11. free education
12. variety of breads and other foods
13. stores with new clothing rather than used, dirty leftovers from thrift stores from other countries
14. excellent medical care
15. the U.S. Post Office and postal service that actually DELIVERS
16. reliable garbage, recycling, sewage, utilities services
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