April 19: Another two weeks here so quickly behind us. And in another two we’ll be hitting the road again. The thought is enough to choke me up. The other night we looked online at apartments in South Africa, and we found a nice place right across the street from the beach by Camps Bay. Looks lovely and has a huge veranda where we can set up a table for Jonah and some water-play activity—either another washing basin or water table. We shall see.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s much to tell of the last two weeks, starting with a great adventure Jonah and I had on Friday with Advah and Maya. It started out as an innocent trip to a local outdoor market in downtown Kampala and turned into a classic story involving a run-in with the law, extortion, confused identities, and chaos. I loved it!
The night before, Advah and Maya had come over to our house for dinner. Guy was out of town, starting his survey project in a village about four hours outside of Kampala. Advah and I decided we’d go to Nakasero Market the next morning before she went to the airport to pick up her father and his partner.
On Friday morning, Advah and Maya showed up, the kids each took turns pretending to drive Advah’s car (a must for Jonah before we head off in their car), and off we went in search of the market with our trusty map of Kampala. We missed a turn off we’d intended to take, so we were driving a bit slow trying to figure out how to get back on track. Suddenly, a police officer waved us down as he stood in the middle of the road. Advah rolled down the window, and he said we were driving too slow, slowing down traffic, and it required him to issue us a 90,000 Ugandan Shilling citation (that’s $45). What!!!??? I immediately started to explain that we were not in violation of any law; Advah started inquiring as to the whereabouts of Nakasero Market. “Nakasero Market?” the police officer inquired. “Near Nakasero Market?” “No, Nakasero Market. To Nakasero Market,” Advah replied. The police officer was confused. I was confused. I thought Advah was confused. Instead, Advah was brilliantly trying to divert the guy’s attention to other matters.
The police officer immediately announced that he would get in our car and show us how to get to Nakasero Market. (Surely, he was surprised to see the two of us muzungus with our little kids heading to the market.) Great, get in and help us find it, we thought. I moved to the seat in between Jonah and Maya in the back. The police officer hopped into the front passenger seat. He started to direct us to the market, which I honestly don’t think we would have easily found on our own, or at the very least, would have had a hard time trying to figure out where to park. As we drove, the police officer kept showing us the citation form—a white piece of paper with room for the offense, driver’s name, blah, blah—and telling us that he was just standing there in the street and thought he needed to give us a citation costing us 90,000 shillings. (It was clear this police officer had been carrying around the few sheets of white paper for some time, likely never having actually issued a citation in months (years?). The next day I learned from another person we know here that the police were out in force on Friday, pulling over car after car, each person we heard of with a tale of having to pay off the police officer.)
Jonah wanted to know what was going on; Maya was clearly concerned. I explained that the police officer had gotten in the car to help us find the market. Jonah started calling him Police Officer Judy, like his police figure at home we've named Judy. He kept shouting out, “Police Officer Judy show us to the market! Police Officer Judy show us to the market!” I tried to explain to Jonah that the officer’s name wasn’t Judy, but that didn’t deter him. “Police Officer Judy show us to the market!” Maya clearly sensed something was awry and started to complain a bit, so I read a story to the kids as Advah made small talk with the officer. The line I heard from Advah, as I sat in the backseat: “Yes, you’re such a good man for helping us.”
When we got to the market, we discovered that the main road stretching alongside the market was jam packed. We inched through it, and the police officer helped us find a parking attendant to help us secure a parking spot for 5,000 shillings. I’m not sure if these parking attendants are official or unofficial. The guy had an orange “Parking Attendant” vest on, but I could see some entrepreneurial type having the vest made and creating a business out of it. It was just street parking after all.
So, while the parking situation was being worked out, I grabbed a 10,000 shilling bill and handed it to Advah. He gave it to the officer and thanked him for his help. The officer started rambling on about how he was thinking he was going to have to give us the 90,000 shilling citation and that he really wanted 50,000 shilling from us. I handed Advah another 10,000, which she gave to him, but he continued to complain. We started to explain that we only had a little money on us, and we needed the rest that we had so we could buy some things at the market. More complaining. Then the kids started making a bit of noise, and I didn’t do anything to quiet them. I think I even said something to Jonah to encourage more noise. Advah told the officer that the kids were getting hungry and that we needed to get out of the car. She handed him a few 1,000 shilling bills, and we proceeded to get the kids out of their seats. Jeremy later said to me that, after having given the officer 10,000, we should have told the guy that if he didn’t get out of our car that we’d haul him down to the police station and let them know that the officer was harassing us. Next time…
As soon as we started to get out of the car, four or five guys came to help us. We were parked quite close to the pineapple stall, and we were having a tough time getting the kids out of the car on the “sidewalk” side of the car. One guy took Maya from my arms so I could get out. Like the dozens of other people who stopped to talk to us, they wanted to know where we were from, how we liked Uganda, whether Jonah and Maya were twins (twins!!??), how old the kids were, whether we wanted to look at their spices, fruit, housewares, how long we were in the country for, and so on.
Some vendor wanted Advah to move her car somewhere else, so Jonah, Maya, and I stood on the “sidewalk” across the street by a grasshopper vendor. Ugandans fry up grasshoppers and eat them. This vendor had tons of live grasshoppers, so he showed the three of us how you tear off the legs and the wings and then throw the body in the basket of grasshopper bodies to sell. And, yes, the grasshoppers were alive. My smile hid the horror inside. Grasshopper torture is not my thing. Fine if you want to eat them, but please put them out of their misery first so they don’t have to live through the dismemberment. Ugh. The longer we stood there, the more Maya pushed her little body into me and the more adventurous Jonah was becoming (wanting to get on some guy’s motorcycle, then wanting to grab the washing buckets near us, then, then, then). Advah finally made it back after another parking ordeal, and we were off to the heart of the market.
Jonah was in a foul mood on Friday because he’d woken up at 6 am. (I’ve since explained to him that if he wants to be a happier camper he should stay in bed until the sun actually comes up. On Saturday he did just that, woke up chipper and happy, talking to his little animals in his bed for about 15 minutes before calling out, “Daddy! Daddy!”) Anyway, Jonah was not happy to be talking to people like he usually does. He didn’t want his picture taken, he didn’t want to look at the things I wanted to look at (he was more interested in the electrical equipment under a tent where people could have some shade and eat), and he definitely didn’t want to talk to anyone.
As we walked by one group of women, they tried to talk to Jonah. Jonah had a scowl on his face, not because of them. This was his general expression that day. One woman said to another, “We’re not monkeys.” I said to the woman, “No, he knows that. He’s just in a bad mood because he’s tired.” Her comment made me feel so horrible. It made me feel horrible for her because she obviously felt like Jonah didn’t want to talk to her because she was black. It made me feel horrible for Jonah and me that she would think we would feel that way. It just left me feeling really, really bad. Advah later told me that a few times people have said to her that Maya must not like black people because she wouldn’t say hi to them. Advah said she has had to explain so many times to people that Maya is just shy and that it has nothing to do with anyone else. Double ugh.
We did manage to walk around a bit. We checked out the chickens stuffed together in cages, the many vegetable and fruit stands, the massive slabs of meat hanging from hooks, the things you’d expect to find in a local outdoor market. People hurried by, many stopped to talk to us, many asked whether we wanted to buy anything, a few gave us unfriendly looks. It was so alive in the market, but it was also a bit much. Felt like we were being bombarded. I said to Advah later that I’d planned to buy some fruit, but it just felt like it was too much to deal with, too much of a hassle. She agreed and said she thought she preferred walking into Shoprite, seeing the price of an item, and paying for it at the cash register. I hated to agree, but it’s how I felt too.
Well, after experiencing the main part of the market, we walked across the street to the stalls of housewares, where Jonah kept trying to pick up the dustpans and brooms so he could clean. Advah bought some water bottles from a vendor, and the kids sat on a little wall and drank their water. It was a hot day. We decided it was time to head out and grab lunch. So we did.
We ate lunch at Java, a spot our friend Ron hangs out at when he’s in Kampala. It’s connected to City Oil, a local gas station, and you’d never know it was there unless you pulled into the station. The pancakes, waffles, and French toast were great, along with the coffee and mocha. But Jonah was grumpy and clearly needed a nap, so we didn’t linger.
After weeks of comfortable Kabira, this was the perfect day! A little excitement, some local culture, experiencing Kampala like a Ugandan. Advah and I now need to plot our next adventure…
So let’s take it back a couple of weeks to where I left off in my last blog entry. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the week before last, we did our usual routine. On Tuesday and Thursday, we ventured out a bit more. On Monday, Jonah and I went to the Garden City mall in the morning and then over to the play center, where I got to know Irene better. She’s the other woman who works at the play center. Very nice woman. Jackie and Irene split the days there. One works from 8 am until 2 pm. The other works from 2 pm until 8 pm.
Jonah decided not to nap that day, so we headed over to the pool until it started to rain in the afternoon. Jonah still likes his washing basin. I suppose I should get him back into the big pool so that he doesn’t lose his interest in it and continues to like splashing and getting used to the water, but it’s quite honestly more relaxing for me to just have him in the washing basin. He entertains himself or has me make a waterfall with a pitcher, and I can take it easy for the most part.
On Tuesday of that week, we went to the Baha’i Temple with Advah and Maya. (Thankfully, Maya hasn’t started daycare yet. With the Easter holiday, the daycare center has been on a holiday schedule for the past two weeks.) I’d heard the gardens were beautiful, and they were! The temple wasn’t marked on the map, so for 2,000 shillings ($1) we had a guy on a boda boda drive in front of us to lead us through the side streets of Kampala to get there.
Located on Kikaya Hill on the outskirts of Kampala, construction of the temple began in 1958 and was completed in 1962. We traversed horrible dirt roads to get to the temple, but the peacefulness of our destination and view from the temple were well worth the five-mile-per-hour pace we took to get there. We actually got to take a peek inside the temple with its nine doors, each representing the nine major religions of the world, according to the Baha’i (can you name them all? I'm missing one.). The interior is simple, nothing like the Baroque or Gothic churches of Rome. Clean lines, no decoration, only one wall-hanging at the front of the temple—something written in cursive Arabic it appeared. It also had a great echo inside. (I know that because Jonah doesn’t quite know how to whisper yet…).
There are only a small number of Baha’i Houses of Worship, as they’re called, so we just happened to pick the right country, I suppose, for purposes of learning a little something about another religion. The other Baha’i temples can be found in Santiago, Chile (still under construction), New Delhi, India; Apia, Samoa; Panama City, Panama; Frankfurt, Germany; Sydney, Australia; Wilmette, Illinois, USA; and Haifa, Israel (headquarters for the religion).
According to what we read at the temple, the Baha’i faith is the youngest of the world’s independent monotheistic religions. Founded in Iran in 1844, it now has more than five million adherents in 236 countries and territories. Baha’is view the world’s major religions as part of a single process through which god reveals “his” will to humanity. They recognize the founder of their faith, Baha’u’llah (1817-1892), as the most recent in a line of divine messengers, following Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus, and Muhammad. The Baha’i faith’s central tenant is that humanity is one single race. There is a strong emphasis on equality between men and women as well.
Many people use the temple grounds as a shortcut to get…somewhere. We came upon a group of school kids (who hung around for a bit, watching Jonah and Maya play), in addition to other people who were just passing through. It’s a nice place to pass, for sure. The lawn is well manicured, and the flowers and plants are beautiful. And it’s incredibly quiet. No sounds from the boda bodas, construction work, car washes. Just tucked away from the daily grind of life.
Jonah and Maya enjoyed having space to run around the gardens. They kicked a ball and blew bubbles. It took Jonah a little work to figure out how to blow through the bubble wand, and even still, he wanted to put his mouth on it or tried blowing too far a distance from it. We sat and ate bananas. As I recall, the weather was really lovely that day.
In the evening, we went to visit Ian’s wife Daphne at her mother’s house on the outskirts of Kampala. (Daphne was in a bad car accident about a month ago, and she’s recovering from a fractured knee at her mother’s house, which doesn’t have stairs as does her and Ian’s place.) It took us forever to get there because of the horrible traffic. Ian picked us up at the Lugogo Mall (home to Shoprite, Game, and Good African Coffee). It must have taken us at least an hour to get across town. These two-lane roads were not built for so many cars. Particularly when there are big trucks on the roads, traffic can crawl at a snail’s pace forever. Once we arrived, Jonah was most interested in wearing Ian’s shoes outside and poking his head in the front door through the curtain that covered the opening. Jonah was intrigued by Daphne’s cast, which we explained was fixing her “owwy”. At very random times, Jonah still asks for “Da-FI-knee”. Eventually he began to play with Daphne’s five- or six-year-old niece Brenda, and he was lost with her inside the house until it was time for us to get him home to sleep.
On Wednesday, we just hung out at the play center because Jonah had been up since 3:30 am. Yes, 3:30 in the morning!! Mommy is not a fan of that. I sat with him in his room until 5:30 am, alternating between rubbing his back while he was in his bed and holding him on my lap. While we were sitting together in his room, Jonah heard the thunder outside and asked me what it was. I told him it was thunder, and he seemed to ponder that. A few minutes later he said to me, “It may be airplane up in the sky.” “Okay,” I replied. “It’s airplane out there,” he assured me. At 5:30, I woke up Jeremy so I could get a couple more hours of sleep, which I did. But I was still exhausted, as was Jonah, so we took it easy that day.
That night was Passover, so I was happy that Jonah got a good nap during the day. We went over to Guy and Advah’s house, where a couple of other Americans and a few other Israelis joined us for Seder. Each person read in their native language. It was really interesting to see the differences between the American and Israeli Passover traditions. They sing some songs we don’t and vice versa. For example, they don’t sing “Dayenu”. Crazy. That’s the main song I associate with Passover. And we’d never heard of the main song they associate with Passover. And, of course, at the end of their Seder, they don’t say, “Next year in Jerusalem.”
Jonah and Maya were particularly cute that night (that’s really saying something, since they are always cute together). After the Seder, which was just the right length, the kids ran around, went in and out of Maya’s “house” (under the kitchen counter in a cupboard), played with play-doh, read books, chased each other. Advah got some great pictures of them hugging each other. So sweet. As Guy said, “It’s clear that Jonah has really given himself to Maya, but Maya is still holding back a bit.” We think they may need to live together before Maya can really commit to him.
Jeremy headed off to another Seder hosted by his former student, while Jonah and I stayed and hung out at Advah and Guy’s. We probably headed home around 9 pm or so. Jeremy’s second Seder sounded pretty hardcore. They didn’t eat dinner until 9:30 pm, so I was happy we didn’t try to make that one as well.
On Thursday, we hung out with Advah and Maya at their house in the morning. We enjoyed lunch together before having Jackson come pick us up. Advah and Maya came to Kabira in the afternoon to swim, and we joined them at the kids’ pool. Jonah really does love going into the pool, I suppose almost as much as his washing tub now that I think about it. It just requires a much more careful eye because he’s constantly on the move from one pool step to the next, in and out of the pool, getting a leaf, taking the cap off the handrail in the pool, here, there, everywhere. That night after Jonah went to sleep, Advah and Guy brought Maya over for a few hours so they could go to dinner with Guy’s colleagues. Maya just slept in our bed, so that was simple, simple.
On Friday, we hung out at the play center. Advah and Maya met us there, and we all ate lunch at our cottage. Jonah and I went back to the play center in the afternoon. As per our Friday night routine, Jeremy, Jonah, and I ate dinner at the club. They make really good pizza. Jonah devoured two pieces. He’s now a cheese pizza guy and seems to have gotten over his dislike of tomato sauce.
Saturday was mellow. Jeremy, Jonah, and I did our Lugogo Mall routine with a stop at Good African Coffee and then on to Shoprite and Game. As I waited in a fifteen-person line to withdraw money from the ATM at Stanbic Bank, I noticed one little girl in a St. Louis Cardinals dress, a woman in a Rodos, Greece shirt, another in a Billabong shirt. Jeremy tells me there’s a huge secondhand clothing market here where clothing from the U.S. makes its way to the stalls of Owino Market. How interesting it would be to have followed the path of that Cardinals dress or the Rodos shirt, presumably from an American tourist who went to our island of Rhodes at some point. In any event, the ATM machine ran out of cash just before it was my turn to use it. Ugh!! And this is the only bank where we can get cash because it’s the only one that will take our Citibank card. Annoying. Thankfully, it turned out that I had enough money in my wallet to buy our necessities, but we were left with little cash until later that day when we found another Stanbic Bank on the way to dinner. Others weren’t as fortunate. Forty-five minutes after my ATM denial, I saw the same people still standing in line, waiting for (hoping?) the bank to refill the machine with cash. It was Easter the next day after all, and many people had food to buy and to prepare for their celebrations.
While Jonah napped that afternoon, our friend Ron arrived at Kabira. Jeremy first became friends with Ron when they were both living in Kampala during Jeremy’s dissertation days. I’d previously spent time with Ron here when I visited, in the states for a long weekend in Virginia, and at our wedding (though I guess I really didn’t have much time to spend with anyone that weekend). Anyway, Ron is here for the year, working in the northern part of the country, and we invited him to stay with us for a few nights. That night, we went to a delicious restaurant in Kampala called Tuhende, where for 12,500 shillings (roughly $6) you get an amazing four-course dinner in a great outdoor setting along the side of a not-at-all picturesque road. The owner has really turned the restaurant into a lovely spot though with potted plants and nice lanterns to illuminate the patio. The place is known for its meat. I had chicken, which was the best I’ve had in a very long time. Jonah enjoyed the food as well, and he loved climbing around the stairs and walking around the patio after dinner.
For the sake of my most devoted readers—Safta, Nana, and Papa—I probably shouldn’t be writing this next part. But, it is after all a part of our story here, and so it should be chronicled as well. We found a taxi driver next to the restaurant and negotiated a price for him to take us home. Jeremy sat in front, Ron sat in the back left, I sat in the middle, and Jonah sat in the back right. Jonah was snug in a seatbelt. I checked his door to make sure it was locked. It appeared to be. With no street lights, it was quite dark out. We started home, and about five minutes into the drive, Jonah flings his door open. Remember, he’s sitting behind the driver, since this is UK-style driving. So he has just flung his door into the oncoming traffic. Before the approaching car reached us, the taxi driver threw his arm out of his window and slammed the door shut. It all happened so fast. Within ten seconds, the entire episode had started and finished. It turned out that, although the door lock appeared to be pushed down, it was broken in that position and wasn’t actually locked. Horrifying, indeed. Thankfully, all ended well.
And now to answer the questions racing through your mind: No, there is no way Jonah would have fallen out of the car because he was very snug in his seatbelt. Yes, we still take taxis everywhere we go, unless we’re in Advah and Guy’s car. No, I couldn't have put him in the middle seat because it didn't have a functioning seatbelt. Yes, Jonah still sits by the door under my watchful eye, combined with his newfound knowledge that opening the door mid-trip is not a good idea. It's a safer seat than the middle seat, considering that he's not in his carseat. No, we’re not coming home yet. Yes, I’m sure. Yes, I’m quite sure.
On Sunday, we took a little trip out to Ggaba Beach with Ron, Advah, Guy, and Maya. Ggaba Beach is right outside of town, and Guy and Advah had heard that there was a place by the water that served delicious fish.
Jonah and I drove with Guy, Advah, and Maya; Jeremy and Ron drove with a taxi driver who hung around to take them back. We weren’t entirely sure where the good fish place was, so when we arrived, we waited a while in the car as we tried to figure out whether it was the “hotel” property we were supposed to be going to or some other place. Guy called the hotel a movie set because it really only had a façade and didn’t seem to be functioning as anything but an outdoor festival venue.
As we pulled into the hotel property (I’ll call it that for simplicity’s sake), a sign suggested that we not bring our guns inside. Okay. We had to pay some small fee to enter because there was going to be a big Easter celebration with live music. We were told by one person the music would start in ten minutes and by another person that it would start around noon. When we left shortly after 2 pm, the live music had yet to start.
Live music or not, the setting on Lake Victoria was fabulous. The weather wasn’t cooperating that day, at least not in the morning. It was raining off and on, mostly a light rain. We hung out on the big grassy area under a tent, where we all kicked around a couple of beach balls (adults and kids, great fun). Then Jonah became obsessed with the water jug and its spicket and water basin used for hand washing. He literally must have stood there playing with it for about an hour (at first in the rain with Jeremy holding an umbrella over them). An hour after ordering our coffee, it came. But what came revealed a miscommunication so great you’d think we’d given our order in Latin. We ordered four coffees with milk. We got two thermos containers, one with hot milk and a splash of tea and some chai powder, the other with hot water, and three packets of Nescafe instant coffee. Totally confused. We made do.
After our coffee, we walked off the hotel property into the neighborhood and its vibrant market. We were the only white people around—inside the hotel and outside. As we left the hotel, I asked the guy if we needed to have a ticket stub when we returned to show that we’d already paid. He said he’d remember us. I asked him how he’d remember. He hemmed and hawed, and I smiled and pointed to my face. We had a good laugh.
The market was full of people selling and buying fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, you name it. We walked out to the pier to see men cleaning the fish they’d caught, getting it ready for sale. Jonah was interested in some big drain, so he and I went to check it out. As we were looking at it, a young guy said to me that the old guy across the way wanted to see me. So I went over, and he just wanted to talk to us, find out how we liked Uganda, whether we found the services good, how we liked the food. Really sweet man.
Back to the hotel we went. We ordered fish and each got one huge fried fish with everything still intact. We weren’t given any utensils, so we used our fingers to peel the skin off the fish and eat the fish meat underneath. It was amazing! Best fish I’ve had in a really long time.
We all headed back to Kabira afterward and sat by the big pool. Jonah went in and out of his washing basin. The ground was slippery. Jonah wasn’t being particularly careful about the edge of the pool, and I knew he was going to fall in. I kept telling him he needed to be careful not to get too close to the edge, but he wanted to pour the water from his basin into the pool. He took one misstep, and in he went. I was in the pool so fast (clothed, of course) that he didn’t even have a chance to inhale any water. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out in what Jeremy described as lightening speed. Jonah was startled and cried a bit. After sitting with me for a minute or two, he immediately went into his basin and stayed put, using his cups to pour water from one to the other, making a waterfall, enjoying the comfort of his little, enclosed space. I ran over to the play center to give Jackie Easter gifts for her kids, and her husband and son happened to be there. So I got to meet them, which was really nice. Her husband seems lovely, and her son is very sweet.
Last week involved more Kabira, more Maya’s house, and a new play center (in addition to our Nakasero Market adventure, which closed out the week). On Monday, Advah and Guy dropped Maya off with me in the morning because Advah had set up a meeting with a friend of Ron’s in the fair trade business to learn about the work going on here in the hope of finding something interesting to do with some of her free time. Guy, of course, went to work as usual. Jonah, Maya, and I went to the play center and had the place to ourselves. We spotted a great huge bird in the tree while we were there. I just couldn’t get over how enormous it was, as it sat there on a branch. Loud too. Maya was as intrigued by it as me. Irene was working that day. When I was changing Jonah’s diaper, Irene told me that Ugandans believed that boys shouldn’t be in diapers except when they’re very, very small because it might hurt their private parts. Interesting theory. I think we'll take our chances. Advah returned just before noon, so the four of us enjoyed lunch at our place.
After Jonah’s nap, Jonah and I sat by the pool—him in his wash basin, me right next to him. We had dinner at Kabira with Ron, Julia (a former student of Jeremy’s whom we had brunch with our first weekend here), and Julia’s boyfriend Eric. I was craving dessert so ordered the chocolate brownie, which had nuts (so Jonah couldn’t have any—not until he's three because of my history of allergies, not to nuts, but anyway...). Jonah really wanted the brownie, but we were able to appease him with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then Jeremy entertained Jonah by running around Kabira with Jonah on his shoulders. The image of Jonah bouncing up and down on Jeremy’s shoulders is too cute for words. As Jonah was bopping up and down, he'd holler, “Hello Prakash!” as they ran by the reception desk. Prakash has told both Jeremy and me how much he and everyone are going to miss Jonah when we leave.
On Tuesday, Advah and I decided to go to the bakery that unfortunately was closed on Easter. (We had looked through the window and drooled at the delicious-looking pastries in the bakery on our way home from Ggaba Beach.) Wow, the pastries were amazing! The power was out, so it was hot inside and the door was propped open. Jonah and Maya ran in and out of the bakery, looking at Advah and me through the window, putting their faces up against the glass, laughing hysterically, and shouting, “Hello, mommy!”
From the bakery we went to the Wacky Wood House, which was just a stone’s throw from where we were. It’s another play center with outdoor climbing structures, a little house, a little boat, tricycles that have seen much better days (like fifty years ago), and a maze water feature that at one time was probably pretty cool with locks and a bridge that lifted but now is just a plastic maze of water with no parts that move. The water, of course, was all that Jonah needed, as he navigated leaves along the channels and put his hands in and out of the water. So it was another mediocre play area that the kids thoroughly enjoyed.
On Wednesday, we hung out with Advah and Maya at their house. Their place is really airy and light, so it’s a great spot to relax, have coffee, hang out, all while enjoying the cool breeze blow through the balcony doors.
Thursday was like Monday. I watched Maya in the morning while Advah went to a meeting. The three of us played at the play center and hung out with Jackie, which is always nice. Jonah rejected his nap that day, so we hung out at our place for a bit in the afternoon before going to the pool with his tub. Before heading out, Jonah was sitting on my lap as I fed him watermelon. He was sitting facing me, while I reclined on the couch. He kept leaning in and throwing his arms around my neck and bringing his face in close to give and receive kisses. That time together made no nap quite okay.
Advah and Maya came over for dinner. Guy was in the field for most of the week, including that night. When Advah and Maya were getting ready to leave, Jonah went over to Advah on his own and gave her a hug goodbye. As Jeremy was getting Jonah ready for bed that night, Jeremy asked him whether he was going to live in the water when he grew up (considering how much he loved it). Jonah replied, “No.” So Jeremy asked, “Where are you going to live?” Jonah replied, “In a house.” Jeremy inquired, “With whom?” “With Maya,” Jonah said happily. Too cute.
Friday was our Nakasero Market experience and all the entertainment that came with it.
Saturday was another Lugogo Mall morning, although this time I went to the ATM as soon as we got there, only waiting in line for a few minutes and getting cash without a problem. We also ordered a full breakfast at Good African Coffee, and it was quite good. A quick run to Game for me, a joint trip to Shoprite, and we were back in a taxi to Kabira, where we met up with Maya, Guy, and another PhD student doing field work here, Janet, at the play center. Advah had taken her father to the surgery center because he had a fever and chills. Of course, the big concern is always malaria, but it turned out to be a blood parasite from his rendezvous in an Ethiopian river the previous week (something highly discouraged for this very reason).
After Jonah’s nap, we hung out at the house before meeting Advah, Guy, Advah’s dad (Arieh), Advah’s dad’s partner (Hani), and Maya at Tuhende for another delicious dinner. This time I had the beef. Jonah and Maya were very cute, jumping around together after dinner. At one point, Jonah fell and stubbed his thumb. He normally says, “Mommy, kiss it,” for every little bump or scrape, but this time he said, “Maya, kiss it.” Well, Maya was not having any of that. Jonah kept shoving his thumb in Maya’s face, and Maya, understandably, recoiled. Jonah kept repeating, “Maya, kiss it. Maya, kiss it.” After multiple futile attempts, he finally asked me to kiss it but then started up again with Maya. It was very funny. Although Jonah may appear to be the pursuer here, Maya apparently calls Jonah on her cell phone every night before going to bed to say goodnight.
Today, we went with Advah, Maya, Arieh, and Hani to Port Bell (Guy was working), which I had heard was an interesting place to see, take a boat ride, and eat some fish. Well, it turned out not to be all of those things. It was definitely interesting but not for the reasons I’d been told. It was a working port, although it wasn’t very big. A couple of boats seemed to be taking people to the island located about fifteen minutes away, where there are some small settlements. A couple of others were being filled with firewood presumably and reeds of some sort.
We hung out at the port for about an hour, checking out the boats, looking at the fish that had been caught, admiring the goats, meeting some people, soaking up the scene. There were some stalls selling things—food, phone cards, and other items—another stall advertised itself as being expert dry cleaners. Jeremy peeked in and saw that it was a little stall where someone ironed clothes that had been hand washed and line dried. Behind some of these stalls were shacks where people lived. Kids were out and about, playing, hanging out. A duck family was waddling around, later picking at a trash pile for food.
From the port we went to the Baha’i Temple for Arieh and Hani to see it. They live quite close to the temple in Haifa and have visited it several times. There were more people around this time, not just passing through. In a smaller chapel, there was a service taking place. Sunday must be the day of worship for Baha’is. While Jonah pretended to drive Advah’s car and Maya snoozed in her stroller, Arieh and Hani were invited into the home of a man who lives on the grounds of the temple, where he talked to them about the Baha’i faith.
We left the temple and decided to head a different direction to get back to the main road. We thought it would be quicker, and we wanted to see some place new. The route took us through some very poor areas, including the neighborhoods from which Jeremy’s ethnicity project drew its participants. The homes reflected the poorer conditions of the area. The roads reflected the apparent neglect by the local government. Long stretches of the dirt road were severely eroded from the rains, making it nearly impossible to traverse. We barely made it up the last hill even in Advah’s four-wheel drive vehicle.
Speaking of hills, Kampala has many of them. The city is spread over ten hills. The origin of the city dates back to 1891 when the Kabaka (king) of Buganda—the kingdom of the Baganda people—had his court on Rubaga and Mengo hills. Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda with three million Baganda making up the largest ethnic group in the country (but still only representing about 17% of the population). (Luganda is the language spoken by the Baganda people.) The name Uganda—the Swahili term for Buganda—was adopted by the British in 1894 when they established the Uganda Protectorate centered in Buganda. Uganda was not a colony like Kenya. The protectorate status gave Uganda a slightly greater degree of self-determination, although taxes were imposed on the people of Uganda and laws instituted that discriminated against Ugandans economically, politically, and otherwise.
It was interesting to see different neighborhoods of Kampala than the ones we typically pass through in a taxi. And Advah deftly managed to maneuver the car out of deep ditches to get us back on the main road on our way to have lunch at Java.
Jonah took a late nap. We had a bit of time at the play center (which was packed!) before meeting Phoebe at Kabira for dinner. Jonah wanted to get down from the table before we were done eating, so he wandered around a bit, saying hello to Prakash, checking out what was going on at the restaurant. We could see him from where we were, and one of the waitresses followed him around a bit. It’s nice to be in a place where we can give him more freedom to roam on his own.
Jonah continues to entertain us at every turn. He and Jeremy recently started playing catch with Jeremy’s socks (all rolled up in a ball). Jonah is getting pretty good at catching and throwing the sock ball back.
Jonah also has definite opinions about what he likes and doesn’t like. The thing he’s recently decided he does not like at all is having his toenails cut. But, not to float my own boat here, sometimes I amaze myself with things I’m able to pull off as a mom. From the time we were in California last month, Jonah has been absolutely resistant to letting me cut his toenails. I wouldn’t care if it weren’t for the fact that his toenails grow in such a way that he’s at risk of getting serious ingrown toenails. I’ve tried everything from letting him hold anything he could possibly want to get his little hands on to letting him watch cartoons (since he never watches television). No go. Then he cries because he wants to watch the cartoon, but I’ve made quite clear that there’s no cartoon without toenail cutting. So, I finally decided I’d try to do it while he was sleeping. One night the other week, on a day Jonah didn’t nap, he went to sleep early, around 6:30 pm. After he’d been asleep for about fifteen minutes, I went in with a little flashlight and found that he was in his classic position, the one he’s slept in from the time we no longer swaddled him at six months—on his tummy, butt in the air, legs tucked in, and, now, with his kitty cat under his head, which was turned to the side. Undeterred, I moved the mosquito net, leaned over his crib, put the flashlight in my mouth, slightly tugged his foot out, pulled up his toes one at a time, and started to clip away. He curled his toes in his sleep when I had to cut the longer nails that had started to grow in toward his flesh, but he never woke up. I left the room with drool all over my shirt (from holding the flashlight in between my teeth), but the job was done. Phew.
Out most recent conversations with Jonah have been nothing less than hilarious and adorable. Here are some of the latest:
As he was leaving to go work, Jeremy said, “Okay, Jonah, I’m going to work.” Jonah replied, “Have good day, daddy!”
Sitting with Jonah one day, I asked Jonah rhetorically, “Where’d you come from?” Jonah told me, “Mommy’s belly!” Around Jonah’s birthday, we mentioned a few times to him that he used to live in my belly before he was born. He clearly remembered.
One night Jonah was standing by my leg and bit me. I could tell he was just experimenting with his teeth; he didn’t mean to intentionally hurt me. Nonetheless, I yelped, “Ouch! That really hurt mommy.” He stood there for a minute, looking at me. Then he said, “I’m sorry, mommy.” He clearly felt bad. It was really a sweet moment (despite my pain…).
One morning I asked Jonah, “Where’d daddy go? Did he go to work?” Jonah responded, “Daddy go Parliament!” which was true.
I was talking about Passover dinner with Jeremy, and Jonah asked, “Where ‘eat my dinner’ go?” That one threw us off a bit.
“Throw it like a basketball,” Jonah said of his diaper, after Jeremy took off the pool water-logged one. Jonah likes carrying his dirty diapers to the trashcan and putting them inside.
Jeremy happened to say the word “Eminonou” one morning. That was the name of our ferry boat stop in Istanbul. Jonah replied, “Boat, in the water!” Good memory, bud!
“I have pizza in my mouth!” as Jonah was enjoying his cheese pizza.
“Bring sticker book in mommy’s bedroom. Read it,” he said to Jeremy, when he woke up one morning.
“I give you it,” Jonah said to Jeremy about a piece of cheese he was holding.
“May-elk” is what Jonah calls milk. He's managed to turn a one syllable word into a two syllable word. It's really cute to hear him ask for his milk, especially when it's combined with “peez”.
“One minute” is a phrase we hear quite a bit now. He understands the concept in the context of wanting us to do something with him briefly. So, if Jeremy and I are still eating dinner but Jonah has finished and is playing, he often comes over and says, “Daddy, in house peez. One minute.” He means to tell us that Jeremy should get in his house with him for just one minute. Then Jeremy can go back to eating.
“Check it online,” Jonah says to me, when we get to the page in his
Mama Voted for Obama book with the picture of a mastodon. I said to Jonah a couple of times that I’d look up online to find out why the book labeled the animal a mastodon and not a wooly mammoth. Once I looked up the difference between the two animals online, I explained to Jonah what I learned. Despite the explanation, Jonah prefers to call the animal a wooly mammoth.
“What’s that? What’s that? What’s that?” in rapid fire, as Jonah cracks up and moves his finger around the last page of his
Mama Voted for Obama book, wanting me to tell him what the different animals are. He knows what they are, but he likes to ask of me what I always ask of him. “What’s that?” I ask him, when we’re looking at something, and I’m helping him learn a new word or I'm checking to see if he remembers one I've already taught him.
Jeremy asked Jonah what day it was “tomorrow”, and the word “tomorrow” triggered Jonah to respond, “Happy birfday me!” This is because during the week of his birthday we kept asking him what was happening on Friday (his birthday), then “tomorrow” once it was Thursday.
He frequently asks for his “McDonald” book. It’s actually his Mickey Mouse book about Mickey’s birthday. I’m not sure how it became McDonald. We don’t eat at McDonald’s. A few times on our last trip to California I stopped at McDonald’s to get an iced coffee, but I’m not sure how that was sufficient to get the name in his head. Anyway, as we read the book this morning, Jonah shouted out, “Jonah’s birfday! Happy birfday, Jonah!”
One morning when Maya was over at our house, she went into our room and asked Jonah, “Where’s your bed?” Jonah replied as he walked into his room, “In here. My bed.” It was really adorable to hear them have a little conversation together. (Maya was used to seeing Jonah’s bed in our room because that’s where he takes his naps, but that day I hadn’t yet moved Jonah’s bed into our room.)
“Want to hold this, yeah?” Jonah recently started adding the word “yeah” at the end of a sentence to turn it into a question. He says “yeah” in an unbelievably adorable, high-pitched voice, making you want to agree with whatever it is that he’s asking. Sometimes it's “kay” instead of “yeah”, so he might ask, “Go inside house, kay?”
“That’s mommy’s. Where’d coffee latte go?” Jonah asked me, as he looked into my empty cup one morning that had just a few minutes before contained my latte. I just love that he knows the word “latte”. Does that make him a latte liberal? Probably so.
“Put water in there. Tend.” That’s short for “pretend”—a concept he now understands. We pretend there’s water in his cooking pots so he can make soup.
“Kai-ing,” Jonah said to me, as he pouted. “Why are you crying?” I asked. “Cuz sad.” “Why are you sad?” I asked him. “Cuz owwy,” Jonah replied. He didn’t really have an “owwy”. I think he just wanted me to stop washing the clothes and play with him.
“Ganpa’s house.” This one is hard for me. Jonah has a book about a little critter who describes all the things he’s going to do when he gets bigger. One of the pages talks about how the critter is going to take a bus by himself to grandma and grandpa’s house. Now, when I start to recite the line, “I’ll take a bus to…,” Jonah finishes the sentence with “Ganpa’s house”. That would have been the name Jonah called my dad. It’s what I call my dad to Jonah, but I don’t think Jonah understands who he is.
“Bigger piece peez!” Jonah asked of Jeremy about some sliced watermelon. “It’s all done,” Jeremy said. “There’s more in there!” Jonah replied, as he looked into the container of sliced watermelon.
One day earlier this week, as I was getting Jonah ready for his nap, I kissed his head. Jonah asked me, “What’s that, mommy?” I said to him, “I kissed you because I love you.” “So much,” he relied. Yes, so so so so much, indeed.
Jonah knows what I mean when I ask him to use his nice words when he wants something. Just today he said to Jeremy in a whining voice, “May-elk! May-elk!” I said to Jonah, “Use your nice words please,” and his tone of voice changed into a cheery one as he turned to Jeremy and asked, “May-elk peez!”
And one that I forgot to include from our time in California… Jonah was whining because he wanted to hold some car of his, so I said, “If you want to see the car, just say, ‘Car please.’ You don't need to...” at which point I paused and he said, “Whine.” Smart kid.
Okay, over and out until South Africa!
Picture descriptions: Checking out the chickens at Nakasero Market; Jonah and Maya enjoy some water in the bustle of Nakasero Market; Jonah and Maya blow bubbles in the Baha'i Temple gardens; kicking the ball around the gardens; Jonah sits with Jackie as he transfers sand, rocks, and water from one bucket to another; hugs on Passover; enjoying a nice lunch at Maya's house; Jonah manages to convince Ron to visit his "house"; Ggaba Beach with the crew; Jonah and Maya enjoying the water jug; the dads and kids standing in front of Lake Victoria at Ggaba Beach; Ggaba Beach market; Jeremy and I enjoying our HUGE fish; Jonah and Maya playing at Kabira's play center; Advah and I squeeze ourselves onto the very uncomfortable 1950s tricycle wagons to give the kids a ride; Mrs. Squarehead meets Mr. Conehead at Advah and Guy's house, courtesy of drinking water bottles; meeting some kids at Port Bell; houses at Port Bell; Jonah looking for the little bug he'd previously found in the fountain at the Baha'i Temple gardens; Jonah playing ball with another little boy at Ggaba Beach; chasing Maya at Ggaba Beach; Advah's dad showing Jonah and Maya a goat at Port Bell.
April 29: Although we haven't lived in the states during President Obama's first term in office, we've celebrated his victory and leadership while abroad and rejoiced with people in every place we've called home. We've been thrilled to see images of Obama and stores named for him in several of the cities in which we've lived. In honor of Obama's first 100 days, I'm posting a few I was able to capture on film. Others around the world celebrate with us!
