Today was the calm before the storm. My last day before trying to conquer the 4 category 5 rapids of the Nile! Not going to lie I had a pit in my stomach most of the day thinking about it.
Anyways, I woke up at 10:00 and the whole Educate! staff had a meeting to discuss our Changemakers association which is a organization that we are starting whereby people looking to make a positive impact in their community can interact with like-minded peers to exchange information, resources and money. The meeting went really well and I think the Changemakers association is going to be a success.
After the meeting Evan and I helped Emily move to her new house. She’s been in the Educate! compound for 14 months now…and I think it was draining on her. It’s hard to live where you work…the boundary between work and play isn’t always clear and something it feels like you’re working non stop. Her new house is beautiful but she’ll be missed in the Buziga compound.
After we moved her in Emily, Evan and I went to “Quality Cuts” which is the best butcher / deli in Kampala. I’d never been there but the food was delicious and I’ll definitely be making trips back their in the future.
Then I came home and did more WORK.
That night Evan told us his father wanted to take the whole Educate! team out to dinner for allowing his son to hang around the compound for a week. We all gladly accepted and decided to go to Fang Fang Chinese restaurant.
We took a matatu to Kabalagala and then tried to wager with a special hire driver. He wanted us to pay 15,000 USH ($7.50) and the group only wanted to pay 10,000 USH ($5.00). After arguing for 15 minutes Rachel and Maggie got the special hire driver down to 12,000 USH ($6.00) but they were refusing to pay more than 10,000 USH and the driver refused to go for anything less than 12,000.
I was impatient and hungry and tired of fighting over a $1.00.
“Maggie, can I have a moment alone with sebbo?”
She agreed.
I handed the guy 2,000 USH. “Just put this in your pocket sebbo and we’ll tell the girls we agreed on 12,000. Okay?”
He looked at me confused.
I repeated myself.
He looked at me confused again. He was waving the money I’d given him around.
“You’re going to blow our cover sebbo!” I laughed.
Finally he understood the arrangement.
“Okay we go.” He relented.
“Alright – I got him down to 10,000 USH!” I said to the girls with a goofy smile on my face.
“You liar!” They laughed. “You totally bribed him!”
Apparently my reputation for impatience and not fussing over small dollar amounts proceeds me!
We laughed about it all the way to Fang Fang.
Dinner was great: Baati, Babsi, Rachel, Angelica, Emily, Lorna, Hannah, Maggie, Evan and I.
BUT – I started feeling sick – tired and achy and a little congested.
After we left Fang Fang we got a special hire. The guy drove like a complete maniac – I was very angry with him.
After making a few comments about him swerving into oncoming traffic to pass cars I yelled, “Sebbo, relax!”
Finally he paid attention and slowed down. Some of these people have a death wish I swear.
I was exhausted so I went straight to bed, but I couldn’t sleep with thoughts of the rapids coursing through my head. It was a very choppy night of sleep indeed.
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