Tuesday, November 3rd 2009

Tuesday, November 3^rd 2009

 

            Today I was supposed to go to a BRAC meeting with Emily and Angelica but all my pants were drying and I didn’t have appropriate garb for a business meeting.  So I couldn’t go.  Good job Joe.

            I had been in the Buziga compound too long so I decided to walk (yes WALK to Cassia Lounge – didn’t elect for a boda boda since last time I did that I crashed).  When I got to the dining area it looked like a huge conference had just ended.  All the tables were covered with detritus from a morning breakfast – corn muffin wrappers, empty coffee cups, boxes of cereal…etcetera. 

            “Can I eat here?”

            “Yes.  Just serve yourself.”

            I walked to the buffet and rummaged through the rest of the breakfast items that hadn’t already been consumed.  I found a few untouched muffins and two pieces of toast.  Breakfast is served.  Yay!

            That’s another thing I really miss about NYC.  The pastries here are terrible.  I haven’t had one good piece of cake or corn muffin or piece of bread since I’ve got here.  Seriously its all really terrible.  For a foodie like me its been tough eating poor quality food for two months now.

            I ate and worked for a few hours.  Then I walked back to the Buziga compound for a meeting where I had to present my four funding models to Emily, Angelica, Maggie and Rachel.  The “presentation” went for an hour and a half.  I think they liked the models I presented so that made me happy.  Then Emily and I had another meeting for two hours.  Long afternoon of meetings. 

            I had been speaking with the Yale doctors I met rafting on Saturday.  We decided to meet up with all our respective friends at Lotus Mexicana.  We had a huge party – 17 people!  It was okay but the Yale doctors were really quiet so the conversation wasn’t too great.  Oh yeah – one of them bought me Praziquantel for bilharzia and albendazole for other parasites I probably got on the Nile.

            “I thought you couldn’t trust pharmaceutical drugs made in Uganda.”

            Laura nodded.  “Ehh, you should be fine.  I’m taking them too.”

            It made me feel better that doctors from Yale were taking the same drugs as me.

            Afterwards the Educate! team went to Rouge because it was an open mic where people could rap, read poetry, sing or whatever else they wanted.  It was interesting to experience a cultural night like that in Africa.  Good times.