Are you ready for CHOGM?

The face of K'La has transformed in the name of CHOGM, something that holds great potential for the countries future. Meanwhile Americans have no idea what CHOGM even means. The Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting is held (I think) every 2 years, hosted by a different member each time. For Uganda, preparing to host CHOGM takes on a very similar role as hosting the olympics. Roads have been paved, street lights installed, hotels and apartments and other buildings built, and security is unbelievable. It also means that they have the opportunity to dominate the discussion and possibly make lots of really good deals that could benefit their economy for the long-term.

When the Queen of England arrived something like 100,000 people lined Entebbe Road to see her pass--which is supposed to be the largest crowd to have gathered for her anywhere. (Actually, I was joking with some other foreigners that what the queen doesn't know, is that all those people are normally there anyway, it just happened that she passed through! Not really though, the Queens presence has been a very big deal). Many streets are blocked off, which has caused the town to empty out (it's very eerie). Apparently the government did a test run (closing off streets to escort diplomats through town) a couple weeks ago and it caused like 10 hours of gridlock. So it seems they successfully scared everyone away!

It's been interesting to watch the affect on the city, and it will be interesting to see what comes of the whole thing. There are some kind of public forums being held, so I may try to make it to some of them and see what I can learn.

K'la

Just a note to let everyone know I've arrived safely in Kampala (which will be referred to as K'la from here on out). I was utterly exhausted upon my arrival! I don't think I got a full night's sleep the night before my flight, I lost 7 hours on the flight from DC to Amsterdam and only slept about 1 of those hours. Then I spent about 10 hours running around Amsterdam (which was great fun, I even met up with 2 couchsurfers, one of which was a local which took all the guess work out of it for me), visiting Anne Franks House and the Van Gough museum. It's a very interesting city and I'd love to go back and spend more time there. However, I was literally falling asleep on my feet at the Van Gough Museum, so I thought for sure I'd sleep better on my flight that night to Nairobi. Sadly, I did not, I probably slept about 3 hours, but at least I only lost 2 more hours on this leg. My 6 hour layover in Nairobi was exceedingly painful, especially because I was dying to sleep and couldn't really find a spot that was either relatively comfortable or I felt safe enough. On the bright side, I sat next to a Ugandan on my flight into Entebbe, and when I asked him at baggage claim how much he thought I should pay for a taxi into Kampala, he offered to take me himself. Too bad his driver was the one who had to deal with my luggage! On a random side note, the other guy I sat next to was from Nairobi and headed to K'la for a golf tournament! I was also quite impressed that all the conversations I heard around me on this flight were centered on goverment, city planning, and the like. I've never been surrounded by so much politics on a plane!

Julius, my gracious host for the day, not only took me to lunch and to my guest house, he also took me to exchange money and get a SIM card for my cell phone (contact me for the number), so I had all my basic neccesities taken care of and could collapse for the night. After a torturous shower (it not only was freezing, but there was NO water pressure, so there was no speedy wash up) I groaned in contentment at the feeling of being horizontal and in a bed and happily slept. I must admit that my guest house has got to be the noisiest place in the world to try to sleep, but I managed.

I'm still jet-lagged, which is a first for me, and haven't found much excitement in K'la, but I'm sure it's just a matter of getting to know some locals who can show me the hot spots. It seems that the developing world is starting to feel like home to me, granted this is vastly different from Asia which will take a little adjustment. Once again though I've found that my perception of "dangerous" is just a little different from most people. I met a couple this morning who was asking me how to get out of K'la--they had been mugged and no longer felt safe here, they seemed surprised that I felt safe. But I won't get into that now.


FROM SOMEWHERE OVER KENYA

frost on my window
blurring my vision
yet fascinating in itself
flying on the wings of my dreams
a sea of clouds below me
the sun rising in the east
alone
and afraid
yet is this not what I've been fighting for?
I pursue the unknown
I pursue love, to have and to give
God help me to pour out all that I am
all that you are

the frost is melting

--

cool pics from DC

On the National Mall:

Washington Monument and the Capitol building

Lincoln Memorial at sunset

At the Hirshorn Museum:




From the Sculpture Garden:



From the American History Museum:

The Puffy Shirt from Seinfield and Mister Rogers Sweater
The remains of a bullet ridden Oak from the Civil War

Louis Armstrong's coronet

Lincoln's Top Hat

George Washington's uniform

From the Air and Space Museum:

a Wright Borther's plane

The most ridiculous plane ever concieved

One of the Apollo landing pods

NY, NY!

I flew into New York this past weekend to wander around a bit with Rich, and it was (somewhat surprisingly) great to be in a big city again. Being a big fan of diversity, NY is one the best places to find it, even if it means just listening to all the different languages being spoken around you as you walk the streets.

Since this was a stopover on my way to Uganda (which you might say is a stopover on my way to South Africa) I arrived with 2 huge heavy bags and my backpack. Getting from the airport to Rich's friends house (via skytrain, subway, and walking) was a challenging adventure--just not one I'd like to repeat! I have a very ambitious goal of minimizing the weight of my luggage before leaving for Uganda, which I feel is going to take some kind of miracle! But we made it there (and later down to DC via subway, walking, bus, more subways, and more walking).

Speaking of subways, I've decided they are a very interesting insight into a culture. Before NY, all my previous subway experience had been in Asia--where subways are generally immaculate and new and generally easy to figure out. The moment I stepped into the NY subway I knew I was in a very different world! By contrast I would define it as dirty (and a little smelly sometimes), old, and somewhat harder to interpret. In addition the spaces underground were much smaller. People's behavior on the subway--also dramatically different. In Seoul it's generally quiet and they pack a whole lot more people into those cars when it's busy! In NY it always felt like something was happening around you--be it dancing or singing or other generally less pleasant adjectives. The subway in DC is also unique. While it's much newer and cleaner and more spacious than NY, it's not as busy or efficient (in terms of car design, routes, and maintenance) as other subways, and it's definitely quieter than NY.

Anyway, I had a great time in NY--saw Times Square and took a ferry to Staten Island (passing the Statue of Liberty), ate some sushi, perused a farmers market and a book store, and just generally wandered and explored. The 9/11 memorial on Staten Island was beautiful--I've never even heard anything about it, but it was very well done and I definitely recommend it (especially at night).

I'm still busy doing some last minute things to get ready for my move, but slowly I'm seeing different sites in DC and exploring, hopefully more this weekend and early next week before taking off on Wednesday!