Window seat adventures, again

I am back from Uganda! It is nice to be home and start seeing family and friends again. I really want to see everyone before I start the second year of medical school (orientation starts Wednesday and classes start in earnest on the Tuesday after Labor Day).

Many of you long-term blog readers will remember my window-seat trouble my last trip back from Africa. (To see the previous entry visit: http://christystriptoafrica2007.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-trip-home-emotional-and-frustrating.html )

You may find it entertaining that the window-seat drama continued on this trip. After successfully packing my ridiculous amount of stuff in two 48.5 pound bags (the max is 50 pounds) with the help of Andy's portable scale, I arrived at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. I made it through the security, etc and was waiting with a room full of people for the Ethiopian Airlines plane to come. It was about an hour late and when the plane landed the airline attendant announced in Amharic (the national language of Ethiopia): "something something something something something something something something something something something something something something... (several more minutes) ... something something something." Then she said in English, "We are now boarding all rows." My first response was that it either takes a lot longer to say a statement in Amharic than in English or that I, as a non-Amharic speaker, had not received all the information that had been recited in Amharic. I stood up and started walking towards the door when I was literally flattened against the wall by a stampede of Ethiopian passengers. The non-Ethiopian-looking passengers were not stampeding and had a bewildered expression. As I was drawing near suffocation from the mass of people pinning me to the wall I thought it was a very good thing that I hadn't fallen over because I might have been killed with the sudden vigor of everyone trying to reach the plane at once.

When I finally freed myself from the wall and started to move towards the plane I noticed there were two sets of stairs going into the plane - one towards the front and one in the very back. My seat was 11L which I thought would be fairly close to the front, so I decided to go up the front set of stairs. However, I was abruptly stopped by an airline attendant who asked if I was First/Business Class. I said I wasn't and he said that I would have to use the back set of stairs. So, I reluctantly joined the shoving throng of people pushing towards the back set of stairs. Once I made it in the back door I started on the arduous journey towards the front of the plane and my seat in 11L. With only the thought of my window seat to drive me forward, I cintinued on row after row after row. I finally arrived at row 11 which is the row DIRECTLY behind first/business class. (Side note: The first set of stairs is actually attached to the plane behind row 11, so it would have made perfect sense for me to use the front stairs, but no). To my horror, a woman was already sitting in my window seat. I politely told her that I thought that I had the window seat, but to my surprise she responded with several sentences of rapid French. I didn't understand most of it, but I thought I got the gist of the message: "This is my seat!" Still speaking French she showed me her board slip which had "11L" clearly typed on the bottom. A flight attendant came over and said, "Oh, didn't you hear the announcement? We had a problem with seat assignments so it is just open seating - sit where ever you want." Apparently "Open seating" was part of the Amharic announcement that they decided not to repeat in English. By this time almost all of the seats in the plane were full and I ended up sitting on an aisle seat in the same row as the French woman. I guess I had it good because apparently they ran out of room for the last passenger - perhaps that was another part of the Amharic message too. I don't know.

I was guardedly hopeful that I might get the window seat for the next flight from Ethiopia to Washington DC, but it was not to be. When I found my row, I discovered an Ethiopian woman sitting in my window seat. With a sigh I decided to start the sad ritual that I knew could not end happily. I said very respectfully that I thought I had the window seat and maybe she could have the aisle. The woman's English was very poor, but she managed to say, "My seat" while point at my window seat she was sitting in. I decided that maybe she just really wanted to sit by the window and that I wouldn't try to fight this battle again. After taking my aisle seat the woman abruptly closed the window so we could see anything and pulled a blanket over her entire head and went to sleep. Thus, I concluded that she was not too excited about looking at the window.

While the final passengers were boarding an American girl came on the plane and stopped a couple rows in front of me. After storing several bags she walked up to a man sitting in the window seat in her row and said, "Sir, I think that is my seat." She repeated the phrase a couple times and seemed dismayed as she could not get the man to budge and let her have the window. It was so similar to my past experiences that I couldn't help laughing - never try to claim your window seat on an Ethiopian Airlines flight returning to the United States!

After I stumbled off the plane in DC, I tried to sleep for a bit and then watched the news to discover that neither Obama or McCain had selected Vice President running mates yet. What had they been doing the entire summer I was in Africa? When I left the big news was that Obama and McCain were the nominees and everyone was trying to guess who their running mates would be and when I came back that was still the top news story. I guess I didn't miss much by not getting to watch the news over the summer!

I boarded my flight to Seattle and was delighted to sit in my precious window seat. I hunkered down wrapped myself in a blanket and prepared for a 6 hour flight of sleeping, looking out the window and relaxing. I was only slightly concerned when a couple and a child passed my row and I feel asleep during the rest of the boarding process. While the plane was taking off, I awoke to a high pitched noise and a shock wave rippling down my back. Confused I opened my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on. Another shock wave hit my back and I realized what had disturbed my slumber - a child of about 4 years of age was seated directly behind me and was screaming and kicking the back of my seat. I decided to try to ignore it, and look out the window. However, several minutes later an announcement came that we were supposed to close our windows so people could enjoy the in-flight entertainment or sleep. I obediently complied with the closing-of-the-window request and resigned myself to a less than perfect flight as the child continued to scream and kick for the duration. I think that little boy probably has a future in sports because that is a long time to continually kick a chair. I thought about turning around and giving the kid a piece of my mind, but the parents were already really embarrassed about the child's behavior and apologizing to everyone nearby so I didn't want to make them feel worse.

Whew! Now you know about my window seat troubles. Perhaps it is better not to request a particular seat...


Window seats -the impossible treasure on international flights with Ethiopian Airlines.

"The Rank Inn" and other pictures that make me happy...

This is Annie making a piece of rubber talk. We were waiting for the tire shoe guy to make a pair of shoes in Kumi and Annie entertained all of us by making various inanimate objects talk or make random noises.

This infinity media sign makes think of calculus and Buzz Lightyear.

This is the chapati man across the street from our apartment making a Rolex. A Rolex is eggs with cabbage, tomato and onion that are rolled up inside of a chapati. It is cheap and delicious.

Her is another shot of the chapti guy and his Rolex stand.

This is the fruit lady named Rhoda. She has a small shop in the little market area near Mulago Hospital. She picks the best fruit from the market and then sells fruit salad and fresh fruit juice from her little sand. I stopped by a couple of days ago for my last fruit salad and took this picture. Rhoda is extremely nice and likes to talk while she is making the fruit salad. She says she really wants a white husband and offered to marry my older brother if he would take her to America.

"The Rank Inn." This sign makes me smile almost every day. We pass it on our way to the hospital in the morning. A couple of days ago I decided to walk to the hospital so I could get a picture of the sign. I wonder what the Inn is like. Would you stay there?

Babies!

Now that Annie is gone and I am all by my little lonesome, I am playing catch-up from past pictures and stories. I really wish that I had taken pictures of the babies I delivered in the OB ward. However, the night before Annie left we visited a friend that we met in Kumi and his wife that had a 7 day old baby. He was so cute! I decided to post a few pics from this visit to stimulate your imaginations on how cute little newborn Ugandan babies are.

This is our friend's week old baby. I didn't deliver him, but imagine some slightly smaller babies that are just as cute, and that is what the babies looked like.

Ahhh... Here I am holding our friend's baby again.

Two of the midwifes from the delivery ward. They were so nice to me and taught me a lot about the delivery process.

Today I went and said goodbye to all of the lovely midwives at the maternity ward. It was really nice to see them again and we snapped a few pictures. This is the head midwife and she watched me deliver my first baby. Good memories...

A mean prank

How is the summer treating you? Are you bored? Tired of life? Do you want to go on a road trip, but can't afford the gas? Have you completed all of your 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles, and don't know what to do next? Do you delight in the inconvenience of others? Are you just itching to play a vicious prank on a sort-of friend? If so, this is the blog entry for you! Follow these simple steps and watch your friend/acquaintance agonize for weeks and loathe your name.

Note: For the purpose of this entry, we will call the person on whom you are playing the prank, "The Victim."

Prank Day 0 (Planning stage): Go to a local store and buy several large bags of candy. Any kind will do, but preferably it would be small, individually wrapped and easy to distribute to large numbers of children. Also, make a time schedule of when the victim is usually away from home.

Prank Day 1: When the victim is gone (consult time schedule), go to the victim's neighborhood and conduct some activity to attract small children. This could be playing a game of soccer in an
area next to the victim's house. Once a large number of children are gathered, ask them if they would like some candy/sweets. Of course, the children will say, "Yes!" Next, GO TO THE DOOR OF THE VICTIM'S HOUSE (This is a very important step) and proceed to give out 1 or 2 pieces of candy to each child present while still standing outside the victim's door. When the children call their friends, give them candy too.

Prank Day 2: Repeat the process. The sports activity won't be necessary. The children will be ready to run to the door of the victim's house to receive their piece of candy bliss.

Prank Day 3: Go to the victim's door, but don't give out candy. Tell the children that you don't have candy EVERY day, so they have to keep coming back even if they don't get candy for a couple days.

Prank Day 4: Go to the victim's door and give out more candy.

Prank Day 5: Give out tons of candy at the victim's door! Get rid of what ever candy you may have left.

Prank Day 6 - infinity: Relish the misery you have inflicted on the victim as every child in the neighborhood hounds them with,"Give me sweets! Give me sweets!" as they go to and from his or her house.

The worst part of it, is that the victim will feel so bad having to say, "No, I am sorry, I don't have any sweets" to cute little children every day. You also have the perfect cover if you get caught giving out candy - just say that you really like being nice too kids.
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I am sure that you have already guessed from the bitter nature of this entry that someone did this very prank at the our apartment in Kampala. I don't think the individual was consciously trying to be vicious. However, the end result was the same. We also know who did it because Annie caught him red-handed as he was giving out the last of a huge bag of candy to small children outside our door. The individual was a friend of one of the Swedish medical students and for some he thought it would be a good idea of give out candy at the door of our house for 6 consecutive days.

For the first week after the candy was distributed, every time Annie and I came home we would be mobbed by at least 4 children yelling, "Mzungu (white person)! Give me sweets! Give me sweets!" We would respond by saying that we were sorry, but we didn't have any candy/sweets to give. They usually left and would try again the next day, but one time they actually laid on the ground and kicked the door of our apartment screaming, "Give me sweets! Give me sweets!" They have gradually thinned, but there are still 1-4 children who follow me to the door of our apartment asking for candy.

If you have read some of my earlier blog entries, you may be confused - I always talk about how much I love children and how cute they are. This is true, and I do love children, just not when they are stalking me for candy. Also, please don't be under the impression that these are starving children. They are actually the children of quite affluent families who live around us (we live in a fairly nice area of Kampala) and the children are fairly spoiled by Uganda's standards. But yes, in general, I do still love children.



"Give me sweets!" I took this picture today, almost 3 weeks since the last day of candy distribution at our door. There were two small children waiting outside my door today. They are still cute, even if they are getting on my nerves a little bit.

Pics from Kumi Hospital

Here are some pictures from Kumi Hospital that I have been meaning to post.

This is some of the equipment in the orthopedic surgery ward.

Here is the surgery table.

This is Annie and me with Dr. Ekure. He is very talented and an excellent teacher.

Here we are with the surgery staff. They were all so nice.

pics - kids are cute

At home my little sister Monica (5 yrs old) likes to put a ball under her shirt and pretend that she is pregnant. Yesterday I met the cutest little Ugandan girl who likes to tie a bundle of blankets on her back and pretend that she is carrying around a baby. I guess it is the Ugandan equivalent of pretending you are pregnant. I thought it was so cute that I asked the mom if I could take some pictures.

Here she is showing off her bundle/pretend baby. I love kids. I forgot to mention that I am wearing my Ugandan dress that I had made in Kumi. It is a little bright, but I got a lot of compliments on it from Ugandan women who enjoy seeing a crazy white person dressed in their style.

She was a little shy so I had trouble getting her to look at the camera. Although she was shy, she did shake my hand and wave goodbye to me when I left.

I am still not sure what I want to do for residency, but I think it will probably come down to a choice between pediatrics and family medicine. We will see what the future holds.

pics of the hosptial!

Here I am sporting my Ugandan dress outside the med school.

The outside of the hospital.

A visit to Mabira forest and a renewed faith in humanity

Last week I was slightly discouraged about the state of the medical system in Uganda as well as the attitudes that seem prevalent in some aspects of Ugandan society (women not being valued as highly as men, etc). Also, Annie and I seem to continually be faced with people who want to rip us off/cheat us out of money or anything else just because we are white. We decided that we just needed to get out of Kampala for the weekend. Annie and I both like nature/hiking so we decided to visit the Mabira Rainforest. It is one of the biggest rainforests in Uganda (about 300 sq. kilometers) and the guidebook rated it highly. We made our way to the old taxi park and found a mini bus that was heading toward Jinja (Mabira forest is between Jinja and Kampala). A nice Ugandan man in the minibus knew the road between Jinja and Kampala very well and he told us that he would tell us where to get out. It was so refreshing to have someone volunteer to help us without asking for anything. We got out of the minibus and were surrounded by a delightful little market and lush forest. About 30 second after leaving the transport it started pour down rain. It made sense - it probably RAINS a lot in a rainforest. We ducked into a little restaurant and ordered some tea. It was run by a older woman and her entire family (children and grandchildren) lived in the adjacent room separated from the restaurant by a little curtain. She seemed delighted to have us as customers and was particularly thrilled when we ordered some matoke (cooked green bananas) and beef stew. She was so nice and welcoming and charged us a very fair price even though we had to sit there for over an hour while it rained. We explored housing options and found the most affordable option was to stay at the housing provided by the park itself. We were shown to a delightful banda/house that was surrounded by lush forest. Although there wasn't running water, a woman very kindly brought us warm water to bathe with. The park director found out that we had been working/studying in Uganda for over 2 months and gave us a small discount off of the normal tourist fee for staying in the banda and hiking in the forest - a very refreshing change from the norm.

After a refreshing shower and watching the monkeys swing from the trees around our banda Annie and I walked to the road-side market. We were able to purchase grilled bananas and chicken that we ate with a plate of delicious beans. All for a price much cheaper than Kampala. We finished off with some fresh pineapple for dessert.

The next day we hired a guide and had a delightful hike through the forest. We saw lots of birds and fascinating botanical specimens as well as hundreds of butterflies. Our guide stopped us towards the end of the walk - a cobra had been lying across the pathway. Fortunately, it slithered away and didn't bother us.

Here are some pictures from our awesome weekend:


Here is the view (away from the forest) on the top of a nearby hill.

Here are some children that were carrying firewood to their homes. They were really cute.

Annie and I in front of the a field of sugar cane. The pictures from inside the forest are a larger file sizes so I didn't try to upload them.

This picture exemplifies one of the highlights of our trip. There was this little craft shop run by the women of Najembe (the road town of Mabira Forest). I poked my head in the little shack and found this woman making a basket. It was a heart warming sight to see someone actually making the crafts that they were selling. Apparently, there is a lot of the plant that they make baskets out of growing around the forest. Annie and I noticed that her baskets weren't as Fancy as the ones available in Kampala, but I told Annie that I had a very good feeling about this woman and wanted to by something from her. We picked some of the baskets she had made and asked how much. She gave us a very fair price and we bought several. She was so happy that we bought the baskets that when we stopped by later she gave a taste a a sweet potato paste she was making. She indicated she sold it by the road and we were confused if we were supposed to give her money or not (she didn't speak any English). We decided to give her a couple hundred shillings and she came after us with a huge banana leaf filled with sweet potato mush indicating that this is what we paid for. It was so refreshing that she didn't try to cheat us. Anyway, now I have a huge simple basket that I bought from this woman. It is very special because the woman who made it was so nice!