Rugby Club and Ethiopian Restaurant

The last time I was in the same country as a terrorist attack was Tuesday, September 11, 2001. On Sunday, July 11, 2010 al Shabab attacked the local civilian population in Kampala, Uganda, a group of people watching the World Cup finals. It's a tragedy that al Shabab attacked outside of its own country (let's not even get into the tragedy happening within that country itself). You can read political analysis on NY Times or BBC, but here's my experience of the events:

I'd arrived in Uganda on Tuesday evening, spent a wonderful few days in Mbale and was just finishing a fabulous weekend in Gulu. We finished up our homemade lasagna (a treat!) and headed over to Boma Hotel to watch the game on the only big tv screen in Gulu. We had so much fun watching the game - it wasn't until the next morning that I had any idea what happened: Suicide bombers set off multiple explosions in highly-populated areas inside Kampala- inside the Rugby Club and Ethiopian Restaurant in Kampala (as well as couple other locations where fortunately the bombs did not detonate).

It felt so unfair to be attacked from a source outside the country - for something that the majority of people in Uganda had nothing to do with. Thankfully, everyone on my team was safe - but the number of close encounters is chilling. For my colleague Moses, his brother was at the Rugby Club and just decided to leave 15 minutes before the bomb went off. My friend Sophia, her brother-in-law was going to watch the game from the Ethiopian Restaurant but decided to skip it because they weren't serving pork that night.

People were very sober the following day- not panicked, and not even bothering to check in with all their friends until the list of deceased came out in a couple days. A couple of my colleagues hearkened back to the days of the LRA attacks, when they would hide at night for fear that they would be kidnapped. They remembered hearing the Black Mamba (a heavy metal gun, from what I understand) and said that in comparison AK-47s sound like popcorn. popcorn. Amazing resilience.

I drove through Kampala this past Friday (7/23) to get to the airport, and I found it very interesting to listen to the radio - all the DJs were talking about how nobody would be going to bars in Kampala that weekend. "The latest thing is house parties and office parties, if it's acceptable to party in your office," they said. My driver and I chuckled at this. Other changes that we saw - just in the brief 2 weeks following the attacks include: screenings at all bars - even in Gulu!! We got frisked and even my tiny handbag was searched. inconvenient? yes, but so important for the country to take seriously this risk. Uganda used to be this place that felt very free and open - now it feels a lot like any other country.

Now Somali refugees in Uganda face uncertainty, as well as the nations supporting AMISOM. Countries and people react and evolve based on their circumstances - terrorism is not a new phenomenon in Uganda, but certainly one which we all hoped was finished. The death toll continues to increase - last I heard it was 84 people who were killed. My heart goes out to the families and to the mourning country of Uganda. Already the world seems to have moved on- there are so many tragedies to read about in the news.

Maybe best to end this post with a quote from the hero Nelson Mandela- he says, "To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

travel tip...

I don't have a whole lot of these because every time I travel, there seems to be some wild and unusual occurance that leaves me both stressed and panicky and full of travel amnesia. Example: on the way to the airport, I passed 7 African Union convoys which made my trip from Gulu to Entebbe not 5 hours, but 7. I tried really hard to get my driver to join one of the convoys (take that, Gaddafi!) but he wouldn't do it. Or that time in Milan when everyone told me I had already flown on this ticket, which was clearly not true because I was standing in the airport talking to them. Or how about when my plane landed in Zambia instead of Zimbabwe? Yeah.

Anyway, back to my travel tip: if you are ever flying through Amsterdam (which I recommend because this airport is very user-friendly and the KLM people are almost always cute and helpful) and you have a long layover, but don't want to go into the city (actually that is quite easy - you just hop on a train)-- Get a yotel booking. Yotel is one of those airport hotels - you get a comfy bed, wifi included, and a shower. it's dark and peaceful and private. basically heaven inside an airport after that 8 hour all-night plane ride from Africa.

Also in the Amsterdam airport- there's this hot cheese pastry that I get every time I pass through (after 3 weeks in Gulu with no cheese - this is also heaven). It's a bar next to the sushi restaurant, and you just ask for the hot cheese pastry and the nice Dutch man will help you out.

Happy travels, people!

uganda again

I have just one more post for Greece and a post about the Kampala bombings, but in the meantime, here are a couple of memories from the present:
-I taught my first exercise class last week. I was at the gym, lifting weights, minding my own business when a group of 25 women entered the gym. They were in skirts, flip flops, all manner of 'exercise gear' and they started asking me to teach them something (apparently the instructor did not show up). I thought, 'ok what can I show them that won't injure anyone? not kickboxing for sure.' So I took the ladies into the group exercise room (I use this term very loosely) and we did a yoga class-- sun salutations, downward dog, plank- the works! I was a bit worried when some of the women dropped out, but nobody collapsed so I suppose we did fine. After the class, the ladies clapped and everybody shook my hand- it was great.
-I've adopted yet another baby- his name is Ethan and he's the love of my life. I'm on track to becoming his godmother....
-Last night two of my gym buddies told me- 'You are just very fine, please don't reduce (lose weight) or increase (gain weight). It's not good to be too fat or too skinny.'
-there's no power in Gulu at the moment, so we've been having cold showers (yep, this time i get a shower rather than just a bucket of cold water!) and incredibly slow meals, but over the weekend to top it all off- there was no water at my hotel.
-yesterday at lunch, the staff asked me if there were any maize meal or posho in the US - I said, no we don't have those. Nobody could believe it - 'you just eat rice?' they asked me. Well, no, there's bread and pasta. No way, they didn't believe we fat americans could survive on bread and pasta and rice.
-Ugandans know how to SMACK TALK. I've never seen anything like it. On Sunday I was playing pool with a bunch of people and they were all, 'I hope you have gone to church today, because you need to say your prayers.' and 'Please sit and relax, while I take my white ball and win this game.' it's totally courteous and totally hilarious. If you're just starting a game, you say to everybody, "Who am I caning?" (meaning whom am I going to beat?)
-if you have a zit, at least 12 people will ask, 'oh no, my dear! what has bitten you?'
-apparently the baby-doll/empire waist style is not common here in Uganda. Last week, 4 out of 5 days at work I was told, 'Wow, that top would be so nice for a pregnant lady.'
-no matter what you are doing - you always answer that mobile phone. One of my friends at the gym had just arrived, was doing situps with weights, and chatting away on the phone. Another guy was kicking my ass at pool with one hand, and talking on his mobile with the other.
-every time I come back, my friends tell me, "But you were lost." meaning I haven't been around for a long time. I still haven't figured out how to respond to this- mostly I just say, "Yes, but I've come back."
i still love this country- can't help it.

Mykonos Island

Nowhere will compare with the beauty of Santorini or the beaches of Crete- but Mykonos comes in as my very third favorite Greek island. The buildings are beautiful, the alleyways are winding and curious, and the tourism is at a super high level. Becky and I had adventures all over the island, but I think the best way for readers to see it is to check out the pictures. Enjoy!

Knossos Palace

sidenote- i knew i should have finished these Greece posts before leaving for Uganda. it's difficult to remember the trip details while i'm far away on yet another continent....

The last day of our visit to Crete, Becky and I visited the ancient Palace of Knossos. This place has been around for over 3000 years - and got covered up by earthquakes over many years. Like many other places in Greece, this palace existed both in ancient mythology and in real life. The king of this ancient civilization certainly did some outrageous things that have made him legendary, but back in the day the Cretans had a well-functioning and incredibly advanced society. You can see evidence of their ingenuity all over the palace - they had store rooms for grain (for when foreign governments came to bring taxes), heated baths, and an extensive piping system that is still studied today by engineers.

The palace is quite extensive, and we got to see the royal living quarters, huge store houses, the throne room, and even a little section for religious ceremony. The place is still under excavation by archeologists, but they have re-made so much of the ancient palace that it's quite a fun and interactive tour. Our tour guide was very entertaining- she made the whole group act out an ancient myth- assigning roles and making sure everybody was paying attention!

For the rest of the day, we got to tour around the port city of Heraklion- although Becky and I decided that the our time would be better spent in Zara and then in finding some incredible greek crepes for our tummies. what a good day!

Peloponnese

Our final day in Greece was jam-packed with sites and touring. We started out with a delicious breakfast made by Yaya (scrambled eggs with feta & tomatos? yes please), then got on the road to Mycenae, Nemea, Epidavros, Corinth and Nafplion. We visited ancient temples, palaces, spas, theatres, and stadiums, plus the beautiful scenery of mainland Greece. By the time we got to Nafplion, it was night - actually the best time to be in that little town, because you can sit by the water or the main square and just watch the beautiful lighthouse or the fortress at the top of the mountain. Greece continues to amaze me - you can round a bend, and come across an excavation of some site - probably 4,000 years old. and probably filled with amazing innovations that our modern cultures have yet to fully realize. For example, the Greeks had an invention used for the starting line of races - it was a ropes and weights system (similar to a catapolt) that ensured if you started before the command, you would trip. how amazing.




The Peloponnese is so beautiful - rocky mountains surrounded by turquoise water, and
everything is so close- We visited 5 sites in 10 hours! This was a wonderful way to finish our trip - we got a taste of the history of the country and its influence on the western world.