Things that surprised me...

Things that surprised me:

You have to stick a sharp object into the electrical socket if your plug is two-pronged rather than three-pronged.

Toilet seats are under appreciated in this world.

Indians and brown Africans are starting to look white to me and I now tend to stare at them when they pass by.

Most of my coworkers are orphans – puts family in a different perspective.

People continuously tell white lies. It is something I cannot get used to. One of my coworkers told me that he cannot get used to the fact that mzungus are so open and honest.

My male coworkers are terrified of the director finding out they go clubbing and play cards and the fear has now increased since they take me to these “sinful” activities. In the words of Joseph, “Don’t tell Margaret – she will hang me!” followed by a high pitched “Ummm!”

Uganda is untouched by Halloween – people don’t even know what it is.

I wake up every morning at 5:30/6am to the Islamic call to prayer (little taste of Middle East in Africa although Uganda is predominantly Christian).

Apparently black people do not get skin cancer.

When shaking someone’s hand here you should not be surprised if you hold that person’s hand for the rest of the conversation. In general there is a lot more physical contact and wild gesturing (especially violent hand slapping) when communicating here.

In Kampala, if a pickpocket is caught, mob justice is carried out – all the thief’s clothing gets ripped off and then s/he gets beaten. So far I have only witnessed this on television.

People prefer to buy used shoes/clothing here, as the shoes/clothes have proven that they will last.

There is no variety in the food here – I eat beans, matoke and posho practically every day, usually served with one tiny chunk of meat.

School girls have shaved heads in Uganda as to not lead them into the temptation of styling their hair. Hair is very important for African women and they regularly get it braided, straightened or treated somehow. I doubt I have seen any women yet with their hair in its natural state. The variety in hairstyles is quite amazing. And I think most of my coworkers are aghast with how little I care for my hair and are surprised that it is in its natural state. Many people have already touched it and marveled at its softness and there is a raging debate at work about whether or not it is possible to braid it.

I bought a basketball for my coworkers and myself to use at the nearby court and quickly realized that most of them don’t know how to play. But if you think about it, if they grew up in tiny villages or as an internally displaced person, where would they have had the facilities?

Movies are not dubbed in the local languages. Instead, an extremely annoying voice narrates everything, including the credits. Thus you can’t hear the sounds of the movie, including the voices. You just hear the narrator rapidly chatting away (or even giggling to himself), telling you exactly what everyone is doing, even though you can see it for yourself. And sometimes he even lies! Also, all the movies I have seen so far are extremely violent, which apparently is not just a coincidence... I miss my romantic comedies!

For someone used to studying herself in the mirror several times a day, it is surprising how many days I can go without looking in a mirror, as I don’t have one here. It does cause moments of panic though. The other week, on my way to church, I realized I had not checked to see if my mascara from the night before had run after my shower… On mzungu skin these things are all too obvious.

Yesterday a friend balanced my laundry basket on her head. It was a feat I could not copy but it made me realize something interesting. In the past, “ladies” would be taught the “proper way” to walk by balancing a book on their heads. Meanwhile in Africa, people, who were at the time thought to be sub-class citizens, were walking the “proper way” all along, carrying wood, water jugs, matoke and all sorts of other interesting things on their heads. It is a skill I have yet to master.

If you like singing, you need not get excited about karyoke in Uganda. I was invited to karaoke a while back and responded with enthusiasm and even showed my coworkers a video clip of me singing off key. When I finally arrived at karaoke a couple of days later, it was a lip-synch show at the night club with the worst lip-synching I have ever seen – their costumes were awful (one should not wear Union Jack socks without shoes when wearing a sexy dress) and most of the time they didn’t even know the words. Yet Ugandans love it!

I have been sick three times so far – I had a very upset stomach because I took my malaria pill without food, a sore throat from the pollution and a flu/cold – none of the tropical upsets one would expect in the first four weeks in Africa, especially considering what happened to me in Mexico.