Carl's Big Adventure

This weekend I moved into my house. They are still doing some work on it such as installing screen doors and security lighting, but otherwise its great! I was able to get a nice fridge locally so we didn't need to go to Kampala. I will be installing solar panels soon to help with the electricity outages. My internet connection should be installed this week (I hope!)

The weirdest thing for me is dealing with having someone around to look after the house and compound. Though anyone who has ever seen my apartment knows I should have had someone to help clean a long time ago.

I'm slowly getting out and meeting the neighbors. I have learned that my house is right in the middle of an Internally Displaced Persons Camp and is theoretically a protected area. Most of my neighbors had to leave their villages when the insurgancy hit the area a few years ago. They took with them their animals which is why I have cows and pigs living in the yards by me. Everyone has been extremely friendly and when I go for a walk lots of people have come up and welcomed me to the neighborhood.

The first time I left my house I got about 10 feet before I had about 40 kids around me. They are slowly getting used to me, I like to hang out on the front porch so I think I am becomming less of an oddity since they see me all the time now.

one of my new friends:

Today we went to Mbale the nearest sizable town (about an hour away) to figure out the money situation. There is a Standard Chartered bank there. I was able to use my Wells Fargo ATM card but not my citibank ATM, apparently there is no MasterCard here only Visa. Wells Fargo also limits how much you can take out each day. When I asked about setting up an account they wanted 1) my passport, 2) 3 passport photos 3) my address and lease agreement for the house 4) all immigration paperwork. No wonder no one has bank accounts here! I will have to see if I can get the daily limit upped for my wells fargo accound so I don't have travel once a week for cash.

We had a tasty lunch at Wash & Wills. I had the curry chicken and chips. I'm still surprised that the food is not very spicy here, there doesn't seem to be a big market for chiles.