Archive for January, 2008
Karaoke night
January 25th, 2008. Published under Fun Stuff. No Comments.
This weekend I was in Kampala and we went to a “Battle of the Bands” for the International High School. Eric and his cousin John were opening to warm up the crowd before the high school kids took the stage, so we decided to go. I was with Karis, Kristen, Julia and Megan, Julia’s replacement. I honestly didn’t want to go but it was Julia’s last night to hang out so I decided to join them. It was…. unique. I had never been to a battle of the bands before so I thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the guys in Eric’s band could have played with the Eagles he was so good, and looked like an Eagle, but you couldn’t say the same thing for the high school kids. We only made it through the first act, but it was an act to forget. The kids had wicked British accents, more facial hair than I ever had in high school and sounded overall horrible to say the least. But they proved to be very funny. The first song was “Scar Tissue” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the singer didn’t quite know all the words so he repeated the one verse he did know about 6 times with a line or two from other verses thrown in between. It was kind of sad but they were having fun, letting us know they knew they sucked. After a few “original” songs where I didn’t understand a single word sung, the lights went out, either accidentally or someone was trying to give them a hint. As the lights went out they were preparing for another song. The lead singer was emphatically screaming One… Two… Three… GO! to begin yet another song and the guitarist says in his thick accent, “I can’t see my guitar!” It was hilarious. These guys were so bad it was funny yet my head hurt enough after their act to make me leave.
After that we went to dinner then decided to try our luck with some free karaoke. I’ve never partaken in the art of karaoke until then, and I realized I’ve been missing out. We got to the newly opened bowling alley/arcade/karaoke bar/club all in one on the top of the mzungu mall in Kampala. This place was legit, it had hundreds of songs to choose from, most from the likes of Whitney Houston or Celine Dion but there were some normal songs thrown in there. For the first half hour we were serenaded by all the Ugandans to sweet love songs in which the karaoke-er sounded better than the original song. I came to learn that most people perfect one or two songs and sing them every week. It was honestly amazing how good these guys sang. We, of course, sang along in the crowd and when we got the opportunity to karaoke we decided to spice up the night. I was having a tough time choosing between “Down Under” by Men at Work and “Africa” by Toto. I made a game time decision and decided to try out “Hey Ya” by Outkast and made a fool of myself but had a great time doing it. We succeeded in livening up the crown though; we were entertained later with some John Denver by a Ugandan named Washington and some Cranberries by another lady. The John Denver impersonator even put his thumbs in his belt loop and had a cowboy-ish hat to go with his act. I never thought I’d karaoke in Uganda, just another first.
To end the night Eric and John brought down the house with the wedding song from the movie Old School. I can’t remember the name but it’s the one that goes. “Turn around, every now and then I get a little bit…” It was amazing. Both Eric and John have been in bands so they actually had stage presence. The entire place was singing along though so we left on a high note, promising to come back the next time I’m in Kampala on a Saturday.
One bummer though is that Julia, Eric and John have all left. Julia went home and Eric and John are going on a 3-month backpacking trip around Africa. I’ll spend most of my time in Gulu from here on out so I wouldn’t see them a ton, but it was fun having friends to go out to dinner and hang out with. Plus we all became really close. For those of us living here for only a short time, friends are the only family we’ve got so it’s been really good having them around. I have a good group of friends in Gulu too, I hang out with IC guys almost every day but I’ve been closer with the Kampala group and traveled with them.
This weekend is a major basketball tournament here in Gulu. Teams from all over the country are coming to play and I’m playing on the Gulu team. I’m pumped, I haven’t played an actual game for a looong time so this will be fun. The guys in Gulu are so excited. They took the hoops down to fix them and repainted the lines on the court. They’re trying to make the courts here look “legit” and less like the movie “The Air Up There.”
Zanzibar
January 1st, 2008. Published under Fun Stuff, New Countries. No Comments.
I just got back from a Christmas vacation to the island paradise of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania with 5 other American friends who work in East Africa. Christmas on the beach, without family, was a little different but the place was amazing. Uganda has no beach, seafood or ocean for me to enjoy so I soaked up as much of all three while I was in Zanzibar. I literally ate seafood at every meal besides breakfast. Seafood pasta was a favorite and it may have been consumed 10 times in 11 days.
The town on Zanzibar’s main island is Stonetown, a historic city with narrow alleys, mosques and huge Arab houses with beautiful architecture. We enjoyed several days literally getting lost around Stonetown and enjoying the sights and amazing food (there was one small Italian place that had real gelato and we ate there at least once a day).
Apart from Stonetown we went to the East and North coasts and enjoyed the peace of the beach. The East is one big sandbar, so at low tide we walked literally a mile out into the water without getting deeper than waste deep water. It was amazing and the pictures we took look fake. Off the coast of the north is an island called Mnemba which has world class diving and snorkeling. The island itself is one big resort where the rich and famous rent the entire island for a few thousand bucks a night, so the only way to enjoy the snorkeling is to go with a boat and stay offshore.
Our first day in the north we decided to go snorkel and joined a boat going out that way. It was a little choppy when we left and the swell got bigger and bigger as we went. Side note, our boat was a little wooden sail boat that sat really low to the water and was designed for like 15 people. We had about 26 on board (and about 5 lifejackets) with a tiny engine in the back that looked like it was for a little tin fishing boat. Also, as soon as we started the guys working the boat started shoveling water out of the back with small buckets. As we got in I joked about us being on a “three hour tour” and started singing the Giligan’s Island song. About an hour into the ride we started to hit huge sets of waves. Our tiny boat was going up a wave and then crashing down the backside only to hit the next wave, with water pouring in over the sides. It seriously felt like a scene from a movie like the Perfect Storm or something. I completely enjoyed the whole process, I took the ride like a roller coaster. I’d sit in anticipation as we went up a wave and then whhhhheeewww down the back as water splashed everyone. Unfortunately I was literally the only one enjoying the experience. The guys working the boat had started working double time to get the water out of the boat and had even cut some passenger’s water bottles in two to shovel more water out. After hitting two huge waves in a row and having a ton of water come in the boat, the Italians (there were about 16 on the boat) started screaming bloody murder towards the pilot and forced him to turn around. I objected and tried to convince some that we were ok, I mean I was having a great time. But it was me and maybe one or two others against twenty. Looking back, it is probably a good thing that we turned around. We were taking in water faster than the guys could get it out and if anything had happened, there is no Coast Guard to come and save us. It would have been grab flippers and a mask and swim for it. We were pretty far out too, the island was visible but not close at all. But I totally enjoyed the ride, even if I was the only one to have fun. The only downside to the ride was that at some point one of my rainbow sandals and my nalgene bottle decided to swim away. We ended up making it to Mnemba the next day by driving across the island to the closest launching beach to Mbemba. The snorkeling was phenomenal and definitely worth the lost sandal and nalgene bottle (Only I can’t find shoes my size here so I have to wait a while to wear sandals again).
The last few days of the trip was spent doing absolutely nothing. We’d get up in the morning and have breakfast at our places beachside restaurant, lay on the beach till lunch, then lay on the beach until sunset and go to dinner. It was very relaxing and a great escape from the craziness of Uganda. My goal for the trip was to relax and keep my mind away from all things associated with a land title. The rest is over and was great, but now I’m back to reality and ready to keep pursuing this land title. All in all, I completely endorse Zanzibar to anyone thinking of traveling there. Its pretty far from the US but is a European and African hot spot, so if you are ever in this part of the world, go!
