Giving Kampala another chance

I had a really nice weekend. And since it was my last weekend here, that means that it makes it a little harder to leave!

On Friday afternoon, we had an office Christmas party at a rec center a little ways out of town. Saturday I slept in, did my final shopping runs with my housemate, and then met my friend Ruth for dinner at this really good Thai restaurant. We proceeded from there to grab a drink at what may be the only Irish Pub in Uganda, Bubbles O'Leary's. Some people call it Bubbles. I prefer O'Leary's myself though. They had real Irish music playing, and you could even get Baileys, which we did, of course. We left O'Leary's and continued our bar crawl to "Just Kicking." a pretty lively mostly ex-pat hang out.

Around 11, my housemate called to give me the coordinates of a party that we had to attend. It was just around the corner at a house belonging to a project director of another project here. Every year he apparently has a big blow out Christmas party, complete with hundreds of people, a DJ, and lots of beer. Ruth and I arrived to a huge and energetic crowd of mostly Ugandans and we danced until about 1:30am. Since this was way more social activity than I even have at home, and MUCH more social than I have been in Uganda, we called it a night and headed home.

Sunday, a former colleague invited me to spend the day with her and her 3 year old son at Munyonyo, which is something of a resort outside of town. Another big ex-pat hang out, but it was a lovely day and they had a good sized pool, so it was worth it. The three year old loves to swim and they have pony riding too, which was very very exciting!

Sunday night I attended an even that was definitely the highlight of the weekend. I went with a consultant we've worked with to see the Ndere Dance Troupe. This group of dancers, singers, and musicians is unbelievable. They put on a regular show of about three or four hours every Sunday night in front on a packed crowd. I don't think I have ever seen any performance with so much energy! And it took all of my own energy to sit still during the performance.

It was a really good weekend to end the trip on. I wasn't sick, I didn't hang out at a shopping mall all weekend, and I was super social. Can't beat that!

I start my journey home tonight, to arrive in DC tomorrow afternoon. I'm not looking forward to the process of getting home, but I'm eager to catch up with friends and family and start getting into the holiday spirit. I'll also find out (hopefully) today if I am coming back in January, so you may see a new round of stories in a matter of weeks.

Tune in next time...