1. Zebra Crossings. We live down the street from one... but don't get excited. This doesn't mean that you're going to see a striped horse. It actually means that you're about to hit a gnarly speed bump. They are either 4 skinny bumps that stretch the length of the road, or about 4 randomly placed bumps that you'll hit no matter what.... It's like Mario Kart... except for your tailbone doesn't feel as comfortable as it does on the couch.
2. Just because it's English doesn't mean that I'm going to understand it...
"That's okay"= Yes. As in, "Yes, I'd love to come." "Yes, I'd like some." Etc... figured this one out when we almost left someone behind... woops.
"You're welcome"= "Welcome to our country."
"No, please" "You are welcome, please. "Yes please." Tacking please onto most any phrase is appropriate in just about every situation... also confusing for a while.
No conjunctions.... none at all.
3. Glass bottles
The glass bottles at the stores are more expensive than the plastic ones. However, when you return your glass bottle to the stand/store/etc. you get a refund. Ugandans are HUGE on recycling glass bottles, because they sterilize them, fill them, and resell them with the contents. All in one scratched up bottle...
Glass bottles are also broken into many pieces and glued to the top of brick compound fences to prevent intruders from making their way over the top. As if the crazy rottweilers they set free in their yards are not incentive enough (not kidding).
4. Washing your clothes until they wear out
One of the ladies that works at the property we live at offers to clean our clothes for a small price. I've always been impressed at her ability, as well as everybody else's to get the red Ugandan dirt out of clothing and to always be in pressed, professional clothing. But I've figured out how they do it. They scrub your clothes sometimes until they're worn out... There's already a hole in my sheets... nice.
5. Tipping at restaurants is not necessary
6. Butchers hang the meat carcasses out in the open forever… I’ll spare you a picture, because I’d much rather forget when I come home…
7. This one is for mom...
Ugandans like to incorporate Christian phrases into the names of their businesses. They also like to spell the word 'salon' with two o's, so guess what I saw today? The one and only...
"Trust Jesus Saloon"
I've also seen "God's Will Snack Centre" "Mercy Primary School" and this phrase painted on the side of a guy's potato cart:
"God hates sin, but God loves sinners."
8. My name is quite literally foreign to many Ugandans
Quite often when people ask my name, and I tell them "Megan," I often get one of three things:
1- A look of panic... They have no clue how to say it. And they mumble out something that sounds like Maki...
2- A look of confusion.
3- A look of repulsion. When we visited a school the other day, this guy literally freaked out when he heard my name. Haha, that was rich.
It's okay though... I struggle with many of the names that are not Western.
9. Carbs... and tropical fruit.
In just about every meal we get one or more of these things:
chapati- a thick Ugandan flatbread.
rice
potatoes in some form: chips (fries), boiled, mashed... whatever.
matoke- banana mash... absolutely flavorless and SUPER dense.
melon or tropical fruit like jack fruit (slimy bananas), passion fruit juice (yum).
10. Power Outages
In an effort to conserve power, the Ugandan government allows its citizens to load 'credits' of power into their electrical meters. When it runs out, your last resort is generators until the power loads again. There are also periodic power outages in the city due to one of three things:
-GIGANTOR birds landing on the power lines
-Overloads of the system
-Men climbing the power lines to siphon transformer fluid. (Supposedly it heals severe burns and is sold on the black market... what?)
Sorry for the lack of pictures, but more next time kids!
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