Another great week (Sep.12, 2006)

Dear All,

I guess another update is due. I am glad to say that I am over my cold. I thought it would not last as long since I was having fresh juice everyday day, but the body can be a stubborn object.

I have been doing something I thought I would not do. You know the scooter bikes that have almost run me over many time? They are my favorite mod of transportation now. Our taxis (14 passenger vans) do not know such a thing as customer service (worse than the rest of the country). They call you, will wait for you, and will even back up to where you are if you're a distance, but the moment you enter, you're nothing. Some will even refuse to reach THEIR destination when you're the only passenger remaining. They will ask you to get out wherever they feel like.

Well, it happened to me last week. The taxi stopped about 3/4 of a mile from its destination,which was also mine, and asked me to get out. Well, the conductor wanted all the money. I refused and he asked for 3/4 of the money and still I refused. In the end, I got a little exercise and kept my money.

Oh, a woman almost ran over a friend of mine and I as we were exiting a restaurant compound on Sunday night. When we approached her with the guard to ask what was going on, she asked if we knew who she was and what car she drive. Well, we said we didn't know who she was and that she drove a very old-some-model toyota. She went on to tell us that was her brothers car and asked us again if we knew what car she drove and who she was. We asked her who she was and never got an answer.

I have noticed that people like to parade themselves around Kampala, especially those who think they have it (they don't have to have it, they just have to think it). In a land I always thought was about respect, people tend to disrepect each other alot. If one has a car, then everything has to move out of its way - bikes, men, children, women (pregnant or not), cows - really, anything smaller. They say NYC is fast, try KC (Kampala City).

Oh, I had a meeting at the International Law Institute yesterday and I met the most pleasant people I have met in all of Kampala. I will tell you more about the meeting when I return from Rakai on Thursday. I have to run now.

I hope you're all well.
Love,Agie