kayaking on the Nile

Another three-day weekend, as yesterday was a Kenyan holiday => another fun weekend trip.

On Friday afternoon Andrew, Paul, Jake and I took a One Acre Fund van across the Malaba border to Jinja, Uganda. Ironically the woman who stamped me out of the country was the same one who had asked me for a bribe the previous week (and then sang "Don't break my heart" when I refused). If she recognized me this time she didn't let on.

Among the activities that filled our 60ish hours in Uganda:

• Eating Chinese food at Ling Ling. It wasn't great, but it is Chinese food in Africa, so all things considered it was more than passable.
• Kayaking. Jinja is the headwaters for the Nile, where it sources from Lake Victoria, and while we avoided the rapids it was still a pretty surreal place to be out on a kayak... I also enjoyed our Ugandan guides, who started out calling me "little chicken girl" (I'm sure this is a compliment) but by the end told me I was the best kayaker of the group. All that practice in canoes growing up...?
• Swimming. There was a tidepool (with a relatively strong current) where we swam at least once each day.
• Reading. I finished another book (Beloved by Toni Morrison) and started a new one (Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen).
• Staring at fellow mzungu in disbelief of their existence. Getting increasingly nervous about reverse culture shock...
• Sleeping. Since I've been averaging about 4-5 hours/night (not sure why, but I absolutely cannot sleep in Bungoma) it felt really, really good to catch up.

Finally, Monday afternoon, I came back to Bungoma to sleep in my new bedroom. (!) Mostly as an attempt to deal with my sleep issue, I decided to move into one of the houses up the hill. Since Lukas, my soon-to-be housemate, is currently in the US, I have the whole place to myself. Living in luxury in Bungoma, Kenya... :)

And today, back to work. My fifth-to-the-last week - the remainder of my time all fits on my forward-looking work plan! - and I have a feeling I'll be living these last 35 days in fast-forward.