Articles

I've finally converted my first articles from the Air Uganda inflight magazine into electronic documents. Here's the first one:

Edison Mugalu - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Edison Mugalu

If this isn't working for you, I think you can also read it here.

Surgery

Last Tuesday, Beatrice went into the vet’s for surgery to fix a hernia. I was at a job interview for the initial consultation, but J asked what might have caused it. The vet said it could have been from falling out of a tree or a fight with another animal or from a previous surgery. She found the scars on both cats from when our vet in Uganda had them fixed and found that they were off-center, then conceded it was perhaps likely that the hernia, also off-center, had been caused by this operation. I liked to think that even though Dr. P. was reticent, he was at least somewhat competent.

Bea is recovering nicely and doesn’t seem bothered by the staples in her stomach. Staples look way less comfortable than stitches, but I’ve never been stapled, so what do I know?

The Achilles Project

The other night J and I had dinner at our friend’s new restaurant in South Boston. The restaurant is called Persephone and it has a retail space in front with some super hip clothes for sale; altogether it’s known as the Achilles Project. The food was outstanding—and we ate a lot of it, so we should know—but mostly we sat there with our friend totally impressed that he had created this really beautiful place, that he had a vision and he saw it out. If you’re passing through Boston, you should check it out.

Hey, No Bugs

I can't even remember the last bug I saw since I've been back. A couple of days ago, I was standing outside the front door of my parent's house with my mother and she started to complain of mosquitoes. My first thought was, "Mosquitoes? I see one mosquito if I look really hard, I guess." My second thought was, "Who cares? It's not like they can give me malaria."

Culture Shock

I’ve gotten myself into a bit of a pickle. My view is no longer from Kololo. It is now from Boston, where J and I will be living for the foreseeable future. I planned on ending this blog once we left Uganda, but I have dedicated myself to the Africa Reading Challenge and I still have four more books to read and review. So, for the time being, I will share my inevitable culture shock with you while I power through these books. My posts will likely be more intermittent; I suppose it all depends on well I adjust to this new life.

Cats Update

Pictures, as promised.

How our cats traveled:




Bea meets Maya:

Home

Second impressions:

1. Soft fluffy clothes out of the dryer!
2. Soft fluffy toilet paper!
3. I ate oysters last night and I don't even like oysters.

Cat Update

Because you're all dying to know, I'm sure.

We had absolutely no problem getting the cats home. We had all the necessary papers (in quadruplicate) and the officials at Entebbe were amazing (seriously) and in Amsterdam the KLM people let us know the cats were safely on the plane for the next leg and when we got to the States, Customs was a breeze. The cats were less than pleased with the situation, but they're settling in alright now. I think they're going to like their new clumping litter.

I have pictures but have yet to find my camera cord in our massive amounts of luggage. Stay tuned.

(Okay, so the first quarter of the Celtics game is already over, but only because I find everything so distracting and I'm moving kind of slowly because the coffee is wearing off and I am stupid tired. I have to say, after a 14-month break, commercials are not so bad.)

Home

First impressions:

1. Very efficient water pressure. Showering is a true pleasure.
2. Tap water! Drinkable tap water! Brushing my teeth also a pretty amazing experience.
3. Internet: I might just throw up another post right after this. Because I can. And I'll be finished before the first quarter of the Celtics game ends. The Celtics game, which I'm watching on TV. On a television that is flat-screened and 40-inches and high definition.
4. Life is good.

Paper Beads

I've been buying paper beads to bring home as gifts and I thought I had heard they were made out of garbage, so I did a little research. Not garbage so much as recycled paper. (Hey, they do recycle something here and for a good cause beyond saving the planet.) Online all the
stories seem to be about the Bead for Life organization, but it feels like everyone is selling paper beads these days.