Getting settled…

Zalina at the Entebbe airport

We arrived in Kampala Wednesday morning about 2am local time, after a long journey from Grand Rapids through Detroit and Amsterdam and Kigali to the airport in Entebbe.  We made it through customs fairly quickly and picked up 6 of our 7 bags, it turns out the 7th had arrived but was accidentally taken by another passenger (we got it back Thursday morning).  A driver from the US embassy picked us up and brought us to the AirBnB, our home for at least the first three weeks.  Surprisingly, we were not all that tired, so we stayed up a little bit, unpacking and checking out our place, finally getting to sleep sometime after 4am.  

Our living room.

The view from our balcony.

Looking at the traffic on our road from our balcony.

We woke up late Wednesday morning, with only a walk to a local grocery store on the agenda for the day.  It was about 15 minutes away and between the three of us we were able to purchase most necessities and carry them home in our backpacks.  There was a short detour into a small mall to avoid a little bit of rain, but eventually we braved the elements, as the light rain didn’t appear to be letting up.  We made it back in time to do some more unpacking,  Zalina did some beautiful drawings, and we cooked a simple spaghetti dinner, then went to bed a bit earlier.  

Zalina drawing in her room.

Thursday, we were a bit more ambitious, organizing a ride to the nearby Lugogo mall, which has a larger grocery store, bank, and a phone store to buy simple local phones.  We were mostly successful, changing money when we couldn’t open a bank account and buying cheap non-smart phones, much to the chagrin of the MTN salespeople.  We ended up purchasing their last two “button phones.”  We then had a nice sit-down lunch before doing some more grocery shopping, since we would not have to walk home with these purchases.  

"Button" phones

Friday morning, we got up to take Zalina to her new school, Acorns International School, for a placement test to see which grade she would be in (she placed into Middle Years Program 1, which aligns to 6th grade).  Shannon and I took a short walk around the surrounding neighborhood while Zalina took her test, although we hit several dead ends.  After returning, we were able to meet some of the staff at the school and get a tour.  It seems like a great spot for her to spend the year, which will likely start this coming Monday.  

Inside Acorns school.

Shannon and I waiting for Z.

The neighborhood around Acorns.

We came home and have been relaxing and working on our next two tasks, finding transportation and looking at places to live for the duration of our time in Kampala.  We even found our local version of Shipt, Jumia, and placed an order for a few different items, including the smallest bag of ginger (for less than $2) and the local ginger ale. The items were delivered by boda boda (motorcycle) in about 15 minutes!  Uganda has changed much since the last time Shannon was here!  We just ordered a pizza and will likely settle in with a movie tonight, just like a typical Friday night at home on Wealthy Street.  

Our kitchen (and the bag from Jumia).

Stoney ginger ale.

The smallest bag of ginger.