Updates, updates!

Hi again! I know its been a while, I either a) have not had internet access or b) have not been allowed to access blogger from China..but here I am now! So here are two entries I wrote when I could, the tenses might be a little confusing because they were written at different times..but, I think you can deal with it.

So, without further ado, update part 1: Saying goodbye to Africa

Well,

I have finished up my work at KARUDEC, and I do think I was very successful with what I did. I knew before I came that I would not be able to fix every problem they had, but where I could, I have helped a great deal, and where I could not offer immediate solutions, I have acted as a scout, reporting back to others who are working to help the situations here. Straight facts, photos, and my personal opinions on the status of their computers, network, power grid, hydro facility, and primary school are either in the process or have already been sent out. I am pleased with the state in which I am leaving things here. Besides technical issues, I think Mercy now has much more confidence and ability to continue what we have started, as well as respect.

The computers that have had XP reinstalled are working so well! And OpenOffice, which was not well received at first, has been accepted and established as the alternative to MS Office.

On Wednesday I took a trip to the hydro facility where Kagando generates its electricity. It was a very small set up- a dam in small river (a big stream) that fed water to a single turbine/generator. Getting to the dam required a catwalk across the 0.5 m diameter penstock pipe, a short distance, but still some height, above some rocks and water, which was a little frightening. There was some other climbing and scrambling about on slippery surfaces which I felt equally uncomfortable with, but, I survived. The problems were not as bad as I thought- power goes out pretty much daily, during the day and night for periods of 30-60 minutes usually. The outtages have 3 main causes- 1) leaves and dirt clogging the intake for the penstock, 2) animals/people causing faults in the porrly insulated 4 km cable that brings the power from the power house to KARUDEC, and 3) people trying to draw too much power. The first two causes require somebody going to find and fix the problem, whether it be going to the dam and cleaning out the debris with a rake or finding the fault and repairing the cable. When there is too much demand, the breaker needs to be reset. Their equipment is very old, but works, and they are planning on building a second dam higher up in the hills. I think they should build a second turbine, instead of just replacing the first one, and synchronizing the generators so that they use the flowing water twice. I gave them my suggestion...we'll see what happens.

All that being said, I will also say that I am ready to leave Uganda. Realizing that I have not even reached the half-way mark of my trip, I am very excited for what is to come- CHINA! But, before I get to that...

The last few days had a few ups and downs in them- but it all ended well on my final day when I went on a safari very early in the morning and saw, among other animals and an African sunrise, lions. LIONS! This was probably the highlight of my trip so far. We were driving through the park and saw other cars grouped together- we knew they must be watching lions. We joined them just in time to see the backs and ears of 8 or 9 lions creeping one by one through the tall grass to an island of bushes in the field. They were far away and so the pictures I took do not show the lions in very good detail...we waited, however, for maybe an hour? until all the other jeeps moved on, and then our driver took us RIGHT up to where they were! We were just meters away from 4 lions, yawning and stretching and just hanging out. We could see that they had just eaten and though they noticed us they did not seem too concerned. They were beautiful. I got some great photos, one of which is probably my favorite photo Ive ever taken, one shot of them all looking right at me! It was awesome. We spent maybe 30-45 seconds right there before driving off to see other what other animals we could find and have lunch at a nice resort. Before that moment, everyone had been feeling somewhat stressed and disheartened by their experiences so far at the hospital, but afterwards we were all in such high spirits. The rest of the day was great, we came back and Angela and I baked 4 small chocolate cakes and a banana bread to share with everyone after dinner as part of my going away/early birthday party. I took care of my packing, had my final dinner (and delicious desserts) with everyone, exchanged contact informations, and went to bed, ready to get up at 5 am the next day to begin the long drive back to Kampala, near the airport.

Patrick and Mercy insisted on driving me the entire way themselves, which was amazing and a huge stress relief for me. Although taking the bus was an experience, well...it as an experience I already had, and it turned out Mercy and Patrick had some business they could take care of in Kampala anyway. So at 5 am, an hour or two before sunrise, we took off. I got to see my second African sunrise. About 8 hours later, we finally made it to the hotel where I would be spending the night before catching my flight the next day. The drive took much longer than it should have because of an unnecessarily huge strip of construction on the roads, so that was a little frustrating, but finally we made it! And after having a cold drink and some lunch (I had not had anything to eat yet) I was feeling pretty good, knowing that what was probably the hardest part of this bit of travelling was over. The rest should be easy. I relaxed the rest of the day, met up with Max again for an early dinner, took my first warm shower in 3 weeks (the last one was when I passed through Dubai, where it was 91 degrees and I could not get a COLD shower!), and had a very good night of sleep.

So now, I say good-bye to Africa, hello China!

I am so excited to see my friend Icy in Beijing, who has told me she has a ton of awesome things planned for me. I am so excited for the food. And all the other resources that will be so readily available, and at prices still so manageable. I am super excited to take my time and find my own way to Shanghai, and to see Benny and Bennett, and the expo! of which I have heard great things lately.

Update part 2: China: The Beginning

Wowzers.

My first hours in China were intense... pretty much no one I encountered spoke any English, but some how I managed to get to my hotel and check in.

Icy came and met me, and then we went out to dinner with her mother. The food was delicious, I took a few pictures. This was a restaurant that her family went to very often and the staff knew them...so, when I found a tiny hair in one of the pancakes used for eating the Peking Duck, everyone was very embarressed and upset. As a result, we got some free stuff, and a special delicacy for desert- red bean square things and something else... Also, it was my birthday!! So we got a cake! An unnecessarily large one...but it was good anyway. We ordered way too much food to begin with, but I think they just wanted to show me a good time :) Success.

Her mother didnt speak any English, so Icy was translating, but I used 'xie-xie' (shyeh-shyeh, thank you) often. Ah, so that was a good welcome and good meal, and then I went to sleep.

The hotel I was in was very nice, although the bed was a bit firm. Nevertheless, I slept, yes I did. Woke up early and had breakfast in the hotel, cabbage and other unidentifyable vegetables..it didnt really hit the spot for me but.. I ate what I could. At 9, Icy came and met me, and we took a cab to the Forbidden City. Her mother had a friend who worked there, so he met us at a back entrance, and we got in for free!! And then we walked around through many parts that were closed off to all other visitors! before he led us to the main entrace. Awesome. We proceeded through the city, seeing all the Gardens of various Harmonies and Mental Righteousness and this and that, it was all beautiful. We were smart to go so early, we beat the heat (it reached above 90 that day) and all the crowds of people which started flooding in around 10:30ish. I was able to get a lot of awesome pictures without any other people in them, and just walk around casually and sit and relax in many of the gardens. We saw all the temples and halls where the emperor would get dressed for this or that ceremony, where all his concubines lived and did whatever it was they did all day...everyone who lived in the Forbidden City was forbidden to ever leave the city...they never ever got to see the country they ruled. The highlight for me was the Nine Dragon Wall, a huge tiled wall built to provide privacy for the emperor and also ward off evil spirits. It was really magnificent.

We spent a good three hours wandering around in there and had some lunch before exiting through the main gate and checking out Tianmen Square, also awesome. Then we strolled down the Wangfujing street, the 5th Avenue of Beijing, also cool.

By that time it was really hot out and also getting late in the afternoon, so we took the subway back to our area. The hotel Icy booked for me was just a block away from her familys apartment, so that was very convenient (she got me a discount at the hotel too- 50% off!) Icy realllly hooked me up, and continued to do so!

We took short naps and then met up to go to dinner. Her friend Alex was going to join us. We walked to the restaurant she picked, and outside happened to run into a family friend of hers. The man was very nice and shook my hand. It turned out that he was a VIP at this restaurant, and told us to order whatever we want! Awesome! So, again, we ordered way too much food. The menus were huge, and every dish had a picture next to it. We ordered a lot of stuff just so I could try it I think. Anyway most of it was all delicious.

From there, Icy, Alex and I took a cab to the Hutong, the bar street, and met up with two more of Icys friends. We strolled down the street a bit before finding a cool looking bar and sitting down. The bar was called Salud, and I didnt realize it at the time, but it was a bar Benny had told me to go to since he knew the owners. Coincidence. All the bars had big projector screens for watching the soccer games. We had a Tsingtao beer, which I liked, and were enjoying the atmosphere for a while. Then, like 20 or 30 foreigners walked in..I thought they were maybe Italian at first...they were all darker skin and darker hair..some of them had hair that was curiously curly however.. I kept an eye and ear on them, trying to figure out where they were from, and then! I heard some hebrew! So I went over and introduced myself and said some things in hebrew, whcih was really exciting for me! Of course they were very pleased haha and I chatted with one of the guys for a bit, it was a good experience, and definitely got me wanting to pick up learning hebrew again. We reviewed the words I knew and he taught me some more. They didnt stay too long, I think they were planning on hitting up a lot of bars and having a big night out, but he gave me their contact info so maybe I will contact them and go around with them next week....Icy will be leaving early next week, so I will be on my own a bit, and it would be cool to have some people to go places with. Anyway, we'll see... Ah, before they left, it seemed they had ordered more drinks than they wanted, like, 10 shots of different kinds of rum..they gave them all to us! We didnt realy want to drink very much but we sampled, they were yummy. Very sweet.

Aaanyway, we left around 11:30, and unfortunately I didnt get too much sleep that night..but got up early again today to meet Icy and see what else we could see before heading out of town for the weekend. We went to Deitan Park, the smallest of 4 beautiful parks in Beijing that represent the earth, heaven, the sun and the moon. We strolled around and saw people practicing different kind of dances, chi gong, chinese yo-yo things, badminton, table tennis, etc. It was very nice and relaxing (I was pretty tired) and it was really nice to sit in the shade. We explored a bit more before getting lunch at a very famous restaurant, again, delicious, and then I came back to the hotel to pack up my things.

At 2, Icy and her father came and picked me up in his company car (with his company car driver) and we drove about one hour north to a suburb where they have a villa. A beautiful villa. A freaking beautiful villa. They come every weekend almost in the summer. It is in a development, but still. It was very new, finished just last year, and decorated beautifully by her mother. There are mountains nearby which I could see from their backyard, which had a little gazebo and a fish pond. Her mom came later and made a delicious dinner. I showed them my pictures from Africa and then Icy and I took a little walk around the neighborhood. The moon was nearly full, and strikingly red. It was pretty incredible.

Super exhausted, I am writing this now around 10:30, about to go to bed. Tomorrow morning I am leaving at 8 to go see the Great Wall. I am going by myself becasue Icy has some other things to take care of, I dont mind because she has been an incredible host so far. I really could use a day to sleep in a little though and catch up on some rest..I will probly get to do that Monday morning, after staying at what should be a cool and hip hostel in a more touristy part of Beijing. Well see how that goes.

Ok, excited for tomorrow! Goodnight!

[Just to clarify since the tenses might seem off, this last bit all happened Friday, the 25th, and the Forbidden City was on Thursday. Saturday I went to the Great Wall. I left Uganda on Tuesday, the 22nd, and Arrived in Beijing Wednesday afternoon, June 23rd.]

More Pictures soon! And more updates, so much has happened, I'm almost a week behind here!