Me and Obama are the Most Popular Americans?

July 5, 2009
can't believe I come home in three weeks I'm conflicted between
excitement and sadness. I'm already trying to figure out how I can get
another job in Africa next summer because this summer truly has been
the best experience I've ever had!

Teaching this week was great I'm working on the future tense with my
high school kids so I had them write essays about what their lives
will be like in 10 years and one guy said he wants to marry an
American girl because they are pretty like Madam Rhea! But the
funniest one was from this boy Sharif who said that he wants to marry
an American and have two children a boy named Barack Obama and a girl
named Madam Rhea! So as it turns out I'm the equivalent American woman
celebrity. Me and Obama are quite popular here in Uganda!

This last week was really fun it was actually the most American week
I've had yet. On Thursday I came to Kampala because I needed some time
off from work and wanted to spend 4th of July with some friends at the
Embassy party. When I got here I finished my shopping which is amazing
I can't wait to give everyone their gifts all the stuff here is so
cool I'm almost tempted to keep it for myself!

The party at the Embassy was really fun! It was so weird to be
surrounded by white people. I met the US Ambassador to Uganda there
which was really cool because I had never really considered a career
in the state department but talking to him made me think that it might
be something I'm interested in. The burgers which I had been dreaming
about all week were disguisting they tasted like ground up poop :( But
the rest of the food was great potato salad watermelon and brownies!!
I was in heaven. After that my friends Shane, Grace, I decided to
check out the weathly side of Kampala. We figured we did our share of
slumming and were entitled to a little of the good life! We went for
drinks at the top of a rotating resturant which was so cool! It was 15
stories high so we could see all across the city and it was literally
the first time that I've felt like I was inside in a month! After that
we walked around the Golf Course Hotel which is where all the
diplomats stay when they come to Kampala the rooms are $188 a night
which is ridiculous by Ugandan standards!

Anyway we found a lounge with actual leather couches and just sat
there for an hour. I had such culture shock it was so weird to be in a
nice hotel haha we actually had trouble deciding if we wanted to
continue to sit on the couches or go to the casino! It was so nice to
see clean and comfortable things it made me so homesick! Also it made
me realize how integrated I must be into this lifestyle if sitting in
like a Hilton lobby almost made me cry tears of joy! After that we
went to the Simba Casino which was soooo cool since I can't even go in
a Casino at home! We just played the slot machines and I actually won
a couple times but the whole experience was just so surreal. I mean I
was in the middle of Uganda in a casino, with a waiter giving me free
drinks and appetizers!