Out and About (or oot and aboot as Lauren seems to think I say it...)

So last Friday (as in June 8) Naveen, Devin and I went out to MishMash for dinner and ended up staying until midnight.  MishMash is a mzungu place (aka white foreigner) and Naveen and I don’t actually really like the vibe - kind of snobby (as in they have a farmer’s market on Sundays  - but who in the world needs a farmer’s market when fresh fruit and veggies are sold on the side of the street!).  But they have salad and ice that you can eat without getting sick - so that’s pretty nice.  They also have a giant screen where they were playing the games from Euro Cup - so Devin enjoyed that. Our new friend Oliver and his friend Roger met up with us there.  Oliver is from Brazil and making a documentary on micro-revolutions around the world.  He’s hilarious and always good for a fun night!

Saturday morning we (as in Naveen, Devin, Sarah, Lauren and I) left early to head to Hairy Lemon Island for the night - a place that came highly recommended by last year’s intern Jon.  After a two hour drive we were taken across the Nile to the island by a wooden long boat.  The island was a nice retreat - good food and peaceful.  Everyone just played in the water, sat around, read books and napped.  (pictures to follow) We stayed all day on Sunday and didn’t arrive back in Kampala until after 6 o’clock.

Monday morning was Naveen and I’s first interview with a professor at Makerere University in Kampala for our report on political pluralism.  Unfortunately I somehow managed to either not record or delete the recording following the interview - so I was in somewhat of a foul mood for the rest of the day.  It’s a good thing Naveen was taking notes as I asked the questions.  On Tuesday morning I went with Lauren to interview another professor and this time I managed to record it and everything! So things went much more smoothly.  Then I got back to the office to find out Naveen had booked an interview for Wednesday morning with Justice Kanyeihama.  I had been trying to read his book “Constitutional and Political History of Uganda” over the weekend and hadn’t come close to finishing it - so guess what I did for the rest of the day…  Interesting guy though  - he has been friends with current President since the 1960’s, lived in exile in England during Obote and got his LLB in London and now also has this LLM, PHD and LLD.  Following the fall of Obote he has been the Attorney General twice and was chairperson of the Legal and Drafting Committee for the 1995 Constitution.  Then he became a Supreme Court judge.  Interestingly, he strongly supported the NRM up until 2000 but now has been one of the most outspoken dissidents.  The interview was highly amusing as he had some interesting anecdotes - but mostly he just liked talking about himself.  It was our longest interview at one and a half hours - and then he sat there and chatted to us about other things he has done for a half hour after the interview was finished!

In food news this week, we found a Mexican restaurant! We went for dinner with Sarah on Tuesday and it was the best Mexican you can probably find in Uganda (albeit possibly the only Mexican…).  We also found a really good Indian restaurant, which we took the research team to for lunch today.  I’m so sick of rice, but at least Indian food isn’t as bland.

This weekend we are going rafting on the Nile and staying overnight in Jinja - so that should be exciting!