First impressions

It was hard to tell what was going on as I got in well after sundown. Joseph picked me up at the airport. We were late getting out of Kigali for some reason. The announcement made to welcome the new passengers in Rwanda mentioned that the jet was now proceeding to Entebbe then Brussels. Say what? This pilot had just completed an 8 hour flight to Rwanda and was now going to take it to Brussels? Ever heard of crew fatigue? I just finished marveling at that and the purser came back on and announced a crew change would happen in Entebbe.

The streets were close to deserted. Entebbe airport is about 40k from Kampala. They drive on the other side of the street here (or the ONLY side to quote Carl Dudley), and of course stupid ferenge went to the wrong side of the car. The roads were bumpy but paved and very dark. I have been told there is next to no street lights in this country. There was a handful of scooters on the road, naturally nowhere near like Hanoi. There were gas stations everywhere and the prices ranged from 2800 UGX (Uganda shilling) to close to 2950. Today there are 2,250 UGX to the US dollar, so that works out to about $1.29 to the litre, about 35% higher than at home.

The condo I am staying in is nice, and everyone has a private bathroom (George would be jealous). The internet proved to be a challenge at home, but is much stronger in the office. My short list for what I need is just that (short): a bar of soap and some local currency. We are having lunch with some of the government people and then the work commences. There are 2 guys from Kosovo I am living with for now. Sofet is returning home tomorrow. Kosovo is one of this company's installations for their government ERP solution. The electric plug here is odd, similar to what we experienced in Nairobi. I have tried the MagicJack connection from my computer and it works fine. I will speak to my ST this afternoon and even ask her to try calling me at its 613 number.

I had no cell phone service for the short time I was in Rwanda; here I am hooked up to the Zain UG network, obviously a competitor to the more popular MTN provider.