I heard from Ms. Hien and they are ready for me to come back for my second mission. They are suggesting sometime in October. I will push for early in the month or very late so I can hang with the Sweet Thing while she is between trips (October 14 to 31 or so). She said they were very pleased with the work I did and it has assisted solving their performance issues. When the dust settles I will discuss this as well with Freebalance after we see how this Uganda voyage has gone for them.
It would be a lot of traveling but the ST would be away anyways so I will try to negotiate maybe Mongolia and Lisbon with a 2 week stay in Vietnam before coming back from southeast Asia. Not to mention the need to see Avi after he arrives in Calgary ... the nouveau grandson :).
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
A night to remember
I enjoyed my upgrade in the condo we are staying in. I moved into the room with the better shower :). Today I got back to being a normal person ... 3 meals and off work by 5:30PM. I returned to Java's for breakfast, then lunched on traditional Ugandan food with Ann from work. I had been told the local fare is very bland; I'll say. One gets two plates ... one has an assortment of vegetables, the other a soupy broth with meat of choice, all surrounded by banana leaves. Ann pointed out these were not the sweet banana leaves, rather those from a close relative of the familiar desert variety ... and I quote:
"Most people, except a few who live in urban centers, produce their own food. Most people eat two meals a day: lunch and supper. Breakfast is often a cup of tea or porridge. Meals are prepared by women and girls; men and boys age twelve and above do not sit in the kitchen, which is separate from the main house. Cooking usually is done on an open wood fire. Popular dishes include matoke (a staple made from bananas), millet bread, cassava (tapioca or manioc), sweet potatoes, chicken and beef stews, and freshwater fish. Other foods include white potatoes, yams, corn, cabbage, pumpkin, tomatoes, millet, peas, sorghum, beans, groundnuts (peanuts), goat meat, and milk. Oranges, papayas, lemons, and pineapples also are grown and consumed. The national drink is waragi, a banana gin. Many restaurants in large population centers serve local foods."
With a diet made up of mainly root vegetables and other grains and beans, Ugandans' life is probably summed up by two words ... healthy and regular :). Ann also said the traditional food varies based on the district of the country. There are 80 districts spread across 4 administrative regions. One of the guys I work with lost 3 friends in the terrorist attack on 2 separate rugby clubs last July 11 in which 74 people perished.
Dinner was Chinese at a place close to where I live. The Fang Fang came well recommended and the experience there led to the title of this post. No, it was not the food (which was excellent by the way) nor the length of time between ordering and consuming (close to 40 minutes) ... tada! The "night to remember" is because I managed to eat rice with sweet and sour chicken without spilling ANY FOOD on my shirt; what a concept.
"Most people, except a few who live in urban centers, produce their own food. Most people eat two meals a day: lunch and supper. Breakfast is often a cup of tea or porridge. Meals are prepared by women and girls; men and boys age twelve and above do not sit in the kitchen, which is separate from the main house. Cooking usually is done on an open wood fire. Popular dishes include matoke (a staple made from bananas), millet bread, cassava (tapioca or manioc), sweet potatoes, chicken and beef stews, and freshwater fish. Other foods include white potatoes, yams, corn, cabbage, pumpkin, tomatoes, millet, peas, sorghum, beans, groundnuts (peanuts), goat meat, and milk. Oranges, papayas, lemons, and pineapples also are grown and consumed. The national drink is waragi, a banana gin. Many restaurants in large population centers serve local foods."
With a diet made up of mainly root vegetables and other grains and beans, Ugandans' life is probably summed up by two words ... healthy and regular :). Ann also said the traditional food varies based on the district of the country. There are 80 districts spread across 4 administrative regions. One of the guys I work with lost 3 friends in the terrorist attack on 2 separate rugby clubs last July 11 in which 74 people perished.
Dinner was Chinese at a place close to where I live. The Fang Fang came well recommended and the experience there led to the title of this post. No, it was not the food (which was excellent by the way) nor the length of time between ordering and consuming (close to 40 minutes) ... tada! The "night to remember" is because I managed to eat rice with sweet and sour chicken without spilling ANY FOOD on my shirt; what a concept.
As the dust settles
I am suffering from the fallout of working too much ... you remember that old cliche ... all work and no play -- affects the Oracle DBA. My stay in Uganda is going to be extended since the work at hand cannot be finished up by end of day tomorrow. I will be here probably throughout this week and maybe as late as a week Tuesday.
This will also give me some time to:
This will also give me some time to:
- start eating regularly again
- see some of Kampala
- do something other than work
- buy stuff
Sunday, August 29, 2010
A nice day, considering
Work work work work ... we encountered an insurmountable hurdle early morning and got absolutely nothing accomplished today except a ton of googl'ing this and that. The work continues minyana.
I got out with Ivan for lunch which was one of my bigger tastes of Uganda. Based on the time we have spent at work, those tastes have been short and infrequent. Today from 5 until now has been the first time since Friday I have really had any free time.
We went to a nice restaurant for lunch. As normal, he kept swerving into the right lane to avoid rough road and world-famous potholes. They make Queen Mary road look palatial compared to these. We chatted about his life and he has a masters in information technology and is very well versed on the goings-on in the world outside Africa. They use a lot of medium-sized stone for stair cases and walls in the parts of Kampala I have seen. There is some brick but not much. That reminds me of construction in Vancouver ... apparently on the coast there is no clay and hence a very minimal brick manufacturing industry. Based on their weight, I imagine the shipping costs would be prohibitive, making it impossible for anyone to make any money.
Eating out is not cheap, and I threw $42USD at lunch for 2. I think for what one gets at a restaurant in big-city Uganda, if one included that in the cost comparison, eating out here is cheaper than in Canada by 25-30% maybe more. It rained today and it reminded me of a very light Canadian drizzle that can persist for days in a row here or there. Ivan told me there are no torrential rain storms here as I may have experienced in Addis Abeba.
I got out with Ivan for lunch which was one of my bigger tastes of Uganda. Based on the time we have spent at work, those tastes have been short and infrequent. Today from 5 until now has been the first time since Friday I have really had any free time.
We went to a nice restaurant for lunch. As normal, he kept swerving into the right lane to avoid rough road and world-famous potholes. They make Queen Mary road look palatial compared to these. We chatted about his life and he has a masters in information technology and is very well versed on the goings-on in the world outside Africa. They use a lot of medium-sized stone for stair cases and walls in the parts of Kampala I have seen. There is some brick but not much. That reminds me of construction in Vancouver ... apparently on the coast there is no clay and hence a very minimal brick manufacturing industry. Based on their weight, I imagine the shipping costs would be prohibitive, making it impossible for anyone to make any money.
Eating out is not cheap, and I threw $42USD at lunch for 2. I think for what one gets at a restaurant in big-city Uganda, if one included that in the cost comparison, eating out here is cheaper than in Canada by 25-30% maybe more. It rained today and it reminded me of a very light Canadian drizzle that can persist for days in a row here or there. Ivan told me there are no torrential rain storms here as I may have experienced in Addis Abeba.
Start your engines
Godwin picked me up just after 10. We ended up at the familiar coffee hangout where I got java and a bite to go. The streets are already busy with people scurrying everywhere. There must be other coffee places in Kampala, but we always seem to end up at what must be the most convenient. We ended up at the Freebalance office and it looked for a while that Godwin did not know where we were going. Arben assured me he knew all our spots but maybe not.
He asked one of the security guards for assistance and lo and behold, a quick left turn and we arrived at PSFU. The RAC install continues and we are making headway though there are many many challenged ahead. I eagerly watched US Open tennis on Sports 10 this morning then realized the tournament had not even really started yet. At a commercial break, the marquee flashed US Open 2009 which did not surprise me. Hopefully I will be able to find these games on the same channel all week, if I have any time between RAC-this and RAC-that.
He asked one of the security guards for assistance and lo and behold, a quick left turn and we arrived at PSFU. The RAC install continues and we are making headway though there are many many challenged ahead. I eagerly watched US Open tennis on Sports 10 this morning then realized the tournament had not even really started yet. At a commercial break, the marquee flashed US Open 2009 which did not surprise me. Hopefully I will be able to find these games on the same channel all week, if I have any time between RAC-this and RAC-that.
Never before on shabbat
That was quite a day that Saturday August 28th ... I was up by 8'ish ready to be picked up by the driver for 9. He was a little late. We dropped Sofet at the office and I headed out with Joseph for a bit of shopping. The first bank machine we went to was closed but I managed to score many shillings at the next. I picked up water, some soap, and a few treats for the driver's kids. Then it was off to IPPS (aka the office) for what turned out to be quite an adventure in Oracle land.
This RAC offering has been around for many many years but it's install still is mystifying. It is about 90% if not more prep and so little actual work with Oracle itself. Many of the concepts are quite foreign to me. I am working with a local named Ivan who can weave his way through most of the stuff that confounds me.
Unlike my jaunts into Ethiopia and Vietnam, I have done nothing but work. My little trip to the shopping centre yesterday plus a few additional drives have been my opportunities to see Kampala. Ann from the office suggested my going somewhere to hear some local music tonight but I cannot foresee finding the time. I got home about 9 last night and crashed almost immediately. It's more of the same today. I will gather my thoughts at the end of the day and update my contact in Ottawa.
This RAC offering has been around for many many years but it's install still is mystifying. It is about 90% if not more prep and so little actual work with Oracle itself. Many of the concepts are quite foreign to me. I am working with a local named Ivan who can weave his way through most of the stuff that confounds me.
Unlike my jaunts into Ethiopia and Vietnam, I have done nothing but work. My little trip to the shopping centre yesterday plus a few additional drives have been my opportunities to see Kampala. Ann from the office suggested my going somewhere to hear some local music tonight but I cannot foresee finding the time. I got home about 9 last night and crashed almost immediately. It's more of the same today. I will gather my thoughts at the end of the day and update my contact in Ottawa.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Erev shabbat
My first one in Uganda. We had a very nice lunch at a local posh hotel in the Serena chain (Venus would be so jealous). We entertained the client (i.e., the Government of Uganda) and I met some very nice people. I had a nice chat with a gentlemen who appeared to be my senior (if that is possible) about the Amin years and how unpopular he was and always will be. There were some very challenging years after that regime as well. Things are pretty good here now in comparison.
There is a dinner party at the compound tonight hosted by Arben from Kosovo and I am looking forward to meeting some people. Apparently there will be some habesha food (remember, native Ethiopian) and that sits just fine with me. I was given the Luganda name for "ferenge" but already forgot it. Please stand by and I will get it again ...
There is a dinner party at the compound tonight hosted by Arben from Kosovo and I am looking forward to meeting some people. Apparently there will be some habesha food (remember, native Ethiopian) and that sits just fine with me. I was given the Luganda name for "ferenge" but already forgot it. Please stand by and I will get it again ...
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