Through my eyes

Things I see on a daily basis here:

- a little fresh black paper on your meal?

- Bikes carrying more things than you could have ever though possible

- funny menu items (Tuna fish “Open your own can” Sandwich; at the bottom of one menu “We are in every order” – awesome, sounds appetizing)

- chickens, cows and goats roaming the streets
- near head on collisions (all the time…absolutely horrifying)
- African time (everything ten times slower than in Canada, expect for when behind the wheel)
- Lots of shoe vendors on the side of the street (not really sure why shoes but they’re everywhere!)
- Men are all very well dressed (even when they come out of mudhuts…they have nice crisp white dress shirts and dress pants). They look “smart” – as they say here (which just means well dressed/put together)
- Women who work incredibly hard (hard physical labour all the time), and long long days
- Swollen bellies
- Beautiful smiles
- People much friendlier and happier to a certain extent than many people you meet in Canada (despite having much tougher lives in many ways)
- Massive portions of food (which I am sadly getting quite accustomed to)
- Off-roading when there are traffic jams
- Knee-deep potholes
- Driving skills that would put even the best Mario cart player to shame
- Boda drivers harassing me (read Vicki’s blog for more on the daily conversations we have with boda drivers)
- Most clothes stores sell second hand clothes from America and Canada (still has tags from Value Village – makes you wonder where clothes that you have donated within Canada end up)
- Little kids – yelling “Mzungu, how are you?” – if you answer “I’m fine, how are you” or anything else they just repeat “mzungu, how are you?” for the most part.

- People asking for money or asking how they can come and live in Canada
- Boda drivers that shut off their engines going over even the slightest bit of a hill to save petrol
- When it rains, everything stops.
- Many friends (mukwano!)
- Green, green tress and red, red, earth