Masaka: Wonderful Ugandans Can Learn to Rock

Masaka: Wonderful Ugandans Can Learn to Rock.
Jan 27
I found out that when Berlin was walled in the early 1960s, the east part of the city was considered Eastern Germany of course, but the west, which I had always believed was part of West Germany, was actually something entirely different.  The west part of the city was sort of a special entity that was very unique in the land with no real allegiance to either country.  The citizens of West Germany all had to do military training in their country once they finished secondary school, but there was no such training expected from those living in the western side of Berlin.  Since Berlin was free range in Eastern Germany for West Germans, the city constantly swelled with a new crop of 20-somethings who moved there in order to avoid mandatory military service until their time for recruitment had expired.  Wow, Berlin must have been a fun place to be through the 1960s, 70s and 80s with such a heavy infiltration of youth…

My friend from Berlin told me that he works as a nurse in a psychiatric ward in Berlin.  He is in his 50s and I asked him what the biggest challenge is for him with the work he does.  He said, “Amphetamines are hell.  People come in full of amphetamines and they are aggressive.  ‘Let’s go rob something!’  It is much different than it was when heroin was rampant.  The junkies got their fix and then they sort of drifted off.  We hardly see heroin anymore, but heroin was quiet times for us…”

Internet in Uganda is among the worst I have encountered.  The times when I complained about it in South America were not real complaints compared to what I have to deal with here.  I know, I know, first world problems…but it is pretty freaking hard to run a daily blog on the internet in this country.  It was bad in Tanzania as well, but I had bought three different SIM cards for my phone and one of them would always work so that I could keep up.  I only have one SIM in Uganda, the one everyone said is the best, and if it is the best, I do not even want to try the second best.  I nearly had a “poor little white boy” melt down temper tantrum last night at my Masaka hotel, battling with the internet for two hours.  Today, I finally got the internet to work, but in exchange the electricity did not work from 08:00 until 15:00.  When I found a place at the hotel where they had electricity because they were running a power plant, the reception was so bad for my phone that my internet barely worked in there.  So, if you are reading this, it is specifically written to you with love, labor and intensive stress…

Because I have not really had internet for the past four days, I had to put up all of those photos and blogs today with shitty internet.  It took me all of the morning and half of the afternoon to get caught up.

“This is how to headbang and rock out!”

I was rocking out to the Velvet Revolver Contraband album on repeat as I had the song “Fall to Pieces” in my head when I woke up and I ended up falling in love with the song “Do it for the Kids.” So many incredible rockstars have died in the past few weeks that the world already forgot about Scott Weiland’s death.  The music was moving me a lot in my chair and staff was enjoying me in my own world.  Just when I moved on to Them Crooked Vultures “No One Loves Me (And Neither Do I)”, one of the local girls who was working wanted to know what I was listening to.  I told her, “Rock and Roll!,” unplugged my headphones and played the music through my laptop speakers.  She asked me to show her how to dance to it, so I showed her how to head-bang.  She joined in much to the pleasure of her co-workers.  It was great fun…

I like this photo because it looks like I am laughing so hard I am blowing her hair over.

I was in Masaka and when I approached a motorcycle taxi-man on the street about a ride back to my hotel he said, “Uh uh.  I am too tired…”  It was a beautiful moment.  It is the first time I have seen anyone in Africa turn down the opportunity to make money.  I am really beginning to love Uganda.  It is starting to make me wish I had not spent so much time in Tanzania.  The people here are much sweeter and I have yet to be hassled anywhere by anyone for anything in four days or so since I arrived in the country.  These are wonderful people.  Earlier when I first set off, a little girl, who was about three years old, was carrying a big stick that took her two hands to carry.  She was wearing a little pink dress and she smiled at me so I smiled and waved at her.  She took the stick and set it on the ground, because it was too heavy for her to hold with one hand, so that she could wave back to me.  That was nearly the cutest thing I have seen anyone do in my life.

And you can eat for nothing here.  I bought some samosas from a young boy, who was walking around in Masaka selling them from a clear bucket.  I bought four of them.  They cost me $0.05 each.  I spent $0.20 on a late lunch… Incredible…

Uganda is 15 kingdoms of with 15 kings that is ruled by one king of kings, who is in Kampala.  I think this is going to be a fascinating country…