Let there be light! (9/1)

Katie and I were so excited to have nothing planned for Saturday!  We were completely exhausted from our traveling and then the non-stop activity since arriving in Uganda, that we were ready to relax a bit.  Well, we did have one thing on our agenda and that was laundry.  Doreen taught us how to do our laundry.  Basically the clothes starts in a soapy basin and are scrubbed in that one, then they move to another soapy basin and are scrubbed again, then they are moved to a water basin where you start to work the soap out, and one final basin where all the soap is removed.  Then we hang out to dry.  The process was long, but Katie and I decided it was a little relaxing, and fun when the three of us do it together.  It was however, a little uncomfortable having someone wash your underwear.  I kept telling Doreen she didn’t have to wash my underwear for me and she laughed and said “Danielle you don’t like me washing your knickers?”  In fact she laughed and laughed throughout the process as Katie and I didn’t quite have the form down yet for scrubbing clothes, and then our form of rinsing the clothes was ringing them out which apparently was also poor technique.  By now (since I am writing this a week later), I have gotten more comfortable with the idea that someone is washing my knickers!

Katie and Doreen doing the laundry, yes, I helped! (This is on our front porch)

After our laundry was hanging out to dry, Katie and I did a yoga DVD that we put in our computer.  We even got Doreen to try it with us!  And once again she was laughing and laughing.  Her laugh is infectious and in seconds all three of us will be howling with laughter. 

Doreen and I doing some yoga! (Also note this is our living room)

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and working on our blogs.  I should also note that I wore my Badger gear today in honor of the Badger’s first game!  We later walked to the market to buy some of the ingredients for guacamole, as we realized this is something we can make here!  I was able to call the cabin Up North and talk to a few people there today as well.  It was nice to talk to everyone and hear how the annual weekend up there was going without me.  Miss you all! 

Making the chapati. Notice the lantern and the soda bottle as a rolling pin.

The other highlight (or not) of our day was that it was our first full day without power here.  After it had been off for a while we kept bugging Doreen asking her when it would come back on.  She told us it would be back on at 7.  Well 7:00 pm rolled around and there was still no power. So we brought out our lanterns and headlamps and cooked dinner.  For dinner we made something new, which is now my favorite Ugandan food, chapatti.  Chapatti is like fried dough/flat bread.  One trick I learned while making it, is that a bottle of soda (preferably a glass bottle) makes for a great rolling pin!  And then the three of us had a "candlelight dinner."  So after giving Doreen a hard time, she said to us “Oh, the power did not come back on at 7, then it will come back on at 8 then.”  This had Katie and I laughing and without confidence in Doreen’s knowledge of electricity.  Well sure enough, at 7:53p.m. the power came back on.  All three of us started clapping, high fiving, and laughing. 

The finished chapati, with rice and pineapple.