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someone must have heard my recent mention of missing mexican food. today at the post office we got our christmas present from my mom. two bags of corn chips and seasoning packets for fajitas, tacos, and guacamole. thanks mom! postmarked december 7. the box looked like it had been traveling for 5 months. though there is a 2/01/08 written in marker on the side. i hope it hasn’t been in the back room since jan 2nd or feb 1st, only to show up less than three weeks before we get home!

another great trip up to murchison falls national park. plenty of photos and comments over at philsgood photo a day. highlights included lions, birds, breakdowns and a new place to stay.

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written on sunday, may 4

i’ve been in arua for 5 days and have another 6 days to go before i go home to kampala. most of my time has been work, work, work but i was feeling pretty jealous that phil was spending a weekend in murchison with friends - and seeing 9 lion cubs, 9! - that i decided i needed my own adventure. so, i went to congo. yep, the country famous as the “heart of darkness.” the border’s maybe a 30 minute drive from arua, about 12 miles. we (me and my driver, atiku) arrived at 4:30, i crossed the border just before 5, and at 5:30 i was back in uganda. short trip, but still. i went to congo. [Read more →]

paige was jealous (and rightly so) that i got to see the lions, so i’m going to pick her up in pakwach and we’re going to spend a couple days in murchison. planning on camping out on the delta. i got a nifty little stove today at the gas station. it’s a four-liter propane tank with a screw-in primus burner and a heavy bracket that sits on top where you set your pot. all together, it’s a little bigger than a basketball. orange, too. just gotta remember to bring matches.

so the andersonbowen.comBLOG has more visitors total and a higher percentage of visitors who stick around and look at the site than my photo blog, philsgood photo a day. not sure why. especially since i update the photo site (a lot) more often. and it’s owned by google. the only conclusion i can draw is that my photos suck. anyway, remember check out PPAD!

:) phil

as this weekend’s trip to murchison falls shows, there are definitely some benefits to living here in uganda. one afternoon i can be working in the garden, wondering if maybe i should go to a movie in the evening. 15 hours later i’m getting in a car for a spur-of-the-moment weekend getaway that for most people would be the trip of a lifetime. yup, it’s rough. but there are plenty of good reasons to be here.

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paige is in arua for ten days heading a training session for her malaria project. i’m holding down the fort with the cats, and on thursday (international labour day, public holiday) tom came over to help me in the garden. he’s currently a deputy director for save the children africa but is also a big-time landscape gardener. so he was giving me pruning tips. he invited me to tag along on a weekend trip to murchison falls national park. so the following morning we were off.

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my favorite DJs crystal and irish were talking yesterday about the wikipedia entry for ugandan english. paige wrote some about ugandan english in this epic post. most of the wiki is pretty good, though a lot is missing. there’s only a couple editors and not many edits. but it reminded me of my favorite ugandan english which i get to hear any time i am walking around town. it comes from special hire taxi drivers or bodaboda drivers asking me if i want a ride. “yes boss. you come. we go.”

ok, time to do some housecleaning so i can start with the updates again. to summarize: paige’s parents visited and we went all over the place. paige is growing in a big way. she’s been busy at work. i’ve been busy on the computer. we are here for only five more weeks.

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paige’s parents are here. we have a busy two weeks ahead starting 6:30 tomorrow am. ssembabule > lake mburo national park > bushara island on lake bunyonyi > bwindi impenetrable forest (gorillas!) > ishasha in queen elizabeth national park > masaka > home. a day to recover, then driving to arua to deliver their new land cruiser and flying back from arua to kampala. lotsa country, lotsa driving, lotsa animals.

we all went to IHK to watch paige get an ultrasound today. photo over at PPAD. all is well, and we continue to like all the ugandan health professionals we’ve been with. revised age is 19 weeks 6 days with a due date of 10 august.

next week stories of SW uganda and photos of everything.