Right on Time

I was talking to a lady the other day that lives near my house.  She just had a baby last week so I went over to see the little girl.  She was so cute and tiny and I got to love on her for a few minutes before she pooped on me. Ha.  Well, I was talking to the lady and I asked her if the baby had been late or early.  She stared at me like I was an idiot and then I went blabbing on about the due date and whether she came before it or after it.  Even though this woman had her baby in the hospital I highly doubt she had pre-natal visits but this thought only came to me after our conversation.  So she looked at me and said, “She was born right on time of course.” And then she dropped it.  I loved her answer.  Of course her baby was born right on time.  What baby isn’t born right on time?  How can something as amazing as the birth of a baby happen early or late?  In developed countries we manage to put a time-line to the day on everything, including creating new little people and bringing them into this world.  But doesn’t everything just happen right on time?

One thing that I think is very funny about Ugandans (and actually it is something that I have picked up on a lot lately) is that they always apologize.  No matter if it is their fault or not they apologize.  They say “sorry” when you trip and fall, when you spill stuff on yourself, when you drop something on the ground (wow, I sound clumsy).  It was hard to get used to at first, but now I constantly find myself apologizing for things that have nothing to do with me and were definitely no fault of mine.  Sorry… but I guess it’s a good thing. 

Ugandans love to bargain.  Whenever you purchase something here, it is a requirement that you bargain. It doesn’t matter what it is, you must look at them, scoff and then say, “Ssebo, salako.”  Which means, “Sir, reduce”.  It’s necessary for you to act like you know what the price is supposed to be and quickly undercut the actual price by 50%.  If you don’t do this they will not only take personal offense to it, but they will rip you off with a huge smile on their face.  A few days ago some of my friends came to visit and wanted to get curtains made.  We went to the tailor to ask how much curtains would cost to get custom made.  The guy looks at me with a straight face and says 150,000 shillings.  I burst out laughing.  Let me explain to you what 150,000 shillings can buy you in this country. A radio, 10 dresses, a full set of pots and pans, food for a week, probably a goat, etc.  So I said, “Ssebo, salako.” And then I told him I would give him 4,000.  He looked at me for a minute, considered and said, “Give me 10,000”.  I would like to mention that this is more than 1/10^th of what he was originally going to charge me, but I still knew it was a rip-off so I said 5,000.  He went down to 8,000.  I said 6,000 was my final price and he agreed.  Crazy, but true.  The curtains were made beautifully for 3 American dollars.  

I went to the clothes market on Friday to get a new shirt or two since I start teaching soon.  Most of the clothes come donated from the States and then the Ugandans sell it at the market.  I found this really cute shirt that would probably cost 20 bucks in the States, but it was used.  I asked the girl how much it cost and she said 4,000 shillings (2$).  I knew that in reality she should only be charging me 500 shillings so I got aggravated and told her I would pay her 1,000 (50 cents).  She disagreed, probably because I am a mzungu and then went down to 3,000 but wouldn’t budge from this price.  I have gotten so used to bargaining in Ugandan money that I was livid that she thought she could overcharge me by 2,000 (1$) and wouldn’t go down.  So I stomped away without the shirt.  Looking back I probably should have just purchased the shirt, but I have gotten accustomed to thinking like a Ugandan, so I think instead I will just congratulate myself on being thrifty and not getting taking advantage of.

Anyways, I love and miss you all.  Hope life is treating you well.  Oh ya, I got a new P.O. Box that is closer to where I live so hopefully the mail will get here a bit faster.  It is as follows:

Amber Commer, PCV

P.O. Box 894

Masaka, Uganda