the little things

some days it's the little things that screw up your day.

wake up, no sleep, on doxy again cos im headed to mbale where the mozzies do have malaria and i end up sharing an elevator with a freckly julia roberts in my dreams and then go running with tom hanks... semi awake on skype conference call with the boss when my laptop dies. of course. get on angelica's laptop and the power goes out. typical. wireless is now out of the question so we switch to speaker on angelica's mobile that's about to die and she cant even charge it...because again we have no power. did i mention that? generator anyone? by the time the power comes back on im running late and need to print out surveys. printer of course decides to go on strike, even after i inject new ink into the inkjet with a syringe. yes we're "resourceful" here. screw HP and their cheap ass printers and their bloody expensive ink cartridges. how is it good for the environment every time you need to replace an entire plastic ink cartridge because the contents ran out (after printing, like, 5 pages) and they don't sell refills? so our solution here is to buy ink and literally inject it inside the ink cartridge. either way, this morning the HP gods aren't about to do me any favours and i have to leave with ink stains on my fingertips and no surveys... leaving the compound i see a matatu at the end of the road which somehow miraculously manages to miss the waving MZUNGU (i mean, hello, my skin colour is different!) and drives off without me so i have to leap on a boda. what a complete waste of fuel. smoke billows out from the back of the matatu and hits my face, hot blanket of gunk... on ggaba road i find another matatu which i clamber into (not particularly gracefully i might add). either i've gained lots of weight over the weekend or this matatu is extra small... have to meet one of my least favourite headteachers in town today following the most bizarre directions - "it's by the parliament (which is on parliament avenue) but it's on jinja road". riiiiight, that makes lots of sense. there's a 5 year old kid laying out necklaces on newspaper by my feet next to a stick thin beggar who's sitting in such a way that i can't tell which part of him is a skinny arm, a dislocated leg, or just a fake wooden leg. need to pick up a bank statement but surprise surprise the systems are all down. internet banking? anyone? oh that would require power. forgot about that. i head to another branch to get my bank statement and they tell me to come back in an hour. when i return, their systems are down too. sweeeeeet. walk to the new taxi park - small flimsy plastic mirrors, synthetic backpacks, pens, all for "lukumi bitano". if i were to ask in English how much, you can be sure the price would inflate way past 1,500 shillings. too tired to try out this social experiment and get upset over it. i wonder if other mzungus get all defensive like i do at mzungu pricing? taxi to busega roundabaout where there is fresh fly covered fish on display. had fish for lunch. ew. walk off the main road into busega and buy a bag of sugarcane for 200 shillings. i spit my way across the muddy puddles. the kids come out of nowhere - where do they appear from? a darkened doorway, a big tree, a patch of grass - "MZUNGU MZUNGU MZUNGU!!!" what smiles they have. then something amazing happens. she's small, she owns shoes (which means her parents can afford school) and she smiles up at me, the towering mzungu giant spitting sugarcane in angry spurts. reaches out her tiny grimy hand and hands me a grey piece of....something. i see her teeth marks on it, it has the consistency of gum and it's a dirty grey laundry colour. "Sweet!" she giggles at me, popping the remainder into her mouth. i smile and stick my share into my mouth. it tastes like rubbery sugar with a touch of cardboard to boot. it tastes delicious.

some days it's the little things that make your day.