Kampala sucks me in

Another relaxing day in Kampala. Yesterday I treated myself to a spa manicure and pedicure for 13 (!) $. Yes, I know, I didn't come to Africa to get a beauty treatment, but it was much needed, believe me!

This morning, like almost every day, I sat in my little sweet cafe around the corner and finally decided on what's next. Yes, as the title suggests, Kampala has started to bind me, and as an absolute commitment-phobe, I have to make my escape quickly. That's why I'm going to Jinja tomorrow (the adventure city of Uganda). I will be working for 'Child Hope Ministries' there, a project mainly focused on supporting street children. I'll provide more information about the project once I'm there.

At noon, I wanted to join a free Kampala-by-foot tour, but I couldn't find the tour guide in all the chaos! Well, I knew that the big 'Owino Market' had to be somewhere around the corner, so I simply started searching. After 15 minutes, I found the market and it was intense. Super crowded, a thousand small entrances, so many people, and me as the only 'Muzungu' (which means white person and everyone shouts it after you, I even thought it was my real name at times).

That would have been a perfect moment for a panic attack, but after 5 minutes, I got used to the hustle and bustle. However, I wasn't in a mood for shopping, there's simply no more space in my backpack and I don't need anything else. Well, I almost bought a DVD copy of the new Tarzan movie for 30 cents, but I'd rather watch the film in good quality and without popcorn-crunching noises.

Then I treated myself to a boda-boda ride back and realized: if you want to worry about something concerning me, it should be about me getting hit by a car or having an accident with the boda-boda. (don't tell my grandma, she'll have a nervous breakdown)

The traffic is crazy and I'm already so adapted that I just walk across the street thinking, 'The motorcycle will slow down, I'll just go ahead'. Plus, the boda-bodas are really dangerous, they often drive like crazy. A guy told me that he has seen two people die in boda-boda accidents in the last two weeks alone. Oh well, why am I telling you this? OF COURSE, I take care of myself and always choose the 'Safe-boda-boda-driver', they even have helmets! 0:-) and it's just so much fun! I'm planning to get a motorcycle license when I come back.

A little inspiration in between:

Had an interesting conversation this morning with two fellow travelers:

We were talking about the insights and changes that traveling brings or how it changes you when you step out of the 'western bubble'. We discussed typical things like gratitude, expectations, habits. One of the things that came up was humility.

What is humility exactly?

Google says: 'The willingness to accept something as a given, not to complain about it, and to consider oneself rather unimportant.'

That sounds pretty Christian to me and I only partially agree with it. In a few situations, one should be able to put oneself aside. Otherwise, of course, it is important to learn to accept things that cannot be changed. But I would never advise anyone to consider themselves as rather unimportant. I'm just not a fan of this victim mentality that is imposed on us through Christianity and I follow more the Buddhist viewpoint. The Buddhists see it more like this: EVERYTHING is interconnected. Everything that exists is connected. Therefore, it is important to treat other people, animals, plants, even objects well. But the same applies to ourselves. We are a part of the whole, if we harm ourselves, we harm the whole. So, everyone should work on a certain flexibility, but a healthy egoism is not wrong! Amen.