Wow. It's been a month...sorry, kids...

This'll be short, but I promise I'll write a solid blog tomorrow.  We took Eve and Roscoe out for fish tonight on Anderita Beach, but a lovely night turned into the biggest debacle EVER...and yes, I used that word to describe it when I was "having words" with the hotel manager.

Went to Anderita Beach Hotel, where you can order a nice big fried (whole) tilapia for approximately nine dollars (Omid informed me that such a fish--local, freshly caught--in Laguna Beach would be between $40-60...1 point for Uganda!).  Food took about an hour and a half to arrive, which is pretty typical of most restaurants in Uganda, and the waitress had me pay right before we got the food.  Now, it's fairly common here for waiters and waitresses, or store clerks, or whatever, to simply show you the amount that you owe on a piece of paper, and that's what our waitress did tonight...so I paid it.

She brought our food, and then an extra grilled fish to the table, at which point we told her we didn't order it--and thus ensued the chaos.  A co-worker came back to the table with her and asked if we would pay for it, as she would be the one to pay for it if we didn't (this is also a very Ugandan thing; waiter messes up an order, they're the ones paying for the food).  Now, we had JUST been having a discussion about how often myself (and other American friends) tend to get jacked over in food joints, where we are either brought the incorrect thing or the server brings out an additional food item claiming that we ordered it, when we really didn't...our friend Stella, a researcher at Makerere University and native Ugandan, said that never happens to her...she was actually rather surprised and angry about it.  (Case in point--went to Central Inn last night for dinner and Jen ordered a chicken curry...about an hour went by, we got our food, and she was served a hawaiian pizza.  What??!!)

SO:  Stella got mad and laid into the servers in Luganda, which was kind of an awesome spectacle to see, and very kind Ashley said she'd pay for the fish.  She went to go get the receipt itemized, and...surprise!!...the waitress had overcharged us by Ugx40,000.  So, we paid for a fish we didn't order, Ashley didn't get a salad she ordered, and I paid an extra fifteen bucks, approximately.  You'd think that the matter would get settled in a reasonable period of time, but no dice...the thing turned into an hour and a half long debacle (see?) in which Anneeth and I got incredibly heated, and I ended up saying "Listen, it's nine thirty, I hurt my back, and all I want to do is go home.  Can I please just have my 40,000?"  (I also said "Listen, we're not tourists, we actually live here in Uganda, work for the government, and need to be at work tomorrow at nine."  Really, Natalie??  You pulled that card?!)

Long story short, after an hour and a half of wrangling with eight different hotel employees and about five different episodes of writing down exactly what we got and showing them the math...the supervisor came up with my money.  :LKSDJF: LKJS:DLFKJ SLDKFJ:LKSDJF:LKJS:DFLKJSDLKFJ:SLKDFJLKSJDF

RAGE.

We boda boda-ed it home, admired the weird-looking moon, and arrived at the flat to the smell of delicious apple/dried cherry/banana fritters that Jen was frying in the kitchen.  And then watched an episode of Trailor Park Boys.  And Ashley gave me a bruise-inducing back massage, because I'm an old lady and hurt my back (slipped on the stairs carrying a box down to the archives yesterday and landed smack on my tailbone).

Alrighty, more tomorrow...I'll likely flood this thing in the next few days with posts to update all y'all on the happenings at UNA.  Work has been INSANELY busy the past few weeks, thus my absence on here.

Love to all of you!

N