one white guy

Work has been busier since my return from Kenya, but I had some great opportunities over the last week for some good old-fashioned fun as well.

Rachel K and Aaron A

First up was a trip to Entebbe last weekend to see my friends Aaron and Eric joining the band for Ugandan pop-rock poster girl Rachel K. In typical Ugandan fashion, the show started two hours late and with acts out-of-order, but we got really into it and had a great time. I’ve heard about Rachel K many a time since arriving last June, so it was cool to see her in action. Apparently, shots of our group ended up on local TV, too, including an interview with Rachel K’s number one fan Julie B. Check under the cut for Rachel’s “Feel Me” music video.

I took Tuesday off to join my friends Jon and Amanda and some of their Chicago pals on a Nile whitewater rafting trek. We used Adrift, and the pick-up, drop-off, lunch-and-drinks-included package couldn’t have been easier. Once on the river, I realized pretty quickly that having, well, zero upper body strength was not going to help, but we did pretty well out there. In the ten or so rapid situations, we only flipped twice and the second was on purpose. There was so much water and we were well prepared, so even when I was dumped out, tossed about, and shot twenty yards away from our raft, I was calm and collected. Definitely an awesome day and definitely a must-do whenever you’re in Uganda.

Shots of our group being extreme!!

Tonight, I’ll head over to Krista’s for game night with some of our Ugandan coworkers. There might not be rock stars or rapids, but we’re a pretty competitive group so things could get interesting. At IJM Uganda, Spoons becomes a full-contact sport. We so excited. We we we so excited. (Yes, Rebecca Black has reached Uganda, too.)

Here’s Rachel K’s video for “Feel Me” which was my first impression of the Ugandan music scene when I arrived last June. She’s a much better singer live, but this gives an idea of what we saw Saturday.