Touring churches can really make a person hungry. Unless, of course, your stomach has been been doing flip-flops all day from either ingesting pathogens or medication improperly consumed. Going to the restaurant made me nauseous all over again. Hassan was still with us and another Rotarian, Peace, met us at the restaurant where there was a lovely buffet. My stomach thought otherwise. Everyone got up and enjoyed the food. I sat there sipping on "water with gas" (seltzer water) with added pieces of fresh ginger. It helped settle my stomach a little. Ironically, I was the one who had to pay for everyone's meal since I was the only one with shillings! The waiter came over with the check and John looked over at me and said that a 10% tip was more than enough. I awkwardly counted out the shillings and then counted out the 10%. Peace saw what I was doing and laughed at me telling me that I should not leave such a generous tip. He teased me by saying that if I did so, I would cause the waiter to quit his job at having such a windfall.
I have always been generous when it comes to tipping, my base tip is always 20%. I cleaned rooms at a hotel one summer when I was a teenager, I only ever received one tip. As a mother I serve my family every day! Take my word, it is a thankless job... Both of my sisters have waited tables, one of them still does part-time. I know how thankless service jobs can be and I do not think that those types of jobs are less valuable just because they don't require higher education to perform them. This attitude of devaluing and marginalizing people because they serve saddens me greatly, but it is an attitude that plagues every culture.
Our bill was finally squared away and everyone on my team said, "Thanks, Mom!"
Mary and I made a brief trip to the ladies' room. I left the bathroom before Mary and called to her that I was leaving and would see her outside. When I got outside, the rain had stopped. Everyone was standing around talking, and Peace had already taken his leave.
I said, "Sure.", and thought that maybe he wanted to say something to me privately. We walked toward the gate of the parking lot, took a left and proceeded down the sidewalk when John spoke again, "I thought it was ridiculous to get back into the van when the museum we are going to is right next door." I agreed and when I looked the rest of our group was right behind us.
We arrived at the Uganda National Museum and stood outside taking a head count when we realized we were missing a person. I had forgotten about Mary once I had left the restaurant! I felt SO bad!!! John rushed back over to find poor Mary looking around wondering where the heck everybody was. As I said before, a little jet lag goes a long way....
We successfully took a second head count and I went in to pay everyone's admission and sign the guest log. As my team filed passed they all said, "Thanks, Mom!" The people behind the desk chuckled, especially considering I am the youngest on our team.
As we meandered through the museum, Hassan, who is a real estate agent, was constantly checking his phone for calls and messages. I felt really bad. I know what a sacrifice it is to take a day off when you are in sales, because my husband Brett is in sales. It made me appreciate the sacrifices that each Rotarian made in order for each day to run smoothly and to make our stay comfortable.
On our way out there were a couple of women sitting next to a very large drum, an amadinda (xylophone), and a tube fiddle. She demonstrated each of the instruments and invited onlookers to try each of the instruments. Mary, John, and Curt jumped right in. I am somewhat lacking in the rhythm department so I hung back with Ken and Marty and enjoyed the show.
Next in the line-up was a trip to the music department at Makerere University. It was a beautiful campus. Quite a number of students there are children of diplomats in Uganda. 
We made our way up to the music department where we were introduced to Dr. Benon Kigozi. He was a lovely gentleman and we sat and talked about our journey to Uganda and what we hoped to accomplish. Mary shared that she also was a professor of music. Then both Dr. Kigozi and Mary agreed to perform a piece together. Simply amazing!
We took our leave and headed to the Abba Hotel where we would be spending the next two nights. We had about 1 1/2 hours to rest before going down to eat dinner and then heading out for a concert. I got to my room and collapsed on my bed, but sleep wouldn't come. I laid there the whole time with my eyes closed, and being very frustrated.
When I went downstairs for dinner at 6pm, everyone was waiting for me. Hassan was still there. He had waited for us while we rested. Again, we were joined by Peace, and now Rotarian Chrales. We all ordered dinner. My stomach had settled considerably since the morning, but I still didn't have much of an appetite, so I ordered soup. We waited for our meal, and waited, and waited...THREE HOURS after we put our order in the food finally came. It was ridiculous!!! We were supposed to be at a concert at 9pm!
At this point we were all a little flustered. Here it was, 11pm and we were finally leaving for the concert. I was totally drained and my stomach was still unsettled. All I wanted to do was go to bed! We got Peace to agree that we would only stay for half an hour because we had to get up early the next morning.
The band we went to see was called Afrigo. It has been around for over 20 years. I wish I could remember more details besides that, but I was so tired. Everywhere we went I felt like a small child being told "this is what we're doing now". I didn't seem to have the mental capacity to keep track of what was coming next.
The dancing started. Ken, in spite if his knees, pulled me over to the dance floor and we rocked it! I love that guy! The whole time we were in Uganda I kept an eye on him. I would just come alongside him, especially when he was sitting down trying to cope with the pain, and hand him a bottle of water and ask him how he was doing. He suffered so much with all the walking we did, but he never complained. He did his best to keep up with us.
Next song it was John who pulled me to the dance floor. I don't even know where the energy came from, i had to did deep down inside for it, that's for sure. Dancing with John was just like dancing with my dad. They share the same name and are from the same generation. John was an encouragement to me in so many ways. He always spoke his mind, and he always treated everyone with respect. He was our African expert, having grown up in South Africa and traveled to many African nations, and he is an AWESOME drummer!!! His sense of rhythm made up for our entire group.
I was surprised when Hassan joined us on the dance floor. All day long he was quiet and a little reserved. I had to laugh because John and I were hot and sweaty and Hassan danced with his jacket on.
We returned to our table and I checked the time. It was midnight and i knew any moment i would return to being a pumpkin. I became anxious about the time, we had stayed for the half hour we agreed to and all I wanted to do was go back to the hotel and sleep. To make sure Peace understood me clearly, i typed a message on my phone reminding him of our agreement. When he read it he acknowledged that he understood but didn't do anything. Normally, I would have been more passive and just gone along with staying later, but I couldn't take it and was willing to risk being rude. I whispered very loudly that as a mother of nine I deserved some rest. He was a little more sympathetic after that comment and called the driver over to take us back to the hotel. The team quickly made apologies to our hosts and left. Mary was the only one who wanted to stay. I almost felt bad, but not really.
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