17th week

HMMM what to talk about? for those that know me well you probably know and  can guess what i am going to talk about this week!!!!!! HTTR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats right baby, The Washington Redskins BEAT and i  mean crushed the Dallas Cowbitches on their home field, let me tell you that makes my week, month, and year. For those of you Cowgirl fans all i gotta say is RGIII baby. I do have one complaint though, i have been watching the Redskins for 23 years and for the past 22 years we fellow skins fans have been through alot of coaches, QB's and since the 91 super bowl our misery has been unimaginable...basically we have SUCKED. In 22 years, since the last time we reached the superbowl we have not had a QB to lead us, the one year i decide to leave the country we get our best yet QB, probably ever in Skins history. Yea i know what you are thinking, theisman, sammy, sonny, these guys were great QB's but none of them have the talent that our new star has, for the past 20 years we have gone through many many QB's, just to list a few, sexy rexy, cant do it Mcnabb, lefty brunell, banks, george, brad, Mr Gus,OMG  i cant believe what list of QBs we have had. But now we have RGIII, i have been waiting for this moment for 20 years and the first time i decide to leave the country RGIII is a redskin. and to make things even more twisted, we beat up on dallas in dallas and i had to watch the rerun on the NFL network, man i was screaming in my house and people the people around were like wtf is going on. They do not understand the implications these games have on us, as redskins fan we have endured so many year wondering what in the world is our wonderful organization is thinking about while selecting a QB or for that fact a lot of other questionable calls they have made regarding draft picks. Even i was a little skeptical when i heard we had gave up almost all our picks this year and next year. But man o man this is guy is sooooooooo worth it (as long as he does not get injured). Now i have not watched the skins games as closely as i usually did in the past, nevertheless this guy is as good as they come, so poised in the pocket, doesnt make mistakes, and my god does he throw the ball well, a natural born leader. This is what we have been waiting for, i mean come on now lets face it, the team that won the super bowl in 91, didnt really need a star QB, for those of you who remember we had the best offensive line in the league, or even in NFL history, one of the best defenses ever to step on the field, and 3 wide receivers that would catch anything thrown their way. Does Art Monk, Gary Clark, and Ricky Sanders ring a bell? how bout Darrel Green, Dexter Manley, Charles Mann? That squad was stacked with allstars and hall of famers, plus dont forget the best coach ever Mr Joe Gibbs. any ways enough talk of the redskins. HTTR!!!!!!

I have 3 more weeks left in Uganda and a lot of work ahead, im counting the days when im back state side, driving my car and listening to music, if you didnt know my car here is a 99 honda CRV with no stereo system, freaking sucks. No music, no nothing while driving can get alittle boring at times, i catch my self talking to my self sometimes. I just hope everything goes according to plan and there are no major bumps along the way. till next week

16th Week

4 more weeks to go :) wow i cant believe its already been 4 months since i have been here in Uganda Africa.  Last weekend i went to a place about 40 miles outside of Kampala called bujagali falls, its kind of like great falls but this is the place where the Mighty Nile River starts so for me its an incredible chance to actually see it in person. Im kind of sad that i have not had the chance to see all of Uganda and all the wonderful places there are to see. Specially the wild animals that are here, i just have not had the time, most of the animals are in the western part of Uganda which is extremely far, now when i say far, for us 300 miles is nothing right? i mean i can drive 300 miles in 5 hours tops in the US, but here omg 300 miles would take a day. The road conditions are very bad, there are no highways, just one lane roads we have in our neighborhoods. Imagine all the trucks on 495 on a one lane road, but these trucks are not as fast as our trucks are, they are so packed with goods making them extremely  heavy, they can not go up and down hills so traffic builds up and it takes 16 hours to drive 300 miles. What im trying to get at is a short trip for us back at home here would be very long. Then when you do get to the area its a jungle and you would have to walk for hours or even days before reaching your destination. For example, when i went to see mount Elgon, which used to be an active volcano that erupted along time ago but that eruption has creating a caldera, i wanted to go all the way to the top to see it but there are no roads, and the local people told me its 3 day hike for an experience hiker and 7 days for normal people. Can you imagine 7 days in the jungles of Uganda with wolves, sphinx, and bobcats and so many other animal around? I dont mind the hike or the camping part but i would need my supplies, like a water proof tent due to the fact that it rains everyday, cooking material, food, water, etc. ofcourse the most important item is a weapon, but in uganda everything is prohibited, cant own a gun of any kind, no knifes, i mean nothing, so you can imagine what i was thinking? I was like hell no im not going into the jungle with out supplies and a gun. Then there is the fact of paying the park authorities, it cost $250 just for the permit to enter the national parks EACH. That is crazy, if i wanted to see everything it would cost me something like $2000 just in permits, not including the trips and fees of guides, transport, fuel, and all sorts of of other costs. But the next time i come back im going to atleast go and see the silver back gorillas, i have heard it is a life changing experience.

So far this trip to Uganda has been mostly about business, i mean there are occasional weekends where i go somewhere but its mostly work, we start work at 8 am  and usually i get home around 530 or 6, then im doing US work, so my days are pretty much work, except when i work out, i try to work out everyday, helps me pass the time faster at home, but i dont have weights here so i am kind of limited to what i can do. Even though i dont have the equipment i still manage to do my P90X almost everyday. I still have not consumed any kind of meat or chicken for nearly 15 weeks, who would of thought i could manage this long with out meat or chicken? I have fish once in a while and can tuna twice a week but my diet is strickly beans, salad, and vegetables, i do eat alot of fruit, and let me tell you the fruit here is amazing, i dont know how im gonna eat our fruit when i get back, one thing i have to admit is my sister is right about eating only organic foods, i think it make a huge difference. We always made fun of her about organic this and organic that, now i am actually seeing the difference, so i owe her a huge apology for all the crap i gave her.  Recently i have found this nut the locals call G nut, when it is roasted is very tasty, i dont know if my standard have gone down or what, but this G nut thing is pretty good, tastes exactly like peanuts.

Even though its been a nice trip and my host edmund has taken care of me big time, i miss home and i miss my family and friends. I am counting the days until i reach home. I was telling someone that the first thing im gonna do when i get back, on the way home i want to stop by PHO 75 and have a large bowl of #12 with extra noodles and white onions and onions in oil :) then hopefully a nice home cooked meal from my mom for dinner. I have put some pictures of the falls on my facebook, so if anyone wants to see its amazing. till next time.

15th Week

Let me start out this blog by saying i cant wait to get back home, dont get me wrong this place is great weather is a little on the warm side, but i keep on looking at the weather back in the states, and thinking to my self damn last year it was not cold at all but this year it seems like its gonna be cold and wet one :). There is one problem though, when i was packing for uganda i did not pack any warm clothing. I arrive in DC December 20th and i believe it is going to be cold, whom ever is picking me up better bring one of my warm jackets. im so sick of the same freaking weather and rain everyday. over and over and over again nothing changes, its mild at night and warm in the day and rains almost everyday, so freaking predictable. I want that cold brisk weather, when at night its like 20 deg, open the window alittle bit and sleep sooooo good. and omg the freaking moquitoes  that come out at night, i have to sleep under two yes i said TWO nets so i dont get bitten at night. Its like they are attracted to me or something. I just wanna sleep in a cold room with no mosquitoes, no net with no freaking noise. I dont remember if i had mentioned that thursday  through sunday nights the clubs are allowed to play music as loud as they want, and to make things worst, there is a church right around the corner from my house, 630 am sharp every sunday the preacher or what ever is on the loud speaker talking or praying or preaching. 630 in the morning? Jesus will be there at 8 or 9 and he can hear you, you dont need to be on the loud speaker yelling. As i said before i cant wait to get back to my home and have peace and quit. I remember sitting out side sometimes at my parents house thinking to my self its too freaking quit here, believe me i dont think that anymore. God bless our neighborhood.

I only have 4 more weeks left here in Uganda, things are starting to get a little crazy. coffee orders coming in left and right, nile coffee is doing pretty well. I just sold a ton of coffee to south africa and im bringing back 2 tons with me so our factory is on over load right now trying to meet the local demand and the export demand, im a little worried about how things will run once i leave here, while im here everyone is behaving and pretty much listening to our instructions, but when i leave i cant watch them, these people are lazy and will do what ever it takes to not do anything, and now i dont trust most, couple of days ago i had 200,000 ugandan shillings stolen from my room, its like 90 dollars which to us is not much but 200k is alot of money here, average salary here is 500k. Edmund had some electricians working around his house and i guess they had to go to my room, even though the money was not in plain view (i had it under some clothing) they must of found it and took it. Edmund was furious, so now i have to lock my room even though i dont keep anymore money there but my passport is hidden in that room so im worried about losing my most precious item.

I have completely moved into my new office, and its nice still needs alot of work but for uganda its nice. everything happens here on a pace so slow that its starting to get to me, for example we had to build a partition dividing the office so customers can not just walk right up to me, they first talk to my secretary. building that partition or divider would of taken me and my brother 2 hours tops to make, its been almost 2 weeks and its still not done. the are no tools, no electric saws, or drills everything is done by hand and a screw driver which the carpenter did not have so i had to provide him with mine. so you can imagine how frustrating it is for me, since i know how to do pretty much all this stuff and im watching this poor guy trying to make this thing, struggling to level it, paint it, secure it. I am so glad im around people back in the states like my uncle and my brother who are very talented when it comes to carpentry and regular house hold stuff.

I know i have been bitching but had to get somethings off my chest, now my office is right next to UCDA and every morning i go there to have coffee, and my god the cappuccino's here are fantastic. I have never been a fan of cappuccino's till now. specially when the coffee is freshly roasted, and i make it my self. mmm mmm mmm so freaking good, i hope i can make the same when we open up our own coffee shop. Whom ever is reading this be ready because in the next year or so, we will have opened up a coffee shop somewhere in the DMV area, but first we are opening one in brunswick GA. anyways thats all for this week.  all is good and i hope all my friends and family are good too. oh i forgot to mention that i found an iranian restaurant, with authentic iranian food, i had sabzi polo mahi friday night, and the week before i had loobia polo...here are some pictures of some places i have visited

14th week

Sometimes your having a pretty good week then something terrible happens and makes everything else disappear. My weekend was not bad, i actually went out for once, for some drinks and let me tell you Kampala is very cosmopolitan at night time, we went to a couple of places, the first place was not bad, it was called Casablanca, we ate had a few drinks and smoked some hookah, which is getting very popular i guess here too. then we ended up across the street at a place called bubbles, man let me tell you if DC had the same clubs it would be awsome, this place had it all, nice bar indoor and outdoor, dance floor, and to my surprise alot of white people, mostly european ofcourse, its funny because all the african girls are looking for a white guy and all the african men are looking for white girls, which is hilarious to me. All in all it was not a bad week or weekend. Last week we have been shifting to our brand new office and i have been pretty busy setting up the place and organizing the office for the arrival of my staff. Then i took a Boda Boda (for those of you who do not know what that is, it a motorcycle taxi) which i have been told that it is very dangerous, but for me its actually pretty fun, anyways, on the way back i saw the most horrific accident and the most unhuman act i have ever witnessed in my life. We are not really used to death, i mean we see it on TV or some one in our family passes away due to old age, but im sure most people have not witnessed what i just saw. For those of you who are sensitive to this please stop reading now.

:(((((((((( I saw a woman get hit by car right in front of me close to my office and i was on the back of the boda boda, OMG this poor woman (god bless her soul) hit the ground and i think she was dead on impact, i wanted to get off and instructed my driver to stop by the time he had stopped a couple of people had gathered around and she was bleeding pretty badly from her head, her side of her face was completely smashed in, couple of men grabbed her by her legs and arms threw her on the side and traffic went by as if nothing had happened. I was and still am in complete shock, for those that know me know that im not really a sentimental person, but i just stood there while tears where coming down my face, frozen stiff didnt know what to do, my driver grabbed me and said this kind of thing happens all the time on busy streets and traffic, if she was still alive, she would lay there for hours before an ambulance or help would arrive. I dont even know how or what to think its just amazing how human life is not worth anything and how they can just throw her body to the side so traffic can keep moving. With all the problems we have in the states, one thing for sure is, nothing like that would ever happen, i remember about 16 years ago, a group of us were driving down to UVA to see one of our DJ friends, and there were alot of us, if im not mistaking 8 or 9 cars full of people and about 7 guys on motorcycles, i was with pouria in his old honda accord and we were on route 29 going bout 80 or 85 mph, and i saw in my miror one of the guys on a motorcycle, flying, he must have been doing 130 150, because he came up so fast, as soon as he reached next to our car his bike slipped from under him, right in front of our car, i saw his body hit the ground and bounce about a good 200 to 300 feet while hitting his head on the rails on the side of the road. We stopped and i was the first person to reach him, i thought he was dead, everyone had stopped and thank god the car behind us that had stopped was a doctor, he jumped out and felt his pulse and said run for help, this was back in the early 90's we didnt have cell phone. I started running, if anyone knows fauquier county you know that there is nothing around for miles and miles, i must have of ran for 10 or 15 miles. Finally got to a house and called 911, within 7 minutes ambulances were coming from all directions. They took him to the hospital, and from there they airlifted him to fairfax county hospital, i think. but the point is our systems works, we might not like the police but fuck, they do their job and try and protect us, the rules and regulations are there in place to protect us, not like here, there is no law and order, people pretty much do as they please, and no one is there to stop them. I just wanted to share that story to compare our structure and the structure here in africa. Please do not misinterpret my intentions here, this place is beautiful and full of life, but in one moment the perception of something could change drastically. I think this experience has changed me in a way, life is precious and we do not know how precious it is until it is gone. I believe we take a lot of things for granted back at home, i know because i was a perfect example. The luxury of turning on your faucet and being able to drink the water, taking hot showers anytime, buying what ever we want where ever we want, getting sick and i mean something serious, for example if i get malaria here (which i have 3 times) i go to the local clinic and in 10 minutes they diagnose me with malaria, but they do not have the equipment or facilities to treat a major injury like broken arm, or anything of the sort. There are no ambulances, or fire trucks to help anyone out. Any ways, its been a weird week. i dont have any pictures, and even if i did im sure nobody  would want to see a dead woman laying in the street, then her body thrown to the side like garbage. sad week

13th Week

This week has actually been kind of slow, im waiting on my new office to be finished, we were suppose to move in Oct 15th, it is now 29th of oct. This is how slow things are here, people say ill be there in 30 minutes and show up an hour later, just doesnt make any sense, time to some people is not important but to others its very important. We had very long weekend, to my surprise the muslim population here has had a dramatic effect on the government, to those that know, friday was Eid Qurban, and for those that dont know this is the day god commanded Ibrahim to sacrifice his young first born son as an act of submission to gods command and his sons acceptance to being sacrificed, before god intervened and provided ibrahim with a ram to sacrifice instead, so friday everything was closed, from government to schools and even some shopping centers. any ways i had to mention the reason for the holiday.

I have been following the weather on the east coast, wow you guys are in trouble..just kidding i dont think its going to be that bad, its only a category one hurricane. but i hope all is going to be ok with family and friends. keep safe and stay indoors and keep me informed please (for those of you who actually read my blogs). For now this is all i have to write, pretty boring week.

3rd Month

This is my 3rd month here in Uganda, and so far it has been very exciting, time is going by fast and i cant believe its been this long already. This blog im writing will be divided in to 2 parts, I will explain why. On thursday night Edmund  told me to pack a bag for a 3 day travel to the source of where our coffee comes from, which is east of Uganda on the border of Uganda and Kenya, a 3 hour drive from Kampala. Ed informs me that there will be a short meeting and then we will visit some of the factories that produce and manufacture coffee as well as the farmers and their farms where the coffee grows. Naturally i was extremely excited, i mean to learn about coffee is one  thing but to actually go to the source and interact with farmers and traders is another thing. That night i packed a small bag, i was so excited i couldnt sleep. but i think eventually i managed to fall asleep and woke up around 6:30 am, Ed had arranged a driver for us but as usual he was late so we didnt get to leave till about 8 am. Now, i said earlier that this story was going to be divided in to 2 parts, here is why, first i am going to tell you about the business part (with pictures of course) then i will tell you my personal experience of beauty that i saw.
After a 3 hour drive we arrive to a town called Mbale, this town is on the foothills of ugandas, highest mountain and africas 17th tallest peak called Mt. Elgon. (which i will get to in the next part), this town is know for its coffee trade, because Mt Elgon was a volcanic mountain, the soil, cool climate, and the constant rain creates the ultimate conditions for growing and  harvesting the coffee bean. This particular region is called the BUGISU region and it is why this coffee is known around the world as a one of the best coffee beans produced (the Bugisu AA is the highest value coffee traded on the market today), but last seasons crop was not up to standards as far as UCDA is concerned and that is why we are here, to discuss these issues, the bugisu is known for certain traits and UCDA is seeing that trait starting to slip. I would like to explain more but it is very technical, for those of you who dont care skip this part and go to then next. Coffee is very complex and very delicate at the same time. Bugisu coffee is know for its mild acidity and bold chocolate taste, but recently this acidity has been going down, now why is acidity so important? when i say acidity most people refer to the acidic taste from a lime or orange, sort of a sour, salty taste, but in coffee it also has to do with the sweetness. if an orange did not have a a sweetness to it you would now eat right? so acidity goes hand to hand with the sweetness of the coffee. This acidity comes naturally from the phosphoric soils of Mt. Elgon, but during processing ( and i mean not processing the raw coffee properly) if the delicate bean is not handled properly it will lose its characteristics which makes this particular coffee special. Anyways, me and edmund enter the town hall and there was about 50 people there waiting for edmund, farmers, traders, and exporters, i was just there to observe, even though im there to purchase 2 tons of coffee to bring back with me in December. Basically this meeting was about a warning that UCDA was giving to everyone regarding harmful practices coffee farmers, traders, and exporters where involved in. I wont get into details but Edmund clearly stated that if the procedures where not followed UCDA has the authority and mandate to shut down operations of a certain factory if standards are not met. It was nice to see the government actually taking steps to protect its most precious commodity which is the Bugisu AA. After the meeting there were alot of questions and concerns which was understandable, but Ed handled it very well. After the meeting we had lunch and ed wanted to make a couple of suprise visits to some factories that he had heard were not up to par with their standards. So we went to a couple of factories and he gave out warnings about some drying methods and told them next time the factory will be shut down. by this time it was late so we decided to find a nice hotel and get some rest because the next day we wanted to visit the actual farms, we ended up staying at a very nice hotel (which i have pictures of) woke up the next day and headed to the mountains. Now this is where i get excited, these mountains are freaking beautiful and we where going to a town called Kapchorwa (11000 ft above sea level) on the way to kapchorwa edmund saw a coffee factory and told the driver to stop, we approached the gate and a security guard inercepted us and would not allow Ed to enter the facility, even after he introduced him self and showed him his government ID card and demanded to open  the gate, the guard refused, ed returned to the car grabbed his UCDA lock and placed it on the gate and ordered the factory shut down, panic started, managers came out pleading and begging to forgive their security guard for being ignorant, so ed removed the lock. i had to tell that story to show people the power that this humble man has. We then proceeded to the city and the peak of the mountain (check out the pictures), man what an nice area, cold, breezy, exactly the way i like it. we talked to a couple of farmers and walked through a farm because i had not seen what a coffee plantation looked like. i took a bunch of pictures and hopefully i can download them. but the real exciting part of the trip was being able to walk through the forest and get on an area where they call Sipi Falls. I put the a couple of pictures up of the place but it does you have to be there to fully enjoy the beauty, its like niagara falls and grand canyon at the same place but not as extreme, but while your walking through jungle you really start appreciating the beauty of nature and how untouched this place really is.  When i got to the falls i was just in shock at first, and its not just one, from what ive been told there are many falls but this particular one is the most famous. everything is green the soil is very fertile, anything could grow here, i picked an avacado from a tree and it was the best avacado i have ever had in my life. being in a place like that changes you, nothing is important anymore, you sit and just enjoy the beauty and calmness of the area. The hike was not easy, we were deep in the mountains, full jungle getting through it all was a challange, but to my surprise, people actually live by this area, no electricity no gas, just nature and water. anyways redskins are about to play and i have to work out so this part for now is over but there are alot more i could write but then it would just be too long to read :)

10th and 11th week

I am combining these two weeks together because i did not have time to write last week. Last week was a very important week for us and i will explain, every year in kampala there is a Manufacturers Trade Show first week of October over 3000 companies from all over africa come here and try to introduce their product to the public, Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, South Africa, Rawanda, Congo, Even Iran was here. It seems Iran and Uganda have very strong relationship as far as trade and manufacturing goes, ill get to that later. We as Nile Coffee had a small booth to sample our coffee to the public, and the reaction i got from the local people and other outsiders was amazing, my original estimate was to serve about 1000 cups of 6 oz coffee to whom ever wanted to try our coffee, with sugar and milk, i was no were nearly prepared for the reaction we received. Here are some final numbers, we ended up sampling over 20,000 cups, using 80 lb's of sugar, and about 25 gallons of milk! it was madness in a good way ( i have pictures and video for those who are skeptical) for 7 days straight we served and sold our coffee from 9 am to 8  pm everyday. The reaction to our coffee was amazing, i mean i already knew our coffee is one of the best in the world but did not expect this kind of outcome, i had Egyptians and Sudanese making me offers left and right, i even had the Iranian Government approach me regarding our coffee.

On Saturday morning i had group of Iranian come by my booth and try my coffee, and purchased about 30 lbs from me, and ofcourse they hassled me for price, then out of no where a gentleman named Reza Savari Chairman of the Iranian-Ugandan Economical Co-operations Office came by and tasted the coffee and asked me where i was from, naturally i always tell people im from the US, but this guy had a strong iranian accent, so i told him my name is Kave and i am iranian but i was born in the US. He asked to speak to me and we went outside, he basically wanted the take Ugandan's coffee raw which means green to Iran and process it there (roast and package) i told him very nicely that i can not do that, our #1 goal here in uganda is to make sure uganda that the ugandan people get their monies worth for their products, which means producing, roasting, and packaging is all done here so they can get paid for it. Europeans have been exploiting this countries resources for decades and it has to stop, 77% of ugandas coffee get exported to europe! they buy a small percentage of very high quality arabica (my coffee) and a very large percentage of very very low grade coffee mix it together, roast it very dark and sell it, what people dont know is when coffee gets roasted very dark it loses alot of its characteristics that make coffee what it is. anyways let me not get too technical about coffee, but there is so much that regular people dont know. So during our conversation with this iranian, 5 Mercedes Benz S500 pull up and the ambassador of Iran steps out of the car and i get introduced to him, let me tell you one thing i hate is when someone shakes your hand like a dead fish, this freaking guy shakes my hand just like that, who the fuck does this guy think he is, i was told later that his salary from the iranian government is $10,000 a month! can you imagine the poor people in iran are starving and struggling to make ends meet and this fucker is getting paid that much money? 10000 is some people yearly salary if you have a good job. any ways i basically told the iranians to go fuck them selves in a nice way. ill put some pictures up so you guys can see what was going on. for now thats all im gonna write, hopefully ill have time next weekend to write more, this week im moving into my new office which is kind of exciting and scary at the same time.

9th week

Today i had my first taste of corruption in Uganda. I have been told that there is corruption everywhere but had not seen it first hand. Here is the story: driving back this morning from playing soccer evidently i ran a traffic light, there is no traffic light first of all second, if there was one i was following others. As soon as i make my right hand turn a police officer jumps in front of me and waves me to the side.  Im like holy shit here we go, officer comes to the window and asks me if i like my life and if not to i want to die? I am now alittle nervous, i replies no sir i love my life and want to live, what did i do? officer says i ran a red light (mind you there is no light) before i could say anything he asks for my permit, which is a license. I take out my wallet and show   him my Va license. He looks at it says well im gonna have to write you a ticket for traffic violation you have to come to court and pay a fee of atleast 100,000 UGX ($40), i smile and say what can we do about this tapping on my wallet at the same time, he looks and says give me 100,000 and i will let you go, i said 10,000, he said 50,000 i said 20,000 he blinked i gave him a 20,000 UGX bill and i wan on my way. I was thinking to my self imagine if Fairfax County Police was the same way, there would be chaos everywhere.  When i get home i told the story to ed and he said the fine for it was 40,000 and i they got me. LOL thats all i could do.. freaking cops here are making a killing of these poor people. Any ways i had to share that  story of corruption.

This past week i have been back in training again, this time barista training, for those of you who dont know what that is, it the person at the coffee shop making espresso and cappuccino's. So now i am officially a certified barista. The test was so hard, you have to make 4 shots of espresso's and 4 cappuccino's in 10 minutes, it is not easy i tell you, specially when there are 15 others watching and 4 judges evaluating your every move. Everything has to be perfect, timing of the espresso shot to have a good extraction of the coffee, cleaning the machine, grinding the proper amount, tamping correctly, flushing the machine before every shot, pouring your milk, heating up the milk and making sure its not too hot or cold and it has a lot of foam when making a cappuccino. It took me two attempts and i passed, first time it my espresso was over extracted (it went beyond the time limit of 30 seconds) and i didnt clean the steamer. but then the second time it was perfect. I got to work and train with Uganda's current Barista champion which was very cool, i mean to learn from the best is awsome, very young guy 23, but very sharp and a great teacher.

Time is going by very fast, its already october, couple of months and i will be back home, i cant wait. life here is not bad but its boring, i miss a lot of people, you know who you are. Every Friday and Saturday night i get that feeling of i should be back in DC doing something with the boys or that other person, instead im sitting or playing some pool, there is nothing much to do here, dont get me wrong these people party big time, i think i have mentioned how the music is blasting from thursday night to monday morning, but they drink too much, plus i cant even stay awake past 11 pm anyways...i drink this beer called nile beer which is pretty good, but nothing like our beers, man i miss a good Sierra Nevada right now, or a blue moon with a slice of orange..

Start of 2nd Month

2 months, wow i can not believe i have been in uganda for two months already, time does fly by when your busy. These past couple of weeks have been uneventful, im just learning the company and getting ready to move into my new office building, finally Nile Coffee will have its own office and i will be running the company :) yikes... its a lot of responsibility, specially now that i am studying the company and realizing how out of date their systems are, for example everything i done by cash here, no credit cards, no checks, well the banks take checks but only the main ones and it they have strict protocols about cashing checks, its not like the US where you have identification and drivers license and all sorts of other methods of checking the ID of someone. Then there is the issue of their books not matching, i have been stuck in edmunds old office for the past 6 days trying to sort out what the hell is going on here, we balanced and were short like a $1000 which in uganda is a lot of money...to give you an idea most salaries are about 400 to 500 a month and that is a good pay. So you can imagine $1000 missing is causing chaos. There is no structure because the coffee part of the company is only 5 months old and they do not have and procedure or structure in place, thats why im here trying to set a certain structure and foundation so that when i come back to USA everything will go smoothly hopefully.

On a bright note, saturday UCDA had ceremony of giving out certificates for R grading robusta coffee, and your truely have passed all the test and i got my certificate and not i am an expert cupper, inspector, and coffee analyst. in one week, all this in one week but it was a hell of a week, but i passed and now i am an robusta expert. Next week on monday i will start barista training for a week, once i finish that im done with training, so next week is gonna be a crazy week too, but atleast it wont be as boring as the robusta training. The barista is actually hands on and we will be learning how to make everything from espresso's, cappuccinos and all the other drink that coffee makes...The ceremony was in a 5 star hotel, you cant imagine how nice this hotel is. 5 star and they mean 5 star, i took some pictures of the inside so check them out. i really dont have anything else to write about for now, i do have alot to say but not yet i got somethings in the works  and once they are final i will write about them.

End of 7th week

Wow what a week, i know i wrote about this training course in my last blog but holy mother %^$^##&^%$,  there was point on saturday that i almost lost it and was just gonna cry....i find out today that this training session is suppose to be a month long class, we did in 1 week, not even a week cuz i missed half of monday and saturday so it was like 5 days, can you imagine 30 days worth of information and testing done in 5 days? nobody passed...i mean there are people who have been working at UCDA for years that didnot pass this freaking class.  The problem is that UCDA can not pay these people to stay in uganda for a month but then everyone suffers, out of the 22 test you have to pass to get certified, i passed 14, which is not bad considering i passed more then almost everyone else in the class. But i still would of loved to passed and get certified, the good thing is the tests i have passed are good for 18 month so i have a year and a half to pass the other 8. I am guessing when i get back state side i will pursue the certification. I have learned so much about coffee and its complex attributes that i am glad i got a chance to participate in this course. But man i sooooooo glad its over.

On sunday i was surfing the satellite dish that edmund has and was sorry to find out they dont show football, especially not the redskins games, i have been watching football since 1986 and was planning not watch and just see the highlights but as 1 pm approached (which is my 8pm) i couldnt take it anymore and thanks to the NFL channel and network i ordered the full season and watched the game on my labtop, and boy oh boy i was glad i did cuz our boy RGIII shined big time. Star in the making.. i could not believe that the redskins, i mean the redskins were playing good football and on offense. To my fellow redskins fans and football fans in general i have to ask, when was the last time you remember redskins playing that good on offense and have star QB? when was the last time redskins scored 40 points? holy &%$# the redskins scored 40 points and won a game. i gotta tell you i was in complete awwwwww last night and this morning but i had nobody to talk to about it, i couldnt text abdullah and talk shit to him cuz his giants lost and he has been texting me since they won the superbowl. i dont want to say anything premature but come guys i think there is a star about to shine here, well there in washington,  i have to admit i was a little skeptical about drafting him but after that performance (even though saints D is not among the elite) for a rookie QB to throw for 300 yards and 2 touchdowns and control the game the way he did, that was impressive. i have to say i slept very well last night, as my family knows how much the redskins stress me out, but finally we won and we have a QB. Hail to the REDSKINS. cant wait for the skins and dallas game.


 here are some pictures of the dreadful course. what you see is a cupping section of the test where they put 6 different coffees on the table and you have to pick the best and worst by a grading system, 10 criteria's, aroma/fragrance of dry and wet coffee, aftertaste, mouthfeel, bitterness, sweetness, saltiness, balance and overall. we did this 15 times. can you imagine, after a while everything starts to taste the same. anyways ill write more later now its law and order svu and bed time.

Mid 7th week

OMG, i get a call from Edmund monday morning during our weekly sales meeting telling me that UCDA is doing R grade training and testing to get certified, not this certification in the coffee world is a huge deal...basically if you pass all the tests which are 22 test total, you are a master coffee cupper, roaster, and inspector. All i have to say is OM fucking God, i have been in training none stop since monday 10 am everyday till 630, and let me tell you its no freaking joke, its class for an hour then the test and the test are sooooooooo hard... i have been only been learning for a month now, there are people in our group who have been with UCDA years and still have not passed this test, so far out of 10 test we have taken i have managed to pass 2, which is very disapointing but edmund is telling me i have done better then alot of other people who have been there for a while. so i guess im not doing too bad but man its crazy and so much information. The organization  who runs this program/test/certification is world wide know and are called COFFEE QUALITY INSTITUTE, apparently they train all coffee experts all over the world, and man they are tough. So as you can imagine my week has not been pleasant, i mean 10 hours of coffee coffee coffee test after test after test is starting to wear me out, everything is starting to taste the same, coffee is so freaking complicated it is unbelievable. there are things about coffee that scientists still havent figured out, that is amazing to me. this little fucking bean is as complex as our brains.. every aspect of it we are getting tested on, taste color, acidity, bitterness, roasting it, brewing it, i can go on and on but most of you would not even understand the complexity of this little tiny miracle. anyways i thought i should write about this experience, ill have more on this on the weekend when i have more time to write and take pictures.

6th week

I am really starting to miss being in the US, dont get me wrong uganda is great but my home is in the states, i miss my car, i miss driving on the left of  the car and  driving on the freaking right side of the road and not left like these idiots are doing. I catch my self 3or 4  times a day trying to get into my car and im on the wrong freaking side. GRRRRRRRRRR, no rules and regulations, no lights, no nothing. I mean its good in a way but everything and everyone needs some kind of system to follow.. i mean come on fix these roads already... im gonna take some pictures of these roads so you guys can see how fucked up they are....most of the roads are not even paved unless your down town kampala which is completely different..imagin you are in dc antd you are on your way home and all of a sudden the road turns into a dirt road with fake me out speed bumps that are so freaking huge, normal sedans cants go over them with out scrapping the bottom of their cars. Its just madness, so much poverty that makes me think of how rich i am and how much we take for granted.

Still have not had any kind of meat, except for some fish i had today, i mean the tilapea is freaking awsome, but everything else like chicken, pork and beef i have not touched. But despite of it all i feel great, i eat salad twice a day, beans everyday and sundays is fish day, Edmunds favorite food, oh and alot of fruit which is very expensive...apples and oranges dont grow here so they import them, oh btw i forgot to mention that i found this tuna in a can with sunflower oil that is amazing so i plan on eating that 4 or 5 times a week if i can afford it, anything that is imported in soooo expensive...can of tuna in the states cost what? like a dollar, well its 10000 shillings here which is about 4 dollars, for one small can of tuna! i mean thats crazy i dont know how people here afford to eat? if you dont eat local food, which is rice, beans, chapate(tortilla) you will go broke, a meal at  local place will cost 4000 shilling thats with a bottled water...thats not even 2 dollars. but a can of tuna cost 4 dollars....im gonna have to import some tuna from the states :)  anyways, the weather is amazing. never hot during the day and very cool at night, i havent had to turn on the ac since ive been here...which is a good thing cuz my body is like a furnace and produces alot of heat on its own. so im pretty happy about that.

On a different note, i need to get coffee to the states, and we dont have anybody on that side since im here and atrac is in new zealand...we are starting to get some orders but cannot full fill them due to the fact that i have no one there to ship it for me, so if anybody is reading this and know of someone who wants to make some cash, which will not be alot at first but once we do get a steady demand for it, it could be a very easy and alot of money, basically im looking for a logistics person who can go to the post office and send a package, its really not that hard and if the volume gets too big i would rent a storage unit and keep the coffee there. Once the coffee is roasted and packaged it has a shelf life of 2 years, so please if anyone knows anyone or even if you want to make some extra cash hit me up and we can talk about it in more detail. think about it like this, once i bring this company state side we are gonna blow up. we are planning to have a warehouse to store coffee and a shop to sell...and if things work out we will open up a distribution center somewhere and then the possibilities are endless. people are always gonna drink coffee and i have a superior coffee here, coffee is the second most commodity sold in the world next to oil. there is so much coffee trading that the coffee industry had to split up the arabica and robusta, arabica is traded in NYC and robusta in London..its amazing how much volume is sold and consumed by people. so people think about it and let me know... i havent taken any pictures this week because i really havent been anywhere, but when i move into my own building/office then i will add some pics. i made a huge mistake by not bringing my dress shoes, pants and suits, cuz now i need them, im starting to approach alot of cafe's and all i have to wear is jeans and tennis shoes...so automatically im not respected, but once they hear me talk and see our product its all over, dont judge a book by its cover and we are all guilty of that. pictures to come soon

5th week

So now im in the 5th week of my trip to uganda and so far so good, but man let me say this the pace of business here is soooooo freaking slow that im starting to get really annoyed by the way things are handled here. for example imagine you want to send a small package to someone somewhere, what do you do? we have so many options, ups, fedex, dhl, usps, ect.... here there is DHL but they are trying to charge me 182 dollars to send 6 pound box to the US, that is freaking unbelievable. Then to add to all this, there is so much paper work to be done for one simple shipment, this order came in on monday, friday is when i got all the paper work together, granted its my first time but COM ON, 4 freaking days to get paper work? but its not gonna stop me from what i came to accomplish, its just gonna take some time.  While starting to ship to the US, Nile Coffee has decided to hit the market strong, now remember these poor people have the best coffee but they dont drink their own product, because uganda was under the UK's influence they drink tea, its only has been a couple of years that ugandan are now actually are starting to drink coffee.  Here in Kampala there are so many cafe's, bars, and restaurants that its gonna be easy to penetrate them, my goal here is to have everyone walking around with a cup of Nile Coffee in  their hand, the way starbucks does it in the US and everywhere else. Now back to the problem of sending small packages (under 100 KG which is about 220 lbs) to the US, my problem is the cheapest way is 83 dollars with ugandan post which might take 3 weeks to get to the US, so sending a package of 6lbs, per pound its costing 13 bucks, that cost is more then the coffee it self. But if i airship over a 220 lbs per shipment it will cost 4 dollars per pound which works out great for us. but the problem is i dont have anybody in the US helping us since im here in uganda and atrac is in new zealand. My problem as you see is big as you can see, so im looking for someone who can store 220 lbs of coffee and send it to our customers when we get an order, it would be very simple, everything can be done online and usps has that flat rate boxes which works out perfect for us. the problem is not shipping within the US, the problem lies here in kampala and getting the coffee to the state at the most cost effective method possible. so why am i telling you people this? first im vening, second im looking for someone to do this with us. At first its not gonna be alot of orders but once we launch our campaign in the US via our previous customers and we have developed our websites, we are ready to sell. If i can have someone in the US store coffee already prepackaged and in boxes we are set, i am willing to split the profits with anyone who is willing to help, it doesnt take much, we get an order, the person puts it in the box and sends it with usps. DONE..we will pay for everything.

Ok enough business talk...finally after 5 week of being here i played soccer, on a dirt field ofcourse, and played defense as usuall, (you know im a wall back there LOL) and i have no cleats because the package my mom sent me 3 weeks ago still has not arrived yet. so i was kind of slipping and sliding but managed keep up with these africans, which are not bad players, oh and i had no shin guards either... but let me tell you, i was soooooo itching to play some soccer and today i feel great..for those who know me, know how much i love playing sports and i am missing so much right now, football, soccer, tennis, softball...but from now on every sunday i will be playing with the same guys....i am very excited about it and cant wait to next sunday. i did get a little banged up because its not grass its dirt and its hard dirt so got couple of rug burns on my right elbow and right knee, probably will hurt more tomorrow. Over all it was good...

there is one problem that is starting to get to me, on sunday mornings exactly at 630 am, music starts and its pretty fucking loud, now this is church music...what i dont understand is why so loud, i think they are trying to let jesus hear the music.....anyway the music is still going on and its 1230pm....never freaking stops...but im getting used to it i guess, or i have to get used to it, i dont really have a choice of living somewhere else.

After i came back from playing soccer our i find out our water has been cut off, so how in the hell am i gonna take a shower, well there is a picture of how i took a shower today, and its pretty funny.  I'll try to describe it but take a look at the picture. First i had to boil water we got from somewhere which i have no idea where, then pour it in to a bucket and add some more cold water in to it and take a shower that way..its kind of like taking a shower in a river but you cant lean down to get wet, you have to splash your self with water to get wet then splash again to wash off the soap. that was an experience i will never forget...

I finally got my new business cards on friday, International Marketing Director sounds pretty good huh? well i took a picture of it for those that are skeptical LOL, its amazing how a piece of paper can change your image, for example i walked into a cafe on friday and asked for to speak to the owner about our coffee, first thing the asked for was for my business card, so i played along and said i dont have any, mind you i have them in my pocket, the lady said oh the owner is very busy....i pulled out my card boom she was at my table in a second...freaking status, can not get away from it. any ways im rambling on about stuff so im gonna end here. take a look at the pictures. :)

4th week

I can not believe i have been here a whole month!!! wow its amazing how fast time goes by...this week has been very interesting, beside my vigorous training in coffee i have now been giving the position of Director of International Marketing for Nile Coffee which is Edmund coffee company. basically that mean i am and will be in charge of everything from operations to marketing. I really dont know how to feel about all that, it still has not settled in with me so i dont know all  the details but i had 2 meetings with edmund this week and his team here in uganda about turning the company over to me and letting me run with it. Basically he want me to run the company and have an aggressive marketing strategy implemented.  I dont even know where to start with it to be honest. I mean im just an ordinary person from springfield va here in kampala uganda in charge of a coffee company that is going to be the biggest exporting company to USA in uganda.. which is alot to deal with...i know one thing for sure, im going to need alot of help. Coffee is the second most consumed commodity next to oil. USA has the worlds largest market of coffee consumers, and let me tell you ugandan coffee is freaking great, these people  take  their coffee very seriously and they should because they have one of the best coffees in the world. this man edmund who i am staying with and who is the owner of nile coffee an expert in coffee..he studied coffee all over the world. i was looking at his resume and wow..he has degrees from all over the world, for example, he has a BA in Chemistry, 3 different masters in coffee tasting, and this and that from france, england and holland. His expertise is incredible when it comes to coffee and how to scientifically roast the perfect coffee bean to a specific customers need, for example US coffee drinker like their coffee sweet so he has come up with a blend that is naturally sweet, europeans love espressos so he has blend a type just  for them. I am telling you this company is going to blow up and ugandan coffee is going to be known world wide. i know that sounds kind of ambitious but thats what we americans are about, right? anyways that segment of my writing might of been a little boring but that i what i am going through right now so i thought for whom ever is reading this it might be of interest.

Any ways, a whole month in uganda has been great, i cant complain about anything edmund has been taking very good care of me, the only issue is the food.  As i mentioned a while ago i have decided not to eat any kinds of meat, so basically i have been a vegetarian for some time now, i just dont know how i feel about it. i mean i do feel pretty good and i believe i am taking in calories and protein the way my body should be but damn i miss a good steak or BBQ chicken. The problem here is that they eat the same food everyday, every restaurant has the exact same menu, rice, beans, peas, matoke(which is a raw banana boiled) chipate(kind of  a tortilla but made from wheat and flower), and a combination of vegetables. Eating the same thing everyday is not my style, i need variety in my life, but that is because we are so freaking spoiled in the states that when we come to a country like uganda the food is a shock. But dont get me wrong there are alot of restaurants down town which have very  good food but it is very very expensive, for example last 2 weeks ago we went to the sheraton hotel and i ordered a small pepperoni pizza which was very good but it cost 75000 shilling which is alittle less then 20 dollars, that is freaking crazy. Then we went to a Chinese place and their food was decent but the bill for 3 people was almost 100 bucks...i think living like this, make me appreciate what i had and still have back home and not take anything for granted.

Im kind of getting used to driving now, its been a full week that i have been going to work and back on my own, this whole driving on the left thing is a hard concept to grasp..20 years of driving on the right hand side and now all of a sudden the rules change. Here is an example, imagine coming to an intersection in the US trying to turn right, the first thing you do is put on your signal and instinct tell you to look where? your left right to make sure  there are no cars coming, now imagine here coming to a right turn and its all different now, you have to look right first then left. Oh and btw there are no traffic signals here, only in the middle of down town there are a couple but everywhere else you are on your own. i think im gonna have some issues when i come back state side and driving on the right hand side again. till next time peace.

the first picture is infornt of the chinese place, the second is sheraton, , the third picture is of the roads in kampala outside of downtown and the airport. the last one is of me driving.

Day what ever!!! haha i think its day 20

I have to say i wish i was back in the the states to see my new nephew Kian, he was born yesterday...i just talked to my mom and she told me his name because i have been waiting all days to find out his name. My brother sent me his picture as soon as he was born, but didnt tell me his name. So KIAN (I hope im spelling his name right) welcome and from your uncle in africa i say love you and cant wait to meet you.

With that being said.... i finally got the chance to drive in Kampala Uganda, which is no joke, the driving here is insane.. the roads are full of pot holes and not paved. people are maniacs.. but for my first time driving i think i did pretty well...they have traffic here but let me tell you they have no idea what traffic is like.. for those of you who live in the DC area know exactly what im talking about... sitting in traffic for hours doesnt happen here... i might sit for like 10 minutes tops in traffic but nothing like 270, 495 or 66 in the morning and afternoon. my first drive was to the beach here to lake victoria which is the biggest lake in africa and is also the source of  the mighty Nile. it is incredible to see a large lake like that in africa cuz i always thought of africa as a big desert. so anyways just wanted to share  that with who ever is reading this and i am very excited to meet Mr Kian and kiss him for the first time. i will put pictures up a little later right now im pretty tired and alittle buzzed from celebrating the birth of my brothers new son....btw, the pictures below i just added, they had 3 freaking planes on the beach....freaking amazing... and the one with me in it the boat says rising titanic...i thought that was pretty cool.

3rd Week

I am working so much i barely have time to eat....im trying to learn and implement marketing strategies here in kampala and learn coffee..it takes alot...so im only gonna write on the weekends.. but ill try to write alot for those of you who like reading it. This past weekend our host Edmund threw a huge party and there alot of important people there, for example a high ranking member of the parliament was there (i have a picture with him), presidents chief of staff and some other people..its amazing how humble these guys are. even though they are driving Mercedes G55's and stuff with security guards with machine guns all around us, but still they are very easy to talk to they are extremely proud of their coffee and Edmund gave a speech at the party introducing me and atrac as the ones penetrating the US market with purely 100% Ugandan Coffee... that was very well received, i was actually kind of suprised on how well these people are aware of their coffee situation and how they want the world to know about how good their coffee is. Trust me when i tell you they have the best coffee and Edmund has alot to do with that. I will have to go more into detail about that once i understand everything.

Yesterday i finally went to our storage factory and picked out my own green coffee beans, brought back a 180 KG which is about 400 lbs....and roasted it my self (with expert help ofcourse) grind it right there and this morning drank my own coffee...here is the sad part, im kind of sick, just a head cold but i cant taste anything so didnt taste the coffee so i was pretty pissed. :(

I took some pictures of the warehouse and the people working around it, its not a pretty picture. the europeans have used and abused these poor people, im not saying that the americans have not spoiled them selves here but not as much as european. I mean just think about it.. have you ever heard of Ugandan Coffee until i told you about it? most people dont even know that africa is where coffee originates from (Uganda for robusta coffee which espresso is made from and Ethiopia is where arabica is from), so the europeans have really done a number on these poor people...we are here to change that hopefully with the help of the Ugandan government we shall make a small differnce in profit sharing and helping out the community of these poor poor farmers. ok anyways that is for another blog for when i really get into it.

I am getting a little home sick.. I am starting to miss my family and my nephews and niece...and there is someone else im missing and you know who you are once you have read this. i know football season is starting and fantasy is a big part of my life, im really gonna be missing that during all the drafts and stuff...but still playing in most league and i know some of my boys have to work around my schedule and our time difference so i thank you in advance for your consideration. about to watch Mr BOLT win another medal in half an hour. ( that picture is me with the member of the parliament, bean bags, and a random guy in the warehouse). oh and btw i have not had piece of meat or chicken or fish in about 5 days now. for those of you who know me know that its really really hard for me to not to eat meat. but i think i feel better and maybe this might be a new thing for me....but you can believe when i get back to the states im gonna have a huge BBQ with all kind of meat......and some iranian food...omg do i miss me some ghorme sabzi and khorshte bademjoon...and some kabob.....#12 Xtra meatballs, white onion and green onion in oil please LOL that one was for you hoang.

Day 12

Today was probably the most unbelievable day so far..i will explain in full detail. I am here in uganda to learn about coffee from the ground up. every angle of coffee i will need to learn to be successful in the United States. So while i am learning the chemistry of coffee, i am also learning the marketing side of it here in uganda. One of main reasons why uganda has paid for my trip here is they want to penetrate the US market with ugandan coffee. Edmund is the head of UCDA (uganda coffee development authority) quality control department, but his position with ucda is a conflict of interest and he can not sell coffee, that is where we come in. Today we got  a rare chance to meet with the president of UCDA, this guy never ever ever meets with any potential buyers or sellers, but because he trusts edmund he has agreed to meet with us. We went into the meeting and killed it. The UCDA is giving us their full support and we are all set. anyone who is reading this knows how big that is and now we have ugandas government behind us, they have never backed any other company before.. so it is a very big deal. if we do everything right and by the book we should be very very well off. i cant describe the feeling we had when we left this mans office, to accomplish something like this is absolutly incredible. :)

Day 10 and 11

These past couple of days have been kind of a blur due to the fact that i have been sick with malaria. But i believe i did not experience malaria the way it was suppose to be, for example the doctor mentioned to me that it usually lasts about a week and depending on my immune system it could last longer, i was diagnosed with malaria sunday afternoon and tuesday night i was feeling almost a 100%, which i am very thankful for.

On sunday my good friend and soon to be partner in crime here in the coffee business DR Atrac Aryan Kay arrived and we have been having a blast. for those of you who are reading these blogs and know atrac you know what im talking about. The guy is a trip and he loves kampala and loves coffee so we have alot of things in common. Our host Mr Edmund has been treating us so well that i do not want to leave. for the past three days edmund has been taking us to his local spa and we have been soaking in the sauna which feels great. the life style here is very very relaxing if you have money.

There is one thing here that i do not like which is the meat, my god the meat here sucks...maybe im just used to the meat in the states but man, i can not get used to the taste of the meat. For those of you who know me and know how much i love meat, can understand where im coming from. There is nothing better than a juicy american steak. But the problem does not end there, the chicken here has no meat on it either its pretty much feather and bone. In a nut shell i am not a happy camper eating wise, i mean how many times a day or a week can someone eat fish? there is only one kind of fish here that is eatable and that is tilapia, dont get me wrong the tilapia here is freaking outstanding but eating it for dinner 6  times a week? come on man i cant. i miss my variety of food, i miss the PHO....oh man do i miss pho what i would give for a #12, extra meatballs, white onion and green onion in oil right about now.....i miss my moms cooking...so in short i think i am going to try and go vegetarian :(...how bad could it be? no meat for a while i think it could even be healthy for me.  everyone always says vegetables can supply the same amount of nutrients as red meat and chicken so i think i should be ok. anyways  the main point is that the food is not as good as i thought i was, but on the other hand the vegetables and fruits are AMAZING. specially the mangos, watermelons, passion fruits and bananas. i have always liked mangos but the ones here are freaking delicious, and its not like you have go and find them, they are everywhere and they all taste the same. so anyways if anyone wants to send me some food like iranian or anything else please feel free to do so :))))))) here are some pictures of me and atrac and me tasting some coffees.

Day 8,9

The worst thing i can imagine is coming to a foreign country and get sick, unfortunately saturday night my worst nightmare came true...somehow with all the precautions i have taken i have contracted the malaria virus. I woke up Sunday morning with a fever and my whole body was hurting. I am thinking to my self holy shit this is not good, i went to the main house and spoke to Edmund about it and they took me to a local doctor. Doctor drew blood and 10 minutes later told me that i have malaria..but i guess it is a very common thing here.. gave me some pills and send me on my way. Sunday was pretty bad, i pretty much slept all day and had bad stomach ache. Today i am feeling much better, i guess the medicine is working. what i dont understand is i have been taking malaria prevention pill that my doctor in the states told me that i would have nothing to worry about, and they cost 180 dollars for 26 weeks...when i get back in december she will get a piece of my mind. anyways the night before (saturday night) Edmund threw a party here and it was real fun...there was alot of people here dancing and drinking..and do these people drink... my god 12 people went through 2 bottles of Johnny Walker Black, a bottle of Chivas, bottle of crown royal, and some local Gin they drink here. but i went to sleep early, i think i was getting sick that night. here are some pictures of the party.

Day 7

What a crazy week! Finally today i visited Kampala's down town. WOW..... for those of you who have been to NYC's Canal St in china town you know what im talking about. Imagine canal st but 100 time bigger and more shops...freaking people are selling everything, its crazy...i heard muzungo all day.. because i am a muzungo they think i have money. Anyways we walked around for about an hour, i took some pictures but they dont serve them well. for some reason Ugandan's feel violated when you take video or pictures of them with out asking first, so while sitting in the car and taking video and pictures im getting cursed at but i dont understand because they are cursing me out in lugandan which is uganda's 2nd language besides english. i have also decided to learn the basics of lugandan...at least i would know what they are saying a little but it is a very hard language. I will give you guys an example: Wasuze otyano Ssebo means good morning sir, but Ossibye Otyanno Ssebo means good afternoon sir....see the word otyano and otyanno...same word right? nope they have different meanings. Hopefully in a couple of weeks of studying i will understand a bit. now its late and i must p90x then eat and sleep....thank god tomorrow is saturday. oh btw for my family i am drinking the best fresh coffee in the world and today i learned how to make my first cappuccino.

Day 6

All i have to say is WOW, i have been drinking and testing so much coffee its freaking incredible. So far in the past 2 days i have tested anywhere between 400 to 600 cups of coffee, all different kinds of Ugandan coffee. This training is very intense, alot of information is coming from every person there. check out the pictures of the facility and my tasting and spiting coffee. After about 4 hours of tasting coffee, we are seperating coffee and picking out picking out defects. I am going to need alot of training for this. anyways after a couple of hours of looking at the coffee bean and learning all kind of abnormalities of the coffee bean i finally got to go and see how the coffee is being sold. Kampala is a crazy busy city but its alot of fun...

On our way to Entebbe airport to see some supermarkets about coffee we get pulled over by the police, everyone gets out of the car and start to negotiate.. basically you have to pay them to let you off like a bribe, long story short we ended up giving him 5000 ugx which is about 2 dollars...its crazy how corrupt these police officers are they pull over so many driver with fake radar guns that dont even work and demand money with black mail. anyway we paid him off and we are on our way to lake victoria (BTW i took a bunch of pictures but some how deleted them), such a beautiful place....very very very long day i just got home at 930 so about to eat take a shower and sleep