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. :)