Yesterday I drove to the nearest, well-stocked supermarket to where I am currently living (Embassy Supermarket, so called because of its proximity to the US Embassy in Kampala) to buy a few essential items to keep me going during my last week in Uganda.
I looked up at the shop as I was driving away and wondered if this would be the last time I would ever go there. And, with my flight home booked for this coming Friday, that set off a whole train of thought about my experience of living in Kampala over the last 6 months.
Will this be the last time I:
- Buy milk in plastic bags
- Get to disobey all the 'normal' rules of the road because those rules just don't seem to apply here and the only way to get anywhere is to drive like everyone else
- Look out on Lake Victoria, shimmering in the distant heat
- Be woken up at night by random car alarms, barking dogs, loud music from nearby bars and the early morning call to prayer
- Marvel at the spectacular force of an African rain storm
- Have my Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning accompanied by the singing of the local church choir, amplified through a poor quality PA system
- Eat the best avocados I've found anywhere in the world
- Wear shorts and a t-shirt in December
- Discover amazing birds as I walk to work in the morning
- See the people who have, in a short space of time, become my friends
- Spend time in this beautiful country?
I don't know the answer to these questions and leaving is always both hard and exciting. It's hard to leave behind all the people and places that have become so familiar but exciting to be going home to see family and friends again.