That should read, joy in a box store – as in Uchumi. Uchumi is the closest thing there is here to a department store – kind of a mini-walmart. OK, I know what you’re going to say… but let me tell you, it was positively orgasmic walking in. It’s been months in the teasing stage of opening. Rumors said it would open in September, then October – then Christmas!! But it opened silently yesterday.
It’s not fully stocked, but really – to walk down isles I felt a warm glow in my heart when I saw Dove soap, Oreo Cookies, packaged sheet sets, body lotion, western magazines – the kind I would never pick up in the states suddenly cause my heart to skip a beat. There next to Farming Digest and Kenya Homes was Katie Holmes (supposedly starving herself getting back at controlling Tom Cruise). Who knew I even cared – and well, technically – I don’t, but it all seemed so NORMAL. Surveying the isles like a little kid before Christmas, I was in overwhelm – so many choices – so little money! I will have to pace myself. But I can get wine (other than the kind that comes in a sippy cup with a juice straw). I could EVEN get a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream… But will I? That 50,000 shillings will buy half of a table for my now empty dining area, fabric to cover the bare windows (a truly bad idea here in Uganda), groceries at the cuk madit (big market for almost a month.
After a dinner of beans and rice had at the local Happy Nest eatery across the street from my hotel (yes I am STILL there) the torrential rain finally slowed to a mere splatter, so I ventured out ,wanting something slightly not-good-for-me. Dizzy with the freedom of being in town and able to go somewhere at dusk in relative safety, I remembered the rumor of Uchumi opening. The rain had created torrents of running muddy water and the smell of sewer. But one must overlook such things when there is such excitement in the air.
So, I wandered and wondered what would give my heart the greatest pitty-pat and taste the most like home – not some impostor that is SORT-OF like something I’ve tasted at home, but the actual thing that were I home, I could pick off the shelf. I settled on a small pack of Oreo Cookies. I guarded them carefully on the way home, secreting them to my cave lest some other Mzungo should see me carrying them and heaven forbid want me to share. Not to enjoy them all at once, then be left wanting, because I’d gobbled them too fast, I – with great restraint – ate just ONE and looked frantically for my modem to be able to check e-mail. Then I had another – and showered – yes – cold water. Then I sat down, logged on and ever so carefully took out another and twisted the top off and licked the creme filling. No milk to dip it in – but sometimes one must suffer through. I have now eaten half a package, feel sufficiently satiated that I can move into the rest of my night and save some excitement for tomorrow.
Who knew so little could bring make the heart strings sing??? There is a large white ant with big wings flitting around. Were I a Ugandan I would leap at this treat, rip its wings off and eat it (well – maybe I would saute it first). But thanks to my Oreo fix I am not in the least tempted…