Categories
Personal

Kampala nightlife

Last night Hannali and I were escorted by two guys we knew to the ‘uptown’ club scene. They have similar districts like our Granville St., or our Yaletown area… but with a sketchy twist. It still kind of felt like we were just driving into a cheap parking lot, where the club stood. In the day time it’s probably not that impressive. Anyhow, the music was really good– there was a good mix of music from East Africa, and it was really fun to dance to all the different beats. People just love to dance here, and they do know how to treat the women well. Around midnight, we hopped to another club, which was considered more expensive (the cover was almost as much as those in Vancouver!)… but of course there weren’t any women around, only rich Ugandan men. As soon as H and I hit the dance floor, the whole place was dancing, so that was flattering in some ways.

Around 2am, we took a break from dancing, which was when things started to go sour. The guy that I was with got really clingy and kept professing his love for me, going on about destiny and fate…. I did not take him seriously, told him he was a stranger to me. Which was horrible timing, because then a song came on that sang, “I fell in love with a stranger tonight”. After that I just pushed him away and kept waiting for them to take us home. He made a lot of lofty promises, how he will be there for my graduation, how he will treat me like a lady, etc etc. In my tipsy state, I got really annoyed, and just started to ignore him.

Got home, hit the bed. Men were indignant and upset that they didn’t flatter us. Honestly, Ugandan men think that they are supposed to convince you to like them, as if they are trying to prove something. Flirting with them is impossible; they are so cheesy.

Slept for most of the morning, am back in a coffee shop reflecting on this amusing experience.

Watching Harry Potter tonight, finally!

Categories
Self Discovery

stereotypes

I’ve struggled a lot with my identity during my experience here in Uganda. Many people yell at me, “Japan!”, “China!”, “Korea!”, because I look Asian. When I tell them, I am Canadian, also Chinese, they refuse to accept it because Canadians are supposed to be white, or “mzungu”. It bothers me a lot because I’ve never really thought about how I am Asian… to be honest, I seldom identify with it, which was why it bothered me so much that people would just call me “China”.

Today a white man, looking like a beggar but dressed it nicer clothes, came up to us. We weren’t really that guarded, until he started to ask us, “do you speak English?! Thank God you speak English…” and he started on this story about how he needed money to pay his half- Ugandan son’s school fees. All these months, we would feel extremely guarded when a Ugandan approached us, because 80% of the time they would ask us for money. Back home, if someone approached me, I would think they needed the time or something. Here, I mistrust the people, as bad as that sounds. I am just tired of people asking me for money. But in the morning, as the white man came up to us and spoke to us in an English accent, somehow we felt more comfortable with him… until we realized that he was asking us for money.

We walked away, told him we couldn’t help him more than his embassy could, and felt strangely disoriented and blind-sighted.

In moments like these, I realize how easy stereotypes make our lives… and how startlingly dangerous it is that we rely on them so carelessly.

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