Nsenene!

Ok, I have to be honest with you and tell you that grasshoppers are now a part of my diet. Do you still love me? "Nsenene" are green grasshoppers that a lot of people here in Uganda enjoy eating immensely, and i've joined the ranks. They're around during the rainy seasons. To prepare them, you pull off the wings & legs, and fry them in oil, with salt. Agnes told me before I came that Mzungus really enjoy them, but I had my doubts. I tried them, and quite like the little critters! They feature in the photo here - land shrimp?? They taste excactly like something else I've tasted, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is... I haven't prepared them myself yet (not sure if I'm game) but Agnes has dropped off 3 multiple-snack sized bags of them for me so far. They'd make good movie snacks too I reckon. John Barnett gets a kick out of looking them in the eye and then chomping them - he said it makes him feel powerful. He also likes to munch them while walking back up from Kabalagala (a nearby market/shop area) & listening to his IPOD. He said the locals get a kick out of seeing this. *grin*

Today John & I rode boda-bodas (the motorbike taxis) into the city centre where we went to Garden City shopping mall & I bought a cell phone, an exciting event for me, brought on by necessity (I don't have one back in the U.S. (by choice)). The main method of communication here is the cell phone (or "mobile phone" for you Aussies). The land-line system is unreliable, apparently, and I think it costs more to use it than a cell phone (it definitely does in The Gatehouse, anyway). A lot of people have cell phones but can't afford to keep credit on them, so they'll "flash" you - call you and let it ring once, which is a signal that they'd like you to call them back.