a morning in the life of ...

after walking to work in the morning,

i arrive at the shops down the street from my office. 

i love starting my day here. the shop owners really make me feel at home. 

Omony Francis, pictured below, is my unofficial Acholi (local language) teacher - so far I have learned greetings. next: food items. 

Most Acholi have two names -- one a western or biblical and the other an Acholi name.

 The Acholi name usually describes where/when/how the child was born.

 For example, one of my coworker's Acholi name is O-tim, "o" is the male gender marker, and "-tim" means being born away from home. 

After realizing the significance of an Acholi name, I asked Francis what his Acholi name "Omony" meant, because Omony or Amony is a very common name in Gulu.

"-mony" means - a child born during war.

the butcher next door to Francis' duka, is also his checkers partner (Okomo Richard). 

when business is slow, the two sit in the shade and play checkers.

the butcher has educated me about the innards of the cow, and has surprised me a few times with "phalangelical" intestines ... gross. 

after buying airtime from Francis, and telling the butcher for the thousandth time that i am a vegetarian, i order my rolex.

a rolex is a new staple breakfast item in Uganda, and consists of an omelette with green peppers, tomatoes, and cabbage, rolled up in a chapatti.

rolexes are served all day and are prepared over a charcoal stove.

i order my rolex from the same man everyday (Abaya David), who is always smiling and full of life. 

before i leave, he has agreed to teach me how to make homemade chapatti. 

here's the finished product: 

before heading to work, somedays i buy mandazi from the woman (Anna Margaret) next to the duka. 

from what i can tell, she is the local gossip queen - always roaring with laughter and telling every customer a story.

i try not to get these everyday, but the mandazi taste exactly like my grandmother's frybread, so it's hard to resist. 

i am going to miss the street vendors, but i still have a few weeks of rolex-mandazi filled mornings.