Genesis 1:3

Wow. Definitely doesn’t feel like it’s already been nearly two weeks since my last post. I apologize.

Unfortunately, about half that time I’ve felt like a giant pile of crap. I’ve been sick on three separate occasions in the past week and a half, including today. Back home I typically get sick maybe once a year, if that. I haven’t been myself for awhile. The strangest part is that I’m sick for only a couple days, feel better,and a few days later I’m sick again. I sincerely hope today is the last day, but I can’t help but be skeptical.

A lot has happened in the last two weeks.

At work, Corey was responsible for deciding to hire some new junior developers for our project. While he was busy with that I was to train the previous developers, getting them ready to transition to the new app that we’re developing. Unfortunately, the previous developers kept running into a number of obstacles that either entirely prevented them from working on the new app, (one of the devs had their computer stolen the same night it was bought for them, and his previous computer isn’t able to handle firing up a virtual machine), or prevented them from fully committing to developing the new app (such as still having to implement new features in the previous version of the app). Hence, the hiring of the new devs. Unfortunately for me, that means that the days I spent training them essentially breaks down into time spent unable to make real progress.

I’ve finally begun developing the new app, but so far I’ve been the only dev working on it. That’s not particularly exciting news. I’m not fond of not making deadlines, and each day we’re being stretched thinner and thinner with other work. The new devs obviously require training, having never worked with any particular framework. Fortunately, it took us only a single day to get them set up using their virtual machines and ready to start coding. Lucky for us, all three of them, so far, appear very eager to learn new things. I was actually very proud that after the first day of training them to use terminal, vagrant, and laravel, they were comfortable asking and helping each other whenever they encountered a problem. That meant that they were able to progress with each other each step of the way, and I would be free to make progress on the app. I feel very good about these three guys.

I have to say something about the way Corey handled the hiring process. He’s impressed me on a number of occasions, but this one in particular really demonstrated how he maintains his maturity and professionalism (which really speaks to his integrity), despite being in such a contrasting work environment. During the first day of work, Corey offered to take us all out for lunch. We went to our go-to place, Endiro’s, which is only about a 10 minute walk from the Ensibuuko office. It was hilarious to watch all three of the guys look in bewilderment at the menu. They had never eaten anything like that before (it’s mostly Western style food), which is surprising to me given that the restaurant is in the middle of Kampala. I don’t think any of them had experienced being taken to lunch by work before, as they were all a little hesitant to order anything until Corey assured them that lunch was on him. After that, it was like an invisible barrier had been broken. Suddenly, all three of the guys were laughing, joking, and soaking in everything we (mostly Corey) had to say to them. During lunch, they asked repeatedly if we would take a group photo. We were keen to oblige. I want to believe that the way they were treated on their first day has had a profound impact on the way they conduct themselves at work.

At home, we’ve basically been without power more often than we’ve had it – which is outrageous considering the amount our investor is paying for this place. The rent for this apartment is significantly higher than the rent for my Yaletown apartment. I suppose there might be a reason for that, though. Both of the apartments have concierges. While the concierge at my condo in Van sits comfortably behind a fancy desk and a fancy suit, the concierge here in Kampala patrols the gate (the only part of the building that isn’t surrounded by barbed wire) with a loaded rifle, always on alert. Definitely makes me feel a lot better with all the crazy stuff that goes on here at night (and there’s lots).

You can imagine how frustrating it is to live without power when everything we rely on for work requires electricity. We’ve had to resort to using WhatsApp to communicate with the landlord who is downstairs for most of the day and able to reset the power for us whenever it trips. He’s had an electrician over on four separate occasions. The electrician has looked very thoroughly at everything in our apartment here, and hasn’t been able to determine the problem, until last night.

Corey gave me a weird look after I exclaimed how relieved I was that we didn’t have to worry about the power anymore. I’m guessing it’s because I looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway the way I was parading around. Well, the same might be said for him. If I’m Chuck Noland, he’s Wilson, the way he’s been so unnerved about all the weird shit that’s been happening. But I’d still jump off my boat to save his ass if he started floating away.

So we’re officially able to work from home now. Which is, as I’ve said, very relieving. For the past couple weeks we’ve been tethering to our phones and using the internet from there; even from the office. The data here is very expensive. You pay by the GB, and it works out to something like $7/GB. Well, that adds up when you have 5-7 different developers tethering to your phone and downloading virtual boxes, streaming youtube, etc. We’re finally able to use the wifi at home without it cutting out. Pretty sure our wallets (or rather, Ed’s) sighed with relief, too. Did you know you can’t even use spotify (even if you’ve downloaded your songs) without connecting to the internet? What a bunch of crap. Definitely looking for something else once I’m back in Canada.

We’ve gone out a bunch of times during the last couple weeks, even after the shake down incident with the cops. I think you can say we’re officially regulars at a couple places: Que Pasa, which seems to be the spot for foreigners, and Bubbles O’Learys, where I’ve managed to make a good connection with the bar tender, Salman (who’s saved my credit card after I abandoned it there for a few days; and repeatedly refused a tip on a rather large bill. I still tipped him. Cultural differences or not, he’s the man).

One night after we came back from Bubbles, we entered our home to find the power out, again. I was too drunk to care, ready to pass out on the couch. Actually, I think this is probably the only time I’ve seen Corey lose his cool (he didn’t, really). It’s always ~30 degrees here, and sleeping in that heat is almost impossible, so I can’t blame him for wanting to go downstairs and tell Yogesh (the landlord) to turn the power back on.

He’d had enough drinks to be unable to find his own keys, so I tossed him mine. After fumbling with them for five minutes in the dark (no joke), he finally said “What the fuck dude how many keys do you have!?” as he used his phone light to get a better look at my keychain. Funny thing is I have a bottle opener that looks like a key but, believe me, it won’t open anything but bottles. Apparently he had been trying to use that to open the door. Obviously, it didn’t work. So Corey yells in frustration in the middle of the night “Why the fuck does this key say J.Crew!?” Definitely one of his finest moments.

Anyway. I think that’s enough from me for now. Starting to feel a bit off again, so I’m going to go lay down. Thanks for reading and I’ll talk to you soon!

 

PS.

Oh yeah! Happy Archbishop Janani Luwum Day from Kampala!

Jamal