This blog post about the Uganda 7-11 made me laugh. It reminded me of the Kampala "IKEA," which, of course, is not an IKEA at all.
Speaking of Uganda, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of when my life there unexpectedly took a turn for the worse and then proceeded to deteriorate for the next week and a half to unspeakable depths, the details too unmentionable for innocent, fun-loving dik-diks. Ain't love grand?
9 comments:
No, I never did say what happened. I'm still working on the last chapter of Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik. Will I ever go public with it? I don't know yet.
"My Big Fat Greek Divorce" – working essay title, mind – took three years to write.
You'll know when the time's right. The piece will erupt out, kinda like a baby alien.
Scarf-Thanks. It's amazing how self-preservation kicks in and makes us reasonable under stress. It was either be reasonable or walk out of the park through lion country, complete with giant backpack. Though someone would have picked me up eventually.
Ax- The time is definitely not right yet. The first draft was too graphic, too brutal. Your piece--which I've read--is far, far more refined.
I think the trick is in the timing. If you get eaten by lions before finishing the book, you're just screwed. Finish the book and THEN "Marvel Comics colorist eaten by lions in Uganda after doomed romance" might help sales.
I should point out that while the Kampala IKEA and Uganda 7-11 are of questionable legality by our standards, the two ShopRites are totally on the up-and-up, as real as the ShopRite I will go to later today to buy goat cheese and granola. (Not for consumption together.)
Refined? Sweet! Usually I have to play the ingenue or dragonlady...
Scarf, the essay will appear first in "Greece, a Love Story" (Seal Press 2007). With any luck, it'll later anchor a collection of travel essays.
Hi Marie,
Thanx for linking to my 7/11 post. There is no longer an IKEA in Kampala, the Swedes actually didn't like it. It's now called Double Dutch, in stead. Run by some Dutch women. But goggling 'IKEA Kampala' on the Internet you will find various versions of people stating it's there, and real, and not.
Anyway, greetings from Uganda - Pernille
Hi Pernille.
No more IKEA! That's too bad. I never shopped there but it was good to take out of town visitors to show them how innovative people can be. The owner had actually acquired a bunch of IKEA stuff and left the tags on so it had an air of being licensed. So there would be a desk named JONAS or cabinet called AKURUM, right there in the Industrial Area of Kampala.
Anyway, I read those posts swearing it was real and when I got to Uganda, I asked my (ex)man about it. He laughed at me. "Oh, come on, Marie. Do you really think it's real? Well, we will go and see."
Damn those Swedes, ruining all my fun. Germans, too.
For anyone reading, Pernille is a development worker in Uganda and she has a really cool blog. I'm jealous though--I wish I was blogging from Uganda. No offense to JC, but it's a much more interesting place to live.
Hmmmm. I'll need to ponder that one. I stopped reading Miller after he "went kaka in his pants" in Crete.
No one – of any gender – should use that term after the age of seven, unless they're advertising in the kink personals....
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