Half Birthday Delights

I consider half birthdays to be a very important occasion. No longer 22 but not quite 23, half birthdays provide an opportunity to reflect on the last 6 months of my life and set goals for the next 6 to come. I'm tempted to break out into Brittney Spears' "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman." Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Every year, something memorable happens on my half birthday. In 2008, at the tender age of 20 and a half, I was unexpectedly dumped and spent the day with friends, drowning my sorrows in chardonnay and lamenting the fact that no one loved me. I still get a good laugh out of that one. In 2009, I arrived in Mexico on April 24 for a 5 week Latin American Civilization course - the very day the Globe and Mail ran a front page spread on the explosion of H1N1 in Mexico. Classes were cancelled, restaurants shut their doors and I suddenly knew how Dustin Hoffman felt in Outbreak when the Motaba virus put the city on lock down.

So here I am. It's April 24th and I find myself back in Kampala, my new favourite city. I spent a solid 3 hours at Cafe Javas taking in the energy of this vibrant city to recover from yesterday's rough ride from Kigali. The ride started off enjoyable enough. I sat next to a British girl living in Kigali, who provided insight into ex-pat life in this quiet city. Things turned sour when the roads deteriorated and the rain came down. My window was sealed just tight enough to prevent any airflow, but not quite tight enough to keep the floods from pouring in all over me. The worst part was that I was the only one with a defective window, and everyone around me kept looking at me and apologizing. Surprisingly, even with their concern I managed to get soaking wet.

Later, after being savagely ripped off at the border currency exchange and being too confused to notice until I was well in to Uganda, the only thing to turn my frown upside down was the immigration officer's decision to give me an extra two days on my visa - "in case you get a cold," he said. I couldn't help but smile at that justification. At one point I actually started to laugh at my own misfortune. While eating dinner - a dried bun I found at the bottom of my purse - I asked myself: "Chloe, is this really what you pictured when you imagined your exotic escape to Africa?" And as the sawdust accumulated in my mouth each time my jaw closed in on the bread, I realised that yes. Yes it was. And I had a good laugh at my own expense as the rain poured down on me.

Considering yesterday's rough journey, I couldn't ask for a better way to spend my half birthday! I love Kampala. I'm going to take a walk through town, spend the afternoon enjoying an iced spiced coffee at 1000 Cups Coffee House where I often run in to fellow travellers. As far as half birthdays go, this one is unfolding quite nicely.