The year has come and gone, and everyone seems to be making top five lists — the top five X-Box games, the top five nanotech breakthroughs, and (my favorite) the top five most pretentious looks of 2006. I’m hopping on the bandwagon with my top five blog posts of 2006 — these are the blogs I’ve read regularly since I came to Uganda, so I may be excluding amazing content pre-September or so, but here goes:
The Jackfruity-Sanctioned Top Five Blog Posts of (Mid- to Late) 2006:
5. Romance in K’la City by yours truly.
Norwegian loggers and pit bulls and boda drivers who publicly declare their love for you: yeah, that pretty much sums up my Kampala experience.
4. Not to be confused with by venerable journalist Ernest Bazanye. Here Baz exposes his deep-rooted altruism as well as his concern for the education of the general public. A wonderful man, he.
3. An Evening Chapati Snack by Josh at In an African Minute.
I read this post about life in Kansanga just a few months before I came back to Uganda in September. At the time, I was wavering between coming here and giving it all up to pursue my field of study (which has nothing to do with Uganda) in another country. Josh’s description of a late-night walk through his neighborhood reminded me how intricately beautiful this country can be (randomly placed garbage heaps and all) and renewed my desire to spend at least a year in Kampala.
2. Anna Phillips Blog by Anna Phillips, writing for The Katalyst Blog.
Anna and I met in an airport in New Jersey a year ago, both on our first trip to Uganda. Her account of her experience leading a group of Acholi football players to the Homeless World Cup in South Africa in October is touchingly, eloquently honest. The fact that Anna — one of the most brilliantly outgoing, feistily active, fearlessly brazen (that’s a compliment) people I’ve ever met — would hate the fact that I just called her touching and eloquent makes it all the better.
1. How to Satisfy an African Taste by Pernille at I’ve Left Copenhagen for Uganda.
Pernille talks about beer, and this is my all-time favorite blog post of 2006. I especially like how she calls Bell “metrosexual” and how she admits to picking beer and CDs based on the graphic design of the label. Glad to know I’m not the only one.