Saturday, June 21, 2008 8:34PM

Shabbat in UgandaI am very lucky to be living at the house of a very religious family. They respect that I have my own religion and allow me to do what I need to keep to it's laws. Because of that, Shabbat in Uganda was exactly what it should be, extremely relaxing. Preparing for Shabbat was a small challenge. I wanted to cook things that would taste good cold (no salads, veggies must all be cooked or peeled) and bake challah. So I made couscous, potatoes with onions and cumin, sugar snap peas,and I opened a pack of Punjab eggplant from Trader Joe's, (once again,thanks mom). I even baked challah in a frying pan. Basically took water and flour, mixed 'em together until they felt right, let it rise a bit (it didn't), and then made them into little pizzas or dough, coated them with a little flour so they didn't stick to the pan, and threw them on the frying pan (no oil, its 32000Ush for a container of extra virgin olive oil, about$20). I basically made laffa. Oh and I made them yellow by throwing some tumeric in them. Yummy. I had no wine so I made the Kiddush blessings over the bread. I ate very very well, I even have leftovers. Shabbat was peaceful, I was the only one home besides John, the caretaker. I read and slept all day. Exactly what I needed, though I hope I can fall asleep tonight. I ran into a few problems. Specifically, I didn't know what time Shabbat started because I neglected to check up sunset in Mpererwe. I got by this by accepting Shabbat, lighting candles, way before the time. I then waited until late Saturday night, I saw some stars and then waited a little more. The sky was full of stars by 8:20. I had about 26 hours of relaxation. Tomorrow I get back to work, but I think we are all going to church in the morning so we cane be introduced to the congregation.