People I have met so far at web2fordev

Its amazing how small the work world can be. Today, I met two people who
have been to Uganda, one from Ghana and another from Germany. I met Mark
in the lunch queue, he noticed that I was from Uganda and told me that
he had just been to Uganda 2 weeks ago and had done quite a bit of
mountain climbing of the Rwenzoris, he even still had the aches from the
climb down, something that one should not do just for fun, it is very
hard work! Mark works with busy internet in Ghana and tradenet a market
access information network for Ghana farmers and he is in the private
sector, a sector that is not well represented at this forum. The other
person from Germany I met in the lift as we got lost together trying to
find our way to the German room, so we got chatting and I realised that
6 weeks ago she was in Uganda and doing some work with WOUGNET. well I
can not wait to run into more people tomorrow, this conference looks
like a great networking opportunity for ICT4D people

Internet fiasco

Even worse that getting lost yesterday was the luck of internet access
at this great FAO building, for some reason, FAO technical team could
not let us get on their wireless network and this meant that I had no
email for 4 days! I almost feel like I am on holiday.

Sadly, this is Tuesday and my Internet saga continues

The FAO Building

When I saw the FAO building for the first time on Saturday, I thought to
myself that is one huge building. little did I know how true that was.
On Monday, I did get lost quite a number of times between the various
buildings. In my opinion, the directions set up were not good enough
for somebody who has not been here before and does not know the
geography of this vast building. So for once there I was lost in a
building wondering if I will ever find my way out and to the hotel.
Lucky for me after wandering around for 20 minutes, I did find my way out.

Price of the Internet in Rome

Everybody has been complaining about the high cost of connectivity in
the developing world, in Uganda, at an internet cafe I pay 0.40 Euro
cents for 30 minutes, even where the cost of the internet has been
bloated due to the establishment that is providing it, you can get 30
minutes of access at 2 euros, here in Rome the cost of the internet at
my hotel is 4 euros for 30 minutes, are my at the wrong hotel in the
wrong continent or did I miss something?

Food Challenges

I am not an big fan of Italian food except their pizza and it has been
quite difficult to get food, unfortunately the world food programme
(McDonald's) is not close by so I can not even get the big mac, The
pizza in Uganda has definetely been modified to suit the Ugandan palate,
here in Rome the pizza is so oily and full of odd cheeses (that I may
even have allergies to) that it has not been a nice experience. the food
at the hotel is quite expensive the quantities are so small even I can
complain that this is not enough. The night I had dinner in the
restaurant, I wondered why they had an appretiff, then appetizer, then
first course, then main meal and finally dessert, all that on top of the
breads and tomatoes they give you to snack on while you wait, well when
my main course (the only thing I ordered) came I knew why, the
quantities were so small, just in the middle of a big plate. SO the next
day I decided I will take the metro to termini and get my self a big
mac, no more Italian food for me.

What is Rome Like?

Rome is a very old city and in some places it really shows. I was really
impressed with how proud they are of their heritage and the extents to
which they have gone to preserve it. I was really surprised and
disappointed with the cleanliness of the city, somehow, I thought it was
much cleaner than it was. the metro, especially linea B is horrendously
filthy and the train is full of graffiti, which I found so much at odds
with the majestic history of the place. The Romans enjoy their cafe, and
cappuccino and the number of outdoor cafes is amazing, even at 8:00am in
the morning, there are people seated at a cafe having a cappuccino and a
smoke