2 blog entries in 2008...so sad. But this entry is about something that happened in 2008, does that count? Here goes...

On November 1st, 5 Americans set off from their comfy homes to embark on an adventure in Uganda with me! The five daring ones were MY MOMMA!, Tracey, Pam and Lindsay, and Kathryn. This blog entry depicts the 3 weeks in November when the 5 of them came to visit me in Uganda: told through their eyes and mine.

So obviously, my tactic of surprising my mom with my visit home so she would still come to Uganda worked! I was so excited that her and Tracey made the decision and then thrilled when I found out the other three would be joining them. I couldn’t wait for them to experience my life in Uganda.

In my mom’s words on her anticipation and the first few hours of being here:

Going to Uganda to visit Nicole, I imagine, will be one of, if not, the most exciting things I will ever do in my life. You know how most people have a place they've "Always wanted to visit"? Well, Africa was never on my list. But when Nicole told me I could go visit her to ease the long anticipated 2 1/2 years of waiting to see her again, I was like, "yeah right".... But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had to go. How could I ever live with myself if I passed up an opportunity like that? I could not find out. Before I knew it we were in Detroit waiting to board our plane to Amsterdam, only a day away from seeing our girl. I felt safe and unnerved (other than being excited beyond my imagination), traveling with my buddies. As we landed in Entebbe, and we crossed the runway to enter the terminal, the 1st thing I had to do was check out the moon, (I LOVE the moon) and was so excited to see it in Africa. We were finally here.

It didn't seem real. BUT the excitement was too great for it not to be. Everything was smooth and happening really quick. The next thing I knew, there she was running to us with arms wide open and her smile was bigger than ever…simply unforgettable. She had a cab ready for us, but too many Muzungus (“the white ones”) and their luggage forced us to split up. We were on our way to Frank's Hostel in Entebbe, Nicole in one vehicle with our luggage, and me and my traveling buddies in the other.

We went first with Nicole close behind. Our driver was driving all over the road, I suspected he was trying to avoid the massive pot holes that appeared to be everywhere, but to me it seemed like he was aiming for them. Not even 30mins into the country, and 5mins into our drive, we have our first "scare" of our journey. Our driver turns right & Nicole's doesn't.... AHHHH!!! I started to ask him if he knew where he was going and he tried to repeat me with a question. Not only was the driver hitting every pot hole, he almost hit a boda (public motorcycle) driver peeing next to his motorcycle in the middle of the road. It was really strange as which point I calmly asked Pam to give me her worldwide Verizon cell phone. Of course, I knew Nicole's 15-digit phone number by heart, but at that point dialing it was a different story. At my third attempt we turned a big curve, pulled into a gated driveway & there Nicole was pulling in behind us. Her driver liked going the other way better. Thank God! I told her how scared I was and she gave our driver the what for, "this is their first time in Uganda, you should be welcoming them into the country, not scaring them!" she says in a stern, upset voice. Me, all relieved and grabbing my bags add, "yeah, no tip for you buddy", (thinking that was a great consequence) but the joke’s on me because they don't tip in Uganda!

Despite the fact that I was talking my driver’s ear off, I actually did realize that we didn’t turn when they did; however, it didn’t even cross my mind that they would be freaking out about the fact that I wasn’t there behind them. Whoops! The first of many airhead mistakes I made while everyone was here. I learned very quickly that these 5 people totally relied on my ‘expertise’ (ha) for everything. I felt like the mother hen with my chicks running behind me!!

We stayed up half the night drinking vodka mixed drinks and wine and reminiscing about their journey before we embarked on our 3 day safari adventure to Murchison Falls National Park. Probably one of the smartest things I did for planning the trip was to hire a private driver to drive us around. Public transportation is stressful for me when I am alone…I couldn’t imagine using it with my 5 chicks trailing behind me!! So Dominic, our awesome driver with his awesome safari van, was with us for 2 weeks.

Mom speaks very highly of him:

Traveling the whole first week with Dominic was simply the best. Everyone agrees we couldn’t of asked for a better guide/driver/friend. Anyone planning a trip to Uganda would miss out if you didn't hire him.

Kathryn also couldn’t say enough about our driver, who has become one of my good friends here.

There were six women and one fantastic private hire/ guide, Dominic; it was great. Dominic was truly someone wonderful to be with who had a wealth of information. He understood the country, the animals, the birds, and the people; everywhere we went they treated him with dignity and respect, which was such a comfort for me. (The 2nd part of the adventure of taking public transportation is a story book in itself! Yet to be written) He has a wonderful sense of humor. Thank-you, Nicole for all your hard work putting together that grand itinerary. What a great find Dominic was!!!

Dominic picked us up in Entebbe and took us on our first real adventure in Uganda, a place that was even new to me. We drove 6 hours up to the North Western part of the country to visit one of the most beautiful National Parks, Murchison Falls. On our way there, we stopped to check out the only 6 rhinoceros in Uganda at the Rhino Sanctuary. Due to the stellar driving skills of Dominic, we made it out alive…Kathryn tells this story:

On our way to Murchison National Park, we stopped at a Rhino Sanctuary; the muck was up to the bumpers of the van and we were looking down at it as if almost hit our faces, with big bulging eyes popping out of our faces…some sanctuary! We didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, tip over, or wonder if there was quick sand!! OH MY GOD!! The guide informed us that the Rhinos had gone way back into the water implying that we would have to hike to see them. “In these shoes??”, Nicole asked. All the guides/workers had on knee-length rubber rain boots, but do you think they could share? “...No boots for you!!!” said the guide. Someone else said " you should have boots for us to rent" "-" No boots for you, " he repeated himself. Nicole said firmly, "No boots for us, no hike for us, we shall return to receive our refund of shillings for we did not see the Rhinos". I believe it was less than ten minutes on our drive out of the sanctuary that our van got stuck. Not just a little stuck, I mean so very stuck deep in muck up past the rear end bumper. It probably didn’t help that our three hundred pounds of luggage was in the back! We figure that the extra 6 people and our body weight would probably do better good outside the van rather than weighing it down. So we got out. Remarkably, we were able to get out of the van on dry ground.

We had only been in Uganda for three days at this point so Paula was still kind of freaking out over the bugs, snakes or whatever else might get her, but in all fairness, she was being wise to keep her skin covered. She was bending over to put her pant legs into her socks, and I said, “Look Nicole, your mum has only been here a few days and she already has her ass-up!!” We then all proceeded to bend over and pretend to tuck our pant legs into our socks, just to make a good picture. The pictures are priceless. Our asses were up, the guys were digging out our stuck van, and mud was flying everywhere, hilarious!

It amazes me to think that throughout Africa, women work with their ass-up. They sweep, garden, wash dishes, wash clothes, and cook with no bend at the knees, yet quite a curve in the lower back. One day, Archie arrived at Tori's house and said "Hey, What's up, Tracey?" She replied "My ass, I've been washing dishes!!!!"

So then we discovered the stools they are functional, cute, and a reminder for me to keep my ass down!

The whole “ass-up” saying was something we continued to joke about the entire trip. Even with my Ugandan friends, they all put their ass up when they do anything in the village!! More about my village later, now, onto surviving the sanctuary!

Once we survived the Rhino Sanctuary after seeing only the ass of one rhino, (lots of asses that day) we were back on the road up to Murchison. Murchison is one of many national parks located in Uganda. It’s not called the “Pearl of Africa” for nothing! Here we went on a couple safaris, hiked to the top of the falls, and went on a boat cruise.

Our first safari day fell on November 4th …election day (and Ryan’s birthday!). Because we were in the middle of the national park with no electricity or access to the outside world, I wasn’t sure exactly how we would find out the results. At one point Kathryn said “I wonder who the 44th president of the United States is…”. Not 15 minutes later I received a text message from my Obama Loving Friend, Archie stating “And the 44th is…………………..Obama!” It was a funny coincidence and an exciting day for me and my Ugandan friends (I won’t speak for everyone).

Murchison has all the “African” animals you typically think of when you think of an African Safari. We walked among the giraffes, watched lions ‘almost’ hunt, cruised along the Nile with the hippos, and witnessed herds of buffalo, water bucks, and elephants. Pam tells us about the boat cruise along the Albert Nile, different from our rafting experience on the Victoria Nile!

The first time we saw the Nile River it seemed so surreal to me. It was very wide and serene with puffs of foam floating everywhere. All I could imagine was Cleopatra floating down it on her elaborate boat. We took a cruise up the river to see the Murchison Falls. The water was like glass and then all of a sudden someone said they saw a hippo. Of course, we were all excited and straining to see for ourselves. At first, it was one or two heads and then tons of them! Being the westerners that we are, we were in awe!! Who could imagine these huge animals just living under the still water. It was amazing!! As we made our way further upstream, we saw lots more wildlife, but the hippos commanded most of my attention until there in the distance was the falls. It was beautiful!! We couldn't get as close as you do at Niagara Falls, but it was awesome!! The next day we hiked up to the top of the falls with a guide and got to see everything up close and personal including a nice shower from the mist of the falls. It felt wonderful and we dried in minutes as it was very hot out. We discovered there were two sets of falls and the second was formed from a flood about the time that Uganda gained its freedom from England, so they named the second ones Freedom Falls.

Of course, it was not all about business at the National Park. On our last night, Mom, Tracey, and I decided to stay up late to bond with some of the employees. I don’t remember much, but mom tells this story!

We spent a couple nights at Murchison and chatted a bit with the workers from the place we stayed. There were two young men working at the bar one night, Emanuel and Nick. On our last night, Nicole, Tracey and I stayed up with the guys found them passing the time by playing with this giant cricket. The biggest cricket I'll probably ever see.

Nicole tried warning me about the crazy bugs there. This thing was so big you almost wanted to dress him up in a doll size tuxedo. We decided he needed a name so me, a couple of rum and cokes, and my love for the singer/song writer Jack Johnson, pretty much insisted his name be Jack. No one could come up with anything better so everyone accepted. Jack the giant cricket it was! At this point, I’m pretty sure that Emmanuel and Nick thought we were legitimately crazy! Well, the next morning came around and 'Jack' was missing. Emmanuel and Nick were very vague and refused to answer questions about the whereabouts of Jack, the giant cricket that needed to be in a tuxedo! You had to be there. To this day, we are still not sure about what happened to our little friend, Jack.

Even in Uganda, mom can’t forget about Jack! What about Steve?! Ha, sorry dad!!

So our three day safari adventure came to an end on Friday when we drove 8 hours across the country to the Source of the Nile, where we would embark on or next adventure…The Mighty White Nile! Before we got there though, of course, there is a story in between! Driving in Uganda is hardly anything but quiet, but being sooooo hung over and trying to sleep, I was really hoping for a smooth 8 hour ride…I guess I could hope, right? Lindsay’s ride was much more memorable than mine:

We were on our way to Jinja where we would go rafting. This was going to be an all day van ride, so we had left very early in the morning (6:40 to be exact) in order to get there at a reasonable time. Some of us napped on and off during the trip and at one point I woke up to Paula whispering “we just blew out a tire”. I sat up, looked around, and realized that we were basically in the middle of nowhere on what I considered to be pretty close to a dirt road. It was more like that reddish clay, but whatever. We happened to be stopped in front of a couple of small huts where a family was outside, a man, woman, several young children running around, and one small baby. I actually counted 8 children total. Most of them were barefoot and the mother was sitting on the ground breastfeeding the baby. She did not stop on our account, breastfeeding is completely normal to do whenever/wherever in Ugandan culture. So needless to say, we saw our fair share of boobs. The man was sewing up tall canvas bags full of charcoal, I think to be sold right there on the side of the road. The children were all waving and pointing at the “muzungus”. Once the initial excitement of seeing white people passed, they just stood and stared at us. Nicole was able to exchange a few words in their language with the man, but overall his English was not very good. In the background, some of the kids were running in and out of the hut, yelling for our attention When we would look their way, they’d giggle and run back inside. A fun little game of Ugandan peek-a-boo. One of the little girls gestured for me to come over to her. It was like a backwards wave, which means “come here”. I wasn’t sure if it would be kosher to approach her, so I looked back to my group and my Mom was like “go ahead, Linds”. She knew I was itching to get close to the little girl. So I slowly made my way over to her with my hand held out as a sign of friendship and peace. She only stood there with her delicate, unwashed hands in her mouth staring at me with beautiful brown eyes. I could tell that she was nervous. She looked towards the man, who spoke to her and gestured towards me. I believe he was telling her that it was okay. She was frozen in that spot. I spoke to her, saying hello and how beautiful she was, all the while maintaining my hand extended out to her. It was as unusual to her as it was to me. Who knows if she has ever seen a muzungu up close before. And for me, I wanted to communicate with her, but the language barrier was too much. A smile and soft voices were enough, they had to be.

Nicole then reminded us that we had some pineapple left over from breakfast in the van that we could offer them. They clearly didn’t have much and were most likely very hungry. So Tracey and I got the fruit and held it out to them. They weren’t nervous to come near us then. They graciously accepted the pineapple, kneeling at our feet and bowing their heads as a sign of gratitude and respect; another heart melting moment. They all then sat in a group and devoured the pineapple with huge smiles on their faces. The man thanked us. It was a bittersweet moment; I was so happy to see their smiles and appreciation, but also sad to see how they were living. Kids without shoes, some of them wearing nothing but a long T-shirt, no beds, dirt floors, just pure poverty. One little boy’s belly was so protruded, probably from a combination of malnourishment as well as worms. I know, how sad right? The poor little guy had to be physically prompted to take the pineapple from us. Again, it puts a whole new prospective on our lives and what we have, how truly fortunate we are. I forget that too often. I’m glad the tire went flat that day.

No AAA in Uganda, so Dominic changed the tire himself and we were back on the road within 30 minutes. 30 minutes that felt like 3 hours in my hung over world. Finally, we made it to Jinja around 3pm that day and I refused all beer for the day. Being hung over rafting on the Nile was not something I wanted to experience. Emotions raged with fear, excitement, anticipation, anxiety, exhilaration, and apprehension. Mom shares her memories from the Nile:

One of my anticipated adventures was rafting on the Great Nile River. I was so excited and it was the coolest thing. The day was overcast, which was a good thing because we would of fried! The temperature was perfect. Rapids, scary yet amazing, grade 4 & 5, they don't kid around…you can get seriously hurt. I believe it was the 3rd rapid we faced and lost half of our passengers, all surfaced and retrieved except, NICOLE!!!! I went in to a panic and I searched the river as far as I could see. No Nicole, I tried asking Prince Charles (our guide) where she was but he was too pre-occupied with other random rafters being saved in the rapid. It was intense, in his own little distracting way he appeared to try to assure me she was safe. Yet, still I could not see her. Only a minute or two had passed but it was enough to escalate my panic mode into almost hysteria.

Then, Prince Charles says, as he looks around some more, "We're missing a paddle"? At which point I screamed with my arms in the air, "WE'RE MISSING A PERSON!!!!!” I wanted to hit him with my paddle. Ugh!!! He then, in a more direct manner and seriousness assured me that my daughter was safe. It still took a minute or so for me to see for myself but then I found her she was waving & floating on a rescuers kayak just hanging out as we drifted to her. Once again thank you GOD!!!

We definitely had one of the best guides, Prince Charlie, or Prince of the Nile, whatever you prefer! When we succeeded on a rapid, (when I say ‘succeeded’, I mean, everyone who started IN the raft at the beginning of the rapid, ended IN the raft at the completion of the rapid) Prince Charlie and our team would put all of our paddles in the center of the raft and yell “PRINCE OF THE NILE!!!”. And of course, when you have a prince, you must have princesses and a Queen! With Charlie and his girls, our fear and apprehension soon turned into confidence and hilarious times. Linds tells one of our hilarious moments:

So there we were, a little freaked out (or at least I was) after our raft had flipped on a grade 3 rapid. I had been sucked up and spit out repeatedly before I was finally rescued by a kayaker, who made sure that I was okay and then proceeded to exclaim: “didn’t they tell you to hang on if the boat flipped?!” Well, no shit, but it’s just a little difficult to do so when you are being tossed around like a ragdoll in one of the biggest rivers in the world! Needless to say, I survived and still don’t regret taking my chances rafting on the Nile. The whole day was absolutely amazing, but there were a few highlights. One involved me laughing so hard that I actually took after my Mom and pseudo-Mom and peed my pants, well bathing suit if you want to get technical.

We came to a rapid and most of the people in our raft managed to get tossed out, all except me and another girl that was with our group. Nicole was able to hold onto the boat (what a rafting pro that girl is), at which time Charlie, our guide, attempted to pull her back in before she, too, got carried off by the water again. As he is doing so, he is literally screaming at her (we knew he was joking though) to “hurry, hurry up, there are crocodiles! CROCODILES!!!!!!!! They are coming for you!! Hurry, get in!!!!” In the meantime, I am laughing my ass off because of the way Charlie was saying all of this and watching poor Nicole trying her best to help pull herself up onto the boat. Now this is not an easy task, especially after being swallowed up by the rapids, at which time your arms have the strength of a toothpick! Add laughing to that and then see how quick you can get back into that raft. So here’s Nicole being pulled up by her life jacket laughing uncontrollably because she is going to potentially be eaten by these crocodiles, whose lunchtime it just happens to be. The other girl in the raft and I were helpless because we had lost our strength from laughing so much, we couldn’t even help pull Nicole in. What a time to be useless, right?! But we knew that Charlie had it under control. All I have to say is thank God we were in water because I had complete loss of bladder control from all of the excitement! I am my mother’s daughter!!

Ok, so can I just clarify one thing? There ARE crocodiles in the river and it WAS lunch time! So while I was outside of the raft hoping people on the inside would help me back in, I had no idea that Charlie was actually joking around when he was screaming his face off telling me to hurry up and get in. I was FREAKING OUT! Meanwhile, Lindsay is peeing her pants laughing and leaving me to the crocs! Thanks, Linds! But once I managed to get in, we all had a good laugh, and even still, I laugh every time I think about it!! Good times with the Queen(s), the Prince and his Princesses!!

Ahhh, ok so after our week of ‘touristy’ things, we continued east to my hometown, Mbale. Of course, I was happy to go rafting again, and visit Murchison, but my real excitement was to have my visitors come to my home and experience MY life in Uganda. Everyone got down and dirty in the village with roughing it from using a pit latrine, to bucket bathing, and experiencing the power outages. They even went around to see some of my work in Uganda. Here are some highlights!

Mom talks about visiting one of the communities I work in:

One of the most heart-warming parts of our trip was meeting the people Nicole works with everyday and being able to visit some of FDNC's communities that she works in. All the people were so welcoming and oh so happy that we came to meet them and see their country. I was especially surprised at everyone’s reaction to me when they found out I was Nicole's mother. You would’ve thought I was the Queen, I kid you not. I imagine because I produced her and they adore her. Richard, her counterpart, brought tears to my eyes as he spoke to us of how grateful they are to have her there, explaining what a big help she is there, as he thanked me, her Dad, & God for giving her to them. When we were traveling through the different villages and seeing how the local Ugandans lived, I made eye contact with several of them. I sensed so many feelings looking at their eyes, although we spoke no words. I sensed despair, anger, longing, sadness, happiness, gratitude & hope. As I was there I couldn't help but think, 'I wish every American could come here and witness up close and personal their way of life'. I just wonder how that would change our world.

Lindsay talks about her experience at the Kisakye Memorial Special Needs School, where we spent an afternoon with the children who have various disabilities:

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love kids. So one of the things I was most excited for in Africa was seeing the children. Upon arrival to Nicole’s village, we visited the special needs school that is close by. They have one amazing teacher and a classroom full of about 15 kids or so, all with various physical and/or mental disabilities. As we entered the classroom, there were chairs lined up along the front of the room for us to sit in. This is the kind of treatment we got wherever we went, pretty unbelievable actually! So we all sit down and the teacher proceeds to lead the children in several songs they had prepared for us. They began singing a song that read: “this is the time to welcome our visitors; happy, we are happy to say welcome”. Well, that’s all it took to melt my heart! I lost it. Just watching their tiny, beautiful faces as they sang to us put me over the edge. These kids have close to nothing and yet they are so happy! I was overcome with emotion and the tears flowed from my eyes so heavily that I nearly had to get up and leave the room. Tracey and Nicole looked at me and almost started to cry too. I was finally able to pull myself together and continue watching and listening as they sang about dancing, God, etc. We can really learn a lot from these kids. They are just like the ones here who have special needs; friendly, happy, and adorably cute who just need that little bit of extra time, love, and care. Just seeing how little they have and how much they make out of just that is truly inspiring and uplifting. It made me realize that I shouldn’t take things for granted and to be thankful that I was born where I was with all of the privileges that I have.

After their presentation to us and observing part of a lesson, we were treated to a delicious lunch and got to hang out with some of the kids. One little girl named Katie, who was absolutely adorable, took a liking to me and occupied my lap for a good half hour or so. She loved my sunglasses and had to repeatedly try them on. I didn’t mind because she looked so cute in them! She was also fascinated with my hair and enjoyed just being held and cuddled. At one point, another little girl named Jane, who couldn’t walk and had to scoot along the ground to get around when she wasn’t being pushed in her homemade wheelchair made from a white plastic lawn chair, came in and got into a little verbal argument with Katie, I think over wanting to sit on my lap, but Katie wouldn’t let her. I am basing this on hand gestures and tone of voice because they were speaking in their local language so we couldn’t understand them. But Jane was pointing to me and yelling at Katie about something, I mean really yelling in her small yet powerful voice, at which point Katie would snuggle in closer to me and say no to Jane, giving her this look like “ha, ha, she’s mine; I’m sitting here and there’s nothing you can do about it”. I felt bad for poor Jane sitting there on the floor. Jane then scooted out the door and back into the classroom. Poor thing!!

Mom talks about one of her challenges and amazing moments:

Going to the bathroom in all the different types of bathroom we encountered I'd say was the most challenging. For example, the worst was a cement floor with a rectangular slit in it. Whoa, I don't mind roughing it, but that to me was a little shocking. While we were at Nicole’s village, we were 98 steps from her 'latrine pit' as she calls it. Just to give you an idea, when you woke up in the middle of the night and you thought you had to go.... you really thought about whether you had to go. Although, I must admit that it was the best 'bathroom' on the trip, pleasantly surprising! The very first night Kathryn woke & needed a bathroom buddy to accompany her down the path. I am so thankful I woke up to join her. On our way back we stopped to look up at the sky and see all the stars. It was amazing…more stars and constellations than you can possibly imagine! As we stood there at 3o'clock in the morning, not remembering it was prime time for the malaria carrying mosquitoes to be out, I witnessed a shooting star! Again, thank you God and thank you Kathryn for having to pee!!!! The sky was never found looking that amazing again during our stay.

And the full moon party!! Of course, from mom:

On November 14th, we had a full moon party/my early 50th birthday party! This was a pretty big deal because I planned my trip around the full moon, sounds silly but true. Just ask my travel agent, Maryanne Petrie if you don't believe me! Nicole planned a party just for me because I have them in America and she wanted to have one in Uganda. I was so excited and could not wait. She invited all her friends and it was wonderful…until I got drunk and fell asleep! I like to think I was just to overwhelmed to function.

The full moon party was quite a party. It was the most people that had been in Tori’s house at once ever! Somehow, we managed to feed everyone and host a great time! As you heard, SOME people had too much fun!! But the fun soon ended when we had to say good bye to Pam and Linds….and sadly, to our private driver. I don’t think anyone really wanted to talk about their experience on public transportation and I don’t blame them. It’s scary, but it’s part of my life here, and I wanted them to experience my life. That, they did!! We ventured to Luwero, my home for the first 10 weeks in training. American Mom meet my Ugandan Mom!!

Tracey talks about her experience with my Uganda Family that I stayed with for the first 10 weeks of being here.

The stay at Luwero was a lot of things, great, horrifying, painful, and hilarious. Let me explain:

Great: Everyone there was awesome, just like everyone in Uganda they were so welcoming. Josephine, Peter, Cathy and Victor were all there welcoming us with open arms. Their house was beautiful and they had ice cold water for us after a very long journey. It was GREAT!

Horrifying: So after some water and getting settled in, I needed to use the bathroom. Nicole says she is going also so I follow her. She walks around back a goes into where are staying.. I didn't realize we need to stop for some TP. Then we go back to the latrines, which was about a 7 inch by 3 inch rectangle (also off center). Let’s just say there is some acquired skill involved, which I did not have. It was pretty HORRIFYING!.

Painful: Victor, is two. Let’s just say he is terrible. Well, only when you didn't pay attention to him, then he would come up and BITE! If I had known picking him up and swinging him around meant playmate for the day, I would have made better choices. So whenever my attention wasn't on Victor, his teeth where in my thigh. He was a tall two year old, and boy was he PAINFUL!!

Last but not least

Hilarious: Josephine, Cathy, Nicole, mom and I are all sitting chatting on the front stoop when to my left I hear the two house girls screaming and yelling, and then a rooster clucks. I think to myself "what kind of game are they playing over there??" after a few minutes they come around the corner to the front of the house and they are following the rooster. I ask Josephine what they are doing and they tell me they are getting dinner! OH MY GOD!

We watch a few more minutes while these girls try and try again to corner this rooster until Momma Joe says "let me show you how it’s done!" half a minute later (including her 25 sec walk to the rooster) she has it. I blinked and missed it! Good thing we got it on tape to watch over and over again! It was HILARIOUS!!!

After the stay, we continued the adventure on public transportation from Luwero back to Mbale. I think I was more stressed out then they were! At least this time, I only had 3 little chicks behind me. To pass the time on a bus in the bus park Tracey explains what we did for the 3 hours:

Nicole and I had a contest against Mom and Kathryn to see who could name more things that you can buy waiting on a bus. We wrote down things we saw either out the window or that people had coming on the bus and walking down the aisle. This was the list we came up with:

socks, t shirts, handkerchiefs, purses, sliver ware, wallets, watches, razors even electric ones, chips(a plate of french fries), bread, g nuts, memo pads, umbrellas, radios, lights, newspapers, change purse, airtime for cell phones, gum, fried chicken, belts, bananas, apples, ties, table cloth, suit coats, water/soda, random candy, footballs (soccer), locks, muffins, flashlights, earrings, dolls, mirrors, comb, notebooks, “Lord Heal Me” books, sunglasses, slinky, pillows, ice cream cone, eye glass case, chocolate bar, hats, glucose biscuits, shawls, cookies, yogurt, mats, toothbrush, toothpaste, baby outfits, calendar posters, bags, rings, eggs, photo albums, scarves, necklace and earring sets, kids socks, headache medicine, cell phones, GRASSHOPPERS, wraps, sandals, oranges, baby shoes, wall hangings, and pants.

Nicole and I won.

During this week after we dropped Pam and Linds off, I didn’t really have much planned. I was mostly just relieved to spend some time in the village and relax after the two weeks of traveling/entertaining. Basically, we were villagers! Drinking Bloody Marys, Russian Mimosas, and playing with the cutest little 2 year old EVER! It was a good thing Emma was there to entertain us because I was tired of being the center of attention!! Regardless, the last week was full of relaxing and enjoying the village life, my life. Not quite the beach vacation, but it will do!

And this is a story about our last night, African Sister Style…in Tracey’s words:

On our last Friday night in Uganda, Nicole and I decided that I needed a night out, AFRICAN STYLE. So we went out to this crazy place called ‘Restville’ where tons and tons of people were all hanging out drinking and dancing. The main reason there were tons of people was because the beer Pilsner was sponsoring a search for the hottest DJ. Unfortunately, we weren’t the hottest DJs, but we were definitely drunk! The ploy was if you buy 3 Pilsners, you get the 4th free; and then if you buy 5, you get a wicked awesome Pilsner glow in the dark t-shirt. And boy did we want some t-shirts. So after I decided that I didn't need to drink my delicious Nile Special, I joined Nicole drinking Pilsner….these where some pretty awesome t-shirts. Nicole’s friend, Noel and this guy who I didn't know at the time (Edward, I think) were talking about the Pilsner shirts and Nicole and I were very interested. So Nicole being the shameless white girl in Uganda goes up to him and asks what the deal is and he says "I was just telling Noel how I have all the Pilsner shirts in my car because I am with the crew"! Nicole’s like “I WANT A MEDIUM!!!” So after the first 2 drinks (about 4 beers) Eddie brings out the shirts and of course we all put them on…boy did we LOOK GOOD! By this point we are on our 3rd beer and ready for the 4th free one (already in ours shirts). I felt like I owned the place…Restville had no idea what it was getting itself into letting two white sisters into the place!! So I go and get the free beer and go back to hang out with Jingo, Noel, Irene, Nicole, and Hasfa. We were all dancing and having Oreo sandwiches (big hugs with me in the middle of two or more Ugandans!) I was super excited for the sandwich between Noel and Jingo that I knocked my beer over and it went all over my foot and some on Nicole!!! It was ok because the party was still BUMPIN!! The camera was out, pictures were taken, beers were consumed, and there was dancing on chairs all night!! You know, the only two white girls trying not to stand out too much! All in all it was one of the best times out in the African Night Life scene!

I was disappointed that our shirts weren’t medium, they only came in one size…XL, but I was just happy that we got 6 shirts and didn’t have to buy 30 beers!! It’s great to know people!!

With that being the conclusion of the 3 week adventure for the 5 daring ones, I must say that it was quite the experience on my end having them here. I went through so many emotions during the visit, but mostly I was just overwhelmed with joy that they made such a huge leap to come to Uganda to see my life here. We had such an unbelievable time experiencing this part of the world together and me opening up my new world to people that mean so much to me. I hope that you girls had an amazing, unforgettable time with me here...and the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure!!

my trip to america

One of the things I was least looking forward to about going home was the epic journey that is required when you travel from Africa to North America. Especially when you are anxiously awaiting to see people you haven’t seen in almost a year, and surprising your mother! That was me on Sunday, June 22nd at Entebbe Airport, dreading the 40 hours of airplanes and airports that would be happening in the next days of my life. Unfortunately, science hasn’t come as far as being able to teleport people to and from places, but I must say that the countless hours on a plane or in an airport was so worth it.

The challenge was not enduring the multiple airplanes and airports on multiple continents; the challenge, however, was keeping this a secret to my mother, who by the way calls me multiple times a week. With the help of my wonderful father, sister, a few friends, and travel agent, the secret was kept for over 6 months from my mom. After a while, I was beginning to think that in the last few weeks I would be the one to blow the surprise. The closer June 22nd got, the harder it was for me to talk to her and not yell “MOM!!!! I’m coming home in a week!”. Finally, after months and months and months of planning, June 22nd was finally here and I was sitting in Entebbe airport, trying not to freak out with anticipation.

So there I am, at the airport at 5pm waiting for my plane to depart for Amsterdam at 10pm. Five hours to wait. I knew mom was going to call me at some point during the day, but I was just hoping it would be earlier so I wouldn’t get stuck in the predicament of having to lie to her about my whereabouts. Sorry mom, but you called too late and I couldn’t tell you exactly where I was! The conversation went something like this:

Mom: Jeez Nicole, it sounds really loud…where are you?

Woman on loudspeaker at the airport: all passengers flying to Nairobi on Kenya Airways, please proceed to gate number 5

Me: Yeah, I know, it’s really loud here. I’m on a taxi. The radio is on and there are a bunch of people talking.

Me thinking in my head: SSHHIIITTTTT!!!!

Luckily, mom was pretty clueless. We ended the conversation with me telling her not to call me for a few days because I was ‘really busy with work’, and that we would talk later in the week. Little did she know that she was going to be seeing me two nights later!!

The only plane delayed the whole entire trip was the one from JFK to Syracuse, of course. It was scheduled to depart at 10pm, but didn’t end up departing until 12am. I’m on American soil…so close, yet so far away. Finally, the 30 minute plane ride was over, and after a Starbucks Frappuccino, my heart was racing and my hands were shaking. I’m not sure if it was the excitement or caffeine overdose or both, but I was about to see my friends and family for the first time in almost a year!!

It was quite the extravaganza, I learned, for my Tracey, and my brother’s girlfriend, Rachel, to get out of the house to pick me up at the airport without my mom being suspicious. She usually goes to bed early on Monday nights because she does ‘perpetual adoration’ every Tuesday morning from 2am until 3am…it’s a catholic thing. Anyways, she was not going to bed! For some strange reason, she felt the need to stay up way past her bedtime and the girls needed to leave! They both had to sneak out of the house in order to be on time to pick me up at the Syracuse Airport. I guess luckily, my plane was delayed! Finally, I arrived in Syracuse at 12:30am, and Tracey, Rachel and Lindsay were patiently awaiting my arrival. Hugs and screams were definitely in order (and definitely happened)…but we all had one thing on our minds, surprising the momma!

Dad met me in the front yard, where we park the cars (now, Pam, Linds, Tracey and Rachel are all there). One of the first, most unexpected things I noticed that I missed after living in Uganda for a year was grass…freshly cut by the lawn mower kind of grass. Yeah. I snagged some up and took a big whiff! I think I hugged my dad first, but it’s all kind of a big blur at this moment!

At this point, we still had no idea how we were going to make the big surprise happen. And as we plotted how to execute the plan, I was overcome with excitement. We finally decided how I was going to surprise her. Just before her alarm was about to go off, at 1:45am to get up for adoration, which dad got her out of going that day, I JUMPED in bed with her and screamed “MOMMA!!! I’M HOME!!!!” With pictures flashing, lights turned on, and 7 people plus a dog around her bed, she had absolutely no idea what hit her. Thankfully she didn’t have a heart attack or pee her pants; she just held her face and asked if she was dreaming. There we all are with a successful 6 months of secrecy finally out in the open! And we were all ready for a cold drink!

Now, ‘why surprise your mom?’, you ask? Let me tell you why I decided to travel half way around the world and not tell my mom about it…

First of all, before I left for Uganda last year, I told everyone that this was it…I’ll see you in 27 months. In my mind, I was determined to be gone for the whole two year service and not come home. Well, as time went on, things changed.

A little background before I finish the explanation: At some point during training, my mom first expressed an interest in coming here to visit me. I remember talking to her on the phone and her saying that she can’t go two years without seeing me and if she has to come to Uganda, then she was coming to Uganda. Naturally, I was thrilled that she (or anyone for that matter) would want to come here to see me. And after training, once I came to my new home in Mbale, I wanted her to come and visit even more to meet my co-workers, see my village, and my life here.

So back in December, I started thinking in my head about coming home, just for a little vacation to see everyone…let’s be frank here, two years is a long freaking time to go without seeing my family, friends, and America in general. I was debating when a good time to come home was. I first thought about the holidays, and then I remembered winter in Upstate NY. Going from African winter to Syracuse winter probably wasn’t the best idea, and plus, holidays are always so busy. Then I was thinking about a wedding. Summer wedding/summer fun…why not, right? Was I totally nuts? I had to ask to be sure. Tracey was the first to get the ‘am I crazy?’ email. And to answer your question about why I would surprise my mom by traveling 7,000 miles across the world is this: I couldn’t risk the chance that if she knew I was coming home, then it would ruin all of her ideas of coming to Uganda to visit me. Because why would she need to come here if I was coming home? Until she received her passport in the mail and a receipt for the plane ticket, only a few select people could know. Then, after all that happened and she was definitely coming to Uganda whether or not she found out, it was just a free for all. Like a game: how many people can we tell without mom finding out?...almost everyone.

Ok, back to the drinking. Nothing like an ice, cold, frozen, fresh strawberry daiquiri to start the night off right after traveling for two days straight. Everyone was up all night, and luckily, almost everyone had the next day off…Pam, you’re such a trooper! A celebration was definitely in order, and mom still didn’t know what to think. She just kept staring at me and wondering if it was really me.

The next 13 days were amazing, and crazy and overwhelming and so many other indescribable emotions. I was in America, and I couldn’t believe that I was back after living in a different country for a year. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, nothing seemed to change too much. Good old Oneida was still the same as I remembered it. Some of the highlights were hanging out with family and friends, boat rides, constant electricity, seriously hot water, blue cheese and pizza, racino, Saranac Pomegranate Wheat, Madison Hope, driving, driving on the right side of the road, crazy new wii games, real muzungu haircut, safe tap water for drinking, taking an uncountable number of pictures, and not sleeping under a mosquito net [for medical reasons ;)] ...you know, my same old American life.

One of the craziest things about being home was talking about my life in Uganda. Still, even after one year of living this life, sometimes I have to pinch myself to make me realize where I am and what I am doing. I loved all the questions people had about Peace Corps, Uganda, my work, and my day to day life here. I felt so special that people wanted to know about it. At certain times, I would get caught up in the moment and forget that it was me; I felt like I was talking about someone else’s life in Uganda. As I was saying things about what I do and how my life is, I had to really think about it, and at one point, it hit me, and I said to myself, ‘wow that is me, and it’s pretty awesome!’.

Life back in the village is just how I remember it. I had a great vacation home, and it was great to see everyone, but I definitely missed it here. My work, my home, and my life are all here, in Uganda, for the next 14 months.

Lastly, before I end this blog, I want to thank everyone who was involved with the planning, organizing, and most importantly, keeping of the secret with my trip. I especially want to thank Mary Anne for organizing my trip and communicating with me and dad via email throughout the whole process. I appreciate the promptness with getting back to me with all my questions, and also for keeping it a secret the whole time when mom was planning her trip with you to Uganda! Of course, my wonderful father who made the whole surprise happen, thank you for organizing everything on that end! And Tracey, for calling me multiple times a week during the last few weeks when I was freaking out about coming home…or should we thank mom for putting the calls on her tab?? To everyone who took time out their busy American lives to spend time with me, thank you!

And one more thing…CONGRATULATIONS to Sarah and Grant, and Tara and Jesse, the newlywed couples!

I don’t have any good reasons for not blogging in the last 4 ½ months, so I’m not even going to try to give one…just jumping into it!

Back when, remember when I was so confident that I wouldn’t have any rodents in my house?? And how I was so happy to be living in my hut instead of Tori’s house because of her rodent problem?? Well…after two weeks in Kampala for my first In-Service Training (back in January), I came back to my hut DESTROYED from a mouse/mice. There was mouse shit everywhere, it ate through my bag of flour, and flour was all over my room…I was so disgusted, and to make matters worse, it was the talk of the village. ‘The Muzungu is afraid of rats!!!’ My coworkers found it hilarious that I didn’t like having rats in my one room circular house (sorry, its just not my cup of tea!). I refused to sleep in my house for the first 4 nights after coming back and I tried to kill them with these huge Ugandan rat traps…the ‘rats’ were too small for the trap. Apparently, my rats were really just mice, and they were eating the bait off of the trap without the trap going off! Ugh! So then I tried rat poison aka human pain medicine that rats OD on. There was no sign of them eating the flour/medicine mixture, and after the fourth night of sleeping in town, I decided I needed to be brave and sleep in my house. I slept with the lights on for the first couple nights, and then I was convinced that they were gone. I WON! Or so I thought…until one morning about a week later I hear something in my house at 6am. I am under my mosquito net, and get my flashlight out to see what it is, hoping it just a cockroach or a lizard, which I’m fairly used to now. Well, it was a mouse! Surprisingly, I handled it much better than I ever would have expected, plus, I think it was drugged up from feasting on the flour/pain medicine mixture that still remains on my floor for the little bastards to eat. I tried beating with my broom to get out of my house and I’m pretty sure that it died in the bushes and told his friends not to go in the thatch roofed hut because I’ve been rat free ever since!!

More recently, I had a wonderful Easter with my host family in Luweero. Its so hard to believe that my group isn’t the ‘new group’ anymore. My family was hosting another volunteer and the trainees just had their swearing in ceremony at the beginning of the month. It seems like just a month ago I was swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Victor, the nine month old baby when I was there, is now a year and 3 months and quite the little terror. It was great to be back temporarily to see everyone again, and they all loved having me home for the holiday.

In general, transportation in Uganda is not exactly easy or fun, and there are several modes of public transportation including buses, mini buses, taxis, motorcycles and bicycles. Yes, bicycles as a form of public transport. Everyone here knows the bicycle ‘taxi’s’ as ‘boda bodas’, or short just ‘bodas’. Apparently, they got their name because they used to drive from border to border, and the name became adapted to boda boda. Both bicycle bodas and motorcycle bodas are referred to boda bodas. Of course, motorcycle bodas are strictly prohibited by Peace Corps…strictly prohibited meaning, if I ride a one, I go home. It’s that simple. However, bicycle bodas with my bicycle helmet are not prohibited, and I have actually gotten used to riding side saddle in my skirt with my helmet to town! The first time I took a boda bicycle was like the 2nd month I was at site, and Tori had to help me figure out how to get on. The bikes are Hero bikes, these huge, heave duty, one gear bikes with a padded seat on the back with fringe (where the passenger sits). So there I am, helmet strapped on, sitting side saddle (because I’m wearing a skirt) riding down the main road on my way to Mbale Town! It’s been pretty easy getting to and from town on these bicycle bodas, and they even love taking the Muzungu to town because I pay 1000 shillings, which is 300 shillings more than a Ugandan pays. One day, I was riding to town, and the boda driver was pedaling away and when we were almost to my destination, he says to me in an out of breath manner, “Madam, you pay 1,500” ha! Trying to get 800 shillings more from a Muzungu than a Ugandan is just being greedy! I don’t consider myself to be a large girl, but it made me wonder, should the price of the boda ride depend on the person’s weight? I no longer have to worry about it because I have my own bike now with gears that I ride to and from town. I figured it would be cheaper in the long run, and I get some cardio out of it!

Over the Christmas break, I taught myself how to play the flute, and started teaching at the end of February at a local primary school in Mbale. I have three students who are all boys and doing great! Just the other day, they were able to play ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’…I’m a proud teacher! Its funny, because I wasn’t sure if they knew the song, but once they started playing it, their eyes lit up and were so excited. They new exactly what they were playing, and they were elated that they were able to read music. Its only three notes, but a huge accomplishment for these primary school students! Phil is on his way to the first youth orchestra in East Africa!

More soon…promise! :)

Before my vacation started, I was super busy finishing up the year. Tori and I were working on one of the projects, the 12 month long curriculum. We decided to do it in quarters. Despite the fact that I have never written a curriculum/lesson plan, and we waited until the week before it needed to be done to do it, it turned out well. The first three topics for January, February, and March are Water/Hygiene/Sanitation, HIV/AIDS, and Family Planning. I have so much more respect for teachers now that I have actually written a lesson plan…I had no idea how much work it was. Tori and I were both up til 2am three nights before the week ended. Hopefully that taught us a lesson to start a little earlier for the next quarter of the project.

I’ve been having a wonderful time ever since my vacation actually started! There was a work holiday party at Justin’s house (the executive director). Most of the employees of FDNC were there to celebrate the end of the year. It was a nice time to spend with everyone before the holiday break. For Christmas, a bunch of other volunteers and I went to Rachel’s village outside of Mbale Town. Rachel was my language teacher during training and has four boys, Keith, Kennedy (“like the president”…her words!), Kelvin, and Kris. They are so freaking adorable! The ages are 6, 5, 3, 2. Quite a handful and despite how cute they were, I was definitely ready to come back to my quiet hut after the third day. It was really nice to see how Ugandans spend Christmas and the differences in cultures. There was lots of family time…with lots of family. I bet there were 30 people in and out of the house at a time; I couldn’t keep everyone straight! We were listening to Christmas carols and cooking all day. The food takes a really, really long time to cook using only three charcoal stoves! The dinner menu included turkey, chicken, beef, rice, pasta, matooke, potatoes, fruit salad, and banana bread. We all helped cook in the 90-degree weather outside…definitely not what we were used to, but we got down and dirty!! Good food, good company, and good times. Being away for Christmas wasn’t as bad as I thought. Although, I was recently reminded about the fact that if I was home, I would probably be working…haha, this was much better than work!! =)

The day after Christmas, we spent the day with Rachel and her family at Sisiyi Falls. It’s a beautiful waterfall off the side of Mt. Elgon. We walked up part of the mountain to get a gorgeous view of the falls. Lisandro, Josh, and Liz decided to be adventurous and get down in the water. I was playing it safe and just decided to take pictures of them!

As I returned from the 4 day/3 night Christmas fun, I have been being completely lazy and loving every minute of it. I have been making use of Tori’s house mostly for the purpose of her refrigerator, but also because it’s a nice change of scenery from my one room house (hers has 4). Anyways, we have kind of known she had rats…but never actually saw one alive. She killed one a couple weeks ago with this stuff called ‘rat glue’. So I was relaxing there the other night just reading when I see something out of the corner of my eye…two moving things. The first is a lizard, small little creatures that are perfectly harmless and way more afraid of us, but they still scare me really bad. Then the second moving thing…a black rat!!! Oh. My. God. It took me back to the buffalo days when I tried to kill a rat with Mike with Brent’s hockey stick!! Haha…this time I was alone, and didn’t have a hockey stick. My options were limited, but luckily it ran out (I think), or I ran out before I could think! Another good reason for my one room, thatched roof hut, I always know what’s in it, or what isn’t!

In my down time, I have been doing a lot of reading, writing, puzzle(ing?), and napping…its been really nice and relaxing! My other Peace Corps friends and I are planning on spending new years in Jinja then rafting!

I uploaded pictures from Christmas so check them out! Hope everyone had a great Christmas also!…and Happy New Year too!!

On December first we celebrated Thanksgiving at Karine's house with about 13 other PCVs! We ate the most unbelievably delicious turkey possible in Uganda! As you can see, Lisandro and myself were both thoroughly enjoying it!! =) I arrived late because of meetings with work (yes, work on a saturday!) and all of the prep work to the turkey was finished. I have to say that I was happy...I'm not sure it would have tasted as good if I knew it alive!

It was great to see people from my training group and meet other people who live in the area. The whole dinner included turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, mac and cheese (velvetta!), pumpkin pie, carrot cake, and fruit salad. It was a real thanksgiving, in Uganda!

We all even went around the table and said what we were thankful for....cute, huh? Luckily, this trip to Bududa I did not walk back to Mbale! I smartened up and took a taxi...although, I cant say that I wont do it again. =) Hopefully over the holiday when the office is closed, I can be prepared and hike up another mountain! Its so beautiful here! The weather though, nothing like that in New York! Soooooo hotttttt, seriously, what did I expect, I guess...I'm in Africa! This is the time when I am extremely happy for my thatched roof hut!! It stays so much cooler than tin roofed houses. And apparently the hottest/driest time is still to come, January! I'll just be thinking of all my family and friends in CNY/WNY freezing their butts off!! =) Its strange to think about life with no snow for two years...I think I'll manage! =)

This month marks 4 months in Uganda! Whoa! Happy Holiday Season, All!!

On the actual day of Thanksgiving, I decided to go visit my lumasaaba group and spend the weekend with them. Karine and Lisandro live close to each other and about one and a half hours away from my site. I took a taxi out there to meet them, and planned on coming back Saturday the same way. However, plans changed. Instead of taking a taxi back to Mbale, we decided to walk. Kind of crazy, I know, but at first I was totally against it…I wasn’t ready, I didn’t have sneakers, and I didn’t exactly pack lightly for a 16-mile hike to Mbale. After two days of my friends convincing me, and Karine’s extra pair of sneakers, I was up at 5 am on Saturday morning getting ready for the hike. We began our journey at 5:30 am in the pitch dark. It was my lumasaaba group (Lisandro, Karine, Liz and I), two other PCV’s from the March group, and Barbara, a 61 year old non Peace Corps American who is here volunteering for the next year. Two Ugandans guided us the whole way, a father/son pair who Barbara knew from the village. Simon (the dad) was actually suffering from malaria! Talk about motivation...if this man could make this hike with malaria, I sure as hell was going to make it! Although I had some doubts during the trip...

The whole thing took us about 7 hours total, but we were only actually walking for about 5 of them (we took a couple breaks!). I thought I was going to die, and my legs are still killing me...yeah, I'm really out of shape. Despite long, tiring journey and the awful dirt uphill paths we were walking on, watching the sunrise over the mountains and the view was absolutely amazing! The pictures barely capture the beauty of it. It was gorgeus! I will definitely be doing more hiking around these mountains and hopefully getting in better shape over the next two years!!

*Happy 21st bro! =)

That’s the question every Ugandan has been asking for the past year plus…well, ready or not, CHOGM is here! The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting or CHOGM is being held this week in Kampala. I was very tempted to go, and despite my mother’s best attempt to be the devil’s advocate and persuade me to go, I decided against it. Kampala scares me on a normal day, so when the Queen is in the city, I would have been terrified. FDNC is being well represented during the events of the week by having the FDNC Mbale Youth Brass Band play on two different occasions in Kampala. This was the main reason for me to even consider going to Kampala, to see the band perform.

The band is a work in progress. Phil, the volunteer from the UK, has this amazing vision to create the first youth orchestra in all of Eastern Africa, and possibly in all of Africa. Right now it’s a brass band composed of trumpets, trombones, tubas, and percussion. He has been working extremely hard to teach these kids how to read music and become a sit down brass band. In January, he hopes to add a woodwind and string section…he has lots of instruments that were donated from the UK, but at the moment he lacks teachers. We were talking about my previous band experience, and I think I may be the new clarinet teacher…I just hope I can remember how to play! Its been about 5 years since I have touched mine! The hope is for the band to go to Kampala, talk to people from all over the world who have lots of money and want to support the band. It’s a big vision, but I’m really excited to help him with the clarinet section of the band! Phil also plans on building a music school in Mbale.

K, just a quick little blurb about CHOGM and a potential secondary project! And new pictures!! Check them out! =)

Its been about three weeks since ive been here in Mbale at my permanent site. So far things are going really well and I have been unexpectedly busy. Going through training and reading about Peace Corps, they really prepare you for the worse. I guess its good to go into things having low expectation because then you are pleasantly surprised when they are better! When I thought of Peace Corps, I’m not sure exactly what I was thinking, but it definitely wasn’t this.

Currently, I am working a lot with Richard (my counterpart and the coordinator of the community health department). We have been working in his office, which I now have a desk in, organizing it and complying malaria data for one of our donors. Last week we had about 17 people visit from the UK who have donated money to FDNC, they came to see where their money was going. So we were busy preparing for their visit, which was actually quite stressful to get all the information done in time, but the visit went well and they were pleased to see the work that FDNC is doing.

Ive also been going out almost every afternoon into the field with Richard and Sandra, my supervisor. We have 28 different communities with a community health volunteer in each community who is responsible for organizing the events. So we go out to the communities to do different health related projects including, fuel saving stoves, the importance of mosquito nets, HIV/AIDS, girl child empowerment, and we are currently in the process of creating a curriculum for 2008 to implement in January. I am sort of in charge of putting that all together.

During our visits to the communities, the community members are always really excited to have us there and especially happy to see me (the muzungu from America!). They usually provide us with some sort of soda, or crackers, or even they prepare a meal. Which can be awkward at times because they expect me to eat a plate of food twice my size, but anyways, we were out the other day and the community prepared a feast! Beef, chicken, rice, potatoes, beans, eggs, matooke, millet bread, seriously, tons of food! Well, I am sitting there eating, trying not to think about the food preparations/cleanliness of the utensils I am using (my germ phobie kicking in), when my supervisor pulls out a round ball shaped mass from her plate. I thought it was a potato and didn’t really think much of it until she looks at me and asks if I wanted an egg. Yes, an egg, from the inside of her chicken that she was eating. When I realized it was an egg that was cooked from within the chicken (it took me a minute to process that) we all had a good laugh and conversation about culture. How pulling out an unhatched egg from a cooked chicken would never happen in America, or at least I haven't witnessed it. One of many hilarious conversations since ive been here…

Some other projects that I will be working on in the next couple of months, that im sure you will be hearing much more of, is a sports league within the communities, a library project for the vocational school, much needed organization, and developing the special needs school. I did my first health science lesson last Monday at the vocational school to the students here. It was a little intimidating never having taught before and then doing it here, but it went well, the topic…diarrhea, awesome. Haha.

We are planning on having thanksgiving with some people in my training group the weekend after thanksgiving. Deep-fried turkey? It will definitely be an exciting adventure…ill let you know how slaughtering, plucking, and whatever else has to be done before you eat a turkey goes! =)

As of October 18th, I am an official Peace Corps Volunteer! I had some technical difficulties with my flash drive and because of that, I was unable to post a wonderful blog that took me about 3 hours to type up. They teach us patience and flexibility in training and I definitely had to put those two skills to good use when the document wouldn’t open up at the internet café. This post is a well overdue one and I’ll try to remember everything that has been happening these past couple weeks!

I am finally done with training and in Mbale volunteering at my organization called ‘Foundation for Development of Needy Communities” (FDNC). After training was over, we had our final language test…I passed!! :) YAY! Thank God because I don’t have to use my language here that much and retaking it would have sucked. I was so excited and relieved to have it over.

We said goodbye to our lovely home stay families and went to Kampala last week for the final days before our swearing-in ceremony. It started Monday night (October 16th) at the United States Ambassadors house, Mr. Steven Browning. Yeah, I went to a pool party at his house. Although I didn’t get to meet him, (he was doing official U.S. Government business in the States) but I met his wife and their house also served as the host for our swearing-in ceremony on Thursday. Tuesday, we actually visited the U.S. Embassy. I was literally on American soil. I couldn’t believe it, and I really thought I left Uganda for 5 hours. The building looked American, smelled American, and there were tons of Americans working in it. The bathrooms and cafeteria were just like the ones in America. It was surreal, the whole Embassy experience. We heard from about 5 different people that work there and they talked about the role of the Embassy in Uganda. Two of the people we heard from were Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. It was really interesting to hear their stories and to see what they are doing after Peace Corps. Crazy to think about what could happen after this experience!

The swearing-in ceremony was really nice, and there were representatives from the Ugandan and U.S. Governments. Museveni’s private doctor was there to speak on his behalf and told us a story about how he and Museveni both were taught in secondary school by Peace Corps Volunteers. Peace Corps has had a significatn impact on their lives and he expressed his gratitude to us for coming and serving our time here in Uganda. It’s really great to have such support from both sides here and to really be welcomed with open arms.

About FDNC: Check out the website for more info→!

FDNC is a big NGO in Eastern Uganda with many branches of work including a vocational school, a special needs school, a community health department, a village clinic, a paralegal department, and a town/village band. I am one of several volunteers from all over the globe. FDNC has hosted many volunteers over the past 11 years, and currently there are two other Americans also working for the organization (one is the executive director), a Japanese volunteer working with the tailoring class, and a volunteer from the United Kingdom. It’s really surprising to be working with other ‘Muzungu(s)’ and speaking English to mostly everyone. Besides the greetings and very brief introductions, I don’t use my lumasaaba very much. I am meeting tons of new people and everyone has been great here. They seem happy to have me and welcome me with open arms. We had a welcome celebration at the executive director's house Friday night to welcome the new volunteers (me and Tori) and to welcome back Sam (the founder and trustee of FDNC) from his trip in the States. Sam toured all over the States to speak at churches, schools (like Harvard and Syracuse), and even the U.S. Senate in Washington to raise money for the organization and get FDNCs name out there in the international world. Apparently he did a great job and his trip seems to be successful. It was fascinating to hear his story and how he brought FDNC to where it is now.

About my house: My ‘house’ is in fact a one room, thatched roof, circular hut! Really crazy and awesome! I love it. It has one light bulb and outlet (perfect for the size!) and the water source is really close, although I have yet to carry my own water. I am living on a 24-hour secured compound with the vocational school, students who board, other volunteers and a Ugandan family. There are many people here and a lot going on. I have internet on the compound that I am free to use whenever I want…its dial up, but its internet. Hopefully I will be able to update this more frequently!

I am finally cooking for myself. After ten weeks of living with my host family having no control over my food, it was really nice to get a stove and start to cook myself. Of course it wasn’t easy and I bought a stove with a gas leak first. So cooking was a bit delayed but eventually I was able to cook for myself and I’m happy to say that I didn’t burn down my hut, although it was close! Now, finally I have a new stove that works properly! My first meal was pasta with sauce made from real tomatoes and an avocado on the side! It was yummy!

I’ve been here with FDNC for 8 days now and already I am really busy. I will be mostly involved with their community health department and partly involved with the special needs school. I am really excited to be part of this organization. More will come about my specific job and what I am doing here in the next blog, I’m exhausted for now.

To your comment Brian, I am definitely bringing the dowry back to America and I am worth at least 20 cows. Not the skinny ones either, they have to be nice and plump! Don’t worry though, no Ugandan man has won my heart over. The Ugandans find it really weird that we can go to the store and buy pre-plucked and cut chicken, so I think it would definitely be a rip off if the gift was already cut up! It is much more valuable for them to have a live chicken running around and when they decide they want chicken for dinner, they slaughter. Take my homestay family for instance, we have two chickens, one turkey, two dogs, and a cat. These are our ‘pets’, if you can even call them that. The pets here are nothing like in the US. They all have a purpose. The chickens and turkey are for eventually eating, the dogs are let out of their cages at night and are for protection and the cat is to kill rats and insects. Yeah, its strange....I really miss Madison :(

Some really exciting news is that I found out my future site and met my supervisor yesterday! Things are really coming together and a lot of my questions are being answered. It’s a non governmental organization (NGO) and called ‘Foundation for Needy Communities’. The town office is located in Mbale town, which is the largest city in the east. My supervisor is a young woman, and I haven’t met my counterpart yet, but he is a community health worker there who I will be working close with. It’s an US/UK funded organization that primarily works with women and children. The executive director is an American from San Francisco, which is really crazy. They have two schools, one is a vocational school with about 50 students ranging from 13-25 years old and they teach carpentry, tailoring, agriculture, computers and brick laying. The other school is just up and running and it’s a special needs school. Right now they only have 15 students and the disabilities vary. There are students with physical and developmental disabilities. Another part of the NGO is going out into the community and educating mostly women and children about different health issues like Malaria, HIV/AIDS, hygiene/sanitation, nutrition and others. I’m really excited to work with this NGO and apparently they are used to working with Americans because they get many volunteers from American. I guess 20 volunteers from Colorado just left. Next week I am going to Mbale to visit it. I will be there for 5 days and get to see where I will be living, the NGO/schools, and Easter Uganda, which I haven’t been to yet.

Last Saturday we went on a field trip to Jinja, another large touristy city in Uganda. Thus far, I have only been to Luweero and Kampala. Going to Jinja was AMAZING! We had such a fun time. We saw the source of the Nile at Lake Victoria, some forest that I’m not sure of the name and then a really cool waterfall called Ssezibwa falls. It was really beautiful and made me really excited to see the eastern part of the country because it is very mountainous and I heard very beautiful as well. Another wonderful part of Jinja was lunch. A bunch of us found this Mexican restaurant and ate there. I had quesadillas with a margarita!! A frozen drink in Uganda!?! So crazy! But it was awesome and such a nice break to relax!

Oh and I have a really funny story about my homestay mother. So I have a 9 month old little brother and there is a ‘walker’ for him that my mom puts him in but up until the other day she has always referred to it as ‘prison’ because when she put him in it he couldn’t go anywhere. Well, recently he is getting bigger and his feet are touching the floor. He started walking and moving the other day and I seriously saw the light bulb go off in her head and she said “OH MY GOD!! HE’S WALKING!! IS THAT WHY YOU CALL IT A WALKER??” haha, it was really funny to see the connection from ‘prison’ to ‘walker’. Anyways, I hope all is well and wish me luck in Mbale and on my future site visit next week!! =)

September 9th marked one month in Uganda for me and my other trainees. Things are going really well and the past two weeks have been very eventful. Overall, I am becoming much more confortable being here and actually doing things on my own instead of feeling helpless and like a child. I am a lot more independent at home and I feel like part of the family. I am really enjoying my home stay family.

On Wednesday (September 4th I think) we went to Kampala to see different income generating activities in the bigger city, and it was a great experience. We went to an organization called ‘Reach Out’ which is a non governmental organization (NGO) that trains women who are HIV positive to make beads and generate an income for them and their families. We ate at an Indian restaurant and everything was great until the ride home. Our bus, which was driven by a Peace Corps employee was hit. It was not our fault at all, and what happened was that a big trailer wanted to pass us, but when he tried, realized another large trailer was oncoming. So he didn’t make it and hit the side/back of our bus which pushed us off the side of the road and into a tree. Meanwhile, the two trailer hit headon. Everyone on our bus is okay, just some minor cuts and emotional trauma. I was sitting in the middle of the bus right by the door so I had bars in front of me, instead of a seat. My knees hit the bar and my neck/shoulders were sore for a couple days from whip lash, but overall, we were really lucky and our driver did a great job keeping the vehicle under control. It definitely could have been a lot worse. It was really strange to be part of it and felt surreal (almost like this whole experience so far!) but our training group and trainers all came together and were supportive of one another. I really felt close to them and that experience brought us even closer. The Peace Corps Safety and Security Regional Officer of Eastern Africa happened to be in Kampala that day and came to speak with us about the accident and how it could impact our individual feelings about Peace Corps. I feel lucky/blessed that everyone was alright, and I know accidents happen but I cant live my life in fear or quit Peace Corps because this happened to us. I'm just looking at it as another obstacle in training that I overcame and we are a stronger group because of it!

The weather here in Uganda is actually pretty nice. It hasn’t been too hot, although there has been a few hot days, and technically it's not the rainy season, but it rains an awful lot. At least once a day, but only for a little while then it will be nice again.

So the electricity in Uganda is not consistent at all, and when we do have electricity my host family is sitting in front of the tv. We watch Big Brother Africa (which is very strange!), and they love their Nigerian Films, which is basically a really, really bad soap opera. They love it! Last night I was talking to my host mother and her friend about America and the difference in culture. They were asking me tons of questions including if we pay the wifes family a dowry when a couple gets married, and who does the chores around the house, and how the women get away with wearing pants all the time. Its so interesting to see their faces when I tell them that men actually do chores, and cook, and that the husband does not pay the wifes family in cows when she wants to get married. The two cultures are very different but I think I am fitting in well and trying to explain America as best as I can, although it does make me a little sad to think about....i miss it!!

Things are going well in training, we are in week 5 (almost the end) which is the half way point. Really crazy to think about. Tomorrow the APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director) is coming to talk to us and give us our future site placements. So tomorrow I will actually know what my host organization will be! Im really excited to find that out and I think it will make it all real...maybe.

First of all, thank you all so much for all the messages! They are so encouraging and definitely great to hear!

Training last week went well, Wednesday and Thursday we were in Kampala to listen to speakers from 'The Hunger Project', which is an international organization started in New York in 1977 and began in Uganda in 1999. It has been doing some really great things here in Uganda like community gardens, womens groups selling baskets, mats and fabrics for side income generating projects. It gave me some good ideas for things that I could help out with and how to go about secondary projects when I get to my site.

Friday we had an assessment, and I actually thought language was part of it, but thankfully it was not and we only discussed any concerns I had about training. So far, I have been impressed with the Pre-Service Training (PST). I love all of our trainers and the only concern I had was with myself and learning the language in the short amount of time that we have. My language teacher Rachel was very supportive and encouraging to me and told me that I am doing well, I just need to be more confident when I speak.

On Saturday, we had a cooking session with our language groups. Rachel taught us how to cook some Ugandan dishes and we taught her some American ones (or Mexican!) . It was such a relaxing day and so yummy! She taught us how to make matooke and bamboo shoots...very interesting but not something I plan on making when I am at my site. We made chicken/cheese quesadillas and killed the chicken ourselves!! (holy cow) Only once I got over the killing of the chicken could I actually enjoy my quesadilla and it was delicious! It reminded me of Momma's! We also made banana bread for her too. Its really strange how there is such an abundance of bananas here but Rachel had never heard of it. We made the bread like a cake in a dutch oven and she loved it, she plans on making it for her four boys!

There are lots of very delicious/interesting fruits here too. Right now pineapples are in season and fresh cut pineapple is sooo good! They also have passion fruit, which you cut open and scoop out the insides. Some people eat the seeds but most people make it into a juice. It is also very tasty! Jackfruit is another fruit that I tried the other day for the first time. Im not really a fan. The texture is oyster-like and it is very sticky. It wasnt awful, but not that great either...at least I tried it!

So besides training and being busy with my homestay family, I do have somewhat of a life with my fellow trainees. We started a 'journal club' and meet once a week at the local bar. Its a great time! We all hung out on friday night and drank a beverage of choice. Let me just say that they dont have a very good variety of beer, but its beer. Its a time where we can relax away from training and take a break from it. We need that at least once a week!! (And the name of one of the beer is called "Nile Special"... funny name!)

I just made the connection the other day that it is September, and for the first time in my life that I can remember, I am not going to classes. Its really weird, and I am almost jealous of you guys that are. I hope you all are enjoying your last few days before classes start and things are well with everyone!! I miss you!

Ok, so the idea of a blog didn't appeal to me at all when I was win the states, but after a couple of emails and a ton of questions, I think this will just be easier! (not that I don't love the emails, its just impossible for me to resond individually to everyones email. So here it is...my first blog. Sorry if there is some repeated information from my previous email.

2 1/2 weeks in Africa and so far so good! I am in a training class of 21 other people (was 22) ranging from 21 to 29 with 4 men and a married couple! Everyone is really nice and from all over the United States. Training is in a place called Luweero and we are all staying with host families where we really see the Uganadan culture first hand. Training is monday thru friday from 8-5 and then on saturday half days. It lasts for 10 weeks. The only day we technically have off is sunday, and im not even sure you can call it a day off. I spend the day with my family doing chores around the house includind laundry, cooking, mopping. I have been exhausted and sleeping very well!

My host family is great though and I can't complain at all. The parents are very liberal both teachers, the father works at a school in another district and is only home on the weekend. They have four biological children and 2 other kids live/work there. I actually just found out the that the one 15 year old boy is my mothers brother. Interesting. Anyways, their kids are 14 year old boy, 10 year old girl, 6 year old girl and 7 month old boy. The kids are all hard working and go to school, its nice because everyone is pretty fluent in English, so there is no communication barrier. The house is really nice too and completely surrounded by a big brick wall, very secure! It has electricity (which is only on part of the time b/c of inconsistency with Ugandan electricity) and marble flooring with really nice decorative ceilings. No running water and the 'bathroom' (hole in the ground) is outside. Oh the pit latrine...hopefully ill get used to that at some point within the next two years.

There definitely are culture differences here that im still adjusting to like the gender roles and the women doing all of the house work, being treated as a guest and having my food served to me, and everyone calling me 'Muzungu' - which is a term used to all white people. Its been interesting living in this culture and being immersed so quickly. My host family is very curious about America and all the 'convienences' we have. They asked me about the machines that wash our clothes, dishes and that cook our foods. My 10 year old sister even asked me that if a white person gets, cut do they still bleed? Its really crazy how humbling it make me feel.

So right now I am a PCT (peace corps trainee) and after the ten weeks of training there is a swearing in ceremony where I will become a PCV (peace corps volunteer)...hopefully. Once we are sworn in as PCV's we will all separate into our own villages and communities throughout Uganda to work on our areas of interest/expertise. They haven't told us too much about exactly what we will be doing or where we are going, but I do know that I am going towards the Eastern part of Uganda called Mbale where they speak Lumasaaba...the language I am currently trying to learn (ugh!) This past weekend I actually got to go away for the weekend and visit a current PCV to see how living on my own will really be. It was a really nice break from training and a great experience to see what life after training will be like. I spent the weekend with Gloria, she is an education volunteer in Mityana, about an hour west of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. She was awesome! She is a retired teacher from Washington state and had an awesome outlook on the world/peace corps. I really learned a lot about how it will be like living on my own in Uganda. Gloria's house had a living room, kitchen, storage room, 2 bedrooms, and a washroom. She decorated it so nice and it got me so excited to be able to buy cool African crafts and wall hangings for my house. There was no electricity in her house so when it was dark we used candles and lanterns to see. We played lots of cards and a cool game called Quiddler. I met other PCVs this weekend too and we all meet up in Kampala to have lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I dont even like chinese food, but this was soooo good! Kinda weird to have chinese food in africa, but still really good. Which brings me to the next issue...food. The food here is really boring. It mainly consists of starchy like foods like potatoes, matooke (mashed bananas), beans and vegetables. While I was staying with Gloria, we had some amazing food! We had pasta with homemade sauce from tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic, popcorn, chocolate cake, stir fry vegetables, and no bake cookies!

Yesterday we received some more information about our future site organization and what type of work we will be doing, so that was really exciting! I am placed in the "general health promotion" group...which I am pleased with. The other 3 categories of groups were Orphans and Vunerable children, Home based Healthcare, and Water/Sanitation. Im really glad that Im not focused on anything really specific or a specific population, we will learn who our host organization is in week five and spend that week with them learning about the organization and how we can help.

Right now in training we are working on projects that we have to present to our fellow trainees and the trainers at the end of the 10 weeks. Its still in the preliminary stages, but right now I am looking at focusing on a womens group and preventable disease/how to prevent them. Im not really sure, but its a topic I guess. We also had a medical session this morning with more vaccines, I only had to get one this week...Typhoid, awesome. Many more still to come. My arm hurts and I'm kinda sick of writing. Hope everyone is well and leave me messages to let me know how america is!!