May 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th - Arriving in Uganda

Hello Everyone!

Tess and I had a good trip from Vancouver to Uganda. The flight from Vancouver to London was completely full and very uncomfortable and as a result we did not sleep at all. But even though we were tired, when we got to London we went out to see the city. In 4 hours we saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Bridge, Westminster Abby, and a big square where the National Museum is (I can’t remember the name). Having been awake for 26 hours straight, we then headed back to the airport to have a nap before our next flight.

The flight from London to Uganda was much nicer because it was almost empty. We each had 3 seats to ourselves and both of us slept pretty much the entire way. Dan (our project manager) came to pick us up at the airport and we headed to Kampala to pick up Jane (one of our trip coordinators). Kampala was an interesting place. Luckily there were no protests going on while we were there, but the streets were still really busy (but I’m pretty sure they always are!). The only way I can describe Kampala is “organized chaos” - everything looks so chaotic, but everyone is comfortable with it and it works for them.

Once Jane was on board we headed out for Kitengesa (I think that is how you spell it) where Dan lives and were we would be staying in his Volunteer House. After a nice lunch at Dan’s house we headed over to see the Afripads Factory (http://www.afripads.com) to see how everything is run. It is an amazing project, check out their website!

We then went back to Dan’s for dinner. After dinner we went straight to bed because it had been
such a long day and jet leg was really starting to kick in!

This morning we woke up around 9am after having slept for 12 hours and had breakfast. We then headed out to Tekera (http://ugandavillage.org) to check out the elementary school, clinic, and resource center to see how everything works (Another amazing project, check out their website as well!). Then we went into Mesaka to get our cell phones and our internet stick. We also tried to get our nails done at a spa, but they were too busy and we had to head back to Kitengesa before it got dark.

All of our road traveling has been very bumpy and interesting. The roads are bumpy and slippery and a trip that should only take 20 minutes was taking us up to an hour! We got the car into a few situations that I would not have been able to get out of, but Dan is a good driver and we managed to get out no problem.

There is a lot to get used to here, but I don’t think Tess and I will have too much trouble with it. We have already gotten used to “African Time”, pretty much no one seems to be in a rush, they will get there when they get there – and the food is good too!

So far it hasn’t been too hot, we have been very comfortable! The sun was out today and it made everything look even more beautiful than it was yesterday when it was overcast.
The landscape here is beautiful!! Everything is so lush and green. So far every time we have driven somewhere I have not been able to take my eyes off the landscape because I just can’t get enough of how beautiful it is!

I’m not sure what we will be doing tomorrow, but on Friday Tess, Jane, and I will be heading to Queen Elizabeth Park to do a Safari over the weekend. I’m so excited!!

Tomorrow I’m going to see if I can upload some pictures onto the blog to give you an idea of what everything is like.

I still haven’t gotten over jet leg, so I’m heading to bed!!

Bye!