Mzungo in Kampala

Time for a real update, finally. Where to begin? It's only our 3rd day here, but I finally feel like I have a good feel for the city. I'm even using the little Luganda that I know to talk to other Ugandans. I can have the most basic conversation, but it's a start. I know how to say:

How are you - Oli Otya
I'm fine - Gyendi
Thank You - Weebale
Goodbye - Weraba
White Girl - Mzungo (kind of similar to "Gringa")

And that's pretty much it. It's a start! We start our classes tomorrow, which is really exciting because we'll finally start having a little bit of a routine. I have my first Luganda class at 9 am tomorrow, with only 6 other students, which is a little daunting, but I hear that I have the best teacher and that he is very funny, so I'm looking forward to that. Even though we start our full schedule of classes tomorrow, we still only have less than 2 weeks until we go on our Western excursion to Rwanda! I've also learned today that we get to go on a game tour on the way back from that, so we'll get to see lots of cool animals.

Tonight we're meeting our homestay families. I know so far that mine is a bussiness man and woman and that they have 6 children - 3 who are 6-13 and 3 who are 18+. 5 are boys and 1 is a girl! It will be very exciting to meet them and I hope they speak at least a little English so I'm not completely lost trying to communicate.

My camera has been locked up in the resource center ever since we got here, so I haven't been able to take any pictures here yet. We've also been advised that Ugandans don't like to have their pictures taken, especially without asking, so it may be awhile before I can get some good pictures of the city and everything else around here. Since I don't have pictures though, I thought I would just say a few things that I've learned about Uganda so far.

First of all, there are no stop lights or street signs pretty much anywhere, other than signs that say "give way" which aparently means yield. Sometimes there are cops out directing traffic, but most of the time the taxis and cars and boda-bodas (motorcyles that are like taxis that take people around the city) just drive wherever they feel like it. It makes being a pedestrian kind of scary, especially when taxis drive over the medians and boda-bodas drive on the sidewalks! Most of the time we try to follow other Ugandans because we figure they know best where they're going.

I've also discovered that while most places do have electricity and running water, it doesn't really mean too much, as the running water is usually only a trickle and the electricity goes on and off during the day due to the rolling blackouts. It's still better than nothing, however, and we've been spending most of our days outside, so I don't mind.

One kind of scary thing - almost every kind of security guard or policeman or authority figure of any kind carries an AK-47 around everywhere. They're posted all over the city, mostly in front of banks or fancy stores. It was kind of freaky to see the first time, but now I'm used to it. It's interesting that that's the kind of detterent that is used to prevent crime and theft, at least at important economic places.

Lastly, there are many people here who say "You are welcome" before you say thank you. It's an interesting way of doing things, but at least it lets you know when you're supposed to say thank you!

Other than that, I think that Uganda is a beautiful place - the trees are green, the roads are brown (although there are plenty of paved roads), and the people are so friendly and helpful, even with the language barrier. Especially when you start speaking to them in Luganda, it makes their faces light up. It's really neat to hear everyone's story and be able to say that we are students at the University here, rather than tourists. I can't wait to see more of the country!

Oh, and good news! We have permission to go to parts of the North to travel or to do our Practicums, and Gulu, Lira and Kitgum are three of the districts that we're allowed to visit. I'm SO excited, given that there are so many other restrictions on things that we can do. I'm starting to get ideas for my project - maybe something with kids and education in the IDP camps. In any case, I'm just so excited to get to go to the North.

I'll write again at the end of the week to talk about my classes and my family! I miss you all!