Our program is coming down to the final close. On Monday, the rest of the group will fly back to the states, but tomorrow me and 4 other girls from this program are off on a sort of African adventure. Our plans are to go on a safari, hike in the foothills of mt. Kilimanjaro, spend a few days relaxing on the beaches of Zanzibar, and visit Victoria falls. I'm really excited about our upcoming travel plans, but it's also starting to hit me that my time in Uganda is basically up. During our time in Jinja, we all talked about the things that we're going to miss when we get home, and how we should cope with not being in Uganda anymore. So, I decided to come up with a list of my own. This is probably also one of the last times I'll write a real post, since I'll be traveling for the next 5 weeks and access to internet may be unpredictable.
Things that I'm going to miss about Uganda:
-Being able to buy any sort of food you want at any stand on the side of the road
-Hoping on a boda-boda to get anywhere you need to
-Knowing that no prices are fixed and that you can bargain for anything, even Visas
-Chapatti, rolexes, African sweet potatoes, malakwang, and other delicious foods
-Passion fruit, 50 cent pineapples and juicy mangoes
-How friendly and hospitable everyone is, to the point that they take you to their home in the village to meet their family and serve you a feast
-Ugandan English, such as "We will pick you" and "It is behind"
-Learning new languages
-Little Ugandan kids that I will one day take home
-My Ugandan family, especially my younger brothers and my older sister
-Rolling hills, luscious green pastures, and goats grazing along the side of the road
-African dresses
-Caritas social workers and other new friends that I made
-The rainy season and always being able to see lightening over the plains
Things I definitely will not miss:
-Matooke
-Traffic at all hours that follows no signs or traffic laws
-Corruption
-Constantly being sick from pollution/dust/bad milk/bacteria
-Sticking out no matter what I do and always being called muzungu
-Staring poverty in the face and not being able to do anything about it
-Stupid SIT policies that keep you from doing anything fun
-Ugly Maribu storks
-Crappy internet
-Whole milk, whole milk, whole milk, and nothing else
And a few things I'm looking forward to:
-Driving on the right side of the road!
-Working out without being stared at
-Eating vegetables not drenched in mayonnaise
-Being able to check my email at all times without wondering if the power will go out
-Seeing friends and family
-Finally getting completely clean!!
Well, see you in 5 weeks!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wanen Koni, Gulu!
See you later, Gulu!
Today is officially my last full day in Gulu. Almost everyone from our group is already back in Kampala, giving Gulu the "last few days of finals" feeling. Aside from feeling a bit lonely at our hotel, I definitely am not ready to be done with my time in Gulu. So I thought I would make a list of some things that I'm going to miss about being here:
1. First and foremost, Caritas and the social workers there. We have SO much fun together, given that they actually have a sense of humor and ALMOST understand sarcasm, which is kind of a big deal here. These are the people that I'm going to miss the most out of all my time in Uganda.
2. The incredible hospitality and friendliness of the Acholi people. The other day our tailors invited us to their house for lunch. People here are always inviting you to come to their village where they treat you with the best treatment a visitor has ever gotten.
3. Tailors. Since this is my last extended time in one place, my tailoring frenzy has come to an end. If only I had known that it only costs 8,000 UGX to get a dress made here, I would have made more than the current 5 that I already own. Unfortunately, I had half of those made in Kampala for 25,000 UGX, but now I just have one more reason to come back to Gulu.
4. Bodas and negative traffic. I have an intense boda boda obsession, and am going to need to find a way to fulfill it in the US. I also love not having to worry about all of the taxis trying to hit me. Kampala is going to be culture shock all over again.
I could probably go on, but my time at the internet cafe is running low. I'm happy to be basically done with my research, and I can't wait for the travel part of the program to start. Our number has grown to 5, and I think we have a really awesome group of girls to travel with. For now, hope all is well!
Wanen koni!
Today is officially my last full day in Gulu. Almost everyone from our group is already back in Kampala, giving Gulu the "last few days of finals" feeling. Aside from feeling a bit lonely at our hotel, I definitely am not ready to be done with my time in Gulu. So I thought I would make a list of some things that I'm going to miss about being here:
1. First and foremost, Caritas and the social workers there. We have SO much fun together, given that they actually have a sense of humor and ALMOST understand sarcasm, which is kind of a big deal here. These are the people that I'm going to miss the most out of all my time in Uganda.
2. The incredible hospitality and friendliness of the Acholi people. The other day our tailors invited us to their house for lunch. People here are always inviting you to come to their village where they treat you with the best treatment a visitor has ever gotten.
3. Tailors. Since this is my last extended time in one place, my tailoring frenzy has come to an end. If only I had known that it only costs 8,000 UGX to get a dress made here, I would have made more than the current 5 that I already own. Unfortunately, I had half of those made in Kampala for 25,000 UGX, but now I just have one more reason to come back to Gulu.
4. Bodas and negative traffic. I have an intense boda boda obsession, and am going to need to find a way to fulfill it in the US. I also love not having to worry about all of the taxis trying to hit me. Kampala is going to be culture shock all over again.
I could probably go on, but my time at the internet cafe is running low. I'm happy to be basically done with my research, and I can't wait for the travel part of the program to start. Our number has grown to 5, and I think we have a really awesome group of girls to travel with. For now, hope all is well!
Wanen koni!
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