Warthogs Warthogs... Oink, Oink, Oink!

Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World)...and everything I tried to remember from it.

         I met the giant South West group of PCVs in Mbarara who were also going to camp. We got on a bus together and when we reached Kampala after 7 hours we just stood on Entebbe road and hailed a matatu to the school where our camp was being held. I saw my first good sign that the week was going to go well on a telephone pole on the way to camp… a Pied King Fisher!  When we arrived the school seemed so large. It’s not like camp in America where you are staying in cabins on a campground that its sole purpose is to be a camp. Here in Uganda and a lot of other Peace Corps countries the venue for camps is usually held at a participating boarding school during a break in the school year. While the students of the school are away for break the dorms are free for the campers to bunk in. We hit the ground running going over what our weeks schedule was going to be like, being introduced to our fellow counselors and staff member, bonding with our Uganda Co-Counselor (each Peace Corps Volunteer is paired with a Ugandan), and planning the lessons we were given to teach (mine was communication skills). After 2 days of training the campers arrived. It was an awkward first day because most of the girls were so nervous you had to practically force them to speak. All the groups were given an animal name and the dorms were labeled as two national parks in Uganda (Kidepo in the North West and Queen Elizabeth in the South West). I don’t think my girls were ecstatic about being the Warthogs at first…. But once I came up with a few cheers they showed some pride. The first night went well… all the girls went straight to bed after the opening introduction to camp. Quiet. I on the other hand stayed up till 11 with a flashlight planning out my ‘lesson’ for tomorrows communication classes. I was thinking too hard on how to make appropriate activities for visually impaired and hearing impaired campers.

          The next morning after the campers bathed (twice a day) I instructed my group go to breakfast and walked in the opposite direction to the classrooms. I had 4 sessions to teach that day and my spider web was no finished yet! I wanted to make a giant web with rope for a communication activity where each member of the group has to make it through the web without touching it and to add to the difficulty none of the girls could go through the same hole in the web. One of the staff members was kind enough to bring me an egg as I briskly finished the vertical spider wed for one of my activities. What’s the point in keeping the kids in a classroom the entire time? IT’S CAMP! Just after finishing the web the kids started filling the classrooms. I had staff work with my co-teacher and sent them to the spider web… my instructions to her: ‘go outside and I’ll send ½ the class out in about 5 minutes. Just get them through the web somehow without having them touch it.’ Me and Gloria had NO time to prepare because her bus got in late the second day of training. I started the lesson off by asking the girls to give me examples of ways to communicate (speaking, touching, signing, sounds, body language, facial expressions, writing, other visuals…. What what). I split up ½ the group outside for 30 minutes and then we played telephone. My favorite game to play with these girls! For those of you who do not know what telephone is I’m about to educate you. The ‘rules’ are simple: One person starts and whispers a sentence in the persons ear next to them, that person then whispers what they THINK they hear in the next persons ear… so on and so forth. When the last person says what they heard out loud!

 First Class: “My name is Michelle and I have 2 brothers and a dog in America.”

                Outcome from the girls after passing the message along: “Your name is Maria”

Class 2-4: “I like to eat a mango in the morning with my dog”

                Answer 1: “If you pick that mango and eat it you will become pregnant”

                Answer 2: "You like passion fruit, mango, papaya, and pineapple”

                Answer 3: “If you eat that mango you will be stupid”

The whole purpose of telephone was to talk about rumors and myths and how quickly they can spread/ change from the original source. I then asked for 3 volunteers from the class, had them stand in front of the classroom side by side, and blindfolded them. I handed each of them a part of rope tied into a  big circle and told them to make a triangle. I took away one of their ways to communicate (vision) and forced them to use other means to communicate. I would have the class observe their behavior and how they were communicating which I always had to remind them speaking was okay. Sometimes one of the girls would say “move that way” while waving her hand in the direction…. While they are both blindfolded and couldn’t see who which direction she was waving or who she even wanted to move. I think most of them were out of their comfort zone but they all did great and gave good examples. With the remaining time before they went to the spider web activity and I got the other half of the group, I would have them get in order of age without talking and then alphabetical order by the district name in Uganda they were from (similar to our states). Most of the time the 10 volunteers I got to the front of the classroom when I said ‘begin’ would just stand there and I had to frequently make an example by non-verbally expressing how old I was or where I was from. At the spider web activity the girls were basically just outside having fun. My spider web looked awesome but it wasn’t big enough for 20 girls to go through 20 separate holes so we just let them try and get through the web without touching it and encouraging one another. Towards the end of the day we had a ‘small’ group of 30 instead of 40 girls so we just put them all together for the entire session. While relaxing and letting Gloria lead the spider web activity one of the girls took off her sandals and said she was going to jump it. This web is suspended in the air by about a foot and the top reaches about 5 ½ feet. The girl was only about 5 feet. Another PCV who was a counselor had me CONVINCED that this girl could do it… and I’m not going to lie… I wanted to see it if it was true! But 2 + 2 did NOT equal 4 in my mind and I let her try. She took a running start and 1 foot off the ground entangles herself in the web and wrecked part of it. Easily fixable but OUCH! Darn. But the girl was okay and it was pretty funny.  The rest of the day was a blur and exhausting… I remember participating in yoga for my free choice activity with some of the girls, eating, struggling to come up with a warthog cheer, and lastly watching puppies be adorable!

         Behind one of the dorms where the ‘guard’ dogs slept I discovered a batch of 3 fat sausage puppies. Every night after the girls bathed and were headed to bed I stayed up for another hour, hung out with the puppies, and then would bucket bathe under the stars. The kids would always giggle out the window when they saw me interacting with the dogs but it took away all of my stress. When I felt like it and was tired enough then I would head back to the bottom of my triple decker bunk bed. The second day I found out why one of my girls NEVER spoke…. She didn’t understand English. *click* That made it more difficult to communicate with her but good thing I'm great at teaching communication! We struggled to understand one another at times but she explained to a counselor who spoke her local language that she was in fact having fun. In the afternoon right before lunch we played a game similar to Duck, Duck, Goose… extreme style. We played Drip, Drip, Drop! You have everyone it in a circle with a bucket of water and a cup at the center. One person starts by picking up the cup with a little bit of water in it and walking on the outside of the circle. Whenever they pass someone they sprinkle water on their head and say “Drip” until they get to their chosen target and say “Drop.” They proceed to DUMP the cup of water on that persons head and run. The person who just got soaked then runs around the circle chasing the person who dumped the cup until they reach their spot again. This game is best on a hot day when the sun is out but I even had a BLAST with the game! 

                That night my girls got to play capture the flag in the dark.  I was representing the middle line and the girls would just taunt one another from opposite sides but never make a move. When they would bore me I would count down from 30 and choose one from each side randomly to go in jail if nobody crossed far enough over the line. At one point girls were going across the line and tagging people in their own boundaries…. Someone also grabbed the flag and before getting tagged threw it over the line. They were very creative when it came to hiding the flag… sitting on it, squatting over it, putting it down their shirts… very interesting. Surprisingly nobody got hurt.

                I learned a lot from this camp. The ABCs: Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condoms even though I thought the B stood for Birth Control for a few days. That there is a benefit to waking up early especially at camp because watching the sunrise over Lake Victoria was one of the most B-E-A-U-tiful things I have seen in country. How to find my missing flip flops…. After the girls arrived on Sunday I misplaced my baby blue old navy flip flops. I got them back after the girls had an activity where they all put their shoes in a pile so they could run. Nobody fessed up but nobody had to… because only one girl was missing her shoes by the time the activity ended. I would have given them back until she at least got to the dorm but she said hers were black with a buckle when questioned… later in the day she ‘found’ her black ones…. under her bed…. where they were the whole time.  The same girl ‘borrowed’ my headlamp without asking when I put it on a shelf so everyone could see when the power went out in the dorm. But what can you do? There were a few mishaps but everything turned out well. 

               I also challenged myself and got out of what I thought was my comfort zone a lot over the week. I taught my first class ever other than teaching a sport. I actually enjoyed eating the Ugandan food that was prepared for meals. I instructed how to throw a Frisbee to a group of over 30 girls with only 3 discs, one of the girls was even visually impaired. When I taught her how to throw I held out the Frisbee with my hand correctly around it and had her feel how my hand was placed on the disc. Then I went through the motions of throwing with here and she actually had a pretty wicked (great) throw! A girl from another group before bathing hit her head on the bottom of a suspended steel ladder attached to a water tank so I took off my shirt (don’t worry I had an undershirt on) and dunked it in water for her to put it on her head. During our talent show while my warthogs were dancing to ‘International love’ I got bored after a minute of watching them do the same sweet dance moves they have so I jumped in front of them and danced like an idiot in front of camp. The last night at the dance was one of my new favorite memories. I was mingling in and out of the dance crowd looking for the girls not dancing. I found a pair in the back and asked why they were not dancing. They both said they couldn’t dance. I explained to them that dancing is one of the easiest things they could do… so I stated by bobbing my head and they did the same… then my hips… my arms… then my feet (I got a compliment later from one of the PC staff that her daughter said I was a lot of fun and taught them how to dance… warm fuzzies!) I then went to the benches where a few girls were just sitting, I noticed one of them was visually impaired and didn’t look like she was enjoying herself. I asked her if she wanted to dance and she explained that where she was sitting the music was too loud and hurting her ears. No good. So I explained we could go behind all the speakers in the back and grabbed her hand and lead her. We sat down and had a good talk about camp, America, and apples (her favorite food). Most Ugandans never eat apples because they are a bit expensive so I was a bit shocked at her answer. I explained Halloween to her, apple orchards, and even the different types of apples we have. I’ve never worked with visually impaired individuals before and really had a good feeling that I was doing a good job at communicating what I was trying to explain. Even describing apples for example… you can’t use colors… or say ‘this big’. I would make a fist to demonstrate the size of some apples back home and have her feel my hand so she could get an idea of how big they could get. Apples in Uganda are pretty small and uniform in size. I even got Janet up a couple of times to dance! I look forward to receiving an e-mail from her in the future. 

By the end of the week most of the girls could not stop talking and I could see how much they were enjoying themselves. I'm proud of my little piglets... almost turning into full grown warthogs! 

for more day to day Camp GLOW activities check out this: http://glowuganda2012.blogspot.com/

And lastly... I'm one of the 3 directors chosen for next years Camp GLOW! August 2013!    

CAMP GLOW love my life!

3 Days After GLOW:

 I had to sleep at another PCVs house in town so I could make it to the 7am bus on time. I was heading back to Kampala (The direction I just came from) on another 8 ½ hour bus ride. That’s right I timed it. Thanks to my Grandmother I was able to enjoy a few Special K granola bars from the States and then I bought 2 street corns at a ‘fast food stop.’ When I say fast food stop I mean people running up to your window really fast and poking food/ drinks at you until you fork out money. It never fails that I get poked with a stick of some sort of meat. It usually smells pretty bad.  Because I was on ‘official PC business’ training the new group (presenting a homestay orientation) I was put up in a hotel in Kampala, with the other two I was training with, where PCVs usually stay for anything PC related. When I say hotel it may be a bed and a room but I share a toilet and a shower with the entire 2^nd floor. After being able to enjoy the perks of having permission to be in Kampala we walked ½ mile down the road and I enjoyed an ice cream sundae with a scoop of chocolate, banana, and coconut ice cream topped with strawberry syrup AND two actual strawberries!!! I also spoiled myself and had and iced latte… I know don’t judge. For the rest of the evening I felt like that kid who’s mom tells them not to eat all of their Halloween candy… but they do anyway. That’s how I felt. I was in a sugar coma till late afternoon the next morning after PC picked us up and took us to the Peace Corps office. This was the first time being in the PC office since I was a PCT! The last time I was there I was still a trainee on the 4^th of July. Weird. While waiting to leave ALL of the language trainers arrived and it felt like Christmas being able to see them all again! We then all split into two groups, even with the other 2 I was presenting with, and went to talk to the new group about homestay. Since the new group of PCTs is Education they were posted at 2 separate schools (Primary and Secondary) so I only got to meet the half at the Secondary school. Two PCVs from Mukono town had dinner with us and to save PC money on another bed in the hotel again I decided to stay with one of them for the night. Both of their ‘apartments’ were gorgeous with tile floors… bathrooms…. One of them even has two balconies and can see Lake Victoria from it. This just goes to show how different the PC experience is for everyone.

My brother comes in THREE days!! Then we stay in Uganda for 2 days and head to Tanzania for a 3 or 4 day safari! My binoculars are ready and packed! On the 24^th we are flying to the island of Zanzibar and living it up in a nice hotel for Christmas Eve and Christmas. My brother is amazing and did all the last minute booking/ detailed work on where we are staying even looking for a safari since the group we were planning on going with bailed. From the 26^th to the 1^st of December we are staying at a hostel with a big group of PCVs right near the beach on Zanzibar. Mikes friends gave us a Christmas gift to go do something (aka swim with the dolphins, snorkel, what what) and gave him money and I don’t want to spoil it again but I will… Mike don’t read this… Ooops. I’m going to torture you all for 3 weeks until I write again :p This is how I continue to get people to read my blog,… I torture them by leaving out information! Anyways I’m going to have a great time being with my brother in paradise! Till next time MERRY CHRISTMAS and I hope your new year brings happiness! I’ll try and keep a journal of my adventures if I’m not too tired from having all that fun!

Thanks-coal-giving!

November 21-28

I’ve been putting this post off for about a week now because my lack of energy and charging ability. It’s now or never with this post because I will be leaving for camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) tomorrow and won’t be back for a week. I’ll then have 2 days to write about camp GLOW and then I’ll be heading back towards Kampala to train the newbie group about homestay. After that…. MY BROTHER COMES! (although he’s only bringing a backpack and I want more than a backpacks worth of stuff from home like a deflated soccer ball for the kids!) Its okay Mike I’ll get over it… eventually….

Let me take a moment to think about what happened in the past week…. THANKSGIVING!

On my way to the taxi park in town… just a few days after the crazy earthquake… I heard a weird indescribable BBBBZZZZAAAAPPPP and when I looked up at a telephone pole (there wasn’t even a transformer attached) I saw what looked like a blue force field of energy… like from the film Independence Day. At this point I was still a bit jumpy thanks to the earthquake. Even now when I hear the tin on my roof crackle just a bit because of the harsh sun or my cat, I expect a full-on earthquake! Anyways… I made it to the bus park wondering what the heck just happened and after waiting 30 minutes finally had a matatu (taxi van) pull up heading my direction and I get put in the front seat with plenty of room…. Such a tease… I get transferred to another matatu not even 5 minutes later and am sitting in-between two men with no deodorant and no compassion for the people next to them (me) on how much space they are taking up. Rude. Skip to the car ride on the way to the Thanksgiving venue (a small outdoor restaurant owned by a Dutch man with a decent ‘view’ and quiet atmosphere) there are so many of us piled in the vehicle that it gets stuck in some mud 200 yards from the place. We all just decide to lighten up the car and get out. While rummaging through the trunk to get the food I go to grab a bag and something from inside is looking at me! I found the turkey! 

Once we reach the venue we throw all of our bags in a large room that is littered with mattresses for us to sleep on. The mattresses were made up with sheets, blankets, pillows, and towels. I was impressed! It looked like a giant sleep over and reminded me of the good old days. We got served pizzas with pineapple, ham, beef, tuna, and a mystery meat that I took a bite of and tossed in Kendra's direction for her to finish. While we were picking our teeth clean and licking the plates Robyn and her sister, Bailey, and mother, Sharon, from the States arrived. They have been traveling all over the SW of Uganda for the past week and were gracing us with their presence for such a family oriented holiday. Actually Robyn set up the venue and organized everything so…. BIG shout out to Robyn and being on top of it all! Thank you! Robyn’s mother also brought gifts we requested from the States so I was able to enjoy pistachios again! Another shout out and Thank You to Robyn’s mom for lugging everything we requested!! 

The next morning (THANKSGIVING!) Kendra and I went for a walk around the village when we eventually reached a dead end and saw two women in their yard. They waved us over and pulled over a bench so we figured ‘why not’ and took a seat. We greeted them and then just sat. We didn’t know enough Runyankore  to carry on a complete conversation and they didn’t know enough English… so after 5 minutes we excused ourselves and found the trail again. When we got back to Kalibas (the restaurant) I opened a letter from my cousin Laura who handed it to me at my going away party and it read ‘do not open for 6 months.’ She didn’t remember writing it or plan me to open it on Thanksgiving but it was a very inspirational letter. A great start to a great day!  Robyn killed the turkey while her mother and vegan sister watched. I just watched everyone’s face that I could see while this slaughter was going on. The last time I saw a chicken get slaughtered I wasn’t impressed… just scared… for the chicken. I decided to opt out of watching. While the turkey was cooking we set up the sigiris and chopped the veggies. I was scrubbing extremely dirty potatoes by hand so we could keep the skins on in our mash of potatoes. After scrubbing those suckers clean I decided to tackle the pumpkin with the only knife I could find…. my pocket knife. The resteraunt was very ill prepared and did not have many knives… only one I believe.. so everything we chopped was with pocket knives. Good thing almost every PCV I know has one! After spending an hour de-seeding, chopping, and peeling the rind off I boiled the pieces and threw the cooked pieces in a clean bathing basin. We had THAT much pumpkin. We also used a basin for the mac and cheese, salad, and mashed potatoes. During this feast we were not lacking food. I roasted the pumpkin seeds, mashed the pumpkin while Kendra added the pie ingredients, mashed the potatoes, and cooked the green bean casserole. I felt productive and useful! So our menu for the meal was: turkey, vegetable salad w/ basalmic dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, stuffing, and drum roll…. Pumpkin pie! Everything for the meal was a team effort and made from scratch. Most of us had blisters on our hands when we were done chopping and cooking! Way to go team! After our main meal we sat by the fire with some drinks and enjoyed one another’s company. It was the end to a wonderful Thanksgiving… I may not have been with my family back home but it sure felt I was with a family… which is the most important. My Peace Corps family!

The next day we celebrated one of the PCVs birthdays. It was an epic night filled with bone shaking (dancing), lighting my mouth on fire intentionally (twice), and getting VIP treatment for being white… most of that would never happen in the States… it was AWESOME and at the same time extremely odd to be so privileged. Celebrity status. Although while bone shaking I saw a television with news about the rebellion in the DRC and it just all felt like a dream… like something dramatic you would see on a TV show or in a movie… I was having a good time dancing and there was this… war/ unrest… happening on television… in a country right next to me. 

When I got home after an exhausting day of public transportation I fell asleep at 6pm and didn’t wake up again until 9am. Good thing it was raining most of the day so I did NOTHING but clean my house and write. Uganda gives me OCD. I also have more of an appreciation for Elend (my cat). He cuddles with me when I want him to, he responds to me clicking like a dog, he now follows me down the driveway when I leave…. he’s growing on me… but still an idiot (aka waiting till it pours to go outside then being mad when he’s all wet). I started playing with the kids more outside my house because there are only about 4 living here during break and they don’t do really anything all day. Four kids isn't as intimidating as 20. Tonight I was giving the younger ones piggy back rides, we were spinning and getting dizzy, I had a little photo shoot with them, and then we kicked a ball around. The two youngest, Abigail and Bridget, each fell once and started crying. When they aren’t falling and hurting themselves they are adorable. They call my cat ‘cappa Michelle’ because he is mine. After returning inside my house I got a tap on the door 10 minutes later and posho and g-nut sauce delivered to my door. I grabbed a fork… walked outside… and sat down on my stoop with Abigail and Bridget. They both got on either side of me and were talking to me in Runyankore. I didn’t know most of what they said but it was still cute. Very enjoyable. 

Earlier today I also sat in town charging my computer and watching the TV show Community for a few hours. I pulled my only three carrots from the garden in the front of the house because the cows trampled on everything else I planted. While I was in the garden a black mohawked eagle flew over me again and I tried getting some pics. A long-crested eagle…. I wish I could tame one and walk around with him on my forearm…. When I wanted him to he could mail letters for me. After the eagle flew over, Elend came to visit me in the garden and we walked back to the house together… at one point I had him running next to me… this is what I would do if I had a dog. Ugh. I miss my dog from home.

Tomorrow I am heading to GLOW until the 8^th! My group animal is the Warthog… snort snort! Get ready to play some Frisbee girls!!! Empowering women is going to be fun!

Thank you for the package Grandma Sophie! I’m enjoying all of the food and the kitten pot holders and oven mitts! Maybe I’ll stop burning myself now! 

Hope you all had a MARVELOUS Thanksgiving and have reflected on what you are thankful for! 

When trying to teach a Ugandan about Thanksgiving... they just kept asking 'what did you give?' 

Bridget

Bridget, Florence, Abigail

Herb garden with flower

my only 3 carrots

Passion Fruit... my favorite

Lettuce, Broc, and Spinach!

Shake it Up in here!

Song: Shake it out – Florence and the Machine

About 20 minutes ago I’m on the phone with my friend Georgie from back home and while I’m standing in my bedroom talking I hear the tin roof start to crackle a bit so I assumed Elend was on the roof… like normal. I noticed that it couldn't be Elend because the tin is crackling from not just one sot but throughout the entire house! Then I noticed the ground shaking and I there were a million things going through my mind! Should I get out of the building… will it hold up… Where do I go? I was just frozen on the phone. The whole house was shaking and I noticed little bits of concrete crumble off the wall. How much longer is this going to last? Is this going to get any worse? If I go outside is that even safe since it is after dark and it is known around here that you stay inside when it gets dark out? I’ve felt earthquakes in Michigan before… but it’s such a slight shake that if you’re not sitting or lying still then you would never notice it. I’ve never felt an earthquake this powerful before! It never occurred to me that earthquakes would happen along the Albertine Rift Valley where I live. I suppose it caught me off guard and shook me up… ha… no pun intended. I’m still a bit…. shakey :p I am NEVER living where these things happen all the time. Give me my Michigan back! I think I may have cried if I wasn’t on the phone with someone… I was all by myself. My Supervisors and the family went to go visit their very ill brother in law in Kampala earlier this week and haven’t returned yet so I was alone during this earthquake (other than being on the phone). The kids were even gone at the school to eat supper. 

After all of that excitement…. let us talk about another first I had this week. I doubledutched with a jump rope! I am horrible at it and Irene (the 10 year old Ugandan we taught) is of course a natural at it. But I’ve never done double-dutch  when I was younger… it was really hard but fun! After all this time.

I’ve been really bored lately. A few days ago I taught some little kids how to play tic-tac toe. They weren’t as excited about it as I was… but in time they will realize how awesome of a game it is. I also tried to feed the little orphaned goat that the grandmother here usually feeds… I mixed up some milk and put it in a water bottle. I poked a hole in the top of a balloon and attached it to the water bottle. I could tell the little guy was hungry but he must have looked past my tricks and noticed that it was powdered milk. Sorry I didn’t go milk the cow but this it was I’ve got! He could take it or leave it… and he left it… so Elend got it. 

Thanksgiving meal in 2 days with an amazing group of volunteers… can’t wait!

Ebola Round 2.... *Ding*

Current Music: Bon Iver

The new Education group arrived in Uganda yesterday so…. WELCOME! That means 49 more Peace Corps... soon to be volunteers! 

I'm going to start off with a little non-traditional riddle.... Why does the Chameleon cross the road? It doesn't really matter because he doesn't make it and is too slow. The real question is what color is the chameleon when he gets run over? Well from my experience... the chameleon is green even though he was crossing the brown dirt road. The poor little fellow didn't even have time to blend in :( I wanted my first chameleon to be walking around but it gives me hope that I will have a chance to see another one. 

Other than coming across a dead chameleon on my walk home yesterday I heard a child running up behind me and thought it was ‘just another kid’ but when he caught my attention my calling my name I realized it was a student from Miranda Memorial (the school I live at)! A few times I walked back with him and his brothers and friend while their mothers trailed behind us. I saw that he was carrying a bag above his head and offered to carry it for him since I’m much bigger and it gives me an opportunity to work out without actually working out. I grabbed the bag from him and we waited for his friend and little brother to catch up. When they got closer I realized that his friend was holding a rabbit by the ears. Strange site but I put two and two together and understood that it was going to be their supper. Unlike in the states rabbits where rabbits are all over the place I have yet to see a wild rabbit hopping around. If you want a rabbit here you go to the market and get one that was raised on a farm and is destined to end up as someone’s supper. Any other day or place before yesterday it may have bugged me the way he was holding the rabbit but he just saw it as food and in that moment I understood. I also grabbed his bag and he started holding the rabbit more ‘proper’ because I freed up his other arm. At first I thought it was dead… but his eyes were still open so I gave him a little pat on the head…. I need to stop petting dinner. Its a bad habit to get into and I just get attached to fuzzy and feathered things sometimes. We walked in silence for the walk back… me in front carrying 2 bags and being trailed by 3 children with a rabbit… must have been a site. By the look of the boda drivers passing faces and their passengers I’d guess they enjoyed it. There was something about the walk that just made me feel so… at ease and relaxed. Speaking of chameleons… I had a legit lizard you’d buy from a pet store in my pit latrine and when I came back from training last week…. a BIG…. FAT…. Black Widow!!! When I sprayed the crap out of him and he dropped to the ground I noticed the red hourglass plastered to his abdomen. Gave me the creeps.

About 10 minutes ago I'm sitting next to Candy while she's enjoying a veggie samosa... in the middle of a bite she hold out her hand 'what...what is this?'..... 'I don't know what is it?'.... 'Its a piece of foam!'.... 'That's one dirty piece of foam.'..... Then I started to realize.... you could commit any crime in Uganda and hide your evidence in a samosa Nobody would ever know.  

News Update: 

As of earlier this week there has been yet another what? Ebola outbreak! Not in my town though. I’m starting to forget the name of the months and call them the name of the outbreak that occurred during that time…. September, October, November = Ebola, Marburg, Ebola2…. Does this always happen or is it just now?

Anyways… the holiday season is upon us and the school kids are out soon! Plus, I have a Turkey to eat next week! Only A month until my brother arrives!!! I’m SOOOOO STOKED!!!!

Oh Uganda. I just have to wake up and remember sometimes that TIA (This is Africa) and I live here!