Safari, Amanda, Exams

April 16, 2009
Exam week

Shout out: Hi Ang!


First of all, I’m sorry it has taken me so long to write another update. I think the last one I sent was about bungee jumping and white water rafting. A lot has happened since then but not so much that this letter will turn into a book.

This is the last week of the semester for us in Uganda but as a group we still have three weeks of the program left before the official end. The university has allotted about 10 days of exams, this is really nice because then we have days between our finals and papers to study and prepare. Gordon only gives us four days so it’s a lot more stressful. I’ve found Uganda to be calming compared to the potentially stressful and fast paced Gordon. I have learned a lot academically from UCU but find that what I want to take with me back home is what I learned through my experiences and everyday living rather than classroom lectures and projects.

The first weekend of April my program (USP) went on an optional safari. About eight people opted out and chose to do something else. A friend of mine, Kristen, planned the whole thing and because of her great bargaining skills and management we were able to pay less than half of what the advertised price was. We also went as cheap as possible. This included camping on the campground (where hippos and warthogs roamed freely), hiring our own drivers and rather cheap vehicles (not the best for safari viewing but still cheap), and bringing our own food (PB&J all weekend long!).

All in all I had a wonderful time. I saw a variety of animals I’ve never seen in their natural habitat. I saw herds of elephants, waterbucks, bushbucks, gazelles, antelope, a leopard, a lion, water buffalo, hippos, warthogs, crocodiles, lizards, and monkeys. We slept two nights on a campground overlooking Lake Edward. We slept next to snorting hippos and grunting warthogs. Did you know that hippos are the only animal to kill another animal for fun/out of spite/ because they’re bored. Needless to say it was a little scary finding the bathroom at night when we knew there were hippos wondering around freely. But don’t worry, no one got eaten or bothered by the hippos. The drive took about twelve hours on roads that were more potholes and speed bumps than actual asphalt/tarmac. Uganda is the size of Oregon, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t take twelve hours to cross the entire state of Oregon but because Uganda doesn’t have highways with exits, it took us quite a while to get there.

The next weekend I went and spent Easter (this last weekend) with Amanda and her family in Wakiso. I first went into Kampala with my friend Chuck to do some gift shopping at the local markets. I wasn’t planning on buying anything because I had convinced myself I’ve already got everything I needed. Well, I was helping Chuck do his bartering for random knick knacks when one of the vendors came up to me and commented on my watch. I don’t have a very fancy watch; it’s just a regular digital watch that is good for timing yourself when you go running. Well she offered to exchange anything in her stall for my used and scratched watch that I’ve probably had for at least a year now. I couldn’t pass up this offer since I could easily replace my watch when I get home but I probably could never get some of the wares she was selling. So I took my time, looked around and finally settled on a vase made out of Ugandan soap stone with a very African safari them painted into it. I picked the largest and prettiest one and she was happy with it but then asked me for another 10,000 shillings ($5). We did a bit of bartering and all that and finally settled on a smaller version for just my watch. I was extremely happy and proud of my new vase.

Anyway, after spending the morning doing some shopping Chuck went back to Mukono and I went on to Wakiso (exact opposite directions from each other). I had a wonderful weekend with Amanda and her family. She has two darling little sisters named Cowphra and Swabra. I’m pretty sure I slaughtered the spelling but that is what they sound like. Cow (I know, horrible nick name but that’s what they call her) is four and Swabra is two. Aisha is their mother and a very welcoming host. Cow and Swabra were constantly practicing their limited English and reciting all of our sisters by name. They’d say, “Amanda, Ashaley, Mewissa, Malooooo, and Angela” over and over again to make sure we heard them. I met most of Amanda’s fellow peace corps volunteers, saw some of the things she has been working on (she and a couple other peace corps-ers built a mud stove, it’s pretty impressive), and celebrated Easter with her.

We went to the Catholic Church on Easter because apparently they tend to be the shortest services at about two hours long. One of Amanda’s friends went to one of the Anglican churches at 10 and didn’t get out until 2:00. We went to the English service which was mostly in Luganda and it only lasted about an hour and a half. I enjoyed being in Church on Sunday even though I didn’t understand the majority of what they were saying. Amanda got to practice understanding Luganda and enjoy the Easter service even though the sermon didn’t really have much to do about Easter.

Amanda and I both had a big week of exams/presentations ahead of us so we spent most of Sunday afternoon studying and working on presentations. It was fun to be able to be together even though we were just studying. Amanda finds out where she’s going to be placed sometime this week. She has her language test on Friday (April 17) and her signing in ceremony on Wednesday (April 22nd). I wanted to go but apparently there is a fixed guest list (important people like the Ambassador, etc.) and a limited amount of space. I don’t think they really expected family to show up (which isn’t surprising).

It’s hard to believe I only have three weeks left of the program. Next Thursday (April 23rd) we leave to go to Rwanda for one week to learn about the genocide of 1994. It will be a very challenging and interesting week. We then come back to Mukono on May 1st, spend one day packing up all of our things and then head to Entebbe (where the airport is on Lake Victoria) for four days of debriefing. May 5th almost every USP students boards a flight to come back to the US. Some of my friends are remaining in Africa for varying amounts of time. Two of my friends are going to Kenya for five days, one friend is going to South Africa to work in an orphanage for 2 months, another friend is going into Northern Uganda for 4 months to do missions, and I’m staying for 10 days in Uganda with Amanda. My flight leaves Uganda on May 17th and I get home on the 18th. Exactly one month from today I’ll be flying home. It’s so hard to believe how fast this semester has flown.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this last little update about my Ugandan life. I’ll probably send one or two more with updates about Rwanda and Amanda.

Thank you for your prayers, letters, and emails! I’m sorry I’ve been so bad at replying to emails, the internet is very touch and go and sometimes doesn’t work for days at a time.