My first days in Uganda

Today is Monday, and my second day in Uganda. We are staying in the beautiful city of Kampala, about 45 minutes away from Entebbe and the airport. Our flight landed just after sunrise, over Lake Victoria. In fact, our landing strip as so close to the lake that for a moment I thought we mind just land in it! After we retrieved our luggage, two drivers, Caleb and Joseph I believe, drove us to our apartment in Kampala. And what a drive it was! Here in Uganda, the rule of the road, in my opinion, is every man (or vehicle) for himself! At first I was a little nervous and would grab my armrest every time a motorcycle clipped by us. I began to relax a little once I realized every one was laughing at my reaction.

After arriving at the apartment, I took a much-needed nap, and afterwards went for a short swim. That evening, the family I am staying with and I drove up Tank hill to have a drink and watch the sun set. I tried my first African beer, it was Kenyan I believe, and very tasty. After the sunset and the children began to shiver, we drove back into town and had a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Spurs. Out of all the places in the world, Uganda is the last place I expected to find a Native American themed restaurant! Shortly after arriving at the restaurant, we were joined by Melody's family. They were all extremely warm and welcoming, and their children are incredibly cute. I really look forward to working with Peter, Melody's brother who is an artist. We plan on visiting the orphanage later this week to get a better understanding of what I will be doing.

The next morning (this morning) Courtney and the kids and I walked in to town to buy a few things and a local shopping center. As I walked past a truck full of construction workers, I heard one of them call out "Hey Misungu!" which is what they call white people here. On the side of the road were rows and rows of plants and flowers for sale, pity I couldn't buy any (no where to plant them at the apartment)! After purchasing some beach towels and bottled water we started on our walk back home. About half way there I came across a boda boda driver wearing a CU hat! This got me very excited and I immediately started up a conversation with him. Boda Bodas are moped/motorcycle taxi's that zip through traffic so fast it's a wonder how the passengers manage to stay on them! It's only been two days, and already I am blown away by this country!