Not until I boarded the plane did I really even find out what and how we were getting here. Two years ago, Eric and Jill came through the global volunteer network and were placed at the Springs of Hope High School outside of Kampala, Uganda. Now Eric has created a close relationship with the director Angelo and this time we came directly through him and the school. While here we will be teaching English (i know ironic being that I am horrible at the subject) and other topics we see fit, such as Marketing and Customer Service for me, and Music for Eric.
Off to a good start I had forgotten my malaria medications so a rush delivery of those was a nice cost. That all being ok thanks to Jill who willingly did the foot work for me and got them sent off! When we arrived the night of June 1st into the Entebee Airport we were greeted by Angelo who was very excited to see Eric and meet me. The car ride to his house consisted mostly of me trying to stay awake and drifting off now and then but we had some interesting talks and I learned a little bit about the country. Angelo was talking about the bill they have in congress right now making homosexuality illegal and those breaking the law could be killed on the spot. Yikes! Quite a different world.
After we got to their house they showed us the attached house we would be staying in, it is pretty simple but comfortable. We set up the mosquito nets and went to bed.
The next few days we hung around a bit. Wednesday we went into the city. Quite an experience getting into the taxis from their town, large 14 passenger vans that people piled into, and then from the busy taxi park in the middle of the city with many people yelling mzungu (white person) we walked the streets a bit through the crazyness and Angelo showed us his favorite movie store, where you could get pretty much any film you wanted for under 2 dollars. After, we hopped on motor bikes to the mall called Garden City. Here is little europe, there are white people everywhere. We had lunch and watched a movie and did a few other things, then back to Bulenga (where we are staying) for the evening.
Susan (angelo's wife) makes us dinner every night, usually some form of rice and beans and plantains. Its pretty good but is getting old.
The next day was a public holiday so more hanging around. Moses, the headmaster of the school and Angelo talked to us about what we wanted to teach and when we should come to the school.
On Friday we went to our first day of classes. It was awkward at first and all the kids just stare at us because they can't understand us very well. We got a lot of stares and giggles. We taught a few classes of english and had the kids write about themselves. They write surprisingly well but you can tell they have a lot to still work on.
Saturday was a slow day, Eric was sick for a while so we had gotten him medicine the day before and chose today to rest. We played a lot of cribbage and Rage (like crazy 8's). I won't play rage anymore because I am so bad and got too far behind... I'm rarely a sore looser but it just wasn't fun anymore.
Sunday morning Angelo's cousin John took us to church. It was a catholic church, but in english so wasn't much different from a service in the US. On the way back we walked through some markets which was pretty interesting. That night Angelo took us out for dinner at a Karaoke type place, which was basically blasting ugandan rap music and some people would kind of sing along. The food wasn't very good but we sampled some Ugandan Beer.
Monday we were told we were not needed in class so Eric and I headed into town to plan a Safari! We booked one for this weekend so I'm sure my next update will be talking about that. After that we went to the Cafe Pap, a famous coffee shop in Kampala, which is also where I am now using the internet.
Tuesday we had another day at school, after a misadventure getting to the campus we taught some more english and Eric taught a little music. The kids really enjoyed that. Towards the end of the day we were supposed to be teaching another class but we ended up just hanging out the the kids, playing a little guitar and playing on the photo booth on the computer. The kids seemed to enjoy that much more than our pitiful excuse for an english lesson.
Wednesday (today) we have another public holiday so Eric and I decided to come to town and use the internet then head to school to hang out with the kids that live on campus.
Overall my experience so far has been really nice. Cold showers are one thing but we have running water (most of the time) and plenty of food. The people are amazingly nice compared to what i have encountered in many other places. People are excited to see Americans rather than think we are all fat and uneducated. Especially the kids, the ones at the school are all very interested in our lives and the young kids on the street are so excited to wee white people and are very friendly.
Sorry I don't have any pictures to add now but they will all be put up at some time after we get back to the states. Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but I hope this gives you an idea of what we have been up to.
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