First, NYC-> London. Not as bad as I expected. Well done British Airways, your seats are nice and big and TV's are wonderful at distracting me from the fact we were flying over an ocean. Thanks for that :) Luckily I was with my roommate Krissy as well as Michelle and Gaspare ever since we left JFK so I had someone to share my anxiety and excitement of take off and landing. Arrived for sunrise in London and had enough time to grab some brunch at a restaurant called the Giraffe. Not knowing or remembering protocol for tipping in London I straight up asked our waitress, not much of a help since her response was, "I don't know, I've never been to America" and pretty much told me tip what you want. Anybody know?
London -> Entebbe also not as bad as I expected. First eight hour flight, following a three hour layover and six hour flight is not highly recommended, but becomes immediately worth it once you land. I became friends with a 2 year old on the plane. Turns out we both needed to walk around the aisles a lot and he got pretty good at giving me high fives each time we passed one another. Landing in Uganda was incredible. Walking off the plane the heat and humidity hits you like a brick wall. I was immediately shedding layers and starting to sweat. Mom's friend Kristie, who has been to Ethiopia where she adopted her son, warned me about overwhelming emotions that will come when you land and she was right. Standing in line to go through customs was very overwhelming for me. Looking around and seeing maps of the world with Africa as the center, security guards with nice big guns (literally), and the chaos that surrounded the baggage claim was a lot to take in. Also the exhaustion and fatigue was kicking in. We were able to meet up with most of our group at this point and Deb (my program director) was waiting for us with our bus on the other side of security. I felt like a baby, but hugging Deb at that point was like hugging Mom. So needed and so comforting. Once bags and people were loaded in the bus off we were to Kampala.
Highways here are mostly dirt/clay roads. Along the highway are shacks, businesses not much bigger than my bathroom back home, and people. There are so many people walking along the streets at night, come to find out at all times of the day actually. I felt like I couldn't open my eyes wide enough to see everything, but at the same time had to start chowing down on trail mix to stay awake.
We are staying at a hotel called the Fang Fang, which is run by Madam Fang, a gorgeous Chinese woman. Our room is beautiful and comfortable and to our surprise has wi-fi, most of the time. After a few quick FaceTime calls and a drizzle out of a spout excuse for a shower we passed out.
Morning came quickly and I was wide awake at 6am. This jet lag thing is really confusing. We met our group in the hotel garden just out back for breakfast. The option in our Chinese restaurant attached to the hotel was mostly noodles, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, "western" styled eggs, and fruit. Probably the best scrambled eggs, toast, and banana of my life. Also, felt like I needed a shower after breakfast, it is so hot and humid I can't believe it!
We went a few places during the day, but overall had a pretty mellow first day. We were able to go exchange our cash, go grocery shopping, tour through the Uganda Museum, and attend a welcome dinner celebration. $1 US dollar is equal to 2490 UG shillings. I spent 31,400.00 shillings on some water, soda, and snacks or in other words $12.61 US dollars. At the museum I bought about 20 postcards for 29,600 shillings, a.k.a. about $11 dollars. When it comes the point when the cashier tells me the total and I open my wallet I am stumped. It's pretty much become our groups joke because I just stare at the bills that say 2,000, 5,000 50,000 and then look at the total and yeah. Math isn't my strong suit and jet lag isn't helping that. I have been very good at keeping a log of my purchases though and am shocked and how inexpensive everything is here.
The welcome dinner was the highlight of the day. We went to a place called In Movement: Art for social change. As we exited the bus and entered through the gates we could hear the drumming and singing welcoming us. The dancers had prepared songs and dances for us while we ate traditional Ugandan buffet. I couldn't stop smiling the entire night. After our meal they encouraged us to join them for dancing and we had a full on dance jam for a good 15-20 minutes. These dancers are incredible at isolating every body part. I can't wait to post photos and video when I have better connection to the internet. By around 8:30 we were on our way home and exhausted once again. Did anyone else see the moon tonight? What an incredible crescent shape! Pretty cool even though I am thousands of miles away, we are all under the same moon and stars. Quite comforting being this far away from home. We were able to fall asleep somewhere around 10 or 11pm. I still don't think my body knows what is going on, but hopefully the jet lag will wear off soon and I'll be able to get at least one good night's sleep.
So far my favorite part of Uganda is driving around. The streets are so full of action. I can't help but stare out the window with my camera. The motorcycles (boda-bodas) are everywhere! The women ride them with both legs hanging off to one side since they are mostly wearing skirts and dresses, and children either ride between two adults or straddle the front handle bars. I've seen very few helmets. Traffic is like the UK so it has taken some getting used to with being on the other side of the road. I've tried to get into our drivers door countless times thinking its the door we use to get on the bus, oops.
I can't wait to see what the rest of the trip holds. Tomorrow is going to be another easy day for us and we should have our orientation with the first school we will be working with. I look forward to meeting the teachers and assistants who will help us teach in the coming weeks. Luckily, our first school is across the street.
Well it is now almost 6am and I feel the Zzzquil starting to kick in so I should try to get some rest.
One quote that I heard today that wraps up this first post pretty well is,
"Life is good".
Life is very good. I am loving life here in Uganda and wish I could digitally capture the smells, temperature, and feelings I am having here. This place is definitely full of some of the happiest people on earth. I've never seen so many smiles in one day.
xoxo,
Victoria Jane
Welcome dinner
Do I need to caption this one?
Yes. We saw the moon driving back into New York with a temp outside the car of 1 degree. But the same beautiful moon we saw with you. Weird how the world can be so big yet so small all at the same time : ) Great blog entry! Love you!
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