Traveling

I arrived in Uganda yesterday after what felt like a week on an airplane.  

We spent twelve hours in London and were able to see Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar square and a couple other places that I can't think of at the moment.  We ended up getting back to the airport way before our flight left because we were so exhausted.  By the time we got to London, it was the middle of the night in Utah and I felt like I hadn't slept in days.  Sleeping on an airplane is just not the same as sleeping in my own bed.

Big Ben

The streets of London

When in London, you HAVE to get a picture inside of a telephone booth :)

Buckingham Palace- we were there for the changing of the guards but I really couldn't see and was too tired and confused to really know what was going on... or to care

Lion statue in Trafalgar Square

Following London, we had another overnight flight to Kenya.  The Nairobi airport was pretty small and we were there for just an hour, giving us enough time to check in for our flight and wait.  I read a bit and wrote in my journal.  The flight from Nairobi to Entebbe, Uganda was short - about 50 minutes.  We went out onto the tarmac and got into a bus which took us to out airplane.  Never done that before but I love being able to go onto the tarmac and getting into the plane that way from a ramp.

When we arrived in Uganda, we had to fill out an immigration form/landing papers.  It was intimidating to stand in line and wait for a visa.  What if they say no you can't come?  I didn't have any problems though and successfully got a visa.  I got my luggage which had all arrived safely with locks intact and everything.  Ari and Jesse (the county directors) were just outside waiting for us, along with two Ugandans who they hired to drive the other van.  There were nine of us that had just flown in and we loaded all our bags into two vans and took off.  The traffic was crazy!  There don't seem to be any rules and everyone drives really close and fast.  we stopped at a hotel in Kampala to change some money and then at a restaurant to get some food.

My Visa

It still was about an hour drive to Lugazi and we all fell asleep.  We made it to Lugazi to our house.  It is a very small town and I'm pretty sure we are the only white people around.  We walked around and kinda took a tour yesterday and all the little kids yell hi mzungu (white person in Lugandan).  They are really happy and excited to see us.  We are quite the novelty :)  They would just come up and hug us or hold our hands and walk along with us.

Our house is very small; two bedrooms for twenty one people and all of our luggage.  Needless to say it is pretty crowded.  We do have a courtyard in the front so it seems that we will hang out there.  The beds are stacked three high and I ended up with the bottom one.  Everyone said that it would be way hot but I never got hot and even slept with a little blanket.

Our House- the right half...

My bunk (the bottom one) was in the main room where everyone hung out

Three people are leaving on Wednesday so on Tuesday we are going river rafting down the Nile.  I think it might be kind of expensive but who cares.  Once in a lifetime opportunity.  I haven't really figured out the money yet so I'm not sure how much it is -- something like 80 dollars.

Tomorrow we will have a meeting and learn about the projects and start working on things on Monday.  Hopefully that will alleviate some of my homesickness and I will be able to figure things out.  I really miss my home and my family and wish that I had a good friend here to talk to about it.  Oh well I will get over that and get into the swing of things soon enough!