Here we are now, 2 weeks in. I’ve started to settle in, and got over some of the first time hurdle that await you in this city - find a room, drive a boda, get anywhere within a certain frame of time... My room is in Munyenga-Bukassa, which I’ve learned since moving there is not considered Kampala anymore. But at least it’s close to work, and I value my sleep in the morning! It’s a nice place, although it’s the first kitchen with an earth-floor I’ve ever had! The place is locked up like Fort Knox, even though there aren’t any [View Full Entry]

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The joy and excitement of being home with family and friends was all too quickly replaced with loneliness and exhaustion as I stepped off the third plane in 24 hours and finally set foot back in Uganda. I was thankful to have had the time at home with family and dear friends, and especially to have had time with my father during his recovery from surgery. Even though I was home for over a month, it went VERY FAST. Thank you to everyone who made my trip home such a blessing! The trip back to Uganda was relatively uneventful. However, the [View Full Entry]

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Well, the good news is, I'm alive and well. The bad, that I did get to put a single step out of my hotel room this weekend, seeing as I had developed a close personal relationship with the toilet bowl. Of course, every rookie newcomer has to go through this, and it actually happens every time I go to a hot country - but it doesn't make it any more fun. Actually, the only fun connected to me this weekend would have been watching me Sunday night, crouching under the sink, trying to hold it up with my head while disassembling [View Full Entry]

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So I really apologize to all my readers for failing to update this as often as promised. I have no good reasons, just lame excuses. But to be honest, Ive been so depressed since this horrible virus wiped out my computer and I lost all my files- most importantly my pictures form this year. Yup. I was Einstein enough to NOT back anything up. I get what I deserve what I suppose. But all those memories gone. I just couldn bring myself to post my blog without pictures. And my computer sits dormant, dead, or rather, just sleeping until the day [View Full Entry]

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So here I am, sitting in an office in the heart of 'the Pearl of Africa', hoping to finish my first blogging entry before the next power cut, wondering how in the Spaghettimonster's name I ended up a few thousand miles from home, at a desk in Kampala, Uganda. In the words of a British pop band (or several, for that matter): back to the start. I'm not your average bungee-jumping, sky-diving, overall adventure loving type of traveller. Overall, I can live without having had Malaria, I don't think getting stranded in the middle of a foreign country without money and [View Full Entry]

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Blog entry: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 Hello from beautiful Mbale, Uganda! I’m still living in the same hotel we had originally checked into upon arriving from Kampala. It’s a really nice place, but I’m definitely spending waaaaay too much living here. We’ve spent most evenings after work looking at other housing options, but it’s tough-going. We’re here for such an awkward period of time (around 2 more months at this point) due to the travel delays because of the violence and then a training course in Kampala we hadn’t originally planned on attendi [View Full Entry]

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Well after leaving Rwanda behind us we headed back across the border to Uganda (and paid another 50 dollars each for visa's). The countries are quite similar. Lush green hills and valleys beautiful sunshine followed by heavy rain, hail, thunder and lightening. Which is all fine except when your trying to start a fire, cook or put up a tent!! We crossed the Equator again watched the water experiment as you do which way does the water drain etc. Stopped off in Kampala for supplies and got some finger lickin' chicken from Mr Tasty's. My turn to cook tonight so suggested [View Full Entry]

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ENGLISH Sadly things have taken a turn for the worst. We've not eaten in days and are sleeping on the streets. We've had to turn our skills to street crime just to get by........ Hehehehe, only joking. After our bus ride to Kampala we woke up at Red Chili Hideaway to very heavy rain. We got dressed and went to have breakfast. The place wasn't that friendly so we decided to move and find somewhere else. We packed and took a taxi to UWA (Ugandan Wildlife Authority) to buy permits to see the Gorillas. $1000 later, we booked a 1 hour [View Full Entry]

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Well Egypt has been and gone, Israel was brief and Jordan was amazing but expensive. After a reasonable border crossing we head to Aqaba for lunch before out to the Wadi Rum to watch sunset and stay at our bedioun camp for the night. Lovely setting beautiful colours but the bloody drunken Dutch marred our serenity. After some music and dinner we head to our beds and decide to enjoy a longer lie rather than watch sunrise. Its time to grab some breakfast before we're on the road again to the vistors centre a short film and into the 4 x [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009 Hello from Kampala! This is my first blog entry since arriving in Uganda on Wednesday. It has been a long strange trip so far. I can hardly believe that tomorrow will mark a week since I left my apartment to serve as a Global Health Fellow in Mbale, Uganda. I’ll try to remember what’s happened up to this point and recount it as best I can: The trip from DC began on Monday night when my sister dropped me off at the airport. I wandered around at the airport (one of my favorite activities) until I found [View Full Entry]

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