Hello again,
It seems like a million things have happened since I last wrote but I think it was actually only about 2 days... hmm... where to start?
Well Friday was pretty boring during the day. Mostly just going over SIT policies, group norms, and stuff like that. After all that running around, it was a nice break. Then, at night it was my roommate's 21st birthday and the R. Kelly concert, so it was a good thing we had saved up our energy. The R. Kelly concert was crazzzzzzzy. So different from any concert in the US. We got there about an hour ahead of time and the line was literally wrapped around the entire cricket stadium. Most Ugandans are really nice, so we spent our time in line practicing Lugandan (which I am HORRIBLE at. I think I am speaking with a slight Spanish/ slight Southern accent, so nobody can understand the few words I know) and trading stories. We also met a group of Peace Corps people who were incredibly pretentious and were extremely rude to the program assistant who went with us. (Disclaimer: this is nothing against the Peace Corps. I love the Peace Corps. I was just shocked that this was how these particular Peace Corp people were behaving towards us and the Ugandans.) Anyways, so we are almost at the front of the line and a police officer comes over and offers to take us to the front of the line. When we get there, he basically says, "now can you help me out a little bit," asking for a bribe. So we're all scrambling around to find money (nobody brought any b/c it would get stolen) and we ask how much he wants and he says 2000 shillings, which is like one dollar.
Getting into the stadium took a lot of physical strength. Instead of a nice line, there was just a huge pack of people creating a bottleneck and shoving each other to get through the gate because R Kelly had just started playing. We finally get through, find everybody else, and have a group hug. Then, some Ugandan guy offers to help us find our way down to the crowd, so we follow a bunch of other people ducking under a bar at the top of the stadium and then go down amphitheater seats (ie steep and tall stairs) all the way to the field, where there is just a huge mob of people. I'm not really sure where the paid seats were cuz it pretty much seemed like every man for himself. The entire cricket field and seats were packed to the brim. People were literally sitting with their feet dangling out the windows of the boxes.
R Kelly played for about an hour, with no song lasting more than 2 minutes. This was the most expensive concert Uganda has ever had and he played for ONE HOUR. So not that I really liked R Kelly in the first place (music or personal life) but I am really not a fan of his now (despite the excellence of I Believe I can Fly and Ignition Remix). Getting out of the stadium was... well... possibly one of the most adrenaline pumping experiences I've ever had. I had enough trouble getting it, but getting out at the exact same time as everyone else with virtually no security or crowd control was somewhat terrifying. Imagine being pushed by a mass of people while trying to dodge the random fire pits created by sausage vendors. I'll spare you the details though, since we all did in fact make it out alive. Liability issues are clearly not nearly as pressing anywhere in Uganda as in the US.
Speaking of which, I read in the Ugandan newspaper that the country is 2nd only to Ethiopia worldwide in traffic fatalities. (sorry mom and dad. I promise I am not trying to give you a heart attack) Don't worry though because most of those result from Boda Bodas, which are these crazy small motocycles that are like taxis but have no traffic rules (there are no traffic lights and few traffic signs here). We had to sign a paper saying that we would ride the Boda Bodas though or drive at all. Or skydive, bungee jump, hang glide, or white water raft. Bummer.
Ok. Running out of time so this next part is gonna go faster:
Yesterday we went to the head of the Nile, which was incredible. Pictures are hopefully coming soon. Also saw the big dam they have right past the head, but dont have pictures of that for security reasons.
Found out a little more about my homestay family. They have 8 kids, 5 of whom are above age 18 so idk if they still live at home. The family has hosted SIT students 12 times already so i think they are going to be good. Also, they live like 2 blocks from the place where we normally have class, so that means I'll skip the 1-2 hour commute that many students have (yay sleep!). I go to the family later today though so I'll let you know more then.
Thank you so much to everybody commenting on my posts! I always look forward to hearing from you. I miss you all!
Best
Lily
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
R. Kelly
That's right. I just bought tickets with the other 31 people in my group to go see R. Kelly live in Uganda at the Cricket Oval tomorrow night. Should definitely be an experience. You would probably have to pay me to see R. Kelly in the US but seeing him here was definitely worth the 30000 shillings (about 17 dollars) to go hang out in the cheap lawn seats that our Academic Director calls "the general happiness." I hope they have R. Kelly in Uganda t-shirts...
On another note I finalllllly got some information about my homestay family. I don't know the number of kids they have or really their living situation (socioeconomically) but I do know their names, professions, and address. They live right outside Makerere University, which is the main (maybe only) University in Uganda. She is a housewife and he is a social worker for The Domestic Violence Project. This is good because I was worried that the gender differences in Uganda were going to really get to me in this homestay-- in some homes they said the women are basically expected to do all the cooking, cleaning, etc while the men just sit there and watch TV or read. It won't be perfect, but I am assuming this husband will be easy-ish to live with.
I think I am finally getting a phone soon. It'll be free incoming calls internationally so get your skype accounts set up if you want to call me:-)
Tomorrow we are taking a day trip to Jinja and are going to see the head of the Nile. We're not supposed to take cameras though because they are too easy to get stolen. Bummer.
Today we split up in groups and were given parts of Kampala to explore. We got assigned to the hospitals and (long story very short b/c almost out of time) ended up stumbling into a 30 minute private tour of the HIV/AIDS research and treatment unit at one of the hospitals here that is connected to the University. Sooooo interesting. Got to see all the machines they use and what each one does, how patient stuff works, etc. They have this really cool thing in the waiting room for people to learn how to make the pretty paper bead necklaces that they then sell and give the money back to the patients. Such a good idea!
Ok. Out of time. More later....
On another note I finalllllly got some information about my homestay family. I don't know the number of kids they have or really their living situation (socioeconomically) but I do know their names, professions, and address. They live right outside Makerere University, which is the main (maybe only) University in Uganda. She is a housewife and he is a social worker for The Domestic Violence Project. This is good because I was worried that the gender differences in Uganda were going to really get to me in this homestay-- in some homes they said the women are basically expected to do all the cooking, cleaning, etc while the men just sit there and watch TV or read. It won't be perfect, but I am assuming this husband will be easy-ish to live with.
I think I am finally getting a phone soon. It'll be free incoming calls internationally so get your skype accounts set up if you want to call me:-)
Tomorrow we are taking a day trip to Jinja and are going to see the head of the Nile. We're not supposed to take cameras though because they are too easy to get stolen. Bummer.
Today we split up in groups and were given parts of Kampala to explore. We got assigned to the hospitals and (long story very short b/c almost out of time) ended up stumbling into a 30 minute private tour of the HIV/AIDS research and treatment unit at one of the hospitals here that is connected to the University. Sooooo interesting. Got to see all the machines they use and what each one does, how patient stuff works, etc. They have this really cool thing in the waiting room for people to learn how to make the pretty paper bead necklaces that they then sell and give the money back to the patients. Such a good idea!
Ok. Out of time. More later....
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Muzungu
Muzungu= white person, which actually includes asians as well and anybody of any race that is perceived to have money... People like to yell it a lot...
Africa is pretty good so far. Nothing super crazy and exciting, but I'm thinking it'll be a good semester. I only have a few minutes left so this is going to be a little un-flow-y
-Yesterday on our tour of Kampala (the capital) we went to the top of a hill where there was a hotel with a good lookout. When we tried to leave though they told us we would have to wait because there was a family feud going on and the people who wanted the property were outside the gate, so if they let us out, the other people would get in. So we were under seige for like a hour or so until the people outside the gate left and then they just let us go. Apparently that is somewhat common here...
-The exchange rate here is 2000 Uganda shillings to 1 US dollar. Aka since I have 500 US dollars, I am a millionaire. This is probably the only time in my life I'll ever be able to say that.
-We had a health orientation today about all the diseases/ parasites we can get. The doctor told us that after 3 months here we would all almost definitely have worms so before we left we should remember to take deworming pills and not tell customs... Also, I will spare you the details, but some/all of the parasites you can get had me hoping I would only get Malaria. Last semester 84% of the students on the trip got malaria even though they were all taking prophylaxis... So that's fun.
-Tomorrow they are dropping us off somewhere in the city with a task we have to do and then find our way home. Should be interesting. The cars here drive like crazy and there are these little motorcycles called boda bodas that follow no traffic laws whatsoever. Also the drive on the other side of the street so there is an above normal chance I will get hit at some point by looking the wrong way. Also, instead of buses they have these vans that are like communal taxis. Somehow you have to find the one out a huge group that is going where you want. They are not labeled...
Ok. That's all the time I've got. More later.
Weeraba (goodbye)
Africa is pretty good so far. Nothing super crazy and exciting, but I'm thinking it'll be a good semester. I only have a few minutes left so this is going to be a little un-flow-y
-Yesterday on our tour of Kampala (the capital) we went to the top of a hill where there was a hotel with a good lookout. When we tried to leave though they told us we would have to wait because there was a family feud going on and the people who wanted the property were outside the gate, so if they let us out, the other people would get in. So we were under seige for like a hour or so until the people outside the gate left and then they just let us go. Apparently that is somewhat common here...
-The exchange rate here is 2000 Uganda shillings to 1 US dollar. Aka since I have 500 US dollars, I am a millionaire. This is probably the only time in my life I'll ever be able to say that.
-We had a health orientation today about all the diseases/ parasites we can get. The doctor told us that after 3 months here we would all almost definitely have worms so before we left we should remember to take deworming pills and not tell customs... Also, I will spare you the details, but some/all of the parasites you can get had me hoping I would only get Malaria. Last semester 84% of the students on the trip got malaria even though they were all taking prophylaxis... So that's fun.
-Tomorrow they are dropping us off somewhere in the city with a task we have to do and then find our way home. Should be interesting. The cars here drive like crazy and there are these little motorcycles called boda bodas that follow no traffic laws whatsoever. Also the drive on the other side of the street so there is an above normal chance I will get hit at some point by looking the wrong way. Also, instead of buses they have these vans that are like communal taxis. Somehow you have to find the one out a huge group that is going where you want. They are not labeled...
Ok. That's all the time I've got. More later.
Weeraba (goodbye)
Monday, January 25, 2010
I'm here!
Not a ton of time to write because they are only giving us a little time to let everyone know we got here safe. Also, the space bar is sticky so if some words dont have spaces in between them, I apologize. Uganda is BEAUTIFUL. Everything is so green and I am soooo warm. Definitely not missing the St. Louis winter. The drive from the airport to the city was fascinating. There are so many things to see-it was pretty overwhelming. One of my favorite things was that in front of a bunch of houses there were signs that said "land is not for sale." I was wondering if it was a political/ environmental statement or literally referring to that particular land and someone told me it is referring to that particular land to ward off con men... Interesting... We also drove through a bit of the slum and was told that the majority of the people there are Somali refugees.
We're in a hotel for the first week and its actually nicer than I was prepared for. The mosquito nets are a little intimidating, but I guess I'd rather they were there than not. I'm super tired cuz I havent gotten a decent night's sleep since I left Charlotte.
Last night we (me + 3 others on my program) had a 12 hour layover in Dubai. Turns out they are not at all strict about who they let into the UAE so the airline paid for us to stay in a hotel outside of security. They had a midnight tour and none of us were very tired so we decided to spend the night touring Dubai instead of sleeping. Even though it made me exhausted now it was definitely worth it. We spent 2 hours driving around looking at the palaces, that realllllly tall building (forget the name), and Palm Island, and dipping our feet into the Arabian Sea. Interesting way to start this adventure since Dubai was a desert 25 years ago... Very different from Uganda. Everything is so clean and ostentatious. It really reminded me of a fake city from a movie, or like somebody had decided to build a real life SIM City. The tour guide said that gas is $1 /gallon and nobody pays taxes. I guess living on top of oil really pays off...
Hokay. That's all for now. My cell phone isn't working despite hours ahead of time talking to verizon so I dont know the next time I can update but when I get a chance I will.
Hope everything is going well in the good ole USA:-)
We're in a hotel for the first week and its actually nicer than I was prepared for. The mosquito nets are a little intimidating, but I guess I'd rather they were there than not. I'm super tired cuz I havent gotten a decent night's sleep since I left Charlotte.
Last night we (me + 3 others on my program) had a 12 hour layover in Dubai. Turns out they are not at all strict about who they let into the UAE so the airline paid for us to stay in a hotel outside of security. They had a midnight tour and none of us were very tired so we decided to spend the night touring Dubai instead of sleeping. Even though it made me exhausted now it was definitely worth it. We spent 2 hours driving around looking at the palaces, that realllllly tall building (forget the name), and Palm Island, and dipping our feet into the Arabian Sea. Interesting way to start this adventure since Dubai was a desert 25 years ago... Very different from Uganda. Everything is so clean and ostentatious. It really reminded me of a fake city from a movie, or like somebody had decided to build a real life SIM City. The tour guide said that gas is $1 /gallon and nobody pays taxes. I guess living on top of oil really pays off...
Hokay. That's all for now. My cell phone isn't working despite hours ahead of time talking to verizon so I dont know the next time I can update but when I get a chance I will.
Hope everything is going well in the good ole USA:-)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Alright, let's do this!
Well... I'm in the Charlotte airport- Step 1 in a 40ish hour itinerary. I'm as ready as I think I'm going to be, thanks to a meticulously kept googledoc I've had for the past few months. I was hoping to get a mani/pedi before I left (one last bit of developed country-ness) but, of course, I spent all day running around trying to do last minute errands. I have a 12 hour layover in Dubai though, so maybe I'll get one there. Meanwhile, I have an 8 hour layover at JFK in New York, so I'm going to go into the city and have dinner with the fam, including my cousin's month old baby, Ezra!
For the past few days the butterflies in my stomach have been going CRAZY but right now I'm actually feeling pretty calm. I really like flying, especially on long flights where they have all the movies to watch. I'm flying Emirates airlines, which seems like it's going to be pretty nice. When I went to select my meal option, I had like 10 choices including vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian, low calorie, low sodium, Muslim, Jain, and Kosher. Speaking of which, I have a layover in Addis Ababa and Ethiopian food is my favorite cuisine in the world so I am not-so-secretly hoping there is a traditional restaurant in the airport so I can compare authentic to American. Hmmmm. We'll see.
There are going to be one or two other people from my program on my flight, so it'll be nice to show up in Uganda already knowing some people. It turns out that most people are getting in the day before we are supposed to get there because the flights were a lot easier. I guess they are just----
side note. My computer just randomly shut off with no warning. Luckily blogspot is smart enough to autosave drafts as I type. This why macs are infinitely superior to pcs. I got a netbook for this trip so hopefully it will start behaving. If not... well... I guess there's not much I can do, so fingers crossed---
Anyways, back to where I was. I guess the other people on my program are going to just find a hotel to stay in overnight before they meet up with the group. This is making me pretty intimidated cuz no way would I ever show up alone in a developing country that I've never been to. From the little blurbs people have been emailing out about themselves, everyone seems pretty cool though. Maybe crazy though, cuz seriously, who studies abroad in Uganda??? You've gotta be crazy to do that! I'm really glad I'm going and I wouldn't want to be going anywhere else, but I'm thinking there are going to be a lot of times this semester when I'm really jealous of your hot showers and lack of the need for mosquito netting around your bed.
Ok. That's all for now. More later. I'm hoping to update twice a week-ish while I'm abroad. I have my blackberry with me so I get email and I can email in short blogs too. One thing that I ask, pleeeeeaseeee comment every once and a while on my blog so I believe anybody besides my parents (no offense mom and dad) is reading it.
See you in a few months!
Lily
p.s. Hopefully the bandwidth in Uganda will be good enough that I can upload my pictures so that little strip at the top of the blog will have pictures that are relevant to Uganda instead of just my test album of randomly selected pictures from my computer.
For the past few days the butterflies in my stomach have been going CRAZY but right now I'm actually feeling pretty calm. I really like flying, especially on long flights where they have all the movies to watch. I'm flying Emirates airlines, which seems like it's going to be pretty nice. When I went to select my meal option, I had like 10 choices including vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian, low calorie, low sodium, Muslim, Jain, and Kosher. Speaking of which, I have a layover in Addis Ababa and Ethiopian food is my favorite cuisine in the world so I am not-so-secretly hoping there is a traditional restaurant in the airport so I can compare authentic to American. Hmmmm. We'll see.
There are going to be one or two other people from my program on my flight, so it'll be nice to show up in Uganda already knowing some people. It turns out that most people are getting in the day before we are supposed to get there because the flights were a lot easier. I guess they are just----
side note. My computer just randomly shut off with no warning. Luckily blogspot is smart enough to autosave drafts as I type. This why macs are infinitely superior to pcs. I got a netbook for this trip so hopefully it will start behaving. If not... well... I guess there's not much I can do, so fingers crossed---
Anyways, back to where I was. I guess the other people on my program are going to just find a hotel to stay in overnight before they meet up with the group. This is making me pretty intimidated cuz no way would I ever show up alone in a developing country that I've never been to. From the little blurbs people have been emailing out about themselves, everyone seems pretty cool though. Maybe crazy though, cuz seriously, who studies abroad in Uganda??? You've gotta be crazy to do that! I'm really glad I'm going and I wouldn't want to be going anywhere else, but I'm thinking there are going to be a lot of times this semester when I'm really jealous of your hot showers and lack of the need for mosquito netting around your bed.
Ok. That's all for now. More later. I'm hoping to update twice a week-ish while I'm abroad. I have my blackberry with me so I get email and I can email in short blogs too. One thing that I ask, pleeeeeaseeee comment every once and a while on my blog so I believe anybody besides my parents (no offense mom and dad) is reading it.
See you in a few months!
Lily
p.s. Hopefully the bandwidth in Uganda will be good enough that I can upload my pictures so that little strip at the top of the blog will have pictures that are relevant to Uganda instead of just my test album of randomly selected pictures from my computer.
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