Friday morning we woke up and went to this place that is kind of like a nature center. They grow plants for traditional medicine and teach children and adults how to most efficiently grow and maintain these plants. Someone asked which medicines they sold the most of, and they replied that by far it was their medicine for "male performance enhancement." I will not comment on that...
The place also had a small school for AIDS orphans and a place where AIDS widows could learn to sew and have access to a sewing machine in order to male a living. They had deals with many schools in the region to provide their uniforms.
In the afternoon, we went on a boat safari, which was AMAZING. We saw water buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, baboons, and about 15 elephants. All from about 10 feet away. I got some great pictures too, though I have now given up on posting them until I get back in May. I also met this man on the boat who had the most gorgeous camera lenses I may have ever seen. It turns out he works 11 months a year (not anything to do with photography) and then travels for a month. He's been pretty much everywhere in the world. Sooooo jealous.
Saturday morning we were supposed to go on a safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park at 5am. We woke up and piled onto our buses. In the distance, we could see a large light, which we soon decided was a fire. Sure enough, we were headed straight for it. As we turned down the road that was the entrance to the park, there was a line of fire on the road ahead of us stretching from the road to as far as we could see to the east. The 2 vans in front of us kept going down the road, despite having to pass fire reaching to the side of the road. I, however, was in the van with the 2 students from California, who had slightly different attitudes towards wildfires in dry brush than local Ugandans did. After a lot of yelling and confusion, we decided to head back and skip out on the safari, as we did not know how controlled the fire was. I couldn't decide whether or not I was really comfortable continuing or not, as the biggest fire I'd ever seen prior to that was something I roasted marshmallows over. However, there were a few people who were clearly not comfortable with the situation and I am of the opinion that as soon as somebody is not ok with a situation, you get out right then and there regardless of any other factors. We missed out on seeing a small group of lions, which I am a little disappointed about, but not really enough to dwell on at all. During our independent time (the last 6 weeks of the semester) I may decide to go on another safari anyways up north where there are also leopards and giraffes and I can go on an ATV instead of a tour bus.
After our "safari" we had a 9-10 hour bus ride ahead of us. We've all pretty much gotten to be pros at passing time on the bus because nothing in Uganda is close together. We probably averaged about 4 hours per day throughout the week. Thanks to my 80 gig iPod (thanks grandma and grandpa. Fantastic high school graduation present) I brought a bunch of movies with me and watched like 4 movies this week. I've also played a ridiculous number of word games and have developed a really quite extraordinary talent at finding secluded places on the side of the road to "check the tires"-- not that it's exactly polite in the US, but ever mentioning that you have to use the restroom in Uganda is a serious social faux pas.
We got back too late for me to go back to my home stay (it's not so safe to ever walk alone in the dark here, especially if you are a young, american girl with a huge camping backpack) so I stayed at Hotel Jeliza (the place we were for the first week) with a few other people and worked on our Luganda homework for hours until we all fell asleep. I may have mentioned this before, but hotel rooms split 4 ways here come to $8 each, so you can stay in a hotel, eat dinner at a restaurant, and go out to a club for less than $20 for the whole night. Not bad! Not that we really have much time for that anyways, but still...
Did my first big homework assignment today, and ever since have been hanging out at home alternating between watching Asian soap operas dubbed into English, a documentary about Australian billabongs, and Christian gospel music videos... Don't even get me started on how random the stuff they have on TV here is. They have Care Bears, Greys Anatomy, and America's Got Talent as well...
Also, I have been trusted to be left at home alone for the first time ever, which is a pretty big accomplishment in my book. My host dad is at a funeral (still working on the socially correct way to ask for whom) and my host mom had to go to the store, so it's me and Jerry. While Jerry naps I'm just sitting here shelling an egg, taking tea (I've become an avid tea drinker), typing this, and thinking about how much I missed this place during the past week. I really do just feel so comfortable and peaceful here.
On my way home, some guy approached me and said he had ridden the taxi with me a few times in the morning. Then, after a brief conversation about what I was doing living in an average suburban village, he asked me if I could be his reference to get a visa. This isn't the first time it has happened to me but it still shakes me up a little bit every time. I guess it beats being asked to marry someone though?
One of the girls on my program has a host sister who works in the city as a hairdresser specifically for people with muzungu (ie me) hair. She does weaves, extensions, braiding, and some other things that are traditionally done with African hair. The girl asked me today if I wanted to go with her next weekend to get our hair done with extensions into braids. Not like 2 braids, but tiny braids all over our whole head. Apparently the extensions help the braids stay in place and make it so that you basically never have to wash your hair. It stays un-frizzy and looking nice for about 2 months. I am still pretty emotionally scarred from a Mexican resort corn rowing "incident" in middle school. Yet, I am seriously considering just getting this done and wearing a wrap/scarf on my head for the next 2 months, as many people here do anyways. I have a week to think about this so if you have any strong feelings about it either way, let me know:-)
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dooo it... why not?
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