Internet is finally back!!

So I wrote this post on Monday, but since the internet was down since Saturday I wasn’t able to post it until now.


       I have now been in Uganda for almost four days, but it feels much longer than that. I don’t know if that is a good thing or bad. I am enjoying it so far, but it is a little harder than I expected. The culture is totally different than ours in many ways. I knew it would be very different, but I don’t think I realized how hard it would be to communicate with the Africans. It is really hard for me to understand their accents, and conversation is hard since we come from totally different backgrounds. Everyone I am around has an accent of some sort so it is taking a little while to get used to it. I am starting to pick up somewhat of an English accent just from hearing it so often. (There are a lot of people here that have an English background).

I have been able to visit the town of Jinja a couple of times and eat lunch there. The one restaurant we went to served American hamburgers and somewhat American French fries. The food here though really isn’t that bad, but we eat the same things for lunch and supper almost everyday. Basically it is either rice and meat or beans and poshu. For breakfast every morning we get two chapattis or two doughnut like things with a cup of very sweet tea. So our meals are all very high carbs and that is about all. Right now anytime we want to drink water we have to boil it. Thankfully, Lucy, my dorm mate from Wales, brought a kettle so we can boil our water. Thus far, I haven’t had any mosquito bites which I am really thankful for.

On Monday our DTS classes started and it was really interesting. It is really hard to understand what the Africans say, so it takes a lot of concentration. All we did for the first class was went over the guidelines and schedule. Then some of us (including me) had to answer a whole bunch of questions about our life. They assigned us our homework for the next five months (at least I think it will be for five months). Basically, we have to read ten chapters in the Bible each day starting in Genesis. I think we will end up reading the whole Bible. I am excited for it. It will be hard but I have never read the whole Bible for myself. I started the first ten chapters and I have already found some things that surprised. I think I will realize how little I know about the Bible.

Oh yeah, when I went to Jinja on Sunday for church I got to ride on a motorcycle. It was kind of scary. We normally ride on a crowded bus to get everywhere, but motorcycles are also an option. So for me to ride it I had to sit sideways because I was wearing a skirt and there is like hardly anywhere to hold on to and I was also holding my Bible and water, as well. To add on to that, we (the Ugandan driver and myself) were driving on Ugandan roads the Ugandan way. Pretty much once you start going you don’t stop until you get to the place where you want to go. So there is a lot of swerving potholes, people, and other vehicles. Overall, it was a pretty fun thrill ride, but I think I would prefer to walk from now on.

My feet are beginning to turn a nice shade of red, but not from the extra sun exposure. The dirt here is like red clay and it is really hard to clean it off. My washcloth is turning red as well. It rains almost every other day here and the weather is not unbearably hot. In fact, there is often a nice cool breeze and in the mornings I normally wear sweat pants under my skirt as well as a sweat shirt.