Kampala's Quality Coach.

Well there's no real news on my end.  Nothing from the doctor and I feel absolutely fine... Just waiting it out for my flight on Monday.

But I feel like our bus trip from Kigali to Kampala is worth mentioning.

• When we got to the border between Rwanda and Uganda we all had to get off the bus and officially sign out of Rwanda and then walk in no mans land for about 100 yards to go through customs on the other side.  If you've ever been to Canada you realize how relatively organized customs are.  That is not the case here.  Especially on the Uganda side: the line was about 100 people deep, it was in the dirt, the little walking bridge to the building was made of rotting planks of wood and people were freely cutting up to the front of the line.
• As we're standing there I notice that one border patrol guy keeps sliding something small onto a rock, and another man slyly walks up and slips the "thing" behind his back and into his back pocket.  This proceeded to happen more than once; I have no idea what they were smuggling but it made me laugh.
  
• So we finally get all the paperwork done and some of the girls have to go to the bathroom.  So they get the key to the staff bathroom (don't ask how) and hike up the side of this hill to the bathrooms.  The rest of us got on the bus.  And then the bus started to pull away.  We start making a big deal that they are not there yet and they get extremely mad but stop nonetheless.  So they make it on.  We then drive another 100 yards and people in the back of the bus start yelling.  So we slow (not to a complete stop) so about 10 more people can on board.
• We proceed driving.
• We hit a huge bump and the bus filled up with smoke...?  Still not sure what that was about.
• It began to rain.  Outside that is.  And then it began to rain inside.  Not on anyone else but me.  So I sat there with water rushing down the side as I tried to stop it with the feeble little curtain.
• We stopped at this gas station and the "bathrooms" were in the back.  Public bathrooms never mean bathrooms.  They mean holes in the ground.  This one was especially fun.  The men had a nicely built little building with urinals.  The girls had a three walled, no roofed tin structure that was only about 5 feet tall and which had no hole but rather just a slanted piece of cement and which "ladies" was spray painted on the outside.
• As we get on the bus we realize that we're acquiring passengers.  They are now sitting on bags of grain in the aisle.  Our driver is certainly making some extra cash on this trip.
• So finally we're within 100 kilometers or so of Kampala.  The end is in sight.  But traffic is stopped.  From the bus we can see that another bus from the other direction has apparently driven off the road and is slightly tipped to one side in the bush.  So Christina and I got out because there was nothing else to do.  We walked to where they were feebly trying to tow it out.  Needless to say it was not working so they quickly unhooked and the tow trucks pulled away.  Naturally traffic started moving again.  And we realized that there was no way our bus was going to care if it left two Mzungus on the side of the road.  So we start running back. The bus is already moving by the time we get there.  People are walking with it and jumping on.  And then jogging with it and jumping on.  That was fun.  I've never had to board a moving vehicle before, let alone a moving bus.
• All in all the 12 hour bus ride wasn't horrible.

Exploring Kampala today.
And the Pens won last night!!  Good start to hockey season.

Not today.

Slight change of plans.  It has been decided that I should see a doctor here in Kampala before going to Kitgum (where there aren't many doctors).  So instead of flying out this morning I will be flying out on the next flight.  Which happens to be 3 days from now (Monday).

I'm really frustrated which I have no right to be, I know it's in the programs best interest to at least attempt to find out if something is wrong rather than to send me away in hopes that I don't get sick again.  I'm just used to being responsible for decisions like this.  I'm used to being the one to decide if I need treatment, if I need to see someone or if I can just wait it out.  So having others be responsible for that is messing with my control issues.

I think it's also the fact that I've been laying low the last week or so and haven't been out much and haven't socialized much because of the way I was feeling.  So being the only student to not leave today or tomorrow morning will mean I am the only one left.  Which will not only mean I'm alone, but will also mean that I will be (and already am) an inconvenience to the staff. 

Sorry this is a selfish post.  I realize that whether I go to Kitgum today or Monday will not affect anything globally.  It's self-centered that I want to get there now purely so I can experience it sooner, I won't even be starting the work part until Monday anyway.  So I apologize for the vent.  And I will update this when I find anything out.

Kampala

Made it to Kampala (will tell the bus story later).

No Parasites!

So since my stomach hasn't been quite right the last few weeks we decided it would be wise to get checked out for parasites before embarking to my practicum site.  Fortunately tests are easy to come by (and cost less than one US dollar).  Unfortunately they need a stool sample which is not so easy to come by when you haven't been able to eat very much (or keep much down) the last few days.  Sorry if that was too much information but I put that disclaimer in my first blog.

Anyhow today I got lucky and was able to get tested - the results were negative which is great because it wouldn't have been very cool to have a colony living in my belly but a little disappointing because that means I can't take some pills and fix it.  Oh well.  It's part of the African experience to get sick so I'm going to suck it up and not let it ruin my last night in Kigali.

I'm starting to get a bit sad about leaving though.  I cannot wait for practicum but I love this country and could definitely spend more time here.

Leaving already?

I can't believe that it's already time to leave Rwanda.  I feel like I am now adjusted, finally feel comfortable with knowing where I am in the city, comfortable with the people, just all around comfortable with this amazing country.  But we leave at 4:30 am on Thursday and take a day long bus ride to Kampala!  While I am stoked to be in Uganda, I really just wish that we were in Rwanda longer.  I wish the length of time at each location could be exponentially increased!  However, I do not foresee that happening.  So I'm packing up.

We had to say good bye to the girls at PHARP that we are teaching English to.  I felt so proud of them when they said "I am sad" about us leaving (while that is a simple sentence it is a reminder of how much they've learned).

Oh and what better than to spend the last few days somewhere sick?  I've mastered that, I've been having some stomach issues the last few days that will hopefully be resolved by the time I get to Uganda.  We shall see.

I'm also beginning to realize how lucky I am that I brought an extra empty suitcase from the States.  My collection of goods from Rwanda has filled at least half that bag so far.  Uh oh.

More to come, this was a disjointed post I apologize!

Steeler let down.

I thought today was going to be a good day.  I woke up not violently throwing up like I was yesterday.  Great start, right?  No.  I found out that the Steelers lost to the Bengals last night.  The Bengals!  Last week it was the Bears this week the Bengals.  What has my city come to??