Forewarning: I am making no attempt to organize my thoughts on this blog. I'd rather be out experiencing the country than sitting here, writing this, so bear with my ramblings. I'll try to give the vaguest sense of my experience!

The first real day we spent here, I was overwhelmed by Kampala Road. The night before it had been utterly EMPTY when we arrived at our hotel, but our program director left us that day to navigate our way back to the hotel through the then bustling streets. The cars, bota botas (motorcycle taxis), and taxis (huge vans carrying 14 people at a time) are crazy, honking and weaving and moving without any street signs or lights whatsoever, and people are among the shuffle, trying to cross streets or walk beside the cars when they get a chance. It smells of gasoline, dirt, and sweat, and in certain areas, of fish - fried whole fish, head, fins and all, like they jumped out of the lake into a frying pan. Men look at you, call "Mzungu!" (white one!) and ask you how you are doing, while kids gawk and say hello, smiling and waving. Women sell books, flashlights, everything on the street, sleeping under the meager shade of an umbrella, sometimes with their children on their laps or playing on their own. It forced me to realize how sterile America is. We pride ourselves on our cleanliness and high standard of living, and it felt completely foreign to smell these things we so carefully avoid and feel the dust, when we simply step into our cars and go on our way. Honestly, it was liberating. And we managed to find our way to an ATM, cell phone store, and back to the hotel without any problems.

Before I came, I was nervous about making close friends on my program, even though I knew it takes a certain kind of person to decide to study abroad in Africa, not to mention Uganda and Rwanda. But I could not possibly find a better group of people, even though I could bear to have more than 3 guys to our 24 girls. Everyone is laid-back, open to new experiences, and interested and involved in all of these amazing things... I have never met so many people MORE interested in social issues and problems and culture in this part of the world than I am. I absolutely love it. With any luck, I think I will walk away from this semester with some very good friends. We've already discussed reuniting and backpacking in Colorado sometime after this summer - there are about 4 people either from Colorado, or who go to school there. But unfortunately, we are splitting up tomorrow; my half of the group is going to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, while the other half goes to Gulu, an NGO hub and newly somewhat-at-peace town in northern Uganda. I am so so excited for Rwanda, but I'm not ready to leave Kampala yet! I love it here!

Thus far, the best part of the trip was last night when I went to the women's craft market (touristy, but still very cool) and then to a Ugandan family's home for dinner. I was with Anne, a junior at UVA, Freesia, who goes to Barnard, and Charity, who goes to CU Boulder, and who spent the past month working in a refugee camp a few hours away from Kampala. We met Charity's friend at the craft market, followed her to the taxi park (far busier and crazier than Kampala Road), and took the taxi to Basubi (sp?). This was a part of town we had not really seen; it was much poorer and dirtier... and there are chickens everywhere. People were far more surprised to see mzungus walking through these streets, and kids just stared, wide-eyed. Of course, I have been obsessed with every child I've seen since I've been here, so I smiled and waved at all of them, which set them off, running up to hold my hand, then running away with "Hello! Hello! Bye! Bye!" over and over again. It was adorable. One little boy followed me, waving and kept saying goodbye until I had gotten too far from his house, or rather wooden box with a tin sheet on top.

We picked up Judith's sister, Juliette, and got some jack fruit (it tastes like bubblegum, I swear) on the street. When we arrived at their house, separated from some of the poorer homes by a metal gate, we took off our shoes and went inside. It took me a minute to realize that the power was out, but Juliette lit one candle, and we started peeling carrots and cucumbers for our "salad" for dinner. By this time, Judith's other, VERY talkative sister Evelyn, had joined the group, and told us all about Juliette leaving her husband because he burned her nicer clothes in jealousy; he didn't want any other men to think she was pretty. Her two children live with the sisters' mom or with Juliette's ex. Apparently divorce and separation is becoming more acceptable in the country, although it is still up to the family to decide if a woman can leave her husband or should return to him. When we finished making our salad - mashed potatoes with totmatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and avacado on top (delicious!) - the power had returned, finally. Evelyn continued with another soap opera about herself, this time because her ex boyfr4iend had pretended first that he didn't have children, then that he was single, when he was actually already married. Evelyn, 27 and unmarried, seemed like such a modern woman, especially considering that she grew up in a small village in eastern Uganda. She was educated in the UK, is now a lawyer, and seems independent - and very comfortable being that way. Everyone in her family has had bad marriages, she said, so she was in no hurry to marry in the near future. By the time we left, around 9:30, I was friends with these women, who greeted me with a hug the first time they had ever seen me. We all exchanged numbers and information, and we promised to see each other again when our group returned to Uganda. When we got back to our insanely nice hotel (for Ugandan standards), everyone was sitting in the garden playing a game, which was way beyond me even trying to understand. But some of us had a very personal, honest conversation about our pasts and families etc., which was incredible. It's amazing when people are that open about themselves. Then we joined the security guards downstairs to listen to Lewie, one of the few guys with us, serenade them with the new guitar he bought in town. Everything was perfect; I love this place and these people!! My only regret is that we are staying in this very nice area of town in such a nice hotel. I'd rather see the real city, which I got to experience only through dinner with Charity's friends.

Don't know when I'll be getting on the internet next, but updates sometime soon?

Love, Mzungu