The first few days...

It's hard to believe that I have been in Uganda 3 full days now! We landed about 8am Sunday morning and it is now Tuesday afternoon about 1:20pm.

Kamapla is a big crazy city and its taking some getting used to- I'm looking forward to getting out to Bigodi and Kibale park. I think the country is more my speed.

The drive from the airport to our hotel took about an hour. The roads were crowed with folks dressed in their finest walking to church. Had lunch at the hotel, naps, than dinner bout 10pm and went back to sleep. Monday we had a wonderful brunch for breakfast in the morning, though many of the items on the buffet are unusual for breakfast by American standards. For example: fried Taplia, baked beans, kidneys, roasted tomatoes. You can see the British influence in Uganda ( it was a British Colony) many places but especially in the food. The baked beans and tomatoes for breakfast reminded me of when I lived in London in '99, they are part of a traditional English breakfast. The assortment of fresh fruits- mango', pineapple, and sweet bananas are just wonderful.

Monday consisted of exchanging money ( the exchange rate is very good right now - we get about 1900 Uganda shillings for the dollar- for a reference point my meals range form 6000-12000; so about $3-6 ), went suvioner shopping at a crafts market, went to the mall to buy school supplies, came back and had lunch with Tinka our UNITE coordinator in Bigodi who I will be living with. In the evening we had a wonderful dinner at Kampala's version of a food court - the tea and fruit tart was amazing. After dinner I came back and had my first Uganda beer at the hotel bar while listening to the band.

Tuesday started out a little rough, I fell getting out of the shower/tub and banged up my arm pretty bad. After another great breakfast, Tinka and I headed out for more shopping. I wish I could fully capture the chaos of Kamapla. We went to two bookstores (I was in heaven ) to get boosk for school and a cookbook for me! We also got my modem and cellphone. I know it's crazy I'm moving to a village with no electricity and running water but I'll have a cellphone and Internet access!