On Monday morning I went to Makerere University to pick up my timetable for the semester. Our original timetable of four hours was incorrect and we actually only have three hours! The only disadvantage is that class starts at 8am in Uganda so we will have a very early start three days a week. We had no class to attend on Monday so we headed out for lunch to a place called Javas and ordered sandwiches. The sandwiches were so huge that they gave us doggy bags! A doggy bag for a sandwich? Seriously? It seemed so strange!
Tuesday was a memorable day for me. I had my first cup of tea since arriving in Uganda and that is a big thing for a stranny. It was African tea so it had a tint of ginger taste to it but it was just so good to have tea. I spent some time on my own in the afternoon and went shopping to pick up a few bits and pieces. On the way home, the boda’s were trying to charge me more than double what I had paid to get there so I kept saying no. They try to get more money out of you because you are an ‘Msungo’ (white person). Eventually one came up the road after me and said he would give it to me for the price of 2000 shillings that I had paid to get there. It is a little strange trying to get used to the bargaining aspect of things here but you have to do it or they will overcharge you on everything.
The cleaners came to do our laundry and clean our room on Tuesday afternoon. I felt so bad watching them. We volunteered to help but they insisted that we didn’t. They literally bend in half and use a cloth to wash the floor. It looked like back breaking work.
On Tuesday evening we headed to Ultimate Frisbee again. The journey there was the bumpiest journey I think I have ever been on. I was nearly flying out of my seat sometimes as the van hit pothole after pothole. The roads in Uganda are not great but I’ve never been down one like that. It was definitely the scenic route. We even saw some goats climbing up a pile of towered bricks. Rather odd. Everyone was really friendly again at Frisbee and we had lots of fun but the trip home was quite adventurous again. Seven of us had gone together to Frisbee together so getting a taxi bus with enough room in it for all of us was impossible. So myself and Line (pronounced Lena) decided to get in one and meet everyone at Wandegeya for food but our taxi bus didn’t take us there. We ended up in the middle of no-where but we managed after 40 minutes to find our way to meet the others again.
Wednesday morning class at 8am was not my highlight of the week but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. When we arrived to our classroom, a few of our classmates were already waiting. We introduced ourselves and chatted to them for a while as our lecturer didn’t turn up until 8.20am. He was a lovely man but quite hard to understand. Everyone speaks really good English here but their accents are sometimes hard to make out.
Some of our friends had cooked spaghetti on Wednesday night and invited us down for some. At home I’m not really fussed on spaghetti and I never eat mince but this was so delicious. Just to get some sort of food that seemed like home. I’m so sick of chicken and chips already.
Class on Thursday morning wasn’t quite as early but was still early enough at 9am. We dragged ourselves out of bed and made it to class on time. When we got there our classmate Ian was already there. We sat and chatted to him for a while and none of our other classmates turned up so Ian phoned the class rep and she said it was cancelled. That meant that we had no class at all on Thursday so we headed back to Nana (our hostel) and tried to sort out some paperwork that needed completed for immigration. I wasn’t feeling so good on Thursday so we decided to have a lazy day. We did manage to go out and get a fresh fruit platter though. I have very little dairy and fruit and vegetables here so I think that might be the problem. The platter was huge though and delicious. Mango, melon, watermelon, pineapple, red apple, green apple, passion fruit, lime and banana! Mmmmm………
Later that evening, one of our friends came round to watch a DVD. He got our kettle working so we managed to have a proper cup of tea thanks to the teabags that mum had packed in my case before I left. It was the best cup of tea ever (even if it did have powdered milk in it).
Friday was yet another early start for class (8am). Rachel was feeling really ill on Friday morning so she had to stay in bed and had to make my first adventure to university on my own. I was a little nervous considering the confusion the day before. I was first to arrive at the lecture theatre but Teresa followed shortly after and so did some of the boys. It was a long morning but our lecturer eventually turned up at 12 noon. I was explaining to the class that our rule at Stran is that if the lecturer is more than 15 minutes late, we leave, but they all sat and waited. Life is Uganda is so laid back and chilled but it gave me time to get to know them a little.
Friday night consisted of heading to Emin Pasha Hotel again with HM, Kate and Rachel. We got a boda there and the driver confused me so much that I forgot to ask the price before getting on. This meant that he overcharged me when I got there. It’s so annoying but my own fault. We chatted and danced to the live band. The Africans were copying my dance moves which I’m not sure was such a good idea but it was rather funny. I decided to do the chicken dance to see if they would follow suit and they did. It was hilarious. We didn’t stay too late as I had to head back and pack for heading to Jinja in the morning. Unfortunately the electricity was off so I had to pack in the dark which was rather challenging.
It was an early start on Saturday morning to head to Jinja. I met Mark and Dave at 7am and we got the shuttle bus to Jinja where we had breakfast before heading out onto the Nile for some white water rafting. It was absolutely amazing!! Scary but awesome!! I thought I was going to drown a few times and I have arms covered in bruises to prove it but I would definitely do it again.
We spent the morning doing training and paddling our way through different rapids. At one point our guide Palo told us all to lean left and purposely tipped our raft. Pulling yourself back into the raft was probably the hardest task of all. We spent some time swimming in the Nile, eating fresh pineapple on the raft and also tackled an 8ft waterfall backwards. I was sitting at the back of the raft at this point so I got the full splash.
We were approaching the final rapid and our guide Palo asked us if we wanted to take the chicken route, medium route or hardcore route through it!! Our entire raft shouted ‘HARDCORE’ but we were the only raft to do so. Next thing we hit the rapid and Palo went flying out of the raft which left the other 7 of us hanging on for our lives. We held on for so long and then I just saw mark go flying, shortly followed by the rest of us!! Our raft ended up on the rocks!! It was crazy but amazing!!
We spent the evening with the new friends that we had made whilst rafting at the camp in Jinja and we watched the sunset together over the River Nile. The view was like nothing I have ever seen before.
Everyone was really tired on Sunday so we spent most of the day chilling at the camp. In the afternoon we made a trip down to Bulungi Falls to see part of the river. There were boat trips available on it but as we had spent the entire day on the water the day before, we decided just to relax on the riverbank. We looked for some shade as most of us had got a little bit sun burnt on the water the day before. No matter how much sun cream you applied, everyone seemed to have red knees.
We got the shuttle bus back to Kampala on Sunday night which took ages as we hit traffic. As soon as I got back I grabbed some French toast to stop my rumbling tummy, updated Rachel on all my stories and headed to bed. I was exhausted.
Well that is you all updated for another week. Sorry I didn’t manage to keep it short like I had intended but there is just so many new experiences that I don’t know which ones to leave out. I am not too sure what the plans are for this week yet but I think I am heading for my first trip to the cinema in Uganda and I am definitely going to church on Sunday. I am really starting to miss it. Rachel went on Sunday whilst I was in Jinja and loved it so I can’t wait to join her this week. It has been really nice to be in contact with some people this week so please keep your facebook comments and emails coming.
All my love
Natalie
(Or Melissa as one girl here likes to call me as she thinks Natalie is too hard to say. They all struggle so much with my name. I’ve settled for Natalia with most people)
Xx
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