Friday, August 28, 2009

I'M HERE

Hey Everyone I have safely arrived and finally has internet access. I have moved into my host family's house and they are absolutely amazing! I have a mom, three brothers, a sister, and two younger boys but I am not sure exactly how I am related:) Our house is very small but very comfortable. I have a roommate from the program and even though she is not sarcastic she puts up with me, and we tried explaining sarcasm so our brothers the other night which was hilarious! Our brothers are 24, 21, and 18 and wonderful! Everbody is very open which is suprising at first but now very nice and even hilarious. My mom told me the other day that I sweat so much because of all my fat:) She wants us to be "free as oxygen."I have officially used a pottysquatty which was not nearly as bad as I thougt, I didnt pee on myself or anything. My friend had a mouse crawl out of the hole while squatting, so I am counting myself as blessed! My mom has named me Sunu which is 'happiness' in Lugandan:) She is wonderful! Tomorrow we leave for Rwanda at 5 a.m. and I am very excited. I cannot wait for the experience that we will have! Bathing from a bucket is also much better than previously imaged, its a small bucket but you just crouch beside it and splash yourself then lather up and splash again. For washing my hair I just stick my whole head in the bucket:) Its great. My mom has washed my clothes so far but I am hoping that once she shows me how to do it that she will let me take over for she already does so much. Haha we watched a soap show last night and it was voiced over in english and was hilarious for the actors were hispanic with high pitched english voices. Funny times. I love everything about this place, I feel comfortable and at home. I keep forgetting that I actually have to attend class while I am here but they reminded us today when we had to register for classes:( The classes will be amazing but I wish we could just spend time with our families and travel around oh well :) I will write again when I get back next weekend!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Almost There!

I am almost there...well I think so anyway. I leave August 24 at 2:15, which is tomorrow. I am almost finished packing and I acutally think that I am going to fit everything into one duffle bag and keep it under 50 pounds. Of course this means that all the heavy stuff is in my carry-on which should be fun getting into the overhead storage. Maybe after someone is amazed of how little upper body strength a person can possess they will offer their assistence. I fly from Cincinnati to Dullus (D.C) to Amsterdam to Uganda. I will be flying for a total of 18 hours and I am hoping that they don't send me back upon arrival, for after traveling for an entire day I am not going to look that great, trust me! All I have to finish are the little odds and ends, of which I will save some for tomorrow morning so that I have something to think about tonight while lying in bed other than lying there wide-eyed while breathing rapidly over the events soon to come. I am in Rwanda the first whole week that I am gone so I might not be able to post again for a couple of weeks, but I promise that I will relay all of my experiences. I would love comments throughout my journey so please leave some below:)