It has been a bit since I have arrived in Uganda. On this upcoming Friday, I will have been in Uganda for three weeks. And instead of overloading y'all with a giant post about what I have been up to, I am going to break up what I have been doing in Uganda amongst several posts. Besides, I got some homework and many readings I need to complete simultaneously. Below is the view from my hotel during the daytime.
Anyways, for my first day in Uganda, I woke up very early- around 4am to be precise. I had the mind set that I needed to get ready and even started to get up from bed and put my glasses on. But then the time actually hit me and I forced myself to go back to bed to help with my jetlag. I woke up around 9am and decided I have had sufficient sleep. I got ready and looked up directions to various places near me. I was nervous at first to leave the hotel as I would be traveling alone on foot to wherever I wanted to go. In the end, I knew that I would regret not going anywhere on the basis of fear of traveling alone as a woman in a new country. If something happened, then I would just return to the hotel for the remainder of the day until the USP shuttle arrived at the airport to pick-up various students who flew in that day. So, I got all of what I needed and put it into my yellow lemon bag that I brought from home (my mother made it and I have very happy to have brought it with me) and set off- first to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens. When I was looking outside, it seemed chilly and so I brought a light jacket with me. Once I began walking the few blocks to the garden, I realized that the weather is something I will need to learn to read as I quickly became warm in the humid air and as the sun came out from behind the clouds.
I reached the gardens and paid an entrance fee. As I went in, a volunteer came with me and showed me around the gardens. There were many monkeys around, some even with babies. If I remember correct, there were two types of monkeys in the gardens. I was also shown various trees used for furniture or plants that help repel mosquitos. Something that I have seen very common throughout campus and these gardens were and are jackfruit. I do not have much experience with jackfruit beyond what the cafeteria provides back home, though I would like to try it here at least once. One of the reasons I wanted to go to the gardens was not only to see the flora and fauna, but I really wanted to see Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the world's largest tropical freshwater lake, and spans 68,800 km or about 42,750 miles. It looks like a large bay when you stand on the beach. I like the water, too, so naturally I had to stick my feet in it. You are not supposed to swim in it for various reasons, but there were many locals in it swimming and playing on the beach as I walked around. I was also shown a part of the garden where apparently a scene from one of the older Tarzan movies was filmed. It was a forest-like area with many plants hanging off the trees. I saw some ants who formed a very dense line through the path. I accidentally stepped on them twice and shook my feet of very well as to not get bit later. I had a history this past summer of getting many bug bites and so I really wanted to avoid, and still do, getting too many bug bites, or at least more than what is preventable.
After roaming around the gardens, I took off again down the street, and headed towards the Craft Village. It took me several minutes to make my way there as I had to navigate the streets and ensure I went down the right path. It was really nice to just be walking around and looking around Entebbe. I finally reached the Craft Village and visited most, if not all, the shops there. The shopkeepers were very friendly and told me about the items they had to sell. Most of them sold soapstone figurines ranging from coasters to animal carvings to candleholders and more. There were many keychains and notebooks, as well as shirts and pants and jewelry. I got some gifts for family and friends there as well as a pair of loose, flowy pants for me. The pants are a deep blue with a peacock-like pattern on them- they are really pretty. I also met a man who had visited China on business. He was really kind and told me about his carvings and jewelry and his time in other countries there on business. I also noted that he was wearing a Callaway hat and that reminded me of someone back home who likes Callaway :)
I also saw many pieces of art hanging on the walkway to the village. They were very beautiful and if I had enough space, I would have brought a piece home. One of the shops also was a fabric shop. She sold fabrics and sweatshirts and pants and other items that she made. I was tempted to buy some, but thought to wait as it is my first day in Uganda and I did not need to spend too much money right off the bat.
After spending some time in the village and visiting with everyone, I headed back to my hotel. I walked along the side of the road, as many people do, several blocks back to my hotel. I was also asked many times by boda bodas, or motorcyclists, if I needed a ride anywhere. I would tell them no, and would soon learn that USP students are not allowed to ride boda bodas for safety reasons. There are also matatus, or "taxis", which have been described as Toyota cabin transporters which provide people a mode of transportation. We are allowed to take these to Kampala as long as we leave Kampala by 5pm, if I am remembering correctly.
Once back at the hotel, I still had several hours before the shuttle from USP would arrive so I washed my hair and started thinking about dinner. It turned out that the shuttle was picking up a load of students earlier than I was expecting so I got a shuttle from my hotel to the airport and met up with USP students and Program Assistants (PAs). We got onto the bus, or we refer to it as the coaster, and went to a local tourist-y restaurant to eat. There were eight students and three PAs for dinner. Most people got a wrap; I got a Californian BLT wrap as I did not want to trouble my stomach too much with trying a new food as we had about a 2-3 hour drive ahead of us to campus.
After dinner, we returned to the airport to pick up four more students before driving to Mukono, where the UCU campus we were attending is located. It was a long drive and many people slept as we waited for the students at the airport and a little on the way to campus. I could not sleep much as the time change was still messing with my internal clock.
Once on campus, we were shown to our temporary rooms where we stayed until we left for a trip to Northern Uganda and then moved into our official dorm for the semester. The dorm I stayed in is called Sabiti and it is a girl's dorm. Some things we had to quickly adapt to. For example, we only have cold showers here- and sometimes not even a shower, therefore you have to bucket bathe (I will explain this more later). We also do not have western toilets and have squat toilets instead. The toilets did flush which was nice as later we experienced toilets that did not flush and you had to use a bucket of water to "flush" down the waste and toilet paper. You have to make sure you used plenty of water and not too much toilet paper when using a bucket to "flush" or you would clog the latrine's system.
All in all, I would say that I have adjusted to these things well. The cold showers are nice when you are too hot, though it can be shocking at first. I have also heard that Sabiti's water is especially cold. I also do not mind the squat toilets and prefer them while I am here. We have also gotten into a routine of using our water bottles to rinse off our toothbrushes as most faucet water is not potable. There are various locations around campus that have potable water where we fill up out water bottles when we have the chance.
Anyways, these are just a few things from my first day in Uganda and I have plenty more to say, but shall save those thoughts for another time. I do want to be clear that I want to tell people and have a dialogue and conversation about my life in Uganda as a student and my personal various experiences, and I want to refrain from painting an inaccurate picture of the achievements or struggles with living in a new country and culture. Some things are hard and some things are easy and some things just are. Rather than take my personal experiences and formulate an opinion towards Uganda, view it as a single experience of many and do not put all of your expectations into my sole experience of this country. There is so much this country has to offer and all I could really suggest is to come and study abroad to experience for yourself- it is worth it, in my opinion. Not saying just study abroad without any thought, but to truly desire to learn and be humbled through the experience and to broaden your horizons beyond your current scope. I shall leave you with this, some advice I received in high school that is invaluable to me in any situation: keep and open mind and an open heart.