Recent Happenings in Uganda! :) (by: Alyssa)

Hello All!

Sorry it's been a few days! Trust me when I say that it's not the easiest thing ever to have access to a computer here! I am using one of the volunteers' right now, as I won't have a chance to go to town today to the internet cafe. Also, yesterday, the power was out for pretty much the whole day, which is a few common occurance here. If the power's out, that means that the internet is also out. So ya, if you don't hear from either of us for a few days, rest assured that we are still alive, and it's just not possible to update the blog every day! Haha, ok, now to the real deal!

We are still loving it here - Uganda is a beautiful country, with such fantastic people!

After the internet cafe last time, Em and I rode our first BodaBodas!!!! We were VERY excited - they are pretty much motorcycles and seem to be the Ugandans primary mode of transportation! :) I held onto the driver and Em was behind me, and we had a blast! Today though, we found out that you're not supposed to hold onto the driver.... oops! :P  We were joking about how that's why he gave us a good price! He probably loved driving us "Mzungus" back to the Baby Cottage... (Mzungu is what they call white people, although I think Em already mentioned that before).  Good times!

The other day, a bunch of the volunteers went to Siouxanne's house for pizza (she's the medical coordinator here), which was DELICIOUS, but was eaten in the dark because of the power outage. And last night, we went to another person's house to play Mafia, which was also fun! It's a great community of volunteers here, which I'm really thankful for!

Meals have been interesting, haha! The Mamas here cook us lunch everyday, which definitely gives us a taste for Ugandan food. Today was sweet potatoes (quite different from Canada) with a sort of pea-soup sauce, as well as "g-nut sauce", which is pretty much like peanut sauce! And they always serve "greens" with the meals too, which I THINK is spinach :P or something like that!

Em and I have both been working with the preschoolers during the mornings, and are loving it, although it's definitely chaotic! We do puzzles with them, as well as letter activities, and other activity-type things. I love how these kids latch onto us so easily. All we have to do is walk into the room and we get bombarded with "AUNTIE, AUNTIE!!!!!" which is what they call all of the volunteers. The children are so precious - each and every one made so wonderfully by God. I can't even imagine what their lives would be like if Amani didn't exist, and I am so glad they get to live such a wonderful life here. 

I have to go, unfortunately, even though there is so much more to say! Emily will hopefully get to write later on and will fill you in on everything I missed! 

Oh, and if you happen to read this, Happy Birthday Liv and Nick! :) Hope you both have great days!

Much love from Africa!

Alyssa