Monday, May 31st

We arrived in Entebbe after a 7hr flight with a stop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was so thrilled to be off the plane after a total of 22hrs spent sitting in a cramped seat with no leg room, reading and watching movies. I already finished one of the books that was loaned out to me, The Glass Castle, an interesting memoir of a girl growing up in a crazy transient family in the US (Thanks Rachel). I started a second one that about a peace corps volunteer in Mali working with a midwife. It gave me a glimpse into life in rural Africa and I think has prepared me a bit for village culture and practices (Thanks Meg!). When we arrived in Entebbe we walked off the plane into the sun and heat! The landscape was green and lush and the smells of cut grass. We were greeted by UVP staff and loaded up in vans for a 3 hour drive to Iganga. We stopped in Kampala on the way and exchanged money and I bought some banana chips, whose packaging declared “God is able;” didn’t see that until afterwards…interesting place to speak of God. We didn’t get into Iganga until late that evening due to waiting for some local interns to arrive in Kampala, but when we did there was a delicious dinner waiting for us and comfy beds to collapse in.

Sunday, May 30th

I survived the 15hr flight from LAX to Dubai and now I’m sitting in a very quiet hotel room thinking about how I need to sleep so I can get over my jet lag and onto the right schedule.
The time building up to this moment has been a whirlwind. I haven’t had much time to stop, think and anticipate my time in Uganda. I keep thinking…is this real? Am I really going to be walking around in Africa in less than a day? Already, Dubai is a bit of a culture shock. The city itself reminds me of Las Vegas in all it showy, materialistic glory. All of my previous travel has been in Hispanic and European culture, not Middle Eastern/Asian. I can only imagine what it will be like walking off the plane tomorrow and then into the village where I will be staying for two months. I checked it out on google earth yesterday and saw Namungalwe, which is about 20 minutes NE of Iganga. I’m excited to get there and unpack, settle in, walk around, and visit the health center.