Katie and I slept a little bit more on this flight than our
first flight, but again not nearly enough. We landed in Entebbe and gathered our bags (all 8 of them
total-4 checked and 4 carry on) and headed out to the general pick-up area
where local Ugandans stood with signs letting everyone know who they were there
for. Katie and I stood for a few
minutes and looked around trying to find Enoch, the man we were told would be
picking us up. After about five
minutes, an older man walked into the airport, and as soon as we made eye contact
with him, he opened up his suit coat just a bit so we could see a big ol’ Bucky
Badger shirt. It instantly put a
smile on my face, and we knew our ride was here. It was such a warm welcome in such an unfamiliar place.
As I said, Enoch picked us up, as well as Edson. Enoch will be our supervisor while we
are here. He will come and observe
us when we are teaching. Not only
that, he has proved to be a walking Ugandan History book. As well as a life-coach. I will share more of what
information and knowledge Enoch has shared with us in later posts. Edson, was/is our driver. Edson has been the driver for groups in
the past, but we believe we will be getting a new driver. We are not sure at this point. Either way, Edson is very nice and has
provided us with a more current/young adult prospective on Uganda, as Enoch is
65 years old.
 |
| A lion we saw in the zoo. |
 |
| The Crested Crane-the national bird. |
Our first stop off the plane was the Uganda Wildlife
Education Center/Zoo. Enoch wanted
to show us some Ugandan animals right away. The zoo was similar to those in America; however, it was
evident that the animals are actually living in their natural habitat, as
opposed to a fabricated one that says Africa above it. First, the animals were not as separated
as ours are. Meaning, it was
common to see several different animals all living in the same area without
walls up in between. In addition,
there weren’t large cages or fences, the animals were right there, in front of
us. This made the zoo experience
unique. Some of the African
animals that we saw that were not new to us included giraffes, lions, rhinos,
baboons, zebras, and the list goes on.
Some of the animals that were new were the country’s bird, the Crested
Crane, the Kob, the Warthog, and a male ostrich (much more colorful than the
one we normally see).
We then walked to the waterfront that over-looked Lake
Victoria. Lake Victoria is the
second largest fresh water lake in the world, and according to Enoch is second
to Lake Michigan. Something Katie
and I both did not know. We then
ate some breakfast at a restaurant called…Restaurant, that overlooked the
lake. It was absolutely
beautiful. It was a cool morning
(for Uganda), with great scenery, and a time to get to know Enoch. For breakfast we had two pieces of
bread toasted with butter, and African Coffee. African Coffee is coffee and milk. Our other choice was African tea, which is water and milk. Tea, here, is just boiled water with
sugar added if the drinker wishes.
 |
| The side of the road in Kampala |
After finishing breakfast, we began to head from Entebbe to
Kampala. Kampala is the capital of
Uganda, and as it turns out, a very busy city. The ride from Entebbe to Kampala left me absolutely
speechless. In fact, most of the
time we are in the car Katie and I do not speak much to each other because
there is just so much going on right outside our car windows. There is so much to see and take
in. First, there are people EVERYWHERE
doing EVERYTHING. People are
working. Working on cars, with
bricks, agriculturally, on houses, with animals, and on, and on, and on. Women are braiding hair, carrying
baskets on their heads, carrying water, carrying children, nursing, selling
things, and so on. Others are
sleeping, and kids are playing.
There is person after person selling something from vegetables to fruit
to shoes to backpacks to calling cards to power cords.
 |
| This amazes me! |
And the streets are completely hectic. There are a few stop signs and traffic
lights, but otherwise it is a complete free for all. The best way to describe it is as a game of chicken. Everyone just drives until one person
gives up and lets the other driver pass them or turn in front of them. What Edson has told me is that there
are not exactly laws or rules that drivers abide by, but rather there are considerations. Besides the cars being completely
disorganized, there are little motorcycles that cover the streets. There are almost as many of these as
there are cars. They are used
mainly to transport people places, so kind of like a taxi. These are called Boda-Bodas. The boda-bodas, which carry anywhere
from 1 to 4 people seem to have no rules or considerations at all. They weave in and out of traffic, drive
on the left side of the road or the right, they make u-turns as they please,
they are absolutely ruthless-the drivers.
This is how driving has been on every town/city we have been in (since I
am writing these after a few days in other towns as well). In addition, there are constantly
people coming up to the car windows while stopped in traffic trying to sell you
things. Anywhere from reading
glasses to CDs and just about anything else you would ever want or need. A couple of times Edson and Enoch have
looked at some of the things being sold more closely, and Enoch even bought
some minutes for his phone one day.
 |
| The boda-bodas! |
So besides the complete chaos that fills the streets, it is
incredible to me how easily a white person-or a Muzungo as the Ugandans say-can
stop traffic. People are
constantly stopping what they are doing to look at us, to point, to call out
“Muzungo, Muzungo!” I will talk
more about this later in a blog post that I am SURE I will entitle
“Muzungo!”
Once arriving in Kampala, we went to a mall-type place to
exchange money, get our orange stick filled (our source of Internet), and our
Ugandan phone set up. The banks
were interesting, as outside each one there was a guard holding a gun (Katie
think it’s a riffle), and must pat you down before entering.
After getting our “things you think are necessary”
(according to Enoch), set up, we headed to Makerere University where we stayed
while in Kampala. At the
University we stayed in the Guest House.
It was like a very small-scale version of a hotel. Once here we were able to shower (which
we hadn’t done in 2.5 days), and talk to family and Nick. Unfortunately for us, the shower was a
little chilly, as we did not have hot water at the guesthouse. Katie and I then went for dinner in the
guesthouse. We waited for about a
half hour for our food, and both of us were falling asleep at the table. We were completely exhausted. We ate quickly and then headed straight
to bed for a 12-hour sleep!
 |
| The Makerere University Guest House where we stayed for two nights |
Today was exciting but also completely overwhelming. It was like nothing I have ever seen
nor could imagine. As I said,
there really aren’t words to describe the scenes from today; it is definitely
something you have to experience to understand. I am definitely going through culture shock, and am just
trying to take everything in. I
feel like my head is spinning trying to understand everything that is going
on! I will do my best to share my crazy
experience through words and pictures and maybe even some videos!
