The Penthouse Dream

Today is official move-in day at Augie! For those of you who don't already know, this year I am an RA for the sophomore dorms. I've actually been here for two weeks for training and preparing the buildings with bulletin boards and door decorations. We have done more bonding than seems necessary, but I can safely say I know my coworkers on a very personal level. So far I am really enjoying it, but i'll let you know how I feel when I start having to be the "bad cop". I lucked out with the penthouse suite...or rather the top floor of the building. I thought this was awesome, and don't get me wrong, I do love being on the top, and I have an incredible view, but when we had some flash flooding a couple days ago, top floor was not too kind to me. Let's just say this building has some real rustic charm :)

Another tid bit of info, I have decided to change my major. I am not sure what it is going to be... we call that "exploring" here... but I'm not too worried. The big man upstairs knows the plan, so I feel pretty confident that it's going to be okay :) As for this semester, I am checking out my options with some sociology classes. I have also recently had the thought of working for an adoption organization abroad, or maybe helping families with the travel process, I don't exactly know what that looks like or anything, but keep it in your prayers...God knows I need them :) until next time!

BodaBoda

We stayed some nights in Kampala and explored the unknown parts of the city. The first night we stayed in a hostel and ended up getting bed bugs...not ideal! Although, silver lining- at least it wasn't lice! So the next couple nights we decided to upgrade to a nicer hotel. One of the days we took a bodaboda (motorbike) tour around the city. They took us to each of the main 7 hills that make up the city. 

We went to the Gadafi Mosque, Bahai Temple, Eidi Amin torcher chamber, and they showed us a place called "organized chaos" 

And this is only half of it.... 

This is all the taxi's lined up ready to go to anywhere and everywhere... And it truly lives up to its name, but I would maybe go a little heavier on the chaos!

Tracking the scat

To finish off our grand adventure, we went on safari! We lucked out with an incredible van full of people from the UK and Australia that made it all that much more enjoyable! We were able to get super close to the animals for pictures and what not, but the other vans scared away the lions, so unfortunately we did not get to see any of them. 

And in our camp we had baboons, warthogs, and hippos! Made for quite an interesting time :)

Sippi Falls

If there is one thing to learn about Uganda- trying to get absolutely anywhere is a pain in the arss! However, although the journey is long and tiring and wayyyyy more difficult than it needs to be, the destination is always worth it! After the escapade down the Nile, we traveled up to a spot called Sippi Falls. This was the most beautiful spot I have ever seen! We stayed in this little grass hut that reminded me of Swiss Family Robinson style, and it was right on the edge of a cliff overlooking a waterfall. There were three waterfalls altogether that we hiked to, and at the last one we repelled down 325ft. It was incredible, and oh so safe! There were 2 big hooks they had pounded into the dirt at the top and one guy feeds the rope and holds you as you go down. The guy holding your life wears no safety anything, and is wearing flip flops. I'm not positive on this, but it would seem to me that something like this setup may not fly in the U.S. Haha

Uganda-be-in-(De-Nile)

Dare Devils that we are, decided to go white water rafting down the Nile. We traveled to Jinja, about a 5hour Ugandan taxi ride from where the Show Mercy base is, to this site called Nile River Camp. Walking into it, it seemed like a place for a bunch of hippies...which only meant we fit in quite well haha. 

At this camp they have a rope swing into the Nile, which was an absolute blast! 

And the next day we went rafting! Our guides name was Issac, and he was the coolest Ugandan I have ever met. The Rapids we went in were all class 5, but unlike most places in the U.S., the Rapids are caused from the water condensing into smaller areas for passage, so you don't really have to worry about rocks. There was one rapid in particular that mom and I both got thrown out. The Ugandans call this "very bad place" which feeds into "washing machine". We both saw our life flash before our eyes, and swallowed about half the Nile, so if you do decide to go rafting, I'm not sure how much water will be left :) it was an incredible experience!