Orientation Camp

Hello everyone!!!

The orientation camp was great, we learned a lot about Uganda’s
history and current political situation, had a Luganda language course

(the most common language in Uganda), got information about visa issues,
conflict resolution and many more.

Another tour around Kampala was also part of the program and it was a
lot easier this time, I was not that exhausted afterwards, so I guess

you just have to get used to it. (like many things here it is just
necessary to adapt to the differences).
The food at the camp was great, 3 meals every day plus 2-3 tea breaks
in between.
We were stuffed :P

I also got a taste of some of the Ugandan beer (Club and Nile), which

both were amazing.
The program usually ended at about 4 or 5 pm and sometimes me and
some of the other volunteers went on a walk afterwards.
 Once we ended up in a bar on the side of the street, the other time we walked to

lake Victoria to enjoy the view.

It was surprising that we only heard the word "Muzungu" occasionally (it means "white person") since we were almost the only Muzungus around …
OK, that should be it for the moment, next time I’ll post something
will be when I'm at my project, so wish me luck!!!!

First Impressions

Kampala City

                                                  The traffic is CRAZY in Kampalla

Banana Village :)

                                                            

Monkeys!!!!

The girls from the UVP

Martin teaching us Luganda

Kiki Kati Everyone!!!

So, now I'm in Uganda....
Let me just give you a brief overview of my time here so far:

On the third of January I arrived at Entebbe Airport at about 3 pm with Isa, another volunteer.
We were picked up by Tallat, Betty, Martin, Hellen and Jude who are all working in the office of the UVP (Uganda Volunteers for Peace) and drove to Kampala City with a small bus.
It took us about 50 minutes to get to the Mansy hotel, which was a bit longer than usual because there was a problem with one of the tires, so we had to stop a few times.
The hotel was just next to the UVP office and we got to relax the rest of the day, which was good, cause I was really exhausted :)
In the evening I just made a little walk along Entebbe Road, but I didn't go far, because there were just too many impressions and my mind was already too busy trying to handle the new situation I was in now.
So I went back and had dinner, an Ethiopian/Eritrean dish ( Injera as the basis together with a kind of meat stew) which was really tasty!
The next day (I'll try to make it shorter this time) we met three other volunteers, Natali, Ilias and Phoebe and together we went to the Kampala city center with Hellen.
It was really crowded and chaotic, but I got a feeling that I'll like it in the future :D
At the moment I was just kinda speechless and I got a sunburn, because I thought we would return sooner and walk less, so I didn't use any sunscreen ... Stupid, I know!
Back at the hotel I was totally exhausted!!!
We had lunch and then went to a place called Banana Village, where our orientation camp took place.
Here we met Dennis and Annegret, 2 volunteers who I knew from the seminar in Germany.
Now this place is really nice: It's outside the city and surrounded by nature, really different to Kampala.
Just really peaceful and chilled out. There are monkeys and weird squirrels jumping around from time to time and they have horses that they use instead of lawn-mowers (;
That’s it so far; I'm tired of writing now, the rest will follow soon !!!
Siiba Bulungi (meaning Have a nice day)!