Back in Commission

Sorry guys! I've had strep the last few days and I've been MIA. But I'm back and feeling much better!

So this one is gonna be short and sweet. Sorry, I haven't really been feeling the whole blog thing lately. But anyway...

Thursday night there was a good-bye party for a girl named Debbie who's Honors College alumni, but still hangs out with everyone in Honors College because she works as a babysitter for some of the staff here. She married a USP student last year (I believe) and is now moving to Chicago to live with him. I didn't know her super well, but it was a bittersweet good-bye because she's really awesome.

Friday, after waiting forever for our transportation to pick us up, 30 or so of us made our way to a rafting place in Jinja. We got there late, ate a complimentary supper since our ride was so late and eventually drifted to bed.

Since I hadn't slept the last few nights I decided to take advantage of the fact that I had nothing to do that day, everyone was leaving to raft and I was in the most comfortable bed ever. I finally woke up when the two other girls, Lillie and Esther asked if I wanted to join them for lunch in Jinja town. I got up around 11:00 am and got ready and we headed out. We had a few ideas of where we might want to eat, but we decided to just wander until we found something that looked interesting. It was a couple miles walk but we ended up settling on a restaurant that served Indian food and pizza. Odd.

I ordered chicken nuggets that I probably should've expected wouldn't be what I thought of as chicken nuggets. They weren't awful, but I guess I should leave my chicken nugget-tasting for Amsterdam and quit trying to cheat.

We began walking back to the place we were staying where a truck would take us to a campground to meet up with the rest of the group and have a BBQ. On the walk back we saw a sign pointing down a side road to a War Cemetery of some kind. We weren't sure which war, but decided to check it out anyway. It ended up being a WWII cemetery and everyone buried there had served in the King's African Rifles and died fighting for the British. It really was a World War...

We made it back afterward, all the while shrugging off sleazy comments and requests for money. We boarded the coaster bus to go to the campground and were joined by a girl from the UK who was also staying there. She had worked in Malawi for a couple months as a law intern, and was now just traveling all around Africa until the beginning of April. It was so interesting to talk to her, especially just hearing about the condition of the legal system in Malawi.

When we got there- the place was GORGEOUS. Most spectacular view of the Nile ever. I just had to stop and soak it all in because it was so surreal. It was one of those "Wow, I'm really in Africa" moments. After we walked around scoping out the place. We saw people swimming in the river and decided, even if we didn't have bathing suits with us, there was no way we were passing up the chance to swim in the Nile. We chilled out there for awhile and it was so perfect. About 5 minutes after we dried off and got out the rest of the group arrived and we chowed down, then headed back to our lodging.

I passed out almost immediately after getting back from exhaustion, plus my throat had been killing me all day. When I woke up the next morning, throat still killing me, we all ate breakfast and boarded an open truck that took us to Adrift, which was the bungee jumping place. We hurriedly paid and signed up, then made our way to the tower. I was the third to jump and was pretty excited because I wanted to be one of the first to go since I've been waiting to bungee jump for forever. Plus, I wanted to be able to chill and watch everyone else go. Actually not as intense as I thought it would be, but looking down before the jump with my toes over the edge was a little intimidating. The guy who'd strapped me in told me I probably wouldn't be able to touch the water because I was too light, then proceeded to count "3...2...1...BUNGEE!" I'm pretty sure I jumped by 1. Such a rush, but way too short-lived.

Once everyone had jumped we got back on the truck, headed back to where we were staying, ate lunch, then boarded the bus back to school. When we got back to school, I showered and passed out, still feeling like crap.

I woke up Monday, knew I had strep throat and went to the doctor's yesterday, just so he could confirm what I already knew and told me to keep taking the antibiotics I've been taking for Malaria. It was the biggest waste of time and money, but the USP intern, Annie, took me out for an early supper afterward and I got a banana milkshake out of the deal! They're my favorite things EVER! So the day wasn't a total waste. It was quite an experience though, and was one of the best examples of how badly the Ugandan infrastructure needs to be improved. If you desire some elaboration, feel free to ask. As for now, I'm wiped out.

Only 49 days left in Uganda! Love to everyone.