My Awesome Break

So for the past week we have been on break, and it was maybe the best week ever. Let me pick up where I left off two entries ago in Jinja, Uganda.

After I got back to camp from town, our first activity was the bungee jump. I was definitely the most nervous of the 11 of us that jumped, so I decided to go last so I could watch everyone else first. Still I was shaking like a fool when I got up there, and the guy in charge told me he would teach me a "different technique for folks who are a bit nervous". So instead of putting my arms down before the jump like everyone else, the two guys up there held my arms and I leaned forward and they counted down from 5 and then basically I "bungee-fell" when gravity took over. But it was awesome and beautiful and I'm so glad I did it. Some girls in the group took advantage of an offer of a free jump if you went naked, but I'm afraid I'm not that brave.

So then we were in the mood to celebrate, and had a few drinks at the camp's bar. Most people went to bed early that night, but my friend Lissette and I made friends with a couple of raft guides who were going to a casino in Jinja that night. So of course we joined them, and it turned into a fun night - I won enough money in blackjack and roulette to pay my tab back at the camp's bar! But I probably stayed up later than I should have, because the next day we had to raft class 5 rapids bright and early in the morning.

There was no worry about me being tired, though, because the rafting definitely woke me up. The thing about the Nile is that the rapids are huge and all the rafts flip over and knock you out, but the water is deep enough that you know you're not going to hit any rocks or the bottom. Also there were 5 kayakers following the rafts and rescuing people who got knocked out. At first I didn't really know what to expect, but soon I realized that flipping in rapids is actually awesome. The two days of rafting went by really fast. Our guide the second day was this bad-ass man named Tutu who we now know as the King of the Nile because he reached into the water at one point and pulled out a large fish with his bare hand, stood up and hollered "I GOT A FISH!". It might be the most impressive thing I've ever seen.

The bus back from Uganda was an experience - our bus broke down somewhere between Nairobi and the Kenya-Tanzania border and what would have been a 17-hour bus ride turned into a 23-hour bus ride. At least I could read when the bus wasn't moving. Even people with no touch of motion sickness couldn't read for most of this trip because the bus literally bounced off the unpaved roads and you couldn't hold a book still if you tried. So we had a lot of time to think and talk and play MF or K.

Originally I was going to do the all-out $400 two-day safari to Ngorogoro Crater and Manyara, but after having all of my valuables stolen, reevaluating and talking to friends, I decided to go with a group doing a $100 one-day safari through Arusha National Park instead. I have absolutely no regrets about that decision - there were four of us, and we saw probably over 100 giraffes, plenty of zebra, baboons, colbus monkeys (these are really cool), a huge lake literally covered in flamingos, buffalo, warthogs, and much more. Plus we got to do a "walking safari" which was essentially a hike where we got to walk with a guide carrying a huge shotgun for protection and literally walk right by the animals. He only pointed the gun once, when about 15 warthogs sprinted out of a hole about 5 feet away from us. They were going the other way, but it was startling.

Also I had one more day than the 2-day safari folks to play around Arusha. I ate good food, used the internet, and went out to a legit nightclub, where I had a lot of fun.

So now I have a new home in Babati! It's actually very close to where we stayed during orientation and our Babati weekends - my family is adorable and the house is really nice and I know I'm going to love it! Plus I have an awesome group - I get to keep my teaching partners Joseph and Gerald and also have my friends Lissette and Annie, who are two of my favorite people here. The interesting part - Lissette, Annie, and I all get to sleep in one big bed. We're excited.

More can come later since I now live within walking distance of internet! Another volunteer program here this summer lived in the same homestays, and we think they were spoiled since they all have electricity and are so close to computers and such. And in a way I will miss the calm of the villages, but I'm definitely not complaining.