It is now officially grasshopper season meaning that they are EVERYWHERE. At nights you will see hordes of people standing underneath of the streetlights trying to catch them as they fly into the light. The people will then deleg and antenna the grasshopper then cook it up for a snack. Have yet to eat one, but I hear they are pretty fatty.

Just wanted to say that I have less than one month here in Uganda.

Also a little update on the weather of late, it has been raining at least 3 seperate times a day, usually once in the early morning (4-5am) again in the morning (8-9am) then one more time at night. They say it is El Nino taking its effect... Personally I hope it ends soon, every day I get to work in mud covered shoes.

From the Jinja Nile Resort, Kabale, Lake Munyonyi and a few other random snaps!

On Wednesday November 6th Ramadan began. During the month of Ramada Muslim will fast (no eating or drinking between sunrise and sunset) for physical and spiritual cleansing. I decided for the second day of Ramadan that I would fast as well. I woke up early in the morning and drank a 1 liter bottle of water, after which time I ate a banana and drank a cup of tea. The fast wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and went by pretty quickly. Most of my hunger and thirst pains were felt between 11-1. After that everything was fine. After sunset I met up with Murad, Isha (who was in town), Jason (new VSO), Ivo, and Ali. We headed out to the Lebaneise restaurant below our office for their Ramadan buffet special. The food we ate at the buffet was extremely good and I ended up stuffing myself silly.

The next day was the first day of the VSO Volunteer conference at the 4 star hotel Jinja Nile Resort. Ali left the house early (wanted to get a haircut) while me and Isha (who was spending the night at our house) had the chance to sleep in. We finally departed Kyebando at around 11:30 arriving at the VSO office at 12:30. We quickly grabbed ourselves lunch with some of the new volunteers then departed to Jinja. Murad and Me went with Dr. Sarah Kyobe while the rest of the volunteers got stuck riding the bus.

We arrived at the Resort after a nice leisurely drive. The resort was something to behold, tile floors, large swimming pool, swim up bar, tennis court, and more. We were put up in cottages that were high quality as well. I bunked with Ali, with Murad and Jason as our neighbors.

The first day at the resort (Friday) was spent lounging around the pool having a few free cold drinks! That evening we were treated to our first taste of the resorts food. It was a buffet, but my gosh was it ever amazing. Once again I stuffed myself silly with the food. After eating as much as I possibly could I then found the dessert buffet and once again couldn’t resist. That night I went to bed with quite a good feeling in stomach.

The next morning I woke early and woke up Murad as well. We had planed the night before with John to go golfing. I headed out for breakfast, which was equally as good as the night before. Fresh made crepes, scrambled eggs, pounds of bacon, and anything else your heart could possible desire. After eating breakfast we departed for the golf course. We drove around for a while in search of it, but eventually found it. On arrival we were greeted by a group of kids maybe 11 years of age. They told us the course superintendent was still at home. They then hoped into the back of John’s pickup and took us to the man’s house. The man seemed to have just woken, yet was happy to hear someone wanted to play golf. He hoped into the truck as well and we took of for the course.

Back at the course we got to rent ourselves 2 sets of clubs and then got the kids who helped us find the superintendent to caddy for us. They were very happy to do the job. It was great to finally be able to play golf again. I hadn’t played since the spring, so I was a little rusty, but after a few holes I was able to get back in the swing of things. The kids were great caddies as well. One of them was the younger brother of the best golfer in Uganda. His whole family golfed, and were apparently the golf family of Uganda. Anyway for being only 11 he knew his stuff. For Murad this was his first ever game of golf, yet he could really hit the ball well. I was amazed with how quickly he picked it up. John and myself were having a bit of a rivalry and were neck and neck for most of the game. Finally around the 6th hole I started to slip and never really recovered. In the end I think John beat me by 3 strokes.

After golfing we headed back to the conference quickly. We had missed the morning session but came in just as break started so it didn’t seem like they missed us too much. The workshops were decent, and provoked a lot of good discussions. That night I feasted once again on the amazing food that was offered to us. Later on that night there was a raffle going on with all the proceeds going to a project by a volunteer in the Mabira forest. I won myself a polo shirt and hat.

The next day we had a few morning workshops then the afternoon we had off. In the afternoon I went for a swim in the pool with Jason and enjoyed a drink at the swim up bar. After swimming I was finally able to play a match of tennis. My serves were lacking, but my returns were still decent. In the two days at the resort I got to play two of my favorite sports, tennis and golf. That night there was a skill contest. We were placed into groups and had to answer jeopardy like questions. My group ended up dead last.

Monday saw our time of luxury come to a end. After indulging in one last big breakfast we departed. I arrived in Kampala and headed straight to the office. There was a videoconference scheduled for that afternoon with members of the World Bank, and delegates from several countries from around the world. It was amazing to see such technology in Africa, and even more amazing to talk to people from ever corner of the globe from the nicely air conditioned room. After the conference Ali and me departed home so we could finally unpack our bags.

Wednesday that week we had a meeting at work discussion the future of SchoolNet as well as giving updates on all our projects. Ali gave a history of our volunteer activities after which all the members of the secretariat gave us praise for the work we had done in the past 5 months.

The next day Ali and me headed off for Kabale where we were going to help out Apollo who was the new ICT coordinator at Kigezi SS. After a long ride we finally arrived in Kabale around 5:30. After meeting up with Apollo we headed up to the lab where we got an opportunity to assess the situation. After spending some time in the lab we had tea with the headmasters wife. After tea we then went and met the headmaster who took us out for dinner.

The next day we spent the day in the lab. We started by reinstalling Windows on all the machines and also fixing the Linux server. After the server was up and the Internet was being shared we then resurrected a bunch of their 486’s and other older machines and helped them onto the Internet as well. By the end of the day Ali and Me had turned their lab into something to behold.

Around 5ish Murad, Charles, and Jason arrived at Kigezi. I had arranged for them to come to Kabale so that we could spend the weekend together out of the city. They checked their emails on the newly working Internet then we departed. We arranged for them to stay in the same hotel as us and worked out a decent deal for them. That night we took Gloria out for dinner at the Little Ritz restaurant. On our walk back from the restaurant we met up with Ivo who was stopping in Kabale on his way back from Kigali (Rwanda). Later that night we explored the Kabale nightlife. For being a small town their club (club earthquake) was actually pretty decent. We danced it up a bit then finally turned in around 2.

Saturday we spent the morning in the lab tying up all the loose ends and installing the last bits of software needed. I also showed them how to use the Linux server. At around 1pm we headed off for Lake Bunyonyi. Bunyonyi is the deepest lake in Uganda and the third deepest in all of Africa. It lies in the midst of the hills of Kabale and is only a 15-minute drive from the town. When we arrived we checked out their accommodations and decided to stay in furnished tents. After picking out our housing for the night we then treated the Kigezi SS crew to lunch, as they were the ones who drove us up to the lake. After lunch the Kigezi SS crew departed, while we went on a boat trip to Bushara Island located in the middle of Lake Bunyonyi. The boat ride was amazing, and the views were simply incredible. It was amazing how similar this area of Uganda was to back home. If I had any money I would definitely invest in buying a little cottage on this lake.

When we arrived back at the camp Charles, Ali, Jason and myself all decided to go hike up a hill close by and check out the sunset. The view from on the hill was simply amazing and to see the lake at twilight was incredible. After our expedition we headed back to camp where we ate dinner then went back to our tents and played card games. We finally went to bed around 2am.

Sunday was our departure day, or at least supposed to be. At the last moment though Ali and Myself decided to stay another day, as we didn’t have to be at work the following day. The rest of our crew had to head back sadly enough. My Sunday was spent relaxing for the most part. I was able to go for a swim, and once again I was reminded of home. The water was very refreshing; warmish on the top and cooler the deeper you went. After my swim I sat up in the trees and read for while then found some other guests at the camp to talk to. I also ran into Eric who was up at Bunyonyi for a day picnic. Later that night Ali and Me had our dinner beside the charcoal fire, as the nights in Kabale were quite cold. After dinner I watched a movie with the other guests then headed off to bed.

Monday was finally time for us to leave, so after a leisurely breakfast we headed on our way down from Bunyonyi. Once in town we met up with Gloria again to say goodbye before heading off to catch the bus.

The ride home was nicer then the ride into Kabale and seemed to go by much quicker as well. Once we arrived in Kampala we headed off to Kabalagala where we met up with Murad and Jason to eat dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. I am really beginning to enjoy eating Ethiopian especially for how cheap it is. We eventually departed home, as Ali and myself were both tired from our journey and also wanting to unpack.

All in all the past two weekends have been very eventful and quite spectacular. The lake was simply amazing, and hopefully I will have a chance to return before I leave. Speaking of leaving I only have 1 month left in country, which has made me somewhat depressed. I think when I leave I am going to be homesick for Uganda.

After spending the weekend at a 4 star resort for the VSO Volunteers conference I am now heading out to Kabale to do a bit of work and spend the weekend out of town. When I get back I will have a big update on all the things that have happened in the past few weeks.

Anyway can you believe that I only have 5 weeks left in Uganda? I can't...

From Hioma, Masindi, Jinja, Entebbe, as well as some pictures of Allen and her twins, kids from my nieghborhood and a birthday card for my mother!