Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Touching down in Kampala - December 4th, 2003

I'm in uganda, and I'm alive and well!! I had a nice day on tuesday in London with my friend Jen, and then went back to Heathrow airport in the evening to fly to Uganda. My flight was fine, I slept a lot, so I wasn't in too horrible shape when I got here. I was picked up at the airport by Sophie, a girl who works at the office here (she looks like she's about my age, but its hard to tell), and she (and Sam who is my boss's driver) drove me to where I'm going to be living for the next month. At the beginning of January I'm going to be moving to the house where Vera, the old intern, lived. I actually don't mind where I am now, but i like the idea of living with a family, and apparently the other place is in a better neighbourhood. Right now i'm in a one-person apartment, in a little complex that seems to have a few other expats (aka white people) living in it. Since I'm in a complex, my rent includes a maid to clean the apartment and do my laundry and ironing, but I cook for myself. This whole 'maid' thing is something I could really get used to! (Its pretty well known that i'm not a big fan of cleaning!!)

After the airport, Sophie to me to a grocery store so i would have some food, and then to my apartment. I spent the rest of the day unpacking and putting away groceries, waking up, eating a bit, and then going back to sleep. This morning Sophie came by my apartment and picked me up, and showed me how to get to work by bus, and took me to a bank to change money. I'm also going to be getting a cellphone today, so i'll be able to keep in touch.

Now i'm in the U**** office with Sophie. Everything is going well so far - I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by things, i must admit, but that's to be expected, i think!