my krazy week in africa

so it's been an interesting week here in good ol' uganda, to say the least. here's just a little crash course to my week. buckle up, cause here we go . . . monday i was on a boat in lake edward, surrounded by hippo's and water buffalo, when we found ourselves at the border with the dem republic of the congo. we had to turn around, because if we were to go any further it would be breaking international law and we figured we might be shot. (not really) (me standing on the equator) tuesday as we were driving our car out of the lodge we were staying at, we had to stop to let elephants cross the road. on our way home (9 hr drive) we decided to stop for lunch in masaka, uganda. did i mention that masaka is ground zero for the aids pandemic. yes, they have traced the start of aids back to the very place in which we had lunch (we ate packaged crackers and bottled coke's). wednesday was not so interesting as we only sat in a van at a gas station to have lunch, which consisted of crackers and coke. thursday was fun, we went to a church to have a women's conference. we were singing some songs and this woman falls down to the ground -- the pastor comes up with a concerned, yet calm look on his face and declaces "demons, yes i believe it is demons"! so they took her to the back of this 10x10 room of sticks, mud and boards they call a church and exorsise her demons -- all while serving us lunch in the front. after she was exorcised, and all of her hair had stood straight up, she came to shake our hands, tell us thank you and good bye. what a week you say, well it doesn't end there. friday after we got back from teaching, we had an earthquake -- the epicenter was in the congo, but could be felt as far away as narobi, kenya, which is to the east of us. so if you are looking for a nice, relaxing getaway vacation -- uganda is definately not for you. i thought it was a brilliant week, and have had a great time. i am at a market right now getting souveniers for you all. we are going to the source of the river nile tomorrow, which should be fun. i didn't realize that the nile starts here in uganda at lake victoria, there is a big dam, which they use to control the waters -- they say it should only be a 2 hour trip tomorrow, so hooray, more fun stuff is still to come. this pic is of me and my new kenyan friends who were in town for the east african union meeting. we are standing in front of the source of the nile. we fly out of here on thursday morning, and land in london about 3:45pm. we stay there for 4 nights and then it's back home, move to dc, and find a job. my time is running short, so i've gotta run. more love from africa, linz

boat saphari today

so today we finally got the to the myewa lodge where we ate lunch, took a hot shower and went on a boat safari. we saw lot's of cool animals -- hippo's, elephants, gazelle's, water buffalo, birds, croc's, snakes and wart hogs. i only have 3 minutes left on my internet connection, so i'll wrap up this sweet little blog by saying all is well here in the motherland, and i hope to post some pic's and video soon to my photobucket site. www.photobucket.com/albums/b255/linzzbob.

so i've successfully made it here to uganda, and it only took 2 days. whew. we got into the entebbe airport around 8am thursday morning, and out of the 7 of us that came over together, i am the ONLY one whose luggage made it. i've learned how to pack a little more wisely these days. anyhoo -- rashid, the director of one of the schools we are working at came to pick us up. we loaded all of our stuff and off we went to see where we were staying. we are actually staying at a really nice place on top of the hill overlooking the city. in a way it sucks because i don't feel like we are "in uganda". we have a cook who cooks all of our meals (semi-american style) although when we go out, we get to taste some local foods. mtoke is my favorite so far, it is boiled plantaines that are mashed. they don't really taste like anything, but you can dip them in the juice from the strange array of meats they serve, and is actually quite good. so as far as work -- 4 of us have been working at bethel junior school, elementary. to say they have nothing is a gross understatement. they have no electricity, no running water, no doors, windows or floors in the classrooms. oh they have holes where the windows and doors should be -- but nothing. they have painted over the concrete wall a place to write with chalk, and have wooden benches 2 feet long each for roughly 8 children to sit on. they have no books to use, only small notebooks with 10 or so pages in which to write. i saw a student ask the teacher for a pencil yesterday, and the teacher broke it into thirds so they could share with 2 others who had no pencils. i was looking around wandering how they would sharpen these broken pencils, when the teacher pulled out a 2 sided razor blade and gave it to the little girl who had asked for the pencil. did i mention that she was 5. i watched some kids playing football (soccer) during break, they had rolled up garbage into a ball and tied a plastic sack around it to keep it together -- but were perfectly content with their creation. so in this school of 500 students 150 are boarders -- and they have no electricity or running water -- they just collect rain water. 3-4 children sleep in a bed, and most only eat porrige or bread every day. the level of poverty at this school is overwhelming. but the kids are amazing. while the american teachers go and help the african teachers, i have been working on bible verses (since it's a christian school), singing songs, telling stories, and helping to organize some donated books -- they just have no idea what to do with them. i only have a few minutes left on my computer -- so i'll wrap this up. this place is amazing, and the spirit of the people is overwhelming. they are so friendly, not shy one single bit, and are working SOOO hard with so little. i'll write more when i can get back to the computer. we go on safari monday -- so i'll have some good pic's when i get back on june 25th. hope everyone is well. sending lots of love from africa!!!! lindsey

पोंद hopping

so i've successfully hopped the pond and am sitting at someone's house in london. we flew from panama city to atlanta (4 hr layover) then to chicago (another 4 hr layover), and then an 8 hour flight to london -- and we're here for 15 hours. we rode the train, and missed our stop -- so a nice brittish man put us back on the right train and didn't charge us for the extra stop. they seem to be a little more rigid on protocol here, which is a little annoying, but when in rome . . . i only have a few minutes on the computer here -- so i'll keep this short. i have a cell phone which i'll be able to use in uganda -- and as soon as i get a sim card i'll post the number. happy trails.

uganda

so alot of people have been asking where uganda is . . . and i'm proud to say that almost everyone knows that it's in africa!!!!! so here are a few maps for your reference . . .enjoy!!! so as you can see on the map, sudan is to the north, rwanda to the south, and the congo to the east -- so with all of the conflict going on in surrounding countries, i am extremely curious to see uganda. a few interesting facts about uganda -- they have made the biggest comeback in all of african history. after dictator idi amin, uganda was left in ruins -- disease, poverty and an overall feeling of hopelessness is what was felt throughout the entire country. the current elected president, Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI, has really turned things around for the people. ground zero for the aids pandemic has been traced back to uganda. in a place where entire villages were once killed off due to aids - they now have the lowest hiv/aids infection rate in all of africa. they have instated a parliment and a true working democracy, and for the time being all is well. ugandan women are still being opressed, but not to the extent of it's surrounding coutries. i just had a meeting with the group of people i'm going over with, and we were told that in the rural areas where we are to be staying, women must wear long dresses and be covered. so today i went dress shopping for "amish" style dresses -- they say in uganda only the prostitutes wear pants. so as not to be misconstrued as a hooker -- i've bought some of the ugliest dresses ever -- and you can believe i'll be leaving them in uganda with the locals!!!! i've got a fancy schmancy new camera, so hopefully i'll be posting some sweet pic's of life and people there. we are going on a safari when we first get there -- the lodge that we are staying at (for only 1 night) is on a big game preserve. they say from the balcony you can see elephants, rhino's, girraffe's and lots of other pretty animals. so stay tuned, i hope to get some really good photo's!!!!

africa or bust!!!!!

so it's been almost a year since i posted one of these things -- and boy has alot happened. after i left the philippines, i had a really hard time readjusting to life here in the u.s.. it was so strange to come back to panama city, wearing a big white back brace, i smelled and looked bad, my tastes had changed, my ability to relate to people had changed and i was really confused about it all. after a few months things got back to "normal" and i moved back down to orlando. i was so excited to go back down to my old college town and have lot's of fun -- but things there weren't quite as i had expected them to be either. all of my old roommates and friends had moved away, and i ended up renting a room from a really odd girl -- i tried talking to her, but she was having none of it -- and would just go into her room and lock the door. it sucked, but turned out to be a good thing, as she was not a distraction for me with school. that's when i discovered myspace -- i found alot of old friends, and harrassed alot of my new ones. going back to school was a little tricky at first too. i had lost all ability to pay attention and focus -- while that was a good thing in the philippines, sitting through meetings and other events that seemed neverending -- but here in the states, i really needed to pay attention. so i started drinking coffee by the gallon (i'm totally not kidding), and only recently quit, since i started having chest pains due to the absurd amount of caffine running through my system. i completed 2 semesters back at the university of central florida, and for the first time in my life feel like i am headed in the right direction -- dc, by way of africa. i'm spending the next month teaching at a school in western uganda. and am restarting this blog to keep in touch with everyone while i'm away. anyhoo -- the point of all of my ramblings is that being med sep'd early from pc, ending up being a really good thing. and most of you know that i was going to et anyways -- i'm still not sure if i would have had the balls to do it though. so i'll try to keep this blog updated with fun africa pic's and weekly updates. safe travels to you all -- keep in touch, lindsey

if anyone's still reading......

so if anyone is still reading this, which why would you after the adventure is over. well, anyways -- so i'm definately home for good. in the next week or so i'm making the big move back down to orlando. i fought it for as long as i possibly could, but i got a job, an apartment and as of tomorrow morning a car. i'm going to finish up a few classes before starting grad school next fall, hopefully in denver. and i still have a big trip planned through s.e. asia with some friends who are still over in the philippines. when i moved home, i thought i would just get a "real job" and move on with life, but it turns out finding a real job is harder than i thought. just putting together a resume and coverletters for each specific job is a job in and of itself. whew. so i guess waiting tables and taking a few classes until april, which is when i leave to go meet my friends in the philippines, isn't going to be so bad after all. we'll see. so this trip i speak of, i'm planning on flying back to the philippines at the end of next april, and hanging out there for 6 weeks visiting the people and places that i missed. so then we fly to beijing, china for a 10 day hike of the great wall of china. from there we proceed south through china to vietnam, laos, cambodia and end up lying on the beach in beautiful thailand. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that this all works out according to schedule and that peace keeps holding out in that region, and that everyone over there still wants to travel. living in another country is exhausting. it's something i never would have thought about pre-peace corps, but translating ilonggo all day every and trying to speak to people and make them undedrstand about you and what you are doing in their country is the most exhausting thing i have ever done. teaching classes in ilonggo and just communicating with co-workers is enough to warrant a good 10-12 hour night sleep. going to bed at 8pm and waking up mga 7-8am is usually how most of us live over there. so there's a tentative plan for the next year. and that's about all i know for now. lindsey