Well, I'm now sitting at two weeks into my gap year in Uganda, and it has taken some getting used to, so far!

After spending a good ten and a bit hours traveling, we landed in Entebbe, and all nineteen of us were met by our country representative, Lucy, who got us all loaded up and on our way to Makindye, where we were to be spending two nights in a guest house to just relax and get our bearings before heading off to our various projects around Uganda. The drive to Makindye had us driving along dusty, red roads and passing many a cow and coat tied to the side of the road. It was exactly as you see it on tv, but at the same time it was like nothing I've ever seen before. Everything is so completely different, even the smell of the place.

Our time in the MAF Guest House in Makindye was short and sweet, and my partner, Fern, and I soon found ourselved on a taxi and on our way to Kojjo, where we're to be living for the next year. We have ourselves two little rooms; one of them has two beds and is where we sleep, and the other is a store, where we keep food and cutlery and plates and the like.
The first thing that I found to be hard going was the fact that since we had no running water, we had to boil collected rainwater if we wanted to use it to drink, or to put it in food, or to wash dishes or anything. I didn't realise that it takes a good half hour for water to boil on a charcoal stove, but there you go! Charcoal has become one of my enemies - it refuses to light for me, and it refuses to burn hotly enough to actually cook things. I'll get there eventually, though!

Our first week had us getting to know our project better. It's over a mile of walking to reach Kabembe, which is where Hope For Youth Uganda is situated (look it up online - CanAssist Africa have helped them out a lot and they have pictures up and stuff!). We met the other teachers and were told what we'd be teaching the following week. I've been made head of the Music department, and I teach music from Primary 1 to Primary 5, as well as Maths to Primary 5, Science to Primary 5 and English to Primary 4. It sounds like quite a bit, but it ends up averaging about three hours a day (with breaks in between lessons) and it's good to keep busy. We have to be in school for half seven (early mornings will always kill me) and we can leave whenever we like, but we haven't been leaving until about half three, four o' clock. It's too hot to walk any earlier, right now!

The heat is something that's taken a bit of getting used to, but I think it's all good now. However, Uganda's weather does seem to change very quickly, and there have been a couple of nights that I've had to wear a hoodie, and you can see your breath in the air, it's that cold! Something that I had most definitely NOT expected.

Anyway, I do have more to tell, but I'm seriously running out of time in this internet cafe. I'll try and add to it next week if I can, and I'm sorry that it's taken so long to write!