2 weeks in.................

So 2 weeks in and this is the first time i have had an opportunity to get onto the internet! Communication to the uk seems a bit of an impossible means at the moment - if its not that theres no electricity in order to charge my phone i'm just kept sooooo busy every day i don't get chance! Things should calm down by the middle of next week though as i will moving to my work placement where i should hopefully have regular access to electricity and power.

So after a 40 hr journey we arrived at the Forest Hill College in Mokono (google earth it!), this has been our base for the past 2 weeks and we'll be here untill 25th when we all split of into our different communities and work placements.
There approx 70 of us (an even mix of UK and Ugandan volunteers). We've been training everyday 9-5 then have to stay within the school gates at night so cabin fever is now starting to set in! I'm with a great group of people though so managing it well. We're finding all kinds of ways to entertain ourselves (none involving alcohol). Last night we set up a bowling ally using our empty water bottles and had a bowling comp. - was a good laugh.
I've been allocated my work and living placement this week and will be working for an organisation called Ugandan Village Project (again google it), I'll be based in a place called Iganga - I'll be sharing a house with 7 other people - 3 uk girls and 4 Ugandan boys and girls. Theres going to be 6 girls sharing one room and all 8 of us sharing 1 bathroom / toilet - should be fun. TBH I've been staying the past 2 weeks in a room with bats / rats / mice and approx 40 girls though so sharing with 5 will feel like a luxury! Sleeping in a mosquito net is a little tricky as i am used to sleeping in a double bed and every so often in th night i try to 'sprawl' out and end up having a panic attack in my sleep as i think im trapped! Cold showers have been standard since we arrived but its so hot here it really isn't a problem - this is not going to anything like Nepal in the sense of basic living as i;ve been told that our house has 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen and apparently has a tiled bathroom! Winner.......the rest of the group in Iganga are going to be staying in 3 flats within an apartment's block and again its going to be a high standard of accommodation in relation to where we are. I'm getting on well with one of the Uganda lads who i will be working and staying with and we have agreed to have language lessons and cooking time at the house so wait till i get back and i'll be knocking up some delicious traditional recipes for you all.

We've been fully submerged into the local cuisine of Motoke (not sure if thats the correct spelling but is basically mashed up banana) and Posho which is a wheat based type of thing - tasty tho......lots of potato's and rice and the other day we had the luxury of buying chicken on sticks from our bus window. Breakfast consists of bread and jam and there's absolutely no access to any form of snacking or brews etc in between so my 'weight loss plan' is going really well!

Got loads of photos already - will have to wait till next week though when i will hopefully be able to log my note book onto the wifi at my office and upload some of them.

Last weekend we went to the source of he Nile - was a really great day, a group of us decided to try to cross from the island we were on to another (will make more sense when i upload the pics)quite a few fell in and today we had our health talk and learnt that it is highly likely we will have all contracted some kind of bug that lives in the Nile (lovely), its nothing to worry about thought and can be treated very easily.

There's has been some bad news as i lost / had my purse stolen on the way back - have been to 2 Uganda police stations and really hope i don't have to ever go to one again as they are really quite scary places (especially with the machine guns and wooden sticks the officers all carry).

Anyway for now hope this has filled you all in and I'll hopefully get updating on the regular as of next week.