Hello Everyone!
So, this past week was our last week spent in Kampala. It was very busy with completing school assignments...we ended classes on Friday! I also had the opportunity to visit the slums in mid week with some other friends. It was a very eye opening experience...I am glad I went. We met with Jess, a woman who works with African Hearts Organization. She helps provide first aid to the street kids as well as fulfills several other duties. On Friday, we went to market with Grace, our cook, and ate at an Indian Restaurant downtown. I discovered my dislike for Indian food...too spicy for my taste buds! Saturday was Valentine's Day. The girls got up early to wake up the boys with blaring Backstreet Boys song, "As Long as You Love Me" and burst into their room with cards we made and a poem we wrote. We also made breakfast, which included bacon!, and eggs, which I made, to celebrate! Later we delivered the heart sugar cookies. The morning was relaxed and then me, Roanna, and Jenny went into to town...found a cute milkshake place and shared a vanilla milkshake. Then, we came home to eat dinner and head out to a worship service. Turns out what we thought to be a 6:30 service actually began at 5:15...so, we basically sang 10 minutes of worship songs and then it ended. We got to talk to Pastor Francis who was so funny...hope to return to the church. Afterwards, we went to a snack place and got some juice....then headed home. Sunday, a bunch of us went to Aero Beach in Entebbe. It was soo much fun...felt like I was in the Bahamas. They blasted fun music while we swam, played frisbee, a volleyball game with some Ugandan dudes, and relaxed...caught some sun rays and am a little darker with some sunburn too. Sandy, Suzy, and I left early to go back and make dinner...it was our night to cook. We were slightly delayed due to traffic and a mutatu incident...I'll talk about that later, but anyway, we got home and grilled chicken with toasted sandwiches, chips, and frozen chocolate bananas. Then, I packed for Ethiopia and joined our group for our last worship time together. Today is very busy. Everyone has left for their practicums except for my group...the house is very empty and we are busy packing, etc. We leave at 2 and our flight is around 5 I think...we'll get into Ethiopia around 7 or so. I will be staying there for 3 1/2 weeks working with Child Development...working with kids, organizing a girl's group, and other things. I gotta go but I will write in a few weeks! Bye
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
So....I walked through a Forest....
Sunday, February 8, 2009
This past week has been very busy. On Thursday, my rural visit group-Anna, Suzy, Wes, and Eli plus Ryan-met Paul to spend the day with him and celebrate his first birthday party! He has never done anything special on his birthday…so we decided to bake him a chocolate cake, buy him lunch, and sing “Happy Birthday” to him a few months after…his special day is actually in November. Anyway, early Thursday afternoon we met up with Paul in the taxi park. It took some time until we finally found each other, but once we were all together…we jumped on a mutatu for a 40 minute drive to Entebbe. We were going to the beach for the day…it was actually Lake Victoria but felt like a beach. On the mutatu, I met a nice woman who lived in Entebbe.
Once we arrived in Entebbe, we got out of the car and headed to the zoo…we added another event for the day because Paul said there was one close by. However, the zoo cost $20,000 shillings, too expensive for us! Then, we saw a place for boat rides…again, it was too expensive. So, we decided to stick with our original plan and go to the beach. Since it was rather far away, we caught a ride on a mutatu and headed to Lake Victoria. The beach was awesome! We ate delicious cake, swam in the water, and hung out for the afternoon. I was kind of cold and didn’t really feel like going in the water, but the others convinced me to swim for a little…so I went into the murky water filled with dirt, snails, and mushy ground. Thanks to Ryan I got dunked a couple of times…the guys tried to get Anna in the water too, but she held strong. Ha, it was funny to watch! After swimming, we hung out on the beach and talked with Paul while he had his fish and chips…our treat J It was good to see and talk with him again…it might be the last time we get to see him before practicum. Oh yea, I forgot to say that I found out I am going to ETHIOPIA for practicum…I am so excited! I will be traveling to another country that is supposedly gorgeous! It is known for coffee and silver…it is also one of the poorest countries in the world. Suzy, Tessa, Roanna, and Eli are coming too…but I think our group will be split up. We find out more details on Tuesday. I’m excited to find out more details because, as of now, all I know is the country and people who are going to the same country. Next Monday, we will be traveling to our practicum site…
Anyway, back to my Thursday, once it was past 4:00 we had to head back to Kampala to see the comedy show with our professor. We traveled on mutatu and did not get back to the taxi park until 6. Our class already left for the show by the time we got back to Kampala so we decided it best to go straight to the theater. We walked to the theater and met up with our group. We walked around the theater’s market then went to get seats for the 7’o clock show. Unfortunately, we waited 1 ½ hours until the show actually started. Sandy and I had fun passing time just joking around…they also had a Ugandan soap opera show playing on at the same time. That was actually really interesting…the story was about an abortion and then another episode was about a lady having a baby. These weren’t the most uplifting stories. Anyway, finally around 8:30 the show started. I was kind of annoyed because I was tired from the busy day, cold from my wet cloths, and really hungry because we missed dinner. The show went until 10:00. It was pretty funny…kind of reminded me of a Ugandan SNL. After the show, we were to head home on the bus. However, our bus drivers accidentally locked the keys in the bus and were trying to get inside with a clothes hanger through the window. After much waiting, Eli gave it a try and got it! I was so excited….ready to go home. Once home, which was close to 11:00, I heated up some leftovers and started some homework….it was a late night.
On Friday, we had class in the morning and afternoon. Then, right after school, Tessa, Roanna, Suzy, Jenny, and I quickly packed our bags, ate dinner, and headed to Jinja for our camping adventure. We left around 5:30 and headed to the taxi park. There, we caught a bus going to Jinja…we were all stuffed in the backseat. Our bus got stuck in a jam, typical, so our hour or so ride turned into a 2 hour ride. We didn’t get to Mabira Forest until 8:15 at night…it was pitch black, in the boonies, and we had no idea where we were going. I was a little nervous and somewhat scared. A nice man on the bus thought we were going to the Rainforest so he told us to go up the street to the right. We headed up the road but it looked really sketchy…so, Roanna called the front desk of the campsite we were staying at and asked for directions. The owner said he would send someone to meet us. Apparently, we were going the wrong way, as we predicted, and had to turn around and cross the street. On the other side, we found the correct road. We started walking and a nice group of ladies helped us find our way…they led us to the woman who was taking us to our banda, our cabin. I was glad we met up with some women because I would not feel comfortable or trust a man leading us in the dark to somewhere we didn’t know.
After walking through the mud and trees, we found our banda. It was a fairly nice room…we had 2 bunks for the 5 of us. It was a small room, but just right for the weekend. Our latrine was nearby and we had a wash bucket to bath…no one took showers the whole weekend. Friday, we talked in our room for a little bit and then got ready for bed. Because there were only 4 beds, Suzy and Roanna decided to sleep together. However, a few hours into the night, Jenny-who was sleeping in the bunk above me-creeped down, scared me, and asked if she could sleep with me. There was a lot of noise outside…lots of things falling on our roof and making a lot of noise, we later found out that we had a fig tree growing up above us. I was having trouble sleeping too so I didn’t mind the company. That was interesting…small bed for 2 people with a bad smelling mosquito net falling down all the time, kind of annoying. I didn’t get much sleep that night.
Saturday, we woke up around 9, got ready, and went to market to get food for the day. We brought fruit from home and then bought some bananas, mandazi-a bread donut for breakfast and chipatis for lunch. Plus, a few huge water bottles. After we were all set, we headed on our journey…what we were anticipating to be a 3 or 4 hour hike but turned out to be a 2 hour hike. Hiking through a forest is very different than hiking a mountain back home…it took me awhile to adjust. The ground was very wet and muddy, the forest was dense with trees and bushes…and there were animals making sounds that we didn’t recognize. In the forest live monkeys, bush pigs, and large snakes…at one point, we heard I think either a monkey or bush pig? make a noise that sounded like we were in its territory…we walked fast and clapped our hands and started to talk/sing loudly to quiet the animal. Some of the girls didn’t get scared…but I sure was! We also had to walk through some parts that were somewhat swampy…gushy mud that literally engulfed my whole shoe, it started to leak into my sneaker. At the end of our hike, we ended up on this dirt road leading back to our campsite. On the road we met these two men who were like, “Hello, do you have money? Our country is poor and your country is rich…can we have some money?” We said no and instead offered chapatti, but they just walked away smiling.
We walked back to our banda and, along the way, passed children who would run up to us saying, “Muzungu, how are you?” and then they would either wave, hold our hand, or run up to give us a hug. They were very cute! For a break, we ate lunch outside and then read our books for lit. class and took naps. In late afternoon, we headed out on another hike. This one, in my opinion, was much more enjoyable. I knew what to expect, the sun was shining, and we didn’t hear near as many animal noises. Our group talked a lot more on this hike and had fun looking at the huge trees that were some of the forest’s main features. This time, our hike was about an hour to hour and ½. We, once again, appeared at the market place. We were swarmed by the market sellers as we bought another water bottle…they were shoving beef and chicken sticks in our faces…not the most comfortable. Anyway, we passed through all of the children again and returned to our banda to finish our books and play cards. We also collected firewood for a camp fire.
Around 7, we headed to the dining area which was outside for dinner. Fairly quickly to when dinner was supposed to be, we got our food…I ordered an omelet and then we all shared rice and chips. We sat around the table talking for awhile and then headed back to camp to start our fire. Unfortunately, the wood was too wet and wouldn’t light. So, we lit our lantern and talked in our banda til 10…we made ourselves stay up until then, ha! Got ready for bed in our lovely smelling latrine and caught some zzzs. Leopards also live in the forest and usually come out at night. I always got nervous when waiting for others outside of the latrine…kind of scary. Saturday night, Jenny and I slept together again…we switched beds though because of the mosquito net. I was worried I wouldn’t get much sleep again but, fortunately, I got a descent amount!
Sunday morning, we got up around 8, packed our things, and headed out. We bought some more mandazis and caught a mutatu going to Kampala. We were packed in the bus. There was a 12 year old girl riding in the seat in front of me. I felt so bad for her…she was sick on the ride-looked like she was holding back her throw up-and the conductor kept making her squish into a small corner so that we could fit more people in the vehicle. She looked so uncomfortable and I felt bad for the way he was treating her. He was mean. Thankfully, someone got off and she sat on the seat for the rest of the trip. The time went by quickly, no jams today! We returned to the taxi park in about an hour and then got on a mutatu going to Muyenga. We arrived home around 11 and it felt wonderful! Kampala has become my Ugandan home…it’s nice to be back. We all took showers since we were gross, smelly, and I hadn’t showered since Thursday night! It felt so good to get warm and clean again. After putting some laundry in the washer, I was able to enjoy a cup of coffee and finish my homework. Later in the afternoon, Eli, Jess, Joy, Danielle, and I went to le Petite Village for coffee. The bakery/coffee shop was closed so we decided to try the restaurant beside it…very nice place! The rest of the day I have been reading and writing for school…this week is very busy. It is our last week of classes in Kampala and we have some last minute books to read and papers to write. Dinner tonight was good…each dish group makes a meal every Sunday night…tonight we had kabobs on the grill! Then, we started watching “Good Will Hunting.” Anyway, those are my stories from this weekend. Hope you enjoyed reading….I miss you all and hope everyone is doing well! Love, Kristen
This past week has been very busy. On Thursday, my rural visit group-Anna, Suzy, Wes, and Eli plus Ryan-met Paul to spend the day with him and celebrate his first birthday party! He has never done anything special on his birthday…so we decided to bake him a chocolate cake, buy him lunch, and sing “Happy Birthday” to him a few months after…his special day is actually in November. Anyway, early Thursday afternoon we met up with Paul in the taxi park. It took some time until we finally found each other, but once we were all together…we jumped on a mutatu for a 40 minute drive to Entebbe. We were going to the beach for the day…it was actually Lake Victoria but felt like a beach. On the mutatu, I met a nice woman who lived in Entebbe.
Once we arrived in Entebbe, we got out of the car and headed to the zoo…we added another event for the day because Paul said there was one close by. However, the zoo cost $20,000 shillings, too expensive for us! Then, we saw a place for boat rides…again, it was too expensive. So, we decided to stick with our original plan and go to the beach. Since it was rather far away, we caught a ride on a mutatu and headed to Lake Victoria. The beach was awesome! We ate delicious cake, swam in the water, and hung out for the afternoon. I was kind of cold and didn’t really feel like going in the water, but the others convinced me to swim for a little…so I went into the murky water filled with dirt, snails, and mushy ground. Thanks to Ryan I got dunked a couple of times…the guys tried to get Anna in the water too, but she held strong. Ha, it was funny to watch! After swimming, we hung out on the beach and talked with Paul while he had his fish and chips…our treat J It was good to see and talk with him again…it might be the last time we get to see him before practicum. Oh yea, I forgot to say that I found out I am going to ETHIOPIA for practicum…I am so excited! I will be traveling to another country that is supposedly gorgeous! It is known for coffee and silver…it is also one of the poorest countries in the world. Suzy, Tessa, Roanna, and Eli are coming too…but I think our group will be split up. We find out more details on Tuesday. I’m excited to find out more details because, as of now, all I know is the country and people who are going to the same country. Next Monday, we will be traveling to our practicum site…
Anyway, back to my Thursday, once it was past 4:00 we had to head back to Kampala to see the comedy show with our professor. We traveled on mutatu and did not get back to the taxi park until 6. Our class already left for the show by the time we got back to Kampala so we decided it best to go straight to the theater. We walked to the theater and met up with our group. We walked around the theater’s market then went to get seats for the 7’o clock show. Unfortunately, we waited 1 ½ hours until the show actually started. Sandy and I had fun passing time just joking around…they also had a Ugandan soap opera show playing on at the same time. That was actually really interesting…the story was about an abortion and then another episode was about a lady having a baby. These weren’t the most uplifting stories. Anyway, finally around 8:30 the show started. I was kind of annoyed because I was tired from the busy day, cold from my wet cloths, and really hungry because we missed dinner. The show went until 10:00. It was pretty funny…kind of reminded me of a Ugandan SNL. After the show, we were to head home on the bus. However, our bus drivers accidentally locked the keys in the bus and were trying to get inside with a clothes hanger through the window. After much waiting, Eli gave it a try and got it! I was so excited….ready to go home. Once home, which was close to 11:00, I heated up some leftovers and started some homework….it was a late night.
On Friday, we had class in the morning and afternoon. Then, right after school, Tessa, Roanna, Suzy, Jenny, and I quickly packed our bags, ate dinner, and headed to Jinja for our camping adventure. We left around 5:30 and headed to the taxi park. There, we caught a bus going to Jinja…we were all stuffed in the backseat. Our bus got stuck in a jam, typical, so our hour or so ride turned into a 2 hour ride. We didn’t get to Mabira Forest until 8:15 at night…it was pitch black, in the boonies, and we had no idea where we were going. I was a little nervous and somewhat scared. A nice man on the bus thought we were going to the Rainforest so he told us to go up the street to the right. We headed up the road but it looked really sketchy…so, Roanna called the front desk of the campsite we were staying at and asked for directions. The owner said he would send someone to meet us. Apparently, we were going the wrong way, as we predicted, and had to turn around and cross the street. On the other side, we found the correct road. We started walking and a nice group of ladies helped us find our way…they led us to the woman who was taking us to our banda, our cabin. I was glad we met up with some women because I would not feel comfortable or trust a man leading us in the dark to somewhere we didn’t know.
After walking through the mud and trees, we found our banda. It was a fairly nice room…we had 2 bunks for the 5 of us. It was a small room, but just right for the weekend. Our latrine was nearby and we had a wash bucket to bath…no one took showers the whole weekend. Friday, we talked in our room for a little bit and then got ready for bed. Because there were only 4 beds, Suzy and Roanna decided to sleep together. However, a few hours into the night, Jenny-who was sleeping in the bunk above me-creeped down, scared me, and asked if she could sleep with me. There was a lot of noise outside…lots of things falling on our roof and making a lot of noise, we later found out that we had a fig tree growing up above us. I was having trouble sleeping too so I didn’t mind the company. That was interesting…small bed for 2 people with a bad smelling mosquito net falling down all the time, kind of annoying. I didn’t get much sleep that night.
Saturday, we woke up around 9, got ready, and went to market to get food for the day. We brought fruit from home and then bought some bananas, mandazi-a bread donut for breakfast and chipatis for lunch. Plus, a few huge water bottles. After we were all set, we headed on our journey…what we were anticipating to be a 3 or 4 hour hike but turned out to be a 2 hour hike. Hiking through a forest is very different than hiking a mountain back home…it took me awhile to adjust. The ground was very wet and muddy, the forest was dense with trees and bushes…and there were animals making sounds that we didn’t recognize. In the forest live monkeys, bush pigs, and large snakes…at one point, we heard I think either a monkey or bush pig? make a noise that sounded like we were in its territory…we walked fast and clapped our hands and started to talk/sing loudly to quiet the animal. Some of the girls didn’t get scared…but I sure was! We also had to walk through some parts that were somewhat swampy…gushy mud that literally engulfed my whole shoe, it started to leak into my sneaker. At the end of our hike, we ended up on this dirt road leading back to our campsite. On the road we met these two men who were like, “Hello, do you have money? Our country is poor and your country is rich…can we have some money?” We said no and instead offered chapatti, but they just walked away smiling.
We walked back to our banda and, along the way, passed children who would run up to us saying, “Muzungu, how are you?” and then they would either wave, hold our hand, or run up to give us a hug. They were very cute! For a break, we ate lunch outside and then read our books for lit. class and took naps. In late afternoon, we headed out on another hike. This one, in my opinion, was much more enjoyable. I knew what to expect, the sun was shining, and we didn’t hear near as many animal noises. Our group talked a lot more on this hike and had fun looking at the huge trees that were some of the forest’s main features. This time, our hike was about an hour to hour and ½. We, once again, appeared at the market place. We were swarmed by the market sellers as we bought another water bottle…they were shoving beef and chicken sticks in our faces…not the most comfortable. Anyway, we passed through all of the children again and returned to our banda to finish our books and play cards. We also collected firewood for a camp fire.
Around 7, we headed to the dining area which was outside for dinner. Fairly quickly to when dinner was supposed to be, we got our food…I ordered an omelet and then we all shared rice and chips. We sat around the table talking for awhile and then headed back to camp to start our fire. Unfortunately, the wood was too wet and wouldn’t light. So, we lit our lantern and talked in our banda til 10…we made ourselves stay up until then, ha! Got ready for bed in our lovely smelling latrine and caught some zzzs. Leopards also live in the forest and usually come out at night. I always got nervous when waiting for others outside of the latrine…kind of scary. Saturday night, Jenny and I slept together again…we switched beds though because of the mosquito net. I was worried I wouldn’t get much sleep again but, fortunately, I got a descent amount!
Sunday morning, we got up around 8, packed our things, and headed out. We bought some more mandazis and caught a mutatu going to Kampala. We were packed in the bus. There was a 12 year old girl riding in the seat in front of me. I felt so bad for her…she was sick on the ride-looked like she was holding back her throw up-and the conductor kept making her squish into a small corner so that we could fit more people in the vehicle. She looked so uncomfortable and I felt bad for the way he was treating her. He was mean. Thankfully, someone got off and she sat on the seat for the rest of the trip. The time went by quickly, no jams today! We returned to the taxi park in about an hour and then got on a mutatu going to Muyenga. We arrived home around 11 and it felt wonderful! Kampala has become my Ugandan home…it’s nice to be back. We all took showers since we were gross, smelly, and I hadn’t showered since Thursday night! It felt so good to get warm and clean again. After putting some laundry in the washer, I was able to enjoy a cup of coffee and finish my homework. Later in the afternoon, Eli, Jess, Joy, Danielle, and I went to le Petite Village for coffee. The bakery/coffee shop was closed so we decided to try the restaurant beside it…very nice place! The rest of the day I have been reading and writing for school…this week is very busy. It is our last week of classes in Kampala and we have some last minute books to read and papers to write. Dinner tonight was good…each dish group makes a meal every Sunday night…tonight we had kabobs on the grill! Then, we started watching “Good Will Hunting.” Anyway, those are my stories from this weekend. Hope you enjoyed reading….I miss you all and hope everyone is doing well! Love, Kristen
Monday, February 2, 2009
Exhilarating + Scary + VERY Bad Sunburn = White Water Rafting on the Nile River
Sunday, February 1, 2009
On Saturday, around 7 a.m., our group left for Jinja to white water raft the NILE RIVER!!! I was very nervous yet very excited to face the class 5 rapids that day. During our bus ride, it rained and looked gloomy outside…but when we arrived at Adrift Rapids, the sky was clear and weather was much warmer. Perfect day to go rafting! When we first got there, our group met with one of the lead guides named Josh. He was Canadian and very funny…all of our guides were funny. People from all over the world went rafting with us…a couple from Ireland, four Indian U.N. Peace Keepers, three guys from Australia, a group of students from Ghana, as well as a guy from Ireland and France (Steven and Peter) -they were in my boat. The rafting guides were from all over too…our guide, Clarkie, was from the U.K. He is actually a white water rafting instructor in Norway, but he’s a guide in Uganda for a couple months. He had a really cool accent as well as many of the other people.
Nine people rode in each raft. Joy, Jess, Mindie, Jenny, Steven, Peter, and Clarkie were in my raft. We called ourselves the French word for “warriors”…but I don’t know how to say or spell it so that’s all I am going to say. Anyway, before we started, everyone was given a banana to eat so that we would have enough energy to row 31 kilometers, that’s 19 miles!!! Then, we all geared up with life jackets, helmets, and oars…we took a quick group pic and began our journey. We left at 10:30 in the morning.
Clarkie was a great instructor. At the beginning of the trip, we were in calm waters so that we could practice for the rapids. One of the things we had to practice was if and when the raft flips over. I didn’t enjoy practicing this part because, when Clarkie flipped our raft, I got trapped underneath. I kept swallowing water as it kept smacking me in the face. I felt like I was going to die…I was very scared. Fortunately, I felt someone’s hand and dunked myself underwater to the other side. After much coughing and people reassuring me that I was okay, my team got back on the raft. I thought to myself, “what a great way to start the day…feeling like I’m going to die.” I was very scared and hesitant to face what we were about to encounter that day. I don’t have the best luck with water sports…as my family knows, ha!
So, we approach our first rapid of the day. We followed Clarkie’s instructions and rowed when told and held on and took cover when huge waves crashed on top of us. Mindie fell out of the boat and, of course, I did as well. However, this time, I knew to hang on to the rope tightly. It was actually kinda funny now looking back on it…in slow motion, my legs flew up into the air and I began to fall into the water. As I was falling out, Clarkie quickly grabbed me by my life jacket and pulled me back into the raft. Mindie was rescued too. Boy, was my adrenaline pumping! Soon after the rapid we had to pull off to the side…one of the rocks poked a hole in one of the rafts so they had to get a new one. Also, Sophie’s arm got twisted in the rope and, as it turns out, she had to go to the hospital for her very bad sprained (as the Jinja doctor said…but we’re not too sure if her diagnosis was correct) or broken arm.
After our break, we continued on with our day. I think we went over 4 more rapids, one being Big Brother which was a huge rapid…many people fell off, but our raft stayed afloat, thank goodness! This time, since I stayed in the boat, I was able to enjoy the experience more because I had no, “I feel like I’m going to die” feelings. Staying in the boat, I think, is much more fun. During the middle of the day we stopped for lunch. It was so good because we were all hungry…sandwiches, potato salad, and lots of fresh fruit…mmm!
Finally, we were re-energized and continued on with the day. The next couple of rapids were sooo crazy and so much fun! We went over a 14 foot waterfall…which many people got stuck on top of the rocks or flipped on the way down…our boat did neither, we made it down, first time…and everyone was in the boat! Depending on where you float and how your boat comes down the falls determines what happens. When we landed at the bottom, all of this water gushed into our raft. We had about a foot or more of water in the back…had to paddle hard to move away from the falls. Our boat was the first to go so we pulled off to the side and watched everyone else have a go…it was so funny to watch, people’s facial expressions were priceless! While we waited for everyone to experience the falls, people from the village were bathing in the water. They would jump in and watch our group go over the rapids…some talked to us as well. I’m sure they enjoy watching groups go down the rapids everyday.
We drifted through lakes in between rapids which was fun too…a good chance to talk with the people on our boat and do flips into the water, go for a little swim! On our last rapid, we had a choice of going 3 routes…the 1st was a class 3-not likely to flip, the 50/50 which may flip, and “the bad place” which was a guarantee flip. My raft chose the bad place, but some of us didn’t want to go. Anyway, before we went over the big rapid, we had to go through a level 1 rapid, pull off on land to walk our raft to the other side until we reached our destination-to load back on the raft and experience our last rapid of the day. Between the level 1 and level 5 rapid was a class 6, which is a deadly…that’s why we had to walk our raft around the class 6. I didn’t want to go to the bad place because I didn’t like the trapped feeling...usually it’s just 7 or 8 seconds but it feels like a lifetime. So, I found a raft that was going on the 50/50. We were the last group to go. Actually, the 50/50 felt like the bad place. We went through huge waves that crashed on top of us…only 3 of us stayed on the boat. While we were going through the rapids, we drifted too far right and were actually in what they call, “the other place.” Usually, this doesn’t happen…it is not good for rafts to go over this part of the river because it is very shallow and has lots of rocks below. Our instructor recognized the situation and kept yelling to us, Sandy, Anna, and me, on the boat to “MOVE LEFT!” It was kind of confusing as to what all was going on and it’s difficult to explain, but basically all of us were flopping all over the boat holding on to the rope for our dear lives. I also decided to chuck my oar and hold the rope in one hand and my nose in the other…I really thought I was going to be thrown off the raft. Luckily, the three of us and our instructor stayed on! I was amazed and flying high…although kinda scary, it was a fun ride….wave after wave after wave.
After the rapid, all of us reunited on our raft again. The kayakers picked up all the people who fell off the raft. We paddled all the way back to the ending spot…Sandy and me led the way. My arms felt like they were going to fall off…we were paddling fast to beat the storm that was coming our way. Finally, we reached land and all got off the boat. All of us piled on the bus and headed back to camp. Once we got back, a bunch of us hoped in the showers. The water was very spastic…always mixed between hot and VERY hot, but it felt good. Jenny and I showered together with our bathing suits on…the whole time we were shouting “OW, that is hot!!! Turn the knob to the right….NOOO, too hot, turn it to the left!!!” We were laughing the whole time and, once clean, felt refreshed again.
We were all very hungry and started getting dinner ready. Since we are all poor college students, we brought our own food…sausage, bread, potatoes, chips, fruit, and biscuits-which really taste like cookies. We had to go get charcoal to start the fire…this took awhile considering that the camp was out in the middle of nowhere. While we were waiting on our cooked sausages, we ate lots of biscuits with peanut butter and nutella…we were all starved! Finally, at around 8 or 9, dinner was ready. The sausages were really good…we all ate outside and talked with the Australian dudes. We laughed a lot and had fun…they were very outgoing. Then, around 10 or so, we all gathered into the lounge and watched the movie that taped us going over the rapids. It was so funny…facial expressions were great! Plus, I thought to myself, “I can’t believe I just did that!” Very cool and glad I rafted the Nile River. We were all tired and went to bed. I slept on the 4th bunk which was very high. All of us girls were in the same cabin. Not too long after we went to bed, the drunken Australians knocked on our door mistaking it for their room. Thankfully, Peter and Ben heard them knocking and came out to talk to them…we locked our door.
On Sunday, we woke up around 8 a.m., got ready, and ate breakfast out on the dock/lounge. This morning, Wes, Eli, Jordan, Ryan, Jess, and Sandy bungee jumped over the Nile. Wes forgot to close his eyes when being dunked into the water so, unfortunately, his eyes got bruised…kind of looks like purply-blue eye liner.. Bungee jumping looked like a lot of fun and I was tempted to try…but did not get up the nerve to go for the plunge. As it was early in the morning and feeling sore, I was not as tempted to jump off a high tower. I somewhat regret not going but Jenny, Ben, and I promised each other that if we have the opportunity again we will go! At least I saved 55 dollars! After everyone was done jumping off this super high platform, we headed home on the bus. The ride felt like forever. Since being home, I haven’t done much except for finish some homework and hang out. I know this is a really, really long post, but just trying to give lots of details so that you could have an idea as to what this weekend was like, and so that I can remember my trip down the Nile River. Oh yea, and I got really, REALLY burned…right now, my legs are bright red! That’s what you get when rafting for 7 or 8 hours…
On Saturday, around 7 a.m., our group left for Jinja to white water raft the NILE RIVER!!! I was very nervous yet very excited to face the class 5 rapids that day. During our bus ride, it rained and looked gloomy outside…but when we arrived at Adrift Rapids, the sky was clear and weather was much warmer. Perfect day to go rafting! When we first got there, our group met with one of the lead guides named Josh. He was Canadian and very funny…all of our guides were funny. People from all over the world went rafting with us…a couple from Ireland, four Indian U.N. Peace Keepers, three guys from Australia, a group of students from Ghana, as well as a guy from Ireland and France (Steven and Peter) -they were in my boat. The rafting guides were from all over too…our guide, Clarkie, was from the U.K. He is actually a white water rafting instructor in Norway, but he’s a guide in Uganda for a couple months. He had a really cool accent as well as many of the other people.
Nine people rode in each raft. Joy, Jess, Mindie, Jenny, Steven, Peter, and Clarkie were in my raft. We called ourselves the French word for “warriors”…but I don’t know how to say or spell it so that’s all I am going to say. Anyway, before we started, everyone was given a banana to eat so that we would have enough energy to row 31 kilometers, that’s 19 miles!!! Then, we all geared up with life jackets, helmets, and oars…we took a quick group pic and began our journey. We left at 10:30 in the morning.
Clarkie was a great instructor. At the beginning of the trip, we were in calm waters so that we could practice for the rapids. One of the things we had to practice was if and when the raft flips over. I didn’t enjoy practicing this part because, when Clarkie flipped our raft, I got trapped underneath. I kept swallowing water as it kept smacking me in the face. I felt like I was going to die…I was very scared. Fortunately, I felt someone’s hand and dunked myself underwater to the other side. After much coughing and people reassuring me that I was okay, my team got back on the raft. I thought to myself, “what a great way to start the day…feeling like I’m going to die.” I was very scared and hesitant to face what we were about to encounter that day. I don’t have the best luck with water sports…as my family knows, ha!
So, we approach our first rapid of the day. We followed Clarkie’s instructions and rowed when told and held on and took cover when huge waves crashed on top of us. Mindie fell out of the boat and, of course, I did as well. However, this time, I knew to hang on to the rope tightly. It was actually kinda funny now looking back on it…in slow motion, my legs flew up into the air and I began to fall into the water. As I was falling out, Clarkie quickly grabbed me by my life jacket and pulled me back into the raft. Mindie was rescued too. Boy, was my adrenaline pumping! Soon after the rapid we had to pull off to the side…one of the rocks poked a hole in one of the rafts so they had to get a new one. Also, Sophie’s arm got twisted in the rope and, as it turns out, she had to go to the hospital for her very bad sprained (as the Jinja doctor said…but we’re not too sure if her diagnosis was correct) or broken arm.
After our break, we continued on with our day. I think we went over 4 more rapids, one being Big Brother which was a huge rapid…many people fell off, but our raft stayed afloat, thank goodness! This time, since I stayed in the boat, I was able to enjoy the experience more because I had no, “I feel like I’m going to die” feelings. Staying in the boat, I think, is much more fun. During the middle of the day we stopped for lunch. It was so good because we were all hungry…sandwiches, potato salad, and lots of fresh fruit…mmm!
Finally, we were re-energized and continued on with the day. The next couple of rapids were sooo crazy and so much fun! We went over a 14 foot waterfall…which many people got stuck on top of the rocks or flipped on the way down…our boat did neither, we made it down, first time…and everyone was in the boat! Depending on where you float and how your boat comes down the falls determines what happens. When we landed at the bottom, all of this water gushed into our raft. We had about a foot or more of water in the back…had to paddle hard to move away from the falls. Our boat was the first to go so we pulled off to the side and watched everyone else have a go…it was so funny to watch, people’s facial expressions were priceless! While we waited for everyone to experience the falls, people from the village were bathing in the water. They would jump in and watch our group go over the rapids…some talked to us as well. I’m sure they enjoy watching groups go down the rapids everyday.
We drifted through lakes in between rapids which was fun too…a good chance to talk with the people on our boat and do flips into the water, go for a little swim! On our last rapid, we had a choice of going 3 routes…the 1st was a class 3-not likely to flip, the 50/50 which may flip, and “the bad place” which was a guarantee flip. My raft chose the bad place, but some of us didn’t want to go. Anyway, before we went over the big rapid, we had to go through a level 1 rapid, pull off on land to walk our raft to the other side until we reached our destination-to load back on the raft and experience our last rapid of the day. Between the level 1 and level 5 rapid was a class 6, which is a deadly…that’s why we had to walk our raft around the class 6. I didn’t want to go to the bad place because I didn’t like the trapped feeling...usually it’s just 7 or 8 seconds but it feels like a lifetime. So, I found a raft that was going on the 50/50. We were the last group to go. Actually, the 50/50 felt like the bad place. We went through huge waves that crashed on top of us…only 3 of us stayed on the boat. While we were going through the rapids, we drifted too far right and were actually in what they call, “the other place.” Usually, this doesn’t happen…it is not good for rafts to go over this part of the river because it is very shallow and has lots of rocks below. Our instructor recognized the situation and kept yelling to us, Sandy, Anna, and me, on the boat to “MOVE LEFT!” It was kind of confusing as to what all was going on and it’s difficult to explain, but basically all of us were flopping all over the boat holding on to the rope for our dear lives. I also decided to chuck my oar and hold the rope in one hand and my nose in the other…I really thought I was going to be thrown off the raft. Luckily, the three of us and our instructor stayed on! I was amazed and flying high…although kinda scary, it was a fun ride….wave after wave after wave.
After the rapid, all of us reunited on our raft again. The kayakers picked up all the people who fell off the raft. We paddled all the way back to the ending spot…Sandy and me led the way. My arms felt like they were going to fall off…we were paddling fast to beat the storm that was coming our way. Finally, we reached land and all got off the boat. All of us piled on the bus and headed back to camp. Once we got back, a bunch of us hoped in the showers. The water was very spastic…always mixed between hot and VERY hot, but it felt good. Jenny and I showered together with our bathing suits on…the whole time we were shouting “OW, that is hot!!! Turn the knob to the right….NOOO, too hot, turn it to the left!!!” We were laughing the whole time and, once clean, felt refreshed again.
We were all very hungry and started getting dinner ready. Since we are all poor college students, we brought our own food…sausage, bread, potatoes, chips, fruit, and biscuits-which really taste like cookies. We had to go get charcoal to start the fire…this took awhile considering that the camp was out in the middle of nowhere. While we were waiting on our cooked sausages, we ate lots of biscuits with peanut butter and nutella…we were all starved! Finally, at around 8 or 9, dinner was ready. The sausages were really good…we all ate outside and talked with the Australian dudes. We laughed a lot and had fun…they were very outgoing. Then, around 10 or so, we all gathered into the lounge and watched the movie that taped us going over the rapids. It was so funny…facial expressions were great! Plus, I thought to myself, “I can’t believe I just did that!” Very cool and glad I rafted the Nile River. We were all tired and went to bed. I slept on the 4th bunk which was very high. All of us girls were in the same cabin. Not too long after we went to bed, the drunken Australians knocked on our door mistaking it for their room. Thankfully, Peter and Ben heard them knocking and came out to talk to them…we locked our door.
On Sunday, we woke up around 8 a.m., got ready, and ate breakfast out on the dock/lounge. This morning, Wes, Eli, Jordan, Ryan, Jess, and Sandy bungee jumped over the Nile. Wes forgot to close his eyes when being dunked into the water so, unfortunately, his eyes got bruised…kind of looks like purply-blue eye liner.. Bungee jumping looked like a lot of fun and I was tempted to try…but did not get up the nerve to go for the plunge. As it was early in the morning and feeling sore, I was not as tempted to jump off a high tower. I somewhat regret not going but Jenny, Ben, and I promised each other that if we have the opportunity again we will go! At least I saved 55 dollars! After everyone was done jumping off this super high platform, we headed home on the bus. The ride felt like forever. Since being home, I haven’t done much except for finish some homework and hang out. I know this is a really, really long post, but just trying to give lots of details so that you could have an idea as to what this weekend was like, and so that I can remember my trip down the Nile River. Oh yea, and I got really, REALLY burned…right now, my legs are bright red! That’s what you get when rafting for 7 or 8 hours…
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