Uganda Day 1

Hello Family and Friends

I have finally arrived in Uganda. It was a long trip! I can’t believe I was on 3 continents in 24 hours. The flights weren’t that bad. I just watched many movies to occupy my time. Amsterdam was very beautiful. I plan to visit somewhere in Europe later down the road. Uganda might be the darkest place, i had ever seen. When landing into the airport, it was nothing but pitch black. Uganda is very different than home. It didn’t take long for me to realize this.

First, people drive on the wrong side of the road! It freaked me out a little when riding on the bus, the driver would make a turn into the wrong lane. Ugandans drive crazy!!!! Most of their roads are two way highways. The most common transportation is motorcycle type scooters. These are brave people who drive these. They weave in and out of traffic fearless often driving into oncoming traffic in the opposite lane and swerving to their proper lane at the last minute. Ugandan drivers are almost always slamming on their horns to prevent hitting these motorcyclists. Second, there many people outside just walking around. Ugandans love to “hang out” and socialize outside. Many people can’t afford televisions and all the things that keep us inside. These people are brave!! There are no sidewalks in Uganda so people often walk on the shoulder of the highways. Imagine walking on the shoulder of I-70 while cars are racing past you at 60 MPH, that is what it looked like.

I am very exhausted. I think I slept like 4 hours last night. I was woken up to monkeys screaming and a choir of roosters just cock-a-doodle-doo-ing away. It is hard to sleep here with all the background noises. I think I should have prepared myself by sleeping with the animal planet channel blasting in the background.

Today we met up with students from Uganda. This was really fun! The Ugandan people are really soft spoken so it’s kind of weird talking to them especially since I am soft spoken. The food here is good especially the fruit!

Today we got the chance to visit the Market. This was an eye opening experience. Many poor people were there selling all kind of items. This experience was surreal. It was like everything that you see on TV came to life. I was shocked and really soaked it all in. Words can’t really express how it was! I almost got hit by numerous of motorcycles today! Uganda roads have no pedestrian lights or walkways. It felt like running across a highway. Tomorrow we are visiting the Uganda parliament as well as the Buganda Kingdom!! These both will be a blast.

Well I am getting ready to eat dinner.

I will get back to you all later

Matthew