Settling Back In

I have now been home for an entire week, not that I feel I have accomplished much! I have spent the majority of my time in hospital or bed, or both but that hasn't stopped me seeing people. I felt awful as I landed in Heathrow and after a mild argument with the paramedic and Virgin airline lady I was eventually allowed to fly back to Edinburgh where I was whisked into mum and dad's motor home (midlife crisis is my only explanation) and taken to hospital, not the welcome home we had anticipated really. But never the less I am out of good ol' PRI and back in Abernethy, the village where nothing happens! It is okay though, I amn't stuck here for long as tomorrow I am setting off to Glasgow to start my new course in Journalism; the non-stop life style is what I crave.

I keep having weak moments where I think about my life back in Uganda and how perfect it was. I keep comparing my return now to the start of my Ugandan adventure and can't help but notice just how similar the emotions are, the grass is always greener springs to mind! I keep peering over my shoulder for a boda boda to take me to the location I want to get to but then realise I have to walk and struggle with every step knowing that I am the only means of transport. I keep saying 'kwata' to people meaning, 'please can you hold this' but being so used to the simple Lugandan that I forget people don't actually understand what I am saying! It is crazy, I just can't seem to get used to this new way of life, my old life! 

Thankfully my health is fully back (apart from a cold, bloody Scotland!) and I am more than prepared to start the next chapter. I have been so used to being busy every single day of my life that having to slow down and do nothing has been a bit of a struggle but thankfully that'll stop tomorrow bright and early as I hop aboard my train to Glasgow. Therefore I bid you farewell, because I think this might just be my last blog for 'The Tales of a Lost Mzungu' seen as I am now no longer in the land I can get lost. I have loved keeping you all up to date with my crazy adventures and hope you have enjoyed reading them. 

Forever,

Your Ugandan Girl. X

So Happy, I'm sad.

I realise I have  been slacking on the writing front an awful lot lately, I simply have not had the time. However, as I sit in my garden watching Paul do the washing I realise this is the perfect opportunity. Even if my laptop is being incredibly slow and unresponsive to anything I do.

Lately I have been so happy that I have been sad. I have been reflecting on everything I have done here and how much I love my life and I can’t help but think that I just don’t want to leave. Even now when I am freezing cold (yes, it does get cold in Uganda!) drinking my lemon tea (how cosmo) I just keep thinking that this is home. Last night after everyone had gone to bed, James and I sat up and discussed life. We had earlier been talking about how much we all love one another and how we are one anothers family these days. We discussed various things like how I will cope when someone tells me I have to pay £60 for some shoes, I am pretty worried I am going to try and bargain with them, “Nedda! I will give you £20!” Will that fly in Scotland?

We discussed lots of things however the thing that dawned on me the most was that once I leave here, it is going to be nearly impossible to communicate with a lot of the people I have grown to love. The luckier people have facebook and email, however what about my adorable little children?! I have two girls in Senior 2 who are more like my little sisters than my pupils. I have Kalisa and Angella who I swear I would take them home if I could. I have Sseka and Paul who are both beautiful and bright teenage boys. I have so many people I want to be able to talk to every day, just like I do here, but I can’t. How is that fair?

Anyway, enough about what I have been thinking lately, what have I actually been doing?!Since I last wrote, I have managed to get better, woo! I was getting pretty bad and fainting lot which was scary, but never fear because I am okay! I still get dizzy sometimes when I stand up but I reckon that is on the days where I haven’t had enough sugar cane, my new addiction.

Kate’s mum and brother have also been out visiting her. With them, Calum, Kate and myself travelled up to Murchison Falls which was spectacular. I was in awe. We also managed to go on a game drive which was pretty cool. We saw elephants and so many hippos I almost got bored of them! We also managed to see some giraffes and too many gazelle-like-things for me to bore you with. It was a really lovely thing to do and I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did. It was really nice having a mother figure here, I think that is something I have missed a lot. Carol enjoyed making fun of me and I enjoyed retaliating, all in good spirit though! She also commented by saying I am a “very tactile person” still unsure if that is good or bad…

Other than that though I haven’t really done much. I haven’t gone anywhere exciting because I just want to be in the village with my family and friends here. The first weekend I stayed here Kate and Holly were away rafting and Calum was in and out all day filming for his community report. Therefore I just had people flowing in and out of the house all day. It was really nice and I had a really good time with everybody. The Sunday I went to church and then visited Paul at his school, another really lovely day. I love seeing my friends (family) happy and he seems in his element when he is in school. Paul is, how can I put it, the cool kid. He has always been the kid that people in the school respect. Calum and I say that if you found him in a British school all of the girls would have a major crush on him. He is one very muscely guy and has ‘swagger’. He is cool, damn I would probably have a crush on him if he weren’t my pupil. He was my valentine this year which was a little awkward but hey, I am over it.

The weekend that’s just passed (27^th July) was spent again at the house-ish. This time Kate, Calum, James and I went to Kalisizo, a nearby village where we had some food and then went to the market. It wasn’t the greatest of fun activities but I am glad we went. After the market we headed up to a thanksgiving party where we ate some more food and watched the celebrations. We were all in awe when one girl started dancing and she only had one leg, she was an inspiration. It made me realise that it’s not what you don’t have that matters, as long as you remember what you have.

The Sunday morning was spent at church and then visiting my beloved Jaja (grandmother), Kalisa (adopted son), Angella (adopted daughter) and Sseka (future husband); what a bunch eh? It was a lovely way to spend my day. I was also really proud of Sseka and his English. In class he is never recognised for his ability but he managed to spend the day translating the English for everybody who was there, very proud.

Recently the village has been mzungu central with 2 Dutch volunteers, 1 German volunteers, a Dutch couple visiting and a Scotsman! Michael, who lives in Bridge of Earn (small world!) is back visiting after he spent a year doing exactly what I am doing, who would have thought! It’s been really nice having another Scottish accent around the house and it is always nice having something fresh in the mix.

We have also had a son one night this week. We were worried about his father abusing him therefore decided it was better for him to stay with us until we had spoken to the man ourselves. It was really nice having a kid around, I got very maternal. We made sure he washed, had some clean clothes, I washed his uniform. We then gave him dinner, made him pee, then put him to bed. It was good. My mind has definitely been changed on the children front; instead of not wanting any I not want a massive family! Uganda has changed me!

This weekend we visited Lake Mburo in Mburo National Park which was unbelievable. So much happened and we all had such a wonderful time I think that’ll be a blog to be described in pictures! It will look a lot more impressive that way too.

All my love

Your Ugandan Girl. X

Am I coming or going?

What an exciting turn of events there has been this week! I will work from the past to the present because that is the only way that seems right! Don’t want to depress everybody at the start now, do I?

As I may have mentioned in a previous blog, we took 11 children swimming on Saturday which was unbelievably good! We had the four boys next door (Derick, Eric, Enock and Kagezi) who we all spend a lot of time with. I will quite often disappear for a night to have dinner with the four of them and their mother while watching a movie, ‘dinner and movie date’ as Derick sometimes calls it…he is 14! We also had Kaka, Calebu, Dan and Elianah (of course) along with their 3 adopted siblings Charles, Nkoyoyo and Estar, we were a real Brady bunch all setting off in our 7 seater car, a picnic and 2 bags full of swimming stuff; prepared!

Our first problem was when we arrived at the Tropic Inn, where we had intended to spend the day, to find en empty pool, not really ideal for swimming now, is it? Therefore after a quick petrol stop we headed off to Lake Nabugabo where we had the most exciting and hilarious day! Not only did we have everyone in swimming (including baby Elianah) but we also managed to join a leaver’s party where we danced until our feet ached…then we went swimming again! It was wonderful and we all went home with our eyes closed and lots of zzz’s echoing around the car. I must admit it was one of the greatest trips I have had since being in Uganda; the children we so happy it made me feel like a million dollas! Their faces when I handed out little packets of biscuits, it just took my breath away. You would never experience such joy from a packet of biscuits anywhere else other than Uganda.

On Saturday night Kate, Calum and myself stayed in Masaka to get some things done on the internet and before heading to Emma’s farewell party on Sunday afternoon. It was sad to see everything in the KCV house packed up and having to watch Emma say goodbye to the children. They all respect Emma so much and struggle to hide their emotion when saying their farewell. Emma has been there for six months and has done an amazing job building new toilets, a fence and starting various projects for the children to enjoy in her absence. She has done a remarkable amount in such a small space of time, in a way I envy her.

Now for the really exciting part, ready? So Monday morning I woke up feeling great! I had felt a bit ick on Sunday evening but woke up on Monday feeling fine, however as the day progressed I started to feel a little worse. To this day I am still unsure of how everything happened but the series of unfortunate events goes as followed. It was after break and I was suffering from minor headache but I decided it was nothing so headed to class. Once in Top class I decided to move all of the desks and get the children to sit on the floor with books to look at the pictures, an easy yet educational lesson. Towards the middle of the lesson I was feeling a little dizzy so decided to pack up early. However, in my haste I managed to drop a desk on my toe which quickly proceeded to bleed and although I felt no pain I was a little startled. I finished packing up, collected the books and headed to the staffroom to see Justine and Kate and exclaim my upset about my toe (I was not happy I might have to join the skanky toe crew!). From there it is a bit of a blur. I remember standing talking to Kate and Justine and the next I am lying face down on the step outside the staffroom (when did I go outside?!) panting and searching for breath. I had fainted a total of 7 times before I was flung into a taxi and sent to Kiwangala hospital where I continued to faint; I also hit my head which probably did the wall more damage than my head in all honesty.

Sadly this was not the end of the adventure because I was soon thrown in another car (or carried by Teacher Emma whose muscles must be massive by now!) and driven to Masaka hospital where I was put on a drip and then lay bursting on a wee and waiting for my ambulance to arrive from Kampala. Somehow I had gone from bad to worse and with Dr Stockly now panicking I was driven in an ambulance with Kate by my side to Kampala where I spent two nights feeling very sorry for myself and fearing lifting my head!

I was really lucky to have such caring friends (family.) with me to keep me smiling and support me. Holly has been an angel from getting a bus into Kampala at 7am, to sharing my private hire (thanks Georgina at First Assist) to the village, to sitting on my bedroom floor washing my hair. She has truly been my Florence Nightingale. Cal who has managed to make me laugh without fail every day at something, allowed me to roll backwards while he read a poster which caused a dent in a wall and my head and chatted to me until all hours when I can’t sleep. Justine who has cried and freaked me out by suggested to cut my toe nail off (it’s really not that bad!). Cuddling me when I cried because I had no idea where I was and the drip was really stinging and facing her fear of hospitals to be with me when I needed her. And Kate who has travelled all the way to Kampala and back with me (in style I must add, ambulance and private hire!), slept on reception chairs in the hospital after a dehydrated Chinese lady nicked her bed and continuously kept me happy, even when she fell sick. She has ran about looking for someone to lift me because, oops, I fainted after crossing the road, paid for me because I had nothing but the clothes on my back in Kampala, cuddled me when the tears wouldn’t stop flowing because ‘HOLY COW MY BILL IS 2 MILLION SHILLINGS!’ and just been a genuine saint, I like having a sister who is a saint.

It’s not very often you are given the opportunity to thank people who really deserve thanks publicly but I must thank these 4 for being there for me when I have been pretty down. Thank them for everything they have said to stop me crying and for every moment they have given up this week to sit with me while I am asleep, passed out or just my loopy self. Project Trust have done well finding three gems like these, they should know just how good these vols are.

All my love

Your Ugandan Girl. X

Home - but where is home?

‘Home is where the heart is.’ I’m not sure who said this but I swear they did consider me! Of course I am excited about coming back to Scotland and starting the next chapter and at times I find myself thinking, ‘is it time yet?’ but I don’t really think I can call it home now. But then I can’t call my wonderful little house in Kiwangala home either, so where is it?

I have been here for a whopping 10 months now which is wonderful, incredible and scary! I have experienced so many crazy adventures which have honestly changed my life and forced me to mature in ways I didn’t want to until I was at least 30. I have held a child as they cry because their father has died, cried with a boy, a brother, because he is in unbelievable pain and there is nothing I can do and consoled a grown man as he fears for his daughters life. I now understand why my dad would say “I want to take your pain, I do.” because I have felt that. I have wanted to take away the pain and sickness from so many children, adults and friends, but like I always told my dad, “You can’t do that.”

Today I haven’t been feeling too great, in fact I was sent home by my Ugandan Mother because of my flu and the fact that I was almost asleep while walking. I had woken up this morning with an aching body and a drum in my head so loud I thought there was going to be a little rock concert and at any moment Led zeppelin would be playing, loud! Therefore after walking to school slower than any Ugandan, sending a child home because she was ill, giving my class too much work and collapsing into Justine’s arms, I returned to the house where I lay in Kate’s bed, snuggling up to both Calum and Kate while watching the end of One Day. At the end of the movie, they both realised they had classes so shot out the door while I slept for a good 2 hours.

Having slept and still feeling down but not tired I have sat thinking about home and I am still stuck and confused about where exactly it is. Abernethy, Kiwangala or am I just going to become a gypsy like my Grandad always said? As well as trying to work out this puzzle I have been very excited about the idea of yet another adventure next year! It looks like I might be moving to Glasgow folks, as the lovely people from Cardonald College have decided I fit the bill to study Journalism for 2 years! Life just keeps throwing wonderful surprises my way, which I am gladly accepting!

I am aware I still have another 2 months left but it has really hit me about how little time I have left in my haven, but hey! I am sure I will have plenty new adventures to go on in my life because like Grandad once told me, “You’re just like a little gypsy, aren’t you Jennifer?”

Vanacular, Truck and Swimming in the Lake

I have said this before but I must reiterate the fact; there is never a quiet day in Uganda. Although I may sometimes think I have had a dull day and done very little I will look back on my day and realise, ‘Woah, I was actually really busy!’ That is what I like about my life here the most. Although I may think I have had a quiet day and not really done anything, it is rarely the truth!

This weekend we went for a trip down to Kabale. However before the trip we had a pretty dramatic week with beating in the school. As a lot of you know I am very against beating in every possible way, therefore when I found out that someone (supposedly our honest friend) had beaten some of the children in the school for speaking “Vanacular” (i.e Lugandan!) I was outraged. After hearing about it I decided to not get too angry but instead do some research because nobody wants to be falsely accused of beating a child! So research I did, only to hear what I didn’t want; the children claimed they had been beaten, I was not happy. To the point I left the house and sat outside the church just letting the emotion pour out of me in tears.

After quite some time of crying and feeling confused, lost and clueless, Justine walked out of the church and held me in a big cuddle until my tears subsided. It took a little longer than probably necessary but that might have also been because I miss my Mum and Michelle giving me cuddles when I am upset therefore welcomed the cuddle with open arms (literally!). After a long talk with Justine I felt much better and walked home with a plan. I was going to carry out more research, talk to the others and then head to a “meeting” on Friday to discuss the matter with everyone. I hear you ask why is it a “meeting”? That is because it was a bit of a joke! Firstly one of the teachers took a tantrum, then another teachers phone kept ringing (I’ll let her off though because her child is in hospital with malaria) and then the teacher who I wanted to question was SUDDENLY very busy as soon as the matter was brought up, well I felt like walking out. I was furious and to make matters worse, NOTHING WAS RESOLVED!! However a P7 boy did come round and say the teacher in question had said to him, “You are not to talk to those Bazungus about anything.” To conclude, I still have no idea what is going on, but it is bloody frustrating I can tell you that!!

On a brighter note, I had another wonderful weekend! After the meeting had finished Kate and I walked home to make ourselves some yummy African Chi (Milk tea with mixed spices!) which, with a mix of some good tunes, made me pretty cheery! After a quick dance around my room, pack and getting Calum ready we managed to get to the taxi end of the village. This was a little stressful but instead of boring you with another unsettling story I will skip to the exciting part, we managed to get a truck to Masaka! It was unbelievably exciting! I felt so free and independent, I felt like nobody could tell me what to do and that I was really living the dream. I may have arrived in Masaka with a few scratches (hit by a tree) and a very dirty face but none of that mattered, because life is good!

Saturday morning we were up early to get a bus down to Kabale to meet Holly and Emma who had gone down on the Friday. It took a while and although it cost a little more than it should have we had comfy seats and good laughs (plus a little snooze!) Eventually we made it to Kabale where we bought fabric to make into trousers, ate some food and then headed over to a little island via dug-out canoe. It was another wonderful journey as we watched the sun set, played guitar and occasionally put our cameras down long enough to row, it was another trip that reminded me of how much I love Uganda.

Eventually we made it to the island to meet the other two who were making themselves some fruit salad and drinking Amurula, for any of those who don’t know, it is a cheaper Bailies, so good though!! We didn’t have to late a night because for some reason we were all pretty knackered and ready to get into what was about to be the comfiest beds I had ever experienced in Uganda, I slept like a log that night!!

Sunday was spent swimming in Lake Bunyonni, trying and failing to get groupie jumping photos and canoeing around the place, although we did very little canoeing as the water was so good to swim in! I really enjoyed my day and hated when it was over because although we were going to get a yummy Crayfish stew, it meant it was time to leave the island and head back to Kabale. After a quick change (I couldn’t be bothered showering) we headed back to the mainland for our crayfish stew and a lovely boda ride back to Kabale.

Once we reached Kabale Kate and I found a spectactular market where as per usual we managed to buy some new clothes. I am telling you this, if Scotland had markets like the ones here I would have more clothes than Victoria Beckham, I think right now I am on a par with her! I keep giving things away but somehow the pile is still has big, if not bigger! Therefore after successfully spending 50p on two pillow cases, a new jumper, a new dress and a cool bit of fabric we headed to the hostel we were staying in. I amn’t sure what was wrong with us this weekend but we were all very tired very early so headed to bed about 10ish, the party animals that we are!

Monday! Kate, Calum and I were up at half 6 and heading along for our bus which was due to leave at 7 while Emma and Holly stayed back happy to get matatus. I was more than happy to get up early because I am honestly petrified on matatus and would rather sleep on a bus than risk sleeping forever! Kate and I stopped off in Mbarara where we bought some bread, cucumber, salamis and yummy cheese (my blue cheese is currently stinking out my room!) for our picnic which we ate in a really lovely park. It was nice to have a sandwich again and to be in a park, if it was stifling hot I would have felt like I was home, oh the fact that it hasn’t rained in over a month also made it clear I wasn’t home! Sadly we knew we had to leave therefore after some organic juices we headed for a bus where we had to wait 2 hours to leave!! Ugh, it was horrible but we made it back to the lovely little village we call home in one piece to eat some more cheese and to watch Phantom of the Opera, an all round splendid weekend!

All my love

Your Ugandan Girl. X

Not long left now, am I happy?

As I sit in the garden of my lovely little home in Uganda watching Kate make a fire under our home-made oven and listen to Holly and Emma (our buddy from up the road) discuss what kind of cake they want to make I start to reflect on my life here. It seems to have hit all of us how little time we have left in this haven we have created, which I think is quite clear in my back statement, oops!

Since arriving back from my wonderful two weeks in Europe I arrived back straight into work and if I had thought last term was challenging I was underestimating what Moses thought I could manage. I arrived back to find out that I was not only teaching the classes I had been teaching the year previously but also Primary 3 English (THEY CAN’T SPEAK ENGLISH!), Primary 4 Omega (I’ll get to that) and Primary 5 Omega drama, a lot of work resulting in me being exhausted at the end of each day and not wanting to talk to anyone. Therefore after only 1 week of working on the new timetable I stormed down to Moses with numerous complaints about my workload, for example I was working more than twice as much as Kate, is that really fair?!

So the Omega business: basically Moses has split the class up into two groups; Alphas and Omegas, or as the children now know it, the Clever kids and the Stupid kids. Personally I don’t really like the split as the children in Omega are feeling pretty down due to their new labels. I teach the Omega’s drama and sometimes English as their English is so unbelievably shocking, while the Alphas are sat in the classroom learning a new language such as Spanish (by Kate) or French (by Holly) which is pretty pointless, again in my opinion. However other than the few obvious problems, the new timetable is working really well. We have some great things to try and kick the childrens imagination into action and also teach them new things such as bakery which Holly is doing with Primary 6. The children all seem to be a little happier at school and they are given more of a chance to get away from the dull classroom environment.

As I am sitting here writing my blog Calum has just returned with 3 of our neighbours boys Derick, Eric and Enock to teach them time, it is very sweet! However because Enock is only 9 years old and speaks very limited English the little rascal took the axe away from me and chopped the wood that I was failing to chop, bested by a nine year old! Our little home has been buzzing with life recently with Emma here at least once a week, the 4 boys from next door (they have another brother called Kagezi) are over all the time as they borrow our bike to collect water and often take our jerry can as well as their own, strong and wonderful boys. As well as children over a lot of every day we also have our Ugandan friends over every day, which is honestly becoming a bit of a nuisance! We have made a big decision tonight that we are going to have a word with some of them because it is getting to the point that we get no time to ourselves to just be ourselves!

Although I am spending a lot of money outside the project on various exciting trips such as going to Kabale which we have planned for this weekend seen as Emma hasn’t been yet and she leaves in 3 weeks. I have also planned a trip to Murchison Falls with Kate while her family are here, basically I am being a little tag along. Last weekend we decided to go out in Masaka to the club which I was so excited for, God knows why, but it was amazing! Met some hilarious people and had some great dances, the people here are AMAZING dancers! Anyhoo, as well as the exciting adventures I am going on in Uganda I am also spending a fair bit on various things on my project. I have just bought two of the children in my school, Kalisa (the child I seriously want to adopt) and Nabagasera (HIV positive child who has been severely abused) new school uniforms, even though I have stormed home from the original seamstress because she was trying to over charge me and had taken a week so I demanded my money back to which she took a tantrum, I am really glad I am doing it. I am also planning to buy new uniforms for the boys I was talking about earlier, Derick, Eric, Enock and Kagezi as their mother is a single mother with HIV who struggles to make ends meet.

I am really excited about the fact I will be coming home in a only 2 months but at the same time I am beginning to dread having to leave this wonderful life. I love the way everything works here and the way people stay happy even when they have nearly nothing to their names. I will miss how welcoming people are here, even when I was home I struggled with not being able to say hello to random people whenever I pleased or just picking up a beautiful child and telling the mother and father that they have a beautiful child. I am nervous about seeing everyone but at the same time I am very excited to start a new chapter in my life because I have no doubt in my mind that I will be back here as soon as I possibly can. Life is like no other here.

All my love

Your Ugandan Girl. X

Dylan, Nile and Groupies

 

 Drinking a fresh juice which was very yummy in Mbarara. We needed to stop off for a break from driving!

Chilling with Dylan our wonderful car next to a beautiful lake on the drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park!

I made a wonderful little friend who cried when I left, I swear I am going to adopt a child before I come home, they are just adorable!!

We met an American nun who really enjoyed telling us all about everything she was doing. She was very chatty and lived in a fantastic location, I was a little jealous!

Standing in front of the unbelievable African Plains, it was a breath taking experience which I don't think I will ever forget! Just think of all of the elephants, hippos and lions that are wandering around there...

We decided to go for a walk after driving all day. The only thing was we were in the national park where there is lions, then we saw this...scared? VERY!

We clearly went a little mad and decided to pretend to be the animals in the park, this way they wouldn't eat us because we were the same as them!

Cheesy jumping photo, classic!

Our first meal on the road was yummy baguette with various cheeses and hams, it was wonderful!

Lovely security guards who were very happy to get a picture with me. Strange though, because they didn't smile when the photo was being taken.

Groupie with Dylan, I am a fan of the groupies! I took so many during the holiday that it ended with me saying "Groupie!" and everyone I was with running away, sad Jenny!

GROUPIE!

ELEPHANTS! And we found them all by ourselves, damn I was very excited!!

Very happy to stretch the legs and go for a wee walk around the ghost town!

Classic rural Uganda

Classic cheesy Kate, hahahahaha

Holly didn't want to be in the groupie, instead she took it. Therefore it wasn't a really a real groupie therefore I will call it 'oupi' just because I reckon it sounds funny and rather 'indie'

A real groupie, however I had to do some running to get there and then fell when I was walking back to get the camera, just my luck!

Cleaning my leg in the lake after falling over, turns out the water was salty and then my leg wouldn't dry for blooming ages!!

Chilling on an abandoned digger in Katwe, Uganda.

Making dinner on the coal stove in our hotel, because we are cheap and didn't want to pay for dinner!

TIME TO SAFARI!! I cannot believe how excited I was about it, and it was seriously unbelievable!

Eating pineapple and bread for breakfast before going in search of lions, tigers and bears, OH MY! Although we only actually saw elephants and lots of Mpala and Pumbaaas!

Chilling beside a crater lake, living the life!

Sisterly love. We are told by so many people that we look the same, sometimes people just call us both 'Jenny' or 'Kate' maybe one day they will join our names and just call us 'Kanny'.

Such a beautiful view, and no it is not of our bums, it is what is in front I am talking about. Again we are looking out over the wonderful African Plains and of course getting a cheeky wee groupie in there too.

We were amazed that after rising from our beds way too early to have elephants walking right next to us and then crossing across the road right in front of us, UNBELIEVABLE!

Crested crain, the national bird of Uganda, such a magical little bird!

Some wildabeast, some of my least favourites...THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!

HIPPOS CROSSED OUR PATH!!!! I swear I almost died with excitement! It was unreal.

Elephants, LOOK HOW CLOSE THEY WERE!! I just about died with excitement, just unbelievable.

Driving Dylan mad, tehe! Seriously though, it was wonderful driving again. Even if it was an automatic and I felt like I could have been doing it in my sleep, it was wonderful!

The Rwenzories, I still cannot get over how beautiful Uganda is. S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R!

Chilling by the lake, the reflection and sights, again, breath taking. This was just before I decided to go for a power shower...

 

...IN A WATERFALL!!!!!!

Giving ourselves that little bit of luxury we decided to go and relax by a swimming pool in Fort Portal to capture the rays and to have a good hot shower.

Kate and I on our very romantic date to the cinema, we then went for cocktails and some food...young love! Tehe.

GROUPIE!!! Denny, Rachel, Kate, Me, Jen and Hanna all enjoying yummy cocktails in Mish Mash.

Saying farewell to Kate, I will not lie, I felt a little teary having to say goodbye.

A very ugly bird that is found blooming everywhere in Uganda, they are gross! Kate seems to love them but I just cannot handle how gross, big and freaky-looking they are!

Classic little groupie! I managed to persuade the gang to go to the theatre, how was I to know that it was going to be very very VERY bad?! I must admit it was one of the worst shows I have ever been to. We all had a really good laugh though.

One of the wonderful (eek) performances in the theatre, I loved it. He was playing the weird instrument and singing an even weirder song!

Denny did a bunji jump, I thought this was quite a fab photo. She just looked amazing up there however it took her long enough to actually jump!

The reflection of the sunset on the River Nile, jealous? I would  be. I was lucky enough to spend a week up in Jinja where I did white water rafting, which was great fun and a little scary. The sunsets at night were wonderful!

Having a cuddle with my loved one.

They are great lovers of Nile Special, I on the other hand like to drink girly drinks, I tried really hard to drink beer but I just couldn't do it!

Rachel, Denny and myself swimming in the Nile. It was a little dirty, kinda cold but really cool!