You are most welcome to Uganda

That is how we were greeted when we landed in Entebbe, Uganda Feb. 11.

Long flights, but totally worth it! Uganda has been great so far. I will try to recap the past 3 weeks as best I can.

First off, I was greeted by a spider when I landed in South Africa, which shook me up a little. Then, when we arrived in Uganda another spider came to greet me! For some reason I feel that those two spiders were signs of good luck. I never thought I'd say that, but I honestly believe it!

It's the dry season now, so it has only rained once since I've been here. It was a thunderstorm, which was AMAZING. So energizing. So, it's been hot and humid every day. I'd say during the day it gets up to around 90F in the sun, but cools down to 80F at night, which is nice. Once the rainy season comes, it will cool down a little bit. I'm already used to the monkeys running around our training center and the amazing tropical birds flying and squawking above. The birds here are like squirrels back home--always roaming about!

The presidential elections have come and gone. Not too stressful. We were all kept safely. Yoweri Museveni has remained president. He has been president since 1986. Hopefully everything remains calm.

We (our group of 44) have training sessions Monday-Friday and sometimes Saturday. They can start as early as 7 and go until 6. But mostly, the days last from 8-5. Long days, but the training has been so helpful! We are learning about Ugandan culture, politics, languages, school system as well as important medical and security information for us Volunteers in particular. After sessions we sometimes play volleyball, soccer, cards, bananagram, go on walks, and so on. I've been keeping busy and making tons of friends! As you can probably imagine, a group of 44 Peace Corps Volunteers is awesome--everyone is so so amazing. I feel like I've known them forever!

I moved in with my homestay family a week ago, yesterday. They are great! Everyone is so so sweet and helpful. I feel like I have a home in Uganda already. The food is delicious. I feel so spoiled! Every meal takes hours to prepare and is delicious and nutritious! I have helped cook a bit and I of course offer to help clean up after. They try to resist, but I have been "allowed" to help clean a few times. Today I was catching up on laundry (all hand washed in basins and hung to dry) and as I was cleaning my clothes, my 21 year old sister came over to help me. I had a lot of dirty clothes so I'm very grateful she did!

There is no running water here. I actually can't really imagine having it. I am already used to not. I use the pit latrine out back. I also bucket-bathe outback. At first, I wasn't so good at it. I'd finish and my hair would dry dirty :( After a few days of practice though, I now get squeeky clean! I need to bathe twice a day because of the climate here. It's also very "dusty" from the dirt-roads. Once the rains come, I will not be dusty...I will be muddy. Beyond conserving water with bucket baths, it's been very therapeutic for me! It's usually still dark in the morning when I need to bathe, so when I look up I see twinkling stars through the leaves of the palm and papaya trees. There is also a Mosque down the street, so I also hear the call to prayer. It's so beautiful. If you can't tell already, I really do love it here!

I have been traveling to Entebbe Secondary School to practice teaching math and ICT in a Ugandan school setting. I showed up Friday and the teacher never showed! I was only supposed to observe that day, but flexibility is key for a PCV, so as the students worked on problems out of the class textbook, I walked around and answered their questions. Just like TA-ing in college! ...sort of. Tomorrow I will begin teaching and will do so for the next two weeks.

At the end of April, I will be heading to the Basoga region. It's east of Kampala. It's the "source of the Nile" region. If you check out a map, I'll be somewhere near the Nile coming out of Lake Victoria. Maybe around Jinga or Iganga. I am learning Lusoga now, which is similar to Luganda, so I am speaking a mix of the two Bantu languages.

I think that does it for now. It's been great so far! I feel like I have been here for months, yet I feel like time is going by too quickly! Strange sensation.

I have updated my mailing address slightly. To ensure that letters do not get tampered with, address the letters as "Sister Lisa Maticic, PCT" I should find out my new address by the end of April/early May and will update my address again.