Arrival in Uganda!!

My eight weeks in Uganda has officially started! I am relieved to have made it through almost 36 hours of traveling, and I am looking forward to a great summer in the Pearl of Africa.

We arrived in Uganda late last night and drove to Kampala to stay the night in the Bishop McCauley House. My flights were pretty good. The flight overseas to Brussels was a little under eight hours. It was an overnight flight, so I just slept the majority of the time. I got a waffle in Belgium, but only a packaged one because we did not have time to find a restaurant. The flight to Burundi was a little over eight hours. I was in the very last row of the plane, but there was no one sitting between me and the other person in my row, so I was able to have a little more room and sleep. Then we had a short 50-minute flight to Entebbe.

When we got off the plane, it was very humid; we went through immigration and got our visas, then we got our luggage, exchanged money, and went through customs. Then we met Fr. Prosper and took our bags to his truck. Then we drove about 45 minutes to Kampala. It was interesting the wheel is on the opposite side of the car, and they drive on the left side of the road! There were a lot of boda-bodas (basically motorcycles) on the road. It was somewhat difficult to see because it was dark out, but it looked like there are lots of rolling hills with buildings on them. There were a lot of dogs running along the road too. It reminded me a lot of The Amazing Race.

When we arrived at the house, we each got our own room. It was very comforting to see the Holy Cross images here. They have the cross and anchors and they have pictures of Fr. Moreau everywhere. It is comforting to have something familiar and a connection to the mission here. The rooms were very nice with beds and sinks. The mosquito nets were very nice too - they were more like a white lace canopy on the bed. I was happy that the nets did not make it feel like I was camping. We ate dinner, which was delicious. It was mashed potatoes, rice, peas, mashed nut sauce (tasted like peanut butter refried beans), and fish (fresh from Lake Victoria). I actually really liked the peas, which surprised me because I don’t like peas at all! The fish was so good and tasted super fresh. We got to shower, and then I went to bed. It took me a while to fall asleep, but once I did, I slept very well.

In the morning, there was a rooster outside my window, and I heard the brothers and priests singing at mass. For breakfast, we had toast, eggs, sausage, and African Tea. We also tried red plum jam, which was super delicious. We are going to drive to Jinja once Fr. Prosper finishes some work here in Kampala. The weather is very nice but extremely humid.

I am excited to see some more of the city today!

Picture 1: The courtyard at night at the Bishop McCauley House

Picture 2: Anna, Me, and Avery in the Courtyard

Picture 3: My room for the night!

Picture 4: Dinner!!