Less than a week before takeoff!!! I have mixed feelings about it since it'll be so hard to leave, but I am ready to get this Ugandan party started. It'll take over 17 hrs of flight time and a few layovers to get there. And I hear that once you land, you're sent off with your host family to get some sleep. They don't waste any cultural immerison time, I suppose.
I still haven't packed, although the 5 thousand piles of stuff around my room are becoming more organized... I still need to pick up a few more things, sell my car, and finish some paperwork. On that note, I think I'd better get started!
For those of you checking in, ... Erin arrived in Enteppe Uganda about 2:45 pm (our local time) on Thursday. She left Philly about noon Wednesday via bus to JFK in NY to catch her flight to Brussels, then to Enteppe. She told me she might not be able to send out any messages until after Aug 11, ... so if you don't hear from her in awhile, not to worry .. she's probably doing just fine.
ReplyDeleteWe all miss her already!
For you friends who are wondering about Erin and what she's doing, I got the following generic email from the Peace Corps Director in her region ...
ReplyDeleteSubject: Uganda Trainees - Safe Arrival
Dear Family and Friends of Uganda Trainees,
We are pleased to inform you that your loved ones, now Uganda Peace Corps Trainees, are safe and sound. They are enjoying their first few days as Trainees at the arrival site which is 30 minutes drive from Entebbe Airport.
Since their arrival on Thursday August 4th, Trainees have been engaged in activities and attending sessions on welcome, introductions, one on one get to know you, language and administrative issues by Peace Corps Uganda senior staff, safety and security, medical, programming and cross culture.
Yesterday, Sunday August 7, 2011, was very experiential for the Trainees as they had the opportunity to tour Kampala Town, the capital city. This tour was aimed at orientating Trainees on how business is conducted in the city and identifying key areas that they will need to pass through during their two year service in Uganda.
The major highlight for the Trainees this week will be moving to the training site (RACO), meeting their home stay families and going home with them. At the end of the seven days at the arrival site, Trainees will move to RACO which is 45 minutes drive from Kampala town where they will train for the next 8 weeks and meet their homestay families. Before moving to homestay, Trainees will continue with homestay living sessions, survival language, more introductions and overviews and hands on technical assignments like tippy tap construction and bike maintenance.
We are very glad to have such a diverse experienced team with us. Thank you for the ongoing support.
For those of you wondering "How's Erin doing?", here are a few tidbits from her sister & my all to short phone calls to her. ...
ReplyDeleteShe's moved to Wakiso to be with her host family for her remaining 3 months of training. I don't know if it's Wakiso town or the Wakiso District for those of you googling, but it sounds pretty rural, as she's sharing her house with various animals (pigs, chickens, goats(?). I quote from her sister's email ..."She's now with her host family. It's a Mom, grandmother, and 16-yr old son. Their daughter is away at school. There is some English, but not so much that it's easy. She has to speak slowly. She has her own room and bathroom. The house doesn't have electricity but it does have running water and she has a flush toilet. It's been raining but she says that normally the weather is awesome - cool at night and warm during the day. Her training facility is nice - electricity & all - and she can use the plugs there to charge. ... "This morning she had washed her laundry by hand and hung it out to dry. A 22-yr old neighbor named Claire is teaching her how to cook on charcoal." She goes to PC training 6 days a week, with Sunday being her only day off. Her diet is rather different from what we're used to, but I'll let her tell you about that once she gets online. She hasn't found a way to get to the internet yet, but is working on it - thus I'm kind of updating her blog on her behalf for you who are wondering. She sounds in good spirits & excited, but realizes the challenges she faces now & ahead. The adventure has begun!
Thank you for the updates! Please keep us in the know and send our love and support. Cant wait to hear from you Erin! We are so proud! I love you!
ReplyDeleteI talked to Erin again this weekend, and she was at a local bar drinking beers with PC friends. Different continent, similar activity :)
ReplyDeleteShe sounded good, like she was settling in a bit more. And, she's located an internet cafe, so hopefully her updates are just around the corner.
I talked to her too on Sunday, 8/21. Sunday is her only day off from training. She spent her day walking to a public pool where she could swim...expressed her thankfulness for her Momma host family killing & cooking a chicken on her behalf for requesting meat (otherwise a very heavy carbohydrate diet). It was some tyoe of special day, but Erin didn't know the significance of it. She'd washed her clothes
ReplyDeleteby hand & taken a shower by bucket. She expresed siginifant appreciation that she has a flush toilet accessible in her home which many other PCs don't have. Although the toilet flushes, the family still has to carry water to the home from 'the well' to cook with. Also, all water, besides flushing, has to be boiled before it touches anything that goes into a mouth - even for the locals. She's been lucky that she hasn't gotten sick with a fever/chills/vomiting/diarreha etc that so many of the other PCs have gotten so far. She credits the strength of her immune system to the fact that she goes to bed early each night.
The only thing she's asked for to be sent is anti-bacterial soap.
Despite what Team Traille said above about Erin locating an internet cafe, I didn't get the impression she'd be updating us anytime soon by internet.
So, if you have some kind of contact with her in the mean time, please post it here so we all know how she's doing. We're all concerned for how she's doing!