"Stacy's mom has got it going on!"

If had to use any word to describe the past 3 days, I'm pretty sure exhaustion would be it.  If I could have 2 words, the second one would be confusion.  It seems like so much has happened, and I'm still very tired, and not great at describing the past few days. 

I landed Saturday morning in Nairobi (by the way, a sunrise on the Kenyan horizon is once in a lifetime!) to find that my boarding pass did not include a trip to Entebbe, the Uganda airport.  After some minor panicking, I made standby for the flight I needed and landed in Uganda at the regularly scheduled time.  I also met another UGA student on the flight, an economics major who is skinnier and girlier than me, and this is her second trip here.  I considered her presence a small miracle for my nerves.  I felt better after that.  However, my large suitcase did not make it quite as efficiently as I did, which resulted in a second trip to the airport for my sweet and wonderful hostess, Anita.  And Anita, just, wow.  She picked me up, found me a phone, changed my money, dealt with my overwhelmed mom's phone calls when I couldn't get in touch right away, and was incredibly patient with my overtired, overwhelmed, and culture shocked ass.  She is a rock star at driving in Kampala, which is about 8000 times worse than driving in Atlanta traffic, and also includes goats, chickens, cows, and pretty much no driving laws.  Who knew?  And Ashley, she had a tape in her car of Mariah Carey.  So after FINALLY getting my luggage, I crashed in my beautiful hotel room with lace curtains, a view of a garden, a giant bed, a mosquito net that almost seemed romantic, and most importantly, a hot shower to wash the grease of the past 3 days off of me.  I took a Benadryl and slept like a rock star.

So on Sunday, I woke up to an excellent breakfast of eggs, bananas, toast, and tea, and Dr. Alex came by to drive me to Mbarara.  It was a beautiful drive!  The country is so green, and looks nothing like I expected it to.  He had great music from about 10 years ago, which made me laugh, and remember high school.  Oh, and on the drive I saw 2 different businesses named after Obama.  I also saw a sign for a school that said "You don't have to squat here because we have toilets!"  Dr. Alex also let me stop and take my picture on the equator.  All good things.  We got to Mbarara after about 4 hours, and we had lunch, and then he dropped at the guest house.  I was pleasantly surprised to find Lucy, my 'flat-mate' for the next 2 weeks anyway.  She is working on her Midwife degree, and will be staying with me.  She's British, and I love her accent.  She got here on Saturday, and I am grateful to have someone else who has no clue what normal is around here. :)  Dr. Alex let me unpack, and then came back and helped me navigate the market, which I still find incredibly intimidating.  I came back, read some, cooked (kind of), and tried to fall asleep, but failed miserably.  Thanks jet lag for showing up on day #2.


So today, I've been at the Kawobhe Clinical Research Center, hanging out in the outpatient clinic, trying to figure out the best way to fix their record keeping.  It basically consists of a pile of paper charts on a bookshelf behind a computer.  I'm impressed at how well they function.  I had a good lunch of cabbage, rice, potato mush of some sort, noodles, and beef stew.  I also got to go visit a school and watched a doctor see about 12 kids, write prescriptions, and be done in 1 hour.  He might be the best doctor ever, because I swear those kids said 2 words to him, and he knew exactly what to fix them with.  So my house has a toilet and a shower, but I definitely had just a hole to work with at the clinic as far as restrooms go.  I'm learning quickly :). 

So a combined list of things I'm Thankful for (5/28-5/30):
1.  for surprise roommates.  I also consider that a minor miracle.
2.  for old music to make me happy in a car.
3.  for physicians and accountants who spend their weekends helping me run errands and settle in.  Can you imagine anyone in the U.S. of their positions doing the same thing?
4.  for knowing that British people use the word 'mozzy' to describe mosquitoes.  It made me happy.
5.  that my roommate is more freaked out by the GIANT ants in our kitchen than I am. 
6.  that women here don't shave their legs.  I'm pretty excited to see how much I can get away with.
7.  for love letters from home.  THANK YOU Meg and Ashley for putting those together.  It's been so wonderful!

I'm working on pictures, but they're VERY slow to upload here.  Love you all!  Keep praying for me as I get settled and try to navigate my place in all of this.