Getting to know some new friends....

Well, two weeks into my trip and I feel like I've been here a month! The days here feel so long and relaxed and I am starting to feel a lot more settled in.  I now have a pretty firm grasp of where everything is around town and quite enjoy exploring new places to buy this and that, including a DVD guy who can pretty much get you any season of any show you could imagine for about 80p! Entebbe really is a lovely small place with only a few major roads so everything is close by and within walking distance.

Since my last post I have been on my first boda-boda ride (motorbike) which is the easiest form of transport around town and despite my earlier fears I am now a huge fan. I even got to go with Cally's girls on their first ride - Isla with me and Edie with Cally which was absolutely hilarious! The drivers here are great and for 40p to get anywhere I want to go - the price can't be beat! I have heard the same cannot be said for the capital city of Kampala where you take your life into your hands just by getting on one so I am certainly going to make the most of them here in Entebbe. Last weekend I actually spotted a family of 6 packed onto one - 3 children, 2 parents and a baby! - unfortunately no photo but definitely the record so far.

Guide showing us what not to do with the local spiders

Lucky for me, since I arrived here there have been two public holidays creating lovely three day weekends. During the first holiday I met up with a couple of girls over from Scotland who are also working at the institute and we checked out the Botanical Gardens here. We walked around with a local guide who I think was a virology student? and who pretty much knew everything there was to know about the plants and wildlife of the gardens. We laid eyes on everything from huge spiders with scarily hard -to-see webs, to enormous lizards and different varieties of monkeys. Apparently the old Tarzan movie was filmed in the gardens decades ago too and there were still structures left from the set which was pretty cool. Our guide also took us through the medicinal plant gardens which was really interesting and good to know if I get stranded somewhere and need a remedy for Malaria!

Greedy but so adorable!!

Definitely the highlight for me however was feeding the little monkeys in the gardens. These monkeys were so curious and friendly and our guide supplied us with some chapati to feed them with. I couldn't get over how gently they took the food from me and how soft and human-like their little hands were! I could have just sat there for hours watching the baby ones wrestle with each other and managed to capture a very cute video of this. Weirdly, the males have bright blue balls and so I apologise for including the photo but it gives another meaning to the phrase 'blue balls' and must be seen to be believed! So... after our 2 hour guided walk we had the discomfort of our guide trying to charge us well over the going rate which threatened to put a dampener on the afternoon but we compromised in the middle somewhere and it was all good in the end - bit of a lesson for me though not to be such a push-over!
That night I headed into town with Nicky who was staying with me at the guest house, and we went to a lovely restaurant at a hotel called the Gately. Really nice food and chilled atmosphere we then attempted to head somewhere for a drink being my first Saturday night here but unfortunately the bar we chose was pretty dead so after a gin and bitter lemon (my new drink here as Gin is their specialty) I was back home by 10pm - I know, what a party animal.

The rest of the weekend was spent at this gorgeous hotel pool called the Lake Victoria Hotel, which has become my little oasis when I need a break from the heat and to work on the tan! Plus I get to go on little adventures around the grounds with Edie on my back who insists that all our routes are strictly top secret and 'sneaky sneaky' so that is all I can say on that matter! The pool is in the middle of town and gets swamped on weekends but it is a fantastic place to come and relax, have a drink by the pool and even listen to complaining tourists talk about how nothing works how they want it too here blah blah blah.....where do they think they are? If anything, the fact that things take a little longer in Uganda compared to home is having a positive effect on me in that I am learning to just chill and go with the flow more.

I have also finally made it into Kampala a few times to visit the hospital where we will be conducting the study. Its called Mulago Hospital - a large government hospital in the centre of town. The baby unit where I will be working on the study is a fairly small area when you look at the number of babies they are looking after. It seems to be wall to wall babies in little metal cots which make me feel very lucky to have what we have in Australia and the UK. Obviously the available equipment and resources does not compare but they seem to run a pretty tight ship with what they have and I am looking forward to when we will be really up and running with the study on the unit. We are working hard getting all the final preparations ready to start the work and I am glad that I am here to contribute to all this as learning about the preparation is just as if not more important than the actual study work!

I haven't seen much else of actual Kampala yet but I have decided to move there from Entebbe to live on the first of July when Cally and her family move there too so there will be plenty of time to check it all out. Myself and Ibby, who is also here working on Cally's project, are going to live in the hospital guest house which looks pretty nice and will be perfect for work.

Edie and her yoghurt moustache!

And last but not least, this post would not quite be complete without a mention of out first 'big night out' in Entebbe last weekend. Myself, Ibby, Maron who was staying at our guesthouse and Francis and Julia the two Scottish students all headed out for dinner and drinks on Sat night. None of us having any idea where the happening spots were in Entebbe, we had a lovely dinner before heading to the one bar that seems to be mentioned by everyone and is a little notorious for having 'ladies of the night' there!  After sitting down at a table for little more than 2 minutes we already had some young Russian guy put a full bottle of Gin on the table with 3 bottles of coke - not a bad start. Not quite sure what to do with it, we drank the cokes, left the Gin and ordered some Vodka instead- which again came as a small bottle of Smirnoff placed on the table for us to pour as we liked - these Ugandans certainly know how to unwind! Well, the Four Turkeys as the bar was called wasn't the most amazing place I've ever had a drink in but it was definitely up there with the most interesting. The next day at the pool we met some American guys who set us straight on the happening night spots to visit and where to go to have a boogie so we are putting that down as our test run and next Saturday for Julia's birthday, we will try our luck a second time!

I told you they were blue!

So, as my tan is slightly progressing and my knowledge of Entebbe deepening somewhat,  I find myself becoming quite enamoured with the laid back attitudes! Plus, I have discovered a love for Chapati and not sure how I have ever lived without it!

Till next time....

Arriving in Africa

Well, it has finally happened, I have arrived in beautiful Uganda. With no expectations on what I would find, I nervously stepped off the aeroplane to this amazing smell! The smell of grass and trees was everywhere and what a fantastic contrast to London. I have a good feeling about this place already.

Watching everyone in the Immigration queue, it was a mixture of local Ugandans returning home, foreign businessmen and American students who I think are here to volunteer.
I was met at the airport by Richard who drove me to the guesthouse in Entebbe where I am living. The people are really friendly and at 8.30am it was already beautifully sunny and warm!

Driving from the airport to Entebbe, we passed a large UN base and then as we entered the town of Entebbe I was amazed at how green and spread out it was. Entebbe has about 100,000 people and seems to be a really relaxed little place. On the way to the guesthouse, we also passed the President of Uganda's house which was pretty cool.

The first day here I just settled into my room (which is really comfy) and chilled until I met up with Cally, whose research project I am here working on, later on in the day. Cally lives in a house with her family next door so I spent the first night with them before crashing into bed!

The last couple of days have been nice just settling in. I visited Cally's girls UN school which is pretty awesome and the security everywhere is quite incredible. I guess there have been security threats in Uganda and against the UN in recent years and so on driving into the school and even the shopping centre near it, they inspect underneath your vehicle with mirrors! Also, every compound and foreigner's house is fenced with a security person that sits on the gate all night.  I think most of it is for show as a deterrent and less because there is any real threat of violence here, but still, I have slept easier at night because of it.

Isla walking Honey with me around our neighbourhood!

Cally has a dog here called Honey who I have taken for a walk a couple of times around the block with her daughter Isla. The locals are all really inquisitive and all of them either wave to you or say hi and ask how you are when you pass them. On my walk I look over a big field where loads of young boys are playing football on a daily basis with hilarious random cows just dotted around the field surrounding them. I have managed to get sunburnt already which was partly probably my stupidity in forgetting how close I am to the equator and possibly my anti-malaria pills so will have to be way more careful!



Today is a public holiday in Uganda (think it is called Martyr's day) so I have a nice long weekend to look forward to. Heading to a local hotel today with Cally and her family to sit by the pool and chill. Her girls are absolutely gorgeous and real fun to hang out with - at the grand old ages of 3 and 6!

All in all, a pretty great first few days here. First impressions of Uganda are that the people are among the smiliest and friendliest people I have ever met, the weather is amazing and there seems to be plenty to see and do. Hope to explore Entebbe a little more this weekend and will venture into the capital Kampala next week for the first time so will keep you posted!

xx