Dear Africa

Dear Africa, you helped me write this by showing me to give is priceless - K'Naan

I got back to Geneva yesterday morning, but not without the power going off about 5 times in the Kampala airport as I waited to check in. TIA. As soon as I got back I DEVOURED an entire jar of pickles. I really missed vinegar. Then was a nice tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil salad with balsamic vinegar. Raw and cold foods will never again be under-appreciated.

Now that I'm back in the safety of my room with a fast internet connection, I should take advantage of it and write a little about my last couple of weeks in Africa. Let me start with my final bus ride home in Kigali. As a few of us waited for the bus to Kimironko, some school kids started walking behind us. Two kids, independently of each other and about a minute apart, just bent down and pet the back of my legs. Yeah. Pet them.

After leaving Kigali we drove down to Kibuye for a nice relaxing few days on the shores of Lake Kivu. TIAC - This Is Almost Congo. We're so clever.
Our hotel was pretty awesome with amazing views. We went swimming in Lake Kivu and hung out with some German honeymooners for a little while (read: crashed their honeymoon). Then we pretty much sat by the water with beers, K'Naan and Bob Marley playing, and loving Africa for the rest of the evening. Perfect.
That night we decided to be BALLER and throw a party. It had everything a good party should have - dirty dancing, drama, hookups, random people showing up, alcohol-induced illness into Lake Kivu, everyone sleeping in different rooms, and more unspeakables. It was very freshman year, but hey, we had a blast.

After driving back to Southern Uganda we went to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Within 5 minutes of entering we saw a lion! Then we went on a boat ride and saw some hippos and an elephant family - really made me want to re-watch the Secret Life of Elephants. Best. Show. Ever. That night was probably one of the funniest nights of the trip. We got to our hostel and got assigned the room right behind a big light. Well bugs like light, right? We didn't notice until later that the entire wall, floor, and ceiling in front of our door was MOVING! We ran through a cloud of bugs to our room and fumigated it with some 98% DEET, only to be told a few minutes of suffocation later that we could change rooms. So we did, and it was still pretty dirty and bed-bug infested, but hey, such is life. Probably the best part of the night though was when, at around 11pm, a lion ROARED! Schaelee thought we were going to die, naturally, and jumped on the top bunk faster than I've ever seen anyone do anything. Fortunately, we survived our little ordeal. The next day we saw a leopard, an elephant family, and like 8 lions just chillin' in the grasslands.

That day we drove back to Mbarara and watched the worst refereeing I've ever seen in a World Cup final. Poor Oranje. :( But at least we were entertained by seeing a boda driver drive past us while chugging a bottle of beer.

We finally got back to Kampala two days after the bombings, and that is how the program ended. Well it really ended with everyone leaving and Shaelee and I spending one last night in our lonely little hotel. It's nice to finally be back (I couldn't bring myself to take a fully warm shower, though. Cold showers are not too bad after all). Yesterday I ran some errands, ran into a few people in town, and started getting ready for India. I'm going to get a new computer since my internship wants me to have one and I was planning on getting one once I got back anyway. Built-in webcam here I come, for all of your viewing pleasure.