First shout out from Uganda!!

Hey everybody, me (and my precious luggage) have made it to Lweza, Uganda! I am currently shopping in Kampala, where I just bought a bathroom bucket for night "short" and "long" hauls, and am using a computer in my first internet cafe.

I arrived at the Lweza training Center Saturday night with 31 other volunteers who will be serving in Uganda as well. We are staying at the training center until tomorrow, when we will be given to our host families. Each volunteer is placed with a different host family for the duration of training, which is roughly 2 months. I am very excited to finally be meeting them, even though I don't actually have any details about them, and am anticipating some quality family bonding time as they teach me to properly wash my clothes by hand.

At the training center, we have been taking culture, safety & awareness, survival Luganda (one of the main dialects here) and health classes in order to prepare us for homestay. It can get a little overwhelming, just because the classes are so long, but it's really nice how thoroughly they are preparing us. I now know about five phrases in Luganda, but anything beyond that will get a bright smile and a confused look.

That's about all that has happened in the last week. I won't know where my site will be until the end of training, but I will begin language classes in the dialect that is spoken there starting next week. I hope to be able to update this somewhat regularly, but if not, I loooove getting letters! *cough, cough* You know, I reeeeally love letters. *wink, wink* Did I mention snail mail is my favorite ?

I hope you all are having a good time in the states. TTFN ( :
~Rachael

Contacting Me

Hey everybody!! This is going to have to be a quick post, since I'm checking out of the hotel in about 15 minutes. I just wanted to post how to get a hold of me. My pre-service training address is:
Rachael Nyberg-Hampton, PST
P.O. Box 29348
Kampala, Uganda
I believe it costs 92 cents to mail a letter. Also, it takes 3-4 weeks for a letter to arrive here or for you guys to get a letter. As far as packages go, the smaller the better. If you send anything, it's better if you do so in those small, manilla, bubble-wrapped envelopes. Oh yeah, make sure you put those "Air Mail" (Por Avion) stickers on the envelopes. This will also speed up the process.
Well, I think that's all for now. I'm leaving on a 6:30pm flight tonite for Brussels, then tomorrow morning at 7:30 for Uganda. I will be training for about 9 weeks and have been told to inform you all not to expect anything for a couple of months. Don't worry though! I'm keeping a regular journal as well, so I have a cheat sheet when I post ( : Thank you all for your well wishes. I love and miss you all!!!!!
~Rachael

Initiation of the blog!

Ok, so I have finally started the blog I hope to update somewhat regularly while I'm working in Uganda. As of now, I am T minus 12 days (aahhh, minor freakout!) until I leave for Philly for the Staging (aka Orientation) event. Then, on February 13, I'll be flying out to Uganda by way of Brussels. The fact that I'm leaving on Friday the 13th does not worry me, since 13 is Colgate's (shout out!) lucky number and Friday the 13ths are always causes for celebration. So, I'm taking that as a good omen.
Since this is my firsy post of my first blog, I'll just tell you all what the plan is for the next 12 days, since I have no idea what else to write. Actually, now that I think about it, that seems like a pretty boring topic, so how about this: I'll tell you what I'm going to do today and then ckeck in a couple of time before I leave, so I can get some nice blog writing practicing done. Today is all about the music! That's right, sitting in front of my computer and copying all my CD's onto my iTunes. Now, you may think this is a simple procedure that should take only a day. Weeell, let me fix that little misconception now. My computer is at least 4.5 years old (no point in getting a new one until I get back) and it has very special needs. When these needs are not met, it gets overloaded and does the only thing it can to defend itself... shut down. Now, here are its rules: If you try to copy more than 6 CDS at a time, I will freak out and shut down. If you try to play music at the same time I am ripping music, the number will drop from 6 to 3. If you try to do ANYTHING while ripping music, I will shut down at the most inopportune time in order to remind you how old and emotionally fragil I am. So, yeah, that's my deal for the day. Messing with an emotionally needy computer that doesn't respond to coaxing but shuts down after a good cursing session.
I'll be posting my mailing address, instructions and other odds and ends before I leave so we can all keep in touch. That's right, I expect letters! TTFN ( :

~Rachael