Gulugulugulugulugulu

So! Another week in Gulu has passed. Did a lot of observing last week for practicum--it was the biannual training session for peer counselors in the IDP camps, so I got to go along for all of their training. They even do things like make puppets and then have puppet shows to teach about gender based violence. So, a lot of good stuff for me to write about later in my paper.

One evening we got together with the army general again, and this time he brought a long a guy that distributes one of Uganda's most popular brands of beer to all of East Africa, and also this guy Sam Okello, who was a major character in the Last King of Scotland! IMDB that, I do not lie. He also started his own NGO here, and he has spent time in New Hampshire, as well as all over the US. So basically he's a really well-to-do guy. And these are really helpful connections to be making. Next weekend hopefully they are going to take us on safari so I can see some of these animals that SUPPOSEDLY live here but that I have not seen yet, like zebras and giraffes.

On Friday, all of us Gulu-ers embarked for Mbale, a town in the East where a few of us are staying. The bus ride was very long and bumpy and I was literally encased in dirt when I emerged, but it was worth it. A bunch of us turned up, so it was a fun weekend and good to see friends I hadn't seen in a few weeks. The first night we got Indian and went dancing at what we are guessing is a sketchy gay club cause there was a really weird vibe going on...the next day we went for a pretty intense hike to a waterfall. In the evening we visited the Abayudaya Jews. There is this one little village of Jewish Ugandans--the only Jewish society in Africa other than the Ethiopian Jews. I believe they came about because in the early 1900s, missionaries attempted to convert a Ugandan general. He was not having any of it, and decided that Judaism was a much better deal. (Duh.) So, we went to havdala, or the ceremony to mark the end of Shabbot, and it was really surreal to hear Hebrew being sung in the middle of Uganda. Fun fact: to get there, we all rode standing up in the back of a flatbead truck. I also had my first bodaboda, or motorcycle ride, which was really fun. Everyone else has taken them a bajillion times but somehow I have escaped thus far.

Sunday it was raining all day (it is the rainy season now in Uganda, which means rain for at least part of the day, every day, and also that mangos are in season), so we just ate and watched TV on peoples laptops--very nice and relaxing. Mbale has a lot of Indian-owned supermarkets, which generally means good imported food. I think I drank my weight in Diet Coke. And there were M&Ms and toblerone and pringles and laughing cow cheese and apples...I'm basically going to get really fat when I get home and have access to everything I want. The ride home, with the all the waiting we did, left us in transit for TWELVE HOURS. But, whatever.

But, I really can't believe we are only here in Gulu for another 3 weeks, then a week back in Kampala to write my paper, and then our last week presenting at a resort...geez. So, I guess I better go and make the most of it! Talk to you later.