Clubbing and casino's...

hey guys!

just a quick update on my last couple of days...

i met up with a few people from the lodge on saturday and we went to the craft market and then went to open house, which is a restaurant/bar owned by a friend of paul and tariq for a drink. they wanted to go somewhere nice for food so i took them to mediteranneo, where i had prawns and squid, but could hardly eat any of it, which was deastating! they felt a little bit underdressed for the occaision, and it was all a bit awrkward because they had come straight from the market (where it was raining hard) to open house and then mediteraneo without getting changed or having a shower or anything, which wasn't great. the girls looked ok, most of us were wearing dresses and pretty flip flops, which is fine for that sort of pleace, but one of the boys in particular has long hair, was wearing a vest and walking boots and carrying a big rucksack, looking just like a backpacking hippy. the staff at the restaurant didnt seem to care very much though, and we spent a fair bit of money there so i think they were happy

after mediteraneo we made our way to backpackers, where they are staying along with all of pauls volunteers, so we had arranged to meet paul and tariq there. backpackers is actually really nice for a hostel and i ended up staying the night because paul was taking his volunteers out to iguanas and i was knackred from the night before's antics so it was easier to stay at backpackers with the people i know from the lodge.

it was nice to meet some of pauls volunteers though they didnt speak to us much in the evening, but started to branch out from their group by morning. breakfast the next morning at backpackers was really good, i had pancakes!! the food and drink there is cheap but generally very nice, and the atmosphere is good.

once we finished breakfast we went back to the craft market as people had started to close up their stalls when it began to rain and so there were still a few things that people wanted to get. i have bought so many things in that market, i literally have no idea how i will get them home, so tomorrow is going to be a bit of a mission when i'm packing up!!

last night was pauls volunteers final night in uganda so he had organised for them to do a kuroga at open house, wich means that they cook their own curries outside. because there were so many of them they split into teams and made it into a competition to see who could make the best curry. it was nice being there and the volunteers where much friendlier to me yesterday!! i was talking to one girl and it turns out that she is really good frinds with Molly, who i was sharing a room with at the lodge! so bizzare..

we left open house pretty late and the boys then decided that they wanted to go to a casino (again!), so off we headed to simba. i've never been to a casino before so it was interesting to say the least, and the poeple who we were with go to them all the time and dont seem to think too much about the money they are spending. ron bought a load of chips and then just handed them over to me and Krisha, saying 'go and play'. we didnt need telling twice but i ahd very little idea how most of it works, but i could manage roulette so that's what we played for most of the time we were there. we had a load of 1000 shillling chips, which are only worth about 25p, but the little circles of plastic are so far removed from actual money tat its easy to throw them away. there were some crazy characters at the casino, and there was one guy at the roulettle table we were at who was playing with black chips, worth 100,000 shillings each, which is about £25. he had a massive stack of them and was just chucking them on the table like it was nothing.

i won a couple of times which was nice, but really i found the whole thing a bit pointless, especially as wehn we decided we wanted to go, instead of cashing in his chips, ron played untill he lost them all, cursing every time he won because now he 'had' to stay longer.

we got back early thismorning and haven't really gt any plans for the day, but i think we might be going to the cinema tonight. tomorrow is my last day and i am going to go for dinner at the sushi restaurant again with Krisha and Hannah.

see you all soon! love, Lucy xxx

Sickness and summer camp...

hey all! sorry i haven't posted in a few days, but we've had no power!

on saturday i got quite ill quite suddenly and couldn't leave the lodge because i couldnt stop being sick. it was a wholly unpleasant experience and even prompted a tearful 'i want to go home!' phonecall. i had pretty much recovered by yesterday and so tried to come into town as i still have university accomodation issues i need to sort out online, but thewre was no power in the whole of the south of the country and the internet cafe was closed so we couldnt even bribe them to put the generator on.

all of the other shops in town were closed so we literally came in and then came home again. marass forgot to come yesterday as well, so i didnt get my chappati lesson, though to be honest my stomach was still feeling a little delicate.

i dont have a huge amount else to say, i missed out on sals on friday because i had started to feel unwell by that point, and ive spent the last 2 days recovering. tomorrow is my last day at the lodge before i got back to kampala, which will be really sad but i am definitely looking forwards to a hot shower and a meal at mediteraneo (amazing italian restaurant in kampala)!

see you all soon! love, Lucy xxx

just dropping in....

hey all.

i dont have very much to say today, just dropping by to let you all know i'm still alive.

i went to an orphanage yesterday, but i didnt like the trip very much. they wanted us to sponsor a child, but they expect you to pick one, basically to choose the cutest child or whatever. it was like a slave auction, it was in really bad taste.

yesterday evening there was a massive powercut so we were in draknbess which was annoying, and there is still no power so i cant wash my hair or my clothes.

we are moving rooms today, which is great, as our room is tiny and it has the most people in it, but the room we are moving to is much bigger but only has 4 people in it, so we are doing a swap.

speak soon! lucy xx

crafting and cuts....

hey guys!

the last couple of days have been fairly eventful, so i'll give you a little bit of a run down.

on thursday we made bunting with middle and top class, getting them to tie dye thier own triangle, and then decorate it with sequins, paint and glitter. they absolutely loved it, but thought it was very strange that we would 'waste' glitter by sticking it onto an inanimate object. they thought it could be put to far better use by sprinkling it all over themselves!

dan also took two kids to hospital on thursday, with suspected malaria. they both had it and both were supremely miserable.

on friday i was planning to help with the other class making bunting but i noticed that one of the children, named claudius, had a cut on his lip that looked really infected and oozy and just generally gross. we covered it up but it really didnt look good and it's been there for ages and seems to be getting worse, so i took him to hospital. i went to the hospital by myself because i've done it before and everyone thought it wouold be fine, but i think because i was alone, because i was a woman and because i was white, the doctor was determined to make a fool of me. it was quite an upsetting experience (though going to the hospital full stop is upsetting, even if people are really nice to you) and i was hurt that my efforts to help this poor child were being mocked. he did give him some antibiotics though, and some painkillers, so he should be on the mend soon.

after i got back from hospital i got stuck back into the craft lessons, which cheered me up considerably! one of the teachers has a baby that she brings to school (i say one, i actually mean they all do), so i was playing with him and he isvery cute, but you have to be very careful that the babies dont wee on you!

today most people have gone to the lake but i didnt really feel like it, and when i get back to the lodge restay is going to give me a chapatti making lesson :)

thats all i really have to tell you, i hope to post again in the naxt couple of days!!

love, Lucy xx

Packing and Organising Chaos!

hello, my little blogsters. while i write this post, i'm very aware that i have no followers, but i recon by next week at least my granny will be reading this, so hi granny!

while i haven't actually left yet, i am thinking about my trip every day, and as i'm going to be in Turkey with my family in the week before i depart for Uganda (stopping off in london for just over 24hours between countries!) i need to start thinking about packing.

as an immensly organised person who loves to make lists and plan in advance, this excites me greatly :)

but below is the scene that ecompasses the main floor space in my room. the space in the middle is where i sat to sort things!!

the pile of stuff at the top of the picture is my Uganda shrine, where i put all of the stuff i need to take with me, mainly donations that people have given for the children to use and play with.

the list making is going strong, and i've been digitalising everything on my iphone so i can carry it all with me.

oh god. i seem like monica from freinds. i'm quite normal really. honest.