brief

still doing well here in Uganda. Its hard to believe that i am actually in my last month here, no more extending f my plane ticket. bear with me, this keyboard sticks, and desnt like the letter o very much. ill try and be creative in my language use.
Annie nd Jessie left this morning to go back to bwindi, hopefully to take stephanie to see the gorillas, and to bring some more nets out west. Another new volunteer showed up lst week, named david, a mainer who is taking a year off after his freshman year at bowdoin. He is a swimmer so we had some funny conversations in which we realized that we were at the same place at the same time, and that we know some f the same people, even if not well. Just another example of how small a world it is .

Morgn and i re hoping t ohead to rwanda this coming week, meeting up with annie in kabale, and then continuing on to kigale for th weekend. spend some time there, maybe see the genocide museum , etc. After tht, it is up to sipi falls for the week to check out will, fraggle, and ian's new ldge and adventure company that is still in the developmental stage... sipi river lodge and sipi river adventure co.
G
so many things to do, so little time. was watching th movie American Gangster last night and was experiencing major culture shock just seeing American cities. it will be bizarre to come home for sure, i think about it more and more every day. its hard t believe how used to living here i have gotten, and how much i struggle to remember life at home.

finally managed to upload some of the murchison pictures on flickr, so check them out. the link is on the side. Also... My friend sam has uploaded his new video " a dam shame" on his blog, www.loveitliveitnews.blogspot.com so check it out. It is about th rapids that will be lost on the nile when the dam goes in. It has been showing in the uk and has gotten great reviews.
thats all for now. my sincere regrets fr the quantity f typos...

love, a

happy easter!

Its been a while since my last post, for which i apologize. Happy Easter to all! Lots of discussion here about what exactly easter is about..i guess a bunch of volunteers, kayakers and raftguides aren't the most literate on our religious history. Either way.. lots of rain here. Pouring today, the rainy season is definitley in full swing. Not too too much going on here of late. We have a massive influx of new volunteers, as i mentioned last time, who have definitely been spicing it up a bit here. Ive finished the malaria coloring book, and now that Jessie is back - with Stephanie, a reporter from NPR who is here to do a story on Jessie and SPH - so stay tuned. apparently every volunteer gets interviewed. hmmm...

Ive also picked up some work the past couple of days working for Kayak the Nile as a kayak instructor. Ironic.. i was so intimidated to come out here to this river that i almost didnt bring my kayak, and now im teaching people out here. funny the way things work out. or maybe its a sign that i've been here almost too long.

speaking of which... the rumors are true. i've extended my ticket yet again.. i will be here through the end of april.. my new flight leaves the 28th, and i swear i will be on it. i decided, better to stay here, make some money, pick up some work, then come home to the cold water. i'm a wimp. i admit it. I am looking forwards to certain things about coming home for sure.. and seeing everyone. looks like ill be doing some major road tripping up the east coast on my way to maine, stopping along the way to see everyone.

I got to meet up with andre guy, my program director from SIT in kampala last week, and we had a great time traveling around the city, going to a discothecque in the middle of the day to get some sweet east african club music, eating several delicious meals, and catching up. He is working for a US AID program in sudan, managing a development project right in the middle of some of the most war torn areas. It sounds like he is really enjoying himself, and that the project is really interesting. i have to say im jealous of his fast internet connection.. he can actually download!

driving around town with guy.. boda boda rides in kampala are scary!

next morning early am boda ride to make it home...

i keep trying to upload pictures, but with the rain the internet has gotten worse, or at least more unpredictable. ive also been trying to learn how to use final cut, a video editing program.. but slowly slowly....

The river has been super high the past week, though to everyones disapointment, it was low again this morning. The high flows mean that Malalu, a wave about 10 k downstream of the special comes in (a very rare occurance... its been too low the past year) which meant a lot of excitment on the part of boaters. annie morgan and i got to head down there for a session one afternoon.. lots of fun, friendly wave, big wide... greens out a bit in the middle. definatley a good session, only wish we could have spent longer... hopefully the water will come back up and we can go again. annie tearing it up

morgan blunting

The kayak club has been going really well. A bunch of the boys have started working for NRE and Adrift as safety boaters, a couple more are qued up to take a first aid course, and the progress they have all made is incredible. They are even taking other local kids and teaching them how to roll. They are in the eddy everyday, rain or shine, working on flatwater drills, cartwheels, loops, bowstalls, hands rolls... i wish i had both their ability, their determination and their motivation. super impressed by all of them for sure. As are other boaters who are coming through... we've even gotten a couple of new donations of gear for the club to help keep it going.. which is sweet. If you know any paddlers planning to head this way, definitely spread the word to bring some old or spare gear to donate.. warm weather gear is preferable.

apparently in scotland, they roll eggs down hills on easter.. so we will see if we cant make that happen later today.

happy easter... lots of love, see you all soonish..

quick addendum: didn't get to roll eggs down the hill, but no worries. rainy day, but all good. even taught a little half day intro kayak school in the freezing cold. i am most certainly not ready for the cold when i come home...

its all in the family...

lots of fun going on here in Uganda.. and not nearly as much volunteering as might be expected. After four and a half months, we pretty much have our own schedule fgured out , and with two more new volunteers this week, and one more on the way, morgan and i have been giving up our primary volunteer duties to the new kids to let them experience everything for them selves. We are even thinking about a complete 180- stopping soft power work for a while, just helping out when necessary- and instead taking our last few weeks here to travel, maybe work a few days guiding, etc. I got an email today from my boss at North Country asking about availability dates for the summer, and telling me that the first dead river trip is may 3 . Ah. the real world and home calls... and im not sure im ready to respond. scary thoughts.

Spent the past ten days or so with my parents here- and had a great time. My friend Fraggle covinced me to go pick them up at the airport- we arrived a little late due to speed bumps and traffic, but made it there for a mini reunion, followed by ten days of fun. I had set them up at the black lantern, and they enjoyed their first few nights with a spectatular view, cocktails, and of course, a hammock. We spent the first four days kayaking, getting everyone comfortable on the mighty nile. the first day we did the dam wall stretch with annie, an easy class two run, and finished it up wth some surfing on some friendly waves.
Mom and i ran Bujagali that afternoon- and she styled it! had a better line than i did, didnt even get her hair wet. we ran down to 5o/50 afterwords, had an exciting swim which turned into a boda ride back to the campsite adventure. couldnt have plannned it if i tried. We spent the next day at superhole surfing it up with a british family and our friend and KTN instructor Matt Cooke- great day, some good surfs and of course a fun and bouncy shuttle ride out. The next day was spent at a family planning session- mom held the dildo, i put on the condom, while dad filmed...

we finished up our time in Buj with an epic day two run, accompanied by will, matt, morgan, annie and davy- started off by running kalagala (big waterfall drop- no.. m and d didnt run it) and had an amazing day on the river. hot and sunny enough for ice cream when we left, t was raining when we put on, and then we experianced a crazy hail/rainstorm on river, forcing us to pull over and have some snacks. matt had brough a cinnamon roll on river. un real.
we also spent some quality time hat shopping in jinja market, preparing for our trip to murchison falls.

Saturday morning we (morgan, annie, mom dad , me and casunga, our driver) left for murchison falls, a national park in northern uganda. i appoligize for the lack of photos.. mike has the camera. i swear there will be flickr updates soon, internet permitting. Murchison was amazing, and very hot. i owe a huge debt of thanks to fraggle, who helped organize everything and functioned as our tour guide extraordinaire as well. we got to do several game drives, saw tons of giraffes, and antelope like animals, elephants, birds, and even lions. We also did a bat ride up to the base of the falls, seeing crocodiles and hippos (they are huge) . Spent a night bush camping in the delta with everyone and sam, our forest ranger.. woke up in the am, and cosonga goes... is it morning? we are alive?! the animals did not eat us! very exciting moment for all. we finished up murchison with a trip to the falls, which are abssolutley spectactular.
all in al a really wonderful trip. it was nice having the fam here and getting to share this experiance with them, letting them see the way i live and having them meet all the people that have become part of my life. As a first trip to africa for mom, and a trip to subsaharan africa for dad, i dont think it could have gone better. more photo updates and funny anecdotes to follow.