Colin and I with The Herbster, our amazing language teacher after the swearing-in ceremony.

Believe it or not I was a ballet instructor in Uganda and I had some very hard working, dedicated Ugandan trainers for my students. Can you believe even with extensive amounts of paperwork and training preparations, they still wanted to learn a little ballet from a very out of practice American. They atleast have the basics now and I enjoyed getting to know them. Good thing we still have in-service training so I will get to see them.

Here is my buddy Sarah Z. She is currently living with six nuns and working with lots and lots of teen girls AND having a blast doing so. I hope to visit her often as well as many of the other volunteers.

Richard wanted to make sure I had some pictures of me on my camera, so he took one for me. Think I looked pretty good that day, but....

I definitely can't compete these guys. Mica, Richard, and Herbert.

Now I'll take you back to while we were still trainees....

A view from the road leading to RACO.

The road to RACO...this road may look pleasant and serene, but if you were here and it was raining, I would show you the long cut because it is quite messy this way and on many occassions the vehicles could not pass it....And of course it is all uphill....hehehe

These are some of my little friends at home. Grace and Robert lived directly next door and Immaculate lived behind our house. They made my homestay entertaining to say the least.

Okay, this is Betty (my homestay niece) with our pig Reinbaw...still don't know the spelling or if I pronounce it correctly, but there you go.

I guess I will tell you about my morbid naming of the pig...before I knew they named the pig. Let me explain a little, my naming came from two simple concepts: one is because they do not keep pets here like we do in America and second I assumed incorrectly that due to the previous fact that maybe they do not name their animals. So I decided to give Reinbaw a name I could pronounce and lacking extensive amounts of creativity and recognizing the emminent fate of this poor little fellow, I am sorry to say I named the pig Someday. Don't hate me, I have since learned to not name animals, nor do I plan to have any while I am here--in case you were wondering.

Okay, on to more enjoyable topics....oh yeah.

This is actually a misnomer...matatus are something I would not consider an enjoyable topic. Though the passenger limit is clear marked on the side of the vehicle at 14...this particular trek during Immersion week found us on our way home with 23 people, at least 3 chickens, a couple babies, and an overheating engine.

Playmates: a tied up goat and dog

Maama and baby...they were done with pictures for the day...

and the rest followed.

Herbert and I have agreed that these little critters are the hardest working in Uganda if not in Africa or the world.

Just a pic of a cool plant...and sorry Grandma, I don't think you can have one of these, but when you come visit you can see plenty of them.

My friend Catherine on here way to work in the fields. She is so nice and always full of smiles.

Homestay Thank You Lunch preparations...how many trainees and trainers does it take to construct two tents...well I lost count, but alot sounds about right.

A view from the "long" way to RACO. This is overlooking a football pitch. Pretty nice, eh?

Me in a borrowed gomez (still not sure how to spell that either) it is the traditional clothing of the Baganda women. Maama Betty asked me to wear it to church and let me tell you that was quite the walking experience. All I heard was Bannange, Webale, that I looked smart, and a muzungu in a gomez...Maama Betty talked about it for days afterwards...how everyone knows Nanyonjo and how great it was that I wore a gomez. Suppose I'll have to get one of my own someday soon.

Three trainers sitting on the job....just kidding. This Saturday we were building fuel efficient stoves and Francis, Richard, and Moses were taking a break from mud slinging.

One of my favorite breakfast meals at homestay.

A group visited a fish farm and some braved the waters to go fishing for catfish...they only had to try twice and managed to get a whole two catfish. Good job guys.

One of my favorite parts of traveling to RACO everyday for training was passing by this pasture with all these beautiful horses. Wonder if they are for sale...not that I can have one, don't think one would pass for the permitted pets of dog or cat...hmm