Hello Supporters!  Welcome to the Uganda Team Travel Blog for our Summer 2010 trip!  We will try to update you as much as we can, but our internet access is sporadic, so you will have to forgive us for delays.

Also, we will probably be posting blogs that were written several days before, like the one below.  We write the blogs in a word document so that we can post them when we do have internet access.

Hope you enjoy!

Sunday May 30^th

By Talia Arbit

^{With roosters crowing in the background, children playing soccer beneath the window of my half-lit room and my fellow teammates playing with wires for hours on end, I can successfully say that I have arrived to Uganda. And I must say, this journey did not come without its series of fearful moments, challenges, and of course, lots of laughter. I guess we can start with the airport, when Evram (by far the most relaxed person on this trip, also known as “the yes man”) showed up 2 hours late due to a speeding ticket he was contesting. But, alas, we made it onto our Emirates flight perfectly on time. Let me stick in a piece of advice here: if you ever have the option of flying Emirates, DO IT (said with a Starsky and Hutch voice, which is coincidentally the movie we watched last night).}

^{After a 13 hour flight, we had a 10 hour layover in Dubai and were given free overnight lodging by Emirates (see? I told you it was the best airline!). Evram, Alex and I went on a tour of Dubai with a Tanzanian couple and Ethiopian college student, And here comes my first great memory from the trip that I will share with you. Part of the tour was stopping at the beach in Dubai, where we all took our shoes off so we can touch the warm water of the Persian Gulf and feel the sand’. The tide was coming in ferociously and, before I knew it, I looked down to find Evram’s shoes floating away peacefully with the waves. After my screaming “Evram!Your shoes!” he successfully recuperated his soaking wet shoes. Thankfully, there was an available blow dryer in the hotel.}

^{We arrived in Soroti, Uganda last night after driving for 6 hours from Kampala and were greeted by our amazing guesthouse owner, Grace. The drive was quite epic- as most driving in Uganda is. Our driver, Sam, was an old driver in the army and used to drive around the President of Southern Sudan and the Minister of Finance. Still, I was continuously fearing for my life, as we were driving on a scarcely-lit, pothole-ridden road.}

^{And now- albeit abrupt- I must go. It is sundown here and I need to deet up before the mosquito eat me alive!}