27 blog posts and 10 weeks later

I've been back in Canada for a couple days now and I'm still fighting off the jet lag. It's noon here in Oshawa but in Arua it's 7pm and that means supper time.

I was supposed to come home on July 20 but I got to the Heathrow Airport in London and I had no desire to stay. I tried to tell myself that it would be a cool adventure to wander around London by myself for a few days (despite the minimal funds in my bank account) so I found a pamphlet with all the public transit times and maps. My hostel wasn't even on the map. Serves me right for choosing one that's out of town.

Back upstairs I went. I went out into the fresh air to search for a taxi only to discover that it would cost nearly $200 to bring me to my hostel. Not a chance!

Another thought crossed my mind: "What if I just went home?" So, I visited the Air Canada desk to try my luck. The lady there said that she had space on a flight at 12:35 pm but it would come at a cost. Looking at me with worry, I wondered the damage.

To my surprise it was only going to cost $150 to fly home in just five hours from then! Of course, I took it.

I checked in, went to Starbucks and spent the last of my British pounds on the tastiest Vanilla Latte I've had in my life, and read a little more of the Kite Runner while I waited.

Getting on that plane was one of the most anticipated moments of the past couple months. I was going home :)

I curled up in a ball under my blanket and because the movie screens were broken I was left to my thoughts of the past ten weeks in Uganda and wondered what life was going to be like back in Canada.

Luckily the 4am phone call I made to my little brother Andrew paid off and my dad was waiting there for me when I got off the flight. It felt good to breathe Toronto air (a sentence I never thought I'd say). It felt great to have a BBQ with my family for supper and it felt amazing to have a nice, hot shower.

I'll still be writing a couple more blogs. Although it might not seem as interesting because I'm not in Uganda anymore, there are a few more topics I'd like to touch on so try to check back over the next month and I'll let you all know when my photo gallery comes out on the Cord Weekly website as well as when my articles are published.

Thank you to everyone who supported my trip (financially and morally) and thanks for reading this blog faithfully. Writing gave me something to do during the ridiculous amount of downtime I had in Uganda.

Almost home

It's my last night in Uganda and it's a bittersweet feeling. I came here thinking that I had no expectations. It was going to be a carefree trip and whatever happened was okay with me. Well, I realized that I had many expectations.

I hoped to work with a passionate and intelligent group of people - some of them were while others not so much. I expected to be inspired to write and I actually became so overwhelmed with things to write about that it's somewhat difficult to formulate all of my thoughts into one coherent thought.

This blog likely turned out to be very negative but I'd prefer we use the word cynical. I was cynical of Ugandan culture and government. I was cynical of the local people as well as the other Canadians I was working with. Above all, I was very cynical (or rather, critical) of the organization I worked for.

Yes, I'm excited to come home and after a few days in London, I'll be right back in Pearson airport. Almost three months ago our flight was delayed by about eight hours and I couldn't wait to get out of that airport. It seems a little dramatic but I might just be kissing the ground of that airport when I arrive home on July 20.

It's difficult for me to reflect right now because I'm still in Uganda but I know this summer provided me with an incredible learning experience and it wasn't until after one of our last group meetings that I thought to myself that I shouldn't have taken this opportunity for granted.

The people I met here are incredible. The random locals were all very friendly. Sometimes it seemed as if a day didn't go by that they didn't ask us for money or footballs but emergency aid from white people is all they understood when they saw us.

The good friends that I made here are unforgettable. Maya is a hilarious woman and despite cultural differences she gives great advice. Gillian is a beautiful young girl that welcomed us to Uganda and was sad to see us all go. Her trouble-maker daughter, Rosette is a riot too.

Robert, our night guard is indescribable. For a man that's taken a few bullet wounds and carries around a bow and arrow to protect us, it's surprising how sweet he is. He listened intently and never asked us for a single unreasonable thing.

There are so many people that I could mention: Patrick, the bartender at the hotel down the road or Lucy, the greatest cook in Uganda. This post is getting too long though and I have to repack everything I own for my quick trip to London.

So on a final note, it's the relationships that I made that I'll remember the most about Uganda. Soon I'll forget about the terrible food, the triple decker bunk bed and the burning garbage smell. It's unlikely that I'll keep in touch with everyone I met but that's okay.

When my new Ugandan friends asked when I was coming back to visit, I told them I probably wasn't. It seems harsh to say to someone but I owe them the truth. I have no intention of going back and it's not exactly because I had a rough time here (because I'd take this experience again in a heartbeat) but because I have more places in the world that I want to see. And to be honest, all I can think about right now is going back to Canada, visiting friends in Waterloo, chatting with the Cordies in the office, eating dinner with my family, pigging out on junk food with my Oshawa girls (damn, I miss you guys!) and then heading out to New Brunswick for Alex and Bethany's wedding and visits with the coolest family in the world.

*sigh* Five more days! :)