Dinner was Aidah's delicious quesadillas with cheese, taco meat, and pica de gaillo (she calls them tacos). Aryn had invited our Rwandan assistants (the ones that had showed us around town in the beginning) for dinner. I got my paper turned in by 9pm and was able to hang out with everyone on our last night together. We built a bonfire out on the driveway. This probably seemed very strange to our Rwandan guests because in Rwanda, they only build bonfires when somebody has died. We sung some songs together and they tried to teach us a traditional Rwandan dance. Speeches are very popular at all of the Rwandan gatherings I have witnessed, and our guests all got up to say a few words. The smell of the campfire was very comforting to me. It reminded me of summer, smores, and being around my best friends. I closed my eyes and imagined myself up at camp with my friends watching the stars. I have such a good imagination that, for a few moments, I really believed I was back at home.
After our guests left, we stayed up all night hanging out. We built a big fort out of sheets and chairs in the living room, just like the ones I used to make when I was little. We laid under it and talked for a long time, and then watched a movie. I really am going to miss my Go ED friends. We have become like a family. They are all so special and unique. I really hate goodbyes. I hate that our group is splitting in half and that I may never see these people again.
At 4am I was all packed and ready to go. I checked my email and found out that me and my school friends got into the apartments on campus for next fall. It is exciting to think about what next year will bring for me. We loaded our things onto the "Just" bus, for our last ride with them. We all hugged goodbye and then the Uganda group left for the bus station.
Today we rode with Kampala Couch. These are huge coach buses that sit up really high because all of the luggage is stored below. The bus was very comfortable in comparison to other buses we have taken. The first few hours of our ride were horrible. A combination of bumpy roads and the swaying of the bus made most of us feel pretty sick. When we got to the border and had to go through customs, Vestine and I almost puked. Susan gave me one of her prescription motion sickness pills. I needed a little bit of coaxing to take it because I normally try to stay away from medicines. Vestine told me to take it and trust God that it will help me. Hearing her say that really helped, so I took it. It made me feel much better. When we got back on the bus after the border, the road got really bumpy. Someone in the back yelled "Welcome to Uganda", and I remembered how bad the roads in this country are. The drunk men in the back started singing at the top of their lungs. It was obnoxious, and a few of us sat fuming in our seats. The bus stopped at one point and Vestine had to go to the bathroom so she went up to the front to get off. We saw her go to the front and everyone thought she got off the bus, but then the bus started moving. Everyone started yelling for the bus to stop, even the men in the back were yelling and one of them ran up to tell the driver to stop. Then we realized that Vestine had sat down at the front to wait. I felt a lot friendlier towards the drunk guys after their attempt to stop the bus. They finally quieted down and I fell into a sleep coma for the rest of the trip.
I used the strangest bathroom at one of the stops. The ladies area was unclosed by a shoulder height sheet metal fence. Inside was a concrete floor that sloped down to the middle where there was a drain. Basically you pee anywhere on the floor and it runs into the drain. Not my favorite way to relieve myself.
We finally got to Kampala at 4:30pm. We loaded into a matatu that Kate had sent for us and drove to our guest house. We were sad to see that the gorilla sign had been taken off of the billboard on our road. The guest house really feels like home. I love it so much. It was strange having only half of the group here. We were happy to see Kate, Grace, Grace, and Howa again. Dinner was delicious. We filled Kate and Grace in on our week at TTC, and ate delicious pumpkin cake again. We all watched The Sand Lot using the projector in the upstairs living room. Now I am just enjoying the sounds of the neighborhood. A few houses are playing music and all of the sounds are mixing together in a way that I have grown to find very comforting. I love this place. It's great to be back in Uganda.
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