Back to the grindstone

It almost seems like last week didn't happen now - today was so normal, it's odd to think that this time last week I was chatting away to some Leeds medics I met in the hostel in Kampala, excited about the prospect of actually going on safari!

The trip itself was pretty amazing - we saw everything, from birds (Uganda's national bird, the crested crane, and also some neon-bright red, blue and yellow small birds) to small mammals like baboons, warthogs and different deer and antelope species, to the big ones - we saw lots of giraffes, buffalo and hippos, a few elephants and even lions! No prizes for guessing which were my favourite....i just loved the way that wild buffalo behave EXACTLY the same as domestic cattle - whether we were in a car or on a boat when we passed them by, they stopped what they were doing to stare blankly at us until we'd gone. I wondered if it was us humans who were on safari, or the buffalo! Most of the animals were happy to look at us and allow us to take their photos when we stopped, and some of the giraffes even came up to the car and stood to pose for us - I always thought of them as aloof and serene in zoos, but somehow expected them to be a bit scattier in the wild!

What made the whole safari trip even better was getting to share it with Katy, her mum and sister, and Kerryn who's sorting out the accounts at the national office - it was great to get to know Katy's family a bit, and to spend more time with Kerryn - she's even more fun than I realised, she did my "funny run" with me!!! (if you don't know what that is yet, i challenge you to join in with me in my hyper moods - it's been a while since i found someone to do it with me!) We all stayed in Kampala an extra night after we got back, and saw Indiana Jones at the cinema - bit of a weird jump from the heart of Africa back into the western world in the space of one day!

The animal adventures continued as I caught up with the DTS team in Mbarara - Guy and Penny, 2 of my friends, decided on the spur of the moment to buy two chicks from the brood they'd seen just down the road from their house, and within 20 minutes all the girls were cooing over Cleopatra and "Men" as the babies were interestingly named (apparently one looks like an Egyptian Pharaoh but is too feminine to have that name, and the name "Men" came from what Geoffrey calls Guy instead of "Man"...i'm sure i've just made that clear as mud to you all :-p ) If only I hadn't lost my camera cable, then I could upload the photos...sadly, it's one of the most exciting things that's happened recently!!

I really didn't want to go back to Mbiko today and have to carry on as normal, but it was quite a fun day in the end - I think I'm getting used to my celebrity muzungu status, and it's almost normal now to be randomly invited into someone's house for a soda and biscuits/cake (even though the only person who gets to eat and drink is the guest, and the others sit around watching your every move as if you're some fascinating new species) I'm definitely glad it's only another 2 or 3 days of ministry here, as I'm quite tired of it all now and am ready to move on....Soroti here we come!!!