God Bless the Rains, but not Cockroaches

Despite my many attempts to learn all of the words to Toto's "Africa" I still could not tell what the song is really about. However, I do know he's got something right when he sings "God bless the rains down in Africa." While living in Indiana rain is something I thought very little about and if I did it was usually about how it was ruining my day. However, here in Uganda I find myself wishing for rain on a daily basis for many reasons. The first reason being that without the rains it is incredibly hot. When I first arrived here I was sweating constantly. I would go to bed sweating and wake up sweating; it was ridiculous. The family I am staying with also relies on rain tanks for our main source of water. However, due to the late start of the rainy season our tanks have been dry which means that the work boys have to travel a ways to the nearest boar hole where they attach five twenty liter jerry cans to their bicycle and push it up the incredibly steep hill upon which we live. The town we live in is also composed of mostly dirt roads. While these are beautiful, they are a disaster when it is dry. Cars passing by are constantly covering me in red dust that sticks perfectly to my immense amounts of sweat. As of last week the rains have finally arrived, of course on the day the American Ambassador invites us to the embassy for a pool party (which was fabulous by the way), but I am beyond happy they are here. I can finally sleep under blankets, wear a coat, and the rain tanks are overflowing! It is fabulous! So, I do believe Toto got it right; God bless the rains!

Now for the cockroaches. It would not be odd for you to find me "saving" caterpillars and worms. However, when it comes to cockroaches, I feel that the world would be a better place without them. They have infested my room. Okay, maybe not infested, but they do like to visit me at night and they creep me out. For those of you who may not know much about cockroaches here's a few things you should know: 1. They are creepy. 2. They are incredibly loud. 3. They are large. 4. They can fly. My first encounter with the creepy crawlies woke me up one night. They were flying around my room, running into walls and falling down. I'm not a light sleeper, they are loud enough to wake me up. I tried listening to my I-Pod to block them out, but I could still here them. The fact that I had my mosquito net to protect me did not help me fall asleep. I decided to by myself a can of doom and now I sleep with it next to my pillow. I haven't seen them as much lately and I am thankful for that. However, I did wake up to the most ridiculously large seven legged spider I have ever seen on my wall the other day. My friend tells me that a spider that large eats cockroaches, so I made the decision to let him stay. Maybe someday I'll have decent internet and be able to post a picture!

In other news, training is almost over! I have about two more weeks at home stay before I am sworn in as a volunteer. At that point I will be sent to a village by myself for the next two years; I am nervous, but incredibly excited all at the same time. If you are wanting to send me something, please wait to do so until I get my new address! Language is going pretty well. It can be kind of frustrated at time, but we had a mock language test a few weeks ago and I scored rather well. We have our real test before swearing in, so hopefully that will go well! Today we also built a stove completely out of mud, which was kind of cool.

Well, I hope all is well at home and that this message has found you all happy and well!

Peace and Love,

Autumn aka Nalubega (my new Ugandan name)