Merry Christmas!

I never thought I'd say this, but getting online was easier in Uganda than back home in Norway...


I got back just over a week ago and I'm getting used to the cold and talking Norwegian all the time. I'm realizing things like "hey, there's pressure on the (warm!) water in the shower - getting the shampoo out of my hair only takes 30 seconds and not five minutes anymore!" and "wow, people here have way too much stuff and way too much money..."

Christmas so far has been alright, started out crappy but got better. It's been a peaceful few days.

Hope you're all having a good time out there, wherever you are.

Last pages

As I'm writing the last pages of this chapter in my life, I'm thinking of all the people I've met, all the new experiences I've had and the conversations that could never have taken place anywhere else. I know that these few months here have affected me in ways I am not yet aware of, and in the future I will think back to this very moment as a period in my life that helped shape me into the person I will become.

Right now I just want to cry my eyes out, and I think that's a good thing. It means I had fun, I enjoyed this time and I will miss it. Even if I did start crying I still couldn't stop smiling. There are people I have seen every day, people I have spent so much time with, people I will never meet again. Some I hopefully will, others will disappear out of my life the moment the plane takes off and MTN can no longer reach me.

This moment in time, this hostel, my class, the people here... I might come back to Uganda, but certain things will have changed. Things always change and life goes on.

This moment, this precise moment, will never come back. I only have a few days left and a few more memories to create.

Bagnapper

Walking along the road to the hostel, back from Ground Zero, a reggae club here in Wandegeya, J and I are talking about going to the zoo in Entebbe this weekend, when I feel something at my shoulder. Then there's someone tugging at my bag.
Instinctively my arm locked over it, I remember thinking "Wallet, key and I really like this bag so you're not getting it". The guy pulled on the bag and I pulled on the straps (I still can't believe they didn't break). He'd pulled me off the road and off my feet, I was still not letting go of my bag.

It can't have lasted many seconds before J managed to chase him off. When the guy was standing a few meters away, reluctant to give up but realizing he wasn't going to get this one, all I could think to do was shout "You ruined my new skirt!" (which must have seemed kinda funny to people around - a guy's trying to rob you and you're worried about your skirt getting dirty).
A man came and said the would-be robber must have been following us. He obviously wasn't expecting a fight.

I have a few cuts and bruises on my arm, leg, shoulder, side and butt (no, you're not getting pictures) but nothing too bad. I'm just glad my instincts said "fight" and not "give up". Like most girls, I do think about what I'd do if someone tried to snatch my bag, and remind myself to hold onto it, but this time I was anything but prepared. I didn't have a chance to think, I just knew what was happening.

Still, I don't even want to think about what would have happened if J hadn't been there - I guess he kinda saved me. I've never been saved before...