Last Week, Let's Make It Count!

What's up y'all?

As the title implies, I have one last full week in Gulu to get stuff done, then it's off to Kampala for a few days and then off to England to hang out with my family for over a week. 

Honestly, I'm not upset about leaving. Even though I've had a fantastic time down here meeting tons of awesome people and traveling to places that I've never been, the fact is that I haven't been back in Philadelphia since Spring Break in March. It's been a long, long time and when I get back I expect to have a line of  cheesesteaks set up so I can eat them. Also, I've missed my family like crazy, especially my Godfather, Uncle Mark, who will not be joining us across the ocean. Thankfully, though, my parents, sister, and brother will be in England so it'll be great to see them again! 

So where did I leave off last? Ah yeah, the end of Tuesday. 

Last week was kind of slow. Tabu and I went to Awach on Wednesday where we surveyed four families over there who were participants in our Goat Lending program. It was a long day and my ass hurt like crazy afterward from the motorcycle, but it was great nonetheless. The program over there is relatively new, so a couple of families haven't seen much progress so far. Others, however, have been able to get multiple goats from a single mother, which has been fantastic to say the least. Maybe I'll add some pictures later - they're on Josh's camera. However, the Awach site, while somewhat successful, is nothing compared to the progress made at Pece, though. Apparently the program has been working really well there and families are actually lending out the goats, though we haven't been able to see it. Hopefully we can get that done this week, though. Also, I managed to finish A Song of Ice and Fire. My God, the final couple of books need to come out ASAP. 

Thursday and Friday were both equally frustrating. We were supposed to go to Kochgoma on Thursday for Goat Lending, but we needed two driver instead of one, and neither was available to go with Tabu and I. The same was Friday when were hoping to go to Pece. It was cloudy and raining, and no one would take us out there. I also wasn't able to speak to anyone about the Mobilization plan because they were all out. But meh, we've come to expect disappointment and lack of motivation down here. Best part of the day was nearly walking through a riot on the way back to Francis's place. Hopefully this week will be different.

We didn't really do anything Thursday and Friday night either. Thursday, Josh and I especially were unmotivated to travel all the way to BJ's for Trivia Night, and Friday I was way to wrapped up in Breaking Bad to move out at all. I'm not afraid to admit that I blew through the first season in just a few hours - It's a really good show! 

Saturday, Josh, Clara and I went out to the marketplace to get some shopping done. Normally I'm terrible at buying stuff for people, but with Clara's help especially I managed to buy tons of souvenirs. After, I Skyped with my NumberOne CeilingAdornment for a few hours, which put me in a really, really good mood. As a result, I decided to go out to BJ's with GROW Columbia to drink and dance the night away. And we all did just that. It was such a good night, and a good way to end a decent week and start the new week off. 

Most of Sunday was spent watching Breaking Bad Season Two. Yes, I managed to get through the whole season in one day. It was too good to stop, and Josh could attest to how obsessed I had become with it. We also enjoyed a can of Rambo beer, which was the most vile beverage that I've ever had, to say the least. After a while, we took a break form Breaking Bad and reading Game of Thrones to go out to grab some Ethiopian food and a couple of drinks. Like the previous night, it ended up being a relaxing day and another good beginning to our final week. 

Today, we got to the office a bit late and managed to miss half of the weekly meeting. It wasn't a bad thing, but Clara was giving Josh and I the evil eye as we walked in. Turns out this week will be much busier than we had initially anticipated. Today we had interviews for the scholarship program. I was an interviewer with Clara, Francis, Collins, and the District Education Officer, Ceaser. We interviewed nine candidates and will be giving out three. When we have the results, I'll let you guys know!

For the rest of the week, we hope to actually be able to visit our Goat Lending and Seed Lending sites and visit the Safari Reserve. I've got one final Sports Gala meeting on Thursday, and that will take up all of Friday and Saturday. For visiting the sites, I'm keeping my expectations low!

Until next time! Hopefully I'll have more to write about. 

Sincerely,

Olara