my adventurous weekend!

I guess I’ll start with this... this weekend was SUCH a good weekend! I’m telling you guys, it was just what I needed. This week has been crazy and we have been working so hard on projects and getting things started and Friday rolled around we were all feeling a little homesick and just a little out of it. Someone had told us about the Nile Resort in Jinja where they let people go swim in their pool for 6000 shillings, which is like $3.... such a great deal. So we got some stuff done in the morning and then headed to Jinja for some swimming and laying out. It was sooo nice to relax and just chill and this super nice resort! After that we went to our favorite restaurant... Source Cafe! We walked in and there were tons of guys sitting there from Claremont McKenna and USC! Once again, it was like a taste of home. They are here building soccer fields for a few weeks. We saw them again today in Lugazi... too funny! 

So then Saturday we woke up early ready for a day of Bungee Jumping and rafting the Nile River! We got to this camp that is right on the Nile River and had the one of the prettiest views I’ve ever seen! Only a few of us bungee jumped, and I was seriously freaking out. I just couldn’t think about it and then I was fine. I was talking to my mom and dad about it and they thought I was crazy! But I mean come on, how many times will I have the opportunity to bungee jump over the NILE RIVER?!?! I had to do it. And I am so glad I did!!! They strap you in pretty tight so I felt secure, the only part I was freaking out about was the initial jump. I like to have something to hold onto when I am up really high so the fact that you just have to jump from 125 feet in the air was giving me slight anxiety. I got to the edge of the platform and the guide who was from South Africa was like “okay I’ll give you 5 seconds and if you don’t jump I’m going to push you” all I remember thinking was “holy crap I do NOT want this huge guy pushing me off of this” so I just jumped! I don’t even remember what was going through my head, but I was screaming the whole time. Half of my body went into the river and that was a little bit of a shock but it was still so cool! If you ever have the chance to bungee jump, I’m telling you... DO IT!!!! It is so fun! 

So I couldn’t stop there... rafting class 5 rapids on the Nile was next! There were six of us on a raft and our guide was really experienced and pretty funny. The first rapid we went through was called “Chop Seuy” and we actually went through it on accident, none of the other rafts went through it. We went through all the safety procedures before and our guide would tell us to paddle and then “GET DOWN AND HOLD ON!!!”... thats really how he said it, and let me tell you, we have never obeyed commands so quickly. We started going into it and all of a sudden I heard our guide say "oh no"...  So we went through the rapid and before I knew it he told us to get down and hold on and then all of a sudden we were flipped in the water! I was coughing up so much water but when we all came out of the water we were all just dying laughing! I was glad we flipped on the first one because from then on we were prepared for anything. We would only go through a rapid in between the calm water. It was sooo fun and I had such a blast! My first time rafting, and now I feel like nothing will ever compare If I go again! I got so sunburned and I was putting 85 spf on like every 30 minutes! The sun is STRONG here close to the equator. After rafting, we got to stay at the camp and it reminded me so much of all our safari camps we stayed at in Kenya! The common area with couches and a bar reminded me of our nights chillen in Kenya after the game drives. So fun! It was so nice to sleep in a nice bed and get HOT SHOWERS! We were all loving life so much, and I slept so well! It was just a nice getaway. 

So basically my weekend was so great, and just what I needed! I love that we get weekends off and that the girls I am with here are willing to do fun things like this too. I’ve been here for 10 days and only only have one month left! I knew time would start to fly once things got moving. It’s so fun meeting other people from America or Europe and talking to them about what they are doing here. There are so many different organizations that come to Africa and so many amazing people that want to help and it is so interesting learning about what other people are doing. We met a ton of medical students from South Carolina, some people that work with “operation christmas child”, and tons of other people doing so much GOOD in the world.  This is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but also the best experience. I know it will be one of those things I look back on a realize how much I learned and how glad I am that I had to opportunity to do this. 

fresh fruit! 

6am and ready for our wild day!

passion fruit... MY FAVE.

our boda gang one day... so funny 

our new friends! 

i could eat here every day. 

beautiful Nile River! so pretty. 

the camp we stayed at.

I am loving mangos, pineapples, and passion fruit. There is a fresh fruit market right up the road and I think we go way to often but it is so delicious and fresh! Everything here is soooo cheap... how could we not get one of each a day?!