Where Did December Go?

Well, the first week of December was spent in Zanzibar (see last blog post).  :)  What about the rest of it?

I returned to Uganda to find a slew of emails about all of my committee meetings.  The Gender and Development Committee met to elect the next Camp GLOW and Camp BUILD directors.  There have been two new groups of volunteers in Uganda since I arrived, and we try to get a mix of people from all training groups involved with camps.  The hand-over (of camp direction) is going very smoothly.  The GAD Committee also did a significant amount of fundraising and we’re able to help several volunteers with their local projects promoting gender equality.  One project is the Uganda Youth Newsletter; the other is a softball camp for girls!

A few days after the GAD meeting, I attended my first Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC) meeting.  This is where 2 representatives from each training group meet with Peace Corps Administration to discuss current policies and issues that volunteers are having.  There were many topics to cover and the meeting ended up going for 4 hours.  But I can’t say that we got a whole lot accomplished – there was a lot of discussion and not much action.

So I’ve been in Uganda for 17 months now (crazy!).  Halfway through our service, we get a medical and dental check-up – it’s very basic, more like a consultation.  I just wanted to let you know that I’m healthy and my teeth are very clean again.  :)  At the end of our service, we’ll get the full exam (blood tests, dental x-rays, etc.).

By the time I returned back to Kuluva (after all of these Kampala visits), the nursing school was closed for Christmas break.  So I’ve been hanging out with other PCVs for the holidays.   

To sum it up:

• Ate lots of pizza
• Read The Hunger Games trilogy
• Went for a hike
• Made paper snowflakes
• Went swimming in a pool at the hotel nearby 
• Had a Christmas movie marathon: Elf, A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s A Wonderful Life, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and Love Actually
• Christmas dinner included wine, stuffing, deviled eggs, green bean casserole, pesto pasta salad, pumpkin pie, and brownies
• White Elephant gift exchange

Have a Happy New Year everyone!!!

Tanzanian Holiday: Part 2 - Zanzibar

Looking back, we should’ve just paid the extra money and flown from Mt. Kilimanjaro airport to Zanzibar.  Instead, we were cheap Peace Corps Volunteers and decided to take the bus to Dar Es Salaam, then ferry to Zanzibar.  At first we heard it was an 8-hour ride (no problem, the same as my usual Arua ride), then we heard it was a 9-hour ride (ok, we could still make the ferry in time), but it actually turned out to be a 12-hour bus ride.  Ugh.  We got on a 5:45am bus and were delayed twice because of traffic.  Apparently there was a big accident and traffic was stopped for miles in both directions.

We finally reached Dar Es Salaam at 6:00pm and missed the last ferry by two hours.  So we had to get a hotel room and wait until the next day to go to Zanzibar.

*The good news is that buses in Tanzania are way better than the buses in Uganda.  The seats are larger and more comfortable – and they recline!  The bus company gave us water, sodas, and snacks, as well as several bathroom breaks at very nice facilities!  And the roads are paved in Tanzania!  I was very impressed.  :)

Dorothy, Katie, and I got on the 9:00am ferry to Zanzibar – which actually was delayed an hour.  (Are you picking up the theme of this vacation?  Answer: delayed transportation.  If you ever make vacation plans in Africa, factor in time for delays!)  Anyway, the ferry ride was great – there was air conditioning and flat-screen TVs playing ‘The Lord of the Rings.’  But I preferred to look out the window at the coasts of Dar Es Salaam and Stone Town.

We arrived in Stone Town and had to take a taxi to the east side of the island to meet the rest of our friends who were already on vacation there.  We spent the day swimming in the ocean and stayed in beach huts that night.  My friend Rebecca was a PCV in Uganda, but sadly ended her service a couple of months ago.  This whole trip was centered on celebrating her 30^th birthday in Zanzibar, which she came back for (all the way from San Diego!).  It was a sweet reunion and we celebrated by going to a really special restaurant called the The Rock.   

It’s on it’s own little island – we had to take a boat out to the entrance (during high tide), but by the time we finished dinner, it was low tide and we were able to walk across the sand.   

              

SO COOL!!!  Being that I was on an island on the Indian Ocean, I totally indulged in seafood.  Yum!

The next day we bummed around the beach some more, but Katie, Dorothy, and I had to leave and get back to Stone Town.  (The other group had already been to Stone Town and was going to stay on the beach for the rest of their vacation.)  We said our good-byes and made our way to the next hotel.  We had a chance to walk around town that evening and check out some of the architecture and street food markets.   

              

Such life and history in that city!  I completely fell in love with it and intend to return someday.  :)

There is so much to do in Zanzibar and we knew we couldn’t do it all, but snorkeling in the coral reefs was a must!  We booked a tour that took us to a sandbank island for the day.   

                   

 We snorkeled for hours, had a lunch of grilled king fish and local food, snorkeled some more, and went back to Stone Town for drinks and dinner.  Tom and Ilse (PCVs from Arua) were also there that week, so we met up with them at the Africa House Hotel, which had a sunset bar overlooking the ocean.  It was gorgeous.

Our final day in Zanzibar was spent wandering the alleys, shopping, and eating.  Our flight didn’t leave until 8:40pm, so we soaked up every last bit of culture that we could.  We visited the former slave markets, Freddy Mercury’s house and restaurant (FYI – Freddy Mercury was born in Zanzibar and they have historical spots dedicated to him), and took tons of pictures of the buildings and beaches.  It was extremely hot and humid which gave us the excuse to stop frequently at different restaurants and have a drink.

What an incredible vacation.  And since my Tanzanian visa is valid for one year, I’m definitely going back.  There’s so much more I want to see/do in Zanzibar.  Anyone want to join me???  ;)

Tanzanian Holiday: Part 1 - The Serengeti

The holiday started on Thanksgiving.  I went to a town called Nebbi, which is just an hour south of Arua.  If you remember, last year I went to Sherry’s (very modern) house in Arua and had a huge traditional American Thanksgiving, with ice cream and everything.  This year I wanted to have a Peace Corps Thanksgiving with other volunteers in a more rural setting.  It was perfect!  We cooked and baked everything from scratch (which took ALL day), but we ended up with a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin soup, pasta salad, stir-fry vegetables, apple pie, pineapple pie, and pumpkin bread.  :)

        

And as soon as we set the table, the power went out.  Ah, Uganda.  We weren’t prepared with candles, so we improvised and lit the room with all of our headlamps!  Truly a Peace Corps Thanksgiving.

Then it was time to depart for Tanzania.  There were some transportation issues along the way – my usual bus company had a night bus crash into an elephant near Murchison Falls, killing the elephant and seven passengers.  That bus company was then shut down until they paid the wildlife authority for the loss of the elephant.  Ah, Uganda.  So I took the other decent bus company to Kampala . . . unfortunately the bus was 1½ hours late . . . and then broke down in the middle of nowhere.   

It took another 1½ hours to fix it.  I arrived very late to my hotel but thankfully wasn’t flying out until the next day.  Phew!  (And then the flight ended up being delayed 2 hours anyway.  Ugh!)

Dorothy, Katie, and I eventually made it to Tanzania and embarked on our safari adventure.

We went to 3 major parks: Lake Manyara, Serengeti National Park, and the Ngorongoro Crater.  Lake Manyara was stunning – it was the first time that I saw zebras and wildebeest!

 There were so many other animals too (elephants, giraffes, baboons, gazelles, etc.).

Our safari was in the “budget” price range so we were camping in tents instead of staying at hotels.  I can’t tell you how cool it is to be sleeping in a campground with gazelles walking through at night.  Then in the morning, several water buffalo found their way to our site.   

Considering that they are one of Africa’s most dangerous animals, this moment had us stopped in our tracks.  I’ll never forget it.

We went for an early morning game drive (because dusk and dawn are when the big cats go out for hunting).  And we saw EVERYTHING!  Lions, impala, hippos, hyenas, elephants, leopards, water buffalo, warthogs, vultures, wildebeest, ostriches, zebras!!!!   

 It’s one thing to see these animals sitting in a zoo, but in the wild you get to see their behavior.  This was the most amazing part of the safari – we saw a lioness begin to hunt wildebeest; we watched the wildebeests’ reaction when they saw her and how fast they moved and changed directions across the plains!!!  Indescribable.  But the best of the best was spotting a mother cheetah and her two ‘teenage’ cubs going for a hunt.   

We never saw a kill (I don’t know if that’s good or bad), but we came across several carcasses that had already attracted vultures and hyenas. 

That night after the game drive, we camped out at the ridge of the Ngorongoro Crater.  It was a perfect day that ended with a bottle of South African red wine and a full moon rising over the crater.  It was one of the most memorable nights of my life.  

The next morning we went for game drive inside the crater – we saw a lot of the same animals, but in much closer proximity.  We parked the car right in the middle of a herd of zebras and wildebeest.  :)   

In the end, we saw almost every animal the Serengeti has . . . except for rhinos.  Rhinos can be found mostly inside the crater, but even there, they are only few.  It was too hard to track them that day.

When you have time, check out my pictures on the Shutterfly website or Facebook.

I will post “Tanzanian Holiday: Part 2 - Zanzibar” tomorrow.

A Good Week With One Exception

The week started on Monday with a graduation celebration for the Set 7 nursing students.  True to Ugandan fashion, it was scheduled at 1:30pm but did not actually start until 3:30pm.  I’m getting smarter about not arriving on time.  I waited for Sister Anne to go down to the dining hall (around 3:15pm) and took that as my cue that the celebration was about to begin.  I attended the graduation party for Set 6 last year, so I knew what to expect: several long speeches, dancing and singing by the other nursing students, a farewell song from the graduating class, and a BIG dinner with meat, beans, rice, enyasa, greens, cabbage, cake, and sodas.  This is one of the highlights of teaching at Kuluva.

  

Wednesday was my birthday – thank you to everyone who sent Facebook and text messages.  I also received a huge care package from my mom and it included birthday cards from the whole family!  Thanks to my wonderful family for sending birthday wishes and gifts.  (And good timing with the mail!  Mom, you have mastered the Ugandan postal service.  Ha ha.)  I had a relaxing day (after riding to town & back), took a hot bucket bath, ate some chocolates from the care package and made Indian food (that I picked up when I was in the States).   And miraculously, there was high-speed internet at my house that day, so I got some research done online (. . . for my Tanzania trip, not work).  :)  I watched a couple of movies and went to bed to the sound of light rain outside my window.  Awesome day, considering I live in an African village.

On Saturday, I went to a village called Adumi, which is on the west side of Arua.  (I’m 6 miles south of Arua.)   My friends Tom and Ilse live in Adumi and Ilse asked if we (PCVs) were interested in doing a lesson (on any topic) for her women’s group.  Of course I said yes!  I put together a basic nutrition session, modifying the materials I used at Eastern Camp GLOW.  The women only spoke Lugbara, so we needed a translator.  It was a challenge to keep the lesson at such a basic level for the women to understand.  But they were wonderful – very enthusiastic and appreciative of everything we had to teach.

I spent Friday night at Betty’s house (close to town) so that Ilse could pick us up first thing on Saturday morning.   I'm not sure what happened, but I either walked through poisonous plants or got severely attacked by insects on my feet.  I've counted over 30 bites/bumps just on my left foot.

I find it hard to believe that I didn't feel dozens of ants/mosquitoes/misc. African insects feasting on my feet and ankles - which makes me think it was a poisonous plant somewhere.  Either way, it sucks.  It’s been extremely painful to wear shoes or walk.  I spent all today keeping my feet up and applying a topical analgesic and antihistamine.  The itching and swelling went down, but flared up again when I walked down to the dukas to buy bread.  I think need to stay off my feet for another day or two for the rash/bumps to go away. 

So just FYI - this may be my last blog post for a few weeks.  I have plans to spend Thursday having a Thanksgiving dinner with other PCVs and then I’m going to Tanzania on Saturday!!!  I will post again as soon as I get back.

Memorable Moments From Mid-Service

From November 6th through November 8th I was at my Mid-Service Conference at Ridar Hotel.  One of the most memorable moments for me was sitting in the lounge area by the pool (which had a large flatscreen tv) and watching live election coverage (on CNN).  It was a surreal experience to be in Uganda and see the US election results and Obama's acceptance speech (midnight in Chicago is 9:00am here) - after living abroad and witnessing other political "elections", I felt very proud of my country and thankful that I have the right to vote.  And on the bus ride back to Arua, the man sitting next to me thanked me for electing Obama again.  :)  The choices we make truly affect others around world.

One of the conference sessions about "what to do after the end of our service" and was given by a few Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.  They talked briefly about their different types of jobs (US Embassy, public health work in South Sudan, foreign service, etc.), but what they all said without hesitation was GRAD SCHOOL!  While the Peace Corps experience is great to have on the resume, the type of international jobs (and global health work) available requires a Master's Degree.  It just reaffirmed my thought that I'll be going back to school when I return to the US.

We have a committee called the Volunteer Action Committee (VAC), who meet with Peace Corps administration to discuss concerns from PCVs.  It's one of the only ways for us (volunteers) to openly talk about policies, challenges, etc. with the admin staff.  I volunteered to be a new representative for my training group (after my rep left the Peace Corps) - my group accepted and now I am officially on the VAC Committee.  I hope to help clarify issues from both sides of the table because there is huge disconnect between staff and volunteers right now.

I was hoping to sit down with Shiphrah, my program manager, to talk about my lack of work at Kuluva.  Unfortunately, she decided to take her annual leave during our conference, so I didn't get to see her.  I did speak with Cotious, her assistant, who told me that the volunteers placed at nursing schools were supposed to work part-time at the school and part-time at the hospital.  I informed her that the school is completely unaware of this and we will have to sit down with Sister Anne and explain that I should be working at the hospital too.  (*This meeting may not happen until December or January with all of the upcoming travel plans and holidays.)

After all the Peace Corps sessions were finished, we rightfully took advantage of the bar and swimming pool to celebrate our one year of service . . . and November birthdays.

The 32-year olds of the group.  

We celebrated our 33rd birthdays, Katie - November 8th, Brian - December 11th, 

and me - November 14th.

Since Katie's birthday was actually during our Mid-Service Conference, she requested an 80's dance party that night.  DONE!!  We rocked out to The Bangles, INXS, Michael Jackson, Belinda Carlisle, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Madonna, and just about every other one-hit-wonder from the 80's.

 

"I wear my sunglasses at night . . . " 

"Billie Jean"

Director's Meeting / A Weekend in Jinja

First, let me clarify my last blog post.  Boredom comes and goes on a daily/weekly basis in the Peace Corps.  It just happened that the whole month of October was a slow work month and I had a lot of free time.  I was not depressed or lonely – in fact, I hung out with the Arua PCVs last month more often than usual.  And I actually enjoy reading for several hours at time (now that I have a Kindle).  I still have many goals set for myself regarding public health work, camps, and vacations – just not during October 2012.  However, we are now in November and life is getting busy!

Last week I met with Stevie and Aditi to discuss the direction of the next Girl Tech camp.  We rode a matatu from Kampala to Jinja and talked the whole way – everything from grant writing to t-shirt design.  Stevie also copied all of her computer documents (180 of them) onto our hard drives – Aditi and I will eventually look through all of it and divide the responsibilities.  For now, it was nice just have a starting point: writing the grant.  The next grant review is in February, so we have some time to complete the proposal and budget.

The three of us also went to the Wayange Secondary School for Girls and met with the Head Mistress, Deborah.  Unfortunately we decided to walk to the school (which is at the top of a very steep hill) and it started pouring rain as soon as we left that morning.  The dirt path turned into mud and we were completely drenched when we sat down in Deborah’s office.  Not the way I wanted introductions to go, but she was very understanding and gave us her entire morning to discuss having Girl Tech at her school again.  (The meeting went very well and the location is set with a tentative date of early May 2013!)

I walked away from last weekend with a renewed sense of purpose in the Peace Corps.  Maybe it’s because I have real responsibilities for work now; maybe it’s because this project will let me use my strengths and skills (i.e. organization and planning); maybe it’s because I feel like I have a serious full-time job again; maybe it’s because this project will actually come to fruition instead of being ignored or denied.

Coming from such a successful meeting, I indulged in a weekend of fun in Jinja.  I stayed in a budget dorm room at the Nile River Explorer’s – it was 2 days of good friends, cheap food, and sunsets on the Nile.  I also traveled through Jinja town on my way to the Mid-Service Conference for my Peace Corps group.  I bought some more African crafts :) and ate way too much American food (coffee, salad, milkshakes, and pumpkin bread).  It was awesome.

I'm bored.

Things are a bit slow around the nursing school right now – it’s exam time.  This month each set of students takes their written and practical exams.  Last week was Set 9, this week is Set 8, and next week is Set 7.  Unfortunately, there is not enough classroom space for all the students.  So they set up desks in the computer room, which means I can’t work there.  For the entire month of October and half of November, I have nothing to do.  Some days I’ll ride my bike to town and have lunch with the other PCVs, other days I’ll watch movies for 8 hours straight. 

I sit around and think about my life way too much (hence the last post) – it’s not good to be this isolated and bored.  I think about what I was doing exactly one year ago. 

Around October 25^th last year, I was going to town on a semi-daily basis with Paul, the school driver at the time, to buy things for my house (pots & pans, curtains, broom & dustpan, etc.).  I was still getting settled, and I didn’t have my bike (or my fridge) yet.  I was eating scrambled eggs and tomatoes for lunch almost every day.  And since I had agreed to teach 'Social Psychology in Nursing,' all of my school time was spent researching and making lesson plans for the incoming set of students.

I also think about the one year I have remaining in Uganda and try to plan out my projects and vacations.  "If I go to Tanzania in November, then I’ll have to wait until February to go to Rwanda.  But the Gender and Development Committee elections are in February.  Hmm . . ."  Now I’m in a monthly countdown to the end and I look around my house to see what needs to be rationed over the course of a year.  "I have just enough moisturizer to last a year, but I’m going to need more toothpaste (fortunately Colgate is available in Uganda).  I bought some deodorant while I was home, but should have picked up one more bag of coffee."  Etc.

Seriously, this is how I spend my days.

I’m trying very hard not use my computer so much – my Macbook is on its third power cable (because the electricity here is so unstable, it gets fried easily), and now the battery is wearing down (a full charge lasts about 4 hours).  I decided to only use my computer 2 or 3 days a week.  After all, the school has a computer lab and a laptop in the library with an internet hook-up (that only works when it’s sunny outside), so I'll use those as much as possible.  To pass the time on the other 4-5 days of the week, I loaded up my new Kindle.  (Thanks Mom & Dad!)  So far I’ve read 3 books in one week.  Thank goodness for the PCV hard drive exchange – I’ve got over 2,000 books that I can put in my Kindle.  :)  Although I’m still sorting through the massive list of titles . . . I’m not really interested in “The Physics of Star Trek.”

The good news is I have some travel plans and project meetings coming up.  I’ll be going to Jinja to meet with the directors of Girl Tech and hopefully start planning the next camp!  (Expect a Jinja blog post about it.)  There’s also going to be a Gender and Development Committee meeting and my Mid-Service Conference.  The Mid-Service Conference is for my training group to come together and figure out what to do during our last year in Uganda.  (So I guess it’s a good thing that I have so much down-time to think about it.  Ha ha.)  And I always enjoy seeing my group again.  Sadly, we have lost a few more volunteers due to personal reasons and rule-breaking (i.e. riding a boda-boda), so the reunions are getting smaller and smaller.  We’ve lost a total of 10 people now.  It kind of feels like ‘Survivor’ – we’ll see how many are still remaining at the end.  I hope I win.  :)

Contagion

I watched the movie ‘Contagion’ the other night.  It was pretty good – and what I really enjoyed was the global health issue.  It got me really pumped up about public health work (I’m a total nerd, I know).  It all started with my job at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment – I didn’t have any real direction in my career at that point, I just knew that I wanted to work in public service.  I was only in the Immunization Program for a year, but it was such a great experience and I learned so much that I decided to take the next step (or leap, depending how you look at it) – I joined Peace Corps to gain some field experience (which is usually required for these jobs).

Unfortunately, my work in Uganda is more related to education than health.  I teach computing (i.e. Microsoft Word and Excel); I work on school databases; and I do clerical work for the office administration.  I know that I am not qualified to go out into the villages and give immunizations or deliver babies, but I was hoping for a hands-on experience with Uganda’s health systems and management.

After watching ‘Contagion,’ I realized that no matter what kind of work I do in the Peace Corps, I am still going to need to further my education.  I know very little about disease control, surveillance and response, epidemiology, etc.  (I did, however, gain a great deal of knowledge about immunizations and vaccines during my time at CDPHE.)  My bachelor’s degree is in Communication (interpersonal/group communication, not broadcasting) but that won’t get me very far in this career – I’ll have to get a Master’s in Public Health. 

Thankfully, one of the many benefits of being in the Peace Corps is receiving grad school credit and/or tuition reimbursement.  Yay!  I’ve only just started looking at programs, but there is a concrete timeline that may delay my admissions: I need to take the GRE (and need time to study for it!), I need to submit my grad school applications by a specific deadline depending on the semester, I need to finish my Peace Corps service (October 2013), etc.  So grad school may not happen right away, but I might as well start planning for it.

After thinking about work, grad school and my future, I’ve decided that I will do the (education) work that Sister Anne asks of me at Kuluva School of Nursing.  It's still international field work with the Peace Corps.  There is potential for me to work (for a day or two) on health projects at other PCVs’ sites (nutrition classes, food distribution, life skills classes, etc.) and my camp experiences also covered a few health topics (reproductive health, nutrition, HIV, etc.).  So here’s what I see for the next 12 months:

• Teach computing at the nursing school
• Create student records database for Kuluva
• Gender and Development Committee
• More camps?
• Health projects with other PCVs?
• Study for GRE
• Apply to grad schools

I also want to go around Kuluva Hospital with the nursing students and talk to them about healthcare in Uganda.  Even if I can’t work in the hospital, at least I can learn about it.

Looks like a pretty good year. 

(Yes, this all started from watching a movie.  Thank you Hollywood for giving me an epiphany regarding my Peace Corps experience.)

Back in Uganda

As I was riding in the taxi (private car, that is) from the airport, I watched the landscapes and towns go by and realized that there is an element of ‘home’ here.  Dukas, chapatti stands, boda-boda drivers, fabric shops, goats & cows along the roadside, women carrying basins of fruit on their heads, street meat, etc. – I didn’t miss it, but the familiarity of it comforted me.  I’m now starting my second year in Peace Corps Uganda and instead of being a stranger in a strange land, I feel more adjusted to the culture and more confident about living here.

I arrived at my house to find it dirty, but secure.  Everything was just as I’d left it.  There were definitely more Daddy Long Legs hanging around, but not as many as I had expected.  What was surprising was the amount of lizard poop all over the house – it was everywhere.  (I hope that means they were busy eating spiders.)  Thankfully, Amviko came over to clean the next day – so the house looks great now (and I can unpack!).  I had filled my suitcase with as much American food as I could – final weigh-in at the airport was 48.5 pounds (but there were also some clothes and toiletries in there too).  My kitchen is completely stocked and it’s time to get back into the routine of riding my bike to town twice a week for fresh fruits and vegetables.  It seems the rainy season is almost finished and the sun is hot again.

On Monday, I went to school to check-in and see everyone.  Sister Anne was so excited to see me – she gave me a great big hug . . . and a pile of work to get started on immediately.  The school is extremely short-staffed right now: the librarian just gave birth to little baby boy and will be out for 3 months; one of the secretaries is on annual leave for a few weeks; and Dr. Anne is on annual leave for 6 weeks.  So now I’m stuck doing clerical work because there is no one else to do it.  Yeah, I’m going to need to talk to my Peace Corps Program Manager . . . soon soon.

FYI – I have posted more pictures to my Shutterfly website - just click on the link.  While I was visiting the family, I learned that some people did not have a clear picture of where I lived or what the ‘hospital compound’ is - so I added some new photos.  Hopefully this will clear up any misconceptions.

Also, I inquired about the PO Box and if the hospital has paid for it yet.  The answer is NO.  It’s been 6 months since I gave them the bill and I’m not going to wait around any longer.  I talked with the other PCVs and will share their box.  So the new address is:

Sister Laura Meyer

P.O. Box 933

Arua, Uganda

(I think it’s helpful to keep the ‘Sister’ part to deter thieves.)

P.S.  Today is Uganda's 50th Independence Day!  BIG celebration in Kampala - Arua will be celebrating on Thursday.  Apparently Uganda can only throw parties one city at a time.

London Layover

Yep, I actually made out of Heathrow this time!  I took the tube into central London (it took about an hour).  Then I hopped on the Thames Clippers for a round-trip boat tour on the river.  It was one of the cheaper sight-seeing options and was very relaxing.  :)  The weather was partly cloudy, but windy and cold!  I was grateful that the seating on the boat was 'indoor' - although the reflection from the windows messed up some pics.  Oh well.  It was still a nice ride.

Big Ben and Parliament

London Bridge (The big flag was on the front of the boat.)

Me

 

Tower of London

Trafalgar Tavern

After the boat tour, I still had some time to kill before going back to the airport.  But I have a tendency to get lost when wandering around a city for the first time, so I stayed close to the train station.  And right there was a Starbuck's - one final Pumpkin Spice Latte before going back to Uganda.  Delicious.