got my v-card!

hello once again everyone!

i am wrapping up my first week "at site" (my new home). it has been much more eventful than i would have imagined, mainly because i have been scrambling around between my village (kisoko), the nearest town (tororo), and the coolest city i've been to in uganda (mbale) looking for things i need. i wonder if you can find those places on google maps or ms live local or something. i'm not really able to try on these machines :)

I HAVE A NEW ADDRESS NOW!

send all letters, packages, and rubber chickens to:

******************
rick barley, pcv
po box 881
tororo, uganda
******************

anything sent previously will end up in kampala and i will have to retrieve it myself when i return there (sometime soon, i hope). so unless otherwise directed, send all mail to the new tororo address!

you may notice that i am a pcv now, no longer a pct. i received the big V last week during our swearing-in ceremony at the ambassador's house in kampala, (see group photo above) shortly before our many-hour hour ride in a pickup truck containing 6 people and 3 volunteers' worth of luggage. we got in an accident, too. t-boned a cow. it was amazing. and the best part was when the cow just got up and walked away. i thought it was dead!

my new home is pretty great, though still filthy. i have yet to spend a full day there to really lean into a much needed cleaning project. we painted the place on monday, which made a huge difference...now i need to clean up the cement floor and kill all of the termites. i was fascinated to see them in action yesterday...they start on the floor at the base of a (freshly painted) wall and move upwards, making a trail of dirt or something brown on the wall. it starts as a single line (about 1cm wide) near the floor and branches off in many directions to form what looks like a dirt rendering of a leafless tree on my wall. greaaat. check out the photo below!


lots of scrubbing and killing to do. and speaking of scrubbing, i've taken my first few african bucket baths (i was spoiled to have running water at homestay). the first one took about 40 minutes until i discovered the "splash-n-rub" technique, which is key. oh, and my house has electricity! (though it's mostly off and problematic when on...)

i bought a "sports bike" (mountain bike) yesterday in mbale. it is very used, but serviced well, i think. the gears shift a bit unpredictably, which is fun. the best part is the name on the side of it: INTERWOLF. i love it. it will be my means of transport for most of the next 2 years. riding the wolf.

i will keep this short(ish) for now. thanks for all of your messages, calls, and mail. i'm feeling pretty good (though eating less now that i need to hunt and gather on my own) and surprisingly busy for just arriving. i leave today for a 2 week workshop at one of the training colleges...so by the time june comes, i will have stayed at my house only 3 nights. oh, and one more thing about the house...it will have a GUEST ROOM (with bed and 'skeeto net). so do not fear the accommodations if you want to visit (and you should!)

i hope you're all doing well...talk to you soon...