My 2002 Overseas Adventures!

2002-11-30T13:22:00.000-05:00

I have arrived home safely. Visit my picture site as it has been updated tremendously, and allows you to view slides and albums of my entire stay in Uganda.

2002-11-23T10:52:00.000-05:00

Friday night was Murad and Ali's birthday night out since they share close enough calendar dates. Stefan, Charles, and I took them to a place called China Plate in the richest part of town called Kisementi, where all the ex-pats and government officials usually reside. For the first time in Uganda, I think I seen more foreign people (white/Muzungus) than local Ugandans, and the locals I did see were part of wealthy families. The drive over from my compound was also interesting, because as we passed by each street light, there were big crowds of people underneath catching the grasshoppers flying about. If you looked up at the light there were tons of them, and the locals (especially the kids) catch them to make business or for dinner, as grasshoppers are a delicacy in Uganda.

After China Plate, at about 11:00pm, we all walked next door to a bar called Just Kicking. This place really was just kicking! The amount of beautiful women I seen here was more than all I have seen in total since I have been in Uganda. The place felt westernized as well, and I didn't feel like I was in Uganda. There was a wide mixture of people, from rich locals, older ex-pats, ex-pats children in their teens, volunteers, business men, vacationers, and more.

I am cutting my stay in Uganda short due to a family emergency back home. I do have to say that I will probably miss this place, but it never happens until you are gone from it, just like home. You never know how much you are going to miss something or someone until it is taken from you. I for one, realize how much I love my family and all the very small details that are forgotten until you do not have them any longer. In no particular order, some things I miss are:
1. Driving.
2. Watching TV. (especially late night before going to bed to bathe in that peacefulness)
3. Fast internet connections.
4. My bedroom for sure!
5. Someone to do my laundry and dishes free of charge.
6. My family and dogs. (Kayla and Bailey)
7. The places of business that are familiar to me within my own city.
8. The free meals with my family.
9. The clean air!
10. Real roads.
11. The restrooms. Even the dirtiest public restrooms in Canada will feel like luxery once I get back.

Although I haven't stayed in Uganda for as long as I have lived in Canada, there are some things I will miss here as well, including:
1. The friends I made from all over the world. (countries include, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Uganda, Philipines, and Kenya)
2. The weekends! The weekends here are great, you are free to do anything or just pick up and go travel somewhere.
3. The rolling hills, mountain ranges, and green fertile lands.
4. The weather of course! (The sun rises and sets at 7:00am and 7:00pm daily for the entire year)
5. The friendliness from the locals, and the personified treatment I get here for being white.
One thing I won't miss are the very very annoying geese, rooster, and cows waking me up every morning at sun rise. The rooster and cows are not so bad, but the geese! Gawk, gawk, gawk, gawk, gawk!

Tonight is Stuart Mulholland's going away party (VSO country director). A big BBQ at the program office is planned with all the volunteers in Uganda invited. I might have to get ready for another night at partying!

2002-11-18T05:39:00.000-05:00

Isha had left back to her place very early Friday morning, while Murad and I woke up just after her departure to start heading to Kabale (7 hour bus drive from Kampala to the west). We got into town around 7:30am and met up with Charles (Netcorps intern with HRI Canada) to take the Post Bus at 8:00am. The drive was very fun as there is only one direct route from Kampala to Kabale, and we pass through multiple towns along the way including Mbarara and Masaka. We stopped in Masaka to take pictures at the equator which had a two circular rings at the sides of the roads with a line adjoining them where the actual equator is. As we passed through Mbarara we stopped briefly at the side of the road where tons of locals rushed up to the windows and stuck cooked chickens on a stick into the windows shouting and screaming for us to buy them. It got pretty hectic as they don't leave you alone and keep pestering you with their sticks to buy the chicken. We also met two girls on the bus who lived in Kampala, but were originally from Kabale and going back to visit their family. They helped us out with what to do and where to go in Kabale, which is only a very small town to begin with and one major street with everything on it.

When we arrived in Kabale we looked around to get familiar with the shops, places to eat, and places to stay. We contacted Stefan and Ali who were already in Kabale for work at the Kigezi high school up in the mountains. Yes mountains, did I forget to tell you that Kabale is over 2000m above sea level, and every where you look you see mountainous hills with rolling green? The area in Kabale was also cold, not hot because of how high in the air we were. You would think because its Africa its very hot, but it was the opposite. We stopped at the Visitours Hostel for something to eat and then continued to the Highland Hotel where Stefan and Ali arranged for us to stay, costing the 3 of us 6000 shillings each for a decent room. We went up to the Kigezi high school and got to use their VSAT satellite internet connection and work on their computers. Friday night was spent getting together with all the Netcorps guys and some of the locals and heading first to the Little Fitz restaurant and then to Earthquake club. The Little Fitz was a richy restaurant in town that was also established as a bar and had American/English TV. The Earthquake was the only club in town, but it was pretty good. The cover charge was minimal and it offered dancing, drinking, a pool table, and a lounge area with TV. The atmosphere was total darkness with neon lighting. After we spent a couple hours here dancing it was time to head back to the hotel.

Saturday morning, Ali and I went to the NTC (National Teachers College) where an older VSO volunteer named Eric was working for his 2-year placement and got to see how beautiful the compound was. Decent ground level buildings and lots of nicely cut green grass with the sight of misty mountains in the background is the best I can describe it. I helped Eric out with some older 486 PC's to try and get some started and even networked, but with the lack of hardware and the damaged condition of most components I couldn't get much accomplished. I did forget to mention that the cheapest and most effective way to travel in Kabale is by boda-boda bicycles which ride you around on the couple streets they have to get to your destination. On our way back we met up with Stefan, Murad, and Charles at the hotel, checked out, and headed back to the school where we were getting a lift to Lake Bunyoni high up into the mountains.

We took off early Saturday afternoon in the back of a pickup truck up into the mountains where we seen tons of beautiful scenery and rocky mountain slides where locals looked to be mining something. The ride was very bumpy as the roads were all dirt and filled with pot holes. After about 20-25 minutes of riding we reached Lake Bunyoni where we can see a vast landscape filled with water, islands, campsites, and of course mountains. We stayed at the Overland Camp in furnished tents (beds, table, chair) for about 8000 shillings each. The campsite was located on the side of a mountain with a lot of walkways and stairs going up and down throughout the area. It was like a maze, and we felt like monkeys up in the air all the time in tree houses or walkways. There was one bar & restaurant in which we used for our meals.

Later on that day we all took a motor boat out into the lake to get loads of pictures and to visit an island. The island had people living on it as well as other tourists camping out and staying there. The lake was huge and we didn't explore it all, but we did a majority of the main area and circled the island we visited. The scenery out here in Lake Bunyoni has had to be the most beautiful landscape I have ever witnessed, and by the pictures you will soon see, probably the best you will have seen as well. Just before it got dark, we all walked up the mountainous area on the road where we stopped at the Overland Camp. We got to a section where it was very steep and even vehicles could not go up it. When we were nearing the top all sorts of local children were rushing out of the bushes to greet us and take us to a building at the top that overlooked the whole lake. It turned out to be a half built outside bar, with a very nice structural build to it; roofing, but no walls. The view from up here was incredible, overlooking the entire lake and the sides of mountains and local villages along the sides of them as well as peninsulas along the lake.

The Sunday morning we had planned to return home, but tried to sleep in as well until we were awoken by the beat of village drums on another peninsula on the lake. It sounded like some cultural dance beat. We headed back to Kabale just before mid-day and took a huge Horizon bus back to Kampala at 1:00pm. We stopped in Mbarara because the bus was having technical trouble, and had to go off and repair it, so left everyone at Mbarara bus park. We got back on 30 minutes later and continued our journey. The driver of the bus was crazy, and was driving at very fast speeds scaring both Charles and Murad as we would pass by cars or make swirving turns on mountain roads. However, we reached Kampala safely at about 7:30pm where we went to exchange some U.S. dollars at the rich and famous Speke Hotel and Crane Forex Bureau as we were all poor after the weekend in terms of shilling currency. Charles had left to go home, and Murad and I stopped at Antonio's for some burritoes and burgers before heading home to bed. Work was awaiting us the next morning...

The best comment all weekend goes out to Murad when the following happened:

We were walking up the hill to get to the Kigezi school on Saturday for our ride to Bunyoni. We took pictures along the way, and as Murad was taking a picture of a bicycle boda guy coming down the hill, the man shouts out "Muzungu!" Murad then takes the picture and shakes his camera at the man, shouting back "I got your Muzungu right here!" I couldn't stop laughing!!

2002-11-14T07:34:00.000-05:00

The ride to Bujagali Falls/Speke Camp from our weekend stay at the Jinja Nile Resort was about 15 minutes. Jinja is so different than Kampala in the ways of local lifestyle. The roads are all dirt filled with pot holes and flooded water, and there are hundreds of screaming Ugandan children on the sides of the roads as the Muzungu's drive by. You also see non-stop baby goats right on the sides of the roads eating grass, and cows/oxen tied up in the small community villages. The buildings are all really old and looked unfinished where only a couple walls were put up with a straw roof.

I did go ahead and do the white water rafting with Equator Rafting for a $55 US. deal. Visit their page at Equator Rafting for major details of my trip. The rafting was a full days 25km up the Nile River. The morning consisted of hot, sunny weather and afterward a little sun burned skin. The afternoon was made up of heavy rain and winds, so we all put on spray jackets (long sleeve nylon jackets). In the late afternoon the sun returned. We weren't constantly riding the rapids, that would have been crazy, but I thought it was going to be that way. We did about 8-10 sections of rapids throughout the day, and the times we weren't in the rapids, we were paddling. The rapids were graded from 1-6, 6 being experts only and a good chance of death, while grade 5's being the highest I experienced. Our rafting guides were a bunch of Australian guys who told you exactly how to react, when to paddle forward or backward, and when to hold on or get down. On my first rapid I got a face full of hard Nile water and wasn't expecting it. I started choking on the water and was scared to continue the trip. I did continue, however, and I'm glad I did.

There were a total of 9 of us going out, not including the guides, the safety ore boat, and the expert kayak guys who helped anyone out of the water if they happened to fall out of the raft. Yes, we had many fall out, and once I seen how they get sucked under and pushed along so forcefully, I tried hard to stay in the raft. We had very good life jackets on, but you still stay under for quite some time, until the rapids slow down. The best grade 5 was the 3-4FT drop followed right after by the actual 9-10FT waterfall drop. Our raft went first and did it perfectly with no overboards or complications. The last rapid I still tell myself I could have died. It was a grade 6 rapid, followed by a grade 5 called "The Bad Place." The section of rapids was very long until the waters calmed. We walked around the grade 6 until we reached a safe entry right onto the grade 5. We immediately had to paddle hard to stay in the correct spot, but it is so hard that 90% of the time you flip. I had no idea what happened to me, we struck heavy water and the raft got stuck doing a dance in a whirling current, then BOOM! I was in the water feeling like I was gonna drown. I wouldn't come up for air so I started to panic and kick my legs up. When I reached the surface I took a deep breathe, but too late! Not even half a second and I was sucked back under and choked on a mouth full of water that I just had to swallow. After it seemed ages, I floated up into calm waters where I met up with the rest of the team and the safety kayaks. It took me 30 minutes to breathe normally again. Scariest thing I have ever done in my life! I am getting a copy of the movie video that was made and was also given a CD with 50 digital pictures put into a slide show.

We stayed at Speke Camp that night and were given a fish dinner, head, spine, and all! Speke Camp was located right at the start of our rafting trip and literally right on the Nile, just a few feet away from the bar. We stayed at the bar & restaurant drinking, socialising, and watching videos of the past rafting trips, including ours, so that the whole camp could see. Our room consisted of 4 bunkbeds and a table with a candle on it. No electricity or sanitary. The toilets were long drop crouching holes, and yes I had to use it after taking in all that Nile Water. I never tried the cold outdoor showers, so don't ask!

The next day we had an early breakfast down at the bar & restaurant as we watched the new rafting recruits for the day just arriving. The trip back to Kampala consisted of a special hire to the Jinja taxi park for 7000 shillings between Grant, Peter, and I. From Jinja taxi park we hopped on a bus for 2000 shillings each to Kampala. The bus has no isle or leg room by the way. Little folding seats come out so that it's jam packed. Once we reached Kampala, lunch at Nando's was in good priority for the 3 of us. I then went on my own way back home, as did the others. I decided to take a special hire, who when first talked to me, saw I was a Muzungu with a backpack and tried to drive me to Buziga for 10,000 shillings. I said, "Ugh! I always go from here for 7000 or else I take a Boda." "Ugh" in their culture means shocked or surprised. After bargaining with him, I got the ride for 7500 shillings.

I had Isha (another Canadian Netcorps placed outside of Kampala) staying with me this week since her placement is 10 hours away. I actually made pasta dinner for the both of us! This Friday, I am leaving to Kabale with Murad to help out an older volunteer with his network and to visit some fo the sights, possibly including Mbororo (the only place to see Zebras). Its a 6 hour bus ride from Kampala using the Post Office bus (safest bus).

2002-11-10T07:44:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, I'm writing this to you from PMM School for Girls in Jinja, Uganda. This weekend I went to the Jinja Nile Resort which is located right on the Nile River, up on a cliff. I decided to come to this school that Stefan and Ali work at to help them with some problems with their network, and also get to use the internet at fast speeds of VSAT satellite. Jinja is a lot different from Kampala, all small dirt roads with a lot of old constructed buildings and kids running around playing soccer.

We're all at the Jinja Nile Resort for a Volunteer Conference which VSO Uganda holds once a year. To visit the resort's webpage go to the Jinja Nile Resort. The only thing is that on their page it says its 8km from Kampala, it should be 80km to the east of Kampala, about a 1:00-1:30 hour drive. The resort is very lengthy, it follows along the river, and after you pass through the reception and offices you get to the lounge areas, dining hall, balconies, swimming pool, work-out gym, tennis court, pool bar, and finally the walk to the cottage areas. The cottage areas spans 3 levels, each level on an increased cliff above the lower one. We could walk for 10 minutes just to get to our cottage from the pool area. The meals that we are having are so amazing, I can't even explain. Buffets for both breakfast, lunch, and dinner and they beat out the Netcorps Training in Montreal meals. I am loving the showers here, I am going to cry when I have to take the cold streamless showers back at my compound.

There are about 50-60 volunteers at the conference, and after listening to a lot of them and where they have to work and live in Uganda, I feel very lucky. Some volunteers don't have running water, no electricity, and out-houses with a long drop! Some of them live out in the middle of no where on farms and lots of green fertile land. The pictures and experiences are cool, but to live it in reality for 2 years (the normal time for a regular volunteer and not a Netcorps) it seems rough.

On Monday I will be going Grade 5 White Water Rafting, which is the highest rapids possible for commercial people. I get a full day of rafting, meals, beer, a free video, photos onto a CD, and a night at the Speke Camp, all for $55 US. It was regular $65, but we get a group deal. We had a raffle last night, and I won this cloth bark from some type of rare tree, and a free trip for 2 to Mariba Forest which includes meal and guided walk through the forest to see monkeys, birds, etc.

I purchased a nice big travelers backpack in Kampala for 17,000 shillings after bargaining it down from 25,000. Which is about $17 CAD. I exchanged $100 US at a forrex bureau, and got 182,000 shillings, which is 1820 shillings per $1 US. I'm using the backpack for all my traveling, in which I leave my majority things at my compound in Buziga, Kampala. Stefan and I are planning to climb Mt. Elgon the first or 2nd week of December, whichever we can take vacation at the same time. The trek lasts 4-5 days and we'll be camping out in a tent at camp points along the mountain sides! It costs about $25 US a day, plus costs for camping and food, so we estimate $200-300 US for the entire trip.

Ali, Stefan, Murad, and Isha (the 4 other Netcorps from Canada) will be leaving soon in mid-December. Their extending their vacation time and traveling in other parts of Africa and Europe. Murad has been to Egypt, Eritrea (Ethiopia), and Amsterdam. Ali is traveling to Tanzania. Stefan is going to Europe, most likely Germany, and Isha is traveling with her boyfriend who will be coming to Africa soon as well. At least for me I get to see both Uganda and Rwanda, and a pre/post departure trip in London, England. How I would love to see Italy and other parts of Europe though! Nairobi, Kenya scares me though, I hear too much about theft and crime there.

Next week I will most likely be going to Kabale (another town in Uganda, 6 hours west of Kampala by bus) to help another older volunteer with a computer network and meet up with Stefan and Ali who are traveling there on Wednesday for their job. So much to do in so little time, I have been going to bed late and waking up early since I left Canada!

I will be burning my digital pictures on CD when I'm back at Stefan and Ali's office in Kampala, since the VSO office where I work is still un-reliable. When I can I will also start uploading them onto my photosite as much as I can at a time.

Take care for now!

2002-11-02T10:32:00.000-05:00

Well, this is my first posting while in Uganda Africa. First of all, I'd like to give everyone my mobile number, which is 077 855107. If you wish to call from Uganda (locally) you dial just like that, but to dial from Canada you must dial 011 256 77 855107. 011 is to dial international calls from Canada; 256 is the Uganda country code; 77 is for the MTN mobile service; and 855107 is my mobile number. Mobiles over here are awesome, they work in a great way. You buy your phone which comes with a SIM chip that gives you a unique ID on the MTN network. Then you purchase service fee and air-time cards in which you enter into your phone and gives you service for a period of time, and air-time to make calls. You don't use up air-time to receive calls.

When I first arrived in Uganda, I was picked up at Entebbe airport by VSO staff. I actually got to meet Rose from the program office at the London airport, she was coming back same time as me and shared my flight. On the Sunday when my flight from Heathrow London to Entebbe was scheduled, there were tons of flights canceled from the weather in London. I waited about 6 hours in the airport, and a half hour before my flight they finally said we can check-in our luggage. Well, the line was so backed up all day that it was another 2 hours in the check-in line. Our flight was delayed until 11:30pm where it should have left 9:30pm.

My first impressions of Africa were not what I was expecting. You could look at 1000 pictures of Africa and the first 5 minutes here will give you more of an insight. Tropical trees, dusty/polluted air, tons of people walking the streets (some carrying things on their heads), and pot holes are some of the first things. The heat is very dry actually, and the humidity could be up there with Windsor. The drive from Entebbe to Kampala was about 45 minutes.

My accomodation is really nice, I live right beside Murad. If you don't know who Murad is you can see pictures of him on Stefan's Uganda Website which has a link on my Photosite's main page. My house includes 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. I have a double bed, a stove, a small fridge, and some basic furniture. The only thing that sucks are the bathrooms, where you must take cold showers and share the same drains for the toilets/showers. The water gets everywhere as well; no curtains. The hill I live on is called Buziga, which is on the outskirts of Kampala. It takes about 25 minutes to walk up to my place from the main road. The road off the main is made up of orange/brown dust and potholes. The air gets very dirty, and so do your clothes, and the potholes makes driving a very bumpy ride.

The food is really good actually. It consists of regular food from Canada in some of the main restaurants and fast food places in Kampala. The local food is also good which consists of Matoke, Chipatis, Samosas, sweet potatoes, and rice. The matoke is like chunks of plain potatoes with not much flavour. Chipatis are like pita bread, but wrapped up and with a greasy type of flavour. Samosas are like pizza dough with beef filling.

Transportation consists of Matatu's (taxis), boda-boda's, and special hires. They range in price in the order I placed them as well. Matatu's are real cheap, about 300-600 shillings depending on how far you go. You must also know the Luganda language while riding to tell them where to stop, or next stage to get off, etc. They fill these taxis up so bad you get squished in with everyone most times. The boda-boda's are motorbikes that bring you directly to where you want go, with costs ranging around 1500-3000 shillings. They are very fun, but intimidating at first and I'll explain why later with the traffic section. The special hires are like the real taxis and cost around 4000-7000 shillings. The price is set, so you must bargain for a price in the beginning and make sure you don't get ripped off.

The traffic is chaotic here, and you just don't know until you've seen it. NO traffic lights, no stop signs, no speed limits, nothing! Its a complete free for all. There are places called roundabouts where streets merge and there is a triangle meridian in the middle where cars merge into incoming traffic. You must literally push yourself into traffic and hope for the best. Big time traffic jams at most hours with cars facing all directions. Mixed in with the cars are bodas, motorbikes, bicycles, and pedestrians all over the place dodging traffic and stepping in the dirty mud and puddles if it has been raining.

I went out last night with Murad, Stefan, and Charles. We met up with some locals as well who were friends with those guys. We went to the bars and clubs where the Ugandans really like to party, and all night long too! They also play a lot of pool here. I had prostitutes all over me trying to take me home, haha. You just have to learn not to smile too much, and make excuses like you're engaged or something. I also met some local girls who are friends with Stefan, and who are becoming really friendly with me as well; trying to comfort me into the new country and such.

The program office is really beautiful. Here in Uganda they call most places, like offices and houses, compounds. So at the VSO compound they have a big sliding door and security guard for letting cars in and out. The office itself consists of areas where you can walk in and outside in a matter of seconds. Its all open and not crammed into an indoor corner. The outside back part has lots of nice tropical trees and flowers with a volleyball court and a small area outside with tables and chairs covered up with a straw roof like thing. It overlooks a huge area of Kampala on a big mountain called Muyenga Hill. Kampala consists of multiple hills on the outskirts where most residents live. My hill is called Buziga, which is the most beautiful view of some parts of Kampala you could ever imagine! You'll see in some future pictures just how beautiful!

Getting around in Uganda itself is scary at first because everyone stares at you and the little kids run around you saying "HI HI HI" and soemtimes calling out "Muzungu! Muzungu!" which means white foreigner. I'm already getting used to walking around and being looked at and feeling out of place, because I see other volunteers, and even other English foreigners walking around and I just tell myself that I can do it too.

My stay in general has been satisfying, as I am never alone; always with Murad or VSO people. I'm enjoying my stay in Uganda more than my work itself. I thought my job was going to be more organized when I arrived, but it seems I really need to make my own timetables and plans, and I'm still not sure what to do. I never had a real orientation like Murad and Stefan's group when they arrived. They had 2 weeks of pure training and understanding along with language training. I had 1 week of meeting VSO staff and had already started to work.

I'm using the Internet at Stefan's and Ali's office because the VSO office has dial-up which never works. I will be helping them install DSL fixed link. I took 2 pictures already of a huge toad in my toilet which has been there for 2 days. Once I get better internet connections then I'll spend days getting pictures uploaded. My first day in my accomodation as well was funny because I had to chase a lizard running around my walls. It was about 3-4 inches long, and later on I find out those lizards are good to have since they eat all the insects.

Next Saturday (November 8th) I am going to a VSO volunteer conference in Jinja (supposedly the most beautiful place in Uganda) right beside the Nile River and Victoria Falls. We will be going white-water rafting for $65 US and it includes a movie CD. We are also staying at the Nile Resort, and its free of cost! This place is supposed to be a really rich resort with swimming pools and tennis courts, and very expensive rooms/meals. I think we'll be staying there for 2-3 nights out in Jinja. I also plan to climb Mt. Elgon with Stefan in December. It takes about 4-5 days and you must camp along the way. Mountain Gorilla trekking and visiting national parks and water falls will be my next plans, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of elephants, giraffes, and other wildlife in those parks.

That's it for now! Cheers!

2002-10-26T13:38:00.000-04:00

This Thursday and Friday nights were possibly the best nights I've had in London. On Thursday, about 4 of us went to a pub in East Putney for some drinks. We met up with some friends of theirs at the pub and made a nice night out of it, except for getting home late and having to get up early for Friday! On Friday, Peter and I had to go back to Wimbledon to drop off some things at the YMCA and then head back out to Putney where our regular Friday night out group was already waiting for us at the Liten Tree pub right by Putney Bridge. I bought most of the rounds that night for the ladies, as everyone was very generous to be buying me drinks the whole time I had been in London. Later on in the night after everyone has had many drinks, Pratish (one of the guys from VSO, who also has been coordinating my trip and stay in London) bought some rounds of Zambucca, Italian liquor which tastes like black licorice, and lit them up on fire before downing them. I love Zambucca, but Peter who had never tried it before was really disgusted with it, and his face showed that pretty clearly, but it was good for a laugh! He didn't drink the shot in one gulp either, I don't think he knew what shots were, also good for a laugh from everyone. I met two Italian women there that night which I thought was pretty amazing. They were from Italy, but living in East Putney, and I believe friends of Pratish. What was pretty cool were their names Francesca and Sandra, names of which I am so familiar with in my younger years living in an Italian family back in Windsor. We got into good discussions and I mentioned I come from an Italian family from Calabria, Italy.

Later on around midnight, everyone started departing and seperating, going their seperate ways either home or onto another club. We tried to get into the dance clubs in Putney, but they were full and some places were charging more than normal price just for a usually free entry. Some of the VSO group split up and went into a Chinese restaurant, but me, Pratish, Peter, Francesca, Sandra, and I believe 1 or 2 others went searching for a place to go. After looking around for over an hour, the ladies decided to go home to bed as they were very tired. We did the traditional Italian kiss on both cheeks before they left, and it was quite funny because while I am used to doing that all the time at home, the others were not.

At this time just the 3 of us, Peter, Pratish, and I, went off and took a taxi to Central London to find some late night dance clubs. It gets really crazy in Central London in the late nights/early mornings, and after driving around we found a place recommended by the driver. It was an 8.00 pound cover charge, but well worth it. The dance floor was packed with people, you could hardly move, but also with some extreme lights and music. It was more of a rave than a dance club, lots of security as well. We danced for about 2 hours and then took off to head home. We walked through Soho, which Pratish told me was the area of prostitutes, drag queens, pimps, and sex houses. The place was quite funny, but it was also the safest area to be in. The people in business there make sure no crime comes about, as its bad for business. Peter and I took a bus back home and returned to Wimbledon at about 4:30am. It was really time for bed!

You won't believe what happened to me today! I met Adam, a Netcorps Intern from Canada who was working in Sri Lanka. He noticed I had a VSO bag in the laundry room today and it was a huge coincidence he asked who I was, and we got to talking. He missed his flight to his next country and 3 month period, as he only finished his first country. His flight stopped in London before going off to Africa. We'll be going out for dinner tonight to catch up and talk, it seems really weird for me to know he's actually here because throughout my training Val Mowatt was always talking about Adam and Omar, 2 Netcorps working in Programme Offices. I just never knew Adam was actually already done his 3 month period in his first country. He wasn't supposed to even be at the YMCA, he just had no place to stay once he missed his flight. Then to meet in the laundry room? Its weird how some things happen.

After last night/this morning I never saw Peter again. We both went to our rooms, and he had plans to leave to another part of England today to stay 1 night with a returned volunteer he knew from Kenya. We both have flights tomorrow (Sunday, Oct. 27) at Heathrow airport, so hopefully I get to actually say bye to him. My flight is at 9:25pm Sunday night, while his is 10:00pm, and Xaiqian's flight in the mid-afternoon. Peter will have to make arrangements to get there from the place his staying, which is supposedly 2 or so hours away from Wimbledon. Xaiqian and I will be sharing a taxi at 1:30pm to the airport tomorrow, so at least I'll get to see her before I leave, as the last time I saw her was Friday at the office because she never came out with us Friday night.

This will be my last posting in London, I will arrive in Entebbe airport at 8:30am on Monday morning where VSO Uganda staff will meet me. VSO in the UK also making me bring a Cisco router to the country, which I didn't think I'd have enough room for, but I'm squishing it in my carry-on. I have to show it to customs first anyway, and fill out some forms to take it over.

Take care for now!

2002-10-22T07:01:00.000-04:00

Well, after all the vaccinations I received, the cold/wet weather in London, and starting up on my Lariam (anti-malarial) tablets, I was due to get sick. I think I got a sinus cold or something, I have a runny nose, plugged up ears, and a sore throat. Its not that bad, its just really annoying when I am in public places or during my training sessions that my nose will constantly run and I have no tissue so I have to use my hands or shirt.

I went to Central London on Saturday and visited places as I fell upon them. It seems I hit all the right spots, there were loads of tourists, and in the month of October when there should be no tourists at all. I had to take the Underground from Wimbledon to Victoria Street, where all the action in London is.

Sunday was great, except for the cold weather. Peter and I went to Leeds Castle out in Maidstone, Kent County. You can visit the Leeds Castle homepage HERE. The entire trip lasted about 2:30 hours there and another 2:30-3:00 hours back due to traffic. From Wimbledon we had to take the Underground to Victoria, get off there, then walk 15-20mins to the coach station (we purchased tickets the day before) where we were to take the National Express coach straight to Leeds Castle. The coach was pretty comfortable, sort of like a luxury bus with the same outfitting as a plane ride would give. I noticed a lot of European travelers on the coach and at Leeds Castle itself, as I met an Italian guy, Australian woman, and heard conversations in Russian.

Leeds Castle itself was very beautiful. You start off walking past a Duckery with a wide range of exotic ducks. Following that was a long winded path through a forest looking Wood Garden with many trees, and the atmosphere being very dark and wet. Once past, you can see the open fields and Leeds Castle in the back. Some of the outdoor cites included the Culpeper Garden, Lady Baillie's Garden (Lady Baillie was the last owner of the castle), the Fairview Area including a bar, restaurant, and shop, the Bird Aviary, the Maze and Grotto, the Greenhouses, and the Vineyard. The gardens were so nice to just imagine how much work was put into them. The Bird Aviary had many species of birds from all over the world, including talking parats, pirate parats called Macaws, Toucans, and strange ones with long necks that walk around. The Greenhouses housed a large number of rare plants, while the Maze and Grotto (one of my favourite parts) was really fun. You walk through a maze of trees to try and reach the center where a Grotto is to be, but not knowing exactly what one looks like yet. The maze was pretty tough actually, and once Peter and I got to the center we were disappointed. We walked up on top of this rock and peered down through a grate to see a small water fall, and thought that was it. We walked back down and around the other side where an entrance into a cave appeared. After walking through we knew the adventure wasn't over, as we seen many carvings and strange markings throughout this small cavern of spring water and wet stone floors.

We had a tour of the castle insides as well, starting around the back of the central sector of the castle in the basement Wine room. There were many barrels that were used to store wine from the vineyard, and beside it was a closed door with a glass window to look inside and see many shelves of wine bottles which was the wine cellar. Further up we walked through many circling stairwells and stone hallways to reach the Queen's Chambers. There was a huge king size bed with a mattress nearly doubling the size of it spreading itself outward in all directions like a bride's wedding dress, but longer. It was pink with sparkling gold on the edges, and a top cover over the entire bed just like the movies. The queen used this bed not to sleep, but to interact with visitors one at a time, where the visitors must kneel as to never being taller then the queen. On the opposite side was a smaller single sized bed, where the head/pillow area was covered with a tall circular thing with golden curtains on the front side. This was the queen's day bed in which she would rest after all the guests.

Further along, we came upon the queen's bathroom which consisted of hard wood flooring, a fireplace, and a little basin type tub with the same tall circular thing with curtains surrounding the tub. We visited some more rooms which were sought to be gallery type rooms with lots of artwork and artistic paintings. Along the one side of the castle we met up with many rooms consisting of Lady Baillie's workings, which she refinished and fixed up using famous European handy-men.

Some things I noticed throughout the castle tour was that every room had a huge fireplace, the floors were made up mostly of hard wood flooring or large stone rocks, there were paintings in every room (some being very large), and that the windows were all outlooking the bay in which the castle sat on.

Pictures are up on the photosite, use either the albums or the slideshows as you prefer. Also click on the pictures within the albums to enlarge them and see descriptions. Use the arrows and page indicators on the sides to flip through the albums. The only bad thing is that photos within the castle were prohibited, and I couldn't even sneak any because of castle employees being stationed in every room.

2002-10-19T06:24:00.000-04:00

Well, I was having troubles with my webpage and photosite yesterday. I think either their servers were down or some of my coding was bad, so I waited until today to revamp my entire coding on the webpage template and PhotoSite. If you experience a slight change in color on the webpage, it is probably because I input a different color since its too hard to memorize the color codes in HTML.

The PhotoSite is up! Its working better than ever, and I'm sure everyone will enjoy it. You DO NOT need a login and password this time, its an actual created page. Just click on the "PICTURES" link to the side of this page and it will take you directly there. You can view pictures as they are, or watch them in the slide show (recommended). Click on a picture by itself to enlarge it and to view titles and descriptions of that picture.

Last night was a lot of fun! VSO had someone from the IT Department leaving and everyone went to the pub in East Putney. The pub was jam packed, you couldn't move at all. There were over 20 of us just from our group. I drank rum and cokes all night, and after 10 of them I stopped counting. The most I ever drank in my life, period! I think the main reason for this was because 1/4 of my drinks were being bought from everyone. I met a lot of different people that night from VSO and even just friends of people from VSO. I didn't know how tipping works in the UK, so I asked some of the guys and they were laughing at me when I said I tipped �1.00 when I went up to buy drinks. They said you'll usually just tip when a receipt has been given to you at a table, like a restaurant, but when buying drinks at the bar, its already too expensive to be tipping.

After the pub, a few of us still wanted to keep going and headed to a free entry dance club place. My god, was it so small! Not even enough room to breathe, no wonder its free! We had some more drinks there and a little dancing. Peter and I missed the Underground to get back to Wimbledon, since it does not run passed midnight, so we had to take a bus. This is where things got interesting because we had no clue what we were doing, but got some help from this mexican guy at the bus stop. We get on and the driver says he can not give me change for the �10 note I had ready for my �0.70 fare. So I just went and sat down and got off on Broadway; free fare. I slept like a baby that night.

One thing I want to mention is that my posting times at the bottom of my messages are off. I am keeping them at Eastern Time, so when I write this message, I'm actually writing it 5 hours ahead of the posting time below.

2002-10-16T12:28:00.000-04:00

My week has been pretty good so far. I'm learning about VSO's role in the UK and how their networks are operated here in London as well as in the Programme Offices overseas.

For those who wish to know, they run Windows NT 4 Server for their servers, and run Windows NT 4 Workstation and Windows 95/98/ME for their workstations. I've learned about how they want their email servers configured, which is to use Microsoft Exchange 5.5 for the SMTP (Outgoing) mail server, and GFI Mail Essentials as the POP3 (Incoming) mail server. The Programme Offices are usually small and on tight budgets, so even the bigger ones might have up to only 2-3 servers. Sophos is their anti-virus software distributor, which automatically upgrades its definitions onto client computers once a month as they get upgrades. VA is their VSO Database which was created with SQL 2000. They just recently converted to this new database, after having an old Microsoft Access created one, so that it is easily replicated to all the VA servers worldwide. Lastly, they use SUN Accounts system which I will be learning to use tomorrow.

Today I was taken for a tour of all the VSO divisions and offices. They have 2 buildings, one with 5 floors and another with 4 floors. I never realized how much staff VSO had. I can't remember all the different divisions and departments they had, but some of them included, Recruitment, Overseas, IT (my division), Enquiries, Fundraising, Skills, Assessment, Medical, Communications, Resources, and Partnership Development. I probably met over 100 people today, including my RPO (Regional Program Officer) and RPM (Regional Program Manager) who are the direct links into the East Africa sector of the Overseas division. Anyone in East Africa must go through their RPM/RPO as a way of communication and vice versa. I also took a tour of the server room where I'm situated in the IT division, it was pretty big with tape backups and hard drive racks common throughout the room. They also had their backbone of their network there with fibre optics.

I'm in training with an IT Administrator from Kenya and a Program Director from China. Those are the people that work in the actual Program Offices in their countries. When I go to Uganda and Rwanda, I will be training their type of staff (only in Uganda and Rwanda) how to do daily tasks, such as backup, exchange server maintenance, VA maintenance, application training and support, network connectivity, etc. I think Uganda will be going from dial-up to a fixed link connection to the London headquarters soon, and I might participate in that. VSO also currently runs VPN (Virtual Private Network) connections to their remote Programme Offices. This is to provide data security while traveling over the internet to reach the certain offices. One of the guys training me reminds me of Cain from Trios College, he's a big computer buff that knows a lot and likes to talk. Only thing different is his strong accent.

As of my personal travel around here, I went to the pubs last night with VSO staff. We went to one called the Prince of Wales, which was supposedly the most expensive pub in East Putney having cost �2.50 per beer. Then eventually went to another one having cost �1.50 per beer. The drinking age is only 18 here, I thought it was 21, but that was one club's restrictions. On Saturday I want to go see Leeds Castle, and Sunday VSO will give us a tour of central London. The shopping centres are pretty cool here as well, I went to Argos to pick up a battery charger with Ni-Mh batteries, an alarm clock, and an adapter for Rwanda (since Uganda/England share the same outlet, but Rwanda is different, although same voltages). You purchase your items through a catalog by item number, then give the back of the warehouse your receipt to go and get your items.

I received �420 pounds on Monday all in tens and some twenties, so it looks like I'm rich, and also had all my accomodations and travel arrangements paid for. The UK Pound is weird, as the paper notes are similar to Canadian, but they are much fatter/wider, and have a hard time fitting into your wallet. Also the coins are a lot thicker, but smaller in diameter. They have .02, .05, .10, .20, .50, 1.00, and 2.00 coins. Cents being called Pence, and Dollars being called Pounds. Things here are cheaper in price, but come out to equal or more than Canadian prices with the exchange. A coke will cost �0.50 here, a meal at McDonalds or KFC being around �3.00, beer being �1.50-�2.50, and chocolate bars being �0.40, but everyone will tell you how expensive southern England is compared to other parts of Europe.

My meals during the week are usually the same, breakfast being served free at the YMCA which is a buffet style of continental servings. Toast, croissants, cereal, that sort of thing. I go down to the high road in East Putney to pick up a sandwich, juice, and snack from the little supermarkets there for about �3.00 for lunch. Dinner is usually fish and chips or fast food, as there aren't many fancy restaurants around Wimbledon, and the few there are I wouldn't feel comfortable going in by myself. The people training with me are on a more strict budget and get small things for dinner as well. The fish and chips is really good; they give you a full fish, skin and all, but no head.

I plan to do my laundry Thursday since Friday is a big day for me. I'm to have lunch with my RPM and RPO and discuss my trip, and then Friday evening we're having a going away party at the pubs for Chris, who worked here with VSO but is now leaving. One other thing is that I will be heading to Uganda first now, and then Rwanda.

Talk to you soon!

2002-10-13T14:34:00.000-04:00

Its a good thing I created this page, there would be no way I could remember all this stuff after 6 months.

Anyway, some more things I witnessed on the streets...

-I seen this intersection where you circle around a miridian until you can move on in heavy traffic. It looks really weird, but the cars I seen using it were semi-circling it to turn right (which would be our left in North America) since their directions are reversed.

-There is an emergency vehicle passing by my street at least every 15-20mins. Non-stop I hear them in the night.

-Pizza places; tons of them! Their delivery systems all run the same way. They drive these little motorbikes off and on the sidewalk where their stationed with the pizzas on the back in this box. They go pretty fast.

-You know the buttons you press to cross the road? Well over here once you press it, a "walk" sign lights up right on the screen where you push the button. Once you are finished crossing the light turns back for the traffic. They have those in the middle of the streets where intersections are too long to walk to cross the street.

Today was raining and cold, but it didn't stop me from going to The Tower of London. You can see what the tower was like HERE. I used The Underground system to get there and it was pretty easy, though the journey was a good hour. I went from Wimbledon to Tower Hill on the District, if you would like to see a map of my trip, go HERE.

The Tower of London is more like The Tower(s) of London because there were many of them with a single one standing out in the center. The one in the center was called the White Tower and it was the biggest and best part of the tour. I cought many pictures there and will be posting them as soon as I can. Every room had descriptive explanations of that particular room and even had maps and physical architecture displaying the part of the tower you are in. I explored a chapel, armouries, dining hallways, a toilet room, and many little stair walkways with steps so small that go upward in a circular motion that I thought the big guy in front was going to fall down on me.

Some of the other towers were The Bloody Tower and The Martin Tower. There were many more but those were the only ones which names I remember! I got pictures of the bedroom and study in The Bloody Tower. The Martin Tower was made up of diamonds and jewels with stories of how they are cut and placed on crowns and scepters. The precision they cut gems was crazy, they had displays of diamonds in different forms such as a heart or emerald shape, while the size of the diamond was smaller then your baby toenail!

Some of the other towers were really neat because they had places in the stone walls where candle holders and fireplaces were positioned. There were also many carvings in the walls from prisoners. They had those carvings easily spotted by covering them on the walls with white plastics. The dates from those prisoners were all different since many different events in the tower ranged from many years, going back from 1000-1900. Different kings who stayed in the tower had different towers built and maintenance on older ones.

There were many other buildings in the keep center as well. These included the Jewel House, the Army Regiment Museum, the Armoury Cafe, and other little town house buildings which looked to be the houses of peasants dating back to when the buildings were made. Inside and near the White Tower (center tower) was an area were Ravens were flocked. There were even signs displaying warnings that the ravens are dangerous and may attack! The tower itself was surrounded by water and walls and there was also a gate which was told to be the gate which many prisoners have escaped from. It was flooded with water and looked to be a flood gate.

Another cool thing about the tower were the guards. They are called the Yeoman Warders and dressed in red/black uniforms and each one had different historical information on that part of the tower. They were so friendly as to offer information and history and give directions to a certain tower.

On the outside of the walls and to the east was The Tower Bridge which crosses The Thames River. By the time I was done exploring I was so tired and cold from the rain. I was drenched and I had to continually take my camera out and put it back so it doesn't get wet.

That's it for now, be sure to look at the pictures of my trip when I post them probably this week. Hopefully the VSO office will have USB capable computer ports so I can connect my camera. Remember the login is "Draetor" and the password is "newpass" to view my pictures. Just click on the London album once you're in!

2002-10-11T14:19:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone, I am writing this to you from London. I'm actually staying in Wimbledon, a major city in the Greater London Area.

My plane left the Toronto airport at 6:30pm Thursday. The plane ride was luxurious except for the cramped space. We had a movie being played, radio, meals/snacks, drinks, and a pillow. I couldn't see outside except for take off and landing since it was pitch black in the night, but the landing looked like I was coming down from space and having a bird's eye view of the earth at night. The older man sitting beside me gave me good information on London, where he was born, but living in Edmonton. He told me about the sites, and that the Greater London Area's population is more than Canada itself. The airport wasn't busy at all since I landed at 5:30am in their time. I went through customs, stamped my passport, picked up my baggage, and headed for the Underground (their subway system). From here on out it was hell!

The Underground itself was great, but its just my luggage! I had no problems rolling it around, the problems came when I had to hop on and off stations, go up and down escalators, and climb mountains of stairs by picking up both luggage in opposite hands. I took the Piccadilly from the airport to Earl's Court. When I first got on the Piccadilly it was really empty, and I was lucky to catch it right away before it left. Each stop starting growing with more and more people, until it was packed. Its really easy to track your stops because there is a map right on the subway that shows you each stop, and then of course at each stop was a sign displaying the name of the stop. It was around 7-8am while I was riding the subways. This was the time they were most busy because of everyone going to work and school.

When I got off the Piccadilly, then hell got even worse. The Earl's Court station was bigger and it had maps pointing in different directions asking whether I want to go East or West. I choose the West one, had to climb a flight of stairs, and asked a concession clerk which way to Wimbledon. He told me I need to take the waiting train to my side (how convenient). I got on just on time before it took off. At this time there were many small children at the ages of 8-12 who ride the subway all alone to go to school. They were dressed in fancy clothes with ties and sports jackets, and the girls with skirts. They were even reading the newspaper!

When I got off at Wimbledon, I was ready to collapse. I stopped for a juice and muffin, while there were hundreds of people rushing by getting on and off the subway for work/school. I asked around how to get to the YMCA and then I was off, but first, another flight of stairs. I had to purchase some ticket to leave the station (no idea why), and when I got out into the streets, it was time to start dragging my luggage again. For about 15-20 mins I finally got to the YMCA, and they tell me they don't know if I am registered and check-in time was 12 noon anyway. It was 9:00am. I was pretty angry at this point. I just wanted to lay down and sleep. I gave them the email I got from VSO UK and they must have called to confirm my stay. They then told me I could check-in early, which I did, and gave me my key and my room ID as well as going over the rules of my stay. The housekeeper showed me to my room, and then I started to feel sick. Its a dorm sized room with a single bed, a counter/sink, and a closet. The bathrooms and showers are public and across the hall from my room. I just wanted to sleep so I did.

I wake up around 4:00pm. I started unpacking and thinking of what to do. I went over the rules of the YMCA and talked with reception. The good thing about the place is that they have all meals served each day, breakfast being free. They also have a laundry room.

I started walking around Broadway Street, which looks to be the main street here in Wimbledon. I seen a McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC. I also stopped at a Starbucks for a cappucino to relax and enjoy the scenery. There are many people on the streets, most of them always carrying a backpack. They have trollies/buses with 2 floors that are very frequent, but not sure how to use them and where they go, etc. The taxi cabs are like old mob cars with long stretched out yellow license plates, which look like bumper stickers. The women here are nice, as with every place, and the people are really friendly. I'm noticing the style of people is really interesting; just as we have the bar groups in Windsor/Canada, here in London they have groups of people ready to hit the bars as well, but only their dress is more formal and their conversation as well.

As of now I can't think of much more to tell you. My eletric adapter is working, but the plugs in my room are really weird. I have one outlet with 3 round holes, another with 3 rectanguler holes (which is the one my adapter goes into), and another with 2 semi-circle holes, which they say is for electric shavers. I can use my shaver in the rectanguler outlet, but there is no mirror there! My alarm clock works when plugged in, but the battery does not work. No idea why, I might have to pick up a new alarm clock that works on battery. Its lonely being alone and not knowing what to do or where to go, but I think once Monday comes along and I meet with VSO and the others who will be training with me I will be more comfortable. Just 1 person to walk around with me and go site seeing will be more than enough.

Happy reading, I will write when I have more interesting things to talk about. I have 30mins into this message from my time display, since I am using an internet cafe.

2002-10-07T18:20:00.000-04:00

Notice: Just an update on the webpage...

I have changed the look and feel of the page and added some easier to navigate links on the side. I also have my archive page up and running. For those who don't know what the archive page is for, its used to store previous articles I have made in the past by the month. I have configured my home page to store only the latest 20 posts at a time, and therefore if you need to find a posting a long ways into the past, you must use the archive page. Just click on "Archive" on the right hand side and it will give you a listing of dates where all the posts created between those dates will be found and viewed seperately from the latest posts. When you want to return to the latest posts, just click on "Home" and it will return you to the main page.

Also, I created a Contact link on the right hand side as well. Just click on it to automatically have my address entered into your default mail composer to write an email. If you have any questions or comments on the webpage, feel free to contact me.

2002-10-07T15:13:00.000-04:00

3 more days and counting! I will begin packing today as to make sure I got everything I need.

I would like to thank everyone who went out of their way to purchase me gifts before leaving. I did not expect to be pampered with the luxeries of Canadian clothing before leaving, and appreciate those who did this. These people include, my parents (Pete and Marlene Bafaro), my grand'parents (Pietro and Elvira Bafaro), my god'parents (Frank and Rose Pirillo), Don and Angela Zanettin, Sam and Rosa Pirillo, Cathy Stach, and Sheila Johnson.

Farewell for now, and hopefully I will be able to write an article or two about how wonderful London is.

2002-09-28T12:45:00.000-04:00

As of now, I will be using Black's Photo Album to post pictures during my 6 months because I do not run my own web server, and I do not wish to pay extreme costs for minimal space provided by public hosting companies. I do not know if I will be able to even upload pictures at all due to the limited connection conditions in those countries. For those who wish to see if I post anything, go to My Photo Album.

2002-09-27T11:00:00.000-04:00

This is my introductory message to start my travel archive before going overseas.

I have been selected by VSO Canada for an IT Trainer position for 3 months in Rwanda and 3 months in Uganda. I leave October 10th, 2002 for which I will be going to London, England for 2 weeks of job specific training. From there I will leave directly to Rwanda where I will take place in an ICT (In Country Training). This is to teach me things I might need to know while in a different country; more like an orientation. I do not know where I will be living yet, my accomodations will be given when I arrive by VSO's Program Office Staff.

For those who wish to know, my current email address is draetor24@cogeco.ca, but will be draetor24@eudoramail.com while overseas. This is only because I need to switch to web-based mail.

Stay tuned to this page for more on my travel adventures!