pit latrines and bucket baths

first off, i'm alive and well! uganda is AMAZING and i have moved into my host family and have started training. my family is really great. there are 4 children ages 4-12 and the mom speaks english pretty fluently.

over the last couple of days all the discussion between us volunteers in trainging has been our new host families, the food, the pit latrines, and how best to execute a bucket bath. So let me update you all...i have already told you my family is great, I now see that no matter where you are though, people still have the same problems and like to talk about the same things. As far as food is concerned, I am really enjoying it. We basically eat the same things over and over especially the matoke....ugandans LOVE their matoke. All of you out there that are wondering about the Veg thing---I'm still going strong. It's really easy to be a vegetarian here, but everyone thinks you can't eat meat because you are allergic so they just feel really sorry for you.

food naturally leads into the next topic of pit latrines...basically the toilets here consist of a cement floor with a VERY small rectangular hole in the floor leading to a deep (hopefully) pit. If you're lucky some even have wood slabs on either side of the hole to stand on so you can avoid the danger zone in the surrounding area where people have missed the hole:) the other toliet issue is that all of them are outside and since it's discouraged to go out late at night, some volunteers have also had to get used to using a susu... lucky for my, my family has an indoor flush toilet that can be used during such hours. Since coming here though, i have noticed that going to the bathroom is no longer a relaxing or very private experience.

hand in hand with getting used to the pit latrines is getting used to taking bucket baths...for anyone who has tried to wash in a bucket you know what i mean....basically, you fill a bucket with tap water (ie cold water) and then stand next to it and try to splash yourself clean. needless to say, my legs are getting quite hairy and my hair is pretty greasy-I'm sure I'll improve my technique with time. hopefully.

So that's all for now.... i am still loving my decision to come to this Amazing place where your internet is dependent on a generator (and also very very slow...it took me 4 minutes just to get to this page...i'm timing because we pay by the minute) and the temp goes from hot hot hot to raining and hailing in 5 minutes flat. Please continue to keep me in your thoughts and/or prayers...you're all in mine. Peace and love!!