It's official! :D

It feels like SO much has happened since my last blog post!

As I mentioned last time, after Christmas I was living with a host family. I stayed with them until Jan 19th. I really enjoyed my time there! They are very nice people who cook super good food! My daily routine basically went like this the last month: Wake up at 7, have breakfast (milk tea, fruit, bread, eggs), go to school for language training, hang around with the other eight in my language group, head home around 5 or 6, sit in the outside cooking area with my family, fetched water/helped out if they let me, took a bucket bath when it got dark around 7, ate dinner around 8-8:30, then went to my room, maybe talked to some friends on the phone, and usually asleep by 10. A few times we hiked up the hill behind my house. So pretty! My mom took my to her garden and showed me different food growing, I went to the neighbor kids house a couple of times and took pictures of them, and sometimes we watched Game of Thrones or played a game. One of my last days there, I cooked for my family. I made chapati (which is this really yummy flat bread kind of thing that they eat all the time here) but I put Nutella on it so it was kind of like a crepe! I also buttered some bread and fried it in a pan. Then I scrambled eggs and mixed in some caramelized onions. All of this I cooked outside over a charcoal stove.  I also gave them some soy sauce to put on their rice. They loved it all! Our last day with them, we had a "thank you/farewell" party for all the families. There were speeches, performances, and food! My family gave me a Runyankore name: Kobusingye which means Peace. They said so many very nice things about me and how they were sad to see me go. I miss them!

With my family at the farewell party!
They gave me a hat, photo album, and sign :D

 We also had our language proficiency test. I scored Intermediate Mid!! We needed to get Intermediate Low. (It goes Novice, Intermediate, Advance) YAY! After we left home stay, we all met in a conference center near Kampala for Supervisors workshop. It was SOOOOO good to see everyone again! After everyone arrived and tons of hugs, we all hung our and caught up. There was a bar near by so we went there and danced/watched a football game. We went shopping for things we might need for our sites the next two days and our supervisors showed up. The workshop consisted on everyone getting on the same page as to what our jobs will be here. Very informative! 

But then the day came... SWEARING IN!!!!! On the 22nd, we all got dressed up and went to the US Ambassador's house where we were sworn in as OFFICIAL Peace Corps Volunteers!!!! I can't believe it! Training is over!

The SouthWest group in our snazzy custom made katengye
outfits with the Ambassador and Country Director. 

Yesterday we sad goodbye to each other once more and left for our sites. It'll be three months this time until we're all together again. It was very sad to separate, but I was happy to arrive in Ibanda once more. The sisters at the convent I'm living at came out to welcome me back. They had made a cake and lots of good food for my return! We had a very fun dinner full of laughter then I went to my room and kind of looked through all my luggage. Today I came to town to use the internet and pick up a few more things. 

Next week, I will be getting settled in to my place. Figuring everything out and organizing my room. I'll also be going to a Ugandan reading working shop with other teachers at my school. The week after is when the school term is supposed to start! Whoa. 

It feels like forever ago that I was boarding a plane out of Springfield, but it was only a little over two months ago! Crazy to think about where I'll be 25 months from now. Just know that I miss all of you everyday! I wish you could be here with me :) Wish me luck with the beginning of school! I'm so nervous! O_O haha!

<3 Hannah

PS. I got a guitar! :D I plan to learn it during the next two years. We'll see how it goes ;) hahaha!