Decisions, Decisions

Well, it's official, I've finally made a decision about what to do with myself once I get back from Uganda. I'm going to attend Marquette University in the fall to get a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering in the program of Water Resources Engineering. I have decided this because they offered me the Trinity Fellowship, which pays for my tuition and gives me a monthly living stipend, which is difficult to turn down when you don't have any money :). I'm pretty excited about it now that I've finally picked what I'm doing, and already have an army of people on helping me figure out the next step. Mom and Dan are going to go apartment scouting for me even before I get back, so we'll see what those two pick out, it could be interesting. Although I guess I trust their judgment, so fire away kids. Watch out Milwaukee, because here I come...

Casey arrived about a week and a half ago, and has been enjoying the busy and exciting life offered by the village of Kantare. I think she's gotten about 12 hours or more of sleep every day and finished about 6 books in the time she's been here, but she says she's enjoying it, so I hope she's not lying to me to make me feel better. Her respite is about to end however, she leaves today for Kisiizi Hospital and will begin her work doctoring people on Monday. In the meantime she'll settle into the guest house and enjoy the comforts of hot water showers and a constant supply of internet and electricity again. Not to mention cell phone coverage. She did enjoy getting to know my cows, and even could name a few by site by the time we left the village. The goats however, I have a feeling she'll never miss. I'm not sure if you know this about them but they all sound like children being tortured, and it's not a pretty sound. I apparently can tune it out completely at this point, but for someone new it can be quite distracting and disconcerting. Hopefully she can also learn to tune them out because I'm fairly certain that even Kisiizi has a constant stream of goats going by there, but again I could be wrong.

So, it's nearing the end, and I've got a lot to look forward to still. Next week final exams begin at the school, so only one day left of actual teaching (Monday is a holiday here) then it's time to start grading their finals. I have to enter the grades into the report forms then it's time for me to head off to Kampala to complete all of the paperwork I have to do to close out my service. As soon as that's over, Casey and I head off to the magical land of Egypt, where we plan to ride camels off into the desert and view the pyramids astride the backs of the dromedaries. Should be fun, although I don't think Casey is looking forward to it, considering her last stint riding animals involved some fierce tree gripping to avoid broken legs and a nasty spill into some burning nettles. I've told her the desert doesn't have trees or nettles, but she's still a bit apprehensive. Wish us luck, and hopefully we won't run into any returned mummies or cursed pyramids. Happy Easter everybody!

Peace