Out with a bang...

Duh! What other way is there to go? Well I am sitting here in the Amsterdam airport trying to spend 10 hours of a stopover doing something (city tour maybe?). I am a little in shock at how fast "High Speed Internet" really is. I had actually forgotten. I bought one hour and now don't know what to do with it.

Ok if you aren't super quick on the uptake you will realise that Amsterdam is not Uganda which means I have left. Of course I had to go out in style (but not too stylish). About one week ago I was looking at my e-ticket to see how long of a stopover I had here in Amsterdam. I thought I would double check my flight date of May 31. Oops guess I am flying one day earlier...no big deal I can do that. Then I peaked at my visa (no idea why). Turns out my visa was misprinted and had April 1, 2008 as my exit date. I didn't think much of it until I talked to one of the vet students who informed me it would cause me some serious troubles at the airport. So I searched through my info from the Uganda High Commission in Canada. I tried the email adress they had given me...bounces back, the phone number 1.....not in use, phone number 2....also not in use. Then I went to the net. Looked up another email adress....it worked. So I waited for 5 days......no response. Then I tried calling the THREE other numbers listed on the website (all different from the previous two I had been given) ALL not in use. By this time I am about to depart for Kampala (the capital and the location of the offices). I leave early on Thursday morning but for several reasons I don't make it to the city in time to hit the offices. I wake up early the next day and go to the offices. I show them the person I am looking for to help me and they tell me she isn't in today. I explain that my visa had run out and that I had a flight that day. They found someone who could maybe help me. I told her my situation and she looked me in the face saying "Where is your letter from your place of work?" I told her I didn't have one and without batting an eye she told me I had better get one from Mbarara (now this would mean travelling back at least 4 hours....one way). "Did I mention that I am leaving TODAY?" She has me talk to another women. This women looks at me and says "You think I can just stamp this thing and you can go? We have a process here sir." Okay yeah I understand but is there anyway we can speed up the process say in like 2 minutes? She informs me that I must fill out a form and write a letter myself pleading my case. I muster over a letter for sometime and fill out this form present it to the woman and she smiles, stamps and sends me on my way. What? I don't know if she was just trying to intimidate me or what but she was really casual about the whole thing and I didn't even need to use the giant stack of money I had brought for bribery (hey this place is corrupt ok?).

Next it is time to catch a special hire. I talk to a man who agrees to take me and in the meantime I decide to check my email. While using the net I heard this huge commotion outside and people are running after a truck, screaming and crying. With some help from a friend I learn that some little boy was hit by a car and killed. The people were chasing after the truck as he was trying to get away. People were in serious distress...talk about feeling helpless. I really was in shock and didn't even know what to do (I never saw the boy or anything but it was still a really horrible situation). When my special hire showed up I was a little skeptical, like all cars in Uganda it wasn't in the greatest condition but the man seemed friendly and my friends were escorting me to the airport. We are trucking along just fine 6 km to the airport when I hear the distinct sound of a flat tire. We pull off to the side and assess the situation (which includes everyone peeing on the side of the road as well). The driver looks a little distressed and I learn that we have no jack. We try lifting the car (yes lifting....they actually thought we could do it but they quickly realised it wasn't happening). We then proceded to try and flag down someone on the way to the airport....now if you think about airports....not a lot of people have the extra time to stop and help someone with a flat. After some vigorous waving another taxi stops....pretty much throws his jack out the window and continues on his way telling us to find him at the airport. We put on the very shaky small small tire and drive really slowly to the airport. The long and the short of it is...I made it and on time (even early actually). My good byes at the airport were emotional for some (just a few friends from Kampala).

It is still kind of surreal that I lived in Uganda for 4 months, 4 months which have already gone by. I don't know if I will ever return, certainly not in the near future. But I have learned so much about life, people and even myself. I will do some "back blogging" once I reach home as there is still a good chunk (yep it's a chunk) I want to tell you.