One more week of training!

So it's been awhile since I last posted. I am entering my last week of training. On Tuesday, we will give a final "Qualifying Presentation" and then on Friday is our language exam. If we don't pass, we only become a "provisional volunteer" and then have to re-take the exam after 3 months at site and pass then. Hopefully, I'll pass it the first time. I feel as if I'm doing okay - just need to get some vocab memorization done before the test. On Wednesday, we finally find out our site placements. Usually, this is done about half-way through training or a little after, but this is the first time they're waiting until 1 week before we swear-in to let us know where will be living for the next 2 years so needless to say, we are all very anxious to find out our sites. I will post on the 20th or 21st where my site will be, since that will be the next time I'll have internet.

As for how the last few weeks have been - they've been good. Nothing too exciting to report. We went to the U.S. Ambassador's house two weekends ago for the day to go swimming in his pool and to meet him, which was great. Yesterday, we went to Jinja, the source of the Nile. The town is so nice - very western, lots of foreigners (everyone goes white water rafting there - can't wait to try it out!). Other than that, I've just been in training, spending time with my homestay family and hanging out with my friends. No big sickness/diseases to report - thank goodness! There have been days where I was not feeling well, especially in the last couple weeks, but nothing major at all - no throwing up or diarrhea.

I am definitely getting tired of training; we all are, but that's to be expected. To help us get through it, us girls have been having sleep overs at each other's houses - it definitely helps to just get together, cook good food, watch movies, etc. It only hit me a couple weeks ago that I really want to move to site, live on my own, have a bit more freedom and start working instead of sitting in "class" all day. But it's finally almost here. We leave our homestays on the morning of the 20th, go to Kampala for a few days and swear-in on the 22nd! It will be sad to leave all my fellow trainees, but we will be able to visit each every so often in the first three months. We don't have any vacation time during the first 3 months, but we still have our usual 2 weekends off/month so we'll be able to visit each other then. I will also miss my homestay family, especially the 2 little kids. I really enjoy them - they're so well-behaved. I think they're taught to not "annoy" visitors so they would always leave me alone, say hi when I came home, but not much else. But when I initiated always playing with them and making time for them, that's when they really warmed up to me. It's the little boy's birthday on Monday so I got him a piece of cake and a present, a number "5" candle and a party hat - they don't really celebrate birthdays here, but I wanted to do something special/American for him. They're just so adorable!

I don't have much else to write, I think. I heard there was a stabbing/killing at my college a couple days ago, which is sad to hear. As for Easter, I won't be doing much of anything except studying for my language exam and preparing for my presentation. My host family isn't very religious, I think, so they're not going to church or doing anything major for the holiday, which is okay with me, since I really haven't celebrated Easter in years. But Happy Easter and Passover to everyone! And Happy Birthday to my sister, Wendy! Hope everyone is doing well!