May 3

 I'm here and safe! The internet sucks and wouldn't let me send
anything yesterday. I have an email I wrote that I will try and send
if this is successful, but I want to send this short one first so you
know I am just fine!
Love you all and thank you for writing me so much. I really love it.
Love, Stef

I'm here! I’m safe! And I have internet! The internet is not dial up,
but it is pretty freaking slow, so I am starting this email in Word
and will transfer it when the page loads.
So, you will be pleased (ha) to know that I was robbed within my first
two minutes in Uganda. I lost $50 dollars, which isn’t too much, but
is still irrtating. We had to pay for visas when we got here. I handed
the lady at the counter my immigration sheet, my passport and (I
thought) my $50 dollars. However, after she took my picture and
fingerprinted me and stuff, she was like “that will be $50 dollars.” I
told her I already paid, but she was pretty insistant that I hadn’t.
Also, there was some guy lurking behind me pretty close too. So I
don’t know which one of them ripped me off, but someone did. I’m kind
of upset about it, but am taking the attitude of “wel, it already
happened, no use getting upset.”  You all should be proud.
Another unfortunate story (and then I promise we will get to the good
stuff): all of our luggage is completely gone. Including,
unfortuantely, my carryon that had all of my clothes in it.  I
wasn’tplanning on checking it, but when we went to board the flight,
they told us that the overhead comartments were full and we would have
to check them (me and Savannah). They told us we could pick them up in
DC.  Unfortunately, our flight from salt lake was late. We only had a
47 min layover in Atlanta anyway, and the the flight was 30 mins late.
By the time the plane had stopped and they opened the doors, we had 10
minutes until our plane left. We literally had to sprint across the
airport. I thought my lungs would explode and it felt like the amazing
race. Chree, we are going to have to train a lot more before we go on
the show. Luckily we made the flight, but our luggage didn’t. Savannah
and I went to baggage claim, but our carry ons were nowhere to be
found. We went and talked to the lady in baggage issues office, and
she said that it made the next fligght and would be there at 11:37.
Unfortuantely, our flight to Ethiopia boarded at 11. So we had to
leave it in the states knowing full well that it had no intention of
transferring to Africa until we landed in Entebbe and filed a claim.
However, when we landed in Entebbe, we found out that NONE of the
checked luggage got here. SO we all only have one change of clothes.
The airport people said they would be here tomorrow. I hope they are
right. Luckily, Etiopian airlins is AWESOME and gave me a toothbrush.
I am struggling typing on this computer. I guess it has been too long
since I tped on a non laptop. They keys are too big and I keep missing
some, but spell check is set to Ugandan (Luganga) so it doesn’t catch
anything.
The flights weren’t too bad. Kind of awesome actally. May I recommend
that you fly Ethiopian Airlines as often as possible? Seriously, it
was amazing. It was like first class. The seats were so big, we each
had individual televisions, they fed us THREE HUGE meals, and they had
tons of movies. It was great. Delta was small and lost my luggage. Not
impressed.
Now we are in Uganda and it is AWESOME. The in we are staying at is
adorable. We each have our own bedrooms and bathrooms. The beds have
mosquito net coverings, so it turns out I didn’t need to buy some
anyway. The people who own it are really nice. Also, the inn has an
internet room attached to it! It really is very slow, but it is close
and convenient and cheap (about a dollar an hour) so I should be able
to email pretty regularly. I did already have to kill one spider
though. But I took care of it like a grown up. Be proud.
It is really really green here. It is also very humid. I can already
tell that I smell, which is unfortunate because I don’t have a change
of clothes.  Or any soap. OR deoderant. Or anythng except the peanut
M&Ms and books that were in my purse.
Tomorrow we are going to the clinic to meet the people we will be
working with. Then we will have training and stuff. It should be very
awesome.
I am horribly jetlagged, bt it is only 5 pm here. I have to make it
about 4 more hours before I can sleep. Meh…..
BTW, I never want to check my bank account here. Gmail is a secure
site, but I don’t want to risk any financial whatever. So, will you
check my bank account periodicaly and make sure that I haven’t been
hacked, I have enough money, and nothing looks awry? Thanks a ton.
I’m very glad you got back on the bicycle. You are going to be so hot
when I come home. Aarently so will I because Tyler (the boss) says
they eat meat here the way they o in China, cartilege, bones, veins
(sorry candace) and all. Sick.
Welp, will you share this email with the rest of the fam?
Love you family!!!!!!
Love, Stefanie