Trees on the Brain

Well I'm halfway through my weekend tree blitz.....and I've reached 64 so its coming along. I'm trying to get 100 species finished before I have to assemble it all and distribute the information to each of the youth co-operatives under the youth project.

The trees out here are very impressive! So many elaborate adaptations in tropical plants. They make our temperate flora look quite mondane. I sure hope they accept me into this tropical forestry program for next year!!!!

A Successful Seven Hills Classic

Over the weekend I competed in the first annual "Seven Hills Classic" Ultimate Tournament in Kampala. As a member of the organizing committee for the tournament I couldn't help but be skeptical about the outcome considering my experience with tournaments in this country - but I was happily surprised when everything went super smoothly! The weather was perfect (in fact it was so good that I've already started to peel), the fields at the International School Uganda were beautiful, and the games were close and competitive....it was a great weekend!

The team I was playing on, the Kabakas, was a great bunch. It was captained by Chris and Nathan who are both very experienced and provided great leadership. The most exciting aspect for me was that as a group of males and females of different ages from many different countries we were able to come together and play well and fairly as a team. That's what allowed us to win the tourney undefeated.

We all have Paige (coach) to thank as she put an enormous amount of work into both organizing the tournament and teaching us to love the game every Sunday afternoon at practice. I'm definitely hooked on Ultimate already and can't wait to play a tournament in England on my way home!

A very Tough Decision

After a ridiculous amount of consideration, I have decided not to extend my internship with UCA. Instead I will be finishing up work during the first week of March, traveling around Uganda, Rwanda, and hopefully to Ethiopia, and then heading back home....after a visit to England if at all possible! I was reluctant to end in March because I didn't want to "give up" (especially after our disastrous tournament experience), but after thinking it through I feel that I can accomplish a lot in my last month with UCA, and then move on to other things. I will be finishing up my book of tree species information and working with environmental organizations to organize some trainings for youth co-operative groups. Also I will be involved in organizing an environmental song, dance and drama competition between primary schools of Buyobe Kayunga at the end of the month which will be really exciting. I absolutely love Uganda and it will be VERY hard to leave this beautiful country and all the great people I've met here - but sometimes the difficult decision is the right one. I honestly plan to come back someday in a different capacity.