I just spent over an hour talking to the Boy on Skype! And I’m still kind of in shock. I figured that I would just test the number that tBM gave me, but I really wasn’t expecting it to work. And I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear his voice. Which, of course, promptly made me tear up and cry while we were chatting. I managed to spend just about all of my newly purchased Skype credit, but it was most definitely well worth it.
I’m happy and a bit confused and a bit of several other things. I’m also extremely optimistic and relieved and so very, very hopeful.
We talked until the connection got really spotty and severed again and he went to bed. He’s been extremely busy, as expected. And he’s actually staying with a family that gets some electricity in the evenings. There are also internet cafes in a few places, although they might not be worth it since apparently it takes over 8-10 minutes to load Gmail. We talked about the bugs (of which there are many, and none of them are nice), some of the domestic politics (polygamy, and the host mothers all think that the appearance of the PCVs represent how well they are being taken care of – some have gone so far as to keep track of what the PCV has worn already, and not letting them leave the house if they have on a duplicate outfit), training (the Boy has to learn two languages, not one), and several other things. He sounds like he’s doing well and having a good time; he went out for beers with some of the other PCVs the other night.
It was mentioned that packages (anything in boxes) are expensive for them to pick up what with customs and whatnot, so they might not really be possible after the training period is over. Also, mail is kind of difficult to get too, since they aren’t in Kampala proper, and someone has to run over there to pick up all the letters. After training, it might get even worse.
But we have phone. And that’s more than I could have hoped for.
