My Temporary Home

We’re staying at Tank Hill Hostels in Mbarara. Usually, the hostel houses local university students, but since it’s the summer, the rooms are empty and available for our use.

[The first ramp you see (closest to where I stood taking the photograph) leads to our dining area. The second one, which is further down, leads to our living areas.]

[This is the hallway once you enter the second door I pointed out above and make a quick left.]

[Looking in the opposite direction of the hallway picture. A bird accidentally got in one day, so I snapped a picture before Claire opened the window to let it fly away.]

[The view looking into my room. Desk on the right is for working, since there were less ants on it. Desk on the left is for my bagged toiletries and other assorted things.]

The rooms are single rooms so that’s quite nice (especially when we’re spending so much time with our group members during the day), and each bed is equipped with a mosquito bednet. I’m on the first floor with the other rising seniors, while the rest of the group is upstairs on the second floor.

[View looking out of my room.]

[My mosquito bednet makes me feel (1) quite safe and (2) like a princess. I'm a fan. I sleep with my alarm clock, eyeglass case for when I take off my glasses to sleep, and my dad's headlamp underneath the net with me.]

The rooms definitely take some getting used to, though. For example, I’m not a huge fan of bugs and other creepy crawlers, but you definitely co-exist with them here. I quickly “unchose” the first room I picked because it was infested with grasshoppers, but it turns out that grasshoppers are EVERYWHERE – in the hallways, in the showers with you, on the sinks watching you brush your teeth, chilling on the sides of walls. I’m pretty sure I saw a lizard just run up my wall just now, and I saw my first ever in-person praying mantis last night (it flew at me after I tried taking close-up pictures of it). I don’t like you any more than you like me, buddy.


Other things that will take getting used to: Brushing my teeth with sterilized water (bringing Aquafresh Extreme Clean was a mistake; I think it’s probably the most foamy toothpaste in the world), showering with cold water (nope, still not used to it), and the squat toilets we have on our floor (!). Oh man.