There is a certain moment when reality sets in. In Uganda, that was when I (Brandon) left the airport in a taxi at about midnight. After my bags were thrown in the back, I proceeded to walk to the driver's door of the car. "Oh, it's backwards here!" I commented, walking around to the other side of the vehicle. After hearing the driver chuckle, I said "Well, I guess it's just different." Who am I to say whether Canada or Uganda is the one doing things backwards?
Setting off, I was instantly glad that I was in the passenger seat. Even though it was midnight, "boda bodas" (motorbikes) were everywhere and there was also no shortage of people on the streets. Honking horns, flashing lights, and people overwhelmed my senses. We jolted through craters in the road like it was nothing, and I soon realized that stop lights were only a suggestion at night. Even though I had just finished travelling for more than 24 hours with very little sleep, there was no way I was falling asleep on this drive!
At close to one in the morning I made it to the house where I am staying, and had no trouble falling asleep.
The saying goes that the early bird catches the worm... I don't know if it was worms they were after, but the birds sure let me know when the sun came up! At about 5:30am, I woke up and wasn't sure whether I was sleeping in a house or a jungle. Singing birds, screeching birds, hollering birds, and probably a host of other kinds of birds welcomed the day.
Now, after being here for almost a week, things aren't quite so "new." The drives feel normal, the people are friendly, and I am settling into a routine -- and my body is continuing to adjust to the 10 hour time change! I've met quite a few people who had interesting stories to share, and have learned a lot in the 4 days of training that I've had so far.
In this first week of training, the mornings have been ground sessions where we discussed topics such as flight in proximity to terrain and marginal weather, work load management, problem solving and decision making, and situational awareness. The afternoons have been in the flight simulator learning the new aircraft and MAF procedures along with some emergency practice. This has been good learning and I am excited to actually start flying the airplane on Monday!
Back in Canada, Nova and I (Nellicia) look forward to our daily video calls with "dada." It is great to hear some of his stories and insights, and we thought we would share a few messages and snippets of conversation to get a sense of some of the things we are hearing!
"That drive was quite the experience, I'm telling you."
"It's like I was sleeping in a jungle!"
"I must say, the kids are really cute here."
"Home!(?)"
"Find the 🐒" (You can see if you can find it in one of the pictures!)
In the middle of a video chat: "I just pushed the space bar." "...okay, and what happened?" "Nothing, I was just trying to pause you."
