Church in Kigali

Blogging is not an exact science. I find myself going through the day thinking about what I will write on my blog or in my journal at night. But i often forget cool things that happen to me and then remember them later after I have published the blog. Here is something I remembered from yesterday that I wanted to share:

As we were walking back to our compound and turning up our driveway to unlock the gate, we heard a child yelling. We looked around and saw a young boy and his little sister running towards us with open arms yelling "Mzungu, Mzungu, Mzungu!!" I kneeled down and opened my arms, and the little boy jumped into my arms. I hugged him for a little while and then put him back down. It was one of those awesome moments that makes you feel really good inside. Being hugged so tightly by a stranger. The boys mother laughed and told our assistant that her son just really loves white people. Regardless, I really needed that hug!

This morning I got up at 8am and started getting ready for church. We had pancakes for breakfast, which I loaded with peanut butter, bananas and honey. It was a yummy combination. I went to church with Fiona's group. The church was called Christian Life Assemblies, which is the name of the church I go to at college in PA. It actually reminded me a lot of my church. We sung some worship songs in English and the message was also in English. It was a bit on the long side, but this is Africa, not the US. After the service we were taking to a welcome center for visitors. They were very kind to us and are going to try to find us a home cell Bible study group to meet with on Wednesday nights. This is exciting because I really want to make some Rwandan friends. We walked with some of Fiona's friends to the bus stop. They were incredibly friendly and I had a nice talk with a guy named Mark. I'm not gonna lie, Rwandan men are very attractive and charming. :) We went back to Chez Lando (our neighborhood), and found a cafe to eat at.

One thing that is hard for me to get used to is the African time.. I was very hungry when we sat down, and really needed to eat right away before I got faint and sick. It took 30min for someone to take our order, and then an hour until we got it. I had to run to the supermarket to get a snack because I was so hungry. Fiona's sister, Angel, was with us. She is 19 and came home from the university for the weekend. She was very nice and spunky, and I enjoyed talking with her. Everyone is very friendly to us. I love how warm and welcoming Africans are.

Sara Groves, a Christian singer, is coming to Rwanda to give a concert in Kigali. She actually does a lot of work with Food for the Hungry (the NGO I am studying with). She has been to Rwanda before and here is a music video and song inspired by her time here. It moved me to tears when I watched it, probably because it is about the same things I have been experiencing. Check it out:



Back at the house I relaxed for a little bit and then went with some friends to another church in the evening. This church we walked to. It was an Evangelical church I think, and we went to the 5:30 English service. The service started with an hour of worship songs. Everyone was clapping and dancing, it was a lot of fun. The message was given by one of the senior pastors from Rick Warren's Saddleback church! He is in Rwanda visiting and we were blessed with the opportunity to hear him speak. I spaced out a lot of what he said because a lightening storm and rain started outside and I was thinking of having to walk back. When the service was over we went out into the rain and headed for home.

I was really angry because a few of our group, including both guys, ran ahead and left three of us girls behind. It is only our second night here, and it is not safe for white girls to walk around at night. That is so not cool. I miss guys being chivalrous and caring if I got home safely. If guys walk me back to my dorm room at Messiah, they definitely should in Rwanda.. Okay, I'm done venting that. Dinner was really good. We had chocolate cake for dessert that was excellent.

I called home for an update on Opa. My Opa died this morning. He had been struggling with poor health for a long time, so it was expected, but that doesn't make it much easier. I am glad that I got to go see him over Christmas break. I am really sad that I am across the world and can't be there for the funeral to say goodbye. It doesn't feel real right now. all I know is that Otto Scheid was an incredible man, who loved to give a piece of his heart to everyone he met. He did some incredible things, and I will miss him dearly. Now he is with Jesus, no doubt asking where the ladies are so he can give them a piece of candy and recite a poem for them. What a man..

First Day in Kigali, Rwanda

I had planned on sleeping until 10, at least, but I woke up at 8am instead. I slept very well last night. I was pleased to find out that somebody else had already gone outside to hook up the water pump so that we could have water pressure. I took a fantastic shower (in a real tub!), and finally felt clean.

At breakfast we had bagels which was something to celebrate! I love bagels. And delicious Celestial Seasoning tea from the US. After breakfast we had an orientation to Rwanda talk with Aryn. We went over the rules again, and learned some things about how this month will go. I think it will be a stressful month with so many things to do, but a good one. We put our money in the safe and changed the sim cards in our phones. Lunch was quesadillas and pica de gaillo. It was an amazing meal. Sure that sounds so simple but having quesadillas was so comforting! It was like being home. This morning is the last Saturday of the month, which is a day of mandatory community service for Rwandans. Every family must send at least one person to report for cleaning duty. Everything was shut down for the morning.

Vestine (the Rwandan version of Faith) came with our Rwandan assistants for the day : Henry, Fiona and Issac. They took us out to Kigali and showed us the transportation system. It was very strange being in a place that actually follows traffic laws. We couldn't just stand on the side of the road and flag down a taxi, we had to walk to the designated areas, and use cross walks. There were traffic lights and the streets were very clean! I kept trying to compare Kigali to Kampala.. but I had to stop.

Kigali was very nice and was a lot more like the US than I expected. People also didn't stare as much at us as they did in Uganda. Our first stop was a really cool coffee shop. I ordered a drink that i was told was not coffee.. but it definitely was. So I drank my first full coffee today. Let's just say it woke me up... We went to the super market and the mall and looked around. The prices were at least twice that of those in Uganda. Even if it is still cheaper than the US, we were all making comments about how crazy expensive everything was, and how we would wait to buy stuff when we go back to Uganda. The taxis were a lot nicer and more comfortable here, but still packed. It is also stressful that people don't speak English. We will be taking Kirawandan lessons starting next week.

We went to a health club that is near our house to check out the pool there. Next door there was a wedding reception. We went over to watch the traditional dancers from the window, but we were invited inside and given seats near the front. The dancing was really cool. It was slow and graceful; much different than the Ugandan booty shaking :) We came back for an excellent dinner of rice, beef sauce, white sweet potatoes, and coleslaw. Our cook here is just as good as the one in Uganda.

I have to say that part of me really misses Uganda. That had become home for me, and because I am going back in a month, I don't feel as connected to Rwanda. I know it is too soon to judge. I really do love Rwanda so far. It is a beautiful country with beautiful people. Now i am off to play a board game with some friends. Tomorrow I will visit a church called Christian Life Assemblies (CLA), which is the name of the church I go to in the US!! Can't wait.

Road to Rwanda

Today was crazy. I can't believe we made it to the other end of it.

I left off yesterday saying that we stayed up with Emily who was very very sick. At 5am, most of us were up because of the commotion of having someone sick, and someone else hurt their ankle, and everyone rushing in and out. We decided that everyone should just get up so that we could leave as soon as possible. All we had were two lanterns and some flashlights to pack everything up because the electricity was still out. We were tired and stressed, but there was an energy going through the group that we needed to get to Rwanda as fast as possible and all in one piece.

We told Kate and Aryn about Emily and then went to work packing up the bus. I crawled in through the window to unlock it because the driver wasn't awake yet. We had the bus packed and ready to go at 6am and then, when everyone was ready to go, helped Emily into her seat. It was a long and crazy bus ride. Poor Emily was sick the whole time, so we stopped often for her. We drove for two hours and then hit a road that was impassable because of the rain and erosion. So we had to back track and start all over again. Everyone was surprisingly very upbeat and cheerful, and I really appreciated that.

We stopped for a buffet lunch in Kabale before continuing on to the Rwandan border. at the border we went through customs to leave, crossed the road, and then went through immigration to enter Rwanda. Emily was such a trooper having to walk through everything and fill out forms. Driving through Rwanda was amazing. It is so incredibly beautiful. I thought it looked like pictures I have seen of Ireland with the rolling green hills. They also build terrace gardens up the sides of the mountains. Rwanda is very different from Uganda. At customs our bags were searched so that they could make sure we weren't bringing plastic bags into the country. Rwanda has a ban on plastic bags because they are trying to keep their country clean.

Compared to Kampala, Kigali is immaculate. Everything looks very clean and organized. And, OH MY GOODNESS, they have traffic laws! and they drive on the right side of the road! and people use cross walks! Can I get back in the habit of following rules? We dropped Emily and Kate off at the hospital. Emily will be there over night to get re-hydrated. I am so glad we got her to the hospital, I was worried the whole trip. Our guest house is really cool. It is on a hill and there is a separate house for the boys and girls. The porch overlooks the city. Emily, Shelby, Susan and I have our own room in our own little section of the house. It's smaller and different from Kampala, but very comfortable and nice. I was excited that the internet worked well enough for me to Skype-call my parents. It was fun telling them about safari, but they had bad news for me from home. Opa isn't doing well and he will likely pass away this weekend. I wish I could be there to go to the funeral when that happens. We had dinner and now we are relaxing. Now for phase two of my semester - RWANDA!

Safari - Thursday

Linda woke us up at 5:30am and we got to the bus at 5:45. Nobody was there to open it so we let Nathan climb through the window and open the door so that we could get good window seats. Just like our seats in class, its important to get a good spot on the bus. We all were on the bus at 6 and we had to wait for our driver to get there, then we had to wait for our tour guide to be ready as well. It was pitch dark when we started driving, but the sky started brightening. We were all pretty sleepy, but I did my best to stay awake, realizing that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We drove into the park and saw a few animals, but it was too dark to really see anything or take pictures. The best part of the drive was when we pulled up to a cluster of other safari buses and looked through the binoculars at a lion and her cubs. I was really frustrated because my camera is old and doesn't take the clearest pictures. It also couldn't zoom in enough or me to keep looking at the lions. It was really cool looking through the binoculars and seeing real lions. As with all the animals we saw on this trip I felt like I wanted to pet and cuddle with them. We also stopped at a salt lake that was really beautiful. We all went behind a bush to take a "short call" (pee). How cool is it that I can say I risked becoming prey by going to the bathroom while on safari? We headed back to the lodge for breakfast.

After breakfast we all went back to bed and slept until lunch. After lunch we relaxed even more and finished writing Haikus for Owning Poverty. I went Haiku crazy! I could barely take a nap because I was counting out syllables on my fingers. Here are the haikus I wrote:

Ugandans walk slow
The day goes by at snails pace
And I enjoy it

Generosity
Guests welcomed like long lost kin
And treated like kings

Mzungus are rich
They can afford any price
And yet, they haggle

Bodas driving fast
Narrowly escaping death
I gasp as they pass

American time
Should be left at the airport
This is Africa

Do not wake me up
For I was up half the night
Procrastinating

At Owning Poverty we all circled up and then talked about our schedule tomorrow. Then we split into our groups and talked about a cultural interaction that we found highlights the differences between Ugandan and American cultures. My group chose the interaction that takes place when a Ugandan man hits on an American woman. It is awkward for us women because we feel like they are crossing a line of personal space that borders what we consider sexual harassment. These discomforts have deep roots. American women value freedom, personal space, and respect. We have a deep rooted distrust of men, and know that love cannot happen over one conversation. We also are easily offended when we feel that we are labeled as "easy" or "rich" right off the bat. In Uganda, we are already on edge because we are out of our comfort zone, not to mention that we learn from an early age not to talk to strangers. We all shared our Haikus and discussed the issue of building relationship with the people we meet here. Kate and Aryn explained that friendships here are different than in the US. In the US, there is a power relationship going on in friendships. When one needs to ask for help from the other, they feel uncomfortable until they can repay the implied debt. We feel uncomfortable asking for help because it changes the dynamics of the friendship until things are equal again. Here, the friendship isn't concrete until one has a chance to help the other. Debts aren't repaid until there is a need. I might borrow some food now, and a year down the road give my friend money to pay for a medical bill. I am a little bit uncomfortable with this because I don't like feeling indebted to others, but I find it very interesting all the same.

We ate dinner and then started watching The Lion King. That movie takes on all new meaning when you have seen the animals in their natural habitats. we set up the laptop on our porch and watched it while we saw flashes of lightening on the horizon. It was awesome to be watching the Lion King while on a real safari. Then it started to really storm around us, and the laptop died, so we all went our separate ways. I went to the dining hall to charge my laptop a little and write up my blogs in Notepad to later be transferred online. Now it is 11:15 and I am trying to figure out how I will wake up tomorrow without a phone or watch that work. Even with everyone in the same room, it might be hard to find someone else will to wake me up. We are all, (to be punny,) ready to throw each other "under the bus" to get a good seat for the ride tomorrow. Its going to be a long day. I can't wait for it to be this time tomorrow with the 15hr bus ride out of the way. ..

Later:

So I went to bed for a little while but couldn't sleep. I went to go find my friend Shelby and found her in the dining hall talking with some other people from our group. As a side note, our group has been somewhat divided into two groups of friends. The realities of doing everything together created a sort of divide among us. I have been feeling really uncomfortable about it because that is not what I wanted or excepted to happen on this trip. The last few days have been a little bit tense. However tonight I had a good talk with a few people that I had felt awkward around and we moved past it. We apologized and decided to move on and start anew in Rwanda. I felt so much better after that. I really hate conflict and feeling like there are people that I don't get along with. I think our group will be able to start becoming a unit again if we can all move past the last month together.

I was up really late talking and then figured I might as well pull an all nighter to make it easier to sleep on the bus tomorrow. It was pitch dark because it had started raining and the power had gone out, so it was hard to find the room. Poor Brittany fell off the porch and twisted her ankle. Then we found out that poor Emily was really really sick throwing up in the bathroom. We stayed up the rest of the night with her.

Safari - Wednesday

We got to sleep until our 9am breakfast. I got almost 11 hours of sleep last night. That is more than I got in the last two night combined! Breakfast was wonderful. Our first course was assorted fruits, then we got a plate with toast and Spanish omelets. I am growing to love African tea, with raw sugar crystals and milk. after breakfast we showered and hung out. We played this awesome dice game called "Farkle" with about 10 people. It was really cool getting to know Aryn more, and nice that she wanted to play a game with us. For lunch I got "spaghetti", which was noodles with a meat sauce.. It was pretty good, but not what I was expecting.

Aryn told a really cute story that I wanted to share. Here's a little background so that you can appreciate what she told us. There is a tribe in Africa called the Massai. They actually believe that every single cow in the world was given to their tribe and therefore belongs to them (which is why they often steal cattle from their neighbors). In the newspaper Aryn read that after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, the Massai saw a newspaper about the tragedy and heard about how many people died. They wanted to do something to help the families and so they raised the money to sent a heard of their cattle to the United States! How cool and amazing is that! Its a story of the generosity of the people here.

At 2pm we all got on our bus and drove to our boat ride. On the way we saw elephants! I was so excited!! We also saw a salt lake where animals go to bathe when they get hurt to clean the wound. The lake was in the valley next to the mountains. Picture the "Circle of Life" opening to The Lion King and you will understand how incredible the views were. We got to Lake Edward (clearly named by British colonizers) and loaded into boats with balcony roofs. We boated around the Lake for two hours. We saw tons of hippopotamuses, water buffalo, alligators, ELEPHANTS and birds. It was really really cool. We also boated past a village with Ugandans waving at us from the shore and then getting into their long canoes and paddling off into the picturesque sunset.

One very cool thing that I learned today was about the "Weaver Bird". These birds mate for life. The male bird skillfully crafts a nest that hangs from the trees. When he is finished the female inspects it. If she doesn't like it, the guy has to build another one again from scratch. Once the female is satisfied, the two mate. These birds mate for life and remain in the same 1km around their nest. If one dies, the other does not find a new mate. I think that this species of bird is incredibly sweet, and human men might like follow their example. ;)

After the water tour, we got on the bus and drove to Queen Elizabeth park. We got our Ugandan tour guide, Moses, and headed out down the dirt road. We talked about how we might not see any lions, but we would all keep a look out for them. Within ten minutes, we pulled up beside THREE lions laying in the grass! They were maybe thirty feet away from us. We were absolutely amazed and took a lot of pictures. Everyone got really excited, and I felt so blessed to be able to behold a real lion in its natural habitat! We eventually kept driving and then stopped to take pictures of cobs (look like gazelles) grazing and mating. We also saw wildebeest, water buffalo, and warthogs. The mountains next to us were huge. They are the tallest in Uganda. It took my breath away to see the Savannah turn into towering mountains. On our drive back to the resort we saw a herd of elephants and took more pictures.

I can actually say that today was the most amazing day of my life. I saw some of the coolest animals in the world. Ten minutes didn't go by without me seeing something new and amazing. I wanted so badly to be sharing the experience with my friends and family at home. Completely and utterly breathtaking. I had that worship song stuck in my head that goes "You make everything glorious", because God did!

Back at the resort we had a delicious dinner of pepper steak, rice, gravy and chipotte. I couldn't stop gushing to everyone about how much fun i had, and they agreed. It definitely goes on a list of the coolest things I will ever do in my life.

Now it is 10 and we are in bed. We have to be on the bus at 6am for a morning safari to watch the sunrise!

Safari - Tuesday

I was up till 3:30am trying to get all of my stuff to fit into my bags. Fun stuff. Then I woke up at 6:45 to finish the job and get ready to leave. We ate a quick breakfast and loaded everything into the back of our bus. We did our last look around our rooms to see if we left anything behind, and I feel bad for whoever ends up cleaning up the house. I am sorry to say that none of us became as neat as the Ugandans are during our stay. We hugged Grace and Howa goodbye, said a group prayer, and loaded the bus.

Emily, Shelby, Susan and I sat near the front of the bus. We were all super squished with all of the bags packed around us. We were told that the ride would be about seven hours. I hoped to sleep the whole ride, but it was very difficult to find a comfortable position. I wish someone had taken a picture of me in all positions I tried to sleep in. I think the most successful one was putting my head on my knees. The best part of the ride was the snacks we packed. We brought fruit, carrots, banana bread, sandwiches, cookies and best of all, JUICE BOXES! My mango juice box had been frozen, so it was a heavenly slushie to help me cool off. We went through phases of being awake, being half asleep and sleeping.

The first stop we made was at the EQUATOR! I think this is officially the farthest south I have ever been! We spent some time taking pictures with the Equator signs. there was a bus of Koreans on the same road with us and they got out to take pictures as well. It was funny because one of them asked to take a picture with Puvii. I think he thought that because she was black, she was Ugandan. We continued driving and then got caught in a traffic stand-still because of an accident. we climbed out the windows of the van and stood beside it to stretch our legs. We were next to a field and so we used it to go to the bathroom. The grass was very tall and thick, so I was really nervous about seeing a snake. As I walked to find a good place, one of the Korean ladies decided to come with me. She had an umbrella so I thought she was going to help me by blocking me while I did my business. Instead she kinda just stood next to me with her umbrella, hopefully distracting everyone else.

As we drove, the landscape started to change. There were more mountains and hills, and everything seemed even more green and beautiful than before. We stopped on the side of a cliff to "take a short call" (pee). We all walked into the field and did our business. It is so strange not having privacy for that kind of thing. We heard these children yelling to each other. All of a sudden a group of kids ran out of the field towards us, excited to see white people. I shook hands with them and took their picture so I could show it to them. The only thing they could say to us was "money", so they kept asking us for it. The view was absolutely stunning. I have never been in a more magical place in my life. We were overlooking a valley with a lake at the bottom, and fields of banana plants. Even my pictures couldn't do it justice. All I could do was take it all in and commit it to memory. We kept driving and the landscape changed again. It became plains of tall yellow and green grasses under a beautiful bright blue sky. This is the Africa I had always pictured. We even saw some Elephants in the distance, but not close enough to take pictures. At one point we asked the driver how much longer because it had been eight hours and we though for sure that we were almost there. He said "another two hours", we all groaned. But honestly it was not a bad drive at all. I was so overwhelmed by how beautiful everything was that it flew by. I really want to come back. I could live here and take in these views every day. all I could think was how completely lucky I am to be in this moment, right now.

After ten hours of driving we pulled into the gate of the park. all of the students are in one big room with the boys on one side and the girl on the other. There are real bathrooms, though by real I mean that there are actual toilets, but they aren't completely enclosed. We went to the dining hall and ordered our food. Almost immediately the power went out. We sat on couches with lanterns and talked for the two hours we waited for our food to be ready. I have vegetable curry and rice that was yummy. At 10pm we were in bed. I have come to love mosquito nets because they make me feel protected from critters that might want to crawl on me. I slept wonderfully through the night.

Farewell Uganda!

Went to bed around 3:30am.. I am on such a horrible sleeping schedule.

I got up at 9 and wrote the paper that was today. Then I continued preparation for our presentations. It poured rain all morning and afternoon, and it was actually cold in the house. The upstairs was converted into a home theater, with all the couches facing a blank wall for the presentations to be projected on. Our teachers came for lunch with some other special guests. Dr. Susan brought her friend who is a nun, and also head of the Literature dept. at Mekerere University in Kampala. She had created a documentary about circumcision to show us. We had lunch and then headed upstairs.

Our presentations went well. I think my group did a great job. Poor Emily was up all night editing the footage for the movie we made. It turned out pretty cool. Then we watched the long documentary on tribal circumcisions and discussed it.

When our presentations were over, we all breathed a sigh of relief and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. We had chicken-fried steak for dinner (my southern friends found it interesting that the first time I had chicken-fried steak was in Uganda). I was a little bit disappointed when we didn't have pumpkin cake for dessert on our last night, but the lemon bars were yummy.

I did my best to start packing but then we decided to go get ice cream at Ciao-ciaos for the last time. As we walked over, we saw the "Italian boys" again. Susan yelled to the cute, tall one that it was our last night. He came over to talk to us but he couldn't speak english so he called his friend over to talk to interpret. We found out that they are actually from Turkey. they are also students, studying at a local college. Not sure how we mixed Italian and Turkish up, but I guess I am no judge of accents. They asked if we were high schoolers. Jeez! I get that everywhere I go! Do I really look that young? I am twenty now. haha. We said goodbye to them. It is too bad that we didn't talk to them earlier, we saw them almost every day but never had the courage to say hi. For some reason it seems like other Mzungus are harder to approach than the Ugandans.

Ice Cream was good. I finally got the sample of kiwi gelatto that i had been meaning to try. I got a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of hazelnut. My favorite. It is sad that we wont have our 50cent ice cream every day in Rwanda. What am I going to do without my desserts?

We came back and packed some more. I wish Mom was here to pack it nicely for me so that everything would fit. Right now I have to leave things here because I can't get them in my bag. I will pick them up when we come back for practicum. I have been skyping and using my computer, so I haven't really focused on packing, even though all of my roommates are in bed. I listened to a wonderful interview of my friend Keziah who lives in Haiti, who we met at the orphanage down there.
http://www.magic1067.com/on-demand/Episodes.aspx check it out, it is really inspiring. I teared up a little. There was another aftershock, so I am praying for their safety. But now I need to go to bed.

This week's schedule:
Tomorrow- breakfast at 7:30, leave at 9am. Drive 7 hours to Queen Elizabeth game park
Wed & Thurs- Safari adventures!!
Friday- a very very long drive to Rwanda

Love you all so very much. Thanks for reading! Pray for our safety and that we will see some cool animals!

Don't show your knees!

It's funny what a month in Uganda will do for your sense of modesty..

I went downstairs this morning to ask Kate a question, still wearing my pajama shorts and t-shirt. I didn't expect to see anyone but Americans, otherwise I would have changed. When I walked down the stairs there was a Ugandan man in the hallway. He took a look at me and my uncovered legs and very obviously looked the other way. It was incredibly embarrassing. In the US, I would never feel strange being seen in shorts, but this morning I felt like I had a big sign above my head flashing "Unchaste! Unchaste!". I ran upstairs hoping that my bad first impression wouldn't linger.

Turning Twenty- My Birthday in Uganda!

Happy Birthday to me!! Today is my twentieth birthday. How many people get to say that they turned twenty in Africa?

I had a hard time sleeping last night so I went to the kitchen and washed the dishes that had accumulated after dinner. Then I laid in bed for a while and watched the "happy birthday" comments accumulate on my Facebook page. Lame...but I couldn't sleep.

I got up at 8:45 for church. Patrick (our driver and dear friend from the rural visit), picked us up at 10:30. Initially it was just going to be Morgan, Ryan and I, but our group grew to nine! We were driven down the road to Faith's mom's church. Momma (Faith's mother), had started this church for Congolese and Rwandese refugees in the area. The building was made out of sheets of tin nailed to wooden posts. The kids had their own section of little plastic chairs, and they were adorable. I'm not sure why, but we were separated into pairs and given seats that were dispersed around the church. The children sang and danced for us, then the adult choir sang. The entire congregation got up and danced together; one big congo line. I held two children on my lap during the service. The pastor spoke in Swahili, but another man interpreted into English, sentence by sentence. I also had Momma next to me given a better translation. I think the message was about spiritual warfare... It was a lot of excitement and yelling. Momma told me that the people at her village were very disappointed when we didn't come again the following weekend. I hope we get a chance to visit again. Two hours into the service Momma asked me if we were ready to leave. She said the service could go all day. I made the executive decision that we should go. Outside, Momma hugged everyone and told us all how welcome we are to her home. She is an incredible woman.

Patrick dropped us off at Garden City. My friends took Nathan and I out to Cafe Javas. Nathan's birthday is tomorrow so it was a nice little double celebration. I had a delicious BBQ Burger and a Mirinda Pineapple. The air conditioning was heavenly. I found us a private hire taxi (seems to be my new talent). We fit eight people into the Subaru. Three people sat in the open trunk. It was really fun. Ended up costing about 50cents each. Money well spent. I can't believe that we have been in Uganda for five weeks. Last time we were at Cafe Java it was the our first week here and we didn't know what to expect. Now we are about to pack up and go to Rwanda.

We came back and worked on our Oral Literature Presentation. We decided to make a movie of our collection of Oral Literature. Included is us acting out one of the stories. I got to be the leopard in it. It was fun dressing up and making whiskers and ears. Then Linda and Brittany made us a wonderful dinner of breaded chicken and salad with honey mustard sauce. The girls made me a Funfetti Cake and everyone sang to me!!! I was so excited! I have been craving funfetti lately.. My new friends are so amazing! I love them.

Now we are stressing and frantically working to get everything done for tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Last Saturday in Kampala

The rain was incredible last night. I was up all night listening to it. When it rains, it pours; hard and loud. I got up around 10am and relaxed with my friends. We weren't able to visit the street boys today. We looked through the options for practicum, but I really don't know what to do so I didn't choose my top three yet.

We went to Bejing Chinese for lunch. Halfway through eating I noticed that that chicken wasn't cooked all the way. What the heck! I seem to have bad luck with chicken in this country. I called over the waiter. This was the exchange:
"I think this chicken is not cooked"
"Yes this is chicken"
"I know this is chicken, but it is not cooked"
"Yes. The chicken was cooked"
"Okay" (as he walks away)

We went to Ciao-Ciao's for ice cream. I paid them for the one I accidentally forgot to pay for the other day. Now I don't have to feel guilty anymore. :D

I watched The Time Traveler's Wife, which was good, but sad. I laid in my bed weeping over a movie...pathetic. Then I tried really hard to talk with mom on Skype, but the internet was really weak today so I couldn't. I was really frustrated because all I wanted was to talk to someone from home. I think if I could have any wish for my birthday it would be to have a day with my family and friends in the US. It's time's like right now that I really feel the half a world between me and home.

Dinner was chicken curry. SO GOOD. Then Emily and I washed the dishes. My roommates are also my group for our Oral Literature presentation, so we talked about what we are going to do for it.. But there wasn't much that we could do tonight, so we were soon distracted.

Cassie had downloaded the Princess and the Frog (the new Disney movie). It was really really good. I loved it. Susan, Emily and Shelby ran out and midnight to give me hugs and say Happy Birthday! It was really nice to be surrounded by new, amazing friends on my birthday.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM TWENTY!! So long, teenage years!

Taking an American Moment of Laziness

Stayed up till 2:30 am again doing homework. Luckily there was no morning class so I slept in until 10 and hung out until lunch. Since it was our last day of class and it was scorching hot, we decided to take a matatu up the hill. It was completely and utterly satisfying to get to class not drenched in sweat. We discussed our last book and were done at 3:30. My sunburn from a few weekends ago is peeling. I got a really bad one on my leg and my skin turned brown with little bubbles. Today it started peeling and it is like having a layer of leather as skin. It is really gross, but very satisfying to scratch off. :)

After class we hired a private taxi to take us to Friday Market. We really didn't want to walk 45 minutes in the heat to get there. Six of us piled into the small car, something that would be completely illegal in the USA. I was really annoyed with myself for only bringing 15,000UGsh to the market. It was quickly spent and then I kept seeing things I wanted to buy and couldn't afford to get them. People would call to me from behind their merchandise and roll their eyes in disbelief when I told them I was out of money. To them it is not possible for a white person to really be out of money.. Though I was, temporarily...I looked at my watch as we started walking back and it was already ten minutes past dinner time. I was not happy about being late for dinner. We couldn't find a taxi anywhere, but we didn't want to walk.

Susan, Shelby and I lagged behind the others so that we could vent our frustration about walking back and being hungry. Don't sit there judging us. Sometimes you just don't want to walk when its scorching hot and you are hungry. Cute, Italian boy from yesterday waved at us from the back of a motorcycle and we thought he was going to get off and walk with us, but he didn't. That would have made it a lot more interesting. The three of us stopped for a nice soda at a small shop. I got Lemon Fanta.

I looked down and saw Shelby's foot. It had poop on it. Susan and I spent a good fifteen minutes laughing so hard we cried while we watched Shelby freak out about the poop on her leg. Shelby makes the cutest faces when she is upset. Poor girl :) We felt bad but it was really very funny!

We really didn't want to walk, and we all had to go to the bathroom so I stood on the side of the road and waved at the cars going by trying to flag down a private hire taxi. People who were stuck in traffic laughed at me goodnaturedly. Finally a guy turned around and picked us up. His name was Ronald and he was really nice. He took us back to the house and we only paid 10,000UGsh which was totally money well spent!

We all just laid out all of our loot on the floor that we bought while in Uganda and admired everyone's purchases. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of me and all my beads!


Now we will relax and try to figure out our practicum stuff and maybe do our homework. I am looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow we are going to see the street boys again. Sunday is my birthday and I will be going to church with Faith and her mom (from rural visit) and then my friends are taking me out to eat at Cafe Java!

Another note about my sunburn. I sweated today and there are little bubbles that formed on my leg that make a crackling noise when I pop them.. so cool!!

Practicum Fair and Long Naps

Last night I needed to have an American moment.. so I stayed up till 2:30am watching a movie in bed. It was really nice and worth it. I was woken up around 10am by Linda coming into our room looking for somebody. So I got up and tried reading a little bit of the next book on our list, Nervous Conditions.

We went to Ciao-ciao's for lunch and had rice and samosas. I was the only one who enjoyed her food. Oh our way we had passed these two cute Italian guys that we always see when we walk home from school. They passed us going the opposite way and waved. One of them said "Mzungus! How are you?". Susan retorted with "You're Mzungus too!" and we laughed and kept walking. They must not have had anything better to do because they ended up turning around and sitting near us in Ciao-Ciaos. They got up and we waved at them. It's too bad we never got a chance to meet them and we leave in a few days. I always wonder what other Mzungus are doing here.

I laid down on my bed to read at 12:30. I finished about one chapter and then fell asleep. The Ugandan warm afternoon was too overpowering, I couldn't stay awake. I woke up around 4pm and was frustrated that I hadn't gotten anything done.

At four we had our "Practicum Fair" which was us sitting at the dining room table hearing our options so we can choose our top three. There are four different sites to chose from. My favorite site is in Kitgum which is way up in Northern Uganda. There is room for six of us which I like the idea of because I would love to stay with the group and not feel isolated. The three jobs there are 1. to help pass out seeds, teach about using resources and saving money,, 2. to work with HIV education and prevention, 3. To work with women who have dealt with rape and war helping them heal and forgive. There are many other choices, and I really don't know what to do.

After dinner we had Owning Poverty and talked about being rich. We all expressed that in Uganda it is so hard not to feel filthy rich. Our reactions range from feeling guilty,and sad, to angry and frustrated. It was a brief discussion since all of us have a lot to do tonight. I should really get on that reading.. It looks like another long night ahead of me.

2/17/10 - Insert Foot into Mouth

Stayed up to 2:30am doing my research paper on bananas and reading the book for today's discussion. Then I woke up with a bad dream and had a hard time falling back asleep. Got up at 6:30 to answer the questions for our reading before class.

We have been so spoiled lately with our professors coming to the house that everyone groaned a little bit this morning when we had to walk up the hill.

Okay, so this morning I had a total, foot in your mouth, embarrassing moment. It has been a while since I said something stupid, so I guess I was due. I figured I would blog about it so that you can cringe with me. It really probably wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but I felt pretty bad when it happened. I'm building it up so that my readers don't think it is as bad as they are expecting. So our professor has a cold that has slowly been getting worse. Every day it gets harder and harder to hear his voice. This morning he came in and his voice was almost completely gone. Without thinking at all I exclaimed "Dr. Impagi, you seem to be too sick to teach class today, it's fine if you want to cancel class". OOPS. I meant it to be a statement of concern, but the way it came out was completely rude. Halfway through the sentence I was already wishing I could take it back. I am not sure if the professor heard what I said because he didn't say anything, but everyone in class went silent and stared at me. Embarrassing..

Class ended at 10:30, it was our last morning class. Then we had until 1:30 for lunch. We ate and then played cards. Then I put some chairs together and fell asleep to Owl City playing on Nathan's laptop. I woke up when Dr. Susan got to class. We discussed the book and then got out early around 3:20.

Back at the house we all needed to relax. Last night was not a fun night of homework, but our next assignments aren't due till Friday because tomorrow is Practicum Fair. We got in bed right after class and rested until dinner. Dinner was yummy sweet and sour meatballs and rice. Then we played cards for the rest of the night. So yeah, at this point I am thinking about all the work to accomplish tomorrow, but it was worth having a few hours of relaxation after yesterdays stress.

Stress Week

So if you have ever been involved with a theatrical production, you may have heard the term "Hell Week". This term is used to describe the week leading up to the performance. Everybody is majorly stressed and scrambling to put the finishing touches on the play. During that week, people might worry that there is too much to do in too little time, and fear that it wont come together as planned. It is, quite literally, a week of hell.

I will admit that I am quite skilled in the art of exaggeration, and that it might be a stretch to consider this last week in Uganda a sort of "Hell Week". However, at this exact moment I am experiencing all the stress and anxiety of not knowing how I will finish the work for my classes in the little time left. Much like being involved in a play, I have known from the beginning what is expected of me, and have had a list of things that need to get done. But as with so many things in life, the very last moments are when these things get finished. Sure, I didn't have to procrastinate as much as I did. But if I had been doing my homework in advance, I would have missed out on having fun! So I don't feel bad about it, I knew that eventually I would have to pay for all of my time having fun. I am entering this week with the attitude of, "while this week is going to be really stressful and yucky, homework-wise, I had a lot of fun these last couple weeks so it was worth it".

Today we had a wonderful rainy day. Both professors came to the house for class which was an absolute treat for us. We got to dress comfortably and I pulled out my sweatshirt and fluffy socks again. During our long lunch break we came up to our room and took turns reading out loud the article for our next class (the copier was broken so we were getting it done in bulk). I will admit that all of us read when it was our turn, but then fell asleep as soon as somebody else was reading. In our second class we discussed feminism and African women writers. Africa seems to be a bit behind the USA when it comes to equality between men and women, which made for interesting conversation.

Now it is 5pm. I have a 12 page paper to write about bananas with my group, a book, and a take home quiz to finish before I go to bed. I also have another book to read this week, another take home quiz, articles for discussion, a presentation and a reflection paper. Plus trying to enjoy our last week and weekend in Uganda before we go on safari. The good news is I work best under pressure, so I am sure it will all get done.

Okay I am sure my readers are hoping I will stop complaining about my work load. Well, you are reading my blog because you are interested in what is going on with us, and I can tell you that right now, everyone is stressing and working feverishly to do everything that was assigned us. Prayers for clear minds and energy would be great!

A Romantic Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I woke up too late to go to church, and then spent all day laying in bed reading the book that is due tomorrow. It was such a relaxing day. I didn't look in a mirror and I only left the room to get breakfast and lunch. I got to Skype with Deanne which was a great treat! I did homework, listened to music and looked up funny things online to laugh at with my roommates.

A few days ago we had volunteered the guys to make us girls Valentines Day dinner. They were a little reluctant at first, but tonight they went completely above and beyond our expectations. It was the most romantic Valentines Day ever!

We were invited downstairs by Ryan, Tim and Nathan who had all dressed up for the occasion. My roommates and I had also dressed up and made ourselves look cute for the occasion. We were immediately charmed when we walked into the dining room to see that there was a tablecloth on the table, and roses and chocolate on our plates. So sweet! Dinner was a delicious chicken and vegetable stir-fry, with fruit smoothies. We listened to romantic music while we ate. Then the guys brought our warm brownies with chocolate frosting, and Italian ice cream for dessert. Talk about knowing the way to a girls heart!! Roses, chocolate, yummy food, and brownie sundaes! Seriously guys, props to you all for being so romantic and sweet.

Am I gushing too much? Maybe I was expecting to spend Valentine's Day being sad about being single and missing Chris. Instead I had a great day filled with laughter, my wonderful, loving and hilarious friends, and the most romantic Valentine's Day dinner ever! I may be single, but I am certainly not lonely! <3 <3 The only thing that could have made my day better would have been seeing Owl City at Messiah this weekend. It's a bummer that I missed it. Other than that, a great great day!

Happy Valentine's day everyone! My love goes out to all of you!

Street boys Pictures

These pictures go with the blog posting below.

Here are some street boys that spend the night at the church for safety and a good night's sleep.

Me and Ayesha

This little boy IS so special. I wanted to bring him home with me.

Street Boys

God gave me just what I needed today.

We had morning class at the house today. We were perfectly content thinking that we would be having a relaxing afternoon of vegging out and finishing up homework. We have easily fallen into a lazy rut of relaxing in the afternoons. Not today!

Jessica, a former Go Ed student came for lunch to tell us about the street kids ministry she had started after her semester 3 years ago. She is truly an amazing woman. She invited us to come and meet the boys so we decided to go today. I was tired and almost considered not going. It is very easy to feel uncomfortable going into the inner city of Kampala. We took a matatu downtown and then walked for a while.

We came up to this "church" which is made of sheet metal and has two open walls. The boys sleep there at night with guards keeping watch so that they don't have to worry about being kidnapped, raped or stolen from at night. We went and met some of the boys and then a bunch of the neighborhood children came to meet us too. They got really excited about our cameras and we let them take turns taking pictures of us and each other on them. I danced around with a few of the younger boys and girls that came to play. They were so cute! and they were dancing the traditional dances that we saw a few weeks ago being performed by professionals.

This one little boy had on a ripped and filthy shirt that said "I am special". For some reason that really moved me. All of these children are so so special to God. They are his children and, to quote "The Shack", he is "especially fond" of them. I picked the boy up and hugged him tight and he told me over and over in my ear "I love you". It doesn't get any better than that. Then I played with a little girl names Ayesha. I held her on my lap for about an hour. Everyone in our group had a child in their arms except for the ones playing soccer with the older boys. We didn't want to leave, and they didn't want us to. One of the boys put a small bead necklace that he had made in my hands. The boy with the "I am special" shirt started crying when I gave him a hug goodbye.

We walked to one of the boys homes that Jessica helped start. It was a little house with a tiny courtyard. The boys showed us their keyboard that played different beats and we all danced and laughed. They had a really cute dog that was well fed and fluffy (and had all its shots). The boys are taken off the streets and they get help with quitting the drugs they are on. Many of the boys come in addicted to sniffing petrol, because it takes away the pain of hunger, the cold, helps them sleep, and they are able to forget their circumstances. The boys were great!

We walked a long way back to the matatu park and caught our ride home. We had ribs for dinner and now are relaxing after a long hot day. I hope we get a chance to go back. I really needed to step out of the comfort zone I had made for myself. It was an amazing afternoon.

2/10/10

So today was one of our longer days with two classes. We packed lunches and went up the hill. Our friend Tim seemed to sprint ahead of the group as we walked up the hill. We decided that we wanted to catch up with him and get in front, but I was the only one competitive enough to actually follow through with jogging to catch up with him. I did it and I beat him to class. Completely not important at all, but just a little anecdote about our morning walk...

Class was decent. Our first professor had a meeting to attend so he ended class at about 10. Our next class was at 1:30, so we had quite a long lunch break. We ate and played President, which is a card game. We all must be competitive people, and the heat definitely doesn't improve our dispositions, because we were all getting pretty cross during our game. Everyone was getting irritated, so we finally decided to stop the game. We sat around and talked for the rest of our break. Literature was decent. We had our discussion of "Death and the King's Horseman". I have never been in an English class where we were reading so many books in such a small amount of time. I was getting groggy and hungry and was having a hard time staying awake.

Back at the house we all relaxed until dinner. At dinner, Rachel suggested that we have a dialogue/debate/discussion later tonight about homosexuality, just as an interesting topic to hear everyone's opinions on. So at 7:30 a bunch of us gathered upstairs to talk about our beliefs in a respectful and safe discussion. It was really interesting and I am glad that we did it. I think it is great that we were all willing to hear each other out and talk about why we feel the way we feel.

Just got off the phone with my friend Rachel from home. :) It was great hearing her voice. Now I am waiting for Emily and Shelby to come home from babysitting so that we can get an outline done for our paper on the uses of the banana tree.

Tuesday

So the internet hasn't been working on my computer the last two days and I was psyched when it came back on for me tonight and I got to post all the blogs I had written in Notepad onto my site :)

Today I woke up to thunder and lightening. The rain was coming down hard and fast. I groaned because I didn't want to walk a mile in nasty weather to sit for three hours in wet clothes. Yes I have a rain jacket, but that's only good for the top half of me! None of us wanted to be the one to do it, but I eventually asked Kate if she could have Dr. Mpagi come to the house instead of to the club. She said yes and went to pick him up so we could stay here for class. It was awesome. I found my fluffy red Christmas socks and wore them in honor of the occasion. It was so nice for it to be chilly and to get to wear jeans, a sweatshirt and fleece socks.

After class we had yummy grilled cheese and curry sandwiches with soup. Kate took my group to Ciao-Ciaos for ice cream because a few weeks ago we won a contest during the matatu challenge. Then I watch "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and took a nap until dinner. I spent an hour in the spare bedroom reading the play for tomorrows discussion - Death and the King's Horseman. Then I worked on the homework and studied with the girls. We seriously have so much fun hanging out with each other.

Everyone is off either playing cards or doing homework. I am updating my blog, Facebook, and checking email. then I need to proof read my homework for tomorrow. I am really unhappy with how it turned out, but I don't consider literary analysis to be one of my strengths, or one of my interests, so I did my best.

Just wanted to give a shout out to Grandma Lackey - I love you, and I am going to try to give you a call soon if I can!

Rural Visit - Sunday

Rural Visit - Sunday

Sunday February 7th 2010

We thought that we were going to go to the 7am church service at the community church, but when I woke up at 6:30 to get ready, nobody else was up and it was still dark outside. Faith wanted to leave as early as possible for our ride back to Kampala, so around 9am she sent us to a different church. We got to the church halfway through the service and everyone stared as we walked to our seats. We sung a few closing songs that were cool. Everyone had such beautiful voices, and there was a lot of clapping and happy yelling. We got introduced to the congregation near the end. After the service, we were invited back to the Priest's office to talk with him. He was very friendly and welcomed us to the community. On the way back, we stopped at the community church for a few minutes. We were welcomed inside and participated in saying some prayers. Then we said goodbye and went back to our huts. Everyone within our cluster of huts came for a big family picture with us. Then some children arrived and we gave them the sandals we had bought for them. I really wish we had also bought some clothing to give out because so many of them were wearing torn and filthy clothing. One boy had only a pair of old corduroys on and they were so ripped that he had tied them to his legs to keep them in place. Heartbreaking.. Whereas back in the States I am always buying new clothes and feeling like my fully stocked wardrobe is lacking something. How lucky I am to have more than one pair of pants.

It came time to say goodbye and load into the van. Every was hugging us and asking us to please come back to see them. Agnes, one of the school teachers that I didn't get a chance to talk to much grabbed my hand and didn't want to let me go. She lead me to her little house, which was just a room in the school building that had a mattress on the floor. She gave Morgan and I pictures of her and then we took one of all of us on our camera and she asked if we could give her a copy. I hugged the elders and they were all so sweet. Somebody turned on the van radio and the grandmother I was trying to take a picture with started dancing and it was so cute! We got on the road and I cried a little bit as we pulled away from the village because I was so overwhelmed by the love that we felt there. I slept most of the way back. It rained which cooled everything down nicely.

Back at the house, I was so excited to see all my friends again. We had some good outhouse stories to tell and everyone was talking at once about how much they loved their weekend. We all wanted to go back. The whole group went to our director, Grace's, house for dinner. We had a really fun debriefing meeting where we got to hear a lot of really good stories. Our consensus was that Africans know the real meaning of hospitality. In the USA we often consider guests a burden. Here, guests are treated like it is an honor to have them around. We were welcomed into the family and shown amazing love.

I had THE BEST weekend ever. I wish I didn't have to live in the city. Our semester would be so much cooler if we were in the village. Though I am really happy to have running water, real toilets, showers and internet.

Rural Visit - Saturday

Copied from Diary
February 6 2010

Last night I couldn't fall asleep till 2am because we had left the light bulb on waiting for Faith's mom to join us, but she came and decided to sleep in another hut instead. I woke up this morning around 6am to the rooster crowing, and I could hear that everyone was already awake in the village and were sweeping the dirt around the huts to make everything look tidy. I was disappointed to have missed taking the goats out. Morgan and I sat down with a group of women and pulled what looked like basil leaves off their stems. Faith's mother (called "Mama" by everyone in the village) wanted us to see the well that they used before they dug one in the center of their cluster of huts. A group of us all carried jugs on a half hour walk to the next nearest well to pump water. They use these big, yellow, plastic jugs that used to hold cooking oil to carry water. We always see women carrying full jugs (at least 6 gallons) on their head perfectly balanced. Amazing! Pacific (a family friend), Innocent (Faith's brother), and Patrick (our driver) all carried cameras and videotaped and snapped pictures of us helping out. It was nice because we didn't have to feel like we were missing photo opportunities. I helped pump the water that got funneled in to containers. Some village kids gathered to watch. they were very shy and didn't say anything, but decided to follow us all back to our huts.

When we got back we finally had breakfast (people never fully understand that I need food right away when I wake up). There was a lot of fresh fruit which was really nice. The guys caught a chicken to demonstrate to us how to properly kill one before we did our own. They took the chicken and stood on its feet and its wings. After plucking out some feathers to expose the neck, they took a sharp, but small knife and sawed its head off. the severed neck was pulsing and squirting blood as Patrick held it upside down to drain. All three of us started gagging and were a little bit distressed after watching that. Ryan and I talked about how we had expected it to be done with a hatchet in one swift chopping motion, not a slow sawing motion. We both said that we weren't sure if we could do it. Then we had to pluck out its feathers. That was not fun at all.

Momma sent us out to the garden with the young boys to help harvest potatoes and cassava out of the garden. I tried my best to help with the hoeing, but it was so clear that I had never hoed a potato in my life. And the soil was very hard, making it difficult for a weakling like myself to move any dirt. It didn't seem like we were particularly helpful because on the off chance that we did get a potato, we would be overzealous with the hoe and accidentally chop the potato in half. The potatoes excreted a weird white film that got all over our hands and shirts that we later had to use gasoline to remove. They finally told us to go back and kill our chicken and let the boys finish up in the garden. Morgan (a vegetarian in the States) gave Ryan and I a hard time because she said it was hypocritical for us to not want to kill a chicken if we were going to eat it. We explained that it wasn't the killing, it was the blood and the sawing motion that was grossing us out. Just because I eat meat doesn't mean i am heartless and don't feel bad for the death. She still thought it was ridiculous. So I told them both that I had decided to kill the chicken. Not only did I want to prove that I wasn't a hypocrite or a coward, I do think that meat eaters should take part in the killing of their food to fully understand the choice they are making.

Morgan didn't want to watch the slaughter for a second time, so Ryan helped me kill our chicken. He stood on its feet and I stood on its wings. Pacific held its head out with me. I panicked for a moment before I did it because it was hard knowing that I was taking away the life of something that had just been happily strutting around the yard. I closed my eyes and said "Okay, I'm going to do it" and then opened my eyes and sawed away. It was really disgusting feeling the final layer of skin pull apart and the head come off. I was a little shaky as I held it upside down to drain the blood. We put it in boiling water to loosen the feathers and then plucked this chicken as well, and watched it cut into pieces.

We all piled into the van and drove to see the "River Nile" and the bridge to Northern Uganda. It was really cool to see but we couldn't take pictures on the actual bridge because the security is really heavy and they don't want the only bridge in the area that crosses the Nile to be blown up. There were baboons sitting on the side of the road eating scraps. We pulled up next to them and opened the door to take some good pictures. We didn't get out because I didn't want to risk getting rabies. (That's for you mom!) They were really ugly monkeys, that's for sure. We went to the market and met Momma there. Ryan, Morgan and I had decided to buy shoes for the village children. Many of them go completely barefoot which puts them at high risk of getting worms. So we bought 15 or more pairs of sandals to bring back for the kids. As we walked through the market, Momma bought me a few Sim-sim balls to eat. They are sesame seed balls that are held together by caramelized sugar. Yum! I said that I liked them and she ran back to buy me a huge bag full. It was such amazing hospitality. They never let us buy a single thing for ourselves because we were their guests, but I felt so guilty because I am so wealthy and they shouldn't have to spend their money on me! By the time we got back my bladder was about to explode because there had been no place to go to the bathroom and then the bumpy path/road made everything worse. I was never so happy to see a squatty potty :)

Momma had two of her teachers and a few others come to help us with collecting stories for our oral literature assignment. We listened to stories and proverbs for hours which was very interesting.

Then came dinner time. Everything looked wonderful until I saw the chicken. I looked at the drumstick on my plate and nearly gagged just thinking about pulling the feathers out of it. I couldn't stop picture the blood pooling up below it when I cut its head off. I ate a few bites and then gave it to Pacific. I felt bad but I really would have thrown up if I ate another bite.

We built another campfire and sat around talking for hours. Patrick told us about his really hard childhood and how he is so blessed that he found Momma who hired him as her driver and got him off the streets. He said that every day he prays that he will be able to live a long happy life, and that he will be able to help kids get out of the same situation he was in. Pacific brought out a map of Uganda with the different districts highlighted. Innocent, Pacific, Patrick and I spend more than an hour looking at the map and just talking about Uganda. Up until now I had been confused about a few things. Now I know, the Baganda are only one tribe out of 50 tribes. The Buganda tribe has 52 clans in it. So even though Kampala is full of Bugandan people, they are not the majority in Uganda. Pacific started telling us the story of how he came to Uganda from the Congo. Dinner was put on the table. The village had slaughtered one of the lovely goats in our honor. After the chicken I couldn't eat the goat either, but I also couldn't be rude and not eat it. So I chewed a few pieces and discretely spit them into my hand and later threw them behind the outhouse. I felt terrible doing it but I kept imagining and smelling blood. Oh the joys of an overactive imagination. We sat and talked for a while longer and then went to bed.

Rural Visit - Friday

Copied from my diary:
February 5th 2010

This morning we packed up our things for the rural visit. Faith arrived early and so we left around 10:45am. In the van with us were Faith's friend, Jude, her brother, Innocent, and their driver, Patrick. Ryan, Morgan and I piled into the back and we were on our way. The village we went to was in the Masindi district about a four hours drive away. It is not Faith's village, but her mother (called "Mama" by everyone), started the village for victims of the war to get a new start. They also started a school for all of the children in the area so that they wouldn't have to walk hours to school in the morning. so basically we were staying as guests in the village her mother started.

On our ride we stopped at a roadside market and filled up the van with fresh produce. We were given money to buy a gift for our hosts, so we asked Faith what we should get. She said that it must be from our hearts, so we thought and then suggested that we might buy them a chicken. Faith and Jude burst into laughter and we weren't sure why. At one point we reached a place where the roads were getting repaved so there were more than 150 speed bumps in a row. It took forty-five minutes at least of being bounced in the air before the bumps were over. I tried to sleep most of the way but couldn't. Faith asked me if I wanted a blanket because it was cold...I have no idea what she was talking about because even though the temperature dropped a few degrees, it was still hot and sticky for me.

We turned off the main road and started driving down a dirt path. The van straddled the path and there was tall grass on either side. We drove for at least a half an hour trying to avoid ditches in our path. It was so amazing to realize that we were in the middle of nowhere, in Africa. Wow. I picture myself on a path in the middle of Africa, then in my mind I zoom out (just like on google earth) and saw the African continent in my mind and couldn't believe that this is where I am. We finally pulled up in the middle of a cluster of huts. We got out and saw a table with a group of middle aged villagers eating. We greeted each other and they seemed very excited to meet us. Everyone was so gracious!

Us girls are sharing a hut. It is very nice. The walls are made of brick and concrete with a thatched roof overhead. There are four beds and a plastic table and chair set, and a wardrobe used as a cupboard. The men nailed frames to our beds for our mosquito netting to hang on. Walking around we immediately noticed the animals. Aside from chickens, a crazy looking rooster, ducks, huge turkeys and bunnies, there were more than fifty goats running around. They were absolutely adorable! I love goats, especially the little babies that make that silly "maaaaaaa" sound. We realized then why Faith had laughed when we wanted to buy a goat as a gift... they seem to have plenty as it is! On our way back from the outhouses, Ryan asked a woman if he could help her pound millet. She let him take the big stick and pound at it for a few minutes while laughing hysterically at his efforts. She said he must not have ever worked in the garden or used a hoe, because he was so weak. haha. Poor Ryan. But we all had a good laugh over his switching of traditional gender roles.

Morgan, Ryan and I wandered down a path that lead away from the cluster of huts. On both sides were tall grasses that were almost as tall as us. The setting couldn't have felt more remote. I was thinking about how different and awesome this experience is in comparison to if I was at Messiah right now carrying out my normal routine. We soon noticed that we had company. Three adorable young boys were shyly following us from a safe distance. We waited for them to catch up, but they were bashful and came very slowly. The three of us tried to talk to them, with almost no success. It was a very awkward moment and we comment that we were glad that nobody else had to witness our difficulties trying to communicate with the boys. Embrace the uncomfortable, right? We finally gave them high fives, the universal sign of friendship. :)

Patrick adn Innocent joined us, and we soon came upon the schoolhouse that they had built. The building was made out of tin sheeting because the first one they had built had been grass and had burnt down. We were welcomed in to the classes by a very friendly teacher. There were fifteen children sitting at their desks waiting for him to write up their homework. On the board were some math problems and a bar graph. It looked like the same education I received at that age. In the second classroom we went in to, all of the children stood up to greet us. I shook hands with the few in front of me, but then all of the kids came over to shake my hand. When they shook my hand they would also go into a bow/kneeling position as a sign of respect. Outside, the teacher told us that they had been told that we would be coming at eight in the morning so all the children had prepared performances for us, but it was now almost five and time for them to go home, and half of the students had gone home at lunch anyways. We felt terrible, and assured the teacher that if we had known we would have left early in the morning to get there on time.

We continued walking and came upon a church with a group gathered outside. They came over and greeted us with the customary words "You are most welcome!" They showed us the church and told us about their growing ministry. The leaders were Dallington and Margaret. they were so kind to us and we said we would come on Sunday.

When the kids got out of school they all came to our huts and stood in a cluster acting very shy. We tempted them out of their shyness by making a jump rope out of a goat rope. They loved it when I took their picture and then showed it on the digital screen, it had them giggling and poking fun at each others facial expressions. I took tons of pictures. We went to the rusty swing set and slide and played some more. One girl was so cute and I just wanted to bring her home with me. I wish we could stay longer than the weekend to play with them after school again.

Faith called us back for a small meal in our hut. It was yummy sausage, ground nuts, and bananas. faith said it was just a snack and that we needed to save room because it would be rude to not eat anything the villagers offered us.

We helped bring the goats in which was a lot of fun for me. The goats are tied to the tall grass to graze, so we untied them and brought them back to their pens to be tied up. I think a few of the village boys set their goats free on purpose because it was funny watching the white people run after them. At the end I got to hold one of the baby goats in my arms. Now I am having dreams of becoming a goat farmer in the middle of the African bush..

We drove to pick up two policemen that would keep watch over us at night. I don't think it was necessary to have guards, but they don't take chances with their white visitors because we might tell other people that its not safe to come or give money.. Makes sense. We built a fire between our hut and the boy's hut. Then we told stories, shared superstitions that were funny from our culture and theirs and laughed. We were served another meal, that was very good ( a lot better than the Ugandan food I had at a restaurant a few weeks ago). I liked the sticky millet bread that is cut using the edge of a bowl. During the day we used a solar panel to collect light to power a bulb for our hut while we got ready for bed. Now I am sitting in bed writing because I can't lay down right away after taking my malaria pill. I can't wait to play with the goats tomorrow. Goodnight!

Kendall in Africa

Here are some random thoughts about myself and my life here in Uganda. I thought they might interest and amuse you. If not, at least I've gotten a few laughs at myself.

1. I LOVE soda. Can you believe it? Kendall Scheid craves soda and must buy at least one each day as a special treat! My all time favorite is Mirinda Pineapple. The soda here is made with cane sugar, so it is pure and sweet and wonderful. Nothing like sipping an ice cold Mirinda to brighten your mood.Don't worry, I'll try not to bring my addiction home to the US...

2. Walking distance in the US means I can see it from where I am standing. Here, everything is walking distance. You have two legs don't you? The mall is walking distance, forty-five minutes on foot. We walk a mile to school, up hill! Basically, if it is humanly possible to walk somewhere, then it is in walking distance :) A plus said to this is that I am walking off all the sodas I have been drinking.

3. Skirts are an essential part of my new wardrobe here. Pants really would be way too hot. Skirts, at least, let in a nice breeze. I might start wearing them more often at home.

4. It is worth leaving 20 minutes earlier than everyone else to get the seat next to the fan. People might make fun of you for leaving so early, but when they come in and see that the only seats left are the farthest from the fan, they wish they had too.

5. Long legs and a fast stride are both a blessing and a curse. In the morning they are a blessing because I am always the first to enter the classroom and pick my seat. On the other hand, when I am walking with a Ugandan, I tend to go too fast. I have to walk a little behind to keep a slower pace. I feel like I might as well be crawling, because next to my normal walk, the pace here is snail-like.

6. Everyone needs to take the time to RELAX! While in Africa, we have been living a great life! There isn't a stress that comes with a fast paced society to make us feel like everything and everyone is wasting our time. We have almost three hours for lunch and we spend that time eating and relaxing and playing cards. In the US I never played cards because I could think of so many things that I should be doing in that time. Here, I am perfectly happy to spend two hours playing a card game because life is about relationships, and I have made so many great ones! It feels so good to calm down. When I go back to the States I want to make sure that I slow myself down to a healthier pace so that I can take the time to do the things that matter and enjoy everything I have been given.

7. I love living in a room with five other girls, in a house of 16 people. I have always been a relationship oriented person, but I just really enjoy having people around me all the time. My roommates are the sweetest, coolest girls ever! I love our afternoons laying on the tile floor and laughing together. Our group as a whole is pretty fun. Meal times are like eating with a big family. We always have something amusing to talk and joke about. Field trips are fun when we are all in the van listening to the radio turned up and dancing.

8. Living with 16 people causes you to get very comfortable very fast. If your sick and you need help, you need to be comfortable announcing that you have diarrhea, and then being asked what your poop smells like because the various smells indicate different kinds of amoeba that you might have.

9. Here in Uganda, I wont know if I am tan, or if I am just really dirty. I will get home from school and think about how cool my sandal tan line is. Then I will scrub my feet in the tub and dry them off to find that I have washed off a few shades of brown.

10. I am happy for even the shortest contact with my family and friends at home. I may be happily surrounded by people here, but I still have my moments when I really miss talking to someone who actually knows me. Quick conversations over the internet may not seem like much to people at home, but for me they mean the world. It is hard not to feel half a world away from the people I love. At least most of my school friends are also studying abroad, because other people in this group get a little sad when they see how much fun people are having without them. I don't feel like I am missing out on anything, just feeling really far away.

11. Everyone here is very skinny and short. They all look very healthy, and it is hard to tell age because Ugandans all look fairly young. I have to wonder why they look so much better than Americans. I think it has a lot to do with eating pure food in small portion sizes. All I can say is that our preservatives sure aren't doing a very good job of preserving our bodies! They also walk everywhere, keeping them fit. I can't imagine what Ugandans must think when they come to the US and see how HUGE everything is. We truly are a country where everything is super-sized..even our people ;) I don't mean any offense by that comment, it is, however, the truth.

12. We really take for granted that people will understand our language. Here everyone has the language of their clans, and Lugandan, AND English which is the national language. We heard a very passionate radio broadcast of two people arguing over whether they should be speaking English. There are still a lot of negative feelings about anything that is related to colonialism. It makes sense that since Uganda is no longer under the British empire, they feel like they should go back to their own language. On the other hand, it is very useful in the world we live in for an individual to be able to speak English. If I were Ugandan, I would take advantage of a language that has the potential of connecting me to the outside world.

13. This trip will cure me of my nervousness when driving. If I can make it through the whole semester crossing the street and riding around where there are no driving rules, I think I can handle driving in the States.

14. Uganda has turned me into a potty mouth. Every time I cross the street I can hear myself cussing up a storm (without meaning to) because I really do believe that I am going to die with the cars and motorcycles coming within 2 inches and honking their horns. When I get to the other side of the street I realize that I am also holding somebody's hand because I am so scared that without knowing it I grab something to hold onto.

You can expect more ponderings when they come to me ;)

Kasubi Tombs Field Trip

Like I said last Thursday, there's nothing like a field trip. We left at 8am on the "dino bus" (our bus is painted with dinosaurs!). We had a relatively short ride to Kampala where we went to see the Kasubi Tombs. This is the site of the biggest hut in the world. The hut has 52 pillars holding it up to represent the 52 clans of the Bugandan people. (Like I said before, the country is Uganda, it's people are the Buganda, and they speak Lugandan.) Outside the hut was the drum hut where there is a man that drums a traditional rhythm several times a day. Women are not allowed in the hut because the drummer must be celibate and they don't want him to be tempted. Our funny tour guide said that while it may be an honor to be the drummer boy, we wouldn't catch him wanting to live that kind of life. :) There are a few other huts where some of the descendants of past King's wives live to be near the tombs. There is a fire that is kept burning 24/7 while the King is alive, and only is put out when he dies and they are appointing a new King. Because the Buganda want peace among the royal family, the eldest son is not allowed to be King, thus reducing jealousy and the son plotting to kill his father. Instead there is a counsel of people who pick the new King from all of the sons. The biggest hut in the world was impressive, but I expected it to be bigger. We removed our shoes to enter, and sat on the mat covered floor to listen to our guide. There weren't many decorations of adornments. In the center there was a display with portraits of the handful of Kings buried there and a line of their traditional spears. There was a stuffed jaguar and a table with two chairs given by the Queen of England for the King and his wife. I guess she didn't realize that he had 84 wives and more than 100 children. I was surprised at the simple and poor quality of the chairs. You would think that a Queen would be able to give the Bugandan King at least something semi-fancy, instead of just an ordinary set that could be found in anyone's house. Behind a curtain of bark cloth is where the Kings are buried. The tombs are dug into the ground, and extend behind the hut. Only the royal family is allowed to go back. They call it the "great forest", and instead of saying that the King has passed away, everyone must say "the King is lost in the great forest". Right now there is a President and a King. The King is the heart of the people, and he was critical is empowering people to take care of themselves and prevent the spread of AIDS, and he also helped women gain their right to vote. The King stays out of politics, and he is very loved among his people.

While we sat inside the hut the power went out and it started raining really hard outside. It was the first daytime rain that I got to see and I would have loved to run out into it. It felt very peaceful sitting on the floor of a hut, with the rain falling outside, listening to the story of the Bugandan Kings. The rain didn't last very long, but it cooled everything off nicely. We took some group pictures in front of the hut and stopped at the gift shop. I could have bought some paintings, but they were overpriced and I know I can get them for cheaper at a craft market. We loaded into the bus and dropped a few people off at the mall on our way back. I was going to go to a craft fair but then I heard we were having Grace's wonderful broccoli salad for lunch and I had to come back to get some. Now we are relaxing waiting for lunch to be put out. I'm not sure what the plans are for tonight but I think we might go out dancing. I know I haven't been out on the town yet, but I have been having so much fun becoming close with my new friends here that I haven't felt the need to go out and spend money.

Tomorrow is our rural visit. We aren't going to Charles' house, we are going to Faith's village instead. She was with us on the field trip and I asked her what to expect for this weekend. She said "Well, you will learn to prepare a traditional meal. Get ready to catch a chicken and kill it. Then you will get to skin and prepare it. And also bring your fun bag because we are going to have a lot of fun!" Oh dear... I have to butcher a chicken? Morgan is a vegetarian, so she wont want to do it so I guess it is between Ryan and I to decide who gets that honor. Part of me says that I should for the experience and because every meat eater should participate in the killing of an animal so that they can know the reality of their dietary choices. The other part of me says that I don't need to be emotionally scarred, and that I couldn't personally take something life away. We shall see. I am getting excited. It will be our first real experience of life here, because so far we have been pampered in our 5 star guest house. I think I will spend the rest of this afternoon getting next week's homework started so that I don't have to stress about it Sunday night.

02/03/10

Today was a long day at school, but it had its fun moments.

My close friends and I always leave our house earlier than everyone else. It is well worth it to be the first people to get to the classroom and get our seats next to the fan, especially on our long class days. Plus, by the time we get there we are sweaty and its nice to relax and cool off before our first lecture. It felt like 11am would never come, but it finally did and we ate our packed lunches (sandwiches and carrot sticks). Then we had 2 hours to hang out before our next class. Our new obsession is playing this card game called Kemps. We played a few rounds, but soon some of us were getting irritated that we weren't able to beat the team that kept winning, so we went to, quite literally, "cool off" in the pool. After that we hung out and talked until our next professor arrived. In African Literature class we discussed the "Song of Lawino" which is a very interesting epic/poem. At the end of class (4pm) we walked home.

Once again it was so hot that I had to sit in the bathtub with my swimsuit on to cool off. My roommates and I laid on our tile floor and talked and giggled until dinner. We had lasagna and apple crisp that was amazing. Dinner is always fun and filled with jokes and lively conversation. I really am having a great time here.

Now I am going to take my Doxy pills, hang out, and eventually go to bed early. Tomorrow is another feildtrip. I am sure that I will post again tomorrow, but if not, we have our rural visits this weekend and I wont be back until Sunday. I have had an off and on sore throat for 3 days, and a very runny nose, but I think it's probably nothing. We'll see.

I am currently borrowing someone else's laptop because I don't have internet on mine at the moment (our wireless internet is very finicky).

2/2/10- Summer in February!

It was a half day at school which was nice. The walk up to class was cool this morning thanks to the rain that we had overnight. I told myself to walk slowly and enjoy the company of everyone on the walk instead of going at my own quick pace to get a good seat next to the fan. We were the first to arrive anyways so I got my favorite seat anyways :) It was very very hard to stay awake during class today. My friend Linda kept laughing because as I would start zoning out, my mouth would open and I looked ridiculous. Class was over at 11, and we had our lunch money to go out for our meal. Ten of us played cards for half an hour. We have gotten really into cards here. It the relaxed way of life that allows us to feel like we have time for playing and laughing and relaxing with each other. These relationships are becoming so wonderful! I am blessed that my new family here is so much fun! We walked past our school to a restaurant called "Cafe Roma". It was not going to open until 1, but they made an exception (probably because they didn't want to miss out on so much business. They were so gracious to us, a sharp contrast to the rigidity of the United States. We played cards while we waited for our food to come. Thank goodness for cards, everyone was getting crabby and it took our minds off our hunger. We all loved our meal. I was SO happy to have some pizza. Unfortunately the whole thing cost us two days worth of lunch money (mine was 16500UGsh which is about 8 dollars). We finished and walked all the way back with full stomachs.

I was royally ticked at myself for not getting homework done yesterday. I guess i was too distracted by the internet and talking to friends from home. I spent all afternoon locked away in the spare bedroom forcing myself to concentrate. It was so incredibly hot I almost threw up after dinner. But I found the solution! I put on my swim suit and sat in our bathtub with the hand held water sprayer in one hand and my book in the other. Almost immediately I felt better and refreshed. I just finished my homework (11:30pm). My internet is not working today so I will post this tomorrow. For some reason it feels very important for me to write out my story in this blog. I don't like to miss a day because I have no energy to write it out by hand.

Love and Kisses to everyone ;)

ps. speaking of love and kisses.. one thing I really miss is being HUGGED! I don't think people here are at a comfort level yet where we can hug a lot, I need some! I am going through serious affection withdrawal and I don't appreciate it! Somebody get this girl a hug!!

God is GOOD! another wonderful day

All the prayers were answered! Nobody got food poisoning! Thank you Jesus!

Today was great. We had the most wonderful "practical" lecture in our morning class. Dr. Mpagi brought his wife and daughter to help him explain some customs and traditional things we should know about the Baganda (Ugandan people). First, Tim and Susan modeled some traditional clothing that was pretty cool. The Bagandan people used to make their cloth out of the bark of trees pounded into a thin fabric-like sheet. We watched his wife demonstrate how to make amatooke (boiled bland bananas) the traditional way. We learned the uses of banana leaves and got a gift of roasted coffee beans to chew on.. I had a few and they were interesting. I got some pictures taken of me balancing a basket on my head with a gourd "baby" tied to my back in the traditional way. We learned a really fun children's song in Lugandan that we sang and each person had to dance. I make a total fool of myself by tripping but it was funny so we all got a good laugh. It was such a good lecture.

We played Kemp - a really awesome card game- at lunch. Today we packed lunches so we had a wonderful 2 hour break to relax, play and laugh. Our second class was very slow and I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could get some ice cream on my way back to the house. The heat got to us again and we were all in a bit of a frustrated mood when we got to Ciao-Ciaos for ice cream. we got in line and got cut by TWO Ugandans. My poor friend was about to tell someone off but she cooled off when she finally got her heavenly gelatto. We came home and ate the most wonderful rice with Lamb stew on top ever, and there was pumpkin cake.

Our Owning Poverty discussion was good tonight. Well actually most of it was pretty silly and we did a lot of laughing and joking around. But then we talked about priorities. We did a quiz and I found out that my top three priorities are 1. Intimate Friendships 2. Physical Touch and 3. Health...No surprises there at all. We also wrote down some goals for the time here.

Now it is homework time..