sorry this is late....

May 27
So, Tuesday night I woke up in the middle of the night to find that my bed net had come half way off. That night I didn’t use any bug lotion before I went to bed, so I woke up with 11 mosquito bites on one arm. When I woke up to fix it I saw a bunch of girls sitting on the floor next to Natalie. She woke up very sick, and somehow everybody heard and got up to help her except me.

May 28
Wednesday was the day we learned how to laminate with clear tape. Not as easy as it looks, I should add. The posters that we drew for the teachers the week before were supposed to be laminated and then given back to them before school started. Unfortunately we didn’t get the funds approved by Help International, so we had to find another way. Like the Africans say, “we’re poor so we improvise” (right Tor and Les?). The only thing we could come up with is using the clear tape. There were 39 total posters. Doesn’t sound like too many, right? Yeah….it took ALL DAY. But, Emily and I learned how to laminate like a professional. No joke, we have that skill down to perfection now. Ry and Les came to help later too so we ended up getting them all finished!

We also had the plumber come on Wednesday. I forgot to mention this but our bathtub got clogged with beans (don’t ask) and hair, so we couldn’t use it. The pipe in the toilet also cracked so we had to use the latrines or the handy dandy bucket in order to flush. Let me just tell you a little bit about the latrines: there are 2 of them out back. It consists of a hole in the ground with walls and a door surrounding it. Yep, no place to sit so your quads get a great work out. Anyway, the plumber finally came two days late, and our things were fixed. Since the pipe is drying however, we still have to use the bucket to flush.

Natalie was sick all day Wednesday. I felt bad for her because she had to stay in bed all day.

Later in the evening we went to St. Edwards for our weekly “game night” with the orphan children. Honestly, nobody wanted to go because it had just rained and we couldn’t think of anything to do with them. But, it ended up being fun and all of us were glad we got to go. We set up the projector in the biggest classroom and put Shrek on. The kids were totally loving it. At first we had the problem of getting it dark enough outside but the headmaster found a sheet for us, and then we found a chalkboard big enough to cover the other window partially. If there’s one thing I’ve learned here it’s how to improvise when a problem arises. I guess that is something I’ll have to be learning the rest of my life though.

Coming home from the game night Leslie and I had our wonderful dish washing turn again. It’s the worst to have it be your night. It’s about 16 bowls, forks and cups, and a billion pots and pans. Anyway, Les and I were able to make it fun. The water was in short supply so waiting for the water to fill up the buckets seriously almost took longer than washing all the dishes. Anyway, we decided it would be fun to play a game where you had to listen for the last word in a sentence, and then sing a song that had the last word in it. It didn’t last for long, but definitely long enough. We were outside like peeing our pants because it was so funny. We also did our ugly dances for a second too. I’m going to miss her when she moves to the mayor’s house. I won’t have anyone to touch hands with through the bed nets now.

When the dishes were all finished Leslie and I practiced our goal setting lesson for the Persons with Disabilities meeting. Honestly, I was a tiny bit nervous but only because nobody has given their lessons yet, so we were the first ones to do it. Then, we made goal setting notebooks to hand out. They turned out really cute.

May 29
Thursday morning I ate ants. Why you might ask? Well, they crawled up the wall into my bread bag. I somehow didn’t notice, and ate the bread for breakfast. Corbin came out carrying my bread and saying he was about to throw it away because it was swarming with ants. I thought that maybe he had one of the other 16 loaves we have on the shelf, and that it couldn’t possibly be mine. Then I looked at the loaf and at the bread I was eating, noticed a few ants on it, and started spitting it out as fast as I could. Hey, at least I can tell everyone I’ve eaten ants now.Right after that we walked to the PWD meeting. We had to wait for one full hour to start because so few people had showed up. Faith (the PWD contact) told us that they tell time by the sun and since it had rained and was dark outside they probably just didn’t know what time it was. I should probably add a side note here and tell everyone that these people are ALWAYS late. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve ran to the meetings and activities just hoping that we wouldn’t be late, only to find that nobody is there or would be there for at least another half hour. Anyway, eventually 20 mothers showed up with their children. The rest of the volunteers played with the children during the meeting. Faith acted as our translator. I felt like things went really well and that the mothers were really interested in what we were saying. Some of the mothers made very good goals relating to their child, others were not so good. The best part was when we told the mothers that the most important step to goal setting was to write down you goal. We forgot that some of them can’t read or write. OOPS! We also were giving an example of how to be more specific in goal setting and we said, “Instead of saying, ‘I want to be a better mother to my children’ you could say, ‘I want to be a better mother to my children by reading them one book each day”. The translator turned to us and said, “Do you mind if I make up my own example? They can’t read.” We felt really bad.After the meeting a bunch of us went to the Simple Market. Oh how I love that place. Guess what I found today? REAL HEINZ KETCHUP! I bought it right away. When I brought it home everyone was so jealous. At 5:00 I went to the Namatoto choir to watch Seren and Tor run their project. They are both amazing at singing and the kids loved singing with them. I left early so that I could come back when no one was here and just read for a second in silence. It was amazing. I miss quiet alone times. But, I do love having everyone here because there is always something fun going on, and something hilarious happening.

May 30
Friday I went to Iganga with Les, Heidi and Rylee. While on the way, our taxi stopped to let some people out in Mukono. I also had to get out, so the people behind me could, and just as I stepped out of the taxi another taxi hit ours. It moved the car forward about two feet and everyone started yelling at each other. Good thing I had already gotten out before that all happened! Anyway, nobody was hurt. Once we got to the orphanage we had to wait for the children to get finished with school before we could start. We broke all the children into small groups and did an art project. The lesson was taught by Les and Heidi and it was about heroes. The children were supposed to draw a picture of themselves and their hero, but they didn’t quite understand that part so they had fun just doing whatever they wanted. They all had fun and made cute pictures. As we were leaving, another group showed up to play with the children so it was perfect timing. The ride back home was exciting. They had us packed in like sardines as usual. They dropped some people off at one of the stops and the guy who flags down the people on the side of the road got in a yelling fight with some other guy. Then, they had us all get out and switch to another taxi. We still don’t know why they had us do that. Anyway, at another one of the stops they had me move to the seat in front of me. I looked down and there was a chicken just chilling there. I had nowhere to put my feet and I was afraid it would try and peck my legs or scratch me or something. I ended up holding my legs and feet above it and it was super uncomfortable. I was happy when they had me get in the seat behind that seat because I would no longer have a chicken sitting there. Well, I was wrong. The chicken slid back and hit my legs. Right when I felt it I screamed really loud. Everybody on the taxi turned around to see what was going on, including the driver. The rest of the way home I was worried about the chicken. Today was also Amber’s birthday. She works at a bakery in Mukono helping them with their finances, so they sent her home with a cake. Heidi brought some treats for her and other things so we celebrated that night. We all went around and told her one thing we love about her, then we ate. The cake was pretty stale but I am used to that now.

May 31
Saturday we got to go to the Uganda Cranes football game. They qualify for the 2010 World Cup. That was seriously a lot of fun. While there we encountered some of the most expert pick pocket-ers ever! Leslie had her backpack on her chest and even then somebody unzipped it without her even knowing. There were children standing next to the line at the entrance gates and one of them tried to steal Leslie’s camera and she caught him red handed. Jeff had his new wallet stolen, but it’s a good thing there were no credit cards in it. They ended up winning 1-0. We had our driver then take us to the Colline Hotel in Mukono for some nice American food. We waited for two hours just to get it so we were all starving by the time it came. I had pizza and fries. Oh man it was amazing! It made me miss real American food!

June 1
Sunday most of the group went with Mayor Deo to his hometown, etc. They woke up at 6:15, meaning that I woke up then as well. I decided not to go because I wanted to go to the church in Jinja. Amber, Natalie, Emily, David and I went to it together. It was fast Sunday and really awesome to experience my first one in Africa. They also announced the opening of a new branch. Everybody was really excited. I decided to go to Young Woman’s just to see how it was here. Once I walked in the room I was told that their teacher didn’t show up, and they asked me to teach their lesson. Luckily, they had a manual. At first I was a little bit nervous, but it ended up being a great experience. If there is one thing I have learned while being here, it’s that you should always expect the unexpected. Once we got back, the house was silent for a change! I read, took a nap and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Jackie and Corb cleaned the house and made it spotless. Once the group got back they were all very tired and some said they didn’t have that great of a time. I was glad that I didn’t go with them.

June 2
Monday Emily, Leslie, David and I went to observe the teachers at St. Edwards primary school. David and I observed one of the classrooms together. The teacher was awesome but some of the things he taught would totally confuse me if I was a kid in his class. We found out that the teacher was only 22. He let us teach his class a little about multiplication with fractions. I was way excited that I got to teach! After that David and I went to the internet, and then home. Dan had just finished his posters for the adobe stove demonstration so I helped him laminate them. Then I sat down to a box of Nice cookies and yes, I ate them all myself. David, Rylee, Seren and I went to Jinja for FHE. We sat in the taxi yard for forever just waiting for it to get full so we almost decided to stay home because we were going to be so late. We ended up going, and were all really glad that we did. We played a hand game taught by Rylee, a cup game (which I will be showing everyone when I get home) and an adverb game taught by David. As we were leaving they had Rylee say the closing prayer. She didn’t know there were refreshments so she didn’t bless them. When the prayer was finished they made her pray again just to bless them. It was pretty funny.

June 3
Tuesday was Martyr’s day. We decided that since most people would be celebrating, we would celebrate as well. We woke up at 6:30 because Abdul was supposed to pick us up at 7. He didn’t end up showing up until a little after 8. I was kind of upset because I was really tired. However, it gave Tor and me some time to run to the local chipate stand to pick up some Rolex’s (chipate with eggs, tomato and onion) and plain chipates. Each day I grow to love those more. I seriously had to make a goal for myself to only eat one per day. Anyway, the drive to the Martyr’s day celebration was exciting. I finished reading Tuesdays With Morrie (I highly recommend that book). While we were driving some random part of the car fell off. Abdul got up and put it back on like it had happened a billion times. He makes me nervous. Right here I just want to give a brief description of Abdul: He is a taxi driver who we hire a lot to drive us places because he is very flexible. He always wears button up shirts but the bottom button is never done so his belly HANGS out. He asked Emily and me what a giraffe and an elephant were. Every time he sees me he asks me if I am tired, ALL DAY LONG. Now back to the story-sometimes while in taxis I fear for my life and I usually feel like that is the only risk you take when you go to Africa. So, we got there and went to watch the choir thing they had going. We were up on this huge hill looking down on it. Right in the middle of the choir a huge marching band starts playing from behind us. The two mixed really well to make a beautiful sound? During the choir performance a bunch of us went to look around at the tables selling things. We found out that at every table they were selling marriage licenses and wedding rings. Since the wedding rings were only 800 shillings (50 cents) all the girls bought one. It’s weird how much different our two countries are on wedding rings. To be honest I was surprised to even see wedding rings because nobody wears them. Later we went to the memorial thing for the 25 martyrs. I made me sick to look at that. It was interesting though. Then we decided to walk to the catholic side. There were so many people there that I had to hold onto Leslie’s backpack in order to not get lost. A big group of us found some pineapples down the road. They had it set up where you picked your pineapple and they cut the sides off so that you could eat it right away. All of us got one and started eating them in a circle with the juice all over our face. Heidi had it all in her braces. As the people walked by us they noticed us and started staring. They thought it was hilarious to see us like that. By the time we were finished there was a HUGE crowd just stopped to watch us. This is weird to say, but we all agreed that it was our favorite part of the whole day. We kept going and Les, Emily and I bought some ice cream. It tasted a lot like snow cones. I found a hair in mine and couldn’t enjoy the rest of it. Leslie was happy to take it off my hands. We left the celebrations and had our driver take us to the Kampala mall. Oh my word it was amazing. NOTHING in comparison to our malls at home, but it felt like we were actually in the world. Lugazi has a way of making you feel like you are camping-but Kampala feels like a totally different country. While we were there we saw the mission president and some missionaries. We also ate some pizza in the food court. Didn’t taste like our pizza but it was great nonetheless. After that we decided to just go back home. Dinner that night was amazing. Irene made us samozas. They are fried dough with either meat or cabbage inside. Good meat is a rare commodity here, so I ate meat for like the 3rd time since being here. The electricity went out this night, and the internet hasn’t been working this week.

On the way back from Seya Orphanage it started pouring so hard that we had to park some random place and hide inside this school room. While waiting there these 2 little boys ran over and gave us plates of corn. It was so sweet of them! Their corn definately doesn't taste the same though. The other one is a picture taken right when we found the Mabira forest sign after walking for FOREVER. We were all REALLY happy to see it. One of the pictures is of the kids in our neighborhood running towards us after seeing us come out of our gate. Another picture is me showing some of the posters we drew for the teachers and then had to laminate.

The Multi Tasking Soap

On Tuesday Dan got back from Jinja. He’s feeling much better now and doesn’t have hives or a swollen face anymore.

A group of girls and I went to the internet, bank, market and supermarket. While standing in line for the ATM a man totally just walked right up and started using it, even though it was our turn. I’m getting used to that now because that happens a lot. Oh well, don’t mind us. We were only in line for twenty minutes. It doesn't matter where you are, expect to be butted in line.

When we got back Ry and I did our laundry. That is quite the African experience. We fill up three buckets; one for soaking, washing and rinsing. We use this soap that is super classy. It is used for washing dishes, clothes and your body. I bet you all had a multi tasking soap just like me! By the end of my laundry I start getting so lazy that I don’t even care if there are still dirt spots on it or the soap isn’t completely washed out of it. Drying the clothes also takes forever because of the humidity. It seems like once they are almost dry, it starts pouring outside and they get wet once again. The clothes also stretch out super big (girls-remember the undies?) and get holes on them from rubbing them so hard in order to get clean. All of this only makes me gain more respect for the African women who do this for their entire families.

Later that day we drove to Mukono to go to a teacher training meeting given by the George Wythe group (contacts of Help international). It’s gotten to the point where it’s almost weird to see other white people besides us. Every once in a while one of us will come back to the house and announce that they saw another white person in town. Weird. During the training one of the ladies that was talking was telling about a story that happened like one week ago where she was laying in bed and all of a sudden she thought to herself, “Oh my gosh. I am in Africa. WHAT AM I DOING HERE?” It’s funny because there have been many times in the past three weeks where I have been laying in bed and have thought to myself that exact thing. It gets difficult sometimes and it feels overwhelming. There are times when I feel like there is no way that I could ever make a difference to these people because there is so much to do. Often times I have wondered if I am the only one here who feels like that. It’s nice to know that other people do. Anyway, the meeting was really great and we all felt inspired after.

We arrived home to a wonderful dinner made by Irene. You’d be amazed at how fast that food gets devoured. After dinner a bunch of the girls went to lay in bed and talk about home. I always love doing that. Ty also called so that was nice to talk to him.

Garbage surprise

Ah! The boys went through our garbage and look what they found. They had no clue what they were, but they were using them as whistles. It's completely disgusting but it is kind of funny at the same time

Thursday I went to St. Edwards Primary School again to help the teachers make their posters. I know this sounds weird, but drawing and coloring the posters is actually really relaxing and fun for me. Some of the things they had us draw were kind of weird…..and by weird I mean probably unnecessary. I drew a picture of a girl with a sling on, and a boy with a splint on his leg. Yep, it was difficult. When we told them we were leaving they told us we had to wait so that they could make us lunch. Most of the places here do that for you and it is rude if you don’t wait. About an hour later we got our food and it was a huge bowl of my favorite African food-matoke. Oh man, I was struggling to eat it all. Each bite was forced down my throat. I was really happy that I had my crystal light handy though so that I could wash it all down. On the way home I stopped at the internet café and researched goal setting for Trent and Rylee’s projects. Les and I are assigned to teach those for both those groups.

Friday we took a long drive to Iganga to go check out the orphanage there. This was one of the contacts from the HELP group that was here last year. The drive was AMAZING. It was an hour and a half, and although it was very crowded, it was nice to just be able to sit there and relax and listen to my ipod. It was the most “alone” time I’ve had in quite a while. The man sitting next to me was asking me all about my ipod because he had never seen one before. Try explaining one of those to somebody who doesn’t have a clue what it is or what it does- it’s not as easy as you would think. I let him take a headphone and listen for a second. Once we got to the orphanage the children ran out to greet us. They took us on a short tour of the orphanage. This was one of the nicest ones here. It’s weird to call something like that nice because to our standards it would be considered a dump. Anyway, Heidi brought some sour skittles and decided to give them to the kids. They were attacking us! Heidi had to throw the bag at them before they would believe that they were really gone. Then for a few more hours we just sat and played with the kids. Some of the volunteers and kids made the paper bead necklaces, others danced. After this whole thing we all talked about the differences we saw in the kids that lived in the nicer orphanages and had more experiences with white people, and the kids who lived in the not so nice ones. There was actually a big difference. Once we were ready to leave, they told us we had to wait for the lunch that was “on the way”. Two hours later we got a nice meal of rice, cassava and beans. It was such a relief that we got to serve ourselves and that there wasn’t anything too nasty there. When walking back to the road to try and get a taxi back I almost got hit by a car. The people are all crazy drivers and I swear they have no laws for driving whatsoever. Anyway, all the people around us just started laughing. How is getting hit by a car funny? We also found a supermarket that had diet coke. Everyone bought like 20 cans because they don’t have that in Lugazi. The taxi ride home was crazy! Just picture this: a taxi the size of a mini van with 23 people shoved in it, luggage, a turkey, and a kid throwing up right in front of me. Oh Africa. That night Amber and Corbin presented their project proposal to the group. It was supposed to be 15 minutes and then turned into an hour. Right after that we all went to bed.

Saturday was a great day! We woke up to the rain once again. Can I just add real quick that I have never seen rain come down so hard and so much all at once. When they say rainy season, they mean RAINY SEASON. We waited for it to end before we left to go to Mabira forest for our hike. Our group started out hiking together, and accidentally ended up in 3 different groups going 3 completely different ways. We hiked for quite a while before we decided that we had no idea where we were, or if we were even headed the right direction. We ended up on some random road, and that’s where we really became unsure. We tried asking some little girls walking by us but they had no idea what we were talking about. Luckily about ten minutes later the road lead to the sign for Mabira forest. It was a beautiful sight. When my group was finished we waited for Emily and Trent to show up. Then, we had our driver take us to the American restaurant in Jinja. Oh my word that food is amazing. I got the best smoothie I’ve ever had, plus a basil, tomato, cheese and avocado bagel. Some people stayed after to shop in the stores. They all pretty much have the same things in every store, so it’s basically a contest to find out who can get the lowest prices on the things in there. When we got home we found the pleasant surprise of the electricity off. Ashley and Jackie told us it had been off all day and wasn’t supposed to come back on until Monday. We took advantage of the dark by playing murder in the dark. It was really fun. For everyone who wants to know, Corbin is a liar and deceiver.

Sunday we woke up early to drive back to Jinja for church. We left an hour early but had to wait in the taxi yard for a while so that the taxi could get completely filled up. Because we had to wait so long we were late for church. The church here is seriously amazing though. The people are so strong and when I am around them my testimony gets strengthened so much. They invited us to stay after church for two baptisms too. That was a great experience. After church Les, Ry and I went to the American restaurant. I’ll probably be talking about it a lot so from now on it will be referred to by its name, Ginger. Once again it was amazing. This time I got pancakes that tasted like crepes. On them they put this lemon sauce and sprinkled sugar. I have been craving it every day since then. When we were finished we tried to get on the computers. After 15 minutes of nothing showing up on the screen we all sort of gave up. Trying to find a taxi after was a nightmare. Rylee and I found ourselves arguing with the driver over 500 shillings (yeah, like 30 cents). My family will tell you I’ve always been a tightwad, but now I will finally admit to it. Anyway, Leslie proved to be the voice of reason. We gave up the 500 shillings for a ride home.

Monday we all went to the hospitals. We waited for an hour for the lady we had our appointment with, to show up. She never did, but another lady came to give us a tour around the hospital. The whole thing made me really sad. I don’t see how you could leave that hospital without a disease. The children’s ward smelled of the strongest urine smell I’ve ever smelled before. Most of the people were there for malaria or aids. It made me really glad that in America we don’t face those problems like Africa does. The sad thing about it is that most people don’t know how to take care of it or prevent it either. Monday night was an exciting experience. Dan, who is allergic to peanuts, accidentally ate peanuts in a sauce covering his matoke. They rushed him to the Jinja hospital as soon as they could. By the way, Jinja is 45 minutes away. Once again I found something that I take for granted. The hospitals in America are amazing. I never realized how safe they make me feel, and how much I trust them. It’s nice to know that if I go to the hospital it will be clean, and the people will actually know what they are doing.

Before I end this super long blog I want to add a few more things. Our power came back on late Sunday afternoon-just as the water went out. It is back on now though, so I won’t complain.

picture explanations

Jambo everybody! I hope you are all doing great (and by all I mean the 3 of you that actually read this blog). So, after many attempts to post pictures I finally got them up today! I can't even tell you how happy that makes me! It took 45 minutes today so I hope you enjoy. I just wanted to write a little something about the pictures real quick. The one with the kids peeking through the wood crack is probably one of my most favorites! That day we went to Sanyu primary school to talk to the headmaster. The kids weren't in school then, but the neighborhood kids were all around. When we went through the school rooms the kids followed us to the rooms, and then sat in the doorways and peeked through the holes in the walls just to be able to see us. I thought it was really cute. Then there's a picture of me drawing with a billion kids circling me. That one is when we were at Hope Orphanage in Seya. It started raining really hard so I went inside to play with the kids till the rain stopped. I pulled out a notebook and was only going to draw one picture for one of the kids but then they circled me and all wanted pictures. I am absolutely terrible and drawing, so you can imagine what my pictures looked like. But I seriously loved it. For my favorite little boy (Mathius) I wrote down the words to I am a child of god. We went back to that orphanage about 4 days later and right as we got there he grabbed my arm and out of his pocket he pulled out the paper that i had given him. It made me super excited! The last picture is me at the orphanage playing on the keyboard. Some of those kids were actually way good. The one to the right of me is Mathius (he's in the red) and then his cute cross eyed little brother ronnie is next to him. I don't have any more time to write about this week but when I get a chance i'll give another update!