And if anyone wants to view my photos of the trip so far, log onto facebook. If you have an account, friend me so you can see my photos.
If you don't have an account, the following public links should allow you to see my photos anyway:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010049&l=51de7&id=162900835
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009976&l=795ce&id=162900835
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Week Three: Food Poisoning--the Nile Virus? :)
Hey everyone! I hope you all are doing well. I am doing really well now. This weekend we took an amazing trip to a town called Jinja. It is right on Lake Victoria, which is the source of the Nile River. So we got to take several really cool tours around the town, and a boatride on the lake to the source of the Nile. It was so beautiful!
The sad thing was I got really sick with food poisoning on the way home on Sunday--so I spent 1.5 hours on the bus puking my guts out, and continued puking until 8-9 pm on Sunday night. Brooke, one of my leaders, called Mama Joyce to let her know I was really sick and that Americans prefer to be left alone when they are sick. That lasted about an hour and a half, and then Mama Joyce just couldn't resist. The African culture is very different. Here, when someone is sick, it is very rude and offensive to ignore them. Instead, you should do everything you can do to help them and wait on them. They have no qualms about seeing sick people or being seen when they are sick--they expect people to help them when they are ill and they do the same thing for others. It is the difference between the individualistic culture and the communal culture. I explained to Mama Joyce how we hate being seen sick because it is embarrassing--we don't like being seen at our worst. And we don't like to feel like a burden on other people, so we hate to see people take so much time to help us. She said that is not the way in Africa. And she said she tried to stay away, but she is a mother and it's not natural for her to leave a sick child alone. I appreciated the help. I don't really know how to be sick here. Everything is so different. Our toilets are 50 feet or so outside of the house. I tried a couple of times to run to the outhouse from my bedroom, carrying the basin I was puking in, but that didn't work so much. So eventually I just sat outside for a while. Then Mama Joyce came and explained to me that if I was "diareteting" they had a bucket inside I could use. So while that felt very strange and embarrassing to me, she assured me "that's how we do it" so I spent the rest of the evening sitting on one bucket and puking into another. I'm sure it was a sad picture, but I didn't care so much at the time.
Praise God I am feeling much better today. Yesterday I was still a bit queasy and skipped lunch, but I have eaten today and felt much better overall. One day of food poisoning was mild compared to some of the sicknesses I could catch here, so I suppose I'll count my blessings.
This week is going to be a bit crazy at school. I feel like American universities tend to push all of the projects and papers to the end of the semester, but in Uganda they just do them throughout. So I am a bit stressed. This week I have two long ournal entries due, and a huge paper/project due (all of this on Thursday/Friday) and I had a rough start being sick this weekend and traveliing--not much time for homework! So please pray that I am able to finish all of the assignments on time and without too much stress.
Otherwise, the weeks are flying by so far and I am really enjpying it here still. I am building better relationships with my fellow American students and beginning to find Ugandan friends as well. I am definitely becoming more a part of my host family and thinking what a blessing it is to have the opportunity to have a family here. How cool to be a genuine member of an African family! I look forward to going home from campus every night and hanging out with Mama Joyce and various other host relatives.
Well, I have to head home now actually. I have a mass amount of laundry that isn't going to do itself. I have clean underwear...but no skirts, really. So unless I want to go to class in my underwear tomorrow...looks like I get to spend some quality time with the washing basin this afternoon.
The sad thing was I got really sick with food poisoning on the way home on Sunday--so I spent 1.5 hours on the bus puking my guts out, and continued puking until 8-9 pm on Sunday night. Brooke, one of my leaders, called Mama Joyce to let her know I was really sick and that Americans prefer to be left alone when they are sick. That lasted about an hour and a half, and then Mama Joyce just couldn't resist. The African culture is very different. Here, when someone is sick, it is very rude and offensive to ignore them. Instead, you should do everything you can do to help them and wait on them. They have no qualms about seeing sick people or being seen when they are sick--they expect people to help them when they are ill and they do the same thing for others. It is the difference between the individualistic culture and the communal culture. I explained to Mama Joyce how we hate being seen sick because it is embarrassing--we don't like being seen at our worst. And we don't like to feel like a burden on other people, so we hate to see people take so much time to help us. She said that is not the way in Africa. And she said she tried to stay away, but she is a mother and it's not natural for her to leave a sick child alone. I appreciated the help. I don't really know how to be sick here. Everything is so different. Our toilets are 50 feet or so outside of the house. I tried a couple of times to run to the outhouse from my bedroom, carrying the basin I was puking in, but that didn't work so much. So eventually I just sat outside for a while. Then Mama Joyce came and explained to me that if I was "diareteting" they had a bucket inside I could use. So while that felt very strange and embarrassing to me, she assured me "that's how we do it" so I spent the rest of the evening sitting on one bucket and puking into another. I'm sure it was a sad picture, but I didn't care so much at the time.
Praise God I am feeling much better today. Yesterday I was still a bit queasy and skipped lunch, but I have eaten today and felt much better overall. One day of food poisoning was mild compared to some of the sicknesses I could catch here, so I suppose I'll count my blessings.
This week is going to be a bit crazy at school. I feel like American universities tend to push all of the projects and papers to the end of the semester, but in Uganda they just do them throughout. So I am a bit stressed. This week I have two long ournal entries due, and a huge paper/project due (all of this on Thursday/Friday) and I had a rough start being sick this weekend and traveliing--not much time for homework! So please pray that I am able to finish all of the assignments on time and without too much stress.
Otherwise, the weeks are flying by so far and I am really enjpying it here still. I am building better relationships with my fellow American students and beginning to find Ugandan friends as well. I am definitely becoming more a part of my host family and thinking what a blessing it is to have the opportunity to have a family here. How cool to be a genuine member of an African family! I look forward to going home from campus every night and hanging out with Mama Joyce and various other host relatives.
Well, I have to head home now actually. I have a mass amount of laundry that isn't going to do itself. I have clean underwear...but no skirts, really. So unless I want to go to class in my underwear tomorrow...looks like I get to spend some quality time with the washing basin this afternoon.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
week 2 news
Hello my amazing friends and families. I am doing extremely well (so far) during this second week of school at Uganda Christian University. Homework is getting slightly crazy, though, so it's been hard to find time to write.
So some more info about my family. Mama Joyce is 68 years old (as of today I think, actually), and incredibly wise. She works as the secretary to the bishop of the church we attend. I love having the opportunity to spend so much time with her. I feel so blessed to have such a special home stay situation. She has six children, only one of them is a boy. They are all grown, and all but one are married. Martin is her only son, and he has several children, including Emmanuel (Ema, for short), and adorable 2 year old who is kind of scared of me but really likes the hotwheels cars I brought to give to children, and he now knows the expression "ready, set, go," because I taught him how to race hotwheels. Mama Joyce also has a new granddaughter, Jewel, who is the daughter of Josephine, one of Mama's five daughters. The other children I have met so far are Agatha, Sharon, and Angel, three beautiful girls belonging to Martin. This weekend was amazing because I got to meet a lot of my Ugandan family--everyone kept dropping by and we had a large family dinner on Sunday night--we had these things called Chipotis, which are like fried bread (yummm) and then we had them with some sort of a meat sauce...they were really good.
School is going well so far. I have my first presentation/paper in one of my classes on Thursday this week. It's for Reading the NT in Africa, a really good but challenging class, and I am presenting about interpreting scripture in African sermons and art. Pretty cool stuff. I have lots of reading homework and presentations and papers, but not as many exams as I would have at university in the states, so that's nice I guess. The hardest thing so far is finding time to do all of my homework because we are busy on campus all day, and then I go home to Mama Joyce and want to spend time with her. But she lets me do homework at the table while we are all waiting for dinner (usually served between 9-11pm, "whenever it's ready"). So I get homework time during the evenings, I'm just torn between hanging out and reading. At any rate, tonight and tomorrow will have to be homework nights because I have to get this presentation ready! And then I have a presentation and paper due next week, on Thursday, for my class called African Traditional Religions, Christianity and Islam in Uganda. It's a good class, one of two that I have an African professor for. My other African professor is my African Literature teacher. He's a really eccentric, kind of funny older man. He didn't even come to class the first day, and they called him and he was like "I didn't know I had to teach today...and I'm in Kampala, so I'm not coming back". So that was a funny start to the semester. I'm not sure how much I'll learn about African lit, but he'll be a fun guy to get to know. He really likes having American students. The biggest problem with the African teachers is communication--we don't understand their accents, and they don't understand ours...so in my notes sometimes I write the wrong words, and we all look at each others notes, trying to figure out who heard the prof correctly. Good times. I'm sure I'll eventually understand. If I could sit through French lectures this summer (in French) I should be able to understand African English!
Lat night I had dinner with Brooke, one of my profs and the director of the missions emphasis program, and her husband, a Ugandan man I met for the first time. Brooke is pregnant with their first child, so that's exciting. We had some good ol American sandwiches. I don’t really like sandwiches, but it was actually nice not to have to eat a lot—because in Uganda the portions are huge and it’s rude to only have one portion…so I have been eating mass amounts of food. It was nice to just have half a sandwich and stop eating. And I'll take American food and dinner at 7:30 when I have the opportunity (my dinners are normally between 9-10pm)! It was fun to hang out with Brooke, her husband, and some of the other missions students (we were all invited). The rest of the week is basically filled with classes. Then this weekend we are traveling to a town called Jinja to visit some missionaries who work in a prison ministry there. We'll get to listen to them and ask questions and then we'll get to hang out in the city. We'll be attending a Baptist church on Sunday, and Chuck, one of our students, is preaching.
Also some other prayer requests: we have a student who is pretty sick right now. His name is Geoff and he has a virus of some sort--it's not malaria (praise God), but it's pretty bad, and he has had a really high fever. He seems to be improving, but still needs prayer. And Kaia, one of the other girls, also isn’t feeling well. So pray for Kaia and Geoff, and just for God's protection for all of us. Also keep a guy named Chuck in your prayers—he’s one of our students who has volunteered to preach this Sunday while we are travelling and visiting a Baptist church in a town called Jinja.
This week I have met a couple of Ugandan friends (one girl, one guy) on campus. The girl especially is really nice. Her name is Judith. She studies some kind of social work, so we’re interested in similar things. I am looking forward to getting to know her more. I just hope the relationships are genuine. They caution us to be careful in our relationships. Many people here have the misconception that American’s are rich, and also that white women are sexually loose/promiscuous. This is our fault. Pretty much all they see of American is Hollywood. So just imagine if all you knew of the US was James Bond and American Pie. They don’t get very many examples of what most Americans are actually like. So I have to be careful making friends that they aren’t just trying to get close to me to take advantage of me. It sucks to have to be suspicious, but since I don’t really know how to navigate this culture yet, suspicion is pretty healthy. The guy friend wanted to talk on the phone and wants me to visit his hostel, but I told him I would prefer to meet in person, in public, to talk. So I took a couple of girl friends to the café on campus and we had an awesome conversation and he seems genuinely nice. But I don’t really intend to let my guard down just yet. I have in my reserves an imaginary husband or boyfriend if need be not to mention a fairly intimidating father and brother who would fly all the way to Uganda to chase off the boys…Caleb especially wouldn’t mind beating a few people up for me. I’m generally glad he’s on my side He might be my little brother, but he’s never shy to take up for me. The American guys here take up for us too. They’re always willing to come along when we go out so we’re not alone.
On Sunday I helped teach Sunday school at the church I go to. It was great. I don’t any of the kids’ names yet, but I’ll continue to work with them throughout the semester. They are ages 7-9 and lots of fun. We sang songs and then one of the other teachers told them the story of Moses and related it really well to them. Then we did a memory verse that went along with the lesson. Eventually I will have the opportunity to be the storyteller, so that’s pretty cool.
Hmmm. This has been a fairly long email. I'm sure there's more stories to tell, but I should probably do some homework or something...I'll write again when I can--later this week or the weekend. For mom and dad, my camera seems fine...I think I got it clean, but I haven't really taken pics with it yet since this weekend. Sorry to wake you up on Sunday morning. I think being so upset about something so small was probably a sign of the culture shock I am going through. But I am feeling great right now, loving this experience, trying to live it up, meeting new people..learning culture...it's good.
and PS anyone who wants can check out some photos that I posted on the internet at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30302363&l=501e8&id=162900835
So some more info about my family. Mama Joyce is 68 years old (as of today I think, actually), and incredibly wise. She works as the secretary to the bishop of the church we attend. I love having the opportunity to spend so much time with her. I feel so blessed to have such a special home stay situation. She has six children, only one of them is a boy. They are all grown, and all but one are married. Martin is her only son, and he has several children, including Emmanuel (Ema, for short), and adorable 2 year old who is kind of scared of me but really likes the hotwheels cars I brought to give to children, and he now knows the expression "ready, set, go," because I taught him how to race hotwheels. Mama Joyce also has a new granddaughter, Jewel, who is the daughter of Josephine, one of Mama's five daughters. The other children I have met so far are Agatha, Sharon, and Angel, three beautiful girls belonging to Martin. This weekend was amazing because I got to meet a lot of my Ugandan family--everyone kept dropping by and we had a large family dinner on Sunday night--we had these things called Chipotis, which are like fried bread (yummm) and then we had them with some sort of a meat sauce...they were really good.
School is going well so far. I have my first presentation/paper in one of my classes on Thursday this week. It's for Reading the NT in Africa, a really good but challenging class, and I am presenting about interpreting scripture in African sermons and art. Pretty cool stuff. I have lots of reading homework and presentations and papers, but not as many exams as I would have at university in the states, so that's nice I guess. The hardest thing so far is finding time to do all of my homework because we are busy on campus all day, and then I go home to Mama Joyce and want to spend time with her. But she lets me do homework at the table while we are all waiting for dinner (usually served between 9-11pm, "whenever it's ready"). So I get homework time during the evenings, I'm just torn between hanging out and reading. At any rate, tonight and tomorrow will have to be homework nights because I have to get this presentation ready! And then I have a presentation and paper due next week, on Thursday, for my class called African Traditional Religions, Christianity and Islam in Uganda. It's a good class, one of two that I have an African professor for. My other African professor is my African Literature teacher. He's a really eccentric, kind of funny older man. He didn't even come to class the first day, and they called him and he was like "I didn't know I had to teach today...and I'm in Kampala, so I'm not coming back". So that was a funny start to the semester. I'm not sure how much I'll learn about African lit, but he'll be a fun guy to get to know. He really likes having American students. The biggest problem with the African teachers is communication--we don't understand their accents, and they don't understand ours...so in my notes sometimes I write the wrong words, and we all look at each others notes, trying to figure out who heard the prof correctly. Good times. I'm sure I'll eventually understand. If I could sit through French lectures this summer (in French) I should be able to understand African English!
Lat night I had dinner with Brooke, one of my profs and the director of the missions emphasis program, and her husband, a Ugandan man I met for the first time. Brooke is pregnant with their first child, so that's exciting. We had some good ol American sandwiches. I don’t really like sandwiches, but it was actually nice not to have to eat a lot—because in Uganda the portions are huge and it’s rude to only have one portion…so I have been eating mass amounts of food. It was nice to just have half a sandwich and stop eating. And I'll take American food and dinner at 7:30 when I have the opportunity (my dinners are normally between 9-10pm)! It was fun to hang out with Brooke, her husband, and some of the other missions students (we were all invited). The rest of the week is basically filled with classes. Then this weekend we are traveling to a town called Jinja to visit some missionaries who work in a prison ministry there. We'll get to listen to them and ask questions and then we'll get to hang out in the city. We'll be attending a Baptist church on Sunday, and Chuck, one of our students, is preaching.
Also some other prayer requests: we have a student who is pretty sick right now. His name is Geoff and he has a virus of some sort--it's not malaria (praise God), but it's pretty bad, and he has had a really high fever. He seems to be improving, but still needs prayer. And Kaia, one of the other girls, also isn’t feeling well. So pray for Kaia and Geoff, and just for God's protection for all of us. Also keep a guy named Chuck in your prayers—he’s one of our students who has volunteered to preach this Sunday while we are travelling and visiting a Baptist church in a town called Jinja.
This week I have met a couple of Ugandan friends (one girl, one guy) on campus. The girl especially is really nice. Her name is Judith. She studies some kind of social work, so we’re interested in similar things. I am looking forward to getting to know her more. I just hope the relationships are genuine. They caution us to be careful in our relationships. Many people here have the misconception that American’s are rich, and also that white women are sexually loose/promiscuous. This is our fault. Pretty much all they see of American is Hollywood. So just imagine if all you knew of the US was James Bond and American Pie. They don’t get very many examples of what most Americans are actually like. So I have to be careful making friends that they aren’t just trying to get close to me to take advantage of me. It sucks to have to be suspicious, but since I don’t really know how to navigate this culture yet, suspicion is pretty healthy. The guy friend wanted to talk on the phone and wants me to visit his hostel, but I told him I would prefer to meet in person, in public, to talk. So I took a couple of girl friends to the café on campus and we had an awesome conversation and he seems genuinely nice. But I don’t really intend to let my guard down just yet. I have in my reserves an imaginary husband or boyfriend if need be not to mention a fairly intimidating father and brother who would fly all the way to Uganda to chase off the boys…Caleb especially wouldn’t mind beating a few people up for me. I’m generally glad he’s on my side He might be my little brother, but he’s never shy to take up for me. The American guys here take up for us too. They’re always willing to come along when we go out so we’re not alone.
On Sunday I helped teach Sunday school at the church I go to. It was great. I don’t any of the kids’ names yet, but I’ll continue to work with them throughout the semester. They are ages 7-9 and lots of fun. We sang songs and then one of the other teachers told them the story of Moses and related it really well to them. Then we did a memory verse that went along with the lesson. Eventually I will have the opportunity to be the storyteller, so that’s pretty cool.
Hmmm. This has been a fairly long email. I'm sure there's more stories to tell, but I should probably do some homework or something...I'll write again when I can--later this week or the weekend. For mom and dad, my camera seems fine...I think I got it clean, but I haven't really taken pics with it yet since this weekend. Sorry to wake you up on Sunday morning. I think being so upset about something so small was probably a sign of the culture shock I am going through. But I am feeling great right now, loving this experience, trying to live it up, meeting new people..learning culture...it's good.
and PS anyone who wants can check out some photos that I posted on the internet at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30302363&l=501e8&id=162900835
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wild Dogs and Laundry Flies
Hey! It's good to hear news of home. I am jealous you got to cuddle with the dogs, mom. I brought all kinds of pictures of the dogs here, and the rest of the family, and then when Mama Joyce looked at the pictures I realized she pretty much hates dogs, which was a turn off for her to the pictures. She was like "I don't understand you people and your dogs." I have seen a few dogs here, but mostly wild, and it's best to avoid them. So I miss having pets...but I guess the cow could count as a pet? even though she isn't exactly petable...people don't really domesticate animals here. Even when they have farm animals, they let them run pretty wild, so I walk by lots of chickens and goats on my way to school. They just wander around, and people don't really mind them, and surprisingly, people don't seem to steal them from each other. There's even a family who keeps some ducks, even though there definitely aren't any ponds or lakes near here...just puddles.
School is going well. I am not too swamped with homework yet, but I will have quite a bit in coming weeks, starting next week and this weekend. It's a lot of reading and papers. I made a make shift calendar in my notebook to try to keep track of everything. And from what my friends who have been here before say...I should be able to get away with some skimming and strategic skipping of some reading, so we'll see. And writing papers will be hard because I am used to shutting myself away from the world and having lots of privacy and time to work...and air conditioning, oh air conditioning...but I won't have those luxuries here. I am going to need to learn some serious time management! And I'm going to figure out how to make my brain work even though it's like eighty degrees outside and I am sitting here sweating in these heavy skirts...I keep having the urge to strip, but that would be quite the scandal here. Heck, women in shorts is kind of a scandal...which is hard for me. I put shorts on the other night, in the privacy of my locked room at night, and it was the greatest feeling ever...after one week of solid skirts, I was really way to excited about the shorts. The moment was truly monumental--I guess that's part of this experience, learning how to appreciate the small things in life, like shorts and showers, toilets, toilet paper, and air conditioning.
Today is our trip into Kampala, which is the closest large city to the school. Mukono is the closest town, but it's kind of like the Frankfort to Kampala's Lousiville. We are going to get to eat at a restaurant (another thing that nearly never happens here) and I am torn between trying some crazy Ugandan food and using one of my few chances to eat a hamburger and fries. I might do a bit of shopping, but Mama Joyce says it's a bit early, so I think I'll take her advice. The other exciting thing is that I'll finally get to exchange money. So dad, the answer to your question, is I am doing great with money, because so far I pretty much haven't had any because this is our first chance to exchange. Once I exchange money, I have to pay for my books, which will put an 85,000 shilling dent (about 40-50$) in my funds, but I guess that's not bad compared to the 500$ cost of books at Milligan. When I have money, I will be able to have more minutes on my cellphone, and to eat in the canteen on campus, which has food slightly more exciting than beans and rice. And there's a lady named Lydia who makes smoothies as a business, and she's very close to the canteen, which is nice, and she's also very adamant that you buy a smoothie, which is hard when you don't have money.
This weekend will be exciting for me. Tomorrow I am going to learn to handwash my clothes, which is good timing, because most of them are dirty. But it's going to be quite the chore. You have to hand wash, hang dry, and then iron anything. The ironing part is good for looks, because Ugandans hate sloppiness of appearance, but it's also because there are these flies that will lay eggs on damp clothes, and then burrow into your skin if you wear the clothes, so ironing will kill them. So I will also be learning to iron. Being presentable is so important here and it's something I am generally not, so it's a challenge for me every morning to get up, take a basin bath, put on skirts, wash my shoes, put on jewelry....the one blessing is that makeup really isn't necessary because the climate here definitely isn't condusive to makeup. So I have that down pretty well--no makeup, Check!
Also this weekend I get to help teach Sunday school for the first time. They ask that we do some kind of service while we are here, so Mama Joyce got permission from the teachers at her church to let me help. So that's exciting. They even said they would like for me to teach the class (give the lesson) at least once, which might be kind of challenging because the kids will probably speak English at varying levels. But we'll just face that hurdle when it comes. And in one of my classes, I have to do a project, using the Bible from an African perspective, so there you go--teaching a Sunday School lesson to African children.
Well, it's time to get off of the internet and begin to read, and get ready for Kampala. And also I have to pee...and the closest hole is like a ten minute walk away on campus...
School is going well. I am not too swamped with homework yet, but I will have quite a bit in coming weeks, starting next week and this weekend. It's a lot of reading and papers. I made a make shift calendar in my notebook to try to keep track of everything. And from what my friends who have been here before say...I should be able to get away with some skimming and strategic skipping of some reading, so we'll see. And writing papers will be hard because I am used to shutting myself away from the world and having lots of privacy and time to work...and air conditioning, oh air conditioning...but I won't have those luxuries here. I am going to need to learn some serious time management! And I'm going to figure out how to make my brain work even though it's like eighty degrees outside and I am sitting here sweating in these heavy skirts...I keep having the urge to strip, but that would be quite the scandal here. Heck, women in shorts is kind of a scandal...which is hard for me. I put shorts on the other night, in the privacy of my locked room at night, and it was the greatest feeling ever...after one week of solid skirts, I was really way to excited about the shorts. The moment was truly monumental--I guess that's part of this experience, learning how to appreciate the small things in life, like shorts and showers, toilets, toilet paper, and air conditioning.
Today is our trip into Kampala, which is the closest large city to the school. Mukono is the closest town, but it's kind of like the Frankfort to Kampala's Lousiville. We are going to get to eat at a restaurant (another thing that nearly never happens here) and I am torn between trying some crazy Ugandan food and using one of my few chances to eat a hamburger and fries. I might do a bit of shopping, but Mama Joyce says it's a bit early, so I think I'll take her advice. The other exciting thing is that I'll finally get to exchange money. So dad, the answer to your question, is I am doing great with money, because so far I pretty much haven't had any because this is our first chance to exchange. Once I exchange money, I have to pay for my books, which will put an 85,000 shilling dent (about 40-50$) in my funds, but I guess that's not bad compared to the 500$ cost of books at Milligan. When I have money, I will be able to have more minutes on my cellphone, and to eat in the canteen on campus, which has food slightly more exciting than beans and rice. And there's a lady named Lydia who makes smoothies as a business, and she's very close to the canteen, which is nice, and she's also very adamant that you buy a smoothie, which is hard when you don't have money.
This weekend will be exciting for me. Tomorrow I am going to learn to handwash my clothes, which is good timing, because most of them are dirty. But it's going to be quite the chore. You have to hand wash, hang dry, and then iron anything. The ironing part is good for looks, because Ugandans hate sloppiness of appearance, but it's also because there are these flies that will lay eggs on damp clothes, and then burrow into your skin if you wear the clothes, so ironing will kill them. So I will also be learning to iron. Being presentable is so important here and it's something I am generally not, so it's a challenge for me every morning to get up, take a basin bath, put on skirts, wash my shoes, put on jewelry....the one blessing is that makeup really isn't necessary because the climate here definitely isn't condusive to makeup. So I have that down pretty well--no makeup, Check!
Also this weekend I get to help teach Sunday school for the first time. They ask that we do some kind of service while we are here, so Mama Joyce got permission from the teachers at her church to let me help. So that's exciting. They even said they would like for me to teach the class (give the lesson) at least once, which might be kind of challenging because the kids will probably speak English at varying levels. But we'll just face that hurdle when it comes. And in one of my classes, I have to do a project, using the Bible from an African perspective, so there you go--teaching a Sunday School lesson to African children.
Well, it's time to get off of the internet and begin to read, and get ready for Kampala. And also I have to pee...and the closest hole is like a ten minute walk away on campus...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Hey everyone! I hope you're all well in the US right now. Your emails have brought much encouragement and joy and nearly some tears...it's hard not to read the emails, hear your voices, and miss you! I am doing really well right now. I think with culture shock I will have good days and bad days...yesterday I was a bit sad, but talking to mom and dad, even if only for three minutes each was really nice.
I got to see the city of Mukono yesterday. It's the closest town to the University, so we just walked there and played a sort of scavenger hunt game. I bought a bottled coke and some laundry detergent (it's nearly time for my first round of handwashing clothes to take place) and a scrub brush--in Uganda, the red dirt/dust/mud gets everywhere, and the people and washing with your hands or a washcloth just isn't enough. There's no such thing as a high pressure shower, either. I take my baths out of a basin of water...it's a round basin maybe 6 inches high and a foot and a half across. A bath only involves a couple of inches of cold water poured into the basin. Then I wash my hair first, using a cup to pour water on my head and rinse the shampoo and conditioner out--which never seem to completely come out. Next I soap down my body and use my hands to scoop up water and pour it on myself--bathing with one's hands is quite a skill to have, because it takes talent to squat down, get a hand-full of water, stand up, and get the water dumped onto your back (over your shoulder) before all of the water has drained out. I haven't tackled shaving my legs yet...but it's coming in the next couple of days. My family has a bath-room, which is a room with a cement floor, clothes line, and a drain where you wash clothes or take a bath. After getting water over all the floor, you use this water-broom thing to sweep the water into the drain. The first night, while trying to dry off with my towel, I discovered what happens when you don't get all the water to the drain--you fall flat on your back on the cement floor...and then if you're me, you lie flat on your back, naked, on the floor and wonder what in the heck you are doing in Africa.
So that's bathing. Other interesting things include the food. We eat something called Matoke often. It's basically a yellow mash of a bitter banana they have here--the texture is really odd...but it passes as food when covered with some kind of a sauce. We have rice all of the time, and the dining hall on campus always has rice and beans. My family at home has better food than the campus. We mostly have rice or noodles, sometimes with Matoke and Potatoes, and then sometimes cabbage, and always some sort of sauce, the past couple of nights it's been a fish sauce of some sort. We also had some dried fish. That's lunch/dinner. My lunches are on campus, my dinners at home. I have breakfast at home as well, usually bread and butter, and tea, and the past couple of days we've had some form of egg (fried and boiled). We also drink tea in the afternoon between 7pm and dinner. Dinner here is not until between 9-10:30 pm, or in African language "whenever it is finished". I like most of the food, and am adjusting well to it. That's one thing I was worried about, but so far so good. American life centers around food--it's easy to spend the day looking forward to the next meal--here food can be important around holidays and special occassions, but it certaintly isn't a preoccupation of most people...you simply eat what you have when you have it, when it's ready. With all the walking I am doing, I would think I would lose weight, except the story here is that most girls gain weight--the portions here are huge, that's for sure. I feel forced to eat way beyond when I am full. It's rude not to have at least two portions of everything. So I am eating a lot of food at dinner especially, and then sleeping on it, but I am walking sooo much! My legs are very sore from walking so many miles on uneven, hilly roads, but it's a good muscle-building sort of sore and my knees seem to be doing well so far.
Dad, thank you for the humor of your email. It brightened my day. We do share a lot of good laughs. I remember being lost around Milligan and crying...may I never complain about being lost in the US again! Being lost in a car is nothing to being lost on foot in a foreign country, where everyone who sees you says "hey mzungu!" (white person!) and then, when you pass them for the 3rd time, says "welcome back mzungu" lol And I might have called you if I would have had a cell phone...though I doubt my village is on very many maps. It's very close to the town of Mukono, up on a hill that surrounds the city, behind the university somewhere. It's called upper Nabuuti, which is close to the correct spelling I think.
Mom, thanks for the encouragement. It was so good to hear your voice yesterday. I really liked the calendar quote. That's pretty cool. You're right about my quest for strategy, which is hard in a new culture. It drives me nuts sometimes here...I still haven't figured out the politest way to greet people, or how to make small talk--there are always lots of tiny strategies and ways of doing things in cultures, and I am doing my best here to find them. And yes, landmarks here are important. They told us it would be hard to ask directions from a Ugandan because they'll tell you to take a left at the big mango tree, a right at the grey outhouse, and another right at mayors house. And I dont know what a mango tree looks like, all outhouses seems to be gray cement, and who is the mayor anyway? :)
Alright. My posts get longer each time. As the semester picks up, with crazy amounts of homework to come, I won't have so much time to write. I love you all and thank you for the prayers!
I got to see the city of Mukono yesterday. It's the closest town to the University, so we just walked there and played a sort of scavenger hunt game. I bought a bottled coke and some laundry detergent (it's nearly time for my first round of handwashing clothes to take place) and a scrub brush--in Uganda, the red dirt/dust/mud gets everywhere, and the people and washing with your hands or a washcloth just isn't enough. There's no such thing as a high pressure shower, either. I take my baths out of a basin of water...it's a round basin maybe 6 inches high and a foot and a half across. A bath only involves a couple of inches of cold water poured into the basin. Then I wash my hair first, using a cup to pour water on my head and rinse the shampoo and conditioner out--which never seem to completely come out. Next I soap down my body and use my hands to scoop up water and pour it on myself--bathing with one's hands is quite a skill to have, because it takes talent to squat down, get a hand-full of water, stand up, and get the water dumped onto your back (over your shoulder) before all of the water has drained out. I haven't tackled shaving my legs yet...but it's coming in the next couple of days. My family has a bath-room, which is a room with a cement floor, clothes line, and a drain where you wash clothes or take a bath. After getting water over all the floor, you use this water-broom thing to sweep the water into the drain. The first night, while trying to dry off with my towel, I discovered what happens when you don't get all the water to the drain--you fall flat on your back on the cement floor...and then if you're me, you lie flat on your back, naked, on the floor and wonder what in the heck you are doing in Africa.
So that's bathing. Other interesting things include the food. We eat something called Matoke often. It's basically a yellow mash of a bitter banana they have here--the texture is really odd...but it passes as food when covered with some kind of a sauce. We have rice all of the time, and the dining hall on campus always has rice and beans. My family at home has better food than the campus. We mostly have rice or noodles, sometimes with Matoke and Potatoes, and then sometimes cabbage, and always some sort of sauce, the past couple of nights it's been a fish sauce of some sort. We also had some dried fish. That's lunch/dinner. My lunches are on campus, my dinners at home. I have breakfast at home as well, usually bread and butter, and tea, and the past couple of days we've had some form of egg (fried and boiled). We also drink tea in the afternoon between 7pm and dinner. Dinner here is not until between 9-10:30 pm, or in African language "whenever it is finished". I like most of the food, and am adjusting well to it. That's one thing I was worried about, but so far so good. American life centers around food--it's easy to spend the day looking forward to the next meal--here food can be important around holidays and special occassions, but it certaintly isn't a preoccupation of most people...you simply eat what you have when you have it, when it's ready. With all the walking I am doing, I would think I would lose weight, except the story here is that most girls gain weight--the portions here are huge, that's for sure. I feel forced to eat way beyond when I am full. It's rude not to have at least two portions of everything. So I am eating a lot of food at dinner especially, and then sleeping on it, but I am walking sooo much! My legs are very sore from walking so many miles on uneven, hilly roads, but it's a good muscle-building sort of sore and my knees seem to be doing well so far.
Dad, thank you for the humor of your email. It brightened my day. We do share a lot of good laughs. I remember being lost around Milligan and crying...may I never complain about being lost in the US again! Being lost in a car is nothing to being lost on foot in a foreign country, where everyone who sees you says "hey mzungu!" (white person!) and then, when you pass them for the 3rd time, says "welcome back mzungu" lol And I might have called you if I would have had a cell phone...though I doubt my village is on very many maps. It's very close to the town of Mukono, up on a hill that surrounds the city, behind the university somewhere. It's called upper Nabuuti, which is close to the correct spelling I think.
Mom, thanks for the encouragement. It was so good to hear your voice yesterday. I really liked the calendar quote. That's pretty cool. You're right about my quest for strategy, which is hard in a new culture. It drives me nuts sometimes here...I still haven't figured out the politest way to greet people, or how to make small talk--there are always lots of tiny strategies and ways of doing things in cultures, and I am doing my best here to find them. And yes, landmarks here are important. They told us it would be hard to ask directions from a Ugandan because they'll tell you to take a left at the big mango tree, a right at the grey outhouse, and another right at mayors house. And I dont know what a mango tree looks like, all outhouses seems to be gray cement, and who is the mayor anyway? :)
Alright. My posts get longer each time. As the semester picks up, with crazy amounts of homework to come, I won't have so much time to write. I love you all and thank you for the prayers!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
God Bless the Cow, classes, marriage, toilets, and flashlights
On the way home yesterday I had to walk alone for the first time and I got really lost. My home is maybe 1-2 miles away (or more? it's hard to judge distance here) and about a 30 minute walk. I made it all the way to the village where I live (which is a village on lots of dirt roads that wind up and down this hill called Upper Nabuuti), and to the path/road I live on, and then couldn't recognize my home because everything is so different from the US and it all looks the same to me. So I went up and down the road, asked directions, then tried another road and went up and down it, then I began to cry because it was so scary--it's not really dangerous here, it's just scary not to know where you are and we can receive calls on our cellphones right now but don't have minutes to make calls (I should by friday, though), so I didn't know what to do. I finally went back to the original road I had tried first, and I walked down it again, very slowly, and then I saw our cow--Mama Joyce has a cow, and she came close to the road so I recognized the cow and then home. God bless that cow!! It was a trying experience, but I found out today that almost every student who had to walk home got really lost last night, so I wasn't the only one. One other girl was by herself too, and it was scary for her as well. Mama Joyce was a bit worried. She walked me to school again this morning so I wouldn't be lost. I don't think I will ever be lost again after last night, though, because now I pretty much know the entire village surrounding our house.
All of that being said, I have been tired and maybe a bit depressed today. I think it is taking a lot of energy to adjust to so many changes and that is probably why I am feeling a bit down. The first several weeks will probably be an emotional roller coaster for me. But I am still happy to be here and enjoying most of the people. Mama Joyce is incredible and I am having the opportunity to develop a very special relationship with her. We are learning a lot from each other. Pray for me also with school work--I have way more than expected. After my first couple of days it is shocking to know all of my assignments--and because I don't live on campus, I will have less time to do them. Really, I just need to relax and take in the experience. Making all As isn't really the point of being here. So I am going to do my best on everything I can, but I don't want my four months here to be nothing but studying, because there is so much more than college credit to this experience. The classes I am now taking (after some schedule shifts, which is common here) are Missions, Faith and Action, Reading the New Testament in Uganda, African Traditional Religions/Islam/Christianity in Uganda, and African Literature. So far my lit class and religion class have not met, but will be meeting tomorrow. Most classes here only meet twice a week, once for two hours and once for one hour, and the meetings are at different times. Memorizing my schedule is going to take work!!
On a humorous side, I got asked to marry someone for the first time today. A guy asked me and another white girl after chapel to "come back to Uganda, stay, and be married"--it was kind of funny. Just like Americans have all kinds of preconceptions about Africans, they also have preconceptions about us, mainly that we are extremely wealthy (which we might be by their standards, but their class system is different than ours)--many of the men will try to marry american white women so they can have money and move to the US. And they aren't afraid to propose. So it's kind of funny. I guess I need to make up an imaginary husband! :) I'm certainly not here to find one.
I am getting used to the toilets now also. I actually prefer the hole in the ground to the toilet here, because if there is a toilet here, there is no toilet seat, so you have to half-squat over the really dirty toilet...or you can just use the hole in the ground, and it takes a lot less effort to squat all the way down. And I am getting to be a fairly good aim and it doesn't bother my knees as much as I though it would. I might come back with extremely huge squatting muscles...because every time I have to pee, I have to walk forever to find a toilet (on campus, anyway) and then I have to do squats. haha.
Last night at home the power was out and I was in the dark from around 7:30pm on. Mama Joyce, Ida, and I had dinner in the dark--the only light we had was candles and a couple of flashlights. They think the crank light I brought is very neat because there are no batteries with it. It's probably something I'll leave with them at the end of the semester.
All of that being said, I have been tired and maybe a bit depressed today. I think it is taking a lot of energy to adjust to so many changes and that is probably why I am feeling a bit down. The first several weeks will probably be an emotional roller coaster for me. But I am still happy to be here and enjoying most of the people. Mama Joyce is incredible and I am having the opportunity to develop a very special relationship with her. We are learning a lot from each other. Pray for me also with school work--I have way more than expected. After my first couple of days it is shocking to know all of my assignments--and because I don't live on campus, I will have less time to do them. Really, I just need to relax and take in the experience. Making all As isn't really the point of being here. So I am going to do my best on everything I can, but I don't want my four months here to be nothing but studying, because there is so much more than college credit to this experience. The classes I am now taking (after some schedule shifts, which is common here) are Missions, Faith and Action, Reading the New Testament in Uganda, African Traditional Religions/Islam/Christianity in Uganda, and African Literature. So far my lit class and religion class have not met, but will be meeting tomorrow. Most classes here only meet twice a week, once for two hours and once for one hour, and the meetings are at different times. Memorizing my schedule is going to take work!!
On a humorous side, I got asked to marry someone for the first time today. A guy asked me and another white girl after chapel to "come back to Uganda, stay, and be married"--it was kind of funny. Just like Americans have all kinds of preconceptions about Africans, they also have preconceptions about us, mainly that we are extremely wealthy (which we might be by their standards, but their class system is different than ours)--many of the men will try to marry american white women so they can have money and move to the US. And they aren't afraid to propose. So it's kind of funny. I guess I need to make up an imaginary husband! :) I'm certainly not here to find one.
I am getting used to the toilets now also. I actually prefer the hole in the ground to the toilet here, because if there is a toilet here, there is no toilet seat, so you have to half-squat over the really dirty toilet...or you can just use the hole in the ground, and it takes a lot less effort to squat all the way down. And I am getting to be a fairly good aim and it doesn't bother my knees as much as I though it would. I might come back with extremely huge squatting muscles...because every time I have to pee, I have to walk forever to find a toilet (on campus, anyway) and then I have to do squats. haha.
Last night at home the power was out and I was in the dark from around 7:30pm on. Mama Joyce, Ida, and I had dinner in the dark--the only light we had was candles and a couple of flashlights. They think the crank light I brought is very neat because there are no batteries with it. It's probably something I'll leave with them at the end of the semester.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
My first three days in Uganda
Hey guys! I am finally getting the opportunity to get on the internet. It's Monday morning at 9:05 AM. I am on campus in the quarters for the missions emphasis students. We have a special small house on campus with two very small rooms since we don't have a dorm room because we live with families off of campus. One room has tables in it for studying and the other has couches for hanging out. Each room has lockers in it, and we each have a locker of our own with a padlock that we can leave computers and other valuables in. So that's good.
We arrived on campus at 1 AM on Friday morning. The ME (missions emphasis) students stayed in a guest house and then we had meetings all day on Friday. Immediately after meetings on Friday, they took us to the homes where we are staying and left us. It all happened very fast and was a bit disorienting, but there I was, meeting Mama Joyce, my host mom and several of her relatives, all teenage girls, who I think are her neices. Mama Joyce is a wonderful, older woman--my guess is she is in her 50s or 60s, but it's hard to tell and would be rude to ask I think. I am still trying to adjust to all of the rules of house. Mama Joyce is single, so either she was never married or her husband died, but again, it would be rude to ask. She does have several children. I have met two of her grown sons, but have not met the others yet--she has a daughter living in England, studying for her masters in education.
The house where I am at is very simple. There is a kitchen, a living room, a room with a table in it, two bedrooms (mine and Mama Joyce's), and a washroom (with the buckets that we take baths out of). The bathroom is not attached to the house. It is a small stone building with two stalls, each with a brick sized and shaped hole in the ground that you squat over to go. I am trying to get the hang out it--the frustrating thing is that we are not allowed to go outside at night, so I have to use a bucket in my room, which I empty and wash the next morning. My room has two bunkbeds in it, so it could sleep up to 4 people. I thought I would have my own room, but Mama Joyce said that there are two people (more relatives?) that sleep in there usually, only they are not here for some reason right now. That's ok, though. The company will be nice I guess. I've had lots of good conversations with Mama Joyce so far. She's teaching me a lot about the Ugandan way of life and culture. So far I haven't messed up anything too badly, but we'll see. My house is around 25-30 minutes of a walk away from university. I hope I can remember how to get home today...Mama Joyce walked me to school, but I need to walk home. There are a couple of other girls who I think I can walk with. Oh, one more thing--I have a single homestay, which means I am the only student staying, no American roommate. I am glad it worked out this way though. I think this is something I want to experience alone. Having a roommate would make it harder to build relationships in the family I think--this way, most of the time it is just me and Mama Joyce and sometimes her oldest niece, Ida, who is in her mid 20s I think. Outside of the house we also have a cow, which is kind of fun. It makes lots of noise, though, so the earplugs are definitely coming in handy. The village I am living in is called upper Nabootie (spelled wrong, I'm sure) so if I get lost today on my way home, Mama Joyce told me how to tell someone where I live so they can help me. The Ugandan people are very helpful and hospitable so that shouldn't be hard.
Yesterday we went to church. The service lasted 2.5 hours--crazy! and it was in another language, Luganda so I didn't understand too much. But that's ok. I'll get the hang of things. Mama Joyce arranged for me to begin helping out with one of the childrens' Sunday school classes next week. I'll be working with the 7-9 year olds so that should be fun. All of the children are fascinated by me and giggle shyly and way and point and yell "mizungu" (white person!) when I walk by. It's very cute. I need to make friends with some of them and ask them to help me learn Luganda.
Today are my first classes, but I don't have class until 2. I didn't find that out until arriving on campus, so I have a long time to hang out and find my way around. Once I have classes, I let you know how they go. I am a bit nervous, but not much. The grading system here is nuts--an 80% and above is an A, though I've heard you have to work hard for that 80. So I'll stull work hard, but shouldn't have too much trouble keeping my 4.0. The home stay is the most stressful thing right now. Just pray I continue to adjust and don't get too homesick. I miss you all lots and just trying not to think about home too much or everything that's different. My ways are the foreign ways here, so I am just learning what's normal in Uganda.
We arrived on campus at 1 AM on Friday morning. The ME (missions emphasis) students stayed in a guest house and then we had meetings all day on Friday. Immediately after meetings on Friday, they took us to the homes where we are staying and left us. It all happened very fast and was a bit disorienting, but there I was, meeting Mama Joyce, my host mom and several of her relatives, all teenage girls, who I think are her neices. Mama Joyce is a wonderful, older woman--my guess is she is in her 50s or 60s, but it's hard to tell and would be rude to ask I think. I am still trying to adjust to all of the rules of house. Mama Joyce is single, so either she was never married or her husband died, but again, it would be rude to ask. She does have several children. I have met two of her grown sons, but have not met the others yet--she has a daughter living in England, studying for her masters in education.
The house where I am at is very simple. There is a kitchen, a living room, a room with a table in it, two bedrooms (mine and Mama Joyce's), and a washroom (with the buckets that we take baths out of). The bathroom is not attached to the house. It is a small stone building with two stalls, each with a brick sized and shaped hole in the ground that you squat over to go. I am trying to get the hang out it--the frustrating thing is that we are not allowed to go outside at night, so I have to use a bucket in my room, which I empty and wash the next morning. My room has two bunkbeds in it, so it could sleep up to 4 people. I thought I would have my own room, but Mama Joyce said that there are two people (more relatives?) that sleep in there usually, only they are not here for some reason right now. That's ok, though. The company will be nice I guess. I've had lots of good conversations with Mama Joyce so far. She's teaching me a lot about the Ugandan way of life and culture. So far I haven't messed up anything too badly, but we'll see. My house is around 25-30 minutes of a walk away from university. I hope I can remember how to get home today...Mama Joyce walked me to school, but I need to walk home. There are a couple of other girls who I think I can walk with. Oh, one more thing--I have a single homestay, which means I am the only student staying, no American roommate. I am glad it worked out this way though. I think this is something I want to experience alone. Having a roommate would make it harder to build relationships in the family I think--this way, most of the time it is just me and Mama Joyce and sometimes her oldest niece, Ida, who is in her mid 20s I think. Outside of the house we also have a cow, which is kind of fun. It makes lots of noise, though, so the earplugs are definitely coming in handy. The village I am living in is called upper Nabootie (spelled wrong, I'm sure) so if I get lost today on my way home, Mama Joyce told me how to tell someone where I live so they can help me. The Ugandan people are very helpful and hospitable so that shouldn't be hard.
Yesterday we went to church. The service lasted 2.5 hours--crazy! and it was in another language, Luganda so I didn't understand too much. But that's ok. I'll get the hang of things. Mama Joyce arranged for me to begin helping out with one of the childrens' Sunday school classes next week. I'll be working with the 7-9 year olds so that should be fun. All of the children are fascinated by me and giggle shyly and way and point and yell "mizungu" (white person!) when I walk by. It's very cute. I need to make friends with some of them and ask them to help me learn Luganda.
Today are my first classes, but I don't have class until 2. I didn't find that out until arriving on campus, so I have a long time to hang out and find my way around. Once I have classes, I let you know how they go. I am a bit nervous, but not much. The grading system here is nuts--an 80% and above is an A, though I've heard you have to work hard for that 80. So I'll stull work hard, but shouldn't have too much trouble keeping my 4.0. The home stay is the most stressful thing right now. Just pray I continue to adjust and don't get too homesick. I miss you all lots and just trying not to think about home too much or everything that's different. My ways are the foreign ways here, so I am just learning what's normal in Uganda.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Tomorrow is the Big Day!
My time in Kentucky has come to an end. Early tomorrow morning I will be heading to the airport to take off on this crazy adventure. Everything still seems kind of surreal, like it's not really happening, like it can't be me that's going to be spending a semester in Uganda beginning tomorrow. I'm sure it will set in about the time on Friday night when we set foot in the Entebbe airport. "Oh wow. I'm really here. What was I thinking last summer when I applied?" Sometimes it's good to be a bit impulsive and not give yourself time to talk yourself out of things.
I am a bit sad tonight. I have said goodbye to one of my best friends, to my brother, and to his puppy so far. The hardest goodbyes will be my parents tomorrow morning, but I might be half asleep for those...so I'll probably be more upset about that later on when I'm fully awake. It's been a good break with my family, but this has been hanging over our heads for most of my 3 and a half week Christmas break. This will be the biggest goodbye we've said so far, my longest time in one stretch away from home. It will be good for me, though, because I really want to do full time missions someday and that will entail being abroad for years at a time. So here goes. I'm taking my leap of faith tomorrow, jumping head first into a completely new environment--I have never met anyone I will be travelling with, I have never been to Africa, and I have never been away from home for more than 8-9 weeks.
Today has been a crazy day of running around trying to tie off all of the lose ends. I got up, did some cleaning and laundry, played/yelled at my dogs for a while...then went out to chiropractor and bank...came home for like twenty minutes to check on the dogs, went back out to lunch with my dad, went to the pharmacy to get some meds for the trip, went to walmart to get some photos, came home and started to finish up my packing...went out with my mom to get ice cream and coke...and now my dad is fixing me my favorite dinner: chicken wings with mashed potatoes and peas on the side.
And tonight I will at last finish up my Poisonwood Bible assignment, hopefully clean my room, and maybe go to bed at a semi-decent hour. It'll be rise and shine at around 4am tomorrow morning!
Over the past several weeks I have gone through a roller coaster of emotions, from initial excitment to anxiety about all of the "what ifs" to sadness about leaving my family to boredome for lack of friends in my hometown...and finally, God seems to have given me a peace about everything and a calm acceptance of the journey I am about to go on. I'm in that sort of numb phase, not so anxious, but not overly excited...just ready to get everything started. So here we go!
I am a bit sad tonight. I have said goodbye to one of my best friends, to my brother, and to his puppy so far. The hardest goodbyes will be my parents tomorrow morning, but I might be half asleep for those...so I'll probably be more upset about that later on when I'm fully awake. It's been a good break with my family, but this has been hanging over our heads for most of my 3 and a half week Christmas break. This will be the biggest goodbye we've said so far, my longest time in one stretch away from home. It will be good for me, though, because I really want to do full time missions someday and that will entail being abroad for years at a time. So here goes. I'm taking my leap of faith tomorrow, jumping head first into a completely new environment--I have never met anyone I will be travelling with, I have never been to Africa, and I have never been away from home for more than 8-9 weeks.
Today has been a crazy day of running around trying to tie off all of the lose ends. I got up, did some cleaning and laundry, played/yelled at my dogs for a while...then went out to chiropractor and bank...came home for like twenty minutes to check on the dogs, went back out to lunch with my dad, went to the pharmacy to get some meds for the trip, went to walmart to get some photos, came home and started to finish up my packing...went out with my mom to get ice cream and coke...and now my dad is fixing me my favorite dinner: chicken wings with mashed potatoes and peas on the side.
And tonight I will at last finish up my Poisonwood Bible assignment, hopefully clean my room, and maybe go to bed at a semi-decent hour. It'll be rise and shine at around 4am tomorrow morning!
Over the past several weeks I have gone through a roller coaster of emotions, from initial excitment to anxiety about all of the "what ifs" to sadness about leaving my family to boredome for lack of friends in my hometown...and finally, God seems to have given me a peace about everything and a calm acceptance of the journey I am about to go on. I'm in that sort of numb phase, not so anxious, but not overly excited...just ready to get everything started. So here we go!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
One Week to Go
Happy New Years! Only one week until I leave for Uganda! It still doesn't seem real. I am not sure it will hit me until I get on the plane...and then there's no turning back! After several weeks of shopping, and a couple of shopping sprees this past week, I think I finally have everything I need for the trip. I am still waiting on a couple of books from amazon, crossing my fingers that they will arrive in the next week. We'll see. But I have bug spray, suncreen, shirts and skirts, sandals and other summery yet comfy shoes, a huge duffel/suitcase thing, all sorts of medicine, my shots...the list goes on. To make sure I didn't forget anything, I made a packing list which was the entire front side of a piece of notebook paper...but I have at last crossed off pretty much everything, and it all seems to fit in the suitcase, which is a good thing.
Mostly now, it's a waiting game. Each day brings me one more day closer to departure. I am trying to hang out with my family and friends before I leave, getting in my goodbyes. I am trying to see movies in the theater because there are so many good ones right now. I am drinking as much coke as possible because I love it and am not sure how many opportunities I will have to drink it while I am there. I am going to the gym, doing my best to get my knees as strong as possible before I go since I have had problems in the past. Lastly, I'm doing some reading to get mentally and spiritually prepared.
My dad told me he has two children who like to take risks. If you know the family, you'll know what he means. I am the child who takes calculated risks...but it still scares me. This is definitely the biggest leap away from home and my comfort zone that I have ever taken...but risks are generally profitable. I am pretty sure this is going to be the experience of a lifetime.
Mostly now, it's a waiting game. Each day brings me one more day closer to departure. I am trying to hang out with my family and friends before I leave, getting in my goodbyes. I am trying to see movies in the theater because there are so many good ones right now. I am drinking as much coke as possible because I love it and am not sure how many opportunities I will have to drink it while I am there. I am going to the gym, doing my best to get my knees as strong as possible before I go since I have had problems in the past. Lastly, I'm doing some reading to get mentally and spiritually prepared.
My dad told me he has two children who like to take risks. If you know the family, you'll know what he means. I am the child who takes calculated risks...but it still scares me. This is definitely the biggest leap away from home and my comfort zone that I have ever taken...but risks are generally profitable. I am pretty sure this is going to be the experience of a lifetime.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
