Week 5

Hello amazing friends and family. I hope you all are doing well. I realized today it's been a while since I've sent out one of my mass emails, so here goes. I have, however posted on my blog in the past week, so you can check that out as well.

This is week 5 of my stay in Uganda. Every Friday, I tick another week off of my calendar and can't believe I've been here for so long already and how fast the time has gone!! In these five weeks, I've taken two weekend trips (Jinja and Rackai), done a lot of course work, including four presentations and a paper, made American and Ugandan friends, learned a little of the Luganda language, written a lot of sociology fieldwork journals for my degree at Milligan, become a part of a family, walked who knows how many miles, acquired love handles from waayy too much rice and bread, cooked nobake cookies for my family, had my eye-glasses stolen and miraculously returned, taken terrifying rides in matatus (Ugandan taxis), learned to love matoke (staple food made of mashed green bananas), handwashed my clothes three times, attended two Anglican church services each lasting 2.5 hours and in Luganda, learned to pee in a bucket without peeing on the floor, not learned to pee in the outhouse without peeing on my foot, made friends with our cow Kwagala (which means loved one or love)...besides a lot of other really fun and challenging stuff. Every morning I wake up and still can't believe I am in Africa and loving it here. I really have no complaints. Life here is different, but good.

I am absolutely in love with my family here. Mama Joyce, Ida, and I are becoming fast friends, sisters, family. It's really cool. And a guy named Dennis recently moved in with us, and he's cool as well. Sometimes communicating is tough because they all have to work in their second language, but we are getting by and beginning to know each other. I enjoy going to school and seeing all of my friends, but I look forward every night to returning home. I always get home just in time for tea and bread (quickly becoming two of my favorite things ever). We eat buttered white bread and take hot tea with lots of sugar. It can't be healthy, but it sure is good! It's been interesting being a commuter student for the first time ever. I commute on foot between university and home everyday. I enjoy the walking, even in the mud, because then I get to wear my awesome rain boots and go tromping through puddles and several inches of squishy mud. It's the rainy season here now until March I think, so it rains here everyday, sometimes all day, but the rain is beautiful in its own right, and we're still getting plenty of sunshine.

School is going really well. I am finally getting used to the amount of assignments we have due each week. Here, there aren't so many exams, but there are tons of papers, journals, and presentations. I have at least one, sometimes 2 presentations each week. It's a different education system. Now that I've got the hang of it, it isn't so stressful. I think my favoirte class is African Literature. It's been a long time since I've taken a lit class, so I am just enjoying the opportunity to read and discuss novels in class, and to write more creatively. Sometimes I feel like being a sociology major in college has killed my creative side and made me into more of a critical analysist--not that analyzing things isn't good, but I miss more creative writing and thinking. So here's my chance--and what better place to take African lit than in Africa with an African professor? And the prof is really great--he's an older eccentric guy absolutely in love with his students and teaching. I am excited for the oppportunity to get to know him. His name is Dr. Patrick Mukakanye. His last name is hard to pronounce, but I think I'm getting it down (Mook-a-con-yay).

This past weekend we travellled to a beautiful region of south western Uganda called Rakai. We were near a village called Kibaale (Chee-ball-ay). The area is right on the equator near the Uganda-Tanzania border. We took a hike up this hill/mountain thing, and it was gorgeous--from one side we could see Tanzania and from the other Uganda. We all got really sunburned in the process (forgetting we were on the equator and the malaria meds make us sun sensitive) but it was well worth it. Besides hiking, we visited a Canadian mission that was a school and medical clinic as well as a farm. It was neat to see how God is working in the region. Because I am a part of the group of students in the Intercultural Missions and Ministry Emphasis (IMME), I get to stay with my host family off campus and travel around to see different missions in Uganda. It's pretty cool. God is definitely working in my heart and confirming my calling and desire to go into long term missions after school is finished. I am learning a lot here.

I got a package from my Grandma Mira and Grandpa Joe yesterday, and it pretty much made my week. Lots of valentines goodies, and a teddy bear, as well as gifts for Mama Joyce (which she loved!). It was good to binge on some American candy and have a letter from home. Thanks also for all of the prayers and support everyone is giving me. I love hearing from you, talking to you, and the knowledge that I am thought of and prayed for is very encouraging and comforting. I am reminded that I am never alone, but am forever a part of the body of Christ, something so much bigger than me and my world!

Well, I think I'll hop off here. I was invited to tea this afternoon in the dorms with some Ugandan friends, and then I have orientation for our rural homestays. In a couple of weeks we'll be heading out to the bush to live with families in rural villages for one week. I am looking forward to the adventure and the week off of classes. I'll give all the details when I return! But for today, I just have to go to a really long, boring meeting about how not to killed in the bush...

Alright. Love you all.

--Danielle