Sunday, November 20, 2005
Music to my ears
Friday nights are "Youth Night" at town church. Sometimes we go play volleyball--which is just HILLARIOUS to watch! Sometimes we play games. Once we showed the movie "Invisible Children" about the children who are being kidnapped and forced into "armies" up in northern Uganda. We joined with some other local churches and then followed this up with a fundraiser movie ("The Gods Must Be Crazy") where we raised money to send up north for the children.
Last night, we just sang! And it was just amazing to hear young people singing praises to GOD in a language that is not their first language! It sounds a little funny, and sometimes they sing the songs wrong, but it is just beautiful. I especially LOVE how they add "hand motions" to several songs which I didn't know even had hand motions (like Blessed be the Name of the Lord)! I am so thankful that I get to experience this little piece of heaven here in Mbarara!
Last night, we just sang! And it was just amazing to hear young people singing praises to GOD in a language that is not their first language! It sounds a little funny, and sometimes they sing the songs wrong, but it is just beautiful. I especially LOVE how they add "hand motions" to several songs which I didn't know even had hand motions (like Blessed be the Name of the Lord)! I am so thankful that I get to experience this little piece of heaven here in Mbarara!
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Work in progress...
Still updating and adding lots of pictures (and captions) to my picture site:
Make sure you check it out soon!
on my way to a new place...
On Saturday November 5th, I had an amazing opportunity to travel to a small country just south of Uganda: Rwanda!
Friday afternoon, Darla and Mark got here from Kampala. One of my roommates, Amy, had a kidney stone, so she wasn’t able to go with us – or cook dinner! So, great-in-the-kitchen-cousin-Kati (She’s great other places too, but I think she really excels in the kitchen and can make ANYTHING taste delicious!) was drafted into helping me prepare a meal for us and Mark and Darla. Of course, the power was doing a strange thing…it was out all day and supposed to stay out until 7ish at night. SO, we took all the ingredients to make chicken, mashed potatoes and zucchini to the Bakers so we could use their gas oven and stove. FINALLY, we walked over in the dark with a delicious meal, but it was much later than expected. Bedtime couldn’t come fast enough for me…although I still had to pack!
Departure for Rwanda was at 6:30 am, which sure did come early. Darla and Mark were driving in her truck with a trailer behind it and Terri, Kati and I were in Terri’s truck. It took about 3 hours to get to the border of Uganda and Rwanda, with one "potty" stop. (*It was my first time using a "cho" – a hole dug in the ground over which you squat!) The border was a little hectic and confusing. Lots of people wanted to be our "runners" to help us across or sell us Rwandan phone chips or change our money for us into Rwanda francs. They all just came up to the windows of the car in search of our "business." We had to fill out a couple of papers on each side of the border and the trucks had to be registered and insured and all sorts of other junk. I got to go with Darla to have all our passports stamped. One man tried to direct us to the front of the line, but Darla was pretty adamant that we would wait in line like everyone else, instead of receiving special treatment because of our skin color. We finally made it through the border…took about an hour. (It’s NOTHING like crossing the border from Michigan into Canada where you can just stay in your car and drive right through a window!)
The first thing I noticed in Rwanda is that they use ALL of their land, right up to the TOPS of the hills/mountains. Any farmable land is being farmed. There are tiers and tiers of crops and vegetation growing. (*The only place NOT being farmed seemed to be valleys with lots of lava rock!) IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!
Now, I know you want to know MORE about this trip….don’t worry! More is ON THE WAY. So check back later to hear all about meeting 93 year old Ros Carr and my experience at the Imbabazi Orphanage playing with the most beautiful children in the world!
Friday afternoon, Darla and Mark got here from Kampala. One of my roommates, Amy, had a kidney stone, so she wasn’t able to go with us – or cook dinner! So, great-in-the-kitchen-cousin-Kati (She’s great other places too, but I think she really excels in the kitchen and can make ANYTHING taste delicious!) was drafted into helping me prepare a meal for us and Mark and Darla. Of course, the power was doing a strange thing…it was out all day and supposed to stay out until 7ish at night. SO, we took all the ingredients to make chicken, mashed potatoes and zucchini to the Bakers so we could use their gas oven and stove. FINALLY, we walked over in the dark with a delicious meal, but it was much later than expected. Bedtime couldn’t come fast enough for me…although I still had to pack!
Departure for Rwanda was at 6:30 am, which sure did come early. Darla and Mark were driving in her truck with a trailer behind it and Terri, Kati and I were in Terri’s truck. It took about 3 hours to get to the border of Uganda and Rwanda, with one "potty" stop. (*It was my first time using a "cho" – a hole dug in the ground over which you squat!) The border was a little hectic and confusing. Lots of people wanted to be our "runners" to help us across or sell us Rwandan phone chips or change our money for us into Rwanda francs. They all just came up to the windows of the car in search of our "business." We had to fill out a couple of papers on each side of the border and the trucks had to be registered and insured and all sorts of other junk. I got to go with Darla to have all our passports stamped. One man tried to direct us to the front of the line, but Darla was pretty adamant that we would wait in line like everyone else, instead of receiving special treatment because of our skin color. We finally made it through the border…took about an hour. (It’s NOTHING like crossing the border from Michigan into Canada where you can just stay in your car and drive right through a window!)
The first thing I noticed in Rwanda is that they use ALL of their land, right up to the TOPS of the hills/mountains. Any farmable land is being farmed. There are tiers and tiers of crops and vegetation growing. (*The only place NOT being farmed seemed to be valleys with lots of lava rock!) IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!
Now, I know you want to know MORE about this trip….don’t worry! More is ON THE WAY. So check back later to hear all about meeting 93 year old Ros Carr and my experience at the Imbabazi Orphanage playing with the most beautiful children in the world!
Friday, November 18, 2005
In the Process of Adding Pictures and Updating...
Okay. I really am trying hard to keep up with this blog...after all, there is SOOOO much that I have the opportunity to do and see here in Mbarara. And of course, you know how much I love sharing it all with you, it's just that I'm staying SO busy! (I really think that everyone who said I would have so much free time was LYING!)
I guess I forgot how much time it takes to teach full-time! I think I subconsciously thought that since I was only teaching 4 days a week (and a total of 20 hours), I would have TONS of free time. But everything here takes longer and requires planning WELL in advance (you know, since I can't just run to make copies in the office during a lunch break or something). You all know me...I am NOT a "plan-in-advance" kind of girl (at least in terms of school stuff)...and I tend to procrastinate. But I think this is becoming a good learning experience for me because I am being forced to plan and prepare more in advance for things--specifically school and meals!
PLUS, in terms of school, I think having less time and fewer students to teach, I am spending MORE time planning for activities to keep them all engaged and to cover all the material in a fun and QUICK way. And, no offense to any secondary teachers, I do think prep for elementary teachers is a little more time consuming than teaching the same thing 6 times a day!
Anyhow, gotta run. Check back soon and check out some of my new pictures. More of those to come soon too!
I guess I forgot how much time it takes to teach full-time! I think I subconsciously thought that since I was only teaching 4 days a week (and a total of 20 hours), I would have TONS of free time. But everything here takes longer and requires planning WELL in advance (you know, since I can't just run to make copies in the office during a lunch break or something). You all know me...I am NOT a "plan-in-advance" kind of girl (at least in terms of school stuff)...and I tend to procrastinate. But I think this is becoming a good learning experience for me because I am being forced to plan and prepare more in advance for things--specifically school and meals!
PLUS, in terms of school, I think having less time and fewer students to teach, I am spending MORE time planning for activities to keep them all engaged and to cover all the material in a fun and QUICK way. And, no offense to any secondary teachers, I do think prep for elementary teachers is a little more time consuming than teaching the same thing 6 times a day!
Anyhow, gotta run. Check back soon and check out some of my new pictures. More of those to come soon too!
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
A couple of funnies...
Well, this past weekend I got to travel to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, for a team retreat/quarterly meeting. Our team stayed at the American Recreation Association, a very nice Embassy-run hotel/club. I had some of the best food since arriving here....I had a banana split! They also had really good salads and things like potato skins!
Our first night there (Thursday), we had a buffet with roast beef, chicken, potatoes, etc. There was this bowl of white stuff with the sauces and dressings. I was told it was sour cream. Since the sour cream we get in Mbarara is really runny and kind of icky, I was pretty excited. So I decided to put some on my baked potato. It did taste a little funny, but meh...what are you going to do? Came to find out (later in the evening, thanks to Carole!) that is was MAYONAISE! YIKES! Can't believe I couldn't tell! Guess I was just so excited....
Later that night, Lori asked me to go with her to take our Ugandan women to a hotel nearby. (They came with us to help watch the kids during meetings and such.) She said we were looking for a place called something like "Carenda Guest House." So we drove up and down the street looking for this hotel---several times, reading all the signs we could see (it was, of course 10:30 and dark). . . "The Calendar Hotel" seemed to be a nice looking place. I tried convincing Lori to let us just take the girls there or to stop and ask for directions... finally, we did. We were told that the "carenda" hotel was right where we had been driving. In fact, it sounded like we had passed it four or five times. Julie, one of the girls in the back seat finally spoke up and said, "Lori, we think that the way we say the word "calendar" is different than the way you say it." We about DIED laughing! See, they dont really have L's in their language here....they roll them to sound like Rs. And I guess the accent was placed on another syllable. Anyhow, it was HILARIOUS! But, I guess you'd have to have been there!
Overall, the weekend was great. I took a piki-piki from our hotel to the Garden City Mall one afternoon. It was a little scary, but fun and exciting too. The drivers are CRAZY! The 10-15 minute ride turned into a 30 minute ride because my driver didn't know where he was going. OOPS! I was only genuinely scared for my life 2x--once when we were trying to make a right-hand turn (They drive on the opposite side of the road here, so it's like making a left-hand turn!) and the other time was when we picked up so much speed --maybe 40 mph-- going down this big hill and then had to brake suddenly and weave in between a couple of cars. There really are NO laws for driving here....well, I take that back. There are laws, I just think they aren't enforced. My trip to the mall was fun, though! I found Dr. Pepper and Snickers! Plus the Aristok store is the closest you can get to an American bookstore. It's no Barnes and Noble, but I still love it!
I very much enjoyed meeting the missionaries from other areas in Uganda at our quarterly meeting on Sunday (after our retreat was over). I feel like I've made some new friends and even some "contacts." Already, there is a plan to go to Kenya to visit some of the girls who are moving there next week to work with Christian Relief Fund next week. It was just good to meet other people and learn about them and what they are doing here...
This weekend, I'm heading to Rwanda. I'm SOOOOO excited. I'll get to meet Ros Carr and help at the orphanage in Mugongo. I'm sure I'll take lots of pictures, which, by the way I already have tons of more to download, but I probably won't get around to it until next week or later...
Think that's all for now...
Our first night there (Thursday), we had a buffet with roast beef, chicken, potatoes, etc. There was this bowl of white stuff with the sauces and dressings. I was told it was sour cream. Since the sour cream we get in Mbarara is really runny and kind of icky, I was pretty excited. So I decided to put some on my baked potato. It did taste a little funny, but meh...what are you going to do? Came to find out (later in the evening, thanks to Carole!) that is was MAYONAISE! YIKES! Can't believe I couldn't tell! Guess I was just so excited....
Later that night, Lori asked me to go with her to take our Ugandan women to a hotel nearby. (They came with us to help watch the kids during meetings and such.) She said we were looking for a place called something like "Carenda Guest House." So we drove up and down the street looking for this hotel---several times, reading all the signs we could see (it was, of course 10:30 and dark). . . "The Calendar Hotel" seemed to be a nice looking place. I tried convincing Lori to let us just take the girls there or to stop and ask for directions... finally, we did. We were told that the "carenda" hotel was right where we had been driving. In fact, it sounded like we had passed it four or five times. Julie, one of the girls in the back seat finally spoke up and said, "Lori, we think that the way we say the word "calendar" is different than the way you say it." We about DIED laughing! See, they dont really have L's in their language here....they roll them to sound like Rs. And I guess the accent was placed on another syllable. Anyhow, it was HILARIOUS! But, I guess you'd have to have been there!
Overall, the weekend was great. I took a piki-piki from our hotel to the Garden City Mall one afternoon. It was a little scary, but fun and exciting too. The drivers are CRAZY! The 10-15 minute ride turned into a 30 minute ride because my driver didn't know where he was going. OOPS! I was only genuinely scared for my life 2x--once when we were trying to make a right-hand turn (They drive on the opposite side of the road here, so it's like making a left-hand turn!) and the other time was when we picked up so much speed --maybe 40 mph-- going down this big hill and then had to brake suddenly and weave in between a couple of cars. There really are NO laws for driving here....well, I take that back. There are laws, I just think they aren't enforced. My trip to the mall was fun, though! I found Dr. Pepper and Snickers! Plus the Aristok store is the closest you can get to an American bookstore. It's no Barnes and Noble, but I still love it!
I very much enjoyed meeting the missionaries from other areas in Uganda at our quarterly meeting on Sunday (after our retreat was over). I feel like I've made some new friends and even some "contacts." Already, there is a plan to go to Kenya to visit some of the girls who are moving there next week to work with Christian Relief Fund next week. It was just good to meet other people and learn about them and what they are doing here...
This weekend, I'm heading to Rwanda. I'm SOOOOO excited. I'll get to meet Ros Carr and help at the orphanage in Mugongo. I'm sure I'll take lots of pictures, which, by the way I already have tons of more to download, but I probably won't get around to it until next week or later...
Think that's all for now...
