That's What She Said

Selfish Me -

Why in the world did I come here again? I am away from my Fiance, my country, my home town, my family, my friends/church, I am away from my favorite language in all the world (ENGLISH), my Fiance (did I already mention that?), familiar foods that I crave twice a week like Chipotle, I miss walking on pavement, and driving my car and listening to whatever CD I so choose, at whatever volume that is not "too loud". There are so many things that I miss, I could even go on. I miss meat, cheese, fruits like berries, peaches, mandarins, apples, and oranges. Where did the good chocolate go? Yes these are the cries and struggles of an American girl in a third world country. Pathetic? Not yet. I miss being stared at by people who actually care if they are caught in the act. Here people just stare at you cause you are white. You would think that after staring back for 6 seconds, the eye contact would be broken by the original stare-E, but nope, people just love to stare here. Hey, maybe they will even laugh at you? Right in your face too. Cause how silly are we (American folk) to care about getting ripped off by a bunch of Ugandans at the market. It's not like we are buying our groceries every week and trying to get reasonable prices so that our money is an existing factor come week eleven.


Happy, Content, and Completely Satisfied Me -

I Love Africa! The Volunteer house, the people I am living with, the people that help out and live here (Betty, Kimby, Nancy, George, and Sharon), and taking my time as I walk places.
I love not caring about what time it is, but rather, calculating the day by the placement of the sun in the sky... or lack-there-of. Teaching English classes on Wednesdays with everyone is really fun and a great time to get to see the women talk and be themselves. I particularly am found of the rainfall that occurs every once in a while here. How it falls unexpectedly for as long as it wishes. Commanding the attention of everyone as the sounds shake the ground and as rain falls politely into neat puddles situated on the mud side streets and main roads. People everywhere take refuge in their home or under the roof of an unfinished house as they wait for the performance to end. Waking up in the mornings and having a good two hours before anyone gets cracking on their day fun alone time (Randy being the exception of course. He always seems to be on his way to town by nine). Also, having quiet time that seems never ending during the evenings keeps my heart happy. Missing people, yet knowing that I am in a place right now in life that I will never duplicate ever again helps bring contentment my way. Hearing God speak. That's been the topper of it all. God is speaking and I love hearing from Him. :)
That's pretty much it for now. I will try to blog less in each post that way you are not reading a book each time you check in.

Love you all!!!

Thanks for prayers and support.


(compliments to Randy for the totally brill title)

One Week

Well it has been one week as of today. I had my first Ugandan meal, first English class on wednesday, first taste of a goat, watched a chicken named La Tormenta get murdered, plucked, and gutted. I went to Kampala with the team, watched our first shipment of necklaces take place. Ate at a wonderful mexican restaurant and also got to see a movie. I had my first Suubi meeting where I was introduced to all the ladies of Suubi, helped clasp and bundle, what seemed like 200 necklaces. I struggled with the internet here for two hours. For only one to two pages of loading and sending e-mails to take place. Every time, it never fails :)
Road in my first Matatuu, which is an eight person taxi that normally crams 18. Over all travel time estimated in this vehicle, 3 1/2 hrs. Our night guard George started a church in the Matumba District and he invited us to attend. O man, loved church! It was so awesome to see people clapping, singing, and dancing. Plus we were 45 min late to church because of our matatuu and they were nice enough to hold the service till we arrived. They welcomed us at the van once we arrived and walked in with us. Once we walked in people started to clap and sing. I truly felt blessed to be embrassed by all of them. It was so good to get a taste of what church looks like in Africa. I felt God there, and i think there was a point where i almost cried because I felt His spirit, it was beautiful.

anyways.....

I do miss home.
Been thinking about scott, my mom, and my brother Anthony.
miss my dad. It was one year since his death on thursday. I thought it would be hard for me being home. But God always takes care of us. Kate let me borrow her phone to call my brother. When the call failed she offered to walk with me to the internet at like 10 at night so i could write him. BLESSING :) It made me cry she is so nice. Rachel and Kate both gave me hugs before they left on their outings that day and were encouraging. Randy and I had a really good talk the night before about our dad's and how things are really hard when it comes to memories and them not being around anymore. I feel the longer i know these people the more i feel like they are family....and they are. :)


I got mad the other day. It's funny we were at the mall in Kampala and i decided to sit aside while randy and rachel were ordering coffee and icecream from a store. I was kinda running low on money for the day so sitting outside sounded like a nice alternative to eating. However right after i sat down a boy, around the age of 16, came up to me, well dressed and healthy looking, and started to tell me that he did not have a father. Right as he was about to pull out his hand asking for money I just stood up and walked away and said "I don't have any money, sorry." It was really rude of me and I was really surprised at my reaction. I went back into the store with everyone else and was just kinda ticked for a long time. I am so sick of people wanting money from me just cause I am white. I am tired of EVERYONE bumping up the cost of things cause they think they can squeeze more money out of me. I am sick of people thinking that I am better off then them. I wanted to lose my temper at the kid and tell him my dad died too. I wanted to tell him that not every white person you see has a picture perfect life. I wanted to tell him to back off and let me just have some me time. I wanted to do everything but look at things from his side of life. I did not want to try and put myself in his shoes and think to myself, "I wonder if this is because of how he was conditioned to think?"

well yeah got mad, told the others what had happened, and it took me a while to let it go. It actually took me to the ride home. Everyone was either sleeping or listening to music and Randy and I just started to talk about things here in Uganda and our trips to Europe in the past. He really helped me to look at the situation in a more diplomatic way. I won't forget the example he used because it was very humbling to hear and except, but so so SO true.

he said, "how many americans when driving in their car and stopped at a stoplight see a bum on the street, roll up there windows and look away till the light turns green again?" In my head i'm thinking most times ALL people that i know do that. So then he said," It's the same here. People see a white person and instead of being conditioned to look away and roll up their car windows, they smile and pull out their hands expecting money." BAM! (that was me getting hit in the face)
"It's something they learn here, and you should try to not take it personally."

i have to have grace
i have to be understanding
i can't let it put a bad taste in my mouth about the people here. cause we are all God's children and He loves us. maybe i can't pay attention to all of them, and maybe i won't give them money...but they are all people. i need to love no matter how used i feel. i need to love and know that i am blessed.

I can't be all things to ALL PEOPLE. I will never be black. Thus will always be viewed as Mazzoongoo (white- in lugandan)

Well hello!
My first week in Jinja is wraping up.
It is Saturday the 19th, the day of my first Suubi meeting (buying necklaces from the women). It starts in about 2 hours so i am just getting in some blogging at "Flavours", and yes i spelled that right. It's a restuarant/ internet cafe. I have been sitting here for over an hour. 60 minutes of that hour were spent trying to get the internet to work. Everytime i go to a cafe this happens. :) i am excepting it as my bad luck that will follow me throughout my time in Jinja. It is very unfourtunate but the truth.
Well let me catch you up really fast on what has been going on while i have been here.
I LOVE THE PEOPLE LIVING IN THE HOUSE!!!!
Praise God they are awesome people who are encouraging and funny.
I would have had a very dull 3 months if i thought these people were without personality.
The more i get to know Kate the more i love her.
She is a very bold person with a great sense of humor and energy. She has been my escort for my first week in Jinja, along with Rachel who is staff. Rachel also has a confident personality. She is married to Randy (who is also staff) and they are great. Alex is my cousin and he and i came down here at the same time together to help out.....he is okay i guess.....jk.

- sorry if i repeat myself. i have a difficult time remembering what i have already covered in my previous blogs-

Wednesday Kate, Alex, and I went into the village of Baboo to visit a lady named Agnus, who is apart of Suubi. There are i believe four villages on the south east side of main st./our house that we visited. The first one being Baboo. It took us 45 minutes by foot to walk there, and as we walked we passed many schools full of kids. All in uniform, all playing in the yards, and all of them waving at us as we walked by saying "Mazzoongoo, how are you?". Some of the kids just pointed and started running towards the fence saying "Mazzoongoo...Mazzoongoo!!!". It was really cute, and really funny the different reactions depending on age. If you are from the ages 2-13 you are really excited to see a white person walking down the street. You greet them, wave, practice the english you learned in school by saying "hi" or "bye". If you are 13-17 you ask for money from white people you see on the street, or my favorite...stare. If you are 17 and up you say, "Mazzoongoo you owe me my money." or maybe "Mazzoongoo you take me home with you." and sometimes in the very unfortunate case for a girl, i hear, "Mazzoongoo you come home with me." And at that my friends I have to laugh, and I call them silly or I say no way. Or they just stare. Never have I seen a person stare discreetly either. Well hello!
My first week in Jinja is wraping up.
It is Saturday the 19th, the day of my first Suubi meeting (buying necklaces from the women). It starts in about 2 hours so i am just getting in some blogging at "Flavours", and yes i spelled that right. It's a restuarant/ internet cafe. I have been sitting here for over an hour. 60 minutes of that hour were spent trying to get the internet to work. Everytime i go to a cafe this happens. :) i am excepting it as my bad luck that will follow me throughout my time in Jinja. It is very unfourtunate but the truth.
Well let me catch you up really fast on what has been going on while i have been here.
I LOVE THE PEOPLE LIVING IN THE HOUSE!!!!
Praise God they are awesome people who are encouraging and funny.
I would have had a very dull 3 months if i thought these people were without personality.
The more i get to know Kate the more i love her.
She is a very bold person with a great sense of humor and energy. She has been my escort for my first week in Jinja, along with Rachel who is staff. Rachel also has a confident personality. She is married to Randy (who is also staff) and they are great. Alex is my cousin and he and i came down here at the same time together to help out.....he is okay i guess.....jk.

- sorry if i repeat myself. i have a difficult time remembering what i have already covered in my previous blogs-

Wednesday Kate, Alex, and I went into the village of Baboo to visit a lady named Agnus, who is apart of Suubi. There are i believe four villages on the south east side of main st./our house that we visited. The first one being Baboo. It took us 45 minutes by foot to walk there, and as we walked we passed many schools full of kids. All in uniform, all playing in the yards, and all of them waving at us as we walked by saying "Mazzoongoo, how are you?". Some of the kids just pointed and started running towards the fence saying "Mazzoongoo...Mazzoongoo!!!". It was really cute, and really funny the different reactions depending on age. If you are from the ages 2-13 you are really excited to see a white person walking down the street. You greet them, wave, practice the english you learned in school by saying "hi" or "bye". If you are 13-17 you ask for money from white people you see on the street, or my favorite...stare. If you are 17 and up you say, "Mazzoongoo you owe me my money." or maybe "Mazzoongoo you take me home with you." and sometimes in the very unfortunate case for a girl, i hear, "Mazzoongoo you come home with me." And at that my friends I have to laugh, and I call them silly or I say no way. Or they just stare, and i have never seen a person stare discreetly either.
So anyways, we finally reached Agnus's home. It was a two room home with cement a floor, walls, and ceiling. She has pasted newspapers/magazine articles or pictures up on the walls as decoration. She had a piece of fabric hanging as her door in the front and a large blanket hanging up after her two chairs that were in the first room to devide from the bedroom. Sorry if that was confusing. :) Whenever you visit someone in their home in Uganda and they are expecting you, you always come hungry. Agnus had cooked up quite a meal to serve us. She had a whole pot full of Posho (which is like a fluffy corn meal), greens (basically spinich...with tons of salt) and green sauce (which had sim sim in it...so spinich chopped up with a peanut butter indian flavor paste)
She served us with forks, which was very nice of her because normally they eat with their hands here. We stayed for about an hour or so and talked about her kids. Which she had three and another kid she took care of was her brother's son. We heard her story. If she was from Jinja or not. I asked her if she liked dancing or singing. She said no....but she was blushing, so i think she really does. :) Some friends of hers came by to say hi, i think they were making fun of me cause i kept tapping my foot to the music outside and humming and they pointed at me and i heard my name as they laughing and mimicked my swaying and tapping of foot. LOL i am determined to see Agnus dance now :) i know she can!

well thats all for now....i cant be late for the meeting.
bye bye

first day in uganda + first full day in jinja

Hello Everyone!!!
Whelp i live in Jina now. Kinda crazy. Kinda a big deal. It is so different here.
Alex (my cousin) and I got here safe and sound. We had a nine hour layover in London, so we decided to go site see as much as we could. We saw the Buckingham Palace and the "clock", aka Big Ben but i guess we never actually went inside and saw Big Ben. Anyways we went back to Heathrow Airport and slept on chairs as we waited for our next flight to Enntebe, Uganda. Right as they started to board the plane i got sick and started to throw up. Not fun at all. but dont worry it was not that i was sick or anything, i just took my malaria pill when i had not eatin anything. I have learned to always have a meal before now.
We finally arrived in Enntebe. It is green, with beautiful clouds, clouds that are bigger than anything i have ever seen in America or anywhere for that matter. Lake Victoria is beautiful and makes everything surrounding it exotic and new. We walked off the plane onto a bus that drives us to the airport and the first thing i jot down in my mind is... humidity, and lots of it. The other thing that struck me was being the minority. At last i am out of Grand Junction, CO, where everyone is white and a farmer ;)

Rachel, a staff member, and Gover the driver, met us outside.
3 hours of driving to our new home, was the next thing on the list. Stop and go, stop and go. I was getting so car sick. Traffic was out of this world. We probably were in Kampala (nothing bad going on there) for two hours because of all the traffic. Yeah, it should have been a ten minute drive or so through. Okay anyways......We get to Jinja, we almost run over a man that darted across the road, i got my first glimpse of the Nile, and the car ride was finished. Solid ground was very refreshing after two days traveling.

The house that we are staying at is very nice. Very modern. We got unpacked, met Randy, who is Rachel's husband, and then we're off to get lunch at a place called "Two Friends". This place was awesome. It looked like a resort and guess what? They treated us to lunch which was very sweet of them. We ate, talked about expectations, ourselves, Jinja, culture, suubi, and of course food!!!! We got back met the other volunteers being, Heather, Kate, and Ryan. All really cool people who were welcoming fun to talk to and hang out with. I got to meet Betty, who lives in the back house with her one year old son Kimby. She is very sweet. She treats you like family as soon as she meets you. She calls me Auntie Becca and Alex Uncle. I love it! I call her Betty.......duh i am still American. :) I barely unpacked my room, instead i grabbed a chair and started to write Scott (my fiance who lives back in Colorado). I miss him, but not in a bad way where all i think about is wanting to be home. Which is good. Walked into my room fell sleep i was out.


Day Two-
Wow, its real. I heard chanting this morning. First thing you hear is the Muslim prayer right before the sun rises.....next chanting through the streets, right in front of the house. It was so beautiful. Everyone is up and getting ready. Ryan and Heather are packing cause they are leaving today and I am getting ready for the day. First full day in Jinja....bring it on!

Alex, Ryan, Heather, Rachel, and I leave the house on our way to get some chores done.
We exchanged our money, met Agnus and Alice, who are two of the tailors for the EPOH project. EPOH, being hope spelled backwards. Instead of paper necklaces they work on scraps of material to make purses. :)
So yeah the room that they now sew in is in the back of Rita's store....a lady who has this awesome shop off of main street. Then we went to cell phone stores to try and buy one, but they were out of the cheap ones that we wanted. So we will wait till today hopefully.
Walked around the town. Learned where everything is. It is so crazy that i am actually here. The roads are dirt. The people mostly poor compared to the U.S's standards. 10 dollars here can last you a week. You can get lunch and drink here for the price of $2.50, and its a big lunch too. Oh yeah there are these crazy birds here.....most people call them storks, I call them ugly. These are not the kind that bring babies and that are friendly looking, they eat trash and are balding and also have huge gross faces. Yuck :) i will put pictures up soon! Anyways they are about 5 foot and normally you see them walking about picking at plastic or being lazy. I think if i were to predict my next nightmare it would involve me running from one of those creatures. Oh yeah did i mention i ate goat yesterday...... :)
Okay well that's about it....oh yeah i did go and workout at the gym yesterday, the showers there are bomb!
love it. It was really good to practice ballet and to weight lift too. Whelp got home, we bought drums in town today so Alex and i were banging on those and having fun. Moses one of the little boys came inside and gave it a try too. He is cute and knows English, but is too shy to speak it unless its Alex talking to him. No actually working yet, just getting the basics down.
I did try to decal my first pink bead the other day. That was really hard. I smugged it and kept it :) but yeah. Came home everyone ate dinner. bed time!

day three - work in progress. :) first day teaching English...... so happy!

day before gone

hey.

so i am leaving for uganda in four days.

i am leaving my room, my bed, most clothes that i own, and my life in four days.

this is very real. :)


ps. it's about one o' clock in the morning on wednesday september 9th, and all i can do is think about how much packing a should probably get a move on, and second, how much i will miss the good ole states. or maybe i should sleep. i think that's the winner. night!