Roommates!

Roommates are tricky.  They can be loud, messy, disrespectful, clingy, awkward, and on and on and on. Good thing my roommate here in Uganda is none of those!!! Meet Uatchet Ap-Taui Ra. (Yeah. Try figuring that one out. Her dad is Egyptian.) You can call her Ty and SHE IS AWESOME! Basically our lives together consist of laughing, playing music, eating, laughing, breaking rules, fending off Ugandan men, and laughing. She's like my right hand (wo)man here and I thank God for her and her huge fro everyday!

Ah the beauty of God's creation. In the trees. In the sky. In the water. In the people. Gotta love it. :)

Just Livin the Life

African internet does not lend itself well to video uploads. Hence the reason for the lack of updates on this blog. Sorry sorry! I've been trying all week to give you a sneak peek of life at my rural home stay. Unfortunately, you'll just have to use your imaginations. The video you come up with in your brains should include myself in a skirt and a t-shirt (Yeah. I rocked that.), a knife, and a very unlucky young chicken. I had to dig deep deep deep inside to find my primitive soul, tapping into my merciless and ruthless self, ready to CUT THAT CHICKEN'S HEAD OFF! It was brutal. But man did that poultry taste good!

Two weeks ago, I spent eight days in a remote village in Uganda called Soroti. The trailblazer rocked and rolled me deep into the African bush where I met the most amazing African host mother and her ever-so-smiley five-year-old niece.

  Who knew living in a hut could be such a wonderful thing?! I felt like a true African this week for sure! No real need for words here. A picture's worth a thousand of them, after all.

Well that's my life in all it's African glory! And this is my lovely fam jam on the left. If I didn't miss running showers and my real family so much, I may have wanted to stay forever!

Laughter is Love

Sometimes the only thing you can do to get through this life is have a good laugh. Chuckle. Giggle, if you will. I haven't stopped laughing since I stepped foot in Uganda almost two months ago. That's truth, though not necessarily because I don't think I'll get through. Living in a foreign country where you have no idea what is happening 78 percent of the time can be a hilarious thing. But there was this one time long ago (about 48 hours), where the only thing I could do to survive the situation was to laugh so much I cried (and maybe a little pee came out too). Please. Reminisce with me.

I'm in a class here in Africa (yes, contrary to popular belief, I am still attending school. Blahhhh.) entitled 'African Traditional Religions, Islam, and Christianity in Contemporary Uganda. For some crazy reason we call it ATR. Currently, we're learning about rituals and ceremonies that people of ATR participate in. Because we're all about experiences here in Uganda, we decided to take a little field trip. Destination: circumcision. Nope. That's not a typo. A CIRCUMCISION PEOPLE! OF A TEENAGE BOY!!! (You know when you're reading and your eyes almost automatically go to the words in capital letters? I hope that happened to your eyes before you started reading this.)

I wish that I could just take my memory out of my brain and put it in the post. Words just won't suffice. But I'll try my best.

We drove about three hours from campus to a village called Mbale and got settled in the Pentecostal Guest House we would stay in that night. After lunch and a bit of a pre-brief (TCP?), we set off to the village where the ceremony would take place. Now here's a crucial piece of advice. If ever you're planning on going to a circumcision ceremony on top of a mountain in Uganda, be sure to check the forecast first, especially when it's rainy season. Otherwise you're in for a muddy, slippery, absolutely hysterical climb through the mountains of East Africa.


After about twenty thousand hilly miles, a parade-like walk through the village, some muddy feet, and plenty of laughs from the locals, we arrived to a small hut where a few people had gathered, including a man with a very sharp knife. A second piece of advice: try to avoid being in the front row of a circumcision party. It's not a pretty sight. I'll spare you the details of this one. After much chaos, two lightening quick cuts, a few fainters, some dancing, and the jaws of 32 American students on the muddy ground, we made our trek back. Along with about 50,000 other Ugandans who appeared out of nowhere for the only-happens-once-every-two-years-so-don't-miss-it event.

There's so much more I'm leaving out but hopefully I'll be able to tell the story in real life. Unless you want me to put the video up?!? Uhhhhhhhh. You don't want me to put the video up. Just trust me.
GOTTA LOVE AFRICA!

Oh Happiness!

We're gonna get a lil serious with this blog post. Prepare yourself.

Just something I've been thinking about. :)

As this point, I probably couldn't articulate my theology to you. My views are being constantly molded and challenged as I see, experience, and learn new things (especially in stinkin Africa!). It is an almost unbearable struggle not being able to understand God. A million questions are constantly running through my mind. How can I be fully loving and devoted to a God I can't understand? I'm discovering more and more that sometimes the only thing I can do is cling to the things I know: God CREATED me. He knows exactly who I am and who I am meant to be. He is GRACEFUL and MERCIFUL, so much so that He sent His son Jesus to not just cover my sin, but wipe it clean so that I can spend eternity (ETERNITY!) with Him in Heaven. He has UNCONDITIONAL and UNFATHOMABLE LOVE for me. And these things are true for EVERYONE!

Joy and hope and peace can be had in this world! First find it, and then spread it like crazy!

Sometimes,

when you're an American living in Africa,

where all they eat is rice and beans,












you just need a HUMONGOUS BOWL OF ICE CREAM!











And some monkeys to crash the party. :)

Life on the Homestead

Welp. Life's kinda boring here. Not much to write about...JUST KIDDING! Just too much to say and not enough words! Chapati and peanut butter banana's pretty much sum up my life these days.

The past two weeks I've been spending at my urban homestay in Mukono. I was still attending classes, so I was only really there for 2 weekends and each night for dinner and Hidden Passions (cheesy Spanish soap opera with horribly dubbed over English. Check it!) My Ugandan family consists of my dad, the Reverend, my mom, the teacher, and sisters Rachel, the crazy college nursing student, Irene, the malaria infected senior in high school, and Phoebe, the smiley elementary student. Emma, the two year old nephew who never.stopped.crying, also lived with us. We had so much fun! No pictures of the whole family though. Fail on my part. :(

Story Numero Uno. Last Monday was my birthday! Because half of my family goes away to the nearby city during the week for work and school, Mama Kizito, Rachel, and Emma were the only ones at the house. I had subtly mentioned a few days earlier that my birthday was coming up, but I didn't want to make a big deal of it. So when no one mentioned it before school Monday morning, I was kinda relieved. (Ok, so maybe those last two sentences were lies. I was sad! Who doesn't want a huge African celebration on their birthday?!) After classes and mini celebrations at school, I returned home to nice lil surprise party! Wahooooo!! All the kids in the neighborhood, spaghetti feast!, a rock solid store bought cake, and more Hidden Passions? Who could ask for a better way to spend their 21st birthday in Africa?! :P

Story Number Two. Last Sunday, a new Bishop for the Mukono Conference was being consecrated on campus at UCU. Because my host dad was a friend of his, we decided to go support, along with about 20,000 other people! The ceremony was loooooooong. About 7 hours actually. Pretty necessary when everything possible has to be included! Marching bands, 4 choirs, scriptures, sermon in two languages, swearing in, costume changes, reading the bishop's entire new plan, and the arrival of the PRESIDENT OF UGANDA? What?! He showed up about 6 hours late, and because he's been in power for about 20 years longer than he's technically allowed (he changed the constitution of course), I'm not sure he won many people over with that. BUT he did come in style! Full entourage, campaign speech, and free car for the bishop! Yup. Free car. This had to have been a simulation. As we've been saying: T.I.A. This is Africa. Never know what you're gonna get.

I May Have Fallen in Love...

For all of you hoping that I'll meet my husband while here in Uganda, sorry if the title of this blog is misleading. Yesterday, about 50 lil blind Ugandan students at the practicum site I will be working at this semester (Salama School for the Blind) absolutely captured my heart. Just wanted you to know. That's all. Have a wonderful day! :)

Week Two: Classes!

Here are some highlights of my first week of school in Africa! (And my last one as an undergraduate college student!)

• Here in Africa, no one really knows what's going on. Because of this, I never really know what's going on! So on the first day of school, I had no idea what classes were meeting when and where and who and what and how. Because no one really knew! Flexibility people. I ended up missing my first class at 8:30 on Monday morning (which was fine because the professor didn't show up anyway. We'll see if that's a common happening.) But no worries. By the middle of the week I had a firm grasp on where I had to be and when. And I only had to miss a couple classes in between then!
• Community Fellowship (aka Chapel) = party! Dancing, clapping, banging Gospel Choir, speakers who are PREACHIN! It's awesome.
• A few friends and I practiced with the volleyball team yesterday! Intense. I'd show you the bruises on my arms to prove it if you weren't thousands of miles away.
• Benny Hinn on the television in the common room 24/7. (OK maybe 24/7 is an exaggeration. But they do love their Benny Hinn here.)
• Rice and beans. For every. Single. Meal. And that's not an exaggeration.
• So the only place we're really allowed to run here is on the track. Bumm-er! EXCEPT when there are MONKEYS jumpin' around in the morning!!! Never have I been so excited to run on a track in my life.
• I love learning! Especially in Africa!

I'm leaving for a two week home stay in 46 minutes. I'm sure I'll have tons of stories for you after that! And hey. Do something cool for Jesus today! He loves you. :)

Week One: Rwanda!

Eleven days ago, 32 Americans studying abroad embarked on an adventure down Uganda's dusty, bumpy roads. Destination: Rwanda. And it was a long, LONG bus ride. We left at 5am, and after a good dose of Dramamine, a (slightly) quick brake fix, a stop at the equator, and a bit of a sketchy border crossing, we had arrived! Bare with me as I try to make this explanation sound as exciting as it actually was.

Attending an Anglican church service in Rwanda was the first thing on the agenda. (TCP. It would have blown your minds.) In typical international church fashion, the service lasted a good three hours or so, and included everything anyone would want: praying, dancing, hands flying, etc. My personal favorite: the music! Imagine that. Complete with three different choirs, one would end a song and another would immediately begin, almost Marco Polo style.

I had the chance to help lead Sunday School too! I apologize for the possible exploitation of the children, but they're just so darn cute!

Anyways, now that my heart is completely broken for these lil ones, we'll move on. After church we traveled down more bumpy roads to the border of Rwanda and Tanzania to see a lovely waterfall. Also, it's a marvelous thing being able to be in three countries in two days.

The rest of the week was full of learning! We visited some genocide museums and heard from some survivors about their experiences and how they believe their country is dealing with reconciliation. We also went to centers where widows of the genocide work, heard from American missionaries in Rwanda, and shopped at a fair trade expo. Here's some photos for proof!

We spent the last day of the trip debriefing (aka swimming and jumping off high things) on a beautiful lake in Uganda!

It was TONS of fun, can't ya tell?!

Welp, those 32 Americans have returned safely (despite a miner incident with a little boy, a rock, and a bus window) to campus and classes have begun! Update you on those next time! See ya! :)