christmas list

This is the list that i sent my mom of things i want for Christmas...

I normally dont know what i want which makes it so my mom buys me random stuff and i dont like nicknacky stuff, so i am excited to have a list of items i actually want.

The longboard i want... so i don't have to steal my sisters anymore :)

Rosetta Stone: Italian Level 1

Nixon Watch:

I got used to wearing a watch while i was in Uganda and all i have is my $6 target watch that is kinda tacky and i don't like it.

Sorry the picture is tiny but this is the wallet i want

Steve Madden Boots

So if you need to buy me a gift here are some ideas... jk... well unless you want to buy them for me (my #1 love language is gifts)

-H

501

Hello Readers-

The last week and a half has been very unproductive, in fact the only thing i have made progress on is watching 3 movies on the 501 must see movies list. Yes you read that right 501 movies.

A few years ago me and my best friend Jen were at Costco and looking at our guilty pleasure (books) and stumbled upon a book of 501 must see movies. I rambled about how uneducated i am when i comes to movies and all i watch is new release chick flicks and disney channel movies (which is very true) and how there were a lot of movies that people always talk about that i want to watch but never have. So for christmas the following year Jen bought that book for me and i honestly hadn't opened it since then.

But since i got back i have looked into getting netflix because blockbuster sucks and redbox doesn't have a wide variety of movies. And i just have to say that netflix is the best thing EVER! It is only $8.99 a month to use netflix and you get one movie at a time and can keep it for as long as you want. They also have movies online that you can watch at anytime. I figure even with a job i can afford $9 a month (its about the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee) for endless entertainment, thats a fabulous deal if you ask me. So after signing up for netflix i have watched "When Harry Met Sally", "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Little Shop of Horrors" which are all fabulous and all are out of the 501 must see movies. I am excited to watch the moves in the book, although there is a whole section of war movies that i am really not looking forward to watching.

It is going to take us a long time to go through those 501 movies, but when both Jen and I are unemployed it makes life a little easier.

I decided not to take the internship that i spoke about in my last post because she didnt have a set schedule of when she would need my help which makes it very difficult to get a paying job ontop of it. I was offered a job working at HYP until June but i decided to turn in down in search of something that provided more hours and little more of a future. I love working for HYP but it cant really be used on my resume for anything unless im working at another child care place. I will be working there the net 3 weeks to cover for someone else so that gives me a good buffer time to find something else to do after that. I have an interview with Chase next week and i am sure that where ever i am supposed to be will work out.

The message at Existence was so legit today and i am excited to find times and situations in which i can be bold of God and live a radical life for him, wherever that may be. In the mean time i will be educating myself on movies :)

Much love- H

On To The Next One

Well i have been back exactly 1 week and it seems that luck is on my side because i landed a pretty sweet internship with Raincoat Records today. I sat down for coffee with Gayle Skidmore today and talked about details. Things are pretty crazy right now because her cd is being released on Nov. 13th (i think thats the date) but i'm excited to learn about the music industry and see where this takes me. The only unfortunate thing is that there isn't a set schedule of when i will be doing any work for her or anything, it depends a lot on what is going on that week. I could be working at her shows at night or help do promo during the day it all depends, which makes it hard to get an actual paying job along with the internship. I guess that is why i love Marions so much! I think i will work out for me to post availability for Marions all the time and then just take it off when Gayle has something for me to do. As long as i am persistent in getting this jobs then i should be okay financially... hopefully!

Other than that life has been pretty boring around here... i guess im just used to being in a different country every day. Im going to look into buying Rosettastone soon (whenever i have enough money for it) so i can start getting my Italian on. :)

I went to San Luis Obispo this last weekend with ADX and AGO and played team mom to the girls. I seriously love that kinda stuff (cant wait to be a soccer mom) The girls did awesome finishing in 2nd, couldn't be prouder! Plus i got to spend 6 hours with the amazing Duke in the car on the way up to SLO, very exciting stuff.

I unfortunately have to make a phone call to France tomorrow because the hotel double charged my card so i have two charged for over $400 that i need to get back. It will probably cost me a small fortune just to make those phone calls anyways. Rough... but it will be nice to have that little chunk of change back in my pocket.

Im very excited for the Manors Halloween Party on Saturday... the Condo's costumes are coming together nicely and i am very excited to see what everyone else has up their sleeves.

-H

Ti Amo Roma!

I love Rome... almost as much as i love New York!!! (and that says a lot!)

I sent today riding the hop on hop off bus tour in Rome. There were less stops here than there were in London or Paris so i had time to ride it the whole way around and then to get off at different stops and wander the city, and i can tell you that is the only way to really see Rome. Most of the buildings in Rome are 4 or 5 stories tall which means you cant see what's coming until you have found it because it is all surrounded by buildings. You will be walking down a random street and turn a corner only to find the Trevi Fountain, or a beautiful church.

Speaking of church... i miss it terribly! Don't get me wrong i have had some really sweet God moments during my trip but i haven't been to a real church service in almost a month! The first sunday i was gone i went to a church service all in dutch, then the second sunday i went to a kids service in africa, the third sunday i was driving from Jinja to Entebee in the morning, and this sunday i was being a tourist in Rome. I miss fellowship and cant wait to have that back. I guess its true what they say... you dont know what you've got til its gone!

The other beautiful thing about this city is that there are 5 gellato shops on every corner! I was tempted to have one ever 2 minutes but restricted myself to only 2 the whole day! haha

But overall i love Rome... i love the feel of it and the people and just everything! I definitely loved London and Paris but there is something about Rome that just makes me feel more comfortable and at ease. With all its ruins and old architecture and culture it almost has a vulnerability to it that i cant place. I wish i could spend more time here but its time for me to start making my way home!

Tomorrow i go back to London for the night and then on tuesday i have an 11 hour flight that is going to trip me out since i am taking off around 9am and landing around 12noon (time change)

48 hours and 40 minutes until i am back in the states!

Arrivederci!!

-H

ciao

Hi Everyone-

After what feels like forever I have reached my 5^th and (almost) final destination…ROMA! I can say without a doubt that Rome will be my favorite. When I arrived here I checked into the hotel then went out to explore. I got a scoop of gelato and walked around until it started to rain. I love the rain, and it wasn’t very heavy so I kept walking and exploring. I love that you will be walking down what looks like a regular mundane street and then out of nowhere a fountain appears or some roman ruins, its incredible! Tomorrow I will be taking yet another double-decker bus tour (my third one this week!) just to make sure I cover the entire city in the limited time that I have.

Since I haven’t gotten the chance yet to report much on Paris I will take this opportunity to do so…

Paris of course is beautiful but I don’t know that I will be in a hurry to go back there. The first night there I went out to eat some French cuisine and it was soo good the entire time I was wishing that my sister were with me to enjoy the fabulous spread laid out before me, because if there is one person that enjoys food more than me… its my sister! The next day my meals consisted of baguettes and crepes… that’s it! Lol I had to take advantage of the fact that I was in Paris.

One of the highlights of my day was seeing the Moulin Rouge in person! I don’t know… maybe I have see the movie one too many times but I expected it to be bigger and more grand… but I still stood looking at it for about 10 minutes taking it in. Another thing checked off the bucket list! J

The street that my hotel was located on was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. When I decided to go to Paris my uncle suggested this hotel since it is the one he stays at on his frequent visits to Paris. The street was very market like lined with fruit stands, bread and cheese shops, delis, cafes, and flower carts. Before coming to Paris I had a vision in my head of what it would be like, and this street is the epitome of the vision I had.

Although there were a lot of great sights to take in in Paris, I was slightly let down by the fact that most of the city looks exactly the same. On every corner there are the same cafes and patisseries and the same shops that sell the same tired Paris souvenirs.

If you have not been following the news France is currently experiencing strikes because they changed the retirement age from 60 to 62. Both days that I was there touring the city I saw protests starting and lots of police everywhere. But this strike did make today a little stressful for me. I had a flight from Charles De Gaule airport in france at 10:10am. So I plan to leave my hotel at 6:30 to make my way to the airport. I have to take 3 different metro lines and I think that I am making good time until I switch to the last line to the airport and some of the metro workers who are striking don’t show up for work which means there are less trains. So I get on a train and ride it a few stops then they make an announcement that the train isn’t going any further and that I have to find another one. Then they keep switching the platform but I don’t know because they are making all these announcements in French. I go to get on one train and this guy starts speaking French to me and telling me not to get on. I don’t understand why but he keeps pointing up. Finally I find a guy about my age and his Mom who are dragging along suitcases and they seem to know where they are going so I ask them if they are trying to go to the airport too, and lucky for me they are and the boy speaks both French and English. Finally we find the right train, but at this point I am running behind and kind of stressed out as to whether or not I will be making my flight. It is nice to find some Americans that I could talk to since over the last few days the deepest conversation I have had is with someone I am ordering food from (I miss normal human interaction!!). The boy and his Mom are from New York and he is here studying abroad and his Mom came to visit! I make it the airport about an hour before my flight. Luckily I don’t have any bags to check which saves time for me and I get to my terminal with time to spare.

I am excited to really experience Rome tomorrow, but I cant help to count down the days until I come home! I think I have decided to pursue learning Italian, but we will see if tomorrow makes me want to learn it more.

p.s. I watching the Lizzie McGuire movie in preparation for coming to Rome… J

Bonjour

I have never felt more inadequate in my life! I understand now why other countries hate america tourists! lol I NEED to learn another language so i can stop looking so uneducated! I looked into buying Rosetta Stone which is like $250 but i think would be worth it. Anyone use it and had success?

Ill just start by saying that i have an impeccable sense of direction... but put me in the middle of a city i have never been to before and im so lost. Today when i got to paris i was following the directions i was given by the travel agent and somehow i got on the wrong metro line and wasted about 30 minutes trying to find my way. Then when i got off the metro i wandered around for an hour and a half looking for my hotel before i realize that it was within a 2 blog radius of the metro stop i got off at. Silly me

After checking into the hotel i went out to explore a little since the eiffel tower is only a 5 minute walk from my hotel. I ended up checking off a bucket list item... climbing up the stairs in the eiffel tower! This was such a cool experience but i can tell you that my legs will be extremely sore tomorrow!

Im about to go out and eat some french cuisine since today all i have eaten is a baguette and a small thing of gellato! lol But tomorrow i am looking forward to crepes and expresso! :) I will me pairing this with a double decker bus tour to see the one and only Moulin Rouge and all the other amazing sights of Paris.

I love you and will do my best to keep you updated on the rest of Paris and what happens next in Rome!

-H

Winning London

"Woke up in London yesterday. Found myself in the city near Piccadilly..."

I was singing that song to myself all day as i roamed throughout London. I had such a fun, long, exhausting day! I rode the London tube into Westminster where i saw Big Ben and Abbey :). I took in the sights on the London Eye and rode a ferry down the river themes. Then i covered the rest of the city on a classic london double decker tour bus. I even got lost in China Town as i was searching for an H&M so i could buy a coat (its hard to spend October in London when you packed for living on the equator). Im ashamed to admit that i did not test out my british accent on anyone to see if it would pass as legit. I was so obviously a tourist that i think it automatically gave me away.

Tomorrow im excited to report that i am taking a day trip to Stonehenge and then seeing the Broadway Musical "Chicago" at night! I think it will be more of a relaxing day... where as today i was trying to see as much of London as i possibly could.

I have realized tho that it doesn't matter where you are as long as you have good people with you to enjoy the experience with. I was in London today... one of the most beautiful cities and i couldn't help think how much i missed just hanging out with the girls back home! Im for sure going to enjoy the rest of my time here, but i'm ready to have life be somewhat normal again! Anyone wanna teleport and comes see me in Paris or Rome?

-H

How does time go by so fast and yet so slow?!?

This is my last blog post from Uganda (even tho by the time i am actually posting it i am in London)

This blog is titled "Take the Walk" amd you might be thinking, well that was short walk... a stroll even. If you are thinking in reference to Uganda then i would have to agree with you. But when i look at all the people i have met and everything i heave learned i would not trade this stroll for anything. And even though going to Uganda might have been a leap of faith, trusting in the Lord to provide i think coming home so soon might be a bigger one. I have no idea what opportunities i will be presented with, what i am going to do in terms of a job, or where i will be lead next, all i know is i have somewhere to sleep and right now that is good enough for me.

So as i sit in gate 4 of Entebee airport trying to remember the smell of the Ugandan air (a combination of dirt, B.O., and burning trash...a smell which i surprisingly have come to love) i think about how so many people in Uganda, Holland, and back home told me i would regret my decision to leave so soon. But the emotion im feeling is not one of regret, but of excitement. Dont get me wrong, i was sad to say goodbye to the kids, and the friends i have made in Uganda but i know that those relationships wont stop there... if anything i have gained somewhere to stay if i every visit Holland again.

As we were leaving Jinja yesterday (since i had to stay the night in Entebee... but thats a whole other story for another day) we were driving in the taxi with the windows down (Jenny in the front me in the back) i hear the call so familiar to me... "Muzungu Muzungu." As always i respond with a smile, wave, and "hello". The boda boda who was calling "my name" proceeds to yell after us " I LOVE YOU". Immediately in my head i register this as Uganda itself telling me it loved me and would miss me so i stick my head out the window and yell back "I LOVE YOU TOO!" Of course nothing would come of my brief romance with the boda boda but i know this is not where my love for Uganda, heck all of Africa would end. Who knows, i still have 5 months left on my 6 month multiple entry visa... haha RIGHT!

I eagerly anticipate the next 8 days of travel through Europe... but what's beyond that, God only knows and I'm eager to find out!

Keep reading for updates on London, Paris, and Rome. Maybe i will surprise myself and live like Amanda Bynes in London, get a passport to Paris like Mary Kate and Ashley, or have a Lizzie McGuire experience in Rome (are there any pop stars that look like me? Im still in search of my dopleganger)

Until then -H

p.s. Uganda has the most gorgeous sunrises, the first of which i enjoyed this morning over breakfast while waiting for my taxi at the airport. Never seen one? You should!

Exotic Local Wildlife

Last night i experienced something that i PRAY i or any of you reading this will never experience again!!

As i was standing in the bathroom going through my "getting ready for bed" ritual i was looking for some bobbypins that i had places on shelves that were above the toilet. Then out of the corner of my eye i see something black coming up the toilet. You might automatically think oh thats gross the sewage backed up... but before you starting making your predictions i will give you one more clue... it was alive! Yes this black thing was now splashing around in my toilet trying to get out! Any guesses?

If you said a rat you are correct! Yes you read that right... in the pipe that you flush water and whatever else down the toilet a rat had managed to find its way through and come up my toilet!

As you can imagine i screamed bloody murder and Prossy (the woman who runs the guest house) and a guy that works for her come running. They are shocked to find what i was screaming about. And while the guy knocks the rat uncontious with his sandal, Prossy continues to tell me about the rat problem that Uganda has! She claims that they normally stay outside of the guest houses, and that this has never happened before. When the rat is finally uncontious they decided it would be best to just flush it back down the toilet! ICK... this whole situation grosses me out so bad and i am visible shaking at this point, swearing up and down that i will never use that toilet again!

As i was lying in bed last night trying to fall asleep i was praying thanking the Lord that 1. i was not sitting on that toilet when the rat came up and 2. that this is my last night at the guest house in jinja! Oh how i am so excited for London, Paris, and Rome!

btw... details have been finalized...

i will be in Entebee on the 10th

Flying into London the 11th and staying there until the 14th

Paris the 14th-16th

and Rome the 16th-18th

Finally spending the night in London again on the 18th and back to the states on the 19th!

Shout out to my mom for arranging all of that for me instead of working :)

Even with all those exciting details i still cant stop thinking about that rat!!!!

-H

Ride on the back of a motorcycle... *check*

Sooo like i mentioned yesterday, i got the ride on the back of a Boda Boda (motorcycle). it was the COOLEST THING EVER!! i always thought that i would be scary, but it was so fun! I decided that i would have no problem staying in Africa longer if i could just tour the continent via Boda Boda.

I was also very psyched that i got to go on this ride because it gave me a slight experience of what a safari might be like. As we were driving down the street i was looking at everything around me and a monkey jumped down from a tree and looked at me. This monkey looked a lot like Marcel from "Friends" and it made me happy to see some actual Africa wildlife since the only animals around here are chickens, goats, cows, and these HUGE stork lookin' birds.

Also this event also made me very excited about my bucket list and checking things off of it. So last night i sat down and created a bucket list journal where i can make my list and also write down my experiences completing the things on that list. I only have like 20 things so far, including driving across the country, reading the top 50 American classics, bungee jumping, and riding a mechanical bull among other things. The first thing i need to do when i get home tho is actually watch the movie "The Bucket List" since i have never seen it.

But i have also decided that since i started this blog to share with all of you the adventures of my life, i figure why does it need to stop when i come back from Africa. That's right... it doesn't! So even when i return to the states i will continue to update you on the attempts to complete bucket list items and do other ridiculous things that i feel completely necessary!

Also... update on my Europe adventure: Dublin is a no go since my cousin will not actually be at her house when i was planning on going there! So instead i will enjoy Rome! That's right London, Paris and Rome in 8 days! Who knows maybe i will find something else to cross off my bucket list while im there!

Well until then ill keep you posted... but i have only 3 days left in Jinja and im going to go make the most of it!

-H

COMO?

So now that there is a family from Holland hear all of my meal times are consumed with Dutch. I honestly couldnt tell you anything that has been said at a meal in the last 2 days. Another family from Holland arrives tomorrow which will mean more speaking in Dutch! JOY!

Actually i am finding some joy in it... for those of you who watched the tv show big brother you might remember when Lane and Brittany would make up things that Rachel and Brendon were saying to each other. They would watch them from the kitchen and come up with ridiculous dialog that goes along with what they are saying... well i have taken this up as my new dinner time hobby. As they speak in Dutch i come up with funny things they are saying in my head! I know this might sound pathetic but its quite entertaining.

Anyways since i have been exposed to so much culture lately i have decided that i really want to learn another language. I have landed on either Greek, French, or Italian. I dont know how i will decide which one i want to go... but who knows maybe i will enroll in a class at Grossmont next semester.

Well i better go, today i am taking a boda boda (what they call motorcycles) ride to one of the villages, and i dont want to be left behind!

I will be home on the 19th!

Much love- H

change of plans...

So there has been a change of plans since i last posted (only a few hours ago)...

This Sunday i will be driving down to Entebee and spending the night in a guest house there. Monday morning i will be flying out of Entebee airport to London. From there i will spend 8 days exploring London, and maybe Paris. I am also planning a flight to Dublin to spend some time with my cousin in the green hills of Ireland.

I was really stoked on the idea of a Safari but the guy that Mandy books safaris with does not have another group going for many weeks! Which means i would end up paying over $1000 for a safari just for me... and i am not about that! So instead i will spend my money exploring Europe.

Any suggestions of things i should see or do?

Much Love- H

Living the Life of a Celebrity

Now that is has been over a week since i have been in Uganda i feel that i have a good idea of what life could be like here. There are so many different, unusual, and Beautiful things here that define their way of life. I am going to ATTEMPT to explain a few of these things that i have picked out...

1. Teeth:

For those of you who know me really well it will come to no surprise that this is the first thing i choose to talk about/ the first thing i noticed in Uganda. And if you dont know me very well... you should know i have a slight obsession with teeth and it is often times the first thing i notice about a person.

I just have to say that the people of Uganda have BEAUTIFUL smiles. Yes of course, there is the occasional jacked up grill (like the lady from the orange store yesterday), but the majority of them have naturally straight teeth. One of the older girls who lives at Welcome Home has the most gorgeous smile i have ever seen.

But this makes me wonder... what went wrong in America that almost every child needs to get braces in order to have decent smiles? Something to ponder...

2. Riding in the Car:

The other day on the way to church we had a 12 passanger van (in Uganda a 12 passenger van is smaller than most American mini vans) that was loaded with 30 children, all under the age of 5, and 6 adults. AS you can guess most of these kids were sitting on top of each other... not in car seats mind you. On the way back from church i was sitting in the front seat with a 2 year old on my lap while not wearing a seat belt. On top of that the entire way home Mandy was talking about the aweful drivers in Uganda. Call it irresponsible... call it whatever you want, but in Uganda its normal.

But the kids LOVE riding in the car. They scream whenever we go over a bump, they comment on everything that is out the window (water water, goatie goatie, moo cow moo cow...). Whenever a farm animal is seen it prompts verses of "Mama Mandy had a farm" to be sung. Its an unforgettable experience.

3. Showers:

At home i am so pampered its retarded! Here in Uganda, in order to have hot water you have to turn on a solar powered hot water heater 45 minutes before your shower. I was blessed to have a room with a good hot water heater, the dutch girl Jenny often complains about her cold showers that give her a headache and bad hair. lol.

I should also mention that my room does not have a shower curtain. I dont know if thats typical here, but for me it is. The bathroom floor is always drenched by the time i'm done, but i guess the more water outside the tub the best because the water inside the tub takes FOREVER to drain. I'm going to be very honest with you, living in Uganda you get DIRTY. There is red dirt every where you walk and it gets all over your legs. Then when your with kids all day like i am then your twice as dirty. So the water after a shower is a sick shade of brown.

I also will never again complain about water pressure in America. That is all i will say about that.

4. Living the Life of a Celebrity:

I mentioned in my last post about people constantly calling me Muzungu. Well after i got over being self contious about people looking at me constantly i have started to embrace the celebrity status. I can now pretend that my name in fact is Muzungu and whenever im around and i hear it in hushed tones or being yelled at me i will always respond with a smile and a wave.

I think also the attention i get is greater because i am so tall. The other day we were walking down the street and this man passed us. Jenny automatically goes "you get looked at a lot because you are tall" to which i respond "we get looked at a lot because we are white." But she insisted that the guy who walked passed us looked me up and down. I dunno... maybe im just used to it. but people were are on the shorter side....

In another instance Jenny and i were walking from the guest house and we walked past a guy leaning against a tree. This man walked up behind us and said you Jenny "If i want to be your friend what can i do?" Jenny being from Holland could play dumb like she didn't speak english. He repeated himself a few times before he got frustrated and left us alone. But i can say that has never happened to me in the US.

5. Sleep:

My sleep pattern in Uganda has been so completely different than it was in the United States. Here it is unsafe to go out after dark. So we eat dinner around 6pm and from there i go to my room to devo and read. I am normally in bed by 8:30pm...so i read with a flashlight until my eyes are tired. The only reason i read with a flashlight is because otherwise i would have to untuck and retuck my mosquito net (which i am not now a pro at if i do say so myself) to turn off the light.

A few nights ago i was getting ready for bed and the power went out. Apparently this is normal, and they used to only have energy for 1 hour a day (thank god that isnt the case anymore) but it was the first time it had happened to me. I was brushing my teeth and looking at a lizard on the wall when it went black. I clamored around in the dark trying to find my flashlight so i could finish brushing my teeth. I never did see that lizard again tho.

I have to give a shout out to Halee H. for suggesting a sleeping mask. It is now my new best friend since the sun comes streaming through the curtains at 5:30am.

Anyways i normally fall asleep around 9:30 and wake up at 7:30. A solid 10 hours of sleep yet i am still tired at the end of the day.

6.Food:

Well i will just say it could be a lot worse.

For breakfast we normally have a friend egg with bread and pinapple. But this morning she made this thing called a Rolex (yes like the watch). It is an egg cooked with some veggies and rolled into a tortilla type thing, almost like a breakfast burrito.

For lunch we often eat at the orphanage. So that means either posho (sp?) which is maze flour mixed with hot water to make this rice like consistency and that is served with beans. Or there is matoki (sp?) which is banana that is cooked and mashed like a mashed potato. On mondays they have tripe (cow intestine) and i will not be eating that!

For dinner mandy has been spoiling us by taking us out to dinner. I have eaten the ugandan version of Chinese, Indian, and Dutch food, none of which compares to the real thing but what are you gonna do. Typically the hostest at the guest house cooks us dinner, which is normally talapia, rice, beans and tortilla.

7. Television:

From what i can tell they have one channel and it plays the most random stuff. I have watched spanish soap operas, the news, Americas next top model, Opera, and to my surprise the other morning i came in for breakfast and a Major League Baseball game was on! I was so excited, Jenny thought i was loosing it. The game was between the NY Mets and Washington and of course the Mets were loosing. But i was so happy to get that little bit of home!

Well i hope i have painted for you a good picture of what my life has been like here so far.

An adopting family from Holland is coming today and i am excited to meet them, but slightly jealous because Jenny is so excited to be able to speak in Dutch with someone, which will leave me in the dark (beyond the words i mentioned in the last post lol )

Well i love you and miss you all.

-H

p.s. Sometime after Sunday i will be going on a 3 day safari, from there i will stay the night in entebee and then fly to London. I will spend 3 nights in London and then fly back to the states. i still dont know dates. but in about 2 weeks i will be home!

Hallo

I am sorry it has taken me this long to post anything from Africa. There have been some technical difficulties with internet usage. On my way over i was told by Mandy that i would be able to buy a wireless internet hookup for the guest room where i am staying and i was really happy about that and the possibility of being able to Skype with a few of you back home. So i bought the modem and paid for 3 months of internet (if you pay for 3 you get the 4th month free, i thought it was being smart) then i go to hook it up to my computer and the thing wont download. i even took it to the store and they couldn't do to fix it. They said it is something wrong with my computer and the only want to get it fixed would be to go to an Apple store and as you might guess there isn't one in Jinja. So here i am out 360,000 shillings (which is roughly $180) and still no internet. So instead i have opted for going to the local internet cafe which costs me 3,000 shillings for 2 hours ($1.50 US Dollars) which isn't bad at all.

Anyways... so much has happened since i arrive in Jinja 6 days ago!

I have been spending my days with the children at the orphanage. They have a very steady routine that all the children are very familiar with. I am not sure yet where my help is needed or even when i should be doing, but i have fun playing with the kids (even though i cant understand a word they are saying) and taking pictures of them. They dont see what they look like very often so they love when i take their picture and then show it to them on my digital camera. They point at the camera and say their name over and over again.

All the kids at the orphanage (after they got over calling me Muzungu, which means white person) call me and every other woman Mommy. I feel like i might never escape this nick name (First ADX, then horse camp, then hyp, now Welcome Home). But i have to admit i kinda love it!

One of the things i get to do at the orphanage is show the kids who are being adopted the pictures of their parents that are coming soon. They do this so they can get used to what they look like and start understanding that they get to go home soon! So i sit them down and show them a picture of themselves and ask them "who is this" and they say their name and then i show them the picture of their mom and dad and i say "who is this" and they point and say mommy and daddy! They are so happy it get to see the houses they are going to. Some of them have picture of the pets they will have at home and their rooms. Most of these kids have never had their own room, toys, or clothes. I'm really excited for them.

I am lucky to have with me another volunteer from Holland. Her name is Jenny but in Holland they pronounce in Yenny. It is funny she looks at me and sees that i am white and starts speaking Dutch to me and then i look at her like she is crazy and she realizes she is speaking Dutch to me and that i dont understand. I think she has started to get the hang of the fact that i only speak English. Actually most people here think its very strange that i only speak English. I tell them that i speak some Spanish. One guy i met yesterday started to ask me questions about Spanish words and then told me that he watches Spanish soap operas but doesnt know what they are saying most of the time. I am very rusty in my spanish (lets be real, i was never very good at it) so i can answer some of his questions but i look like an idiot!

Most of the kids that are being adopted are going to Holland so Mandy asked me and Yenny to have class with them and teach them some Dutch words. I am learning about as much as the 5 year old children are learning (again, i'm going to be real... they are better than i am lol). But now know how to say Hello (which is the title of the blog post), mommy (mama), daddy (papa), pee (plosen), poop (poopen), How are you (hoe gaat geet), i am fine (hat geet guede), and goodbye (doie). Yeah i probably didnt spell any of that right... but whatever! Anyways the kids are excited about learning the new language.

In town yesterday Jenny and i met two other white girls our age. One of from Oklahoma and was here on the World Race and the other one is from Canada and is here with WYWAM. When you are white here you stick out like a soar thumb. Everyone you walk by gets really big eyes and says "MUZUNGU MUZUNGU"!! So when i see another white person i too get very excited. It is incredibly easy to strike up a conversation with a random stranger here because more likely they are very excited to talk with you too.

Last night over dinner Jenny and i were talking about home and exchanging pictures of friends and family. I proudly whipped out my scrapbook from my going away party and showed her all the pictures of my friends. She has never been to America before so i was telling her alllll about it. And it was then that i realized how much i freaking love our country. It sounds funny but America is all i have ever really known so i didn't think about how other places are sooo different. As i sat last night contemplating that thought i realized how lucky i am to have the opportunities have had.

The same guy that was asking me about Spanish soap operas was asking me about college in america. I told him what my major was but then as always added that i dont know if i will end up using it in what i choose as a career (especially since i dont know what i want to do). he looked at me like i was crazy! "You dont know what you want to do?" In America it is a fairly typical thing for a college student to change their major many times throughout their college career (i changed mine 4 times) and for someone to change their career many times in their life, but here there are not as many options for making a living... you know what you want to do when you go to college. For him he couldn't even understand how i didn't know what i wanted.

So last night as i was thinking about how much i love my country and how i am so blessed to have the opportunities and the chances in life that soooo many other people around the world can not even fathom. I decided that it was right for me to come home!

yes you heard that right... im coming home! I will finish out my 2 weeks that i paid for at the guest house i am staying at and then spend a few days in London on the way back. But i will be home in now less than 3 weeks!

I will be happy to explain more... but right now Jenny is waiting for me to leave!

I will leave you with this... cherish the times on clarity that you have with the Lord. Cherish the times on the mountain when you feel his presence so strongly. But dont force yourself to turn those things into lessons. I asked myself over and over "what have i learned here" "what am i going to take back with me" and "how will i be a different person from this experience". And i can say i have learned a lot, but most of all that God has been slowly tearing down who i am and building up my character in him. That is the lesson i will bring home.

I hope to write on here again soon! I love and miss you all!