Well, so much has happened and I only have a few minutes to update my blog!
The other day we went and visited the Islamic University of Uganda. We had to dress to our wrists and ankles and wear a scarf around our heads so that we don't show any neck. It was quite an interesting experience! The people we met with were so neat and at the end we had a closing prayer. It was so funny because Devin (one of the volunteers) was bowing his head and closing his eyes for like 15 minutes because he thought they were praying when really they weren't. It cracked me up, i had to sit there with my shawl on and hold in my laugh.
We also went to a festival at Impact Ministries, which is like an elementary school. There were about 300 kids. They served us up a meal and sang and danced for us. Afterwards we helped served food for them since there were so many. But there wasn't enough. About 30 kids went without food. That was one of the hardest things to watch. They look at you with longing eyes and watery mouths. I still tear up thinking about it. If they don't get food they go without and they're used to it. It kills me.
We went and hiked Sipi falls the other day and it was beautiful! i'm having a hard time digesting some of the food here, but other than that AFrica is amazing:)
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wow. so much has happened here in Africa, it's a little bit hard to always keep this blog updated because of the limited amount of time to use the internet. But it is still so amazing here!
The past week we were able to paint 8 different classrooms for a school that was filled with spiders and cobwebs. It looks really nice and the kids are back in school today, so we were excited to get that finished right up front.
We also worked at a hospital called CURE. It specializes doing surgery for babies who have hydrocepholis and spinobiphida. On Friday we held a seminar training with all of the mothers about nutrition, hygiene, and first aid. About 50 people showed up and it was very successful! we will be training the staff and mothers every Friday.
This weekend we went and hiked the mud slides. and of course, it was raining, muddy, and very wet! It was so beautiful though. Huge mountains with waterfalls. I love it.
The people here are very nice to us and want us to help them. Some of the little kids get scared because of how "scary" our white skin is since they've never seen it before. But most the time kids follow us wherever we go and give us "bonga" (bones)
i am absolutely loving it here and am happy inside and out!
The past week we were able to paint 8 different classrooms for a school that was filled with spiders and cobwebs. It looks really nice and the kids are back in school today, so we were excited to get that finished right up front.
We also worked at a hospital called CURE. It specializes doing surgery for babies who have hydrocepholis and spinobiphida. On Friday we held a seminar training with all of the mothers about nutrition, hygiene, and first aid. About 50 people showed up and it was very successful! we will be training the staff and mothers every Friday.
This weekend we went and hiked the mud slides. and of course, it was raining, muddy, and very wet! It was so beautiful though. Huge mountains with waterfalls. I love it.
The people here are very nice to us and want us to help them. Some of the little kids get scared because of how "scary" our white skin is since they've never seen it before. But most the time kids follow us wherever we go and give us "bonga" (bones)
i am absolutely loving it here and am happy inside and out!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
You know you're in Africa when....
When your guard is afraid of dogs and doesn't carry a weapon so we buy him a bow and arrow... that's normal.
When you eat chicken for dinner after cutting off the chickens head a few hours earlier.
When you ride a taxi that can fit 15 of us in one ride and kids yell "mzugu" (white person) at you and wave like we are in some parade.
When your roommate is a cocroach... that's normal.
When you use the purple bug zapper for our dance parties and then the whole room fills with smoke because there was a big bug!
When your snack is salted crickets.
When your eyes burn in the middle of the night from misquito net chemicals.
When your clothes hang outside for days because it keeps raining.
When you get proposed to on the daily by people in the streets.
When Obama clothing is the cool thing! the belt buckle was my favorite!
When the beautiful Ugandian ladies laugh at us when we try to speak to them.
When everywhere you go someone is openly breast feeding.
When you here wings fall on the floor at night from some kind of bug.
When you wear deodarant but you don't need it because you blend in and no one cares!
When you have to be taught how to use a brick phone.
When the toilets are a hole in the ground and you have to learn how to aim.
I am LOVING It here! definitely not a vacation, but i've been here a week and already love it! It's a completely different lifestyle and these are just some things i've come to learn to enjoy! Everytime something happens that is out of the ordinary we just say "T.I.A." (this is africa)
i'm excited to continue on this adventure!
When you eat chicken for dinner after cutting off the chickens head a few hours earlier.
When you ride a taxi that can fit 15 of us in one ride and kids yell "mzugu" (white person) at you and wave like we are in some parade.
When your roommate is a cocroach... that's normal.
When you use the purple bug zapper for our dance parties and then the whole room fills with smoke because there was a big bug!
When your snack is salted crickets.
When your eyes burn in the middle of the night from misquito net chemicals.
When your clothes hang outside for days because it keeps raining.
When you get proposed to on the daily by people in the streets.
When Obama clothing is the cool thing! the belt buckle was my favorite!
When the beautiful Ugandian ladies laugh at us when we try to speak to them.
When everywhere you go someone is openly breast feeding.
When you here wings fall on the floor at night from some kind of bug.
When you wear deodarant but you don't need it because you blend in and no one cares!
When you have to be taught how to use a brick phone.
When the toilets are a hole in the ground and you have to learn how to aim.
I am LOVING It here! definitely not a vacation, but i've been here a week and already love it! It's a completely different lifestyle and these are just some things i've come to learn to enjoy! Everytime something happens that is out of the ordinary we just say "T.I.A." (this is africa)
i'm excited to continue on this adventure!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Arrived to Africa!
ok... so here is what i have seen and been doing the past 24 hours. i honestly feel like I have been here for MONTHS it has taken us FOREVER to get here! It seriously is so crazy here in AFRICA! i still can't comprehend that i'm here. I don't know what day or time it is, all i know that this doesn't seem real at all!
i found my group in london before we boarded the plane. I honestly slept from the time we got in to the time we got out. I sat next to a really big lady which was a little bit hard but i zonked out so it didn't matter. she was telling me all about uganda too since she was from there. She's all "it's muddy... do you know what muddy is?" i'm all "ya" and she's all... "no... i don't think you do!"
We arrived to the airport in kampala and had a 5-6 hour bus ride to Mbale which is where we are staying! haha our bus... i loved it. just imagine.. wow, i can't really compare it to anything... just imagine a big beat up van that squeeks when you drive and bounces around haha our big dodge van was a mercedes compared to this mobile! we stick out SO bad here. i didn't know how white i really am!!! the streets are unreal. they don't have rules and padestrians have to LEAP out of the way or they're doomed! The people here are SO nice tho, and they are SOOO happy. they probably live closer to heaven then we do just because of how humble they are. they would come up to our windows to sell things and try to get any kind of money. they think we are the richest people ever! the little kids yell out "muzugu!" which means white person whenever they see us and wave! We were stopped in Munoko to get a fridge for our house and the CUTEST little kid was waving to me, i was trying to teach him how to blow a kiss and by the time we left he kept blowing kisses til we pulled away. The kids are seriously so cute and are the happiest little things i've ever seen. they play in the streets and play soccer a lot here.
Let me tell you about last night...
First of all... we got to our house and it was raining and we don't have power so it was adventurous in the rain with our luggage and mud. haha i loved it. (enrique just turned on here, hahahah i am loving this!!!) but anyway.. haha sorry i am so scatterbrained right now. We got all unpacked and put up our maquito nets... the sounds of africa at night go like this: wild dogs barking, drums, trucks, singing, beeping. so i popped in my headphones and was completely out after preparing for hours to not get eaten alive by masquitos.
all of a sudden i hear "AUBREY!..." i jumped! Whitney was on the bunk across from me and she's all "Do my eyes loook like hitch!?!" she pops her head out of her net and i shine my light on her face, "no, why?"... suddenly i feel this liquid coming out of my ear and she is freaking out! our country director wakes up and comes in our room to see what was going on, and I guess the pharmacy had told us not to wash our nets... but your supposed to since there is so much chemical stuff on them! so we were all having these allergic reactions! we had taken HOURS to put them up and nail them in too! haha so everyone starts waking up bein like "owww... my eyes!" and at 3am we were having this fiasco! haha one girl was zonked out and didn't budge while the rest of us were being attacked! haha
finally we stripped the nets off and we all went back to bed. if you only knew what this has been like it is a full on movie. We are soooo lucky tho, we've made some friends with the hotel people so if we ABSOLUTELY need a hot shower we can. and we live like KINGS here! our compound is completely protected. we have the BEST guard that everyone fights over to have named David... he's awesome. but when we can't see him at night we just have to tell him to smile so we can see his teeth!
We woke up today, had a meeting about safety. we're basically getting settled in! but it's not as roughing it as much as i expected! we have tile floors, flushing toilets, 2 showers, running water! We are living like kings!
we went to an orphanage yesterday, it broke my heart and was really hard to see the little kids, but they are so happy it is unreal! these people are probably a lot happier than most people in the United States and they have nothing.
haha and let me just tell you about this... today i rode my first BODA BODA! which means taxi. which means motorcycle. the money system is so crazy that it's only like 50 cents of american currency to ride to the city. we made a caravan of white people on these boda boda's. One girl's broke down so we had a slight problem with not knowing where she was, but they give us all the contact information and we live close by that we will be just fine.
i'm living a complete dream! i really can't believe i'm here! just barely i had to go pee and so i went to the bathrooms which was a hole in the ground and no doors. just had whit stand in front of the door and was good to go!
as far as scenery here, it is SO beautiful! very green, there is a waterfall a little ways away from our house and it is beautiful!
i know there is so much else that has happened but its hard to remember everything. i've made sure to keep a journal though because i don't want to forget a THING!
i know i've only been gone a week but there have been so many things going on that i feel like i could write a novel. i and have felt the Lord with me this entire trip, i have to be honest in saying this is the scariest thing i've ever done, but i don't ever feel alone. i'm very protected. My emotions have been a little bit numb.. i'm still waiting for it all to hit me. it's really hard for me to see people sitting in the streets with no legs, and little kids that look really unhealthy. i just will never be the same after this trip, that's for sure.
my tevas? work like a charm:) and Ang... you packed my waterbottle SO good! hahah i went to get water and one of them had opened a little, and i didn't realize it so when my water was read I gotta little bit scared haha but not to worry!
they eat really weird food here. like goat hair in the soup. haha THIS IS AFRICA! T.I.A. whenever something really weird happens that is unusual we just say "T.I.A!"
so happy tho so don't worry about anything! i'm very safe with the group i'm with!
i found my group in london before we boarded the plane. I honestly slept from the time we got in to the time we got out. I sat next to a really big lady which was a little bit hard but i zonked out so it didn't matter. she was telling me all about uganda too since she was from there. She's all "it's muddy... do you know what muddy is?" i'm all "ya" and she's all... "no... i don't think you do!"
We arrived to the airport in kampala and had a 5-6 hour bus ride to Mbale which is where we are staying! haha our bus... i loved it. just imagine.. wow, i can't really compare it to anything... just imagine a big beat up van that squeeks when you drive and bounces around haha our big dodge van was a mercedes compared to this mobile! we stick out SO bad here. i didn't know how white i really am!!! the streets are unreal. they don't have rules and padestrians have to LEAP out of the way or they're doomed! The people here are SO nice tho, and they are SOOO happy. they probably live closer to heaven then we do just because of how humble they are. they would come up to our windows to sell things and try to get any kind of money. they think we are the richest people ever! the little kids yell out "muzugu!" which means white person whenever they see us and wave! We were stopped in Munoko to get a fridge for our house and the CUTEST little kid was waving to me, i was trying to teach him how to blow a kiss and by the time we left he kept blowing kisses til we pulled away. The kids are seriously so cute and are the happiest little things i've ever seen. they play in the streets and play soccer a lot here.
Let me tell you about last night...
First of all... we got to our house and it was raining and we don't have power so it was adventurous in the rain with our luggage and mud. haha i loved it. (enrique just turned on here, hahahah i am loving this!!!) but anyway.. haha sorry i am so scatterbrained right now. We got all unpacked and put up our maquito nets... the sounds of africa at night go like this: wild dogs barking, drums, trucks, singing, beeping. so i popped in my headphones and was completely out after preparing for hours to not get eaten alive by masquitos.
all of a sudden i hear "AUBREY!..." i jumped! Whitney was on the bunk across from me and she's all "Do my eyes loook like hitch!?!" she pops her head out of her net and i shine my light on her face, "no, why?"... suddenly i feel this liquid coming out of my ear and she is freaking out! our country director wakes up and comes in our room to see what was going on, and I guess the pharmacy had told us not to wash our nets... but your supposed to since there is so much chemical stuff on them! so we were all having these allergic reactions! we had taken HOURS to put them up and nail them in too! haha so everyone starts waking up bein like "owww... my eyes!" and at 3am we were having this fiasco! haha one girl was zonked out and didn't budge while the rest of us were being attacked! haha
finally we stripped the nets off and we all went back to bed. if you only knew what this has been like it is a full on movie. We are soooo lucky tho, we've made some friends with the hotel people so if we ABSOLUTELY need a hot shower we can. and we live like KINGS here! our compound is completely protected. we have the BEST guard that everyone fights over to have named David... he's awesome. but when we can't see him at night we just have to tell him to smile so we can see his teeth!
We woke up today, had a meeting about safety. we're basically getting settled in! but it's not as roughing it as much as i expected! we have tile floors, flushing toilets, 2 showers, running water! We are living like kings!
we went to an orphanage yesterday, it broke my heart and was really hard to see the little kids, but they are so happy it is unreal! these people are probably a lot happier than most people in the United States and they have nothing.
haha and let me just tell you about this... today i rode my first BODA BODA! which means taxi. which means motorcycle. the money system is so crazy that it's only like 50 cents of american currency to ride to the city. we made a caravan of white people on these boda boda's. One girl's broke down so we had a slight problem with not knowing where she was, but they give us all the contact information and we live close by that we will be just fine.
i'm living a complete dream! i really can't believe i'm here! just barely i had to go pee and so i went to the bathrooms which was a hole in the ground and no doors. just had whit stand in front of the door and was good to go!
as far as scenery here, it is SO beautiful! very green, there is a waterfall a little ways away from our house and it is beautiful!
i know there is so much else that has happened but its hard to remember everything. i've made sure to keep a journal though because i don't want to forget a THING!
i know i've only been gone a week but there have been so many things going on that i feel like i could write a novel. i and have felt the Lord with me this entire trip, i have to be honest in saying this is the scariest thing i've ever done, but i don't ever feel alone. i'm very protected. My emotions have been a little bit numb.. i'm still waiting for it all to hit me. it's really hard for me to see people sitting in the streets with no legs, and little kids that look really unhealthy. i just will never be the same after this trip, that's for sure.
my tevas? work like a charm:) and Ang... you packed my waterbottle SO good! hahah i went to get water and one of them had opened a little, and i didn't realize it so when my water was read I gotta little bit scared haha but not to worry!
they eat really weird food here. like goat hair in the soup. haha THIS IS AFRICA! T.I.A. whenever something really weird happens that is unusual we just say "T.I.A!"
so happy tho so don't worry about anything! i'm very safe with the group i'm with!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
the TERMINAL
what does one do in a terminal for 12 hours you ask?
hour 1: keep looking for your group even if you know that you won't be able to find them.
hour 2: sit down and realize your hungry
hour 3: eat.
hour 4: pop in the ipod while sprawling over your luggage to take a power nap
hour 5: laugh to yourself about funny thoughts that you think of
hour 6: shop. in the same stores 5 times
hour 7: laugh again... maybe cry just a tiny realizing a beautiful city is at your fingertips
hour 8: turn up your ipod so it feels like your in a concert
hour 9: sing...outloud in the bathroom stall
hour 10: practice the british accent so people can't tell your from america
hour 11: escalators...self explanitory.
hour 12: JUMP UP AND DOWN BECAUSE ITS TIME FOR AFRICA!!!
hour 1: keep looking for your group even if you know that you won't be able to find them.
hour 2: sit down and realize your hungry
hour 3: eat.
hour 4: pop in the ipod while sprawling over your luggage to take a power nap
hour 5: laugh to yourself about funny thoughts that you think of
hour 6: shop. in the same stores 5 times
hour 7: laugh again... maybe cry just a tiny realizing a beautiful city is at your fingertips
hour 8: turn up your ipod so it feels like your in a concert
hour 9: sing...outloud in the bathroom stall
hour 10: practice the british accent so people can't tell your from america
hour 11: escalators...self explanitory.
hour 12: JUMP UP AND DOWN BECAUSE ITS TIME FOR AFRICA!!!
LONDON: a little bit lost
well, im in London! it looks great from the windows of the airport. I can't find my group anywhere, so i am just waiting here at the airport for the 12 hour layover. SUCH a bummer because i really wanted to see London for a couple hours. But i'm REALLY tired from Paris so maybe it's ok that i am not running around so i'm not completely dead by africa!
is this even real life? i love the british accent everyone here has! i think when i get back from this trip in july i might sleep for 3 months! We leave for africa tonight! can hardly wait!
my minutes are all out on this computer, so i will get on in africa!
is this even real life? i love the british accent everyone here has! i think when i get back from this trip in july i might sleep for 3 months! We leave for africa tonight! can hardly wait!
my minutes are all out on this computer, so i will get on in africa!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Bon Voyage!!
Bonjour!! The past few days I have been staying in France with my "French family". My dad served his mission here and has kept in contact with some very neat people so i like to consider them my family because we have always known, written, and visited eachother!!
Right now I am enjoying a beautiful sunset on their back porch with birds chirping around me!! It seriously cant get better than this! it is sooo beautiful here and i have really enjoyed my full 3 days. it has been very busy and im very exhausted due to running all day and a little bit of jet lag! but i can sleep when im dead right? i cant miss a beat while im here. I feel so lucky that i was able to swing a quick visit in on my layover to AFRICA!
Tomorrow i leave early in the morning to fly to London to meet with the rest of my group and from there we will have a 12 hour layover (run as fast as we can again) and then take an overnight flight to UGANDA.
This has been quite the eye opening experience already! ive never been out of the country before so all of this is very knew and ive quite enjoyed it even if i am really tired. Paris is beautiful, crazy, and just amazing! i always thought that eating baguettes in the streets and seeing baskets of flowers hanging out windows of buildings was just in movies... but its really real!!
It has been quite the adventure! Tonight we ate the inside of a cows bone i believe... very... interesting! I have been learning tid bits of French and will have to come back because 3 days isnt long enough at all!!!
next time i write i will be in AFRICA!!!
please bless i make it there in one peice!!!
Right now I am enjoying a beautiful sunset on their back porch with birds chirping around me!! It seriously cant get better than this! it is sooo beautiful here and i have really enjoyed my full 3 days. it has been very busy and im very exhausted due to running all day and a little bit of jet lag! but i can sleep when im dead right? i cant miss a beat while im here. I feel so lucky that i was able to swing a quick visit in on my layover to AFRICA!
Tomorrow i leave early in the morning to fly to London to meet with the rest of my group and from there we will have a 12 hour layover (run as fast as we can again) and then take an overnight flight to UGANDA.
This has been quite the eye opening experience already! ive never been out of the country before so all of this is very knew and ive quite enjoyed it even if i am really tired. Paris is beautiful, crazy, and just amazing! i always thought that eating baguettes in the streets and seeing baskets of flowers hanging out windows of buildings was just in movies... but its really real!!
It has been quite the adventure! Tonight we ate the inside of a cows bone i believe... very... interesting! I have been learning tid bits of French and will have to come back because 3 days isnt long enough at all!!!
next time i write i will be in AFRICA!!!
please bless i make it there in one peice!!!
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