Saturday, 6/25
Today was a very lazy yet eventful day. Woke up to the sound of a rooster (reminded me of being at grandma's house) and children laughing. Breakfast was surprisingly good, as it looked kind of gross, and was eggs and irish potatoes, coffee cake, baby bananas, and super yummy African coffee. Pam and Paul (the people taking care of us while we're here and housing us) did an orientation during breakfast to explain to us what to expect while in Uganda. Pam and Paul are really wonderful people and they are providing us with a sturdy roof over our heads, 2 meals a day, transportation with Peter as our driver, and all the knowledge and wisdom a growing Christian, people lover, and future missionary could want. The lives they have touched through the will of God and how loved and respected there are in this community, as white Americans, is just absolutely amazing. I can already see myself coming back to visit and work with Pam and Paul and Next generation.
Some of our team went into the city of Jinga to exchange money and we received 224,000 Ugandan shillings for $100.
We also went and visited Sara, who is an amazing individual. She is a 23 year old Rwandan who escaped the genocide at 4 but not after seeing her aunt and others murdered in front of her. She gave up a college education in America as well as her Visa (which is based on a lottery system and alomost impossible to get) to take care of 16 boys from ages 8-15 that came off of the street. When Sara met these boys they were thieves, beggars, did drugs, drank, etc. Her love and the love of God were able to turn these boys into the respectful, loving, education oriented, and extremely well behaved boys we met today. She commented that if she had the money she would take in 50,000 boys.
After we visited Sara we came back to the compound to relax before dinner. Throughout the day we had met many people. There was Bruce (whose story we were to hear later), Raoul who had a cyst removed from his wrist that day, Sarah who works as a nurse at Fountain of Hope school, Grace the wonderful cook and housekeeper, and Peter our hillarious taxi driver.
For dinner we had rice, curry chicken, spinach greens and freshly sliced pineapple (which is only $.75 a piece) and was delicious.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The beginning of an amazing adventure
The adventure began 6/24/10at about 5:15am PST. Moira and Sebastian escorted me to the airport and we hung out there until it was time to head through security and to my gate. Amazingly, as nervous as I've previously stated, by the time we got to the airport all nervousness had faded.
The first plane ride to Minnesotta was short and uneventful. The second plane ride was to Amsterdam and took forvever and a day. I sat next to a Swedish man who was born in Sweden, on his way to Sweden but was a graduate student at Oregon State University ( what a small world). He remarked at how amazing it was that me, having never been out of the country before chose Uganda, Africa as the first stamp in my passport.
When we first got off the plane (after 7 long hours), I was in a whole new world. There were so many languages being spoken, things were in Euros, and the signs were in a language that I had no idea of. The scariest part for me was that I was in a foregin country by myself and could not call my mom and sister for comfort. I made my way to the gate and since I saaw no one I recognized I went to the bathroom to buy some time (you know how you go to the bathroom cause you don't know what to do and don't want to look like a total loser?). Happily one of the ladies recognized me and took me to meet the rest of the crew.
There are a total of 7 of us. Becca is the leader, Beth is her sister, Todd is Beth's son and will be turning 18 while we are in Uganda, and there's Monita, Vicky who first introduced us to the trip and then Kyle who I go to U.P with.
At first everything went smoothly in Amsterdam and we got on the flight to Entebbe (Ugandan airport). While we waited on the plane, it was announced that there was a problem and that it should be fixed within the next half hour. 2 hours later they made us get off the plane and relocate to a new plane and a new gate (all the way on the other side of a huge airport). By this time we had been up for about 24 hours and as a result Kyle and Todd fell asleep in the middle of the airport floor (pictures to come later). Finally we got on the plane and another 7 long hours later we were in Africa!!
Happily there were no real problems at the airport. We got all 24 of our bags (yes there were 24 bags between the 7 of us and yes they all fit into the van we drove, pictures to come later as well) and I got the first stamp in my passport! We headed to Jinga, after it taking an hour to load the bags into the taxi, which is about 50 km from the airport and it took 2 hours or so. We arrived to our home for the next 2 weeks at about midnight Ugandan time. After about 33 hours of travel, sleep was well appreciated!
P.S. Uganda is about 10 hours ahead of the Pacific time zone, in case you were wondering
The first plane ride to Minnesotta was short and uneventful. The second plane ride was to Amsterdam and took forvever and a day. I sat next to a Swedish man who was born in Sweden, on his way to Sweden but was a graduate student at Oregon State University ( what a small world). He remarked at how amazing it was that me, having never been out of the country before chose Uganda, Africa as the first stamp in my passport.
When we first got off the plane (after 7 long hours), I was in a whole new world. There were so many languages being spoken, things were in Euros, and the signs were in a language that I had no idea of. The scariest part for me was that I was in a foregin country by myself and could not call my mom and sister for comfort. I made my way to the gate and since I saaw no one I recognized I went to the bathroom to buy some time (you know how you go to the bathroom cause you don't know what to do and don't want to look like a total loser?). Happily one of the ladies recognized me and took me to meet the rest of the crew.
There are a total of 7 of us. Becca is the leader, Beth is her sister, Todd is Beth's son and will be turning 18 while we are in Uganda, and there's Monita, Vicky who first introduced us to the trip and then Kyle who I go to U.P with.
At first everything went smoothly in Amsterdam and we got on the flight to Entebbe (Ugandan airport). While we waited on the plane, it was announced that there was a problem and that it should be fixed within the next half hour. 2 hours later they made us get off the plane and relocate to a new plane and a new gate (all the way on the other side of a huge airport). By this time we had been up for about 24 hours and as a result Kyle and Todd fell asleep in the middle of the airport floor (pictures to come later). Finally we got on the plane and another 7 long hours later we were in Africa!!
Happily there were no real problems at the airport. We got all 24 of our bags (yes there were 24 bags between the 7 of us and yes they all fit into the van we drove, pictures to come later as well) and I got the first stamp in my passport! We headed to Jinga, after it taking an hour to load the bags into the taxi, which is about 50 km from the airport and it took 2 hours or so. We arrived to our home for the next 2 weeks at about midnight Ugandan time. After about 33 hours of travel, sleep was well appreciated!
P.S. Uganda is about 10 hours ahead of the Pacific time zone, in case you were wondering
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Today is the day
Today is June 24, 2010 and the day has come. In 8 hours and 27 minutes I shall be getting on my first plane ride and on my way to Uganda, Africa! The excitement is building and the nervousness is happily dissipating.
So today my mom and grandma decided to "surprise" me and drive to Portland instead of starting to drive towards North Dakota. I say "surprise" because I had a feeling that she was on her way towards Portland, or maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part. No matter how much people claim not to need their parents, we all are momma's and daddy's kids and want that parental approval, no matter how old we get.
Today I also said goodbye to my friends Melanie, Rick, and Caitlin and my boss Sarah. Melanie and Rick have been doing summer course at U.P and finish tomorrow (good luck on your finals!) The hard part wasn't saying bye to Rick (love you!) but saying bye to Melanie who will be living in Salzburg, Austria next year for a studies abroad :( The goodbye just added a layer of sadness onto the nervous/stoked/excited/ready wreck I am.
It's currently half past midnight and no matter how much I claimed I was going to stay up all night, there is no way! So goodnight,good morning, and goodbye to the U.S of A for the next 2 weeks and HELLO AFRICA!!!
Monday, June 21, 2010
3 more days and oh so nervous!
So this whole blogging thing is very new to me. I've never been one to keep a diary or such, but trust me I've tried. The reason I've finally decided to give in the whole phenomenon of blogging is I'll be having the most amazing adventure of my lifetime in 3 days.
As many of you know I am going to be going to Uganda Africa on Thursday! I'll be planning and waiting on this trip since March and now it has finally come to the week of and I am a nervous wreck! Every time I think of getting on that plane and venturing the 9018.49 miles (yes I looked that up) I get the biggest butterflies in my stomach, as I currently have just typing my anxiousness. But there's no turning back now and I already know that I will never regret my decision to go. So, 3 more nights and 2 full days left in the United States and then off to Uganda I go!
I will do my best to keep this update every so often while I am in Africa and for sure when I get back into the states. Keep me in your prayers!
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