Yes, I am alive!!

Hello yall…I know it has been a minute since I last updated everyone on my whereabouts and what all we have been doing, and I apologize for that…(MOM) ha. I got a phone call to make sure that I was not drowned at the bottom of the Nile and it made me laugh..I am sorry! Anyways, I am getting a killer tan and some big ole muscles!! Lets see, Sunday we went rafting with Adrift…and had the best time ever!! I thought though I was going to die about 4 times…seriously. We choose to do the full day of rafting and choose the wild ride..which is when the guides intentionally flip you through the majority of the rapids! The scariest part was when we flipped on a class 5 rapid…I swallowed so much river water and felt like I was never going to see the light of day again..it was intense, but fun after it was all over!! They had the safety kayakers there to save me..oh, and then we also bungeed!! We had to jump before we went rafting…and so at 9 oclock in the morning I was jumping off a 145 foot platform!! My jump was awesome though because I got dipped into the Nile up to my knees upside down!! We got it all on DVD! It was a nice way to start of the daay!! Anyways, that night we stayed at Adrift to hangout with people we had met on our trip..our raft name was the baby hippos..because we were retarded paddlers and flipped what seemed like on every rapid..so one of the guys on our raft named us that! Quite funny, aye? Two days last week we spent in the village..here is were I am getting muscles!! It is actually amazing how the men here construct a building..CYORF is building a school/little place for people who have traveled to sleep/office about an hour away from Jinja and so after the worker men dug out the perimeter, once again with a hoe, we filled the thing with stones, all sizes!! Then the next day, they mixed concrete and sand to place on top of the stones for the foundation, I guess, and started bricking..neat fact, their bricks are made of mud/clay type thing and then sundried/fired..so the next day we moved the bricks for the men to start building..the men tried letting me do some of the building..like doing the concrete mix and then the bricks..but I moved to slow for them, so it didn’t last long..Dad, I felt like you'd be proud!! =) I eventually gave up and went to play soccer with the local kids that came out to watch us..I had more fun over there! Ha. Annnnd for up to now…we have had Thursday, and will have Friday and Saturday off to prepare to move out to the school..so today we went back to the Nile River Resort and layed by the pool all day!! It was super great and relaxing..our living situations have become more frustrating than fun now..there are always sooooo many kids around us and its like we go out to work and have to always be starred at and watched all the time..and then we come home and the kids are hanging on us before we ever get into the door..if they aren’t waiting at the top of the driveway!! But, something funny about always being watched..last Friday at the Obama concert..we were just hanging out listening to the music, that was all in another language..but noone was dancing..so then eventually I had to get up and start…and when I did, Erin and Brooke jumped up and then all the sudden flashes started coming from all directions…people from the local newspapers and tabloids..it was funny!! Although we were not able to look at the papers to find the pictures..but I was telling my Mom the other day, everyone knows the 3 mzungus before we ever say anything..even bodas know where we stay before we ever say our address!! Its creepy, but we obviously stand out..so its ok at the same time! We have met some really cool people…we leave though on this Sunday for Mayuge to start teaching so we will be starting over meeting people again..we have met one chick that is 27 and from England..and she is super super awesome!! She has been coming back and forth from there to here since 1999ish I think…but she was so insightful and inspirational to talk to!! Last night Erin and I spent all night listening to her talk about all sorts of things..stories and such..but she has already experienced everything we are going through and so it was very helpful and gave me hope towards my frustrations I am having here at the moment!! I actually saw a lot of myself in her..it was kinda crazzzzy! I know I just said I am getting really tan…but I think the rainy season has begun!! We have had a few bad storms, but for the most part its just sprinkling/light rain… Anyways, I think that about does it for the most part..I love everyone and hope all is well at home!! Much love!!

TIA is the phrase...

my new phrase i say constantly is TIA...this is Africa! life is still going good!! my sweeeeeet brother Rob and my awesome dad and my loving grandparents gave me a call the other day and made my day here soooo much better!! (hows that for a shoutout bro?) ha. but anyways, back to TIA...one thing i have been forced to learn to accept is that here, things can change at any moment and you always expect the unexpected...we went to work with Act4Africa on monday and it was much different than we thought...they do awesome work and use very very neat ways of spreading their messages, but we went to a landing dock on the lake and so nobody could understand english...therefore we were used as entertainment..and that was about it...we kinda felt like a sideshow..they used us to attrack people...we had to dance around to music we didnt know for like a straight hour..with no relief..it was fun at first...but then we just felt stupid and when we tried talking to people..noone could understand us, so they just looked at us...so that was hard! but...yesterday we went to kampala and met up with AFC, the group i traveled with the last time, and ended up staying the night in kampala and hanging out with them...it was a lot of fun to get to hangout and watch the inaugaration with more Americans..which was really neat. this friday though, we are going to an Obama concert at the local casino here in Jinja..and i think giving AFC a tour of Jinja on Saturday and then Sunday going rafting and bungie jumping! =) tomorrow and friday we will be working with Act4Africa agian..so i am hopping things will get better with that..becasue i really like what they do!! i found out that i will be teaching geography and european history to the older kids at the school...another TIA thing..i am very nervous about teaching such older kids...almost my age..preparing them for universities...its a lot for me to think about..i just want to do good..but things work themselves out!! anyways...i love you all and will write more the next chance i get!! peace and much looooove!! i miss everyone!!

who knew life could get so good?

heeeeyyyy everyone!! i hope everyone is doing wonderfully!! thank you for the comments and emails again...they make me so happy! life here is getting better everyday it seems...these past few days Edward has taken us around jinja and into the villages to show us some of their projects and then today we got to see what school we will be teaching at (about an hourish drive away from jinja town)..also he took us to Bujagali Falls, there we took a little boat ride to another island in the middle to get more looks at some of the rapids (some we will be rafting soon) and also to the source of the Nile..these days have been a whirlwind with my emotions because you see people living with no electricity or running water in a mud hut with a roof made of straw running and yelling to just touch or stand close to us and smiling at you..just because of the color of our skin..so it is hard because i want so bad for everyone to look at us as friends and not wealthly mzungus..but too its fun because all the kids come..and i love me some of these kids!! funny thing...we have been pronouncing our organizations name wrong all this time..put all the letters together and make a word is how you say it!! anyways, i could not be any more excited and happy with them..they have been absoutley amazing and do so much great work here for the people of this country...its truely been humbling to be associated with their projects!! we went to an HIV/AIDS clinic type thing the other day that they support and the women greeted us with the traditional yelling noise..it was so great!! they were so welcoming..and then a million kids came running up and we got to play a minute with them also..we saw some of the schools Cyorf supports and some that they run..the school we will be teaching in is super nice and much more than i expected..seems to keep happening huh..but it is a boarding school with students between ages 14-20, like almost 500 students total, in an area half the size of the quad, but a place to play soccer =)..we are meeting with the head master later on today to learn more details..also we will be working with an organization called Act4Africa until Feb when school starts and they are awesome too...google them if youd like...we will be going out into the villages providing free testing services and counsiling!! we start that on monday and i cannot wait for it either!!! i am sorry if this is jumbled but we have just a short time before our meeting and i wanted to let everyone know things are amazing and our work will begin soon!! i love you all and will write more later!! i am looooooooving it!! =)
peace

another shot...

Jambo to all my favorite people! Since my last post did not work this one might be a little long…I am going to try and let you in on all that has been going on since we arrived here in Jinja…

As for my living arrangements, Erin and I are staying in a compound, which consists of like 5 houses in an enclosed area..our house mother is the compound leader..which means there are people always in and out of our house..especially children! I cannot remember if I have already written this or not, but she has a twins, who we haven’t met yet, an 11 year old and then a baaby, whom is absolutely precious! Then next door, we have Vivian, my 11 year old best friend (who gives us language lessons and pretty much takes care of us), and she has a younger brother and sister..then down a few houses we have more children. I love it here, most of the time..its fun coming home to them…they always run out and greet us and are always wanting to play..but whenever I am tired is when it is sometimes frustrating..but I couldn’t have picked a better place to stay though.

For food…we are not being malnourished, no worries! When I say what we eat, it doesn’t sound like much, but here, they eat a small breakfast and lunch and then a huuuge serving at dinner time, which is like 9-10ish..For breakfast, it is either a slice of bread or eggs (I was super happy the morning we got to eat the eggs!) and lunch and dinner have been a mixture of potatoes (which they call irish), beans, rice, peas, and I ate some spinach tonight for dinner!! I am having to learn to eat things even when they do not look appetizing or smell to great..yes, Erin and I have had to break into the peanut butter crackers and nature valley bars and candy we brought though. I have started using some of her hot sauce to try and spice up my meals a little..

As I am writing this, it is Tuesday the 13^th..tomorrow morning begins our orientation with CYORF and today we had coffee with Edward, our program director. It was so great to finally put a face with all his emails! He is very very very nice and helpful..after coffee, we attended a burial for our neighbors grandmother. We had to drive about 2 or 2 ½ hours out into the real rural parts of the country..but the drive was beautiful. The landscape is sooo green and hills (mountains maybe?) everywhere. The roads are not so great out that far, which made for a very interesting ride…because we were 4 deep in the backseat! The service was a Catholic service, but all of it we couldn’t understand…except when they welcomed us in the middle of it. Here, when someone passes away, they delegate all their responsibilities to another person before their death..house chores, taking care of the spouse and the children..things like that..and they are buried on their property..so once they are lowered into the ground, people grab the dirt (or whatever it is) are throw it into the hole..which seems like a really neat thing for closure maybe.. anyways, after the burial, everyone stays around the house and eats..it was a very neat thing to witness. A sad thing though, was on our way home, our house mother got a message that her oldest grandmother had passed away also..but I do not think we are going to be able to attend that one due to our orientation.

Before today we have been hanging around the house playing with all the children and then walking into town and working on getting familiarized with the town and customs.. the exchange rate here is 1900 shillings for every 1 USD..in case you were wondering. Oh, a funny thing is whenever we tell someone we are from the States, they are automatically like OOBAAAAAMMMAA!! I am not kidding you, it happens all the time, which is totally ok with me!! We have met sooo many really really nice and helpful people throughout our days…in town and at our house..but there are still those that try to take advantage of us..because here, if you are white, they assume that you are wealthy..you don’t have to be American or English…just not black..but people have been informing us on how much to pay for certain things and such. Our life consists of using wipes for everything…we use face wipes, wipes to substitute for showers and toilet paper, we even have bug spray wipes now!! Ha.

Anyways, I think this is long enough for now and hopefully has caught you up on some of my life here…I am still happy and loving it..tomorrow will be a really fun day because we will begin to find out more detailed information!! Oh yeah, it takes so long to upload pictures and videos so they might be really frequent..we shall see. One great thing about here is that at any minute your plans can change, so making plans rarely works. Our friends here even make fun of how fast we walk in comparison to them…here everything is much more laid back!

Thank you to everyone who has sent me emails and comments…they make me smile every time I get one! We found an internet cafe that is really cheap to use and make phone calls…so just in case you get a phone call from a weird looking random number at an odd time, please answer…it could be meee! Ha. I love you all and will write more soon!!

Peace and much love!!

nothing is going my way with this computer thing...

I am having lots of trouble uploading and posting things...so I will try again later! I love everyone and you will hear from me soon!

Peace and much much love.
I miss everyonnnne!!

the first few days in Jinja, Uganda

just my luck...I just spent about an hour typing out details on my first few days here and then right when I went to post them the internet went down and it all disappeared...so I am going to skip all that and just let everyone know we are here...I am having an awesome time and we have met lot and lots of great, helpful people. I will eventually write more about our house and the town...but I am going to try and upload some photos and videos for you to look at. We did get a cell phone today and anyone is welcome to call...it wont charge us, but you will have to pay the international rates. The number is 256-781431496 (whenever you call you have to do the callings codes and stuff, it gets complicated I think) but your welcome too. I loooove and miss everyone but already feel at home...you dont have to worry about me, I still have a smile on my face!

Peace and much much much loooove!!

today is the daaaay =)

Today is really January 9th..yet it just still seems so unreal to me that I am actually going back to Uganda today, well at least leaving today. We should arrive Saturday, Jan. 10th around 1:30 Ugandan time. The past few days have taken me for a ride with how many different emotions I have felt..but excitement still overriding them all! I hated, hated saying goodbye to my friends and especially to my family and it seems like ever hour I remember something else I was supposed to do or forgot to pack but...TODAY begins a crazy adventure and I couldn't be more ready to step off the plane tomorrow onto African soil! Tomorrow we will meet our host family that we will be living with until school starts in February..so I will let you know how that turns out whenever the next blog goes up. Really there was no point to writing this one, but I still have 3 hours until we leave for the airport and I have to do something because I cannot sleep..I have already rearranged my backpack and purse and I am waiting to take my last long, hot shower..so I guess I will end this one with an I looove you all and will miss everyone sooo much!! Peace and talk to you soon!! (hey, but the next post will actually be coming from Jinja, Uganda! yaaaaay!!)

and just in case anyone is noticing...the time and sometimes dates are for some reason not ever right, so believe me...its Jan 9th and its 1:10am