2 more weeks...

August 22, 2009

Steven and I have been finding fun things to do that we haven’t ever had time to do. For example; A couple days ago, we tried to get over to the other side of the swamp and see what’s over there. We were unsuccessful, but I think it would be really cool to take a picture of the orphanage from that side looking back. We also took a walk back to the place where the children used to walk to get water. It looked the same as it did last year, only it was a little less crowded. We went because there were these plants that Bill wanted us to pick so he could make some necklaces. They are like little bead things that grow at the end of the stalk and they are super hard. So we did that and then came back to the village.

Last night I was sitting in the mission house drinking a cup of tea, and I had the cup about up to my mouth when I got a little splash in my face. A HUGE bug took a dive and landed right in it. That was all I needed to send me to bed. =)

Yesterday, I plowed through Steven’s book that I have been reading, ‘Dwarves’… I feel the slightest bit nerdy, but its really fun to read. Steven’s book is ‘Orcs’…
…I read for a little while, then walked around looking for my deck of cards that some of the kids were using. I like to keep a deck in my pocket because the children always want to play cards with me when I come visit their houses. I didn’t find them, but when you walk by a house, they say “come and jump”, “come and eat”, “you are most welcome.” or “come and play” in their softest voice. So I went in and jump-roped with the girls for a good hour or so. They have all their little games that they play with jump ropes. I showed them a few tricks that I know. I think they will have them down in another day or so. I fell on my butt too. I was jumping while two of them were swinging the rope, and they were like “Adam you must get out!” so I darted out of the jump rope only to step in a huge puddle on the side of the room… Let me tell you; It’s really slippery when its wet. It got super quiet all of the sudden. You would think that someone got punished or something. “sorry.”, “sorry”, “Sorry!” they all say to me as if it was their fault. Its pretty cute.

It has been raining pretty hard over here lately, yesterday we had a few thunder storms, today we are having thunder storms. Our thunderstorms back home don’t hold a candle to their thunder storms. It gets SOOO loud. Its not like it hits and stops, it thunders for like 10 seconds straight... Right now I am sitting at the table Steven and I put up in our room typing this all out, and it is pouring outside… oh wait… some more thunder.

August 23, 2009
We went to the children’s service here at the orphanage. It was amazing, as usual. Steven and I are about to head to the Ridar, When we update, you will know that we made it to the Ridar, but we plan on swimming, reading, doing a little internet, having dinner at Richard’s house (Ridar employee), then returning around dusk. It should be pretty cool. Tomorrow we plan on heading with Robert into town to do a little shopping. We have to come up with a little shopping list.

We have been playing the same card game over and over and over, I am starting to miss all the other card games that I know how to play. My family game is “Hand and Foot” but I cant really teach that to the children with the language barrier and all. I told Steven that I’d show him how to play. The trouble is we need to find another deck of cards… so we tried playing a little rummy. That was nice. We taught Zion how to play, so we can play with three.

I was reading my book the other day, and Barbara from the house next to the orhnanage came up to me and started asking me all kinds of questions… like do you eat pork… I was like “of course”. That wasn’t the answer she was looking for so for the next 10 minutes she was telling me that I was going to be judged for it. I tried to find the place in the Bible that said it was ok, but I failed and just took the verbal bashing from her instead. Joel, if you could send me a little reminder of why we can eat pork, that would be rad. =)

August 24, 2009
Today we went into town with Robert to go to the store. We wanted to make Zion and Bill something American, and the only thing we could think of that we couldn’t decide where it came from other that America was Chili dogs. So we picked up some hot dogs (which were actually quite good), pinto beans, baked beans, chopped tomatoes, cheese, onion, chili powder, and the closest thing we could find to a hotdog bun. We bought a few other things, I got some tea, and Steven got a small bag of dried fruit that was unmarked. I looked at the receipt after we were out of the store, and Steven’s fruit cost more than anything else that we paid for. We paid around $9.00 for the small bag of dried fruit; it didn’t even taste that good and its probably what made his stomach upset. Its funny; you can walk around the corner on the street and but a huge delicious pineapple for 1500 Ush. (that is like $.75)… or you can pay 12 times that amount for something small and disgusting in the store.
Anyways, we bought the stuff, then we took it home, and whipped up some good old chilidogs. We added a little too much chili powder; it was really spicy, but really good. It was too bad for Steven, he said that he was having a stomach problem, so he didn’t eat any. He said that it smelled really good and that he was hungry, but he couldn’t eat. Bill whipped up some tea for him which would supposedly calm the stomach that he called “Conk” Steven said “What is this?!”… I tasted it, and it tasted like poo. I’m glad that my stomach is okay. Bill says women take it for abortions…
On a different note, I got an email from a friend who is going on a mission to Italy from my church about some of the equipment that I borrowed from. I was supposed to send it back to him when my team came back, but forgot to do it. I am feeling really bad about it. It is totally my fault, so I just want to apologize to him and to the Italy team for not getting his things back to him. I told him that I would send it back with the team and fell through on my word. It is a huge insignificance for him because I know that he is really busy and probably doesn’t have time to search around for equipment to borrow from other people. I didn’t get a chance to reply to his email, so I thought Id type it on here.
I also got an email from Dave Hamilton that had a “To do” list attached to it. There were a lot of words on it. I got through about half of the email, and had to save it as a word document on my hard drive because we were in some internet café in Mukono. I only had about 3 minutes remaining, so now that I can look at it as long as I want; Dave: Got it taped to the wall in our main room here, and we are going to make sure that all of the items are taken care of..

August 25, 2009

Woke up this morning suffering from insomnia last night, we seem to be getting it more and more. Its like the restless leg in your whole body. Steven and I both have it. I have this one bug bite that won’t go away because its on the inside of my elbow. It’s pretty much the worst spot to have one because you always unintentionally irritate it.
We wanted to get some of the items on Dave Hamilton’s list accomplished, so we started working on that this morning when one of the mums told us that she was going to go over to the other side of the swamp. We have been wanting to do that pretty badly, so we decided to accompany her over there expecting it to be a 20 minute little hike. Well, it ended up being 3 hours and 3 ½ miles to get to where we wanted to go. We just blindly follow, and they just go. We went around the swamp, down this road for a while, then started going up hill, then down these trails that went through peoples farms, and property. We ended where we wanted to go, on the other side of the swamp looking back at the orphanage. It was more than we bargained for… we picked and ate Guava, Sugarcane, and Pumpkin. It felt really good to walk on the trails. I felt like I was on a real hike… I guess that hike was more real than most of the hikes that I do at home.

When we got back, Betty came to the orphanage with mail for the children. There were so many of them crowded around her while she sat in her chair and read their names. I understand now how often I write to my kids. Joan and Florence both had around 6 letters from me each. I feel good, but then I felt bad at the same time, because there were so many kids that didn’t get letters from their sponsors. They just looked around at me, at Betty, at the kids who got letters hoping that their names would be called. It was hard for me to watch Betty turn the kids away; especially the ones whose sponsors I know. I didn’t take any pictures of it, but I got some video. It was just sad to me. Every piece of mail that was sent to the village was already opened. It just confirms for me that you can’t send anything of value in your letters or packages. They won’t receive it. The Uganda post office opens everyone’s mail and takes what they want out. Often times they just throw the mail away after they open it. Betty showed me a package for one of the kids; a rat had chewed a hole clean through it. Looking at the letters that I sent, I noticed that the letter that I sent when I got home from last years trip was there… It took a whole year for the mail to get here. The Post office just lets it sit and accumulate… That just frustrates me. I told Betty that I was just going to keep all my letters and bring them when I come back and give them out in person. Then she corrected me saying “These children love to hear their names called to accept letters from you in front of their friends. Don’t stop sending mail. Your letters mean so much to them.”

When we got back to the Village here, I could see all the children crowded around Betty getting mail. I wanted to get the video camera real fast but had to stop to go to the bathroom on the way. So I did my business, and got the camera. On my way over to the crowd of kids I started feeling a little heat coming from my pants. It was getting hotter and hotter. I was starting to think maybe a fire ant got down there and was doing a number on me. Then it hit me… on the way up to the other side of the swamp we saw a couple bushes with wild peppers on them, so we picked them and I got a little of the fiery juice on my hands…

August 26, 2009

I know this has been a long one, but we have our excuses; last time we came to update we could not find Cosmas (Hotel Manager) or the Secretary, who usually generates the little slips that give you internet. This time she was in a meeting and Steven and I are just sitting on a couch outside her office waiting for her. I didn’t tolerate all the Mzungu shouts, and people asking me for money on our way here for nothing! We were walking and talking as usual when we heard a crash. There was truck that was full of brick and the wheel sheared off the axle leaving the truck all tilted over in the middle of the road. We just walked by thinking “man that sucks…”

I saw many emails last time, but I just don’t get enough internet time to reply to everyone, so If I don’t respond, I apologize. Ill get back to you when I can.