video footage

So, i figured i should list the links to some videos that my friend lindsey put together about our stay in uganda. they encompass a lot of the semester so far and im sure there are more to come. i helped her tape a lot of the footage, so you will randomly see my face pop up or hear my voice, but mostly it is her southern accent that takes over. (: just copy and paste the URL's into a new tab/page to view them. enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZzZoB3pEVs ------ a day in the life of a student at uganda christian university

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc9quj9H9iU ----- life on campus/grasshopper eating

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwBv46mcvqM&feature=relmfu -----rural homestay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIf4tKCSink  ---- Safari (includes my 21st birthday)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5uDFHjHT48&feature=youtu.be ---- final video

is it the homesickness talking?

So, today just so happens to be thanksgiving. I have realized, while being away from home, how much I absolutely LOVE this American holiday and completely miss it while I’m away. It has been one of the hardest things to be away from home during my favorite season, and realized that I probably should have picked the spring semester to study abroad. I chose to be out of the country when the leave change colors, when pumpkins are carved, and candy corn is eaten, when you can walk down the street and hear that crunch when you step on a dead leaf, when kids dress up like anything they want and go from door to door to get free candy, when some of the best food out of the whole entire year is feasted on, or when you can simply just wear jeans and hoodie because the weather is starting to get cold but sooooo cozy. Don’t get me wrong, I know I have tons of other fall seasons and thanksgivings to come in the future that I can enjoy all these things to the fullest. But I guess being here in Uganda and away from a lot of the things I have celebrated and experienced since growing up has made me appreciate so much of the tradition of it all. It has made me realize just how truly blessed I am. God has given so much to me, most of which I have taken for granted up until this point.

I guess I just miss it all. I miss my family. My friends at school. and home. Okay, I will finally admit how homesick I am. Yes, I said it. I was trying for the longest time not to say it out loud or let myself be convinced of it because I knew just how long I would be away from home. And that’s just the thing, this is the longest I have ever been away, not just from home, but from school, or America in general, out of my environment that seems comfortable and safe. I think that’s why it has been so hard … because the entire time being here, it has been a stretching and growing experience, and sometimes that is just draining when it is done constantly, without a break. I promise I’m not trying to complain or be a debbie-downer- just being real. I don’t know how missionaries do it, completely moving their whole lives to be present in a different culture. I am sure once they get used to it all and settled in, it is not as difficult and they don’t think twice about it, but we do give them the credit they deserve, because let me be the first to say how much of an adjustment it can be! It’s one thing to experience a lot of awesome life-changing things in a different place, but when apart from friends, family, and those that matter most, it doesn’t mean as much, with no one to share it with. I keep finding that my heart and body have not been in the same place for a while now. My body is here, living life out daily in this place, but all my heart wants right now is to be back in Pennsylvania with everyone I love. fortunately  my one friend here was "prescribed" homesickness medicine. on the bottle it literally says, "for severe homesickness or chronic fatigue caused by culture shock or adaptation. take one to two tablets by mouth every day or as needed." haha, you curious as to what exactly it is? sweet tarts, for kids at camp that miss their families. hahaaaa, but i have been taking some and its seems to be getting me through! (: 

On a more positive note, the friends I have come here with, all the other Uganda Studies Program (USP) students and I are at least able to eat a thanksgiving dinner together. Tonight we have planned to eat turkey that is grilled, because it wont fit in the ovens here. We will have sweet potatoes/yams, corn, maybe mac and cheese, and tons of desserts that us students had to make ourselves. We pretty much will go all out with as much of the foods as we can make here! I plan to eat to my shrunken stomach bursts open, because this is the first time in… well, all semester that we will not be eating just rice and beans. I also have a skype date planned with my ENTIRE family later today and I am soooooo looking forward to seeing everyone!

As much as I am ready to head back home, my time here has been anything short of great. I have made some REALLY good and close Ugandan friends that it is going to be hard to depart from. I know I am going to be a mess when it comes time to actually say goodbye. I will most likely be crying up a storm, knowing that our only contact from here on out will just be facebook or letters. Ahh, it’s so bittersweet!

just your average ride into town

so i know i have posted about really exciting, bucket list type stuff lately, but this here blog is just to explain the average trip of what it is like to get a ride into town. it doesnt seem like it would be a big ordeal, but you dont know what you are getting yourself into until you try it for the first time. So, here is a slightly sarcastic, but mostly very accurate attempt to explain what it is like...

So you find yourself standing on the street corner with bota-botas (motorcycle taxis) flying past you. And all you want is transportation to kampala, the capital of Uganda that is only a short forty-five minute drive away. However, it is not all that easy. Ohhhhh no, first you get flooded by six conductors at once asking you where you are headed and calling you Mzungu in the most upfront way as possible. You better not stand still at this point, because they will just swarm around, and soon you won’t even have room to think. So, you pick one, I usually go with the guy who looks like nicest…. You ask him his price. And of course, it is over the normal two thousand shillings that it actually costs to get there. Then, the next step is crucial. You have to stare him down. Tell him how much he is overcharging you and that you will not pay anything more than what is actually expected. (you can get an even better response if you say all this in their native language, luganda, of course). So, he shrugs his shoulders and says “kale”. You then get into the matatu, which is the size of a minivan… with fourteen seats that are so close together, you cannot just sit down next to someone without being all up in their grill. There is no option. So you pick the seat that flips down, thinking that you have a closer escape to an exit, just in case your claustrophobia decides to overtake you. But later you find out that this is not a smart move. Number one because the freaking seat is so broken and battered that it sits crooked. You are now slanted for the rest of the ride. And number two because now if anyone wants to get out, you are required to move out of their way. Anyways. It smells a little funky and you take your first look around… There is a very wide variety of people on this taxi. An old woman in a gomez (the traditional wedding dress), a college aged boy who is carrying a briefcase and looks way too professionally dressed for his age, another man who has a chicken on his lap that he is holding by its tied feet, and even a mom holding her most likely two year old daughter with a bandage on her arm like she just got out of the hospital after being hooked up to a drip for God knows what reason. So now what? Just sit and wait til you get there? No big deal, its only forty-five minutes right? WRONG! Little did you know, but the taxi has to stop every, oh let’s say hundred feet, because it must pick up more people and drop others off. There is no such thing as “a straight shot there”. Nooo, the conductor just keeps yelling out that window, with his head and half his body hanging out, trying to get more customers on this tiny van, even though there is absolutely no room left to squeeze. You think to yourself, ‘Okay, so I’ll just zone out and the time will go by faster’. Once again, you are wrong because soon the sun begins to bear down on you and it is extremely hot, no matter what time of day it is. “dangit, there goes that mindset. Okay, how long has it been? Only An hour and fifteen minutes?! Gosh, and we aren’t even halfway into town!!” Next you see that everyone is paying the conductor money… slipping him coins and crinkled up bills like it is some secret drug deal. They don’t even make eye contact. What is this!? Okay, so you pay him too, you figure you don’t want to look like the odd man out, but he doesn’t give you back your change. What the heck? Okay, maybe he is just waiting til he gets some smaller bills for change. I mean, you did hand him a twenty anyway and that is kind of a bigger bill. No, wrong. You begin to realize, he really does think you are that dumb, that you won’t notice if he doesn’t pay you the balance. This is crap. So you confront him, “ssebo… mmpa balance”. And he rolls his eyes, you are smarter than he thought. Good for you. That was a test. So he finally hands you the change you so rightly deserve. But wait, now what? The matatu just stopped working… “are you serious?” Yup, totally. Happens all the time. You are told to get out and move to ‘that one’ because it will take you the rest of the way. “Huh? You have got to be kidding me. Fine, I guess it’s the only option I have got.” So you get in and travel with this matatu for about ten more minutes until they once again pull over and tell you to get out. You ask them why and they say that they are not making enough business so they are going to stop here until they get more customers. Can they really do that?! Well, I guess so. It just happened. Alright. “I’m just going to keep a positive attitude” you think to yourself. “Glass half full, glass half full” you repeat to yourself. It can’t be that far away from the city. And you’re right. It’s only about another fifteen minutes until you get into kampala and you are totally relieved. But how do you tell the conductor where to stop the vehicle so you can get off? You don’t know how far is too far or what the place looks like that you are supposed to be dropped off at… the only thing left you have to do is trust his judgment. He says this is your stop, so you get off and assess your surroundings. Does it look right? You don’t know! So you ask for directions and hope that they aren’t attempting to take advantage of you either. “Gosh this has been one of the craziest experiences ever. But wait, this happens every time I want to go into the city? Well, I guess I better get used to it all then…”

white water raft? down the NILE?! sure!

So, i kinda had this awesome opportunity to go rafting down the NILE RIVER! yes, it did cost $100 bucks, but it was a blast! level five and six rapids are something that is a total adrenaline rush. although i do have to admit that i was scared out of my mind!!! I was praying more than halfway through the ride, just that i wouldn't die. i might have peed my pants a couple times, but thats okay, i just crossed off another one of my goals on my bucket list... pee in the Nile! haha :)

anyways, we geared up with our helmets and life jackets and they had us go through about an hour training with our guide, Sadat. He was so great and super funny, while we were all freaking out. so we learned how to get down really fast in case a huge rapid appeared out of nowhere, and how to row altogether for better power, and oh - "when the raft capsizes, feel free!" (a very typical african term, by the way) Sadat taught us what to do when it flipped over, how you have to find the air pockets and just hold onto the raft until the rapids stop so we could all flip the raft back over. well this was all great in theory, until our very first rapid, we flipped. fancy that. and guess who couldn't find the air pocket? yup, you guessed it. i was stuck under there, trying to feel around with my hands and keep my cool all at the same time, while still cascading down more rapids in the meantime. uggh, it was terrifying. i illegitimately thought i was going to die. it was INSANE! 

We went down eight total rapid sections with crazy huge waves and only a rope to hold onto on the side of our raft. there was one spot that we did not go because it is named "the bad spot" and they explained it as a washing machine that just sucks you in. yeah, that didnt seem like such a smart thing to sign up for... although our guys, Mike and Paul really wanted to brave it. There were multiple occasions where i flew out of that raft when no one else did. i have no idea why, because i was holding on with all my might. once, i specifically remember doing a belly flop into a rapid and it hurt like crazy. and another time, i did a complete backflip out of the raft. they even had workers stationed on the land nearby that captured a picture of it... all of my other friends just chilling in the raft, and there were my legs, straight up in the air and my upper half, engulfed by a huge wave. hahaaa it was pretty comical.

so praise the Lord that i survived. but now my arms hurt like crazzzzy from paddling and rowing so much, and i got just a little bit sunburnt (i say this lightly so my mom wont freak out at how bad it actually was). But i am so happy i did it and didn't act like a complete fool and chicken out. so, to all you adrenaline junkies out there, take it from me... add rafting the Nile to the top of your list. its well worth it!

living out the lion king

so. i kind of had this awesome opportunity to go on a safari ride, on the very day of my twenty-first birthday nonetheless! God has blessed me with many things on this trip, and i was worried about having my birthday away from all my friends and family, but he surrounded me with awesome friends here and the crazy chance to see all these native african animals up close and personal! it was AWESOME! i loved every second of it.

first, we got in our vehicle and they told us it was a pop-up van, meaning the roof literally came up and we were able to climb out to sit on the roof while the van rode around the african roads through the park, forest, and flat lands. We were able to see tons of animals! from elephants with their young that almost charged at us, giraffes that we could get out and walk around with, warthogs that looked like pumba in the lion king, lots of antelope with huge horns, waterbuffalos huddled in their herds, lots of hippos chilling in the nile river, crocodiles, baboons with their bald butts, and probably more i'm forgetting right now. probably the only animals we didnt see were zeebras and lions. but wow, it was all so incredible to see all these beautiful creatures with such detail, in person, close enough to not even need to use your zoom on your camera lens!

God is sooooo cool to create all this stunning creatures. The giraffes spots were gorgeous and so unique. the elephants were huge, even down to their footprints in the mud as we passed by - they were ginormous circles in the dirt! the waterbuffalos almost looked blue in color if you looked at them long enough. the warthogs had this really cool hair running down their back that looked like a mohawk. the hippos even yawned at one point so we could see the inside of their mouth! It was all so unreal to be present and witness all this! God's creation is so magnificent and vast that my mind cannot comprehend it sometimes.

Rural homestay - living like an african

Hello everyone! I know it has been a long time since I last posted, but i actually have a good reason this time. I just got back from my RURAL HOMESTAY in central Uganda! We stayed in what one typically thinks of when they think of an african village. They split us all up, some of us Americans were paired up two to a host family, but I was placed by myself with my own family filled with about ten kids, a toto (mom), and tata (grandma). Not only did this make things eventful with so many people running around, but I had about twelve pigeon friends, tons of goats with their young, six ducks, five turkeys, four cows with their calves, seven chickens, eight pigs, a dog, and a newborn kitten.

            This was a very different experience from my other homestay in the urban setting for many reasons. I have gotten used the sound of roosters crowing and cows mooing in the distance and actually might miss the sound when I come back home. The constant smell of campfire as well! Here I stayed in a hut, woke up everyday and was able to help out with daily tasks. things like weeding the garden, digging up sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and greens to eat, fetching for water from a well and carrying it back balancing on my head (which is actually a lot harder than it looks, and really starts to hurt your neck after a while), shelling ground-nuts (local peanuts), milking the cows, and I even got to slaughter my own chicken to cook for dinner. I loved every minute of it! Yes, I pooped in a hole and sometimes even used leaves to wipe when I ran out of toilet paper, haha. (I knew someone would be curious to know) Anyways, It was customary for me being a girl to wear the longer skirts everyday and help out as much as I could, and in my free time, which I had lots of, I could play with the kids and just relax and enjoy the abundance of food around. It is crazy how every tree, bush, and plant here seems to produce some kind of fruit or produce (that might be an exaggeration, not every single one, but it would be rare to stumble upon something that didn’t produce something). Just on my family’s land there were orange trees, jackfruit trees, papayas, mangoes, different types of berries, and pretty much anything imaginable! I think it is safe to say that I overate while I was there. From living here for a week, I am unsure as to were the typical stereotype of “starving kids in Africa” comes from. We ate heaps of food for our meals, and then ate or drank porridge (which I really didn’t care for because it just tasted like warm spit to me) every minute in between. Everything that was left over was fed to the animals. When you own your own farmland, there is always more you can go dig up, harvest, or plant to make sure you never run out, unless of course the rain or weather does not cooperate. Although, a lot of what they ate was carbs and things that would just fill up your stomach, with not much taste, for instance, the bread called atapa. This stuff had no yeast and was made out of millet grain and was the consistency of a giant blob that the whole family would pull pieces off of to eat for every meal. I was not such a fan.

            The kids out in the rural settings are super self-sufficient. I swear each and every one of them is a wizard with a knife and can cut open any fruit without slicing their fingers, or chop up potatoes or food for meals just as well as their parents could. (wayyyy better than me, I might add). They can all build fires better than some dads I know back in the states. And they lift, dig, and work so hard that they have so much endurance and strength, especially in such hot, dry heat. My little host sister Getrude, who is nine years old, was the most helpful person ever. Her English was actually pretty good for her age and she usually was the one to tell me when it was time to bathe or eat… or just what to do next so I didn’t completely embarrass myself by missing out on some kind of cultural insight I was supposed to know. I shared a room with her and even bathed out of the same bucket with her, so it is easy to say that we quickly became very close. My host mom Christine was so sweet as well. She was a single mother because her husband left her years ago to take care of the kids alone with her mother. She was such a strong-willed person, and a very sociable and well-known person around the village. Every time we walked around to someone else’s hut, everyone knew her and she was so eager to show me off.

            Everything was done outside, whether it is light or dark. You have the sun or the moon to provide enough light for you to work. They didn’t just stop after it got dark. Also, the light in the morning was viewed as good for your soul and everyone wakes up as soon as the sun rises to try to soak up as much of this sunlight as possible. The one morning I had woken up early, but stayed in my room to read and journal a little and my host mom came in asking me if I felt okay, because she thought I was sick… why else wouldn’t I come out to experience this rejuvenating, magic morning sunlight? Oh! Also the one morning I woke up, there was a chicken on my bead sleeping with me. As soon as I shushed it away, there were two eggs laying on my bed! It had hatched eggs in my bed while I was sleeping!! Also, I suppose that the prayers there were very important because night after night or morning there were prayers that were spoken for hours upon a time. Sometimes I would even be woken up at two or four in the morning by someone screaming and yelling and crying in Atesso (the rural language)… the first time I heard it all I thought someone had died and was almost afraid to go see what was happening.

            Killing the chicken was my most favorite part of the entire week! I kept begging my host mom day after day if we could slaughter one, but she waited until the last night to let me. Cruelty. Anyways, my two of my host brothers had to chase the chicken around the compound twice just to catch it, Haha. Once they did, my brother Johnny flung it upside down, tied its feet together and brought it over to a hole in the ground for the process to begin. He told me I was to step on its feet with one foot, and its wings with my other foot. Then I held the head with one hand and sliced the neck with the other hand. This would have been easier said than done if the knife was actually sharpened! No, this was the dullest knife ever, and I had to saw at that poor chickens neck until the blood started squirting out. Even after the head was off, the body was still squirming and moving (and I even asked my mom if I would have let it go, she said it would have run around with its head cut off – so yes, that rumor is true, ladies and gentleman!) Anyways, I was covered in its blood by the time the whole ordeal was over. However, I was to put the chicken in a hot, boiling pot of water to make the feather pluck off easier. After we defeathered it, it was time to chop it up! Johnny was explaining to me every single part of the organs, digestive system, and even how they save certain parts like the liver, heart, and gizzard to eat because they are a specialty. (GROSSSS!) anyways, eating it was actually really good! My African family knew how to cook some good chicken! Yum!

            Without boring you all and going on and on, Ill close this blog with one of my favorite sights, which was the night sky. Every night, my family would lay out this mat for me to sit on and I would stare up at the millions of stars, with my little kitten friend Penelope as I named her, sitting in my lap. God is soooo immense to create such a beautiful, vast sight! There were easily ten times the amount of stars I am used to seeing back in the states without all the pollution, cars, and lights to drown out the little twinkling dots I saw! I would sit there in complete awe of my Creator! He is so great for even presenting me with this opportunity to come to Africa, make the friendships I have, and enjoy four whole months here understanding and experiencing His new mercies everyday. 

first world problems

So, in class lately, we have been talking about poverty. as much as this is a funny little video to portray it, the way we complain about our problems really mean nothing in the scope of problems that other people face around the world.

This is just a challenge to keep yourself (and myself included) in check about what comes out of our mouths and how we should realize how blessed we really are...