That awesome moment when...

IT'S TIME TO COME HOME!  It's been an amazing three months, but I am definitely ready to be back in America.  We made sure to get to the airport nice and early, so we would not be missing our flight.  If you remember, our flight schedule to Uganda consisted of two half day layovers.  I was happy to see that our schedule home only had one brief layover of less than two hours in Cairo, getting us back on American soil so much sooner!

Yes, that short layover seemed like the best thing that could happen to us.

Haha, nope!  We haven't left Uganda, the fog has delayed us, and our flight back to the US of A will be leaving without us in just a few short hours.

Good thing I love airports.

The Final Week

In less than 24 hours, I'll be in a van making my way back to the Entebbe Airport.  It's weird because I feel like I've been here forever, but at the same time, I can't believe it's already over.  

We jam-packed our last week here with some pretty great adventures.  We safaried in Queen Elizabeth National Park.  We drove around in a little Toyota Corona and saw some lions, elephants, warthogs, cape buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, and many assorted antelope and birds.  It was all really cool to see, and so fun to drive around.  I'll post some pictures later.

This last weekend, Amy and I, with our Belgian friends Line and Julie, made our way to the Ssese Islands in the middle of Lake Victoria.  It was an adventure with our Luganda-speaking driver, because we could not communicate with him at all.  We spent the weekend soaking up the sun on the beautiful beach.  The sunsets were unbelievable.  The food was also delicious, and a bonfire made the perfect end to each day...well the two we spent there.  

All of the quiet time at the beach gave me some time to reflect on my time here.  I'm amazed by all of the great people I have met in my 3 months here.  I hope that when I go home, I will continue to meet new and amazing people, because it has been so rewarding to make new friends.  I'm sad to leave, but I've also learned that you should try to cherish every moment, because soon that moment will be over and it will just be a memory, and it's my choice to make that memory as great as I can.  

It's time to go home, and see what adventure is awaiting me back in America!

Jinja!

Family road trips always involve a very full and crowded van, but as of last Friday, I have a new understanding of what a full and crowded van is.  For our week off, Amy and I had been planning a weeklong vacation in Jinja, one of the most beautiful places in Uganda.  At the last minute, we changed our plans so we could travel with some of the friends we have made here. 

Last Friday we crammed 5 Irish lads, 2 Belgian girls, 2 American girls, and 1 American boy, and 1 Ugandan driver into an 8 passenger van to trek our way across Uganda.  This journey lasted for five hours and surprisingly wasn’t too traumatic, but I definitely will be rejoicing whenever I have my own seat on any future trip. 

We arrived minutes before our boat embarked on its’ sunset cruise on the Nile River.  The sunset was absolutely stunning. 

We stayed at Backpacker Explorers.  There were five bunk beds crammed into our room—a perfect fit for our group! 

We noticed that Jinja was much more touristy and clean than Masaka town.  We did a lot of souvenir shopping and ate at a great restaurant.

We played a game.  It was great to have so many new and fun people to interact with on our Jinja adventures.  We also got to learn some Irish phrases.

The best Jinja adventure of all was our rafting trip down the Nile!  Never in my life would I have guessed I would have the opportunity to do that.  It was an all day trip that consisted of 8 rapids.  In between the rapids were long stretched of very calm water, which has resulted in my arms and body being completely exhausted from so much paddling.  It was a nice company, they had safety boats for participants not so fond of the rapids as well as kayakers who would paddle up to you and return you safely to your raft.  It was an amazing way to experience the Nile River.  

Immediately following our journey down the Nile, we piled back into the van and made our way back home to Masaka.  It’s crazy that in the time I’ve been here, Masaka Town has become my home.  It was so great to climb through our compound gate, and sleep under my own pink mosquito net.  I can only imagine how much great it is going to be when I walk through my front door and fall asleep in my own bed back in America. 

Family-The Joneses

When I’m at home, I don’t spend as much time as I should with my family, and since I’ve been here I’ve realized just how important my family is to me.  I am excited to go home so I can spend some quality time with them before I head back up to Logan. 

I’m so grateful for my dad.  He’s always willing to help me with things.  One of my favorite memories with him is when we learned how to fix my car breaks together.  He is so good at fixing things, he finished our awesome basement, grows us a great garden every year, and is always helping the boys out with their sports.  He’s a great dad.

I love my mom.  She always wants to help me with everything.  She wants to know every little thing about all of her kids’ lives.  She’s the best at being a mom.  I’m grateful for her love of cooking and food, that’s one of the things I definitely got from her.  I love phone calls from her, because I can always count on a funny story from home, involving the crazy children.

…which I can also count on from Lacey, that girl is so funny.  She’s also pretty bad at communicating with me, but the occasional phone call I get from her always has me almost in tears from laughing so hard.  I have so many memories with her, growing up she was the best little sister, she would do anything I asked her to.  Now that she has grown up, she is one of the best friends I have.  We don’t always get along, but overall, we’ve become good friends.  I’m so proud of her, she is a great sister. 

Then there’s Holden, he is such a character.  He can’t resist the urge to bother everyone, and somehow has the knowledge to know exactly what to do to drive everyone to the point of insanity, it’s kind of funny.  But there’s a lot more to Holden than that.  He’s the brother that would wake up each morning to scrape my car windshield, so I wouldn’t have to do it before going to school.  He is somehow so sweet yet so much fun.  He will always have my back.

Oh little Easton.  I remember when he was younger, he would always get to angry.  When Lacey and I would babysit, he would chase us around the house, and we’d be so scared we’d lock ourselves in our parents’ room.  Now he is so calm and mellow.  I love going home and watching Chopped and other Food Network shows with him.  I also love that he loves Harry Potter as much as I do. 

And so does Isabelle.  I was concerned at first that Isabelle did not like to read, but then she picked up the best series ever written, and has since fallen in love with reading.  I am so impressed, she knows so much about Harry Potter, she is so smart.  She’s also the odd one out in our family who loves animals just as much (if not more) than she loves people.  She’s always collecting bugs and snakes, buying crabs, and loving our little puppy Merci. 

Finally, there is Merit.  I never know what to expect from that child.  He might just be the smartest of the family.  At age 9, he’s watching all sorts of weird science shows, and asking science questions that I have never even thought about.  While he is smart, he is also crazy.  He’s always running around, screaming, and doing crazy things with his friends.  Sometimes, he drives everyone in the house absolutely crazy, but at the end of the day, we all love him!

And let's not forget Merci, she's the cutest little dog ever, I'm glad we have her too.  

My family is a crazy bunch, give us 5 minutes in the car together, and you’re sure to have a fight.  But we all love each other, and I am so grateful for them.  I wouldn’t want to be a part of any other family, and I can’t wait to go home to all of them!  They’re the best in the world.

Family-The Kazibwes

While in the field one day, we were visiting a lady’s house.  Here’s how the conversation went.

Deo:  “She is not around.”

Summer:  “Whose house is it?”

Deo:  “Margaret Kazibwe.”

Amy:  “Your mom?”

Deo (very casually): “Yeah.”

There we are, just wandering around the place where Deo grew up for 5 to 10 minutes, and Deo doesn’t even mention anything.  We had a very similar experience with Deo’s father and brother.  We met up with him, and we were talking to him for about 10 minutes, when we realized they had the same last name, and we asked him if they were relatives.  Deo once again responds with a casual “Yeah.”  No big deal. 

I was shocked by all of this, so I asked Deo what the deal was.  He says here in Uganda, you do not see your family much.  You only do things with them when there are community events.  Even though his family all lives pretty near, he rarely sees them.  I thought that was rather strange. 

We did get the opportunity to go over to the Kazibwe’s for lunch one day.  Margaret prepared us a delicious Ugandan feast of matooke, g-nuts, beef, Irish potatoes, and pineapple.  It was cool to go to the place where Deo grew up, and spend a little bit of time with his mom, dad, and brother.  (His sister is in high school at a boarding school, so she is not around.)  There was a surprisingly low amount of interaction.  So yeah, family relations are quite different here. 

Family-The Rowes

We live in the Rowe’s compound.  They are from California, and moved here about a year ago.  They work with a children’s center nearby, and plan on staying a couple of years, or as soon the adoption of their Ugandan son Jo Jo goes through. 

They’ve become my Ugandan family while we’ve been here.  When Angela saw that we were “scavenging Masaka” for dinner each night, she invited us to eat dinner with them.  Angela cooks things like pasta, chicken pot pie, and meatballs, which is a great feat here in Uganda.  Things that are simple to make in America take a lot longer here.  I’ve been so grateful to her for providing some comfort food for all of us.

I love going to dinner over there, because we can all eat as a family.  Little Jo Jo is so cute, and always wants to sit at the big table with everyone.  He just loves to eat.  Emily is always helping out with cooking and taking care of Jo Jo.  She’s so nice, I really like being around her.  Morgan is so funny!  He’s always doing the unexpected, whether it’s dancing around the kitchen when he’s on dish duty, or creeping through the window to scare people, or making random, funny comments.  We definitely miss having Andrew and Bekah around.  They left at the beginning of July, and family dinners are quieter without them around. 

It’s been a great blessing to have a wonderful family like the Rowe’s around.  

Oh, America.

I love the 4^th of July.  I love it because I always get to be with my family.  We’ll usually spend a few hours at the pool, swimming has always been one of my favorite family activities.  My mom always cooks up delicious salads, and we have a great barbeque.  We always finish the night sitting on the grass at the Pleasant Grove City fireworks.  It’s a fabulous day. 

This year, I don’t get to participate in these festivities.  Instead, I am in Masaka, Uganda, the other side of the world.  Being here, I am realizing just how grateful I am to be an American.  I’m grateful that in America, there are traffic laws that are generally followed.  I’m grateful that I don’t have to work seven days a week to survive.  I’m grateful for the American culture.  I’m grateful for consistent electricity, big grocery stores, and fast food restaurants.  I’m grateful for the variety of restaurants you can find.  I’m grateful that my family doesn’t live in a village, so I can see and talk to them regularly.  I’m grateful that I can brush my teeth and drink water straight from the tap.  I’m grateful for baked goods that are moist and delicious, and for cheese and real butter at easy access.  I’m grateful that I can go to school and study what I want.  I’m grateful that I can shower with clean water, and use a pillow that doesn’t hurt my neck. 

America is pretty great, but I’m glad to spend this celebration of it away, because it is teaching me to appreciate its’ many blessings.  This year, we’re celebrating America’s independence with the Joneses by making pizza.

It was still a grand day.  And don't we look festive?

A Day at the Lake

Sometimes weekends here can get a little boring.  So, we decided to go to the lake to spice things up a bit. 

Lake Nabugabu is a small lake about a half hour away from where we live.  We rode out with Deo and Ronald who spent the day there with us.  It was a very dusty ride and by the time we got there, Amy and I had dirt masks around where our sunglasses had been. 

The beach area is called “Sand Beach.”  I didn’t see much sand, but sand gets everywhere, and isn’t really my favorite, so I was quite happy with the grass.  It is so beautiful there!  They had swings made out of tires, wooden beach chairs, and lots of nice shade trees.  Deo showed us the coconut tree, which is actually a miniature coconut tree that has nuts that taste like coconuts.  He picked some for us.  The fruit is orange and kind of tastes like an avocado.  There is a pit inside that you crack open with a rock to unveil the little coconut nut!  They were pretty tasty, but mostly just really cool to try. 

We just lay on the grass and relaxed for a while, Amy and I tried to gain some sort of tan.  The Rowes joined us around 2:00.  It was a lot fun to hang out with them.  We got in and enjoyed the water, which was nice and warm.  It doesn’t look like I got any leeches, so that is good news! 

For lunch I got some fish and chips.  The fish is caught right out of the lake, so it is very fresh and delicious, even with the head and all of the bones in tact!   

It turned out to be a very fun, nice, and relaxing day.  I think we might go back again soon.