Weekends in Uganda

Ok I just wanted to say sorry for the lack of blogging I have been doing lately, the reason being the I have been crazy busy doing mass quantities of homework and having some amazing times here in Uganda. Let me give you a glimpse of what goes on here during the weekends. Ok the first weekend was a couple weekends ago, our group of about 14 American students took a trip to Bwindi, which is about 15 hours away. So on Friday we left at 6:00 a.m. this involves getting up at 5:30 in the morning and packing last minute (I know bad planning) and then rushing to school which is like a ten minute walk. Finally once on the bus, we take the most bumpy ride I have ever known in my life for the next 15 hours, it is actually kinda of fun once you learn that your broken seat is really great for getting all the kinks out of your neck. Once in Bwindi we had a 9:30 p.m. dinner which actually was not served until 10:30. Which actually turned out to be the best food ever, pasta, garlic bread, and chocolate cake, wait that all contains flour. Therefore I had fish and rice, which was actually wonderful and then they brought out a pineapple ring for me it was sweet. The next was the best ever here in Uganda. We first woke up and I had an omelet which was amazing and perfect. Then we went on a two hour hike up in the mountains, which before that we feed some crazy monkeys some bananas the monkeys literal took the banana right out of my hand. Once we finished our hike we arrived in the middle of the jungle to build a mud house!!!! :) I know it was amazing we used sticks and reeds to make a frame, then came my favorite part the mud, I got to literal jump in a hug thing of mud and mix it with my feet. I was the happiest girl in the world. Then we proceed to throw the mud to each other making an assembly line of mud throwing, it was priceless. After that we watched a man make fire out of two sticks and only two sticks. Then we preformed a crazy dance, which literally meant dancing like a made person and having a great time looking like the crazy white people we are. After that came a day of not so much fun, yet still was very funny. The next day I woke up with diarrhea, great I know. Well it just so happened that day we had to hike for like 3 hours to our church. Let just say that about ever 10 minutes I had to ask a person our guide to ask some random person to use there bathroom. Get this we even had to pay these people to use their holes in the ground. Needless to say these various bathroom breaks lead to some amazing stories, one in which the pig and me had a fun time together in the bathroom. After my day of fun and bathrooms we went to the market to buy some gifts... I had no money so I sat with some men and learned how to carve a gorilla it was a blast. Then that evening I met some Spanish guys who taught me how to play a card game called "Broom." It was a fun day. Then came our long journey back home, fun day we a flat tire in the rain, three more people had diarrhea, and then we did not get back home until one in the morning, which is really late here. Well all in all it was great weekend I felt closer to God than i ever have here in Uganda. Working on the house reminded me that our hands and feet are often far better than the words we try to get across to people. That day we, our team, was literal the body of Christ. Ok jump to last weekend... another crazy event. It all started Thursday, we had Friday off because it was independence day. Thursday night I went to another student's house and helped cook and prepare food for a group of Ugandans coming to there house later that night. When we arrived at the house there was a tent and chairs and mass quantities of food. We served some amazing food, three different types of potatoes, pineapple, and water melon, it was like heaven. After that we had the most crazy dance party ever, I know not Bethel appropriate but yeah when in Africa do like the Africans do. Well it was probably the best dance party ever old woman with huge dresses were dancing like crazy people, they even video taped me and my friend doing some crazy sweet dancing. After dancing the night away we decided to watch P.S. I love you, which turned out to be a pretty good movie, Oh and another cool thing I got to talk to my mom for like 5 minutes. The next morning we went to Kampala the capital and went to the sweetest market ever, it is one of those things you see in China with million of stands and food and crazy stuff. I literal went to a bunch of different stands and tasted peanut butter from a huge bucket the size of myself. I probably went to ten different stands just to eat peanut butter, what can i say i like my protein. The only problem with this market was the fact that everyone and there brother thought it was a great idea to grab and pull on my arm. I felt a little harassed at times but it is just the culture i guess. Next we went to New York Kitchen, and i had some yogurt and granola, do not worry it was gluten-free :), it was great and i miss my American food some times. After lunch we went to some shops and got some gifts. Then finally we went home. At home I made a full dinner, pasta, sauce, fondue and garlic bread all using a fire... it was sweet at least that is what my family told me. Then on Saturday me and my friend went and waitresses at my mom's restaurant. It was a little crazy we were literally cooking in the alley and mom is a hard manager she kept me moving. But it was a blast I learned how to cook some fun food and even managed to learn more Luganda. Sunday was a nice day for some rest and about 10 hours of no-stop homework. All in all i had a blast with my family and friends. I love coming home and playing games like hide and seek and baseball with my little brother. It amazes me how little these people have and yet they find so much joy in the simplest things. Take for example my to little brothers i gave them two plastic gloves that i blow up, they loved them and they also love scare me when the power goes out with them. Then i love to trick them like the other night i took my hand sanitizer and rubbed it on my hands, then lit them on fire. Don't worry it is all safe and does not even hurt, but i was a blast to see their faces. I am loving learning to spend more and more time with my family, as the days continue i feel more and more excited to come home, but at the same time i feel sad to think that i will be leaving my other family behind. Uganda is a wounderful country filled with beautiful, i just had to open my eyes and see the beauty behind all my fears and worries.