Sunday, June 15, 2008

Rain - A Blessing in Disguise?...


Happy Sunday, and Happy Father’s Day!!

Who knew pond water smelled so sweet?! So, yes, this marks the end of our rain water here, and now I’m bathing in brown pond water….actually just washed a few articles of clothing, however “washing” seems to be quite relative around here! The pond water definitely doesn’t emit a sweet aroma (if you couldn’t sense the sarcasm in the first sentence), but a little body spray, or dousing if you will, seems to do the trick.

So, I guess I have quite a few things to report. Friday Kate and I went to Kampala (about a 3 hour bus ride) to take a girl (see 'healthy' photo below) to get some blood work done. Apparently they thought she had sickle cell anemia coupled with a severe case of malaria, but much to our surprise, just malaria…a happy outcome all around! Anyway, we got sang to by a guy playing a makeshift violin/mini-banjo with one string and the lyrics went something like this, “Hey Muzungu, you are nice-Y, you are wondLeful, you pay me lottsa money” repeat over and over again until we were guilted into doling out the moolah. It was amusing to say the least. I think the locals were hoping that we would pay out so this guy would shut up!

I also got in touch with my friend Autumn who has been doing some volunteer work in Kampala, and we met up for lunch (which, might I add, has been the highlight of my stay) at Steers for cheeseburgers!! Oh, AND I got to use a real Toilet! What a treat! HA! BUT, little did I know the revenge the western food would take on my insides, or else I would’ve rethought that delicious slab of meat and cheese. P.S. Cheese – can’t find it anywhere out in the BUSH! So back to it, crapping in a latrine is hard enough, but when you throw in an upset stomach…….you get the picture! Anyway, turns out that she’s headed up North on Tuesday for a week, so I will be tagging along with her. I super excited to do a little traveling. Not sure what’s in store, so stay tuned for the report next week. Oh, and Autumn is doing fabulous, she just got accepted into Grad. School at Bradford (I think), so will be headed to England the end of August! Exciting stuff!

After lunch we made the trek back to the bus park where we proceeded to wait 2 hours for the bus to fill. Meanwhile, Kate and I had fun watching the vendors come on and off selling anything you could imagine. From power strips to electric razors, shoes to disco balls, toothpaste to radios….

Yesterday (Saturday) was a fairly lazy day, however the night was happenin’! Laura will be leaving on Thursday, so we went to Masaka to hit up the Discoteque. I think we piled 24 people into a VW type van, yes quite safe…. And Ohhh, boy what a crazy night! Apparently it is the “norm” to dance by yourself while gazing into the mirror (all the walls are mirrors). This is severely amusing and I couldn’t help but stare the whole night. All in all it was a blast. I found myself a dance partner and he would mimic everything I did, so I pulled out some fabulous moves (we all know that I love a dance-off!). I must say the best was when I started clawing at him like a bear and he, sure enough, followed suit. PRICELESS! I almost pissed myself as did everyone else that was watching! Best night yet.

Anyway, just thought I would drop a note before I head out tomorrow. This happens to be more of an upbeat posting as opposed to all the heavy stuff that’s been taking place around here lately.

Happy Father’s Day, Daddio! I think I’ll try and give you guys a call today, probably around 6-7 am your time.

Love you all! Shannon, keep me posted on the baby news….

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