I'm here Part II!

So here I am, sitting and sweating in my in my little wicker chair on the patio, renewing my friendship with the two-tailed lizard, the praying mantis, Scamper the cat, and Templeton the rat. Little Templeton has already enjoyed a snack of the popcorn that we brought with us. Not to mention renewing my friendship with all of the folks that live and work on our compound here! It really felt like coming home. Our Dinka, along with Dario, were all in their container, Alec and Pam were sitting down for lunch under the tree, Richard's "old men" were working away, fixing a screen door in their little workshop area. Elizabeth and her dinky Dinka are no longer with us, as it just wasn't working out with Elizabeth's work. So I'm already missing our little dinky Dinka, but I brought her some books, so we'll have to go visit them.

We didn't have any trouble getting here. I did have to pay some overweight, but it wasn't any more than I thought it would be, and ended up being quite reasonable. Considering I've never in all of my travels ever had to pay overwieght or ever had to ship anything anywhere, I think I'm doing pretty good! Our flight was quite pleasant - a little tiny propeller powered plane, in which they kept the door to the cockpit open the whole flight! I had a great time watching the pilots fly, and looking out the front windows of the plane! We even got some mango juice to drink - well, I did at least. Grace was sleeping when the stewardess came around with the cups, so she didn't get any. I guess I could have shared mine with Grace, but I didn't want to give her any Canadian cooties.

We got through the immigration and all that with no problems, and sat and waited for our other friend here to come and fetch us in our truck. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. Grace and I were sure that she was just hiding on the other side of a pillar somewhere...

Finally, we decided to jump in a taxi. And of course, with our luck, we arrived back on our compound and our truck was gone - Jackie had just left for the airport to get us! I had been watching for the truck on the way to our compound, but somehow, we didn't pass each other, which is quite something, considering how few cars there are on the roads here.

Anyways, it's good to be back. There are improvements - the most dramatic of which is the fact that the city electricity has been on for two days straight now! So we're actually able to run the ceiling fans, including the newly installed ones in our room, in the kitchen and in the eating area. Wow, what an amazing difference it makes to have a fan! There is also a washing machine for clothes, and two very eager and motivated girls working to keep this place spic and span!

It's also dry/dusty season here. So most of the grass is dead everywhere in the city, and flying into Juba, we had to think for a few minutes as to whether we were flying through a low hanging fog or a dust cloud. Of course, it was a dust cloud, just hanging here in the air. But I must admit, I like the dry heat better than the humidity from last time I was here!

Phew, I'm getting tired, though. I still need to write about the excitement that we had last night during our last night in Entebbe. The story includes gunshots, so I want to make sure I write it down, but I'm so tired at the moment...

You can also look at Grace's blog for some photos of me from the last few days. I STILL haven't uploaded my photos, so take a peek at Grace's blog.

To Juba we will go... hi ho the derry o to Juba we will go...

So we are set to leave tomorrow morning for Juba! This afternoon we'll be going to get some last minute errands done - things like malaria treatment and prophylaxis, as well as the important things like chocolate and coffee.

Please pray that we have a safe flight, and that I'll be able (through some kind of miracle) to take all of my stuff with me without having to pay TOO much for the overwieght luggage. 'Cause the allowance is only 15 kgs, which really is not very much stuff at all when you're going to live in a place where you can't buy anything! And please pray that going through customs and everything in Juba will go smoothly, as well. One never quite knows what's going to happen when going through airports like that...

So all is well here in Entebbe. My laundry is out hanging in the sun to dry, so I'll have some clean capris to wear tomorrow. Our bags are basically packed. Grace even had time this morning to tidy up her house a bit so someone else can stay there while she's away. There's nothing left to do except find our tickets... they must be kicking around this office somewhere.

So I'll see you from Juba!

Weekend in Entebbe

It's nearing 6pm, and Grace and I are still in the office. I'm a little hungry and tired from being at the office since 8 this morning, so I'm not quite certain what's going to come out of the end of my fingers as I try to blog :) But I'll try to hit the highlights of the weekend here before we go home...

Grace and I have been taking the boda (motorcycle) all over this weekend. It's been great fun, but, well, to tell you the truth, I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to sitting on the back of a fast moving vehicle. And on Sunday, it was raining as we were getting ready for the journey to church. So, being the wimp that I am, I was voicing my concern about the rain and the mud and the slippery roads...

But actually, we ended up having a great ride over to the church, not a speck of mud on me, and not even a wobble on the bike. It was all very clean and safe :)

After church (which I'll write about later), we jumped back on the boda and went to Entebbe town to get a SIM card for my phone and to eat lunch at the Chinese restaurant. Again, we got there safe and sound, and what does Tanya do as soon as she takes a few steps with her own two feet? Yup, sploosh, right into a little mud puddle. But I enjoyed our sweet and sour chicken and pork in garlic sauce quite a bit, even though my toes were squishing a bit in the mud on my sandal! The funny part of eating in the restaurant was the fact that at the table next to us, a Chinese woman (presumably the owner) had a bird eating it's birdseed off the table... But I haven't died of a strange bird disease yet, so I guess it's ok to eat in a place with birds running amuk in them...

We had a lovely lunch, then jumped on the boda and went back down the hill to Grace's house, safe and sound.

Later, we decided to go for a little walk with Bridger. It was a lovely day - quite cool and fresh from the rain. So off we trot down the road. And what does Tanya do, but fall flat on her face in the mud. I think I'm just turning into an old person who falls down a lot. At least I didn't break my hip. And I really have no idea how I fell - didn't seem to trip on anything. I just suddenly found myself on the ground!

Being the compassionate soul that Grace is, she burst out laughing. And Bridger, since I nearly fell on top of him, started growling at me! So I've been cruising all over town on the back of a very dangerous peice of machinery... and then I get all muddy and hurt using my own two feet! Oh well. Good thing we stopped for first aid supplies on the way to the airport. I now have liquid bandage covering my left index finger AND my right knee. Actually, I didn't get hurt too badly - just a bump and a bit of a scrape on my knee... But I have to go and wash the mud out of my trousers tonight, since I had to let them soak overnight...

Anyways, for any of you who are still reading this, I'll now tell you a bit about church. It was really a wonderful service. I got to meet some of Grace's friends that she's been telling me all about, and they really do seem like rather cool people. The church is held in a tent on a little plot of land right next to the lake! So you can peer out the sides of the tent, watching the boats and ferry go by on Lake Victoria during the service! The worship was great - a mix of good English songs and some Lugandan songs (is that what the language is called here?!). The preaching was also quite good. The sermon was about an hour long - they'd never stand for that back home! And it was all about Persecution. Have I mentioned how many sermons I've heard lately on the persecuted church?! I'm starting to wonder if God is preparing me for something, or just helping me to understand the situation that my friends back in E-land are suffering through.

Anyways, it was a good service, and the pastor kept preaching away, even when the sides of the tent started blowing up and the rain started blowing in! Everyone just skootched their chairs over to the other side of the tent and he kept right on preaching! I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if something like that had happened in church at home!

Later in the day, after my little tumble on the road, Grace and I walked up to town again and got some chapatis for dinner. You really can't get chapatis much fresher - the guy on the corner was mixing up the dough in a big plastic bucket. The other guy was standing over his little frying pan over top of a charcoal stove. And the woman in the middle was taking the money and packing the chapatis in little plastic baggies. We got them fresh right off the frying pan, all hot and greasy and delicious!

We took the chaptis home and baked them in the oven while we played some frisbee in the yard. You don't normally have to bake chapatis - they come ready to eat off the frying pan :) But we wanted to make them into chips to eat with the guacamole that I made. So we had a regular little Mexican feast right here in the middle of Uganda!

I made the guacamole with the veggies that I bought at the little Entebbe market on Saturday. Grace was pleased when her neighbor came around on Saturday morning to ask if we needed anything from the market. I jumped at the chance to go to the market, and I knew that Grace would be too lazy to take me herself :) Actually, for some reason, Grace just really doesn't like markets. Maybe it's a Montanan thing... but I love markets! And this market was wonderful! It was quite small, but lots of fresh fruits and veggies available.

Oh, we're gonna pack it up here and go home for some dinner... more tomorrow, unless I tumble off the back of a boda tonight on the way home.

Day in Kampala

So Grace and I haven't had too many adventures together yet... but I'm sure they will come, since we had a less than auspicious beginning, standing on two different sides of a pillar waiting for each other at the airport :)

I was able to stay up until 8:30 pm on Wednesday evening! Grace made some potatos for dinner...mmm... and then we watched Carz. Well, ok, Grace and her neighbor watched Carz while I dozed in the chair and fell asleep in the middle of conversations. Now I know what it feels like to really be a Spronk. But it's not sleep apnea... just sleep deprivation that was my problem.

I had a GREAT sleep. I slept like a log from 8:30 until about 4 am, when I had to go pee. Then I sorta just dozed again until about 6:30am when I got up. So that's pretty good, I'd say. And Grace has a really nice, cozy, homey kind of house, which makes me feel all nice and warm and sleepy anyways...

It was a good thing I had a good sleep on Wed night because yesterday was one full day! We walked from Grace's place up to Entebbe "downtown" where we caught a taxi (exactly like a Kenyan Matatu, or a 15 passenger van) into Kampala. I was amazed at how friendly and polite and patient the Ugandans are! Everyone was so relaxed, and were happy to all pile out onto the side of the road when someone on the very inside corner of the taxi needed to get out. The conductors weren't even hurrying people along - unheard of in a Kenyan matatu, or even in an Ethiopian taxi like that! I just felt very safe and surrounded by nice, pleasant people during our hour long ride into Kampala.

Once we got to Kampala, we walked up hill in the sun for about 10 or 15 minutes to get to the Babies' Home that Grace volunteers at each week. This place is amazing. I took a bunch of phoots, but, well, forgot to download them onto my computer last night! The place is so clean and well-kept. There are tons of toys and little toddler sized furniture everywhere. The women who care for the babies are wonderful and you can tell that they truly love those children and are really doing what they can to help them grow up and to know that someone loves them.

We went into the class with about 25 2 year olds! It could have been a real zoo, but it was so nicely run, and the children are very well-behaved. We played with duplo, read books, make towers with blocks... these kids have more toys than most Ugandan children do, that's for sure! They all orderly sat down on their little chairs in their own places for snack time, and pretty orderly went to have their hands washed etc. There were quite a few little ones peeing everywhere, and lots of snotty noses... but what can you expect with a room full of 2 year olds? It probably would help to have a potty sitting in a corner of the room, so the children would be able to use the potty on their own, rather than peeing on the floor... but, yeah, they're doing a great job in taking care of them, so you can't really say anything bad about that place! And whenever a child pees on the floor, they know where to get a towel to go and wipe up the little puddle!

I can see why Grace loves going there so much! I also had a great time, and it was so much fun to be surrounded by such cute little kids for half the day. And it's not nearly as heartbreaking as going to other orphanages that I've been to, since this one is so well-run and the children get really good care there.

But man, was it ever tiring hanging out with that many children all morning! We were there for about 4 hours, and by the time we were done, I was so thirsty and hungry. Since it's not exactly cool here, I was a bit sweaty, too. So between the kids' pee and my sweat... well, I wasn't exactly a vision of beauty!

We started trotting back down the hill and found a nice little restaurant with a porch on which to eat. Mmm... a cold Coke, some beef stew and matoke (sorta like mashed potatoes) and we were good to go again. Conveniently, the office where we had to get my travel permit for the next leg of this trip was within walking distance. So we went up the street, turned up a nice little dirt track, and entered an unmarked gate. And there we were, the office! They certainly don't advertise that they're there, and I was glad that Grace had been there before, otherwise I certainly never would have found the place!

As I was sitting there filling out the form (I had filled out an "old" form and had to transfer all my information to the "new" form), I noticed that there were two calendars hanging on the wall from our organization! Funny that, but boded well for getting some good service there!

I handed in my papers, and then Grace went in to ask someone a question about what kind of paperwork she needed to bring her dog into the country. The man there just started to giggle! He couldn't believe someone would want to take their dog. The big head cheese was also there and heard Grace's question, and he said, "that is is rare request". Grace then pulled out her vaccination record for Bridger, which looks quite impressive with signatures and stamps all over it, and that made them giggle even more! But they didn't quite know what to do about it and would have to ask the big cheese about it. So we told them we'd come back later, since we had to pick up my pass, anyways.

So then we had a few hours of time to kill. We trotted off down the road (at a nice leisurely Ugandan kind of pace) and found a bar with a little outside patio. We had some more sodas, and since the restaurant where we had lunch didn't have any chips, I ordered some chips to snack on while we waited. There's something about African chips that just taste oh so good. It must be the artery clogging hydrogenated fats that they're all fried in or something, but they taste so good!

After an hour and half of sitting there and watching the Ugandan world go by, we moseyed back to the office to pick up my pass. As we were sitting there and waiting, a couple came in who were speaking Tigrinya! So I had a nice little chat with them and got to eavesdrop on their conversation a bit :)

There were no problems with getting the passes, in fact, I think they're getting cheaper :) And I loved walking down the hill to the "downtown" part of Kampala where the taxi stands are. So many people, and so many shops and offices and motorbikes... it's a busy, busy, bustling city. It's very typically African in that the shops are pretty much all the same and the sidewalk crumbles in a few places, cars and busses dodge potholes in the roads, people stroll up and down the congested sidewalks selling everything from bras and sunglasses to peanuts and bottled water. And yet, I feel much safer in Kampala than in Nairobi. People are quite nice and polite and don't seem to be as much in a hurry. And I think that if I actually needed help or directions or something like that, someone would help me, instead of trying to take advantage of me!

After that, it was back to the taxi, and then back to Entebbe, where I made Grace dinner and fell asleep while watching yet another dvd!

Today, we've just been in the office here, catching up on emails and trying to figure out how and when to get back "home" to Templeton. In a little while, Grace and I will jump back on the boda and do some shopping in town. I have a few things to get, like some anti-malaria meds and a SIM card for my phone, and I'm really looking forward to getting a nice fresh pineapple and some mangos! Here's praying that Grace drives safely on her little boda :) (Since Grace says I reminds her of her mom, I gotta act like one once in a while, too!).

I'm here!

It is now high noon in Entebbe, Uganda. I'm in the office here with Grace, checking my email and letting ya'll know that I have arrived safe and sound! We're going to have a bean and chapati lunch at 12:30, and then go home and take a nap! My brain's not really working too well at the moment... lack of sleep over the past few days. And I can't type very fast because of the band-aid on my finger - I sliced the tip of my finger off a few hours before we had to leave for the airport in Calgary! But a quick stop for some first aid supplies on the way to the airport, and I'm all taken care of. It stopped bleeding somewhere over the Artic Circle, and got a nice new dressing in Heathrow Airport. But it still hurt too much to do much with it... it feels much better now, though.

So the travels were uneventful... I even had a lovely surprise meeting in Heathrow! I went into "Pret a manger" to get something delicious to snack on, and who should be standing and staring into the cooler looking for something delicious to snack on but someone I know quite well from Nairobi! What a surprise meeting! So we had a few hours together and it was just SO nice to have someone to chat with and to keep me company while we waited for our flights. Her flight left 5 hours before mine, but at least I had some company for 2 hours of my 9 hour wait in the airport!

I didn't do anything exciting in the airport - just wandered around, looking in the shops. I didn't even take any tours of the other terminals this time, 'cause I was a little paranoid about my ziploc bag full of liquids. I didn't want the security guys to take away my contact lense solution or anything. Plus, the lineups for security when going between terminals were SO long. I just got annoyed standing in line for security!

I ate a lovely jacket potato with cheese with a side salad for lunch/dinner at a cute little pub inside terminal 4. I also went to the "quiet room" and fell asleep for an hour, since I didn't sleep on the plane :(

The movies that I watched were: "A Good Day" (or something like that - a quirky little movie with Russel Crowe in the winelands of France), part of "Shrek", and then "Babel". I wasn't too impressed with Babel. Perhaps it was the fact that it was on the second leg (from London to Entebbe) and I was tired, or just not in the right mood... but it was hard to really dig deep enough to "get" it. And there were some definite parts that I didn't think were appropriate to be playing on an airplane where there were children watching! But perhaps once I have a nap and have the ability to think a bit more, I'll be able to understand the point of the movie a bit better!
So yeah, I arrived in Entebbe at about 8:30am. What a great place! Both of my suitcases arrived with me! Yay! I was quite paranoid about my luggage not arriving, so I prayed over those suitcases before I let them out of my sight :) So I went out into the bright warm sun and waited for Grace. And waited for Grace. And waited some more for Grace. Eventually, some chairs in the waiting area opened up, so I went down to sit in them, and lo and behold, on the other side of the pillar where I had been standing, was Grace! Seems we somehow didn't see each other through the pillar! So we had a good laugh, and the Ugandan guy standing near by said, "oh yes, she [Tanya] has been waiting there forever"! Actually, I had already gotten out my list of phone numbers and was thinking to myself about how I could ask someone to borrow their cell phone to get a hold of Grace :) But all worked out, and the Grace and Tanya comedy hour has already begun... hopefully we won't have too many more escapades before we get out of Entebbe!

Entebbe, so far, is a beautiful place! Lake Victoria looks like an ocean, it's so big! And everything is green! Such a contrast from Calgary, that's for sure. It's lake fly season, so there are tiny little gnat like creatures swarning around everywhere. That's not so nice. But they don't bite, they just get stuck in your teeth when you ride around on the boda.

I've already met Bridger and Cody and had a ride on the boda. (Grace is going to strap me on with bunngee cords so I don't fall asleep and bounce off the back of the boda on the way home from the office.) Really, what more could a girl want?! Oh yeah, the shower felt really nice, too, and the eggs that Grace fed me this morning were very welcome, as well! Tomorrow we're off to the babies' home where Grace hangs out with the babies every week, and to the SPLM office to get my travel passes. I'll try to take some photos, as well, and post them... whenever I get to the Internet again! Oh yeah, it's also sunny and warm (about 30C), and everyone here is complaining that it's too hot. It's a nice stepping stone on the way to Juba...

Packing

I'm just sitting in my basement, surrounded by a bunch of stuff that somehow needs to get sorted and packed. But I'm just online having a few last chats with friends all over the world! Plus, I just like to procrastinate when it comes to things like packing.

But I've had a wonderful time with my family this past week! Today after church we had a birthday party for me! I'm turning 30 in three weeks, and, well obviously, my fam won't be around to make me steak and ceasar salad and chocolate cake in Juba. Mmmm... it was SO good. I also went to my cousin's restaurant downtown last night with my sister for dinner. Mmmmm... that was so good, too, though I really had no clue what we were eating... it just tasted really nice! Now all that's left to eat is chicken wings and salad from Montana's :)

And to do a whole lot of packing... I'm still not quite sure what to pack everything in! I keep going back and forth on the merits of different packing systems... And at the moment, I'm wishing I was the type of person who could just put a t-shirt and an extra pair of underwear in a backpack along with my computer and be on my way! It would somehow make travelling so much easier - I wouldn't have to think about BA losing my luggage again, I wouldn't have to think about paying overwieght, I wouldn't have to think about getting laundry done tonight...

The picture at the right is a photo of my nephew, after he had been stuffing his face with chocolate cake. He's just too cute...

Two More Days!

Phew, I leave in two days. I would post more, but I must make the most out of my lovely comfy bed while I'm still here...

Two days!!!

Haircut

Just because I want Grace to be able to recognize me when she fetches me from the airport in Uganda next week... here's a photo of my new haircut. This photo was taken about 12 hours ago... and yes, it's still snowing here! The roads are horrible, the ice is awful, and the cold is unbearable.

Well, ok, it's not all that bad, but I'm trying to psyche myself up for the 43C that I'll be experiencing next week in Juba!

Charity

I was just reading Steve Bell's blog about his trip to Ethiopia. He's got some fantastic ramblings about "Charity". He says "Charity is not a result of do-goodism, it is the offspring of cherishing, that is… love." It's a great little paragraph, which is a nice change from some of the comments that I've been reading about "charity" in another book that I'm reading called "Dark Star Safari" by Paul Theroux.

It's a travelogue about his overland journey from Cairo to Cape Town, and he's constantly running into people who work for NGOs and "charities". He never has anything good to say about development work. And yeah, I agree that there are problems with the way a lot of Western NGOs work in "developing" countries. But I don't think Paul ran into too many folks who were doing charity work as an offspring of cherishing. So if I ever run into a roving journalist on his cross-Africa voyage, I pray that he will see my work as a result of love, and not a result of some duty-bound do-goodism.

I could ramble on about this topic, too... but my brain is a little frozen from driving home in the ice and snow tonight. That hot Juba sun is starting to sound better by the day...

Family Fun

I'm liking my hair cut much better, now that the initial shock has worn off! In fact, I think it's almost quite cute :) Now I just have to find a dollar store to upgrade my collection of little barretts...

The past few days have been great fun! On Thursday morning, despite the winter weather, Mom, Dad and I went up to Edmonton to visit with Oma and some of my aunts & uncles. It was a great visit! I love seeing Oma, and I know she loves having visitors, too. We had some good giggles together. However, during our sleep-over "party" in her little apartment, I was kept awake for most of the night by Dad's snoring... so a little nap in the van the next morning was much needed!

We had a good visit with a few aunts & uncles and a cousin, as well as a visit with Oma & Opa's old neighbors, who still live in the house that they built over 50 years ago. They had some hilarious stories about growing up next door to Dad's family!

After we arrived home, I got together with a few friends at a little coffee shop - my friend was playing with his jazz combo. There was a crazy collision of worlds as I saw a few different people that I haven't seen since high school, and also met a few new people. And what a privilege it is to be able to go out and hear some really quality jazz, surrounded by good coffee and good friends!

Getting ready to go...

So today, in my preparations to go to Juba, I got my haircut! I'm not quite sure about it yet - I really liked it when I saw Judy cut it, and when I got home, I still really liked it. And then I got mom and dad to take a photo of it tonight to post here, but, well, didn't look so cute in the photo... so, it's not going to get posted here! Perhaps tomorrow I'll get a better picture and post it :)

Funny that now that I have my haircut, I feel like I'm ready to go! I went to the Stuff-mart after getting my hair cut and stocked up my little medicine chest. I also bought some new capri pants for $7! Wow, what a deal. Who would have thought you could find a nice pair of capris in February in Stuff-mart?!

And tonight I went to class at my church. It was, as usual, so good. I still can't figure out why more poeple don't sign up for "adult education" at church. The opportunity to learn and grow is there, so why don't poeple take advantage of it?! It's been really good for me to be here to learn some really good things at church in the past few weeks. I'm going to miss it when I go back to Juba.

But at least it seems that Grace will be in Juba when I go! Yay! And already, Jackie and Richard are working hard to rid the place of those pesky little rats... every day they catch more in our new fangeled traps. I'm just glad that Jackie's becoming an expert at it before I get there! So really, God's timing is very good in all of this!

A nice song to sing

On Sunday, I had the privilege to be "the speaker" at a young adults meeting at a local church. I've been going to a homegroup with these folks for a few years now, and they're amazing! And I was honored that they would ask me to tell a little about my story for their monthly meeting.

After I chatted and we discussed for a bit, we had a time of worship. Amy, who is such a gentle, beautiful soul, led us with her voice and her guitar. We sang the following song, which I've never heard before. I have no idea where the song comes from, but I like they lyrics... so I'll just write them here so I don't lose them. Maybe you'll like them, too, but really, they're much better with Amy singing them! It's a bit of a love song to Jesus. And I love love and romance and all that... and sometimes I need a good dose of lovely dovey mush to Jesus :)

There's a song inside my soul,
It's the one that I've tried to write
over and over again.
I'm awake in the infinite cold
BUt you sing to me
over and over again.

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope.

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of your galazy dancing and
laughing and laughing again
When it seems like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that you have for me
over again.

And just to go along with it, here's a lovely photo that I took of some nice mosaics in the Resurrection Gardens in Nairobi in December, just 'cos I think it's a nice picture!