Just about as good as it gets...

Yup, this afternoon was just about as good as it gets. Just after lunch, me, Jackie, and Janet (someone who used to work here many moons ago and is visiting us this week) bundled ourselves into Jackie's little Suzuki off to the Ministry of Education. Of course, the roads to the Ministry change every time we go, so it's always a bit of a maze to get into that area! Someone important must have been around, too, since there were lots of pick up trucks with big guns mounted on the back sitting around in what must have been "strategic" locations.

Anyways, we managed to find our way into the Ministry, right at the appointed hour. And then we sat. And sat. And sat some more. After a little while, the office manager brought us into the Minister's office, where we sat some more. But at least we were sitting in these giant leather chairs, freezing in the A/C, sipping bottled water and watching Animal Planet on the TV in the corner of the office! Don't quite understand why, but anyone who is anyone around these parts has a tv in the corner of their office. Always on, of course. At least this one was tuned to Animal Planet and not horrible hip hop music videos as they often are!

Anyways, after waiting for nearly an hour and half, the Minister showed up and we had a really nice visit with him. He's a nice guy, and it was great to sit and listen to him pontificate about the value of mother tongue education for a while :) He's so behind what we're doing, which is great, but he also has some very high expectations of our organization and what we can do for them. So we're really working with him to help him understand this whole thing about bringing in other partners to play a part, as well. These visits are all a part of my job here - just schmoozing with people in high places to make sure they're on our side :)

As we were meeting with the Minister, the clouds were rolling in. The breeze was whipping through the trees, and it was rapidly cooling off. Then, when we rolled into the parking lot here at our compound, I realized that I didn't hear the rumble of the generator. At first, my stomach lurched, as I thought it must have broken down or run out of deisel or something. But then one of my favorite translator's came sauntering by, with a grin on his toothless face - we were enjoying city electricity!

So, really, this is just about as good as it gets. It was so cool and breezy that we didn't even NEED a fan on, and if we did, indeed, want a fan on, we just had to flip a switch and voila! Electricity!

I also went out and ate some chicken for dinner tonight at the Sacred Sister's restaurant. Yum yum. It was even better because I was almost cold while we sat there munching on our chicken. By the time we got home this evening, the electricity was STILL on. And it's cold. I might even turn off the fan in my bedroom to sleep tonight. So really, this is about as good as it gets here! I almost don't want to go to Uganda to visit my friend tomorrow!

But don't worry, Shannon! I'll be there to fetch you from the airport on Friday morning! I'm SO excited because one of my dear friends is going to be in Uganda this weekend. So I'm going to see her! Seems almost a shame to go while there's city electricity, though :)