A little holiday

My little holiday got off to a bit of a rocky start in that when I arrived at the airport, there were no personnel at all from the airline that I was supposed to be flying on at the airport! So no one to check in with. Thankfully, I happened to have the number for the airline and the phone network actually worked, so I called the airline office to see what was going on. Seems the woman I bought the ticket from didn't know what time the flight actually left, so I arrived at the airport a good 5 hours too early!

So back I went to the office and got in a few more hours of work before it was time to head back to the airport again!

I managed to check in and get my passport stamped with absolutely no problems. I even saw a couple of friends in the airport to chat with as I waited for the plane to leave. We left only 15 minutes late, and arrived safely in Entebbe, Uganda. Grace had to leave her little birthday BBQ to get me, but that turned out to be ok, as well.

Anyways, it was nice to arrive and right away be fed, get this, Teriyaki steak and roasted potatoes from Grace's BBQ! Mmmmm, it was an amazing meal, shared with some old friends and new ones, as well.

We had a little pajama party with Grace and Ella's neighbors - who happen to be a family with a whole flock of little girls! I did bow out of part of the movie to take a long hot shower. Mmmmm, it felt SO amazing to be clean again! I was just sitting there and admiring how clean my fingernails were (and still are!).

The next morning, we all woke up and Ella, who is going to grow up to be a masseuse, I think, slathered me and Grace's feet in lotion and gave us lovely little foot massages! I think even little Ella's four year old hands were shocked at how rough my poor little feet have become during my sojourn in Jb! After the foot massage, little Ella wanted to do my hair so we could have matching pig-tails:

Then we were off to the market in Entebbe town, where we loaded up on a serious amount of fresh fruits and veg for a fraction of the cost of the same stuff in Jb. It was amazing to see all the nice things for so cheap! I wanted to buy so much, just because it was so cheap! Honestly, it really was a fraction of the cost. I didn't get any photos of the market - I always feel a bit like a tourist when I take out my camera in the middle of a market - but I did get a photo of the shops next to the market once we got back to the car:

Isn't it lovely? So green! Pavement! No trash anywhere! Amazing. Maybe this sign is one of the reasons why the "cleanness" is so lovely:

We also hit "John's Shop", which has so many wonderful things, including real Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, yogurt, muesli cereal, bacon, shampoo, toothpaste, bug spray, pringles, Coke, ice cream... mmmm... anything you could every want can be found at John's Shop - all piled high, packed up in this tiny little shop! It's so fun to shop again!

By then, it was time to go home and have a little rest before the next adventure of the day. Unfortunately, I was feeling a bit bad - a serious flu was coming on, I thought. I ran over to the pharmacy and got some cold and flu stuff, which brought down the fever that was coming on and unstuffed my head a bit. Anyways, since it was Ella's naptime, I also crashed on the couch for a few hours. Upon awakening, I stuffed myself with avocado salad, and we were off to the pool for the next few hours!

Ella is an amazing little swimmer for a 4 year old who's never had lessons! Here she is about to fling herself into the pool with Mama Grace waiting to retrieve her. Ella has a bit of a "crash and splash" approach to swimming. But she sure doesn't mind getting her face wet, and she seems to always come up for air when she needs to! Here's the superstar swimmer:

Ella totally outlasted us in the pool. I actually got COLD in the pool- goosebumps and all. Considering it was probably only about 28 or 28C outside, it was really cold in the water! Brrr. But I lasted for a few hours, anyways. Once I got out, I just snuggled in my towel (provided by the hotel!) in our little tent:

It was a lovely afternoon. And it only cost $3.50 per adult to swim here, including the towel, the tent, and a hot shower to rinse the chlorine off. I tell you, I can't get enough of these hot showers...

We then went out to a little restaurant at the golf club (yes, that's right, there's a golf club here!), and feasted on chicken and chips for only $3! Amazing how cheap things are here. Went home, watched a dvd at Grace's house, and went to bed, snuggled under a blanket!

On Sunday, I went with Grace and Ella to their Pentecostal church, which was a good service, though I didn't understand most of the sermon :( It was in English, but it's such a different English here, and most of the funniest jokes were made in the local language, Luganda :( Anyways, the music was good, and it was refreshingly cool in the church itself - I almost wished I'd worn a sweater! Since I didn't really follow the sermon, I must admit I spent a bit of time during the service admiring how clean my fingernails still were, even though I'd had my shower some 4 hours before!

After church, it was back to John's shop to get a few more bits that I didn't think to buy the day before. Then we went back home for yet another birthday party - this time for one of the neighbor's girls! After lunch and birthday cake with strawberry topping, we had our Sunday afternoon naps, played on the swings, and by then, it was time to eat dinner again - this time, I made some bacon sandwiches. Mmmm... bacon.

Today I'm hanging out in Grace's office with her so I can use the internet. I've had a bit of withdrawl, as I haven't even opened my computer since Friday afternoon! So it's good to be able to catch up a little online!

Since Grace only works until 2pm, we're going to eat our lunch here, go home and pick up Ella, and either go swimming (if it seems warm enough!) or go to the zoo. Tomorrow we'll head into the big city of Kampala to do some serious shopping, eat at a nice restaurant, and do some official paperwork for Ella's passport.

So far, it's been a lovely holiday, and I think my cold/flu thing is already passing... I think sleeping in the cool, under a real blanket is helping! It's just so refreshing and wonderful to be clean, to drive on paved roads all the time, to eat what I want to eat, to do everything without breaking a sweat (especially now that I don't have a temperature from that short little cold that hit me!), and to just enjoy the green grass, the flowers, the lake... it's really lovely!