In case anyone is still reading this...

Things I now realize are not critical to survival:

• My hair dryer
• Pizza
• Constant entertainment
• Perfectly composed wardrobes
• High heeled shoes
• Text messaging
• Wal-mart

Things I now have a much greater appreciation for:

• Consistent internet
• Drinking water
• Comfortable beds that don't require mosquito nets
• Spring and Fall
• Microwave popcorn
• Silence
• Daily contact with people for whom English is their first spoken language
• The calmness of knowing I'm in the American society with a civilized government and that I'm not likely to get kidnapped on the back of a motorcycle
• Traffic lights
• Traffic laws
• Stop signs
• Dramamine
• Reptiles and amphibians that eat mosquitos
• Light-colored dirt
• Nice bathrooms with western world-style toilets
• White socks

Things I will never ever forget:

• Jonah's smile
• "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy MZUNGU!"
• "Mzungu Baby, you have such a nice camera, why don't you give it to me?"
• The smell of being coated in DEET
• Greasy Skin(for the first time in my life)
• African Rain
• "Auntie! Auntie! Auntie Taylor!!!"
• Mebra pinching me
• Isaac always crying
• Singing the Wiggle Waggle
• Hearing Arabic, German, Dutch, French and English all on the same flight
• Thinking of the ultimate peril of a boda boda accident
• Story Time
• Seeing Steven's face light up when he wrote his name
• Being in a society and a culture and a place where survival is literal, not a far off imaginative or simply a dramatic adjective.

In case you, like my sister, didn't realize or didn't know, I'm home. Or at least physically.

I'm torn..

In these last few hours of being here, I ever so frequently have the sudden desire to postpone my flight and stay longer. Just a little longer, my heart keeps telling me. At the same time, I miss my family and friends and daily aquaintances so very very much and all I want to do is see them and wrap my arms around them. Is it possible to want and love two things so strongly yet so equally you seriously don't know which to choose? This is how my mind is working today. If I could bring all of you here with me, I wouldn't have to leave. Wouldn't have to make that choice. Would never even have to come home. My mind is so muddled, I don't even know where home is. I don't feel it's Cleburne, or Texas or America, I just feel like it should be here, on the condition that my loved ones are here with me. All I can say is Lord, provide the way, because my heart is willing.

What else can I say?

I feel like anything I say is completely inadequate to describing this place and these people and their culture. It's just so vastly different. I say different, because in some ways I believe it's better than our American culture and in many ways, it's far worse. There is no drama here, no cliques, so petty gossip that is focused on while people go hungry and lives are lost. How I wish that was not a part of my life in any way. At the same time, the people here have daily choices to make for survival. There is no such thing as convenience here, literally. I would say about 80% of the things Wal-mart sells, you can't get here. These people are also raised into a culture where they do even choose to feed and house and clothe their children, they do not show their children affection. It isn't a part of them to love and to nurture. They are taught that keeping a child healthy and educated is enough for their well-being. That basic needs are all children need to turn them into well-behaved adults with jobs and futures. Even in the baby home here, where it is impressed upon the Ugandan staff here to love and care for these children with a heart full of joy, very few of them actually choose to accept this and have it become a part of their being. It has been very hard for me the past three weeks to watch the way these children are treated, even here at Amani. And while Amani is so wonderful for what it is and for what it does, it could be so much better. There are two babies in my group, Isaac and Mebra who are twins, and they have a father who comes and visits them every week on his day off, spending as much time as he can with them. He cares for his babies so very much and it breaks my heart to see these children having to live in an orphanage when they have a parent who loves them so much. Their mother bled to death at their birth in the hospital, and their father cannot take care of them because he has to work to survive. Honestly, how can anything I say even measure up to this society? I can't think of a single word that I could say, with any amount of enthusiasm or passion that could even possibly begin to impress upon anyone the beating of the heart of Africa. It can't truly be told, it's something one must see and touch and live for oneself to even truly begin to envision Africa.

Finally! Blogspot loves me! Pictures!

Today I hung out with preschool this morning, taught them the baby shark song,lol, with semi-successful results. Oh they loved the song, just didn't really get it down.Anyway, This is Gift...

Story time!
Jason is ADHD, I think, and so he doesn't usually pay the best of attention during pre-school. However, you sit down with a book and start reading, and he's all into it.

Handwriting is hard work! Who knew names had so many letter

I absolutely love the view here, especially at sunrise...

Me and my friend Issac, and his twin sister Mebra, in the background

A cool random, ok, really random tree.

Story time...AKA wind down time after the Hokey Pokey.

My window's view...

Pictures...

Ok, I have been trying highly unsuccessfully(obviously) to post pictures on here all day, but once again, blogspot have turned againt me. For good, it seems. Toodles.

Can you even tell it's a monkey???

I think if you maybe possibly zoom in, you can see pieces of monkeys...like I said Twitch, couldn't get good pics...

I like Chicken and I like Ham...

Neither of which I have had in more than two weeks. I realize I also haven't blogged in almost a week. I just haven't felt like I had anything important or interesting to say that I haven't said already. On Saturday I went on a boat ride on Lake Victoria and to the source of the Nile, which was really awesome. And Sunday I pretty much slept all day, which was amazing, and yesterday was a typical day here, hung out with the kids in the morning, went inside after it got hot and "auntie's skin was going to burn" and then later when it cooled down, met up with Hilary in town, did some shopping, went on a grocery store hunt for alfredo sauce, was highly unsuccessful, and then just relaxed all evening. The heat and humidity here just wipes you out whether you are actually tired or not. I can't believe I come home in a week. In some ways, I wish I could stay here for months, and in so many other ways, I miss Wal-mart and I'm ready to come home. Note to every American-proccessed cheese is the greatest luxury you could ever imagine, seriously. No one here sells cheese. I don't know how I can survive much longer without it. My only consolation is a can of cheese Whiz I brought with me that I have been daily rationing.
And now I shall continue my blog after taking thirty minutes to fix my internet connection...:) And because I just spent thrity minutes doing that, I totally don't remember my train of thought and what I was intending to say. And my internet just went out AGAIN, so when it comes back on, I will post this while I have the opportunity.

Wow. That's all I can say.

We went to the market yesterday afternoon and talk about a culture shock. Just as I was deciding what to blog about this, I thought about what it would be like to live like this. Every single one of these people were born into this, this is the only life they know and will probably ever know. It's just hard to believe that a place like this and a place like home can both exsist on the same planet in the same century. I just am really having a hard time putting it all into words, it was so intensly amazing. I also kind of wondered if we were going to make it out of there alive. I guess it's not too often then have "mzungu's"(white people) come through the market. Anyway, I don't feel like anything I say could do justice to the camaderie of this place, so I'll just post pictures...

Well, it's not raining...yet

So, I have less than two weeks till I come home. Now that I have recovered from the culture shock, I actually wish my trip was longer. The first few days I was here, it was so uncomfortably different than home, I just kept asking myself if I was crazy and why I was here. But now I have kind of adjusted and I am really enjoying this. The children are just so very amazing. The babies are precious and all of the preschoolers want to learn and learn and learn. Last night they wanted to do the hokey pokey, but they didn't know the words, so Beri and I jumped in and did it with them, it was so much fun. Today we are going to try to go to the market if it doesn't rain this afternoon. I am ready to some more shopping.

The people here are so curious about America and of course, Obama,lol. That is one of the first things that they ask is how anyone feels about Obama. And then they ask about the weather. Totally related subjects, I know.

Found out something interesting today, almost no one here even has running water in their houses. Can you imagine in 2008 not even having running water to take a shower? There is also no real order of justice here, and no law enforcement, just soldiers with guns. Very often people here, when caught stealing or hurting another person, the people in town will take it upon themselves to bring justice and thieves are usually beaten. It really shocked me to find out that they are punished by being stoned. Can you even fathom being beaten in the same way people of the Bible were, only two thousand years later???

My girly side came out the other day. I mailed my postcards and when I went to buy stamps at the post office, she handed me stamps that weren't self-adhesive. Like, somehow I had to get the backs of those buggers wet and I certainly wasn't gonna stick my tongue to them. Can you imagine what kind of germs were on those? So, I ended up sort of licking my finger and then sliming the stamps and then using germ-x. What would you have done in a situation like that Napoleon?

Guess what? It rained again.

The rainy season has begun and therefore 99.9% of the time, it is going to rain every afternoon. Which means my internet is going to be out every afternoon. Oh well. I did get a few pictures yesterday while I was out shopping before the rain started coming down. Bought some pretty awesome fabrics and things yesterday, but like I siad, I didn't get the chance to buy a lot because of the rain...


....

It rained.

And it rained. And it rained. All day yesterday. And my internet was out, but now it's back on and I will attempt to take pictures and go shopping today. Attempt being the key phrase. Oh and for those of you who happen to know that I haven't had an appetite and think I am wasting away to the width of a Twizzler, so far today I have eaten half a can of peaches and 7 or 8 cheese cracker things. And it's only Noon.
Update: I also ate a snack thing of cookies, and an entire bowl of rice. Can't go wrong with rice. My appetite is very good today.

You expect a place like this to exsist 100 years ago, or even 50, but instead it exsists now, where the rest of the world is decades ahead in society and technology. Sure, the people here have their cell phones and email addresses, oh and Crocs, you are cool here if you wear Crocs, but that's it. They still wear mostly handmade, mismatched, faded clothing; most of the women wear only skirts and dresses; they live in homes that you would see only in the most destitute areas in America; they eat food that they cook on stoves everyday,(meaning no microwave pop tarts and no prepackaged meals), and they still have a mentality of someone you might think lived 20th century Africa. It's almost like life for them has barely changed for them in the past 100 years.

Can we have a party when I get home?

Lol, I just started laughing when I thought about this, I just feel like I haven't seen anyone in ages. I am dreaming of a party with Wilson, and BAH, and Doran, or whatever he calls himself now, and lots of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. And I want to wear a dress and heels and blow-dry my hair. Am I dillusional???Anyway, I am probably going to go to town this afternoon and probably will shop and take pictures...

Blogspot is evil

I wrote out most of my blog earlier and now it's gone. Oh well. Gist of it was,I am feeling much better today after yesterday's horrible illness. And I don't feel like blogging right now, because blogspot is evil but I said I would even though I don't have anything epic to say. I will take pictures tomorrow.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!

Rode on a boda boda today. It was terrifying!

So...

Before I rode the motorcycle of death(with no helmet, that has to be illegal) Hillary and I walked into town this afternoon, did some shopping, etc. This place is so devestating, yet so very fascinating at the same time. Outside and inside of town there are buildings that were either burned or bombed and nothing remains but the brick exterior, I'm guess these are left over from the rein of Idi Amin. Everywhere there are reminders of tradegy. There are soldiers standing guard around the shops and on Main St. watching for thieves. There are children who walk the streets asking for money or working for barely anything. Even the adults only make between $1 and $10.00 a day, on a usual day. There are traffic attendants who work to collect parking fees, for about 20 cents each. The boda boda men usally only make about 30-50 cents for a short town ride, maybe a few dollars, if they are lucky. Groceries are fairly expensive here for them, but dude, talk about cheap compared to the USA. Gas here is about $7.00 a gallon.

In spite of all their hardships and difficulties and strife that these people are born into, most of them are fairly happy in their own way. They have made the choice to be joyful. They find a reason to smile.

The staff here at the orphanage is so great! All of the mamas(the Ugandan women employed here) are so very nice and most of them speak pretty good English. They are always asking me if it is summer or winter at home. And a few of them understand that we have a fall and then they ask me if it's fall at my house. And I don't know whether to just smile and say yes or to actually take the time to explain that we don't have much of a fall in Texas and that there isn't any snow falling there.

Okay, I have so much more I could say, but, as the great BAH once said...Hunger gets what Hunger wants. Toodles!

Oh and Alicia-I have been informed (by a google-master) that those random purple thingies are "Globe Amaranths". Just so you know...but I prefer random purple thingies, don't you?

Snaps

I want to post more pictures!!! But blogspot is possessed. Grrr.......

Ok, mom...here you go

And just so you know mom, you can tell everyone who kept saying there would be bugs the size of my hand and giant spiders and all of that ridiculous nonsense, the only bugs here are flies and mosquitos.

This is the view from the veranda just off the bedroom...there is no airconditioning! Oh and that's Lake Victoria in the background...



This is Isaac, one of the children in my group....:)

And Mebra...isn't she precious?

And this is Tom. As soon as he saw me Wednesday morning, he marched right up to me, yelled,"A new Auntie!", Stuck his hand out to shake mine and to introduce himself,lol....
Random purple thingies...

This isn't all...and blogspot is being annoying...will post more as I go,but I'm too tired to do it tonight.TTYL

Ugggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh...

Jet Lag.

Want to learn how to drive? Don't do it here.

Ok, so I rode into town today with Judy the director here, and I seriously thought I was going to die. Not only does everyone here drive on the wrong side of the road, there are no traffic laws whatsoever, and no parking lots, so everyone simply parks on the side of the street, and no stoplights or anything. On top of that there are bicycles and motorcycles(both called "boda bodas") weaving constantly in and out of traffic. It was insane...

I'm here! And alive!

Or I will be once the jet lag completely wears off. So the flight was horrendously long, I am dreading the 21 hours home, it's just awful. But I ended up on a plane full of missionaries,lol, so there certainly wasn't any fear of strangers.
I can't believe I'm really here. After months of talking about it, those painful shots, shopping and packing, I'm actually here. I got here about midnight(Ugandan Time) and after doing a few things, I fell into bed and slept until I woke up when the sun was up and it sounded like a million birds singing. I then realized it was only 6 am and that the sun rises REALLY early here. It's "winter" here and about 85 degrees. Everything is so very very green. I haven't really eaten anything but 2 granola bars since about 5:00 Monday afternoon. I just kept getting sick when I tried to eat. So note to everyone who wants to lose weight-simply board a really long flight with gross airplane food. I guaruntee results.
Thank you so very very very much to everyone who has supported me through the process of getting here, you have all been so very wonderful. Oh and Russ-you were right...I did find the bag very usefull. Like immediately useful. Katie, those are precious. I keep assuming I can get on and chat with everyone, but then I realize it's 2 am at hoome and no one wants to be on the internet at the time...lol
I'll upload some pictures later!
Tay

Guess what...?

Five and a half days!

Questions

What's it going to be like? Will I survive? what will I enjoy most? What will I miss most? How much peanut butter will I eat?

Two weeks and counting!

Ok, so today I packed most of my stuff and went shopping. For food. Lol, and other things, but food is the most important I believe. Anyway, this blog is really for posting things once I get OVER there.