i'm famous

Today was an absolutely awesome day! It started out with Jake, Lezlie, Alexis, Ryan, and I going to Kibubu to build another stove. James was there too. I like James; he is such a cool guy. It was a really hot day and we were out in the sun building the stove. Back in the US, I don’t like being sweaty; unless I’m playing a sport, but just walking around town or driving I don’t like it. But here, I don’t mind it. I enjoy being out in the hot sun and being kind of sweaty. Well, for the most part. There are times where it is annoying. Well we built the stove and headed back into town. Today was the inauguration for the new mayor of Lugazi. As we were walking down the street this guy started talking to us and told us we should come. We told him we would. We went to Nixon’s stand for lunch. We go there everyday. I usually get these scone things that are good and these fried balls of dough that are really good too. After lunch Jake, Ryan, and I went to Silda’s, the internet café. After that we decided to check out the inauguration.
We (this is only Jake, Ryan, and me) walk up, and as soon as we do this official guy, wearing a suit and dark glasses parts the crowd and waves for us to come. We were kind of hesitant but we did. We thought he just wanted us to sit in the front. But no, he told us to keep following him. We walked across this big open area in front of the stage and he sat us down in the V.I.P. area! On this side there was a huge tent and lots of chairs for the mayor and mayors from other towns and other important people. Yeah we were sitting with them! The mayor got up and gave a big speech and after that all the V.I.P. people started to go get some food, and a Ugandan pop star (the Britney Spears of Uganda) started to dance (and lip-synch) on the stage. After a bit this guy told us to go get in the line. While in line Kizza found us. (Kizza is cool. He helps us build the stoves and mushroom houses.) Then the mayor got up on stage and started dancing with the dancer. And then this guy told me to go up there. Yeah there were seriously 15 to 20,000 people there. Ryan and I got up there and danced in front of everyone with the mayor and the dancer! (Don’t worry Jake got it on video so I’m going to get it from him.) She moved her hips like crazy, and she did it all the time. When we got up there the whole crowd went crazy and started cheering. It was awesome. After the song we got back in line. The guy came back to us and moved us right to the front of the line! The food was pretty good. It was metooke, (it’s like mashed potatoes but it has bananas in it.) (I didn’t like it in the past, but this time it was pretty good.) rice, brown rice, this peanut sauce, meat, and green stuff. It was pretty good. We ate it with our hands! After that, the guy that has been giving us all this V.I.P. treatment took us to the mayor and we met him. (He was wearing this cool robe thing over his suit.) Yeah, so I shook his hand! Then we walked back to the house.
It was such an awesome day. The guy that was helping us told me that I was a good dancer. And then he told me that I need to play in the soccer game tomorrow! Tomorrow is Martyrs day and a bunch of people from Uganda, Rwanda, and a bunch of other countries/places walk to this church in Mukono (I think). Supposedly it holds 500,000 people! And I guess they have a soccer game to celebrate or something. So I think most of us are going to walk there in the morning, and then when we come back we’ll go watch the soccer game. And I guess I’ll play! I’m super excited!
Nope, didn’t make it to soccer. It took 3 hours to walk to the Martyrs day thing and then it took 3 hours to drive back. It rained and a tour bus got stuck in the mud and caused a huge traffic jam, so by the time we got back to Lugazi the soccer game was over.

Mas

oh also yesterday (sunday) we had a big rainstorm. (like we do pretty much everyday) the power went out (which isn't uncommon) but i guess that it rained so hard that it eroded part of our wall surrounding our house. so now we have a huge gap in the wall and all the neighbors just stood around looking in at us for a long time. i got pictures but i'll put them up next time. also we have an ant infestation. there are billions of them outside our house and in the garbage. they bite too. again i'll post the pictures next time.
ok pictures are...
a group of us at dominoes in kampala. a little girl that just plays around where we eat lunch everyday. me and a little boy at a school that we built a stove at. me and wilson at the soccer game (yes he's wearing a mia hamm US soccer jersey!). me cutting a log for the mushroom house with a machete! me at the youth outreach mission office. me and nixon (he makes rolex's for us). me and david with his family (he only sees them every 3-4 months). me. and me and david.

more pictures

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After the movie I got some ice cream which was pretty good. then we went to the supermarket in the mall. I got 2 boxes of cereal (frosted flakes, and coco krispies) both of those together cost about $13. but it's worth it. i already ate my frosted flakes though. after that we waited for the taxi to pick us up. the driver that took us there told us he'd come back to pick us up at 6:30. but we needed 2 taxis so a couple of us went to go find one and after awhile we ended up getting into this big truck. it looked like one of those trucks that carries refugees. anyway it was an uncomfortable w hour drive. we kept stopping to pick up and drop off people. and when we got into the truck we agreed on paying 1000 shillings each. but when we were almost home they pulled over to get our money and they said 2000. stupid cheapskate losers. sorry but it makes me mad that they always rip us off. i wouldn't have paid except some of the guys that were from the youth outreach mission said to just pay. i really think that i could get around uganda much better by myself than to be with a ugandan. they don't barter. when i've bartered myself i can get a cheaper price then they can when they do it for me. i guess americans are just more stubborn. atleast i am. if we weren't with them i would have argued with the driver. even though it was only 50 cents more! but still it's not fair that they think they can rip us off. and actually 1000 shillings is worth something to them. oh well. that was my weekend. now here are some pictures.

Kampala

Friday wasn't productive at all. We had 1 stove to build at this HIV/AIDS center but there were a lot of people already going to that. I would've just ended up sitting around watching. So I spent the day at the house and in town. Later in the day at 3 we went down to the Youth Outreach Mission office and met up with Wilson and Robert and the some other members and then went to Mehta stadium and organized a soccer game with the street kids. it was cool we gave them enough jerseys for 2 teams and it was fun to watch them play. Saturday we went into Kampala. It wasn't all that fun. We went to the Garden City Mall and we had lunch. (hamburger and fries which wasn't all that great) Then we all split up and i went to a movie with Shaun. We saw Duplicity. (wasn't amazing but wasn't bad) sorry times running out and i gotta hurry i'll write the rest later. we did drive home in a refugee looking truck though. more on that later. bye

these are pictures of me swimming in lake victoria at the source of the nile, some scarecrow guy on stilts dancing in the market, my bedroom in the garage, (i'm on the bottom bunk), me and a kid at the orphanage, and a view of our front yard from the balcony.

and the pictures below are of me and some people doing the haka for our talent show one night, more kids at the orphanage, and me and noel a cool girl from the orphanage

This past week

Being a Gardner, I like to take my time in the library. Take in a good book, or just use what’s in there like Calvin and Hobbes. The problem with Africa is 1 – no privacy, so I can’t just take my time on the only seat toilet. (Plus it doesn’t really flush so that’s no good.) And 2 – all the toilets are squatters (except the one mentioned). So I can’t really take my time and relax if my legs are aching from squatting for so long.
Today (Tuesday) I felt a lot better than yesterday but I was still tired and have a sore throat. This morning we met with this HIV/Aids group and talked about building a stove and a mushroom farm for them. Then this afternoon I went to the hospital with Ryan to give Josephine a schedule of the job shadowing that some people are going to do. I could watch them operate on someone if I wanted to. I think I might! Then we met with this youth outreach group. There are some cool people in there. Not sure exactly what we’re going to be doing with them yet. Something about going to schools. Then I just came back and chilled. Oh, and I found gingersnaps in one of the supermarkets here! I needed those. But I’m still craving real American food like fruity pebbles or cocoa pebbles! I hear they have some semi-American cereal at the American supermarket in Jinja. We’re going there this weekend to go rafting on the Nile and bungee jumping! So I’ll pick some snacks there. I hear they also have teddy grahams!
Wednesday morning I woke up and you know what they say… when you’re sleeping on a cot and you don’t have to push a lot, diarrhea. Yep! Don’t worry mom I took imodium and am eating bananas and rice. We went to Kibubu today, which is about a 15 - 20 minute walk from our house, and we built a stove at James’ house. James is a cool guy. He works at one of the internet café’s and he told me about the school up there. So I set up a time to go build a stove at the school, which was Monday, but I was sick so I wasn’t able to go. I was bummed. But I got to go back today because we filled in that stove with clay and helped build a stove in his house. We’re going to do more up so I’m excited because it’s really pretty up there. I imagined Africa more like it is up there. It’s more jungly and green and on a hill that looks out over Lugazi.
After that we took a boda, (motorcycle taxi) into town because the Mamatoto choir was going to perform for us. It was good I guess. The guy talked forever and I was starving but the kids had good dance moves and lip-synched great! Haha. Then they did a poem with the whole alphabet about AIDS and abstinence and my favorite part was when they got to Z they said “zip up and keep it zipped!” Then we went to this HIV/AIDS center to look building a stove and a garden and a mushroom hut thing there. That’s about it for my day. I’m trying to post pictures with these, but the internet is slow and retarded, so I’ll see what I can do.
Thursday was a real lazy day. There was seriously nothing going on. I had 2 meetings about projects and both of them were at the house. Other than that I had nothing. So I went into town and went to the internet café and then this restaurant and had an omelet and fries. The omelet was just eggs so nothing special and the fries were ok. All the restaurants here are pretty much the same. They all serve rice, beans, sweet potato, metoke (can’t remember what it is but it’s not that good), and meat. Then I came back to the house and just chilled. It’s kinda boring and I’m hungry and don’t have any snacks.
Friday a couple of us went to Kampala (the capital) for some mantivities! Since there are more girls here, us guys decided we needed some man time. Although 2 girls did come with us. So on the way to Kampala we agreed on paying 2000 shillings each. When we get there they decide to change it to 2500 shillings. Which is only 25 cents more but still it’s the fact that they were trying to cheat us. We stood our ground and wouldn’t pay them. Then Ivan in the front seat turns around and yells “they’re taking us to the cops!” Of course we didn’t believe them, but sure enough they did. As soon as we saw the guys with AK-47’s we paid them the extra 500. Stupid taxi drivers. We then ate at dominoes. It wasn’t as good as American, but it was still delicious! We then walked to the Garden City mall. They have a supermarket there with some American food. I got some frosted flakes and a kit kat bar. I’m so happy! After that we went to the movie theater and watched Angels and Demons. Good movie by the way. It felt good being in Kampala because it felt more like we were in America. When we got back to Lugazi, I took my wallet out to pay the taxi. I set it down on my lap and forgot about it. I had my license 2 debit cards, about 80,000 shillings (35-40$) and 12$ in USD. The next morning I was going to talk to Ivan to see if he knew the driver. And he said “I found your wallet.” His story is that he left his pizza in the taxi and took a boda to get it. While looking for his pizza he found my wallet. Or the driver had it and he got it from him. (I’ve heard both versions) But when I get my wallet back all the shillings are gone but the American money is still there. So not to blame Ivan or not but it is kinda sketchy. Plus someone said they saw him steal one of the shirts hanging out to dry. Either way though I’m just glad that I got it back.
Then on Saturday we went to Jinja to bungee jump and raft the nile. Bungee jumping was way cool and I got my head dunked in the Nile when I jumped. I got a video of it but Ivan was taking it and he was zoomed in and he doesn’t really know how to use a camera so it kinda sucks. Rafting the nile was awesome. We were able to jump out and swim a lot. There were some stretches between the rapids where we had to paddle a lot and so we were all getting super tired. They did feed us lunch though which was way good, even though it was just sandwiches. The last rapid we went on was class 5 I think. It was crazy. Our raft flipped (I think Olow our guide did it on purpose) and I went under. It felt like a really long time and I was running out of air. Just when I didn’t think I could take it I popped up for a second and then went back under. I was getting tossed every which way! My friend that came last year said “you feel like you’re going to die, but then you don’t.” That’s what it felt like! I was floating in front of the raft and we headed toward the side. There were a lot of rocks and you’re supposed to put your feet up in front of you. Yeah I didn’t really do that so my shins got banged up and bled a little.
At the end they had a little bbq with sis kabobs and sodas. Not a whole lot but it was still good. Needless to say I’m really sun burnt and tired and ache. Well that was pretty much my weekend. Hopefully this week I have more stuff to do so I don’t just sit around bored all day.
Sunday I stayed home from church and slept all day. Then in the evening Drew, Kellyn, Kat, Kristen, Melissa, and I went to the police station to tell them about all the missing things and my wallet. (There have been many things gone missing and then some Ivan “finds.” Our guard, David, suspects Ivan and doesn’t trust him. Things have gone missing with last years volunteers also.) Anyway, we found out that Ivan was in custody. It was one of the hardest things that I’ve had to do. We had to tell the police all the things with Ivan there. I feel bad because I hated to accuse Ivan of all these things because I felt like he was my friend, but it only makes sense that he was the one. At the police station he just sat there. At one point he had a couple of tears. It was just really hard. So he’s staying in jail tonight and we’re going back tomorrow to meet the taxi driver and maybe go search where Ivan said he was staying. I feel bad but then again Ivan has been pretty sketchy. He doesn’t get us good deals anywhere. For example, (according to David) at the market a pineapple would cost 500 shillings, for us they would charge 1000. But if we went with Ivan it would be 1500. Then Ivan would go back later and get some of the money. Maybe that’s why the taxi driver raised our price to 2500.
K real quick on Ivan. He’s a punk. We told him all we wanted was for him to be honest with us and get our stuff back and he would be free. He said give me 2 days and I’ll get it. Yeah right. He’d just run off. Also, david said he’s part of this group of bad kids. I guess like a gang.

no pictures

i tried putting pictures on but it didn't work and now i don't have time. i will later

the past week

Hi Ok where to begin… umm… this past week we basically just started working on our projects. Like meeting with people, setting up meetings, learning to build the stoves, and finding more projects. On Monday and Wednesday I went to the orphanage and played with the kids. It was tons of fun. One kid, Roger, taught me how to play the drums. We went to the hospital to see what we could do there, and then we got a little tour of it. I sure hope I don’t get hurt or sick enough to have to go there. Kind of ironic because I’m sick today (more on that later). They have a huge room with tons of beds and a little 3 foot wall separating the contagious from the non-contagious. Yeah, real sterile. It also kinda looked like it could’ve been used in some scary movie. It’s all concrete (like every building) and everything is metal. Like the baby cribs, beds, and the beds with wheels.
This weekend was good though. Friday night we had a talent show. One of the guys here is on the BYU rugby team (who are national champions) and he know the haka. Or one version of it. So he taught some of us. On Saturday we went into Jinja because they have some American food there. So I had a hamburger and a strawberry milkshake! Not the best American food but it still tasted pretty good. then we did some shopping. Sunday we went back to Jinja for church and there was a baptism right after. It took 9 times for him to go all the way under.
Well in the middle of the night I woke up and blew chunks. Literally it was very chunky and disgusting. (wish I got pictures!) then I drank some water, and a little bit later threw that up. And then a little bit later I threw up whatever I had left. It’s not just me either. There’s about 5 or 6 of us that have thrown up. So we all stayed home today. I’ve just been in bed all day until now. But I still am not 100%. Someone went down and bought all of us sprties, which was good. I’m trying to drink water and I’m really really thirsty but I’m afraid I won’t keep it down. Plus it’s warm water (as usual) I just really want some cold water! I told someone to pick me up some from town so I hope they remember. I did take a shower. Which consists of pumping water into a bucket and splashing it on me. But I just filled the bucket and sat in it. It felt good but it wasn’t cold enough. Oh well. Well my cold water is here and I’m thirsty and not feeling the best. I’ll try to post pictures. I heard someone say that they couldn’t get pictures on there blog so we’ll see.

Africa

I'm in Africa! It’s way cool. Umm… I don’t really feel like writing on my blog right now because I just wrote 2 longs emails and it’s late and the roosters crow at 7 and I don’t want to have to repeat everything for the 3^rd time. I did go to African Paradise last night! It’s a dance club and it’s sweet. They play this song we call “the Obama song” it’s a song that talks all about obama and how he’s the African hero. It’s awesome and I’ve heard it a ton. they played it 3 times at the club last night. When we walk down the street we hear2 things. People yelling “Muzungu, Muzungu” (white person) and “Obama” (with fists raised in the air) We don’t have running water right now because they turned it off for some reason. So it’ll be back on on Monday I guess. Makes going #2 real fun when you have to squat and aim for a small hole. Needless to say, my aim needs to get better.

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this is a test to see if i know how to actually do this