Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Settling into Uganda

A lot of little things have happened in the past week so hopefully I will be able to remember them. My roommate and I were talking with our mom and our brother Alex the other night and we were talking of African traditional weddings. Alex is very excited to have a lot of sisters now (through the program) because the brothers of the bride each get a chicken at the wedding. They each get a live chicken and if he doesn’t get his, the wedding is called off until it arrivesJ It was hilarious and he had us rolling on the ground with his impersonation of receiving his chicken or not receiving it. Another night our mom brought out all of her traditional clothing and tried all of them on for us, and then Kristina and I were allowed to try them on as well. It was amazing and hilarious and our mom is going to take us to get a dress made soon. She is going to take us to the place where she gets her clothes made for she knows that they will give us a good price. Our mom also has a friend that makes the most amazing bags; she came over to visit the other day and the lady said I could come over and she would show me how to make them. I can’t waitJ
The riots that many of you have heard about started on Thursday. My roommate and I hadn’t heard the news before we walked home (come to find out the other students were driven home and some had to stay on campus). We heard the news when we got home but didn’t realize the extent of the situation until that night when our brother got home. He had gone into town to pick up a book and had to hide behind a barricade and then ran home. We could hear the gunshots throughout the night but my roommate and I are not directly in the town and thus haven’t even seen the aftermath and the riots let alone the riots themselves, unlike some of the other IMME students. We are again allowed to walk into town so the problems must be much better. Thank you all for your prayers, they were much appreciated!
I am starting my second week of classes and so far they are going very well and are enjoyable, but we will see what my opinions are in a couple of more weeks. I feel as though I am still a little lost in some of my classes and not really knowing what is going on, but there are a lot of other people in the same boat which is comforting. My literature class is my favorite class, the teacher reminds me of YodaJ but he is great. It was a little embarrassing though, for I feel as though my name is the only name that the teacher knows; then he had the entire class clap for me after answering a question correctly. I was trying to slink down in my seatJ
This was our first weekend at home with our families and it was wonderful to relax and sleep-in. We were able to take naps after our lunches and to read and get some homework done, even though not nearly what I needed to get done. On Saturday our mom took us to this little factory (that you don’t even realize is there until you walk through this little opening) close to our house that makes placemats, bags, and shoes. It was amazing and cheap, for the prices were wholesale which is fantastic. We weren’t able to go into the factory part because the lady that walks you around wasn’t there, but hopefully we will go back soon to look around! Sunday was church and even though it wasn’t as amazing as the church in Rwanda it was still wonderful. Their concept of time was enlightening: the service starts at eight, we got there a few minutes late and we were the only ones there. The service at about 8:30 and by 9:00 it was starting to fill up, it was great! Sunday afternoon we had a massive storm that resembled a hurricane. It was incredible! Kristina and I wanted to go outside and play in the rain but our brothers wouldn’t let us for fear that we would get sick. They do not like rain. We were hanging out in their room and they were literally holding us back from going outside. It was beautiful!
They keep feeding us a ton of food and I am getting a little better at eating since I try not to eat lunch other than a piece of fruitJ They aren’t feeding us as much for breakfast, which is amazing, so at least it is not as painful to walk to school, but they are still feeding us a lot for dinner and for lunch over the weekend. At least the food is good and I am not tired of it yet even though I do dream of food from home.
I don’t remember if I mentioned this before but our oldest brother is a doctor. Over the weekend there was an emergency and a little boy came to our house; he had fractured both arms. His parents had taken him to a doctor in town but hadn’t set it right (or something to that effect) and so the parents brought the boy to our house and our brother re-casted both of his arms on our couch, it was crazy. They went the next day to Kampala (the capital) to have it officially x-rayed and casted in a hospital, but it was incredible to see him do it on the couch…crazy crazy. (Danielle, it was Margaret’s son).
I am basically a pro at squatting…the goal is to just approach it as a gamble, hit or miss you still win, and so far I have yet to miss. Bathing is going very well even though I sometimes think of a shower. But our water is also hot; they heat it up for us twice a day. Yes, we bath twice a day, or we are supposed to, I usually wash my body at night and then my hair in the morning. Our mom won’t show us how to wash our clothes, for she does then for her other children why not us, we also have a house maid that does the laundry so at least it is not just our mom doing all of it. Kristina and I finally convinced her to show us how to iron and she gave me a 90% and Kristina a 50%. It was very funny. I have to take these compliments where I can get them for every other time they are calling me fat or manlyJ At least I don’t have a low self-esteem, or I didn’t when I came anyway! Haha they don’t mean it as insults they are just very honest, even though my mom did say that I have a small waist, just broad shoulders and large hipsJ Please excuse any misspellings, I don’t have time to spell-check. I love you all very much and would love any comments (I have a contest with a friend who never gets any comments on his blog).
*Ooh it Is night and I just showed my family pictures of my families and they were like “ooh Rachel you are the biggest in your family…and your dad is very tall…and your older sister is very portable…and your sisters are very beautiful…and your mom is so small,” it’s like ‘sheesh Rachel what happened to you’ and I am just like ‘yep that’s me.’ Ooh the abuse that I go throughJ so funny, getting a little old, but still funny how open they are!

7 comments:

kentuckycuntrigurl said...

First of all, I think I am going to put money in your account for you to get me some bags, dresses, placemats, jewelry, and other cool things.
Second of all, am I the beautiful or portable one... and what exactly does she mean by portable?
I love you

Rachel Jones said...

You are both beautiful and Nikole is portable,and I have no idea what that means:)

kentuckycuntrigurl said...

well all I can say is atleast I am the beautiful one, and not portable, cause portable reminds me of porta johns, and if that is what she is thinking of when she says portable is a squatter, Im not so sure about this

Haylie said...

Rachel! I have only got to read Heather's blog so far, and so I am just now reading all of yours at once! It is such a blessing to read about your experiences!! I love it. And p.s. You are QUITE beauitful... Just so you know. :)We all miss and love you!!!

Unknown said...

I agree with Haylie (even though I don't know her, do I?) You are QUITE BEAUTIFUL inside & out. Love reading your blogs. Nice to finally know what a blog is.:)
Love you!!

Unknown said...

Rachel I am so proud of you and your courage to follow God to Africa. Keep posting things. Did you know you can tie your blogspot directly to facebook and reach even more people.

Unknown said...

Hi Rachel, my mom sent a link and I'm so glad she did. Your blog is so fun to read and your experiences are priceless! Best wishes to you! (your dad's cousin) Jim