HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year! As 2013 comes to an end I look back on everything that has happened in my life this past year. The biggest thing that happened was moving to Uganda with my family. It's crazy to think that was two months ago! I hope you all had an eventful year and I am looking forward to the adventures 2014 will bring!

TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Spent Sunday night preparing Christmas gifts for all of our wonderful friends we have made since moving here! I am so thankful that we have been able to really focus on the true meaning of Christmas this year and I am so grateful for all the wonderful people who we have be-friended since moving here! I will cherish their friendship forever.

Always keep the true meaning of Christmas close to your heart!

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

There have been days when I’ve felt homesick and there have been days when I have felt totally comfortable with my new life. But either way I want to avoid sulking about the things I miss. Today Im going to focus on all the things Im grateful for this week:

1.    My family – I don’t know what I would do without my family here. I have been so blessed with such an amazing family. We all get along super well, yet we all tease each-other non stop…in a friendly way and I love it!

2.    Laughter – Even though im half way across the world from home and people speak a different language, wear different clothes, eat different food. There is always laughter wherever you go!

3.    Chocolate advent calendar – It hasn’t felt much like Christmas lately, probably because we don’t have a tree, cold weather, lights or any of the “normal” stuff. BUT I do have a chocolate advent calendar that reminds me it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Thanks to my awesome cousin for that genius idea ;)

4.    Tea Tree oil – I would die without this stuff! I have not gone longer than three days without being biten by a mosquito and the best thing to relieve the constant itchiness is tea tree oil….it works wonders!

5.    Phone – Hearing my friends and families voices on the phone every once in a while is something I am so grateful for! Just the fact the I am here in Africa and they are in North America and we can have a conversation….its amazing

6.    Memories – On the first day of December I turned on some Christmas music and fell asleep thinking of all the christmas’s I’ve ever had. I’m so thankful to have such wonderful memories to look back on and I cherish them all deeply.

7.    One Upon A Time – It’s a TV show and Savannah and I are addicted to it! Sadly we only have two more episodes until were done season 2 (sad face) for the first few weeks here we could hide away to our room to watch some good ol TV and it was nice to have a break from all the craziness of outside.

8.    Chapattis! – The most delicious thing you will ever taste in your life…Mix together water, flour and some salt and deep fry it to make a chapatti! Its delicious….and yes maybe not super healthy for you but you gotta do what you got to do!

9.    Deodorant – No one wheres it here and ya its as bad as it sounds….I am so grateful that I grew up in a society that encourages, if not demanded everyone to wear deordorant! You can’t even buy normal deodorant here, just the crappy liquid stuff.

1- Safety – I feel like a lot of people have an image in their mind of Africa as very dangerous but its not. Sure, the first few days here I felt scared walking around but now its completely normal. I have never felt unsafe and I thank God everyday for keeping us safe.

What are you grateful for today?

INVITED TO LUNCH

Today we met a friend of ours, who had invited us to come over for lunch. We met him at the church where we then drove to a market to pick up some fruit and meat. I havn't been to very many markets, where there is food and people everywhere! And buying meat...it can make you lose your appetitie immediately as it just hangs their right in the door. It was nice to walk through the market and pick up some local food. On our way out we bought liam (8) some new flip flops from the side of the road. they are made out of tires and were $1.50! Liam is becoming more and more ugandan, he now wheres tires as shoes!

We spent the afternoon helping with the cooking and visiting with him and his family. It was a wonderful time except for when it rained! They had a tin roof so it was extremely loud! they brought all of their pots and pans full of food inside and continued cooking until the rain stopped enough to return outside (No there are no kitchens in most houses here, just coal burning outside with pots and pans). When the food was ready to eat he insisted that we all eat LOTS of food! I have never had so much food in my life, I literally had a mountain of food on my plate...I tried to be polite and each as much as I could but by the end I felt like I was going to burst so I may have left a few pieces on my plate...

Walking through the neighborhood and the market you realize how humble a life many Ugandans live. Even though they have so little they always have a smile on their face. They are the friendliest people I have ever met and the children are little bundles of happiness! As we were leaving we had to wait for a truck to move for about 10min. and while we were sitting in the car some children came up to our window, waved and ran away giggling. By the end they were at our window and we were practicing our lugandan with them...were a little rusty but we were able to ask their names and ages.

We have been here for 6 weeks and already things are seeming more normal. There are days when I am homesick and miss my loved ones back home but then there are days like today where I fall in love with this beautiful culture.

Buying meat at the market....

Buying some flip flops for Liam (Made out of tires)

Lunch: Rice, Matoke, G nuts,squash,cucumber,Cabbage,potatoes,pasta and meat

SATURDAY ADVENTURES IN KAMPALA

Last Saturday we decided to spend the day out. Because my mom is still not comfortable driving everywhere and Corey and Kyle are out doing stuff during the week, most of our day is spent at the house or close around it. I was excited to get out of the house for a bit and explore Kampala…little did we know how our day would turn out! Our first stop was to a paint shop to buy some brushes. While there we saw a tiny puppy walking around, I tried to convince my mom to let us take it home but she wouldn’t buy into me and Liam’s plan of adopting the dog. Then we drove what seemed forever due to traffic to get to a nice market where there is a lot of tourist stuff to look at. It was neat looking at the artwork etc. of Uganda. We ended up buying some Christmas cards to send to our family and friends back home. Then we all piled back into the car and decided to go and finish painting the bomgi logo before we went out for lunch (Keep in mind that eating out here is the best thing in the world because its when you can order something that is normal…a hamburger and fries! So I was looking forward to lunch). We arrive at the house where we are painting the Bomgi logo onto and Corey decides to use our car key to try and pry open the stubborn paint can… and OOPS he broke the car key in half! And of course at this particular time, Simbwa (The man who’s house were painting who knows everything you need to know about Uganda) is not at home and not answering his phone…then the phone line goes down so were stuck. We paint and wait. We eventually got ahold of Kyle who came and picked corey up on his Motorbike and long story short, we all had to get home on 2 Motorbikes…we were a sight to see and got a lot of heads turning our way as we drove by!

Oh and lets not forget to mention that while we were waiting to get picked up there were tons of grasshoppers flying around everywhere! A few landed on me and yes ill admit that I screamed and ran and all the little kids laughed when they saw one on my head! No we did not get a delicious lunch after all, but I did get a lesson in patience.