Are you sure?

There’s too much to say, so I’m reverting to my favorite tactic of writing in giant lists….

-         - Our new volunteers got here a little over a week ago! We got nine new girls which brought our number up to 22(?).  It’s definitely a lot of people in one house, but it’s great.  They have already been great assets to our team and are working on heading up some awesome projects. We are just one big happy family!

-          -Running record for most people in a 14 passenger taxi: 29

-        -  Running record for craziest things I have seen strapped onto the back of a little boda: bike, bed and chair, giant pig

-         - I’m starting to really like African food, not just tolerate it. The other day I was really hungry, and I just really wanted some matoke. Weird.

-        -  I was comfortable in a taxi the other day. Like completely comfortable. It was the weirdest thing.

-         - On Saturday we spent our WHOLE day at an “Introduction” ceremony.  This is a traditional African ceremony that’s part of the wedding culture.  Essentially, it’s a giant ceremony/party for the bride’s family to meet the groom’s family, and for the groom to pay his dowry. We didn’t know the bride or the groom, but we had a mutual friend with the groom who invited us come have this cultural experience. We rented gomezes (fancy African dresses) and spent 5 ish hours sitting and watching the whole ceremony. Well, watching in theory. I couldn’t actually see much. Or understand a word they were saying. But it was still cool….for the first little while. We did get to be a part of the little dancing processional that brought the gifts in for the bride’s family. That was fun. And we perfected our African “Ay yi yi yi yi!!” yells. It was a good experience to have while I’m here, but I probably wouldn’t sit through another one.

-       -   I almost died on a boda the other day. Okay, not really. But it was scary enough that we eventually just got off and got on a different one.

-      -    I bought some fabric today that is so African and beautiful! I’m really excited to get a skirt made out of it.

-       -   Sam, Christina, and I started our women’s group in Buhkaweka on Friday! We planned to have our first meeting with a few of the core women to introduce the idea and find out their level of interest, and then send them to mobilize more women for the next meeting. We had 13 women at our first meeting! And they were so excited about the whole thing! We gave them the goal of each recruiting 10 of their friends before our next meeting. We’ll see how that goes. I’m so excited to get this going!

-          -We sat in on a nursery school class the other day and it was the cutest! Ugandan school system involves lots of chants that the whole class does in unison. It’s kind of weird. But also cool. My favorite was the one we heard in nursery school though. One kid would stand up and say his part and then the rest of the class would chant their part back:

Kid: News! News!

Class: Yes please tell us!

Kid: Yesterday….

Class: Mmhmm?

Kid: I ate….

Class: Mmhmm?

Kid: Posho and Beans!

Class: And after you ate?

Kid: I got satisfied!

I wish I would have videotaped it. It was way cuter in person. But I just loved it.

-          -Sometimes Ugandans use words differently than we do in America. A favorite? “Are you sure?” I’ve decided this is the Ugandan equivalent of “Are you serious?” It threw me the first time Sam introduced me as her sister to someone, and they responded with “Are you sure?” Uh yeah, pretty sure we’re sisters….?

-        -  I’m going rafting on the Nile this weekend. Boom.