Wow. I seriously need to write more. Too much happens and then I forget what to write about. Good thing Becca dear is sittin' right hur next to me, so I can ask her what we did.
Last Wednesday we ....Becca doesn't remember either.
Uh..........Oh yeah! We did two home visits. They were pretty cool, nothing super exciting though. We got to hold the most adorable baby ever.
Thursday we ...I seriously cannot freakin remember!
Okay so FRIDAY I do remember that we ate at Wilson's house AGAIN. His family is so sweet! Oli malungi nyo! And ...I promise we've been working hard and doing stuff although it doesn't sound like it.
OKAY OKAY OKAY! I remember awesome stuff to talk about. So SATURDAY was one of my very favorite days in all of my days here in Uganda so far! In the morning we went to a market in Kampala called Owino Market. It is INSANE. Okay so this thing has got to be at the very least, two or three acres. It is amazing. And I have never seen anything like it before. It is all these shops, but they are tiny, like maybe 5 feet by five feet and they are packed with stuff. And they have stuff hanging all the way till like 15 feet up. I have no idea how in the heck they do it. But then they are so packed in there that you can't even see the sky. There is everything from watches and jewelry and shoes and clothes to g-nuts and flour and matoke to witch doctor medicines and jars and bottles and weird things. It's like an African Wal-mart. Except the aisles are like 2.5 feet wide and there are about 10 people with in arm's reach. It is crazy. I can't even explain it. And I SO wanted to take a picture but was terrified of getting my camera stolen...so decided against it.
After going to this market and getting about 15 marriage proposals, we went to the ARA, the American Recreational Association or something like that. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! This was my first 4th of July EVER without my whole fam damily and I was a little sad, BUT it turned out to be the best Independance Day EVER. No offense fam.
At this little celebration there were so many white people I thought I might wet my pants. And it was funny too cause everyone there was saying the same thing. Haha, people were whispering to their friends, "I don't remember ever seeing so many mzungus...this is so weird." And it was crazy to hear them speak english constantly in an American accent and everything. It was super weird. But we had a BARBECUE with HOT DOGS. I don't really love hot dogs all that much but it was so good. They had hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, grilled chicken (oh. my. gosh. so. freakin. good.), potato salad, coleslaw, ketchup and MUSTARD. Do you KNOW how long its been since I've seen mustard? Yeah. Awesome. Then sprite and fanta and coke and all of the goodness. Later they even had a HUGE AMERICAN FLAG CAKE! I've never been so patriotic! But seriously. I almost cried during the star-spangled banner. And the marines were there. And ....it was just awesome. I love America.
So we had some performances from some awesome dance groups ...traditional African dancing. It was funny though cause I felt like I was in happy valley at a ward thing in which we hired a group of African people who are randomly in Utah to come and perform for us. But then there was a lot of alcohol and I knew I wasn't in Happy Valley at a ward event anymore haha. So...like everyone there got totally wasted, except for us of course. And the funny thing is that ...okay so we started dancing cause they started to play real good music. Like Lady Gaga and stuff. It was so fun. And about Twenty-something of us were going crazy! And some guy from BYU who is working at the embassy was there...but he didnt' know we were from BYU yet. He saw us and thought we were totally wasted and some guy next to him was laughing so hard at how much alcohol he thought we had in us. Then he saw Jake's shirt that was a BYU shirt and came up to us and thought it was so funny. And what makes it even funnier is that it was like a normal BYU dance...like just a crazy one at the Riv or something and there's never any alcohol. I love BYU. I love Mormons.
Speaking of Mormons, WILSON CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!!!!! He loved it and is going again! We gave him a Book of Mormon today and he's really excited! What a sweetheart! I'm really excited!
Well, I think that's enough for today and remind me to write more! Is anyone even reading this anymore besides my family and Bonnie Claire? Are they the only ones who still love me? I feel like a missionary who has been out for six months and everyone starts forgetting about him/her. Yeeeeep. I still got a while to go and want to hear from ya'll! I love you all.
Love, Dani
Monday, July 6, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Amazalibwa Amalungi
Happy Birthday Wilson Levi Laker!
Yesterday was awesome! I am so happy to be back in Lugazi!
In the morning, I worked on the extravaganza with Becca and Youth Outreach.
In the afternoon, I did teacher training and music lessons.
And in the evening, I partied it up with HELP-International and my favorite Youth Outreach boys. It was Wilsey-Poo's 21st birthday and we told him we were having a party (they almost NEVER celebrate birthdays here). He invited us to his house and it was so much fun! His family had been cooking for hours and fed us this beautiful and delicious African meal. Wils did try to force-feed all of us, but it was really good! Becca got him a cake and a picture framed of all of us. He was so happy...what a sweetie. He was crying almost the entire night just cause he was so happy! He had to keep on leaving the room. The hardest part about leaving the beautiful land of Uganda for me will be to leave my youth outreach friends, Mary, and David. I don't even know if I will be able to say goodbye. It will be too hard. I don't know when I will see these people next. I'm also going to have a horrid time trying to say goodbye to the Mukono branch. What amazing people they have here in East Africa.
Summing it all up...yesterday was a good day and I love Uganda.
Yesterday was awesome! I am so happy to be back in Lugazi!
In the morning, I worked on the extravaganza with Becca and Youth Outreach.
In the afternoon, I did teacher training and music lessons.
And in the evening, I partied it up with HELP-International and my favorite Youth Outreach boys. It was Wilsey-Poo's 21st birthday and we told him we were having a party (they almost NEVER celebrate birthdays here). He invited us to his house and it was so much fun! His family had been cooking for hours and fed us this beautiful and delicious African meal. Wils did try to force-feed all of us, but it was really good! Becca got him a cake and a picture framed of all of us. He was so happy...what a sweetie. He was crying almost the entire night just cause he was so happy! He had to keep on leaving the room. The hardest part about leaving the beautiful land of Uganda for me will be to leave my youth outreach friends, Mary, and David. I don't even know if I will be able to say goodbye. It will be too hard. I don't know when I will see these people next. I'm also going to have a horrid time trying to say goodbye to the Mukono branch. What amazing people they have here in East Africa.
Summing it all up...yesterday was a good day and I love Uganda.
Rwanda Rwanda
Wow! I can’t believe a whole week went by! Time is going faster and faster and I am over half-way till I come home now! I have so much to say and if this keyboard wasn’t ridiculously messed, then it would be quite a bit easier.
So, the highlight of last week was definitely Thursday! We were at the youth outreach office and they wanted to go do a home visit. Honestly, I was not very excited…at all. I was not feeling well and I still needed to pack for Rwanda and do ten million other things. But I went. We hop on boda’s, me, Becca, Wilson, and Godfrey and head up. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s about a 20 minute boda ride from Lugazi and in one of the rural areas of Mukono District. We got up to this adobe-mud house thing. It was about 10 feet by 10 feet and there’s a whole family that lives there. This lady is a widow, taking care of her whole family. We met her entire family, none of them speaking English, and brought them food and some things like soap and hygiene kits. We even brought some toys for the little kids. They were so grateful. Like on their hands and knees. It amazed me. We spent maybe like $10.00 on this family and they were down on the ground giving thanks. It’s kind of a wonderful feeling and a horrible feeling at the same time. I am so happy to help them, but I did hardly anything, you know? And I just wish I could give them everything I have. Everything they need. I am so blessed. I just bawled the entire time I was there. Wilson offered a prayer and we all held hands. Two little white girls and a bunch of Africans, all holding hands and thanking God. Asking Him to help this incredible family. The spirit was so strong.
Friday was a very very VERY long day. Up at six in the morning. Straight on our way to Kampala. Becca was so kind to go with me and spend half the day in THE SURGERY.
We did a blood count there and a thyroid test. The thyroid test came out totally fine. The blood count was weird. He said there was something weird about it. He said it is most likely just a virus and I need to just wait it out. I’ve just never had a virus last for a month before…oh well.
After the doctors, Becca and I went to the mall. And guess what we did? You will never guess. I promise. We got pedicures. And went to the Hannah Montana Movie!!!!!!! Oh how I love that movie. There’s not much to do in Kampala besides Americanized stuff or getting attacked by a random man who wants to marry you. We chose the Americanized stuff. We ate good food. Later on saw ANOTHER movie…Transformers II. Sick. I hate that movie so much. I hated the first one and in this one when Shia goes to robot heaven…I was done. But we had to wait for the bus to Rwanda which left at 1am. So we went and got no the bus to go to Rwanda. It was…horrid. I don’t think I slept at all. Maybe like an hour total. The road is so freakin bumpy. I thought the bus was going to tip over like last year. SCARY.
We got there and there was NO WHERE to get money…because…surprise! It was the national holiday of cleaning that they have EVERY last Saturday of the month. And EVERYTHING was closed. Eventually we worked it out, got to our hotel, and got settled in. We met up with the branch president, Eric Hyde at this mall place. He was super nice and took us to the Genocide museum. He’s done investigations on the genocide for over 2 years now and knows TONS about it. It was a beautiful memorial and I learned a lot. It’s so tragic what had to happen, but Rwanda has recovered and is an even greater country now.
Let me tell you a bit about Rwanda. It is SPOTLESS. I had kind of forgotten that paved roads and streetlights existed. But it is beautiful and clean..not an ounce of garbage on the road. The only thing that sucks is that maybe like 2 people speak English in the whole freaking country, but we worked it out! No big deal!
Sunday we went to church at the branch president’s house. I’ve never done that at a house before so it was pretty cool. Awesome branch. Then Sunday I met up with some friends of the family (mom! I met noella and her husband casimir! You’ll have to tell Gertrude so I can show her pics when I get home! They were so nice and bought me a soda and stuff! Soooo nice!). Dinner, then to the BP’s house again to watch the football (soccer) match….in which our poor team sucked the second half.
It was a good vacation and I’m glad I went. I am exhausted because I hardly slept, but it really was a good experience.
I still have tons to say, but I have to go…so…I’ll write more often now hopefully! Love you all!! Thank yu so much for your prayers and support, really. I am so blessed, especially with friends and family. And I am so grateful!
**BONNIE. SAVE $30 DOLLARS FOR WHEN I GET HOME. YOU ARE COMING WITH ME TO DO A PEDICURE. Just so you know. I think it’s only 20 but I’m not one hundred percent sure on that. I don’t know why I just typed out one hundred percent an didn’t just do 100% but I did. So…yeah. Save it girl.
**JESSI. I love you. Could you please do the newsletter? I got your e-mail and loved it and will write when I have more time!
So, the highlight of last week was definitely Thursday! We were at the youth outreach office and they wanted to go do a home visit. Honestly, I was not very excited…at all. I was not feeling well and I still needed to pack for Rwanda and do ten million other things. But I went. We hop on boda’s, me, Becca, Wilson, and Godfrey and head up. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s about a 20 minute boda ride from Lugazi and in one of the rural areas of Mukono District. We got up to this adobe-mud house thing. It was about 10 feet by 10 feet and there’s a whole family that lives there. This lady is a widow, taking care of her whole family. We met her entire family, none of them speaking English, and brought them food and some things like soap and hygiene kits. We even brought some toys for the little kids. They were so grateful. Like on their hands and knees. It amazed me. We spent maybe like $10.00 on this family and they were down on the ground giving thanks. It’s kind of a wonderful feeling and a horrible feeling at the same time. I am so happy to help them, but I did hardly anything, you know? And I just wish I could give them everything I have. Everything they need. I am so blessed. I just bawled the entire time I was there. Wilson offered a prayer and we all held hands. Two little white girls and a bunch of Africans, all holding hands and thanking God. Asking Him to help this incredible family. The spirit was so strong.
Friday was a very very VERY long day. Up at six in the morning. Straight on our way to Kampala. Becca was so kind to go with me and spend half the day in THE SURGERY.
We did a blood count there and a thyroid test. The thyroid test came out totally fine. The blood count was weird. He said there was something weird about it. He said it is most likely just a virus and I need to just wait it out. I’ve just never had a virus last for a month before…oh well.
After the doctors, Becca and I went to the mall. And guess what we did? You will never guess. I promise. We got pedicures. And went to the Hannah Montana Movie!!!!!!! Oh how I love that movie. There’s not much to do in Kampala besides Americanized stuff or getting attacked by a random man who wants to marry you. We chose the Americanized stuff. We ate good food. Later on saw ANOTHER movie…Transformers II. Sick. I hate that movie so much. I hated the first one and in this one when Shia goes to robot heaven…I was done. But we had to wait for the bus to Rwanda which left at 1am. So we went and got no the bus to go to Rwanda. It was…horrid. I don’t think I slept at all. Maybe like an hour total. The road is so freakin bumpy. I thought the bus was going to tip over like last year. SCARY.
We got there and there was NO WHERE to get money…because…surprise! It was the national holiday of cleaning that they have EVERY last Saturday of the month. And EVERYTHING was closed. Eventually we worked it out, got to our hotel, and got settled in. We met up with the branch president, Eric Hyde at this mall place. He was super nice and took us to the Genocide museum. He’s done investigations on the genocide for over 2 years now and knows TONS about it. It was a beautiful memorial and I learned a lot. It’s so tragic what had to happen, but Rwanda has recovered and is an even greater country now.
Let me tell you a bit about Rwanda. It is SPOTLESS. I had kind of forgotten that paved roads and streetlights existed. But it is beautiful and clean..not an ounce of garbage on the road. The only thing that sucks is that maybe like 2 people speak English in the whole freaking country, but we worked it out! No big deal!
Sunday we went to church at the branch president’s house. I’ve never done that at a house before so it was pretty cool. Awesome branch. Then Sunday I met up with some friends of the family (mom! I met noella and her husband casimir! You’ll have to tell Gertrude so I can show her pics when I get home! They were so nice and bought me a soda and stuff! Soooo nice!). Dinner, then to the BP’s house again to watch the football (soccer) match….in which our poor team sucked the second half.
It was a good vacation and I’m glad I went. I am exhausted because I hardly slept, but it really was a good experience.
I still have tons to say, but I have to go…so…I’ll write more often now hopefully! Love you all!! Thank yu so much for your prayers and support, really. I am so blessed, especially with friends and family. And I am so grateful!
**BONNIE. SAVE $30 DOLLARS FOR WHEN I GET HOME. YOU ARE COMING WITH ME TO DO A PEDICURE. Just so you know. I think it’s only 20 but I’m not one hundred percent sure on that. I don’t know why I just typed out one hundred percent an didn’t just do 100% but I did. So…yeah. Save it girl.
**JESSI. I love you. Could you please do the newsletter? I got your e-mail and loved it and will write when I have more time!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The World Keeps Spinnin
So I left off yesterday in between my doctors appointments.
I got back to the doctors office and the hillarious british doctor, Dr. Stockley (who in fact has met the Queen of England and is like a Knight or something like that--freakin awesome), comes out. I am in the waiting room with like 10 other people and with a moderately loud voice says, "did you produce a sample?" Everyone turns and looks at me and I BURST out laughing. I am so immature. And Dr. Stockley just looks at me with a straight face..waiting for my answer. After about 15 seconds, I pull myself under control and muster out, "yeah, it's down in the lab."
The blood test, the...other test show nothing. We are in Dr. STockleys office now and he is just thinking ...he was so awesome. The best doctor I've ever had. He is looking over the symptoms. Over and over and over. He has this cup of water he's sipping out of occasionally. Then goes back to thinking. Thinking. He pops up his head, picks up his drinking cup, throws the water out the window over his left shoulder, puts the cup in my face and says, "give me a urine sample." Um....okay....
Nothing shows up from that. I'm even really hydrated, and the apprentice girl says she's proud of me for drinking so much water.
Eventually he decides he wants me to come in for more testing on Friday. He says, "It could be something like the beginnings of a horrible case of TB or it could be something to do with thyroid, come back on Friday." Yeah that was comforting. Haha.
But he was so awesome. THE best doctor I have ever seen. And if you know me, you know I've seen a lot of doctors in my life. He wants me to take my temp 4 times a day...and then we'll see on Friday.
Well, other than that, nothing exciting. I'll be heading to RWANDA on Friday which will be SUPA cool! I can't wait. I've bought a bus ticket and will be getting my hotel booked tonight.
I was just on facebook for a few minutes looking at what all my friends are up to and realized that I don't really want to go home. The only reason I want to go home is because I miss a few choice people. But other than that....there's no reason to. I forget how boring Utah is in comparison to my life here. Melissa and I were talking about ityesterday and there is NEVER a dull day here. Every day is weird.
I love it!
P.s. Melissa was SO awesome to come with me and be such a good friend while I was there. She is so so so cool.
I got back to the doctors office and the hillarious british doctor, Dr. Stockley (who in fact has met the Queen of England and is like a Knight or something like that--freakin awesome), comes out. I am in the waiting room with like 10 other people and with a moderately loud voice says, "did you produce a sample?" Everyone turns and looks at me and I BURST out laughing. I am so immature. And Dr. Stockley just looks at me with a straight face..waiting for my answer. After about 15 seconds, I pull myself under control and muster out, "yeah, it's down in the lab."
The blood test, the...other test show nothing. We are in Dr. STockleys office now and he is just thinking ...he was so awesome. The best doctor I've ever had. He is looking over the symptoms. Over and over and over. He has this cup of water he's sipping out of occasionally. Then goes back to thinking. Thinking. He pops up his head, picks up his drinking cup, throws the water out the window over his left shoulder, puts the cup in my face and says, "give me a urine sample." Um....okay....
Nothing shows up from that. I'm even really hydrated, and the apprentice girl says she's proud of me for drinking so much water.
Eventually he decides he wants me to come in for more testing on Friday. He says, "It could be something like the beginnings of a horrible case of TB or it could be something to do with thyroid, come back on Friday." Yeah that was comforting. Haha.
But he was so awesome. THE best doctor I have ever seen. And if you know me, you know I've seen a lot of doctors in my life. He wants me to take my temp 4 times a day...and then we'll see on Friday.
Well, other than that, nothing exciting. I'll be heading to RWANDA on Friday which will be SUPA cool! I can't wait. I've bought a bus ticket and will be getting my hotel booked tonight.
I was just on facebook for a few minutes looking at what all my friends are up to and realized that I don't really want to go home. The only reason I want to go home is because I miss a few choice people. But other than that....there's no reason to. I forget how boring Utah is in comparison to my life here. Melissa and I were talking about ityesterday and there is NEVER a dull day here. Every day is weird.
I love it!
P.s. Melissa was SO awesome to come with me and be such a good friend while I was there. She is so so so cool.
The Surgery
Warning: This blog will be very detailed dealing with my insides. I apologize in advance. Okay it's not really that bad, I just wanted to say that.
So....I swear I start every sentence off with so. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I still am not feeling well and I went to Nyombi (the doctor in Lugazi) who said I do not have malaria anymore...hm.... But I still have many similar symptoms. I am so freakin tired every day and have these mini cough attacks like 3 or 4 times a day that last for an hour (or sometimes in the middle of the night). I also get really bad headaches and some dizziness. My parents suggested to just go get it checked out because it's better to know than to risk it here in lovely East Africa.
There's this western medicine-practicing clinic in the middle of Kampala called THE SURGERY that Jake went to and said they were legit and they saved him from his parasite. Okay, THE SURGERY? Who want's to go to a clinic called the surgery? Well, I do okay? Melissa was sweet enough to take off a whole day to go with me to Kampala to get checked.
This clinic is hillarious! I was working with a British doctor and he kept saying the funniest things with his silly british accent. He wanted me to do a stool sample and he reaches into this huge drawer and it's empty. He was like, "well show's how much crap we look at. We're up to our ears in **** every day!" Then I really really tried to give him a sample and failed horribly. So I come out and was like, "hey, I can't give you any......poo right now. What do you want me to do?" "Well, come in the other room, we'll take your thumbs and wrap 'em with piano wire and hang you from the ceiling." Then this other creepy mzungu girl from the waiting room was like "AND WE'LL BEAT YA WITH A BROOMSTICK! AAAAHAHHA" With this freaky smile.
It was quite the experience.
So here I am.
In Kampala.
At Garden City Mall.
Waiting to produce a sample.
I'll let you know how it goes.
I just want to feel like myself again! I didn't come to Africa to lay in bed all day and feel sorry for myself.
So....I swear I start every sentence off with so. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I still am not feeling well and I went to Nyombi (the doctor in Lugazi) who said I do not have malaria anymore...hm.... But I still have many similar symptoms. I am so freakin tired every day and have these mini cough attacks like 3 or 4 times a day that last for an hour (or sometimes in the middle of the night). I also get really bad headaches and some dizziness. My parents suggested to just go get it checked out because it's better to know than to risk it here in lovely East Africa.
There's this western medicine-practicing clinic in the middle of Kampala called THE SURGERY that Jake went to and said they were legit and they saved him from his parasite. Okay, THE SURGERY? Who want's to go to a clinic called the surgery? Well, I do okay? Melissa was sweet enough to take off a whole day to go with me to Kampala to get checked.
This clinic is hillarious! I was working with a British doctor and he kept saying the funniest things with his silly british accent. He wanted me to do a stool sample and he reaches into this huge drawer and it's empty. He was like, "well show's how much crap we look at. We're up to our ears in **** every day!" Then I really really tried to give him a sample and failed horribly. So I come out and was like, "hey, I can't give you any......poo right now. What do you want me to do?" "Well, come in the other room, we'll take your thumbs and wrap 'em with piano wire and hang you from the ceiling." Then this other creepy mzungu girl from the waiting room was like "AND WE'LL BEAT YA WITH A BROOMSTICK! AAAAHAHHA" With this freaky smile.
It was quite the experience.
So here I am.
In Kampala.
At Garden City Mall.
Waiting to produce a sample.
I'll let you know how it goes.
I just want to feel like myself again! I didn't come to Africa to lay in bed all day and feel sorry for myself.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Kitisa
Some things scare me here. I learned the word Kitisa today which means, "scary,"and is pronounced chee-tea-suh. This week has been awesome and horrid at the same time. So much homesickness, but so much feeling at home too...it's so hard to explain. This week was busy with teacher trainings and getting ready for a music fireside for all of the young adults in the district. Two of the schools I visited for the first time were AWESOME. St. Johns and Vincentalex...both boarding schools for primary age kids. The vincentalex one had all of the 700 students come out and greet us and we got to dance with them and of course they laughed at us. It was so fun and amazing!
Then yesterday AND today I was in Jinja. Yesterday I just went with the doc crew who are out here with Jackie and her sister and the "goals for girls" thing...we went to jinja to do shopping and I am officially the best bargain shopper. Seriously. There are two store owners who I love and who are the best to bargain with. David and Faith. I took Dani, Kara, and Nick (doc crew from BYU--they are so freakin awesome) to David's store. It was so funny. He kept trying to whisper prices to them and then I was like "No, come on David, I need to help these mzungus out!" and David kept telling me, "I know you are too good at bargaining!" It was so funny. In America, I LOATHE shopping. I hate the mall and "what, what" (that's what the africans would say instead of whatever), but HERE I LOOOOOOOOOVE IT! It is so fun to bargain...especially if you're good at it :) Dani and Nick and Abby kept having me bargain for them. It was so much freakin fun.
This morning, me, Abs and Leslie headed down to the Youth Outreach office to meet up with Luta and Wilson. They took us golfing on the Lugazi Metha Golf course. It's owned by the man who owns all of the sugar cane fields around here and many other industries in East Africa..an Indian Man. Let me tell you...he is LOADED. His house is on the golf course and his manager guy and the lady (Auntie Betty) told us we can golf there for free whenever and that we are welcome to stay in the guest house if we ever come back to Uganda. Dude. The 4 Million shillings it takes to get here would be worth it to stay in that guest house. Maybe my standards have gone down a little...but it is freakin awesome. Anyways, I didn't suck at golf ...not too bad. I actually was kinda good for my first time. Luta is amazing and gave me lessons. He's great.
Then we took Wilson and Luta to Jinja with us to go swimming at the Jinja Nile Resort (beautiful hotel). It was so funny cause they told us they swim and that the are not afraid of water...so....when Wilson jumped into the deep end, I wasn't too worried....until his eyes got really big and he started going to the bottom and didn't come up till a long time. So I did my best to rescue him. Then we gave him and Luta swimming lessons. We taught them the doggy-paddle and Luta kept on splashing ALL of the guests there...they were not very happy, but it was so funny. We taught them how to float and flip in the shallow end. So funny. I've never seen 20 year old men struggle with swimming so much.
After swimming, I brought stuff so I could shower in their showers there. Oh. My. Heaven. Above. This is the first shower I have taken since I have been here. I am tearing up just thinking about it. Not joking. FIRST SHOWER IN 6 WEEKS. I have always had to shower by pumping freezing water out of a well and trying to pour it on me. This was a HOT shower that came from a freakin showerhead. I got in and started to tear up. I'm not joking guys, this was amazing. Once the 5 minutes of bliss was over and I toweled off and started to get dressed, I realized that my hair still smells like the gross water, and my clothes are the same clothes I have worn for the past three days (new underwear...don't worry).....and I still smelled like sweat and nastiness....no matter how long I were to scrub, and my feet were still orange from dirt, and there was dirt under my nails, in my ears that might never go away.........then the magic was gone.
On the way home (keep in mind my friends this was like 20 minutes ago), I was crushed into this huge ugandan woman who spoke awesome english and barely had an accent. About halfway through the drive we dropped her off and apparently she is a famous Ugandan singer. She has an entire radio station dedicated to her and stuff. Her name is Sylvia. Isn't that AWESOME? Yeah.
I am feeling better by the way. I just am still really tired and I have a cough...but that's it. I'm just homesick. That's something that isn't cured with medicine. Don't get me wrong, I am SO glad that I am here. I love this place. And sometimes when I am here surrounded by friends and my temporary "family," I have this incredible feeling that I have only felt a few times in my life...a feeling like I'm home. And I have learned so much here. Last night talking to my mom I told her, the money we paid just for my flight would not even be enough money to pay for one of the great thigns I've learned here...does that make sense? I told her that if I have to, I will earn every dime for Gabi and Jess to have an experience like this. It has changed my life. And I still have a long time to go and even more to learn.
I have been taught the importance of family. Everyone is shocked here to know that I left my family to come. And seeing the sadness of people when they lose a family member and do not have the knowledge of eternal families...it breaks my heart. I am so blessed with my family and my incredible parents and with the knowledge of the gospel....wow. I can't even tell you how amazing it is that we have that so easy.
And there are so many things that I take for granted that I will never take for granted ever again. We are so blessed. How can people sit in their happy little houses in Happy Valley Utah and watch Happy TV and drive in their Happy cars and buy a happy little candy bar whenever they want ...and still not do anyone for anyone else. I am constantly explaining to people here why I came, like today to a very very very educated man, David, on the taxi. They don't understand why I would give up so much money and time to come here. First of all, I tell them we are all Gods children. It doesn't matter, David, that you are black and I am white. It doesn't make you better than me. It doesn't make me better than you. God loves us all the exact same. I was blessed with a nice home and a family and parents who work hard for my benefit. I may not be a super rich American like everyone thinks I am, but I am blessed and I want to give the rest of God's children all I have and do everything I can to make their life better. If I can assist in making their life better, maybe they will go out and help someone else in need. It creates a circle. Second of all, my dear David friend, I didn't come here to just do a whole bunch of stuff that I think will benefit Uganda greatly and make me awesome because I'm such a giving person. No no no no, Neda neda neda neda. I have gotten more than I have given here. I have gotten so much more. Then david asks me, "How can we do anything for you americans? You have everything." This is the exact convo today. And then I explain to him the beauty of their culture and daily life that has affected me so much. Okay I have to go cause I have like 50 seconds left. Peace homies.
P.s. Celine Dion is super famous here. It is so funny to hear her playing everywhere
p.p.s. HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!
Then yesterday AND today I was in Jinja. Yesterday I just went with the doc crew who are out here with Jackie and her sister and the "goals for girls" thing...we went to jinja to do shopping and I am officially the best bargain shopper. Seriously. There are two store owners who I love and who are the best to bargain with. David and Faith. I took Dani, Kara, and Nick (doc crew from BYU--they are so freakin awesome) to David's store. It was so funny. He kept trying to whisper prices to them and then I was like "No, come on David, I need to help these mzungus out!" and David kept telling me, "I know you are too good at bargaining!" It was so funny. In America, I LOATHE shopping. I hate the mall and "what, what" (that's what the africans would say instead of whatever), but HERE I LOOOOOOOOOVE IT! It is so fun to bargain...especially if you're good at it :) Dani and Nick and Abby kept having me bargain for them. It was so much freakin fun.
This morning, me, Abs and Leslie headed down to the Youth Outreach office to meet up with Luta and Wilson. They took us golfing on the Lugazi Metha Golf course. It's owned by the man who owns all of the sugar cane fields around here and many other industries in East Africa..an Indian Man. Let me tell you...he is LOADED. His house is on the golf course and his manager guy and the lady (Auntie Betty) told us we can golf there for free whenever and that we are welcome to stay in the guest house if we ever come back to Uganda. Dude. The 4 Million shillings it takes to get here would be worth it to stay in that guest house. Maybe my standards have gone down a little...but it is freakin awesome. Anyways, I didn't suck at golf ...not too bad. I actually was kinda good for my first time. Luta is amazing and gave me lessons. He's great.
Then we took Wilson and Luta to Jinja with us to go swimming at the Jinja Nile Resort (beautiful hotel). It was so funny cause they told us they swim and that the are not afraid of water...so....when Wilson jumped into the deep end, I wasn't too worried....until his eyes got really big and he started going to the bottom and didn't come up till a long time. So I did my best to rescue him. Then we gave him and Luta swimming lessons. We taught them the doggy-paddle and Luta kept on splashing ALL of the guests there...they were not very happy, but it was so funny. We taught them how to float and flip in the shallow end. So funny. I've never seen 20 year old men struggle with swimming so much.
After swimming, I brought stuff so I could shower in their showers there. Oh. My. Heaven. Above. This is the first shower I have taken since I have been here. I am tearing up just thinking about it. Not joking. FIRST SHOWER IN 6 WEEKS. I have always had to shower by pumping freezing water out of a well and trying to pour it on me. This was a HOT shower that came from a freakin showerhead. I got in and started to tear up. I'm not joking guys, this was amazing. Once the 5 minutes of bliss was over and I toweled off and started to get dressed, I realized that my hair still smells like the gross water, and my clothes are the same clothes I have worn for the past three days (new underwear...don't worry).....and I still smelled like sweat and nastiness....no matter how long I were to scrub, and my feet were still orange from dirt, and there was dirt under my nails, in my ears that might never go away.........then the magic was gone.
On the way home (keep in mind my friends this was like 20 minutes ago), I was crushed into this huge ugandan woman who spoke awesome english and barely had an accent. About halfway through the drive we dropped her off and apparently she is a famous Ugandan singer. She has an entire radio station dedicated to her and stuff. Her name is Sylvia. Isn't that AWESOME? Yeah.
I am feeling better by the way. I just am still really tired and I have a cough...but that's it. I'm just homesick. That's something that isn't cured with medicine. Don't get me wrong, I am SO glad that I am here. I love this place. And sometimes when I am here surrounded by friends and my temporary "family," I have this incredible feeling that I have only felt a few times in my life...a feeling like I'm home. And I have learned so much here. Last night talking to my mom I told her, the money we paid just for my flight would not even be enough money to pay for one of the great thigns I've learned here...does that make sense? I told her that if I have to, I will earn every dime for Gabi and Jess to have an experience like this. It has changed my life. And I still have a long time to go and even more to learn.
I have been taught the importance of family. Everyone is shocked here to know that I left my family to come. And seeing the sadness of people when they lose a family member and do not have the knowledge of eternal families...it breaks my heart. I am so blessed with my family and my incredible parents and with the knowledge of the gospel....wow. I can't even tell you how amazing it is that we have that so easy.
And there are so many things that I take for granted that I will never take for granted ever again. We are so blessed. How can people sit in their happy little houses in Happy Valley Utah and watch Happy TV and drive in their Happy cars and buy a happy little candy bar whenever they want ...and still not do anyone for anyone else. I am constantly explaining to people here why I came, like today to a very very very educated man, David, on the taxi. They don't understand why I would give up so much money and time to come here. First of all, I tell them we are all Gods children. It doesn't matter, David, that you are black and I am white. It doesn't make you better than me. It doesn't make me better than you. God loves us all the exact same. I was blessed with a nice home and a family and parents who work hard for my benefit. I may not be a super rich American like everyone thinks I am, but I am blessed and I want to give the rest of God's children all I have and do everything I can to make their life better. If I can assist in making their life better, maybe they will go out and help someone else in need. It creates a circle. Second of all, my dear David friend, I didn't come here to just do a whole bunch of stuff that I think will benefit Uganda greatly and make me awesome because I'm such a giving person. No no no no, Neda neda neda neda. I have gotten more than I have given here. I have gotten so much more. Then david asks me, "How can we do anything for you americans? You have everything." This is the exact convo today. And then I explain to him the beauty of their culture and daily life that has affected me so much. Okay I have to go cause I have like 50 seconds left. Peace homies.
P.s. Celine Dion is super famous here. It is so funny to hear her playing everywhere
p.p.s. HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Signs and Symptoms
Another blood test at Dr. Nyombi's yesterday confirmed I have malaria. SERIOUSLY. Yeah it's so weird. But I'm okay. I am just exhausted.
I FORGOT TO TELL SOMETHING AWESOME ABOUT LAST WEEK...and kinda sick. So Ryan had this like mosquito bite looking thing on his arm but it started hurting, so he started to pop it like a zit and guess what came out (after some pain and quite a few minutes of squeezing)? A WORM. I know. That's when I was like...oh my gosh. I'm in africa. This is real. Hahahha. But he's totally fine. I just heard that we all have to take "de-worming medicine" when we get home just to make SURE we don't have worms. SICK. The worm was so gross. I saw it. He put it on a napkin and I saw it. Legit. Sick.
Also, today I saw a chicken be killed. NOt only killed but violently killed. Kat and Drew bought some chickens to chop their heads off because it was their goal before they left Africa (they are leaving tonight). So they took each chicken and laid it on a brick (alive at this point), tied it around the neck so it wouldn't leave the brick, and...WHAM. Blood everywhere...but the chicken didn't move....for about 5 seconds...then it starts going CRAZY! Like all over the place, flapping its wings, squirting blood everywhere. Then it would almost die....freak out again....and evnentually die. That happened both times. Yum, huh? Yep. That was my morning.
I don't have anything else to say except thank you for your love and support and prayers. I know so many of you have been keeping me in your prayers all the time, and I can feel it. Thank you so much. I have never experienced this kind of homesickness...it's at a different depth than any homesickness I have ever felt, yet I am so happy that I'm here. Anyways, thank you! I have the best friends and family in the whole world...seriously! So many of the other volunteers here had to come without any familial support and very few friends support, but I am so blessed. I have loved ones who really love me and care about me and support me in every dream I have. So thank you SO MUCH. I love you all, really and truly!
Love, Dani Diz
Just a side-note...wow...that is the most random blog I think I have ever written. Goes from malaria to worms to blood squirting to prayers....best. blog. ever. hahahha.
I FORGOT TO TELL SOMETHING AWESOME ABOUT LAST WEEK...and kinda sick. So Ryan had this like mosquito bite looking thing on his arm but it started hurting, so he started to pop it like a zit and guess what came out (after some pain and quite a few minutes of squeezing)? A WORM. I know. That's when I was like...oh my gosh. I'm in africa. This is real. Hahahha. But he's totally fine. I just heard that we all have to take "de-worming medicine" when we get home just to make SURE we don't have worms. SICK. The worm was so gross. I saw it. He put it on a napkin and I saw it. Legit. Sick.
Also, today I saw a chicken be killed. NOt only killed but violently killed. Kat and Drew bought some chickens to chop their heads off because it was their goal before they left Africa (they are leaving tonight). So they took each chicken and laid it on a brick (alive at this point), tied it around the neck so it wouldn't leave the brick, and...WHAM. Blood everywhere...but the chicken didn't move....for about 5 seconds...then it starts going CRAZY! Like all over the place, flapping its wings, squirting blood everywhere. Then it would almost die....freak out again....and evnentually die. That happened both times. Yum, huh? Yep. That was my morning.
I don't have anything else to say except thank you for your love and support and prayers. I know so many of you have been keeping me in your prayers all the time, and I can feel it. Thank you so much. I have never experienced this kind of homesickness...it's at a different depth than any homesickness I have ever felt, yet I am so happy that I'm here. Anyways, thank you! I have the best friends and family in the whole world...seriously! So many of the other volunteers here had to come without any familial support and very few friends support, but I am so blessed. I have loved ones who really love me and care about me and support me in every dream I have. So thank you SO MUCH. I love you all, really and truly!
Love, Dani Diz
Just a side-note...wow...that is the most random blog I think I have ever written. Goes from malaria to worms to blood squirting to prayers....best. blog. ever. hahahha.
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