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!!