So Friday [30-1-09] was awesome, because I got that six page history paper all done and had a smoothie with Christine, Esther, and Lillie. They’re pretty cool.
Ok so back to this weekend. So Lydia, the lady who makes smoothies on campus, has introduced me to her “cappuccinos” which are kind of like frappucinos, but less ice. The ones I’ve gotten have instant coffee, chocolate, milk, ice, and almond flavoring. Yesterday I tasted a vanilla one that Kristen got and it was so awesome though, I might have to switch from my beloved almond. These things are only 1500 shillings, too, which is about 75 cents. That’s starting to seem like a lot, though, because we’re all slipping into the Ugandan money mindset here. That’s a good thing, though, because we buy less. Ok so great Friday afternoon, then I had to go pack and try to fit too many things into my backpack. I definitely over packed. But oh well. We caught the bus at 5p and I sat with Kristen and Dave. I didn’t feel much like talking because everyone was so loud anyways (you know that typical, we’re going on a field trip, hyper active bus atmosphere). So it was cool to listen to them explore and debate the merits of fair trade and a free market economy. Dave’s pretty knowledgeable about all that stuff and Kristen’s really passionate about it. Plus, the scenery was beautiful, though I didn’t get to put any of those pictures up on Picasa because they’re cool, but not as cool as the ones from the resort.
The bus ride took about 1.5, 2 hrs, and we got to “Kingfisher Resort” at about 6:45 or 7 I guess. Our first of 6 amazing meals was that night, when we had roast chicken, rice, chapatti, grilled fish (really tough, not like American grilled fish), fresh cabbage that was kind of like cole slaw, irish potatoes, and soda. SO good. Then we had a meeting, where we played name games with everyone. I probably should’ve mentioned before that this was a retreat with the Honours College, so there were about 20ish USP students and 40 Ugandans. I think, at least, though it seems like it was a more even split, looking back. We each had a Uganda roommate, too, except one room of girls. My roommate was named Tala, or Rachel, I’m not sure what the distinction there was. She was little like me, but such as tomboy! She wore jeans and a big t-shirt with these big black sneakers and had her hair cut really short, though that’s not that unusual here. She was so loud and funny; one time we were kidding around and she was teasing this other HC girl who had seen a snake go into her room, making fun of her for being scared. So I laughed at Tala and said I’d put a snake in her bed and see how she liked it. She just shot right back, “Go ahead, it’s your bed, too!” Because we shared a king size bed. It was pretty funny.
Some people went night swimming, but the night air was pretty cool and I was tired, so I just watched. Looked like they had a good time, though it’s so weird to see bathing suits when there’s such a strict dress code at UCU. We never quite figured out how that worked, because the Ugandans seemed to dress very Westernly all weekend. Very relaxed.
The next day, after a great night’s sleep, we had an awesome breakfast that included an omelet, sausage, rolls with butter and honey, fresh pineapple and “po po” (like cantaloupe), different cereals, and most importantly, REAL COFFEE! Yay. I had so much. Seriously I think three cups, and then another with tea. They had hot milk, too, which is such a great idea. I love to fill like half my mug with milk, and it always cools down the coffee too much! Anyways, this way I could drink more of the blessed coffee without being quite so wired. I was still pretty wired though. Oh it was so good, I miss it.
For the rest of Saturday morning we played games like we usually do at Collab retreats or prayer breakfasts, more name games, and making up a song/dance for your team, the human knot, and then we had a dodgeball tournament. THAT was not my forte. My team got whooped, lol, but I blame it on us being mostly white girls and a lot of the other teams had more guys, or Ugandan girls who are usually pretty jacked, or at least not quite as pansy-ish as most of the USP girls. Anyways, it was awesome to watch, especially because the field was really small and there were only 6 balls. So it became very one-on-one and there were heroes on each team. One time this little Ugandan girl (it’s actually considered rude to call any girl who is “mature” a girl, they always say women. I’m not used to it though) was the last person on her team and she got out like 3 boys, bing bang boom. It was awesome. The winning team got to get in line for lunch first, but most of them were in the pool when they served the meal anyways, so it was more just for the glory of it : )
After a wonderful lunch, to the same tune as Friday’s dinner, I took a quick nap, had a dip in the pool, took all those pics of flowers, and then went down to the lake. Ashley and I decided to catch the first boat ride over to the source of the Nile, which was good because some people ended up waiting for quite some time. The boat ride was glorious, but I got killer sunburnt, as you know. Haha I didn’t notice at the time, though, all I noticed was how cool it was on the water and the gorgeous hills rising up all along the edges of the lake, and the water going on forever into the distance, and the sky being so blue. We got to the source sooner than we expected and it was very anticlimactic. Apparently the story goes that the explorer who found the source of the Nile stood on the hills off in the distance and looked out at the little island we were standing on. He saw a huge waterfall, where Lake Victoria literally dumped off a cliff into the River Nile. BUT, since then they have damned up the river downstream until the water level rose to the level of the lake, so the waterfall has disappeared! Now all there is is a barely perceptible change in current right past the little island, and the water becomes a little turbulent. There is a very big rock marking the spot, though, and Gandhi’s ashes are scattered across on the shore of the Lake. There’s a memorial for that, too. It was very cool being there and taking pictures, especially because there were some locals on the little island, too, cooking tilapia and just hanging out. We got to ride around on the boat a bit, to go past Gandhi’s memorial and to see some really big lizards that looked like water snakes and a huge tree overhanging the water just FULL of birds. Overall, a good experience and a very cool, “I’ve been to the source of the Nile” story.
-------------------------
Gah internet is not working! I’m at the honours college now, but it’s taking forever webbers… I want to eat and eat and eat everything. Especially peanut butter. I likes peanut butter a lots. I wish I had ten gallons of peanut butter. Then I could eat as much as I wants. Now I have to save my peanut butter and it’s not even mine. It’s the room’s. I bought nutella for the room. So now I can barter nutella for peanut butter, both to eat on biscuits. And biscuits are cookies, but they’re flat, wide cookies that are kind of like crackers, but sweeter. Gah I want’s to talks to yous. But interweb no working. No aim or nuffing. Boo. I also needs more Nido… I have more chocolate but not’s more Nido. My coffee mocha drink will soon be very strong and not have enough milk.
--Emmes
PS: I just got Kelsey to buy me more Nido, so you can ignore my earlier whining.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment