Caught in a Torrential Downpour

November 19^th, 2007

Food has been good this weekend in Kampala. Grace is an amazing cook. Notice that I talk about food a lot. that is because I love food. Also, when Kate and I were in Sasiga, when we were in a bad mood, we would always try to think of happy thoughts. Those happy thoughts, probably 90 percent of the time, were about food. One time we spent at least a half hour thinking about the food we want when we get home and foods that are our favorites. Pretty pathetic, I know.

I slept in on Saturday which was refreshing. In the afternoon I got caught in a rainstorm when I was trying to go shopping. Seven of us girls were going so we had to split up into two different taxis. We didn’t know exactly where we were going and so we drove around looking for the shop. It was called Uganda Crafts 2000 and it is a free trade shop. The money goes toward orphans, widows, and disabled people. it’s a little expensive, but the extra money is worth the cause. Just as we were dropped off, it started raining and the craft shop was nowhere to be seen. Caitlin, Sarah, and I wandered around in the rain. Suddenly the rain poured really hard. We literally had to step into and over streams of quick-moving water on the streets. the water was deep enough to go partway up my calf and so when I stepped into it, it splashed up onto my skirt. As everyone else waited patiently underneath the eaves, we traipsed around in the downpour and got soaked. I’m sure they were thinking, “Crazy Mzungus. Always in a hurry.” But we had to find that shop. After calling the other girls about 4 times and getting descriptions of the billboards nearby the shop, we finally made it there. Good thing it wasn’t’ cold out or we would all have been admitted into the hospital for hypothermia. I’m used to rain in Oregon, but not like that. The shop was amazing and I bought a lot of things.

That night we watched The Office: 4 episodes from season 4. of course the girls were excited that Jim and Pam were finally together (sorry if I gave something away). Sunday morning I went to church at an international church and I was not used to seeing so many white people in one spot! Even the international church in Ethiopia was mostly Ethiopian people and not foreigners. I was a little overwhelmed. The pastor talked about the parting of the Red Sea. After the service the congregation acted out that scene on a slip’n slide. That evening we went to the Nisley’s and ate really good tacos. I was most happy about the guacamole because I had been craving it since we ate tacos at their house the last time. we also had home made chocolate chip cookies. I hadn’t eaten so much in so long. My stomach shrunk when I was in Ethiopia, but I think that Grace will fatten me back up. We sang worship songs together and then debriefed about our practicum experiences. There are so many funny stories and good memories that we are all taking away from this experience.