Weeks 8-10

On Tuesday, October 12 a shrill scream came from the bathroom and Lucy came running out the door.  After finally settling down she explained that when she looked up from brushing her teeth all she saw were ants everywhere.  Upon, looking for myself I discovered that our bathroom walls were full of scurrying ants.  Searching farther, us girls discovered that our entire room was being invaded by ants and some of the ants were the type that bite really bad.  During the rainy season ants have the potential to become a real pain in the butt, literally!  Thankfully I have not experienced the pain yet, but most of the other girls have.  The other night Scovia, one of the Ugandan girls came running into the room screaming and wriggling.  She had been talking on the phone and was not paying attention to where she was standing.  Turns out she was standing on or near an ant hill and they attacked her.  Anyway, the night the ants got in the room, we washed our walls with kerosene water and once the ants died we scooped them out in piles.  It was an experience that I would prefer to never have again.  The rest of the week was not very eventful in comparison to that night.  That week we were learning about Praise and Worship/Relationships/Personality.  I really enjoyed the topic of that week.  It helped me in what I was going through at the moment.  I realized that no matter what situation I am in, no matter what is going on around me God is still in control and is still good.  We always have a reason to praise God and when we praise him in all circumstances it gives the devil less of a foothold.  So although it was a challenging week I was able to trust God and give the situation over to Him.  The things I am learning are all elementary stuff but it is a matter of taking it from the head and putting it into my heart.

Friday night the electricity went out and stayed out until Monday evening, but thankfully we still had water.  On Sunday I went to a very small Ugandan church with Lucy.  Lucy was asked to preach so I went along for moral support.  There were like only seven people attending the church and three of them were relatives of the pastor.  It was an enjoyable service other than the fact that they preached so loud my ears were ringing.  After church we got to eat at the pastor’s parent’s house.  We were served hot sugared milk with bread.  It was actually really delicious, probably the highlight of the day for me!

On Monday we did not have a teacher so we spent a lot of time praying and having discussions.  Tuesday through Thursday the teacher came and taught on worldview.  He was my favorite teacher so far.  He made the class very interactive and time went by quickly.  Tuesday night we had a very funny bat experience.  All of us western girls went to the office to get internet and we were sitting there calmly when I notice a creature in the corner of the room.  I did not say anything because I did not want to alarm the two other girls who are scared of almost any creature.  So I motioned to the girl beside me and pointed it out thinking it was a frog.  All at once the other two girls saw it and it flew right towards me.  It really surprised me because I was thinking it was a frog and not expecting it to fly.  So Lucy and Kelly screamed and ran into another room while I just fell over in laughter.  Meanwhile Lindley grabs a thin grass and turns in small circles trying to hit the bat that is flying in big circles around the room.  I think we finally managed to injure it after much screaming from Kelly and Lucy and much laughter from Lindley and myself.  Eventually we got it out of the room and calmed down.  Later that night I got to watch Scovia pick a flying ant off our bedroom floor, de-wing it, and then eat the live bug.  I was not brave enough to try it but I will take her word for it that it tastes sweet.  So the week went on as normal and on Saturday we went to town and I finally did some shopping and bought some dresses and stuff.  Then that evening we went to the source of the Nile where we took a short boat ride on the Nile and Lake Victoria.  It was so beautiful!!  That day was an enjoyable day, but I spent a lot of money and I hate doing that.  Oh well, I guess it was just one day.  That night a bat came out of our ceiling so we had another screaming episode.  This time Kelly killed the bat with a mop while sitting in her bed under her mosquito net.  Then I had the pleasure of scooping up the twitching bat and disposing of it outside.

On Sunday I enjoyed a relaxing day on the base with no schedule or list of things to accomplish.  I actually ended up playing basketball for like three hours.  It was a lot of fun to play some competitive basketball, but it was extremely hot and I did not have any water to drink so I was dying of thirst.

This past week we started getting up at 4:40am so that we can be out praying by 5:00am.  Truthfully, it really is not too hard but I think that is because I am a morning person.  So I go to bed around 9:30 and then when I wake up I am normally wide awake until around the time of class, which is when the sleepiness begins to hit.  I have been playing basket ball like almost every evening for an hour or so and I am hoping that I can improve enough that by the time I get home I will have enough skills to beat Austin in some one-on-one. J  On Wednesday my small group went out to eat which was quite a long, yet enjoyable experience.  It took us from 12:30-5:30 just to get to find pork to eat and then to come back.  It was fun though.  I enjoyed joking around with the others in the group.  I am the only mzungu (white person) in my small group so they like to tease me when people in town always talk to me or try to get me to buy stuff and to tease me about my hairy arms etc.  So yeah things are going great here and I am really enjoying it.  Also there are only two more weeks until outreach so the school is like almost over….well sort of.