Ulcers or Alcers?

I have not written in a while because I have been so overly busy the past two weeks. I have wonderful missionary couples that are coming to Uganda to help me with the Joy House and they are going to cultivate land for a new children’s home! It is all coming together! Thank you all for your prayers! For the last two days I have been sick in bed with a dang bad stomach ulcer, or in Ug. Alcer. I’m listening to Rick Pino “mighty warrior” thinking that will help me to leave the house today! This past week I did a few renovations on The Joy House. I got new curtains made, cleaned a lot (I have a funny story about the cleaning…) , bought organizers, and we are having whicker furniture made now! Okay the funny story about cleaning… I was scrubbing the walls, the floor, washing furniture, cleaning windows, and then I started cleaning closets. They are not really closets they are little rooms that they just throw all of their junk and rubbish in. I was cleaning out one on my hands and knees and roaches kept crawling on me. These are not just regular cock roaches these are monster, no one has touched their home of rubbish in ten years, roaches. They are the ones that fly and bite. Lets just say I saw one and thought it was a rat. I kept running out of the house screaming. The house girls and mamma kept laughing at me but I was genuinely scared to death! I do not think I have ever been so groused out before! The Joy House is looking a lot better than normal and we are happy we are about to build a new home for the children.

I have not written a blog in a while, so I will try to get everything in.

Last weekend I went with a group of friends to North-West Uganda, Lake Albert for a day. We got lost for over two hours driving to the safari lodge. We were in three cars and we all got stuck on the bad roads at some point. We got to the lodge and there were HUGE lizards everywhere. The cabins were amazing. The only thing that sucked was that there were open outside showers. I do not do well bathing in the open even though the only thing that could see me were the lizards and fish in the lake. We went on a game drive and bush dinner. I was very disappointed because there were no elephants or giraffes. I just remembered I dreamt about giraffes last night. The bush dinner was fun. I went home before everyone else. I guess I was not to impressed because I grew up in the country, and wild hogs and deer in the woods is not that big to me. Of course we are in Africa so you have to say the Cobs and warthogs in the bush. Nothing new to me. Actually there were baboons and I am not used to that! The next morning we went back to Kampala and watched Harry Potter. I was immensely let down. I love the potter series but this one was just dumb. Sunday night I put this hair food in my hair and over a week later it is still not completely out. I washed it out three times at home, then I went to the salon and they washed it seven times. It was a jelly and actually worked as a sealant, like water-resistant. Haha.. I had water-proof hair! Every curly head's dream!

Hustle of getting everything done before I leave is leaving its mark on me. I need to stay here for a couple of years! It is a serious thought. I am really considering moving here. There have been some promises made to the Joy House and if they follow through then I will have to stay here.

This past weekend I went Saturday to meet with some future donors in Jinja. While I was there I went white water rafting. I had a blast besides I think I broke my toe. Its all swollen and bluish-purple. I had a lot of fun. There were people who seriously got hurt, so I was lucky. I expected it to be a little joy ride for naive tourist but wow was I wrong. They were grade 5 rapids on the Great White Nile. Just the name sounds intimidating. After that I went to the pool and met two girls. One was from Stockton, Ca… And she knows tons of my friends that I know from Austin! It really is a small world, I lived in small nothing going on Stockton and we have the same friends and we meet at a pool in the middle of nowhere! The campsite was nice I thought, until I settled into bed and heard a high squealing and this a scurrying noise all around my cabin. I was so scared only to find out a little while later it was rats. There were loud banging noises on the roof I was okay with that when I found out it was only the monkeys. When I see a rat I freak out, like really freak out. I have musophobia to a ridiculous extent. I have it to the extent of leaving everything I own, including my passport, in a New Delhi train terminal while I run the opposite direction of the rat I had just seen screaming at the top of my lungs. This time in the cabin, I did not have anyplace to run because I could hear them near the door, and worst of all I could do nothing. Where was I going to stay I was in the middle of no where with no transport or budget for anything higher than campsite? I had to sleep with my pillow over my head. I felt like my mosquito net was a protective bubble for me. Haha.. seriously I was afraid to raise the net. There were also snakes next to my cabin. It was tons of fun! I was scared but I went on a great adventure. Saturday night I had dinner with some friends and then tried to go salsa with no luck. Ended up hanging out with the girls for a bit then went home. Sunday was Watoto church, Joy House Church, Meetings, and then dinner. It is crazy how fast your body can put you down. I have this ulcer and I think I can handle it and it is kicking my butt. I have been forcing myself to rest. So that is what I am going to do now..

Adventure with a new twist

Adventure with a new twist

Similar to an emperor’s new grove

Zanzibar I love the place. I left you with me sleeping through my nice evening I had planned with myself but fell asleep… My days are a little confused, In fact I had no idea what today was until I asked someone. My phone has been off, I do not have a wrist watch, no Franklin Covey, and no internet no wonders I have been confused! Okay I know it is Wednesday now and I am back in Kampala. I will go backwards! Haha.. The past two and a half days I have spent in Transit from hell. Monday night I took the 22:00 ferry back to Dar es Salaam. I decided to take a different ferry then I had used before just because there were a few sketchy things about the last ship so stupid me, I took a new one. I paid for VIP because this is an all night ride. I got on at 22:00 and didn’t get off until 6am. Too bad the VIP air con had gone out and I had to sit in first class, which was full. This would not be so bad if you did not have to be on a bus for the next two days. I was in a terrible mood because I did not want to leave Zanzibar and I wanted to be back in Kampala at the same time. I actually really missed Kampala the whole time I was there… I knew the only solution was a sleeping tablet, so I took it and woke up at 5am! As soon as I got into Dar es Salaam I had to book-it to the bus station because I did not get off the boat until 6 and my bus left at 6:30 I had no ticket and it was about a 20 minute drive. I got to the station and they said all the Kampala coaches were gone, you know I was interceding! I got on a bus but at the very back. Anyone that has ever ridden on a bus for a long distance on African roads knows that it is the worst thing you could ever put yourself through. It was bad no joke I was coming a foot off of my seat every couple of minutes. Then to make matters worst, we stopped for breakfast at some bus stop, I was starving so I just ate what they gave me. Oh My! I was soooooooo sick. Imagine being on a 12 hour bus ride with food poising and no toilet. It was some kind of adventure. I arrived in Nairobi and was supposed to continue on to Kampala over night but I could not because I was too sick. Nairobi is a scary place. Never go alone!

Ok now I think I have remembered Zanzibar in daily order!

Thursday is where I left you (I think). I cannot remember what I did Thursday night, I think just ate and then went back to the hotel. Friday I went around Stone Town and adventured. Got lost on little streets, drank coffee, bought souvenirs, walked on the beach… you know all of that hard stuff. Friday night I just watched a movie in my hotel. Saturday I woke up and went on a Spice Tour, Tour of the Sultan baths, tour of the slave caves where the Sultans hid slaves after they abolished slavery, and went to the beach. The tours were amazing! The spice tour was on a local farm and they showed us how they grow the spices, what they use them for, how to cook them, and they let us taste them. It was so much fun!! We also got to eat in this village, it was so fun because they served us on the ground and we got to mingle with the other people on the tour. It was crazy how many whites were on the island but none were American. I met one American guy and he was REALLY weird and from the Peace Corps in Tanzania. The rest were Dutch, German, South African, and Italian. The tour guides knew more Dutch than English! I met this really nice Dutch girl on the tour named, Maarta. We became close friends for the rest of my stay. She is studying African culture in Uni so she is doing an internship at a hotel to learn Swahili. Saturday night we went out to eat. Sunday I got up and went to the beach, I wanted to go to church but there were honestly no churches. So I just read one of my church books! Sunday night we went to this night market they have on the beach. It is around fifty vendors that set up bbq pits and cook fresh seafood caught that day. Huge lobsters, barracuda, SHARK, huge snow crabs.. everything you can imagine! It was a dream, sitting on the beach eating fresh fish with coconut bread drinking sugar cane/ginger/lime freshly squeezed juice and then for desert chocolate banana cake things with ginger/cinnamon/clove/cardamom chai.. it was really a dream. I think I gained 10lbs.Maarta and I got henna tattoos! One of the things that amazed me about Zanzibar was the ladies and their henna. I think it was Eid or some special holiday because every woman had artwork covering her arms, legs, and chest. Of course I never can be left out so I had to do it myself. When I was in India Ishta and I had it done on our arms and legs and it was so beautiful, but this time I only did a small design on my foot! We met some people and later went to this Rasta party on the beach. It was fun for a few with the nice music and watching the people dance but we left really early because guys were bothering us. We slept. Monday I woke up went to the beach and then met Maarta and went back to the beach for sunset then went to the night market for dinner.

Observations for this week:

• In Zanzibar they have an alarm that goes off 4 times a day for a call to pray, you can hear it everywhere.
• I cannot deal with different currencies
• I want to open a coffee shop called Karibu
• God will not put anything on me that I cannot bear
• I must have a conquering spirit.
• I love to travel
• I want to go back to the US for awhile and then move to Zanzibar with a Vespa and my sister! (Yes Carlo this would totally fit “What white people like” haha)
• I had some other really amazing dime lines to blog about but now the only thing I can think of is this nightmare I had about Sharks, maybe it is because the discovery Channel is on at this coffee shop and it is on sharks.

Ok.. all for now. Maybe I will remember more and write it today!

~Zanzibar~

With its little winding streets and veiled women is completely a mysterious adventure awaiting exposure. I could not believe how fast I fell in love with this island. It was love at first sight. I would move here in a split minute, you know every local here is Muslim maybe I could open a mission, any churches want to support me?! Haha… Zanzibar is quaint and historical but still completely moving and complex, besides the fact that there is no pharmacy. Beautiful does not even begin to explain the sight! I recommend anyone to go, more than any other place I have ever been. The reasons I like it so much are: I feel safe alone, the people have this island relaxed attitude and are friendly, the beaches are crystal perfect, it is historical, it has winding little roads that you have to walk or ride your bike down, it is Arab and has the décor in every building, It is Africa, It is cheap, its perfect… I just feel a little weird driving to go to the beach in my sundress and bathing suit and every women I see driving has a burqa on, a lot are covering their whole faces.

So the inconvenient story… I came to Zanzibar on a 3 hour ferry Tuesday with intentions of just staying the day in Zanzibar to save money and because I wanted to get to Kampala sooner than I had planned. I got to Zanzibar and fell in love, I stayed at the beach all day then the taxi took me on a tour of Stone Town and to a coffee shop/ hotel that I fell so deeply in love with that I almost cried when I had to leave to board my ship. I got back on the ship to go to Dar re Salaam, the ship would get to the mainland at 6am and then I would rush to the bus terminal to get on my Kampala coach that was scheduled to leave at 6:30am. On the ship I called Continental to change my ticket to go back to Texas early and the lady gave me my new flight schedule and then said that is going to be $4,000.00… ahhhh… that is ridiculous. I hung up and decided to go back to Zanzibar. That night there was a storm and I have never been so ready to die. I repented for every bad look I had ever given anyone. It was a huge ship and we were going up and down side to side, things were falling, chairs were shifting, it was flippin’ scary! I was assessing the situation, I was in VIP, which is at the top-level of the boat. Below there is 1^st class, economy, and people sleeping on the patio. Economy was populated to the point of not being able to move. I was thinking if this ship wrecks I am not going to die from drowning (I know where the life jackets are), or shark feast, I am going to die from stampede of people trying to get out of the ship. We didn’t wreck thank God, even though I got no sleep! I listened to Bill Johnson Podcast all night for comfort! Haha.. So the next morning I went back to the ferry office, because I talked to other whites on the boat and they paid $20 for their ticket and I paid $30. I went to the office told the guy I wanted another ticket back to Zanzibar on a speed boat with a $20 discount because he had cheated me before. He gave me a 'nationa' priced ticket, so when I got on the boat the attendants were inquisitive about me being a Tanzanian without my passport, asking me what I do, not wanting to let me on the boat, finally they did though! I got on the boat and went back to Zanzibar. I have been trying to spot dead bodies in the ocean because of the Yemen airliner that went down going to Mafia, this Island here next to Zanzibar. There are around 153 dead people not found. I keep expecting to see something floating in the water. I got back to Zanzibar exhausted and went to a hotel and slept for a couple of hours. The hotel I am staying in is a family home that this Arab man has transformed into a hotel. It is nice family style apartments. I shared my apartment with an Irish couple and an Indian couple last night. Best thing about it is that it is walk able distance to the beach, breakfast included $25 a night. That is special. Yesterday after I woke up I went to the beach stayed there all day, walked home, and got dressed to go to this nice hotel for supper and I fell asleep and didn’t wake up till this morning. Guess I really needed it! My hotel room has a baby crib in it. It is raining cats and dogs right now. I am going to leave my hotel and try to find a place with internet and then do some touring of some of the Sultan palaces and slave trade places. You know Zanzibar is the birth-place of Swahili, it is where most of the African slave trade worked from, and it is part of Tanzania but has its own separate president and army apart from the Tanzanian government. Ok now I need to go.

Dar es Salaam

I am sitting in my hotel room at the Aroche Grande Hotel. I like the feel of Tanzania. The land and the people are peaceful here. I did not feel this way in Kenya. I have been here watching the Michael Jackson funeral. It made me really emotional, I have no idea why. It made me realize how human he even though I was constantly thinking of the child harassment cases and how the families of the boys who were affected feel. I am not saying it is true, who knows, but I kept thinking that. I am really excited about going to Zanzibar tomorrow! I am going to sleep now so that I have energy tomorrow. Night

Arusha

It is so crazy how dusty this luxury liner is.. There is a window missing in the front of the bus and I am sitting two rows back about to die of the' black lung' plus it has only been 9 degrees C… I feel sorry for the people that got on the bus at later stops because they are sitting in the aisle. I touch anything and it has this red/orange dust all over it. I even had something solid in my coke a few sips back. Who knows? TIA.. At least I have had a window seat and I haven’t had any stinky people sitting by me. There has only been one other person non-African on any of my rides. He is from Korea, I forgot to ask North or South.

I am on yet another bus ride to a new and exciting place! Sunday I took of from Kampala on the spur and went to Kenya. The trip was really long and boring but loratab helped me out! Nairobi… I was impressed on the size and cleanliness of the city but it has a completely different feel from Uganda. Maybe it is because I have friends in Kampala and I know it well and I was a lone without knowing the first thing about Nairobi, besides the riots that just passed. Honestly I did not love it. I did notice that women dress a lot better there. I guess because they are closer to a port for exports to not be so expensive and I guess it is a HUGE city. It was nice to get away to travel before I leave for the states but I miss kampala. The bus ride from Kampala-Nairobi was like 18 hours, then I got to Nairobi. The hotel that I had booked did not show that I had booked so I had to find another hotel at 6am while on loratab. It was an adventure. I got to the room and slept for a couple of hours then woke up and went for coffee at Nairobi Coffee House. It was great besides the fact by the time I got there they were not serving breakfast anymore, I will still remember it as a good spot, for next time. Then I went to the Serena because I knew there was on in Nairobi and I knew it would be safe. It worked out well because there was this beautiful park next to the sernea with a national monument. I stayed at the Serena for a couple of hours and then I went back to my hotel. Later in the evening I hired the taxi that picked me at the bus station to take me to the movies, he said the traffic was too bad so I hired him to walk with me. I have heard really scary stories about Nairobi, did not want to walk alone. I made friends with this Mzee Peter and he was really good to me. I have been in a constant state of confusion with all of the different monies. I do not want a one world government but a common currency would be nice. I love collecting money but I hate exchanging and figuring out te rates so often. Anyways, I looked for a theatre and found one but I had seen both movies so I went to a couple of different places downtown by my hotel and seceded I was too afraid or too impatient to go to the other places and I just went to The Nairobi Coffee House again, the old man taxi driver would not eat with me because he said the food was too white.. It was really great. You know one thing I think is weird is that I only saw a handful of white people and the ones I saw were corporately dressed and definitely were not NGO types of dirty mzungus.

I just stopped at this bus stop and realized just how dirty I am! Wow…

Back to Nairobi…So I ate and then went back to the hotel and watched bad quality sitcoms until I fell asleep. I woke up at 5 to catch the bus to Dar re Salaam. So here I am. Islept the first couple of hours, until I got to the Tanzanian border. Getting my visa at the Kenyan and Tanzania was a hassle, I guess partly because I had bever done such a thing, everything in Africa is hard to get done, there were no other whites to follow, and because I had to first do the money thing.. I wish I would have carried US dollars, can you imagine they would not take Kenyan Shillings on the Tanzanian/Kenyan border but they would accept dollars?! A bit ironic I say. I entered Tanzania and I saw the Africa that I had seen in National Geographic. I guess I have been spoiled with Uganda and even Kenya’s civilization because when I entered Tanzania I was shocked.. The Mosai were there to greet us, just like you see on TV in the very traditional outfits, stretched ears, and cuts on their faces and then there were huge mountains on my left and desert on my right. There was absolutely no civilization. The living conditions are terrible, they are like little mud igloos. The only nice things were missionary post, like mini villages that had very “Christi” style churches in the center with signs painted in English, “First Methodist Church of kjhujhkjh(some town in Swahili).

Oh no it is raining and there is no window.. "JESUS I KNOW THAT PEOPLE ARE STARVING BECAUSE OF DROUGHT BUT"… I can’t finish that prayer.

I think it is so cool how the mosai have not Westernized, I guess they probably have a bit but they are very much traditional. Oh yes! I just got a free Stoney compliments of Dar re Salaam Express. I guess I have nothing else to write about my trip for now and my battery is dying. So will write when in Dar.