FYI

I'm working on our mailing list for our newsletters and just thought I'd put some info here about that for your education on the matter.

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Random Observations

02 April 2009
Random observations in Uganda:
*We have eggs with white yolks here. They seem to taste the same as regular eggs, but they look like you’ve cooked just the whites. (I’ve only made scrambled eggs...I can’t quite picture dipping toast into a white yolk.) I’m not sure if yellow yolks aren’t available or this was just one option, since they were here when we arrived.
*The MAF team here is very friendly. Many of the ladies have called to see if I need anything, and two of them came by for tea and a visit this morning. Matthew is riding along on a long flight to Sudan today and the girls and I had no plans for socializing, so it was a welcome “interruption.”
*”Matthew’s” airplane still doesn’t have all the required paperwork, so that’s why he is riding along with other pilots for now. I am eager to hear about his trip to Sudan today, and will be jealous if he got to see our friends that live there.
*Caitlyn’s knees crack just like mine when she bends down, poor child.
*Except for the first day, it’s been almost cold in our house, and Matthew tells me that we’re a mere 12 miles from the Equator. It’s hard for me to reconcile those facts.
*It’s very exciting for me to be in Africa, 12 miles away from the Equator, listening to people talk about Victoria Lake, Murchison Falls, the Nile River, Masai Mara and many other things as if they were no big deal. We are investigating how best to see wildlife, and getting different reports. If nothing works out here, we’ll probably take some time in Kenya on the way back to Mada. Seeing the gorillas here is out of the question at $500/person! Yikes.
*Our landlady is straight out of “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” books, except for not being traditionally built. I love it. I’m waiting for her to start talking about pumpkins and mysteries. (So much so, that yesterday I was thinking to myself about being here in Botswana. Ha.)
*One shower now has hot water, thank goodness. That’s all the hot water in the whole house, but after none, it’s perfectly fine.
*Last night we were invited to dinner at a Chinese/German home. We met this couple at our MAF orientation in England, 5 years ago, and never imagined we’d eat dinner with them in Uganda! :-) She made 3 delicious Chinese dishes, and he made me a decaf caramel cappuccino and I enjoyed the whole arrangement immensely.
*I’m reading “Have a New Kid by Friday” and so far I feel a little bit overwhelmed. Not sure if I have the attention span for it right now, but I am trying hard to be more consistent and to watch for natural consequences. It’s been a little tiring, but let’s hope there will be results, too. :-)
*I started doing Pilates again this morning. Ouch.
*I miss living in a country with French patisseries. :-) The bread here leaves a little bit to be desired, but maybe there is nice bread available and I just don’t know where it is yet.
*I’m so sleepy. The mosque starts up a little before 6, and last night I stayed up a little too late, watching a double episode of Survivor in a vain attempt to find out who wins. (They ended the episode with, “I’ll go tally the votes.” Argh.) In case any of you are Survivor fans, it’s the Parvati/Amanda showdown. (Or Poverty, as we call her.)
*My kids just discovered Weetabix for the first time in Kenya, and then there was a box here with the food that was in the house for us. Three of them think it’s the greatest thing. I actually like them, too, but it just amuses me that my kids like them and the soggier, the better. It makes me feel very British to serve Weetabix to my kids.
*Tonight is our last hospitality dinner. I’m ready to stay in some evenings, but on the other hand, it means I have to start cooking. :-)

04 April 2009

*We went grocery shopping at one of the bigger supermarkets today. It wasn’t as big as I was expecting, but it had a pleasant number of things that we consider treats. (i.e. brown sugar, pancake syrup, golden syrup, molasses, sour cream, cream cheese, ice cream, Cheerios, bacon, sausage, pepperoni, pie filling, cake mixes, stovetop stuffing, etc) I couldn’t believe it when I saw that my total was well under my projected budget. :-) I’m already plotting my list for exporting things to Mada. Oh, I also discovered that yellow-yolked eggs cost more here.
*Matthew did get the paperwork for the plane and flew on Friday. He’s enjoying things here so far, which I think is mostly due to not being responsible for ops here. :-)
*The girls and I had a good day on Friday, except that my neck was stiff and very sore all day. One of the MAF ladies took us with her to the weekly vegetable and fruit market. We got carrots, tomatoes, onions, garlic, green beans, peas (not to be confused with really good peas), green peppers, cucumbers, pineapple, passion fruit and bananas. I had bought potatoes the day before, so I think we’re set for awhile. Maybe. The pineapple is gone already, actually, and I made half of the passion fruit into juice. (The same lady that took us told me how to do that.) The girls got to taste sugar cane for the first time, and thought that was a great experience.
*The MAF team here meets every Saturday to play volleyball, so I think we’ll go this afternoon. It’s at a club with tennis, pool and playground, so I’m sure we’ll be there quite often. The only problem is that I hear thunder already, so we’ll see how that goes.
*Last night Matthew was reading the Bible to us, and he read the story of the rich man and Lazarus. When he was done, Sierra said, “So, Dad, how does that work? How does that work?” He asked her what she meant and she said, “Shouting over to heaven from hell? How does shouting like that work?” For some reason it cracked me up.
*Larissa thinks that the singular of Weetabix is Weetabick. Our girls have all gone through that stage. Like, they have an earwack in their ear. Or they want one chee on their cracker. Or they only want to wear one clo. :-)
*Hiring a housekeeper here is considerably more than in Madagascar, but imported groceries are considerably cheaper.
*I have been able to check e-mail and Bloglines, but haven’t had much time to answer e-mail or leave comments on blogs. Sadly.

We're going!

We finally have confirmation that we are heading to Uganda! It's been a tense couple of days since we were also waiting on several other things, but I had several reminders that we never look back and see that God really messed things up, so I didn't panic. :) (Ok, it was close a few times, but I didn't. :)

All MAF staff have been waiting on visa renewals as well as the extension for our 'accord de siege' for our NGO agreement. Our visas expire at the end of March, and so until today it seemed quite likely that even if the Uganda trip fell through, we might have to leave so as not to be here illegally. It does seem that the visas will come through today, because they got the stickers they needed. Yup. It was all about stickers. :)

On Monday morning, Matthew called me to say, "Do you want to go to Uganda?" I said yes right away! I've never been to the mainland of Africa, so this will be a completely new experience and I'm looking forward to it.

The Madagascar programme is very slow right now, due to the crisis. The Uganda programme seems to be very busy. We have visa issues. They could use a plane and pilot. So, the plan is this: Matthew will fly MKE (one of the planes here) to Nairobi on Saturday morning. The girls and I will fly to Nairobi on Air Kenya on Saturday afternoon and meet him there. We can't fly with him over the water, so that's way we have to go that way. We will stay in Nairobi one or two nights, then all of us will go together in MKE to Uganda. We will be there at least 4 weeks, and possibly as long as 8 weeks.

I feel like a real MAF family now, what with the crisis and now an adventure like this. :D

So, today has been a day of making lists, thinking about how to leave our house, and asking questions about what we need to know/bring for Uganda. Whew. :)

Any questions?

waiting and seeing...

"We'll have to wait and see..."

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that in the last 2 months, I'd be on my way to a steak dinner.

I'll let you know when I know something. Trust me, I'm not holding out on you.

So...

In an unexpected turn of events, we might be going to Uganda. Yes, Uganda. This Saturday. For 4-8 weeks. (We were just asked this morning.)

I'm excited, but my head is spinning. We'll know for sure tomorrow, so I'll write more then...