Day {13}

Saturday - June 16th

I woke up around 9.30 this morning? But, shortly after waking up, Becky and myself went outside to read our Bibles. Emily graced us with her presence after a while as well, not to mention the children managed to find us while we were out there as well. As soon as we told them what we were reading, they grabbed for our books and flipped through all of the pages. It was pretty toasty out, so again I found myself sweating - but, I'm determined to spend plenty of time in the sun. Jeremy told me I should probably lay off.. but, it's one of the simple pleasures of being in Uganda that I can't find myself passing up. Around noon, I think all of us girls went to The Source for lunch. I had to leave my camera behind at Amani due to a low battery ): But, I had a guacamole chicken wrap. I'm not usually a fan of guacamole, but this was good - it would have been even better if there wasn't as much guac, because I feel like I was eating more of that than anything else. It was really nice just sitting around and chatting though. It takes probably 3 times as long to get your food here, than in America. I suppose that could be a good sign, meaning it's fresh, but after a while all I can think about is the fact that I'm hungry! Anyway, after lunch we hit some shops. I found a few things for people, and a dress for me. So, as I've mentioned the paintings before.. I really want to buy a few, however everyone at Amani tells you what you should be paying for something, which is naturally less than what the people are asking for. And, when it comes to the paintings, I feel really bad trying to haggle the price, because 1) I think they're absolutely beautiful, 2) I know how much time is spent on art, and 3) if paint is expensive in the US, I can't imagine the prices here.. it's just difficult because I don't want people thinking I'm just blowing me money, when really I think they deserve what they're asking. I mean really, 50,000 Ugandan Shillings is around $20, which is still a decent price to buy a painting at. I'm just having mixed feelings, because I'm definitely not the kind of person to haggle prices. In my eyes, I see them needing the money. Someone pointed out that I don't know how they spend their money, but that's the same in America too - and I feel we never try to haggle prices in America. I learned that it costs about 20,000 Ugandan Shillings to send their children to school, so really, if they use the money accordingly they could easily pay for their children's education. Granted, I'm aware that they raise the prices because we're white - and they think that we'll just give in and pay. But honestly, everything is handmade here, and I don't really see a problem paying what they ask for, because it's typically still cheaper than what it would be at home. So.. that's my shopping dilemma. Seeing as I didn't have my camera, I managed to take this with my phone. I love the brightness of town in Jinja. Blue windows, orange buildings - it's beautiful:

(@ Jinja - window of local shop)

Later on, around 8.00pm, most of us went down to The Keep to join some others for Karaoke Night. I've never been a fan, because more times than not, when I hear karaoke - it's a bunch of drunk people that don't even remotely sound good. But tonight, there were some decent singers. There was a Ugandan guy that sang "Hello", and he sounded beautiful! There was also a group of Ugandan women that kept going up there to sing, they were a fun bunch. Tina, the preschool teacher brought her ministry team to The Keep (that's who we met up with), and quite a few of them went up to sing. Mainly the younger girls, due to the DJ playing songs such as "One Time" by Justin Beiber, "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. They played "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira - oh my word. So many people ran up there to dance, it was awesome. One Ugandan guy had memorized the music video - so he was legitimately doing the dance Shakira does. There was a little girl that was standing by her table dancing, it was probably one of the cutest things ever! But, even yours truly went up there with Tina and a few other volunteers to sing/dance to Y.M.C.A. I have NO idea what possessed me to get up there, because I hate being in front of crowds! Look:

(@ The Keep - Tina and her ladies [Tina on far right])

But it was a lot of fun. I'm trying to blame my energy on the Espresso Milkshake (courtesy of Becky - thanks girl!). Once I was up there though, I came back to my table and just kept bouncing around. It was kind of annoying, because I officially have a cold. So, I had brought a roll of toilet paper in my purse for when my nose needed to be relieved. OH! Hold on.. I totally forgot to mention when the 5 or 6 of us girls just about peed our pants. We were walking down the dark road to get bodas to take us to The Keep, and we had grabbed our flashlights so it wouldn't be as dark. But, I had noticed two people walking down the road also, but was easily sidetracked due to the fact people walk around at night all the time, and because we were walking under the tree where the GIANT pelicans sit. Megan N. started moving closer into me because she thought  she heard something in the bushes, so naturally my heart starts to panic as well, and I quickly flashed my flashlight over there, to see two people leaping out as us. Obviously my first instinct was to start screaming and shuffle away, and then one by one every other girl started screaming too. While we were screaming, we slowly recognized the culprits.. one, being Susan - my Ugandan roommate, and the other being Kirby - Amani's owner's cousin. I have never been so scared in my life - initially, my first thought was, "CRAP! I haven't even been here two weeks and I'm getting attacked!" Susan definitely taught me a lesson though, if I see people walking on the same road, then realize they're gone - I should be more cautious. Wow, my heart is racing just reliving the moment. But yes, anyway.. after karaoke, we all came home. I chatted with a few girls, represented Coldspring Drive a bit, seeing as they're all so curious about Jeremy. It's kind of weird how much I've been asked to talk about him since I've been here, ha, sorry Jeremy - but it is a little weird. Then it was off to sleep, which really, I absolutely couldn't wait for, I'm praying that rest will help me feel better because I have no cold medicine with me, seeing as I never would have expected to catch a cold in Africa.