So long Uganda!

So this may be the last blog entry as my trip is wrapping up. Well im now in Amsterdam and in route to Germany. Ill be there for 10 days. Of course as soon as we boarded the plane in Uganda, it was just so sad for the realization that we were actually going. Last week we were staying at a resort on the Nile for final presentations and debriefing. It was def so beautiful and we even got to swim. Of course, now that my hair was done I wasn’t swimming but yall know I had to profile poolside. Its so funny that here they all think im a diva…if only they knew! Haha. between my old facebook pic, my computer desktop and my dress that I had mad, along with other things they all have deemed me a diva. It cracks me up tho b/c I def considered myself a diva but its so funny that they all got that impression based on my pix.
Anyways, so in the last two weeks since I came back from Mbalei have been all over the place. I got back from Mbale on a Friday and went to my homestay. It was fun to be back there but I had def forgotten how crazy life in Kampala was and was homesick for Mbale. Of course after seeing all of my K’la ppl again I was good again. I spent the week between my home and the children’s home. They were great and it was def hard to say bye to the kids at the home. That weekend I had another introduction ceremony of my friend’s cousin. The introduction ceremonies are a huge deal here and pretty much introduce the bride and groom to the public and like an engagement party to the tenth power. Once again the ceremony was an ALL day affair. I got there 2 hours late and of course it hadn’t even started yet and I ended up being there for about 9 hours. It was a lot of fun though. then this time I wore my dress that I had made so I must say, I was looking good! Haha. oh yeah, I ended up sitting in the family tent b/c the aunt made me her personal guest. It was cool tough and I def had a great time just watching the cultural stuff, the food and of course dancing at the end.
The next day was full of goodbyes. It was my last day in Kisaasi so I went and tried to tell everyone goodbye but of course that was not so successful. Here there is no such thing as a quick visit so in te short time that I had for visits, def didn’t follow my schedule. It was still fine though. then that evening we had the homestay farewell party/ 10th anniversary party. Now I must say for this party I was looking “smart” as they would say. My dress came out awesome and looked great! Between that and the fact that I had had my hair braided that morning no one recognized me and they all thought I was Ugandan until I would stop them. it was so funny! The party was really fun though and we all ended up dancing. Sadly my family is a bit conservative so they didn’t dance and stuff but I had a blast with all my friends and their families. One of my personal favorites was the fact that someone’s lil sis ran up to me and greeted me with “black American!!”. Haha. it was so funny!! Like I said before, black Americans really have celebrity status here b/c they never see us. They either see black Africans or white Americans, so to explain that im a black American always just confuses the heck out of them. But like I said before, very few people here know that im black American. For the fun of it/ simplicity I tell most people that I’m either half Ugandan/ half American or Liberian.
So the last week they rounded the whole group up and we went to a town about an hour away to a resort on the Nile. We went there for our final presentations and debriefings. It was nice and def beautiful. The last day that we were there I went back to Mbale, the town that I interned in. The hospital was having their Christmas party and I had to drop things off to them anyways so I figured that it’d be the perfect time. I went there and had a great time. Their reactions were priceless as they all thought that I was gone so to surprise them was a lot of fun!
Anyways fast forward…now in Germany with the family and its been nice. Well actually, missed my flight from Amsterdam to here and I blame it on the fact that it was too cold for my brain to function after coming from Uganda! haha. I was freezing and then to make matters worse, after I missed my flight I had to spend 4 more hours in the freezing airport! Happy note was that I was able to hang out with the rest of the group that was heading back. The airport was just funny to all of us though. first to see water fountains and automatic toilets was quite amusing after using mostly latrines for the last 3 months. Then all the white people was funny to see again. Surprisingly, it hasn’t been as hard as I expected. Went to the grocery store today and did laundry yesterday and it all fell right into place. Must say though that I loved the fact that the longest part of doing laundry y-day was the folding of the clothes rather than the actual handwashing. But maybe it was mental, but actually I surprisingly felt like the clothes weren’t as clean as they had been from their 3 month handwashings. LOL. Other than that, everything has been great. Enjoying the time with the fam but definitely looking forward to coming home especially now that everyone is home for the holidays.
Well that’s all for now and this is probably the last blog. So thanks for checkin up on me here for the last 4 months here. The Lord has been more than merciful to me as Ive done many crazy things and has just kept me in the His hands as Ive seen the signs of that everywhere. Thankfully, I never got sick while there, even from the food, and now even coming back to western food, Ive adjusted fine. Theres a long list that has shown me that God had His angels all around me for the last 4 months! Well look forward to seeing you all and sharing more stories with you in person! have an awesome holiday and love you all!!!