Thursday, November 18, 2010

Africa- I can't think of a post title...

From Left: Brian and Row (I'm staying with them) and Chris and Tabi (Will be house sitting for them)

In the Field
As you can see, I've been doing many things here, keeping myself busy.
(Naw, he is a slacker really) I've made a lot of new friends, (He's lonely) and I've learned a lot already. (And stupid)  I've been gone from home over a month now, and already I've spent 1/6th of my trip. (A math wizz, too) Let me tell you, time goes much faster here, it seems. Maybe because I am having a great time. Maybe because I'm at such low brain power that I don't realize it. *shrug* Who knows? (I vote lack of brain power)
Johnathan's model shot

At any rate, I've kept busy in the field. The other day I was working with Brian in town, doing the businesses. In one shop, there was a girl stripping the grasshoppers of their wings and heads, (Pop) I think it was. She was placing them in the tub she had, and the live ones were crawling around the chair that she sat in. For some reason they were not escaping. If I were a grasshopper in Uganda, I'd be out of there faster than...something...really fast. (Lame illustration) But hey, to each their own. Anyway, I went into another shop and talked to the owner's friend. He instantly started asking questions with the most sincere eyes you've ever seen. Like a puppy. A black puppy. With hands.
(Moving on) So we talked for a bit, and then Brian walked in. When the guy asked who goes to heaven, Brian stepped in and started a bible study. So not this Friday, but next Friday I go back to that shop and continue the study.
 Today I was working with Chris in the field, and we passed a school.
"MUZUNGU, MUZUNGU!"
"HOW ARE YOU?"
"MUZUNGU!"
"I'M FINE!"
The kids desperately use what little English they know. Chris ran up and I took a picture with him and the kids, see it on Flickr soon. Its hilarious to see the kids so interested in us/ (Its the white skin) Well, actually to be honest, after about 42 "MUZUNGU"s its really irritating. Then, as Chris mentioned, they follow you. Do you have any idea how unnerving it is to be followed by 100 African kids? They blend in to the dirt and clay so well, you can hardly even see them! Black people are very hard to take pictures of in the dark without flash. (And flash makes everyone look pale and wasted) But anyway, we talked to 3 women for about 15 mins and that went really well. Many of the ideas that they had about the bible were adjusted instantly when they were shown a scripture. It was amazing to see them accept the truth so quickly. Its like they never even questioned it once they saw it in the bible. The people here are very smart and logical many times.
Chris is leaving next week for about a month, so he gave me 3 of his studies. Thankfully they are near each other, so I can just go from one to the other. I'll let you in on any progress they may make. :]
Have you fed your goat today?

By now you might be wondering what is up with the goat. Well, nothing really. I saw a goat and wanted to feed it. Wouldn't you?
...A fly just landed in my drink.
There are goats everywhere, and I've been resisting the urge to feed one for weeks. (And feed ON one) Finally I gave in...It was a good goat. :] I called him goatee. Get it? Goat...goatee, like the facial hair? Wooo, I crack me up sometimes. 

  


At The Lodge
 As a nice refreshing break, we went to a Lodge around Fort Portal. Rich kids with rich parents cause Muzungus to leave England and move to Africa to live better than kings. So after building an AMAZING lodge on a crater lake, he sits pretty with his money and enjoys the life of a young rich kid in Africa. While there we found the coolest lizard, whom I've yet to name. I'm thinking of calling him Rocky. (Some of you might get that) Cool looking lizard, right?
Brian, Row, Chris, Tabi, and I all went up there. It was an amazing view. I say that, but I mean it was an AMAZING view. One of the best I think I've ever seen. A mix of the double crater lakes and mountains and hills made for one fantastic sight. I SO bad wanted to jump the railing into the pool, but I didn't bring any swim trunks. Otherwise, I cannot honestly say that I wouldn't have done it. If you'd have seen it, you'd understand! It was the perfect launching site for the most epic jump off a railing that Uganda has ever seen. I could imagine an explosion behind me and everything. Slowmo the whole way. Ok thats enough.



Special Feature

Thanks to Nautica, (fellow blogger) we got three presentations of how you would present the Scripture/item in the bible game I mentioned in the last post. Thus, it is my turn. You may remember that I said I would tell you how I pulled off the presentation game, right? Well, first off I should lay some ground rules. 
1. It was supposed to be funny, but it also was meant for a humorous test to see how quickly you can adapt to crazyness. 
2. You could pull off just about anything. One person (Dick) pretended to make a phone call with a shoe. How did that apply? It didn't. But trust me, it worked. It was gut busting laughter that ensued afterwards.
3. I cannot think of another rule, so hankypanky. 

So! I started off with about a 3 second lead. In other words, I knew for about 3 seconds what the scripture was. You know, it is a rare occasion that I am laughing so hard, and so embarrassed, that I cannot speak. You know when you try and talk, but all that comes out is a squeak? Like, you try with your life to speak, but you get through a word or two and your voice shrieks to a squealing pig noise? That was me trying to read the scripture and ignore the awkwardnicitisity of the situation. (Its a word, look it up) ((Did you look it up? Pwnd. Its totally not a word!))
Anyway. Here is what I did. Once I finished the scripture, I said something along the lines of:
"Interesting scripture, do you agree? Well, there is another place in the bible where a goat is mentioned, and it was involving prophecy. As it turned out, the bible perfectly foretold the events of what we now know as history. That builds our faith in the bible's promises, as well. That being said, I'd like to share this with you."
*The Brother pulls out bugspray and hands it to me*
"Uh...So...you see...like the bible's prophecy found at Daniel 2:44 shows an end to earthly Governments and the raise of God's Kingdom, this bugspray shows how complete their destruction will be! Just like no bug can survive this bugspray, no enemies have a chance against God's Kingdom!"
Now, that is not word for word, but it is the best as I can remember. There, I held up my part of the deal now. :] The picture above is when I was giving the presentation. It looks better than it was. It was so lame. And awkward.


Really awkward. You know, awkward is spelled funny. 
Enough for now. Until next time.
Comments? Questions? Requests? Come on people, give me something here. Do you want to know anything about Uganda? Do you want to hear my viewpoint of anything? *shrug*
Thanks for reading!

10 comments:

  1. awwwwwww you should name it rocky..... [= that way you have rocky there with you and i have one here =O~carissa

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  2. wow, that was an awesome way to get out of an awkward situation..............good job!!

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  3. Wow! Nice recovery at the end there, very good! でかした! As for the word awkwardnicitisity, I think what gave it away (it not being real) is that you added too many syllables to the word, and for some reason, it I saw ignore the awkwardness. XP

    As for the post, the pictures and stories are wonderful!! I really enjoyed them! 有り難うな! (^u^)

    As for requests, you know, I would love to hear what you admire most about each of the friends in the picture above. Also, what you've really appreciated about the locals there (though you may have already touched on it in your posts). If it's not too much trouble.

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  4. So I suppose I should make a comment. You know how busy I can be here in new york. Anyway I am enjoying your mix of humor/information. I had a great idea for you. Instead of being afraid of the kids you are looking at it all the wrong way. They are your own personal army. I mean teach them a presentation and a tract and send them to doors. Just think of it. 100 personal african kids doing your bidding. I know you are thinking of it. Just don't use your power for evil. Keep up the awesome work.

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  5. Haha, Blaine that is the kind of thing that I would have expected from you!
    Come, my minions!!
    Ps. Thanks for the comment

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  6. I love all of your experiences. It sounds like you are really enjoying your time in Uganda. Jehovah keeps reminding us that there is so much work still to be done. It really is exciting isn't it. And who knows maybe one day your little followers will remember that REALLY white guy, who talked about the bible, and want to know more :)
    Did anyone else notice the African lodge is totally and Ewok villiage!!! It is now on the top of my must see list.

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  7. PS: forgot to put in my request... you mentioned before about going to the market so what's it like? Is it an open market, do they have those scale weights, and what does it smell like? Sorry I just really like markets lol

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  8. beautiful pictures from the lodge..

    hm.. yeah i'm really tired of the muzungo lines now, and having all kids following you and touching me all the time.. im like WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!

    well, that's just comes with the african experience i think

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  9. We had a game similar to yours only it was with the society's books. And it was in Spanish, which made it even more comical for all the native speaking Hispanics around me. My assistant picked multiple scriptures and wrote them out on scraps of paper along with many different books. Actually all that were in the house, including old and song books. So she would put them in a random order. She started off with a book or scripture that I had to present to the householder and I started the presentation. At the same time, the householder could say anything they want and make any objection that we would have to overcome. And my assistant would change the publication I was trying to offer at any time. I would also have to make it all work. At one moment in one of my attempted presentations I had found out that the "householder" was disfellowshipped and had become an apostate. She tried to convince me to come to one of her meetings. But I said no thanks and tried to leave her with that little book to help people learn how to read. (do you know what book that is?) But it keeps switching from scripture to scripture to book to book. But anyway. Imaging all of this in terribly broken up Spanish? It was gut busting!

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  10. This was so funny... the whole thing. I had a weird stressful day, and this post was just the ticket! Cool game too, sounds hilarious!!

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