March 16th

Starting school has been more hectic than I thought it would be. It is very tiring leaving at 7 and not getting home till 4:30/5ish. Also, trying to get used to everything they do differently here. It is a very nice school (which is hard driving off campus and seeing wood huts and the poverty that is everywhere). Everyone has been so nice and inclusive. I have already made some great friends.

Now, getting off the subject of school...
Last week on Tuesday (March 8th) we didn't have school because it was National Woman's Day. I really like that holiday. We took this opportunity to go with the organization Child 2 Youth out to a village to talk to sponsors and their parents. It was so cool. We left at about 8 to arrive at the village at 10 (it took awhile to get to it because of the roads). I was thinking that the meeting would be only an hour or so and we would be out of there at 12. Well, it ended up being an 4 hour meeting and we didn't leave till 2:30. Torture!! We had to sit through one person after another talk. I guess to say thank you for coming and staying that long, they gave us lunch... first, the meat was so tough you couldn't eat it; second, it was very weird eating in front of all these people who looked like they were starving too. We knew we couldn't refuse the food because that would be mean, so we really didn't have a choice. We didn't end up getting home until 5, so it was a long day.


Yesterday, we had a going away party for Douglas (he is leaving for his mission this week). Douglas is an amazing person. He is from Rwanda and lost all of his family in the genocide. He escaped with his dad to Uganda. His dad just recently died, so he is all alone. Sill, none of this has stopped him from serving a mission. What a guy.
Anyway, this party definitely showed me something about their culture. First of all, they spend the whole day preparing the food. We tried to copy some of the native food. I'm not sure if it totally worked. It tasted good though. Second, they treated the party like a church meeting. Paul set up a "program," complete with talks and everything. I was thinking we would eat first and then do the sitting part, but I was wrong. Paul asked Eric and me to set up some games. I don't know why, but Eric came up some pretty hard games to play. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life watching them try and play. Who would've thought that acting as Hannah sucking her finger would look like breastfeeding? :)
All in all, it was a very good night.

I have leaned so much in the short time we have been here. I'm sure I will be forever grateful for this experience. It is crazy to think that we have been here more than a month!! How time flies! :)