bummer

the circumcision ceremony has been canceled. i was supposed to go with my religion class today near the kenyan border, to the mbali region to see a boy become a man. unfortunately, with much grieving and bereaved disappointment, there were circumstances that prevented us from going...there are only certain times of the year that the circumcision ceremony is legally allowed to take place (some government schedule)...there was inadequate communication with our contact..etc, etc. supposed to go rafting on the Nile tomorrow instead...that should be wildly fun (much adrenaline secretion).

last weekend i ventured out to entebbe with a few muzungos and a few host fam' siblings. walked through a marvelous garden (where the first Tarzan movie was filmed) and splashed a bit in the grand Lake Victoria. Fed monkeys too..oh and there were these wee lil' twin monkeys born the day before...clinging to their mommies in dear love!

What a glamorized picture! Truly, truly much of life is routine here, yet I still find myself thrilled with the chance to walk down the main street and buy chipatti from a street vendor, or an avocado from the market! Much of my time this week was focused on school work, what an unfortunate obligation; yet in making more friends on campus life is made more cheery.

Valentine's Day was another normal day...spent the evening with my host family (after the daily run around with the neighbor children who come and play nearly everyday now) sitting outside the compound laughing about our missing valentines. My host brother said he was going to walk through the streets and ask the first lady, opening his arms to her, "will you be my valentine..." It was a comical scene truly...especially after which they all mentioned how Ugandan men aren't very forward..I chuckle to myself to think that earlier that day a gent came up to me in the library and asked for my number, convinced that he always wanted to have a "friend like me"...

Met some missionaries in one of my classes, one of whom is a nurse, that are working in northern Uganda. It somehow "encouraging" to hear how the need I had presumed Africa to have does exist, with significant challenges alongside when it comes to the question of "betterment" or change. Imagine...a community where the English Bible is more practically used than the one they have in their own language (largely a spoken language), where there are some 1,000 children in a single church with little childcare help, where a hospital run only by one nurse, who has to ride 5 hours one way to pick up medicine stock (cutting two days out of caring for patients)....pray for allan and annie in arua.

I have friends at the supermarket. Kristy and Flavia. I love going in and chatting with them. They work from 7:30 to 10:00 everyday...they are fixed there. They are wonderful sisters, they make me smile...they would make you smile too :D

Okie dokie folkie....peace like a river to you (oh and you guys...two other usp students here use the same phrase...imagine! pass it on!)