The pics below are from a rally they held about 20 min walking from my house. It was 5,000 ($2.50) to get in, and you pretty much found wherever you wanted to stand. You can see in one of the pics where about seven kids climbed a tree to see the car races, only a few feet from where the cars went zooming by. I took a few pics of them and how perfectly precarious they were perched above the track, but kept getting caught and called out in Luganda. I just laughed awkwardly and turned to take more pics of the cars going by. I later had to plan my pics of them when the cars would race by, drawing their attention away from me.
The event lasted from about 11am - 4:30pm, at least that's how long Martin (my brother) and I stayed. The sun was out most of the time, and they were brutal equatorial rays. Being the smart mzungu I am, and one of about three amongst the thousands of Buganda, I was prepared with a full bottle of spf 50 sunblock. Lathering up every hour or so I stayed protected at the expense of my dignity, which quickly became last on the list of things to maintain due to a few earlier incidents. The first was a lesson I thought I'd learned in the Miami Ariport. Thinking my money would be safe zipped inside a leather purse, tied to my belt loop and tucked into my back pocket, I was mistaken. Walking through the shoulder to shoulder crowds I was preoccupied with keeping my camera safe, not realizing that my back pocket was being emptied. I had learned, however, not to carry much with me and only lost 7,000(about $3.50). None the less, my reaction was far from righteous. I felt super violated and envisioned myself taking out the thief who done it. It festered inside me for a couple of minutes as I looked at everyone with a condemning glare, saying to myself that all these people would take advantage of me if given the chance, that they would all be willing to stoop to the dirty level of whoever took the 7,000. How horrible of me! I immediately remembered Jesus' words about walking two miles with the guy who asks for one. What was I doing boiling about the lost of $3.50 due to my own carelessness? Two kids were sitting in front of me while all these things were spoiling my mind, who came up to me and touched my leg hair in amazement. This was surely God's way of cooling me off via his kingdom through children, and humbling me in the most profound way.
I also had this guy come up to me with his gourd (the equivalent of of a beer bottle filled with this nasty looking local brew made from fermented banana juice), wanting his picture taken and offering to trade me his gourd for my Nalgeen.
The races were very cool though. They first had the dirt bike races, which got more exciting as the number one Ugandan racer almost lost to mzungu, but pulled in front with only a lap to go. Next were the cars. They had two race against each other on parallel tracks and then switch. Many cars broke down, and one car crashed into a tree where a large crowd was. No one was hurt by the grace of God (it really looked as if someone should have been crushed). I was in a relatively place, though if the car had made a wrong move I would have needed to run. The last pic below, however, of the car that looks like it is real close is real close, maybe seven feet. I was still safe though (for all the parents that may read this).
No sunburn, loss of 7,000, great time and some cool snaps; t'was a good day.

These are some pics of our flat tire driving back from Rwanda. The rope swing was an incredible time and most people didn't get hurt; a few of the girls let go of the rope prematurely... they lived. Redmond and I also broke the rules and decided to swim out to a different island early in the morning. We waited for Angela, but she was a no show, so we headed out at 6:30am. The lake we were swimming over is the deepest lake in ... Africa (maybe east Africa), so that feeling of "oh my goodness! There are thousands of feet of water beneath us" was definitely kinda freaky. We got to the island and swam back watching the sunrise. It took about a little less than an hour to swim there and back, and we estimated it was a little more than a mile swim. (The lake is supposedly the only lake in Africa that doesn't have parasites, Dad, so we should be okay... but I'll let you know if I have larvae crawling out of my eyes in a month). The one pic of the guy swinging off the rope using no hand was me. They dared me to try and use no hands, so I did, knowing I had the largest muscles of the body on my side. (It was actually an awkward stage of me flipping off the rope).

Some of these are sunset and sunrise pics; beautiful. The guy laughing is Eddie, a Belgium dude I met in Rwanda. We stayed up late talking about the world, philosophizing and theologizing about everything under the sun. He was really quality, and though he wasn't a Christian and I never asked him if he wanted to accept Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, I talked about my heart for God, about my deepest beliefs uniting all humans, and rested confidently that whether I am planting the seeds or watering them, God is the one who does the work and He was there before me and will be there after me. So long as I focused on love for God, His love for me, and the subsequent loving of others, I felt confident to talk about anything, be challenged by anything, and listen to Eddie intently and respectfully, never wondering how I was going to convince him or where I could plug my opinion in.
Some of the earlier pics were of us loading up to go to our home stays.
To explain why these things are not in any logical order and probably don't make much sense: The internet is super slow here, so pics take about 20 min to load 5. This frustrates me, which causes the blog to be a dump of whatever info I can get on there in between classes and homework. Maybe by the end of the semester I'll be able to get a system down a little better.
I'm also able to run here. I just started up last week after not running consistently for nearly 9 months (a while after the Philly Marathon). I'm feeling pretty good and I think I've still got it, though the 4,000 altitude doesn't make training feel as easy as I'd hoped. I'm hoping to run the half or the full marathon this November in Kampala with all the Kenyan's and Ethiopian's.

Trying to catch up!

This is an attempt to catch up with the days I've been missing. I have more things happening that I thought I'd want to write about, but that's Africa I guess. Comments are wonderful to read as well. As they will sometimes say here: "The house loved is the one with red dust before it's door."
Good book to read I would suggest anyone to read is John V Taylor's Primal Vision. This book has challenged me to view the gospel in an entirely new light outside that of any Western style book I've read. Taylor delves into the deep implications the gospel has for African and Western Christianity. I have yet to finish it, but his insights have been ground breaking for my understanding of myself, mankind, my family, the gospel, Christ, and the Church already. It is not too long of a book, and I would suggest getting the newer addition because the preface, intro, and postscript are worth the read.
I going to post this for now, add some pics and comment on them, then fill in the gaps... hopefully...

8-27-09
We went to Kampala today after we received our Rwanda Orientation. It was about a 45min trip into the city where we got off at the main mall (Garden City). I exchanged $20 at the ForEx, then $100.00 (200,000 shillings) at the ATM (which I later found out was $120.00; you were right Dad, about not getting money from the ATM’s, but everybody else was doing it and I am a sucker for peer pressure, as you know).
After Kampala we stopped by traditional burial grounds for all the Buganda Kings (Buganda is the largest and most powerful/influential tribe in Uganda, making 20% of the total population). The huts were made of grass roofs, bamboo structure, and big wooden supports. We also got a chance to play on some drums they had opened in one of the huts. They were handmade and looked ancient, and about five of us were in there banging away on all the different kinds to find the coolest noises and deepest tones for about 15min. We somehow didn’t get too much attention and left without anyone saying a word.

8-28-09
There are things going on in my mind, and actions that I want to copy and mimic, but I don’t know how to label them. Are they good? Are the bad? It is information tethered to real life, physical stimuli, and grounded in one context. I trust that various reactions and actions will be better revealed with time and mistakes make, but for now it is a slow process of no labeling and mislabeling.
Maybe my hope to connect with my family, experience culture shock, learn what it is like to live and connect with another people and worldview, and be more aware of myself, God, and the world is my expectation that I can’t expect to be met. How is it that when we focus on the things we want the most they are never further away? Perhaps the exception is the kingdom of God; nothing is worthy to be focused upon or put forward as a first thing. God is bigger and worthy to be sought after; Not agriculture, family, cross, cultural experience, culture shock, or revelation through travel or change of worldview. To release these is to be free, to be joyful, to be in love with God and his kingdom; nothing else matters.

8-29-09
We woke up at 4:30 to leave by 5am for Rwanda. It was the last night of a weeklong worship retreat at UCU, and they were blaring music from 7:30pm to 3am as the final all night ending. I woke up at 12am to go back to the quarters to grab my earplugs. Never have I been so annoyed with worship music. Lord forgive me.
This quick trip to the IMME quarters is no as simple as it sounds. I have the keys to get back into the room on my keychain along with the keys needed to open the padlock to the quarters. The lock is on the other side or a metal door with a hole just big enough for both hands to fit in to grab the lock on the other side. There are two rooms, two doors, and two different locks to the quarters, so getting the right key is a guess to begin with. Then, fumbling around blindly with the keys, hoping I’d aligned the right key correctly with the padlock, both hands awkwardly squeezed inside the hole and aware that were I to drop the keys I’d be locked out of the quarters and the dorms and forced to knock on the windows to wake up my roommates, I began to realize how good of a story I was on the brink of. I did manage to open the lock and grab my earplugs and get another few hours of sleep before our long drive to Rwanda.
We have a 15hr. estimated ride today in a van with minimal leg room, thousands of potholes, and exhaust that would choke a chain smoker. Angela also found a bug in the wheat bread we bought the other day and saved it for me to decide if I wanted to waste it or not. I saw the glass half full and hope the bug didn’t lay any eggs, finishing it off before lunch.
We filled the estimated 15hrs. I had very little to no leg room and had to stretch out my leg to the front seat right next to the driver’s shifting hand every so often. We both knew it was awkward, but every hour that passed pushed courtesy out the window. The roads were horrible and went on for miles, and bread and peanut butter were my only comfort. Pot holes and monstrous unmarked speed bumps plagued every minute and had everyone bracing for impact whenever the van slowed suddenly. Our van was shaking and banging constantly. One girl whammed her head against the ceiling. The worst was the exhaust from other vehicles, especially the bigger vehicles. There are very different pollution regulations here, so cars and trucks cans spew whatever they want to the poor suckers behind them. You can see the smog over the cities and towns as you come into them. Using a damp shammy and a bandana I covered my mouth like a bandit as a filter I was able to clean some of the air. After about an hour the bandana was dirty with red dust and black pollution.
We made it to Rwanda though!

I have selected and am typing up some journal entries this weekend (maybe?), and will be posting them as I can. It will take some time to figure out coordinating the pics with the blogs. Love to you all.

These are pics I took on our rural church visit in Rwanda. The children were beautiful and super interested in our presence there. This is a typical way in which they carry babies both in Uganda and Rwanda, and I've never seen an upset baby, only content little faces looking observing the world and enjoying the ride. I like how the feet just kinda pop out and bobble around too.



This was after church when I met the drummer (bottom right) who is also the pastor's kid. He was super nice and we exchanged looks throughout the service every time he started to play. I went up to him afterward, thanked him for playing and asked if I could play along with him. I ended up playing for a bit, then he showed me the kind of rhythm they are used to. Evidently my muzungu rhythm wasn't what they were used to, explaining why when I encouraged them to dance they stared at me funny and acted a bit awkward. Sebastian (pastor's kid) then took over and they all began hopping around and laughing as they danced together.
This was a super cute little girl (obviously) that came in in the middle of the service to be with the kids up at the front of the church. There was no sense of interruption in the service, to the extent that twice the preachers cell phone rang when he was talking and he proceeded to answer it and have a brief conversation, or a congregation member would have something to tell him and they would simply walk up and whisper into his ear as he was leading the service. A bit different than home indeed.