Happy Birthday America - She Has Come!

July 4th.            The 4th of July.           Independence Day.          America's Birthday.

All good reasons to celebrate no matter where you are, even in Uganda. Since we had a lot of work to do we couldn't take the day off, but that doesn't mean we didn't do anything to celebrate. In fact we got pretty wild.

What did we do, you ask? Ate hamburgers and milkshakes, of course! Well, we WANTED to eat milkshakes, but the restaurant we were at didn't have all the ingredients for them so we had to settle for smoothies.

While sitting at the table waiting to get our patriotism on we are spotted by Ali, the man who teaches language lessons to most of the Mzungus in Jinja. Katie and I hadn't seen him yet this trip (though we'd often heard him downstairs in the mornings for Lori's lessons) so Lori asks if he remembers us.
"Do you remember Katie and Sarah?"
"Of course!" he replies as he shakes Katie's hand, not quite convincing anyone of complete recognition. Then he reaches over to shake my hand, a perplexed look on his face.
"Do you remember me?" I ask. His face falls into even deeper furrowed thinking and then -
"Ah! She has come!!!!" Click. Ali has now locked into who I am and, apparently, how much he likes me, rushing over to my side of the table to shake my hand again. This time with GREAT enthusiasm.

"How are you?! How is America?" he peppers me with questions. By this point everyone else at the table is just watching, dumbfounded by what just happened.

After Ali left, we fell into a fit of laughter.
"Whoa, I had no idea Ali liked you so much!"
"What'd you do, pay him extra?!"
"Geeze Katie, what does that make you? Chopped liver?"
And many more similar comments flew back and forth across the table. A short time later our food arrived and we tucked right in, finally leaving with full bellies and satisfied airs.

Happy birthday America, it was one to remember.

I knew it!

Last Sunday, I decided it was a lovely late morning to sit out on our deck and read for a bit. So I did just that. Just look at that view...

Here is the deck

Here is some of what you can see from the deck - Lubogo Road

So I'm sitting in the shade, reading and enjoying the occasional gentle breeze when I notice an overturned bucket sitting to my right. The only reason I noticed it was because it moved, or at least I thought it did.

I didn't pay much mind to this until about 15 minutes later it moved again . . . twice . . . by itself.  Instantly my mind jumped to my last trip when I heard horror stories about rats appearing in Lori's house. "There's got to be a rat in there!" I thought to myself. Then quickly decided to vacate the deck. As soon as I saw Katie I told her my thought - "I think there is a rat under there! Or i guess it COULD have been the wind but it wasn't really blowing hard enough to move a bucket . . . "

"I'm sure it was the wind," was her reply. But I could tell that's only what she WANTED to think, especially after the rat experience she dealt with last time.

After Sunday I'd forgotten all about the bucket and possible rat. That is until Eva, who helps out with house work a few times a week, came into the dinning room this morning asking, "who put a bucket over a rat?!!"

"I knew it!!!!" I wanted to cry out. But instead I just whispered it to Katie.

In the end, Jesse, the groundskeeper took care of the rat, but I still felt some satisfaction having been right that there was a rat under the bucket . . . even if it would have saved a big scare and disgust had I not forgotten about it and remembered to tell someone. Whoops. Oh well. No harm, no foul - right?

Happy Birthday to Me

Today, July 2, 2013, is my 24th birthday. How did I spend it? 8 hours of batiking and then waiting 2 hours for dinner of course! Actually the batiking was pretty entertaining, especially when wowing Katie with my useless ability to name each member of S Club 7 as well as confessing I can name, and describe, every person from the game Guess Who.  And at dinner - at the newly finished (as of a year ago, i think) Jinja Nile Village - we just so happened to be able to participate in some special marketing promotion/feedback gimmick which allowed us to get free food! The only downside was the service was very slow, even for Uganda - but hey, it was free . . . and tasty! :D

As a special my-birthday treat for you, here is a random picture of what you'd see if you were to sit on our toilet. Enjoy!

Painting on the bathroom door

Meow!!! . . . Please, Make It Stop

Apparently the idea of not not living with annoying cats for the next few months was a false one (no offense Leana). The apartment above Lori's, which we are temporarily living in, also houses the cat of the former resident. I forgot this.

Meet Meow. 

(She's more terrifying in this picture than real life. And yes, that is a cat-aract in her right eye - pun intended)

And believe me, the name could not be more appropriate . . . unfortunately for us. I made the mistake of petting her one evening and now she's taken to following me around the house and meowing loudly. The other night I forgot to close my bedroom door, remembering during dinner. That's strike one. 'She'll probably be in our room when we get back,' I'd jokingly thought to myself. Strike 2 for Sarah. Later that night Katie and I walk into our room, turn on the light and barely see Meow as she runs lightning quick off of my bed and out of the room.
"She was laying on my bed!!!!" I cried (only realizing after it came out I'd totally channeled Buster from Arrested Development 'it walked on my pillow!!!').

The next day before I'd gotten out of bed, I heard Tara through the door. "The cat pooped on my dress!!! I was going to wear this today!" Apparently Meow was mad that Tara didn't let her into her room the previous night and decided to let her have it. So it seems that not only is Meow super annoying, but vindictive too.

As a safe guard for myself, I've decided to threaten never to pet her again should she do something like that to my things. We'll see how well that works out . . .

Looks relatively innocent in this picture, huh?