365 Days of Wonder - Day 1

It seems that just about every day I observe something or have a thought that I find funny or noteworthy in some way. More often than not, I'll just repeat the event over and over in my head, willing myself to remember it later, rather than just making a note when it happens. In an effort to stop being so lazy - and share these enjoyable insights - I'm challenging myself to post about these notable occurrences every day. Who knows? Maybe they'll be helpful in the future. Here's hoping!

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DAY 1 : I swear I'm not a creep

The other night I was trying to reflect on things I really enjoyed doing when I was little. This turned out to be way harder than I anticipated, so it was a happy distraction to pick up on the sounds of an argument outside my window.

"I NEVER SAID THAT!"
...muffled...
"I NEVER SAID THAT!!"

Peeping through the blinds, I surveyed the scene. WAIT, NO!!! Turn the lights off first!

I turned the lights off, then went back to my post to watch a lover's quarrel taking place on the sidewalk and nose into other people's problems.

Apparently he was upset that they had to go ALL the way to her friend's house before going to meet HIS friends somewhere else, which was the original plan.

And she was upset that he didn't say anything about not wanting to go to her friend's house first until after they already got there. But he just wasn't having it, "I don't even know why we came over here, they're not even ready to go! I'm just watching you guys eat." [huh?]

A couple of minutes go by, but it's hard to hear what they're actually saying. And then comes a climactic:
"I'm done!"
mumble, mumble
"I'm done!"
Uh-oh, break-up city. Here we go. And, cue crying...

Unfortunately, I don't have proof of their makeup - hugs, hugs, hugs - but it was short lived with some more bickering, which was quickly stopped once they realized their friends* may or may not have been watching them from the window the whole time and they decide to go back inside. 
*and by friends, I do not mean me. I have no idea who these people are.

With the wrap-up of an unanticipated, conveniently-located stakeout, I was reminded of what I REALLY enjoyed when I was little: Spying.

Walls of Death – Sipi Falls pt. 2

The third waterfall of the day and our final hike was to the 'biggest waterfall' on Mt. Elgon. Saving the best for last, or so we thought.

We couldn’t have been more wrong. . .

Our trek started out with our guide joking about how hard this final hike is and did we all think we were tough enough to do it. All of which was said with a big grin and a lot of chuckling. ‘Of course he’s messing with us,’ we all thought, though not completely convinced.

He wasn’t.

What started out as a nice easy journey quickly turned into a hike from hell as the trail took a downward turn, literally. We were no longer hiking a mountain, we were scaling a cliff! And that is NOT an exaggeration. I went down twice. The first because we were attempting to walk down an especially steep area and the dirt started rolling under my shoes and I couldn't get any traction - a few seconds later 'I can't stop!' Luckily, Danielle was in front of me and threw out an arm for me so I could stop. If I thought that was bad, I was in for a rude awakening.

Enter the ‘Walls of Death.’ A rickety wooden staircase/ladder mutation that becomes completely vertical about halfway down. Descending the contraption was not so much difficult as it was frightening, due to the fact that if you slipped you’d fall to a ton of broken bones, at the very least.

So far throughout our hike we’d had a few rain showers, using banana leaves as umbrellas. Now however, there were no more showers, just a downpour. Through this we made it to the bottom of the falls.  While enjoying the view, which was incredible, we couldn’t help but dread the answer to ‘how are we getting back up to the top?’ To our monumental disappointment our fears were confirmed. The only way back up the mountain was the exact way we came down.

Going back up the sheer mountainside was pretty much the worst thing ever. Imagine the worst, most exhausting workout of your life and then double it – at least.

 My second fall of the hike I think Karma played a hand in. Earlier in the day (during lunch after our morning hike) I made a comment how I was glad I didn't 'pull an April.' Which means going for a walk before dinner and coming back all muddy . . . because you fell down . . . in the mud, or in our case, falling on the trail and getting all muddy. Needless to say, this comment was followed by peals of laughter from me. Fast forward to going back up the mountain, in the pouring rain. There was a particularly slippery spot where even our guide had trouble. I started up it and even with his help I still ended up dirtying my pantaloons! (ok, in reality they were jeans – for any of you who look up the real meaning of pantaloons)

It was a really hard struggle to the top, complete with frequent breaks, dread of the climb remaining, and many attempts at self-motivating internal cheerleading. I was so tired afterwards! My clothes were drenched and muddy and we were all soaked to the bone.

I think it’s safe to say that this is an experience I will never forget, and truth be told never want to repeat. But hey, it makes for a good story!

Say Cheese

Last Saturday Katie and I went to eat lunch at Moti Mahal, a really good Indian restaurant. They have an awesome meal deal where you can get unlimited rice and naan! Anywho, we go there quite often, but this last visit we had an experience unlike any of the others. 

 

We sat down, ordered our food and drinks, and shortly after an Indian family comes in and sits at the table diagonal from us. Our food comes and we start eating, occasionally taking note of the nearby family when they are yelling to the waiter. Then I notice that they have moved on to taking pictures of each other around the back of the restaurant. A beat later I see the mother make a motion as if pointing to us, and I let out a laugh thinking she was making a joke of taking pictures with me and Katie. 

It wasn't a joke. 

 

Before we knew what was happening two GROWN women come over to us, sit down, and start taking pictures with us in them. No hello, no asking if we'd mind being in a picture with them, they just did it as if it was completely normal. Then they switch sides so they can both get a picture with me and with Katie. Once the pictures are done they walk back over to their table as if nothing had just happened, still not saying a word to either of us. 

 

Still in shock and a mild disbelief at what just happened we finished our food. As we were waiting for the bill the family left with only the mother saying 'bye' to us. One single word from one lone member of the group, and she didn't even take the pictures! It was bizarre. I mean, it occasionally happens when some random person comes up to you and asks to take a picture with you. Or you catch a random person trying to take a stealth picture of you. But to blatantly go up to a person, SIT DOWN, and not say anything to them before taking pictures without permission was mind blowing! Especially because Indians in Jinja generally don't give Mzungus much attention at all, at least not like Ugandans do. Needless to say it was a strange experience.

Sipi Falls

A few weekends ago the gang and I took a mini-vacation to Sipi Falls. Sipi is located high in the mountains of Eastern Uganda (on Mount Elgon, to be exact), near the Kenyan border. Here the temperatures are cooler, the air is fresher, and the sights are stunning.

Though a last minute trip for Katie and me -
Lori: "Hey we're going to Sipi Falls with a friend of Vanessa's and two of her friends, you wanna come?"
Us: 'Sure! When are you leaving?'
Lori: "Tomorrow afternoon"
- it proved to be a wonderful getaway and a nice change of scenery from Jinja.

Thursday afternoon after returning home from sewing class, Lori, Vanessa, Katie and I loaded up our stuff in the private hire car we'd called and set out on the 3.5 hr journey to the mountains. Along the way we were blessed (for the majority of the trip) with incredibly good roads and got stuck at the tail of a funeral procession for some political figure going somewhat slowly and preventing anyone from passing around it.

Once we made it to Sipi we were a bit confused on where exactly we were staying because the hotel  has 3 different locations, ALL with the same name! Eventually we got everything figured out (after deciding to change locations the next morning) and settled into our 'home' for the next 3 days - Noah's Ark. Did I mention it was complete with somewhat creepy stuffed animals in the 'lounge' area?


Our first day was filled with hiking, Hiking, HIKING!!! Before lunch we hiked up the mountain to see two of the three largest waterfalls at Sipi. As I'm sure you can imagine, they were amazingly beautiful - and thanks to the invention of the camera, you can see for yourself with the photos below!

The lovely ladies of Lubogo Road - pre-adventure

View from the bottom of the mountain

BEHIND the waterfall!

Learning about the man-made salt caves behind the falls.

Woo-hoo!

Katie and my 'first day of school' picture of the trip

Above Waterfall #1 - Overlooking the Karamojong Valley

 

Waterfall #2

 

That is one big waterfall . . .

The Sipi gang - minus the photographer

For scale - we look so tiny!

At lunch we headed back down the mountain to Sipi Falls Lodge (directly across the road from Noah's Ark) for some food and to gear up for the last waterfall of the day.

Scarves For Sale - Get 'em While They're Hot!!!

 

You want to look cool?

 

You want to look stylish?

You want to have fun?

Then allow me to introduce . . . 

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After a long blog absence I'm excited to announce that the handmade batik scarves we've all been working so hard on are officially for sale online!!! They went up September 7th (i think it was) - sorry about the late notice - and hopefully will be available until the end of the year. Unless they sell out of course, which would actually be pretty great for us, but sad for you if you can't get one. BUT fear not because we have an additional purchase order in place for this line and another for a new spring line! Wow-ee!!

The Details:
If you would like to purchase a scarf, thus supporting mine and Fount of Mercy's work, as well as help raise money for orphans all over the world (who knew a scarf could do so much, right?) click your mouse on this link: https://my.goproject.org/project/fount-of-mercys-go-shop.

This link takes you to our Fount of Mercy GO Shop, where you can learn a little more information about our project and how it helps Ugandans in the local Jinja community. ALSO - and this is the really important part - ANYTHING you buy through this page (just click the orange "Shop the GO Exchange Store") will support us with 25% commission!  If you don't use that link, you can type "fount of mercy" in the affiliate line at checkout which will give us the 25% commission as well. This is awesome because the commission money goes directly to Fount of Mercy to help keep it running!

Sound like a win-win? I thought so too. Now go on out there share the news, share the link, and let's buy some scarves!

Getting Up to Speed – Scarf Project

For the past month and a half or so Katie and I have been helping with Fount of Mercy’s latest project –handmade batik scarves to be sold in the good ol’ US of A.

The Scarf Project is our first attempt at selling goods made by Ugandans in the US market, and it is certainly a learning experience to say the least. What makes this undertaking possible is that the scarves are actually being sold by an organization called The GO Exchange.

What’s The GO Exchange? I’ll probably get this wrong, but here it goes. The website explains the organization as ‘a living and active global marketplace that changes lives; ALL PROFITS go to help care for orphaned and abandoned children’ (https://thegoexchange.org/). So basically it’s an online marketplace selling goods made by people in other countries, with the profits going directly to helping orphaned children. We sell the scarves to GO then they resell them on their website as well as at home shows – so if, come September, you feel like buying a scarf, you can! Just make sure you type ‘Fount of Mercy’ in the Affiliation box on the billing page so we will receive an extra 15% on anything you buy from the website! . . . and you probably want to really try to make sure you do that, seeing as we’re not making any money off of this, but simply breaking even – hopefully. . .

So what exactly does it take to create a one-of-a-kind, beautiful, hand batik scarf? Allow me to try to explain.

First you wash the fabric to preshrink the scarves. Next you cut to size and batik, as you can see Esther measuring a piece out below.  

The batiking is accomplished by painting melted paraffin wax onto the fabric. Making batik look good is actually way harder than it looks! Katie and I tried it for a couple of days and our scarves didn’t look nearly as good or get completed as fast as those of the seasoned Scarf Gang. That’s just a name I’ve taken to calling the employees at the scarf workshop (though they don't know it).

Once the wax has been applied it’s time to dye the fabric! Depending on the color, the scarves will stay in the dye bath for varying amounts of time. Below you can see Janet stirring the bath to insure an even dying of the scarf as well as what the bath looks like just after adding the dye.

  
After the dying is finished the scarves are hung on the line to dry and then boiled after that to remove the wax. Below, another of our interns, Yevette, takes the boiled scarf out of the pot.

A final rinse to get the wax pieces off follows the boil and then another round on the line to dry.

 
Next, the scarves are ironed between sheets of newspaper to get rid of any remaining wax off of the scarves. Hemming up all four sides comes next and then a final once over with the iron.
 

At home Katie and I apply iron-on transfer tags, then fold and package the scarves. And voila, a handmade batik scarf is complete!