hey this is at my homestay and my "brothers" are building this as a room for themselves. They made the bricks and mixed the cement...which I helped them to do, haha, I mean "helped" but whatever. This was built in 3 days, and they're probably done by now. I think it's amazing how fast they work here. They make the bricks, then burn them for a 2 day process to make them hard...then they keep them out in the sun a while, then they build and cover it with cement to keep it longer. Anyways, that's it.

THis is a pic of one of my good friends here, Charlotte and I. Haha, here's a funny story. When I first met her, I thought her name was "Shallot" from the way she pronounced it. I would call her that for a while. But, now I know. :) She's a lot of fun. She's from the south west near Rwanda. I was on my bed for this pic and she had just gotten down to leave so I took it from a weird angle.

this is a pic of a crowd of people around a poster of Besigye. He is the only other candidate that is basically competition with the president now, Museveni. They reeeeeeaally go crazy over here about elections, screamin and hollerin and riding trucks into town. The elections are on thursday and it's hopefully going to be peaceful, so please pray about that.

Interesting Info

here are some little tid bits about uganda that I would love you to know about.


In Lugandan, there is no word for "hello" just a word for "hello how are you" therefore, when I say hello to someone, I often get the response, "fine, how are you"....you learn to just go with the flow, haha

You can't eat while walking...it's considered rude

Staring is NOT rude at all...why, you can even stare till you pass the person, then look back in order to stare just a little bit more.

My hair does not look brushed to them when it's curly

picking your nose in front of a person even when you're in the middle of a conversation with them apparantly is NOT rude

My new worries....will my sandals actually last? will my skirt fall apart thread by thread? and...since there is no dryer, my khaki pants keep getting bigger and bigger, so...will my pants eventually fall off?? HA

my zits to them either look like mosquito bites or a rash...and so do freckles.

"mmm" means yes...so does a slight lift of the eyebrow

Every other muzungu is my friend apparantly....

if you're walking the same direction as someone, be prepared to hear their life story

"I'm freeeezing" takes on a different connotation...a slight breeze sends the ugandans a great shiver. I don't think they'd survive in the snow.

I obviously type extremely fast here.

"well-be back" means "welcome back" apparantly.

$ - this sign is used all the time to mean & because they don't have dollars here...duh

guys holding hands, girls holding hands, guys and girls holding hands....it all just means friendship here...go figure.

It's weird to see someone running or working out...that's pretty much unheard of here. Therefore, if you want to do those things, you must rise before the sun...I've pretty much resigned myself to waking up at 6 every day...so fun

On the same note, I never take a shower now without having first sweat a lot. It's absolutely freezing, therefore I try to make it bearable.

I am now obsessed with wrinkles because I have to iron everything anyways and now I'm so used to it, i dont' know how I will ever live with a wrinkle again, haha. ;)

You learn to read from candle light here cause electricity is a commodity that goes out every other night.

Any ring on any finger means you're married or engaged.

Okay, so that's all for now. I hope you got a kick out of some of t