Back on the right side of the road...

While traveling around Uganda, it was not hard to realize that we were driving on the left side of the road. My brother may point out that this is nothing new, as I do that in the states, and he would be correct, but at least in America I do it for a brief period of time. We are in Rwanda now, and back driving on the right side of the road. I feel at home already, though I would trade our side of the road for some English...

The bus ride was longer than expected, and 10 hours was long enough. It was not event free...never is...

• 1st, when we got to the station we met a young man named MaKenya. He helped us with our bags, and told us he was going to ride the bus with us to Rwanda. It became apparent as we were waiting on the bus that he did not have a ticket, in fact he had no papers to get across the boarder. Trigger, Kim and I talked to him for 20 minutes, trying to get him to leave he bus, explaining that he would be stranded on the border, far from home. He didn't seem to get it, and as I moved in close, I could smell the alcohol on his breath. Finally, regretfully, I went to a man who worked for the bus and told him about MaKenya. He went to the back of the bus, and then left, leaving MaKenya there. We wondered what was going on, and then the bus drove off, with him still on! Now what? I was all ready to let him be, but then realized that while it would be the comfortable thing to do, it wouldn't be best for MaKenya. So I went to the front, talked to the guy who checks tickets, and he went to talk to him. Ma Kenya had no money, so they stopped the bus and forced him off. That was so sad. I really wanted to help him, but of course there was no way to get him across the border. So we left him, a little ways away from Kampala. We prayed for him tonight, and I hope he was able to make it back home.
• We only stopped once! We pulled off on the side of the road, and there were many shops selling all kinds of food, and 30 people running around with food and drink for us to buy. Conner and I bought some meat on a stick-either beef or goat-and it was good! It was cooked well and seasoned with something. That was our only food however, except for the crackers and granola bars I brought.
  
• There were a few people who looked after us. A lady sat in front of Conner and took care of him, shared her food, and helped us with border crossing. A boy sat next to Kim and also helped us out, telling Conner and me which food not to buy, and explaining what ever we didn't understand. They were so nice. Emmanuel, our contact here in Rwanda, said that th Rwandan people are very polite and love visitors, treating us as guests. We could really sense that, and were most appreciative.
  
• The bus-ticket man sat next to me for a while, and we talked about church. He goes on Saturday, because it is a commandment and we need to follow it to go to heaven. I challenged him on that, asking if it was obeying the 10 commandments that got us to heaven, but he had to conduct some bus business before we could finish the conversation. It is interesting to think, however, how much of what we do at church is due to tradition, and many don't even know why, or the thought process behind it.
  
• When we left Uganda, we all thought that we would be staying together at Moucecore for the first month, but instead they found host families for us, and we go live with them tomorrow. So...the adventure starts.
  

That's all for now, our time is about out at this internet cafe. Thank you so much for your prayers, and for reading about our time here...and for posting comments! More updates to follow...

Sunrise in Uganda...

Not yet actually...it is 5:45 here, and we leave for the bus in 30 min. 30 min...and then 8 hours! Goodness. Today we will be in RWANDA! When Conner and I purchased bus tickets yesterday, we purposely chose to sit next to people we didn't know (though we did all get window seats!). As I was praying this morning, I prayed that God would use that decision and that he would bring people to those seats that He wanted us to interact with, and that we would make the most of that time. What that looks like, I don't know, but please pray that we would be open to God's leading on this very long bus trip. I have a tendency to want "me time" and to not want to engage with other people, and so please pray that I would not give into that desire, but would be open to talk with whomever, should the opportunity present itself.

Well...time to dress, scarf down some breakfast...and roll out! Our bus leaves Kampala @ 8:30am (3 hours) and should arrive in Kigali by 5:30pm. That's longer than our plane flights.

Rwanda here we come!

A Ugandan Morning...

As I sit here at the computer, staring out of the window into the Ugandan Christian University compoind, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain outside, I am thankful for the pineapple and papaya that I have just eaten. It is morning over here, and we have just spent our first night in Uganda. Enos was going to meet us here at 8:30, but time over here is relative, and 9 has come and still no sign of him. :) Today will be a laid back day, with no real plans, just adjusting to the time and culture. We slept great, and boy did Asha make us a good breakfast!

Can you say...Africa?

Well...it is midnight here in Uganda, and a muggy 75 deg F. Yes, that's right, Uganda. We landed around 8:30pm, was picked up by Enos, a worker at the Ugandan Christian University, where we are spending our two nights, and drove an hour to their guest house. It was a rather uneventful set of flights, though we sat on the tarmac in Newark for over an hour.

We are exhausted, so it is time to head to bed, the guest house is nice, and I may post a picture or two tomorrow. We are going to be purchasing our bus tickets tomorrow, so that we are ready to leave early Friday morning for the 9 hour ride to Rwanda.

Its hard to believe we are in Africa. More pondering on that in the days to come...

And away we go...

Well...we are now in the Newark, NJ airport. Twas a rather hour and 55 min flight from Atlanta to this fine, albeit rainy, city. We stop here for about 3 hours, and then its across the big pond to Amsterdam. Whew. Its hard to believe the trip has started, but here we are...I don't have much to tell, nor have I had many thoughts, so this is more of an update rather than a full fledged post. But yes, we survived our first flight...someone tell my mother.

12 hours...and counting...

Ah! In 12 hours we will be wheels up and on our way to...NJ. Yeah, the most boring leg of our flight...but at least we will be on our way. I'm all packed (finally) and ready to go, and I really should be in bed, as I will be getting up at 5:30 EST to eat and then drive to the airport. But how can I sleep? How can I remember my malaria pills? How will I find the E-ticket counter? So many questions...

Take heart! Soon the contents of this blog will be filled with interestingness..like photos of the African bus we will take from Uganda to Rwanda, photos of the cabin crew on our flight, recipe for iguana-on-a-stick...so until then, rest easy, knowing that I know where my passport is (I think...) and that in less that 76 hours, I will be in Africa...with out a chaperon, no knowledge of the language...and 10,800 Rwandan franks in my pocket (that translates to about $20).

Good night!

Yes, I switched

I switched over to blogger, due to the ease of uploading pictures from Picassa. I hope to post lots of pictures, so this will make it easier, and thus more likely. :) Whew, its early Friday morning, which means...4 more full days until we leave! We'll leave Dayton around 7am and fly out of Atlanta @ 12:15.

Here is the full itinerary:

Depart Atlanta, GA in a Boeing 737-500 at 12:15pm (I'm seat 22f)
Arrive in Newark, NJ, still on a Boeing 737-500 @ 2:44pm
Depart Newark, NJ @ 6:35pm on a Boeing 767-400 (Seat 39D!)
Arrive in Amsterdam @ 8:15 am (on Wednesday, May 28th)
Depart Amsterdam @ 11:10am on an AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-200
Arrive in Entebbe, Uganda @ 8:15pm, hopefully still on the AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-200

What a trip that will be! 2 full days...or something like that, what with the time change and all.

So, there you have it, we have tickets to Uganda. Oh, then we have a lovely 8 hour bus ride across the border into Rwanda. 

Now, to finish stuffing everything into my increasingly small backpack...