Aug 17

It's pouring today, so my brother and I are stuck in the apartment.  Anyway, I haven't figured out how to post pictures on this blog quite yet, so all the pictures taken thus far are on facebook.

Life has been going great lately.  I played soccer with my priest quorum brothers yesterday, which was absolutely awesome.  Half of the players played barefoot and the other half played with heavy duty boots; I was the only guy with real sports manufactured shoes.  It must be anti-culture for girls to play soccer with men because when I pulled a girl watching into our game (against her will) and shouted, "she said she wanted to play!" everyone stop and stared.  Mucho awkward.  Speaking of awkwardness, I accidentally asked a kid "what are your teeth named," when I was trying to ask him his name in luganda.  He started laughing and I didn't know why until a friend  told me what happened.

I am so proud of my African accent.  Yesterday a muzungu (white person) thought I had grown up in Africa because of my English.  It gave me a warm fuzzy.

The separation between the white and the black community is really disgusting.  This barrier is two-sided.  The whites are skeptical of any friendliness shown by the natives because they feel that they are trying to use a friendship to get at their money (selfishness...).  I think the natives feel that the whites are too stuck up to really connect too, but I might be wrong (judging..).  Anyway, I feel the faculty at this university are especially exclusive, a stereotype I want to shatter!  

I love Ugandan culture.  No one is ever in a hurry.  Most people arrived at our ward activity an hour (or more) late.  Our driver said he had an appointment thirty minutes before he finally left us.  People leave their chickens/goats/cows out to graze in the open, as well as leaving their clothes out to dry on community lines.  Everything is shared.  That's probably why they struggle to connect with westerners, because they don't share in the same way.  Then again, if they did, they would be facing poverty just like everyone else.

Because of the corruption of the Ugandan government, friends really get you places here.  For example, in our orientation at the embassy, we were told a story of my dad's predecessor.  Government officials asked her to pay a teaching "bond," worth about 500 US dollars.  Lucky for her, she had befriended an influential clergyman who talked to the president of Uganda, easily persuading him to let her off the hook.  It's probably because this version of corruption is everywhere that people come up to me asking to help them get into BYU.  I think they are hoping that I could talk to an admissions worker and let them in.  The sad thing is that these people don't stand a chance to get into any American college, let alone BYU.  They would need to get into the "Harvard" of Uganda and maintain a high GPA to even have a shot at BYU.

Well my horizons in medical service aren't looking good.  Apparently they have had too many whites tell them what to do, and really don't let you get involved.  You need to have an MD to do just about anything in this country.  But all is not lost.  I am looking at helping teach kids soccer or building infrastructure through church development projects.  I just need to pray to figure out how best to use my time.

Today we had a maid come in and clean our apartment for three and a half hours.  We paid her five dollars. That's pittance right?  Wrong.  Apparently we could have paid her one fifth that amount.  She was a single mother with four children.  No work skills, rudimentary English.

One of our security guards is probably going to give me a Luganda name.  I'm pumped.

Looks like I've ran out of things to say.  Hope you guys have an enjoyable rest of your summer.  Over and out.

Eric