One of the first days in Uganda, Grayson and I were walking down the road and an African was walking in the opposite direction. i could tell he was staring at us as mzungu (the name for white people or non-black foreigners in my case). As we passed him, he continued to stare at us. Then I heard a smack on the ground and looked back. It seems as during his staring at us he neglected to see the bump in the road and fell flat on his face!!! We were dying laughing, but tried to hold it in a little.
Another time, Dan, Ashley, Grayson and I stopped for ice cream after dinner with the high school team. We had decided to take boda bodas back since it was a long way from the school and walking by the bars at night was probably not the best idea. (Sorry, Lori, I gave into the pleading of yoru son! He's just too cute to deny.) We explained to the drivers that we wanted to go to the kasaawe which means field in Luganda. However, when Ashley and Grayson boarded the boda boda, Grayson told him Kabalagala which is where the church is, but in the wrong direction. As Dan's boda boda took off in the correct direction, Grayson and Ashley's went in the opposite direction. I yelled at them as I boarded my boda boda. I told my driver that they were going the wrong way, and he didn't even flinch saying, "They wil catch up." Eventually the driver figured out he was going the wrong way and they turned around eventually passing me as I detoured to the Olympia Hotel where the HS team was. However, I had the key to the room...Whoops!
Two days ago, Grayson and I decided to adventure. He wanted to see if he could buy some shoes from a place in Uganda. We decided that boda bodas were too expensive so we would take a taxi. Derrick, the gate person at the school, told us we should go to Ggaba market or town, but that Ggaba market was closer. We decided Ggaba, and he told us that a taxi would be 500 shillings. As we were walking through the field, I heard a boda boda coming up behind us. The driver had just dropped off someone and came to ask us if we needed a ride. He told us it would be 3000 shillings. We said 2000. He balked and we said okay we'll take a taxi. He then said, "Wait, I want your money!" So both of us got on the boda boda and started on our way to Ggaba. Honestly, we were hauling on that little bike. Then all of a sudden we started slowing down and the driver pulled over to the side. I thought he ran out of gas and was going to try to charge us more, but he said his boda boda was broken. We weren't convinced but then I saw that the back tire was flat. At that point, I didn't know what to say to him. He said we were almost there and could take a taxi, but we decided to walk. So I paid him the 2000 and we left. The rest of the day we just kept saying, "I can't believe we broke a boda boda."
That brings me to another good comment. Upon arrival to the school, a student came up to Mark Davis and asked him what he needed to eat to get like that, pointing at his belly. Hilarious! At least three people have told me that I've gotten fat since last year. I guess it's time to start running because breaking the boda boda was just evidence that it's time to get back into shape. Last night, the child that Grayson's sister sponsors just came into our place and sat down with her cousin. To our knowledge neither of us invited her. However, she just sat there. We talked to her a little, but she's really quiet. We took some pictures and then after about hour Grayson started giving me a weird look like, "What should I do?" So I said we needed to go down to get dinner. Finally, she left with us. Then as we were walking around downstairs, she said to me that someone told her that we needed to take her portrait. So I told Grayson and we laughed. I guess that's the reason she was hanging out, but we knew nothing about that. We went up and took her picture and left again so she wouldn't stay for another hour.
This morning as we returned from church, we were walking with Patrick. When we told him that Grayson was 17 and going to university in the fall, He said something about him being so small and not mature. He could get kidnapped or abducted because he was not big enough to protect himself. I guess most students don't attend university until in their 20's. He said that even if a young person graduated no one would give him a job if he was so young. Lastly and probably the most hilarious time since being here...today, we went to take pictures of some of the homes of students at God Cares. When we went to one home, Grayson walked aroung taking pictures while Worship, Namitala, Joanita and I sat and waited. All of a sudden, we heard a bunch of people cracking up. We came to find out that they went to show Grayson the bathroom to take pictures of it. As he walked around the wall to the bathroom, there was girl squatting. Everyone was giving him a hard time all the way back to God Cares!!!
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