Thursday, March 24, 2005
When ther crowd say bo!
Selecta!
Etc...
Hey that rhymes!
Whatever.
This is a short update. A few funnies have happened the past few days but before that, I did something a bit stupid, and could've turned out bad... cos I fought playing a game would be fun... which it can be but not this time... cos it weren't a game... but you'll never know what now! Well... unless you know me.
... is that enough elipses?
Is that even what they're called...?
Anywho.
I finished uni last Friday so I thought I pop into work on Monday to get some of my hours out of the way. Unfortunately for me, when I called in to ask if it was ok for me to come in, a girl on my team called Tina answered the phone. She's a blonde in disguise, I swear. Just to make sure you get this convo, I assumed she'd be able to recognise my voice.
Tina: AAC Quotes. Tina speaking.
Me: Oh, hi Tina. It's Tom. Is Bernie around?
Tina: Yes he is. Can I ask who's calling please?
Me: Tina. It's Tom. Don't you recognise my name?
Tina: Sorry. What's you last name?
Me: Tina. It's me.
Tina: Do I know you?
Me: Yeah. I work with you...
*silence*
She spent the next minute laughing at herself so I was on the phone for about 2 minutes too long.
And then today, I had another really funny convo with Emma, another girl on my team. She has actually got blonde hair. Me and her cuss each other the entire time I'm in. I really enjoy it!
Emma: I think our team gets on really well. I recon it's cos we are a small team and all get on with each other. We're all pretty close.
*See looks around and singles out the part timer* - ie: me
Emma: Well... *insert degrading tone* except a certain someone.
*silence*
*Emma looks at me*
Emma: You're just a bit of a cling-on really, Tom.
Me: *Speaks fake Klingon language*
Everyone cracked up.
We are the best team in the department though. I'm not being biased or anything... really. I think the highlight of their pension quoting week is when I'm in though. Although, they do all say that to me anyway. They probably hate me really.
Well, I hoped I made you laugh. Time for me to bid farewell. I get a lie in tomorrow!!!!!! YAY!
Etc...
Hey that rhymes!
Whatever.
This is a short update. A few funnies have happened the past few days but before that, I did something a bit stupid, and could've turned out bad... cos I fought playing a game would be fun... which it can be but not this time... cos it weren't a game... but you'll never know what now! Well... unless you know me.
... is that enough elipses?
Is that even what they're called...?
Anywho.
I finished uni last Friday so I thought I pop into work on Monday to get some of my hours out of the way. Unfortunately for me, when I called in to ask if it was ok for me to come in, a girl on my team called Tina answered the phone. She's a blonde in disguise, I swear. Just to make sure you get this convo, I assumed she'd be able to recognise my voice.
Tina: AAC Quotes. Tina speaking.
Me: Oh, hi Tina. It's Tom. Is Bernie around?
Tina: Yes he is. Can I ask who's calling please?
Me: Tina. It's Tom. Don't you recognise my name?
Tina: Sorry. What's you last name?
Me: Tina. It's me.
Tina: Do I know you?
Me: Yeah. I work with you...
*silence*
She spent the next minute laughing at herself so I was on the phone for about 2 minutes too long.
And then today, I had another really funny convo with Emma, another girl on my team. She has actually got blonde hair. Me and her cuss each other the entire time I'm in. I really enjoy it!
Emma: I think our team gets on really well. I recon it's cos we are a small team and all get on with each other. We're all pretty close.
*See looks around and singles out the part timer* - ie: me
Emma: Well... *insert degrading tone* except a certain someone.
*silence*
*Emma looks at me*
Emma: You're just a bit of a cling-on really, Tom.
Me: *Speaks fake Klingon language*
Everyone cracked up.
We are the best team in the department though. I'm not being biased or anything... really. I think the highlight of their pension quoting week is when I'm in though. Although, they do all say that to me anyway. They probably hate me really.
Well, I hoped I made you laugh. Time for me to bid farewell. I get a lie in tomorrow!!!!!! YAY!
Thursday, March 10, 2005
And on the 7th Day...
We didn't rest.
Day 7:
I got up early again. (7o’clock). Jumped into the cold shower (Brrrrr!) and ate very little breaky again. Praise God that I didn’t feel as bad as I did yesterday. Today we left Luweero again to go into a remote village, which was about a 2 hour, bumpy drive away, so I was even more grateful that I felt ok. Firstly though, we headed off to Luweero Boys School. Sat, being lay, got us in the minibus for a 1 minute ride. This didn’t feel like the other schools. It was all too easy. 1 minute down the road? I though this was gonna be tough. Heh. It was great though, because 4 people gave their lives to God and a Muslim even spoke to Christine and thought very very hard about the decision. I also saw some games that the kids played. Piggy in the Middle (old classic) and ball touch/dodge ball where they took it in turns to chuck a tennis ball as hard as they could as each other! Ouch….
We got back and hung about (sunbathed!) until Sat got back from his errands. Oh it was worth it. He had Fruitella and chocolate. Wahoo! He also had some dodgy love song tapes for the journey to Luwangpanga (the village). After our tanning session, we headed out on our 2 hours trip… well, it was supposed to be 2 hours but we stopped for about 40 mins to have some chapattis and coke. Next was more dirt roads in which, the minibus had to go into a ditch (could’ve tipped over) because a truck was blocking the road, we went the wrong way 3 times, some people didn’t trust us so refused to tell us which way to go. (Someone told us to go one way and another, another way) We also saw a mongoose cross the road and a couple of monkeys for our enjoyment. Eventually, we found someone who was willing to lead us the right way – the only problem being that he was on a bike…. A push bike… and we were in a minibus… a large minibus….
This was the funniest trip ever. This guy on the bike led us through someone’s flowers, someone’s minibus high maize, a little bit of field and along a really narrow path which had a branch growing so low over it, that it almost took of the roof of the minibus! Ok, maybe I’m over exaggerating a bit, but the branch did scratch up the roof. We just made it under, but we got there! Yeah!!!
Whoops. Spoke to soon I think. Someone take me back, quick…. 2 women were jogging after the bus whaling at us. “Lalalalalalala!” They were actually going to kill us and I think we were all a bit freaked. Luckily, they were just happy to see us and instead of shaking our hands and saying ‘hi’, they hugged us and whaled some more.
This was a dream, surely. It must’ve been.
After we got out, the women went into the church building. We had a bit of a look see before heading into church. We looked at the pit-latrine area. No concrete here, let alone privacy! In fact, it stank as well. Roaches too *shudder*. The shower area wasn’t much better. It was just reeds built around a wooden frame with an entrance. It didn’t have a decent floor either. Oh yes, this was what I was expecting from Africa!
We went in to the church. Drums were banging, people were singing and dancing… and there was a bit more whaling. Craziness. Hmm, not sure if that quite describes it.
We sat on the alter area behind the pulpit. I needed to sit down. They brought us the milkiest tea on Earth, which I gave to Jimmy when him and the other guys had arrived. Instead of coming with us (because there was no room – not that this usually matters) they had taken the taxi bus (complete nutters) and everyone was glad to see some familiar faces.
The village kids were sat on a mat in the church and were dancing and singing. We just did some more sitting, trying to soak it all in, but there was a slight problem about tonight. We didn’t know where we were sleeping yet.
Eventually, we set up the projector for tonight and after that we went on a walk to the lake (a drunk person tried to take us down to the lake first but we told him nicely that we’d wait for everyone else!). Loads of people end up following us down, (‘Bzungu’) and when we got there, we noticed some fishing boats on the shore. Someone offers us a trip on these boats. Ha! Not everyone is impressed at this but everyone was eventually cajoled into going on these wobbly boats, on this lake full of nasty water. I can’t speak for the others, but this bit was one of my many highlights. We started off by going down a small canal where the boats were kept, which had insects buzzing about the reeds everywhere, but as we came out the lake just opened up before our eyes. The view was stunning. Sun was setting, water for miles in every direction with land just visible in the distance. Forget being worried about falling out of the boat and the disease that was all around us – this was all worth it! We parked the boats up and walked back to the village.
We had a mic hooked up and Patrick was talking into it… or maybe MC’ing, for about 20 mins, without breathing! Jimmy told me that he was inviting people to come and watch a video. And the people came. The video was called ‘It’s Your Choice’. It was all in Lugandan so we didn’t have a chance of understanding it. We got the basic jist that it was to do with AIDS and becoming a Christian. Or so I thought… Maz had other ideas. She still thought it was the Jesus video even after the point in the film where a guy had used a condom to seal a leak in the engine!!!! Oh my Lord. That bit made me wet myself with laughter!
That finally finished and we went around chatting to people about it. Me must’ve talked to 10 people and the funny thing was that they all happened to be saved and also went to thins church. ‘Woteva’, thought. I told them all that I’d see them on Sunday then!
We ate, put up the girls’ mozzie nets (we finally found out we were sleeping in mud huts) but while putting up the girls needs, we scared a MASSIVE cockroach off the wall and onto the floor! Whoops. We never found it.
We went outside and all the lights were out. It was pitch black and I looked up at the clearest night sky I had ever seen and will probably ever see.
Wow. This was worth it.
The milky-way lay scattered across the sky in a way so bright, that even without my glasses on, it was possible to distinguish between the stars. It went about 270 degrees around my head. And that’s not mentioning the other stars either. Awesome. My friends back in England said that they’d gone to Wales and seen the milky-way too, but I don’t think it was this amazing.
Anyway, us lads found out that we were staying in somebody’s mud hut about a 5 min walk away. I kept looking at the stars as I walked. We got to the hut and put up the nets. As we were doing this, I looked up and notice a HUGE spider on the ceiling. ‘Sat, can you shine the torch above my head a second, I’ve seen something move.’ AS he did, the light revealed not just one spider, but about 25 all on the ceiling. No lie.
Grrrrreeeaatttt (as Tony the Tiger would say)… Sat and Reg actually seemed quite scared. I just assumed that the spiders would stay on the ceiling cos there were none on the walls or floor. We finally crawled into our nets and I used my joggers as a pillow.
‘Two nights of this,’ said Sat, ‘And you’ll be talking about it for the rest of your lives.’
One night was enough.
Day 7:
I got up early again. (7o’clock). Jumped into the cold shower (Brrrrr!) and ate very little breaky again. Praise God that I didn’t feel as bad as I did yesterday. Today we left Luweero again to go into a remote village, which was about a 2 hour, bumpy drive away, so I was even more grateful that I felt ok. Firstly though, we headed off to Luweero Boys School. Sat, being lay, got us in the minibus for a 1 minute ride. This didn’t feel like the other schools. It was all too easy. 1 minute down the road? I though this was gonna be tough. Heh. It was great though, because 4 people gave their lives to God and a Muslim even spoke to Christine and thought very very hard about the decision. I also saw some games that the kids played. Piggy in the Middle (old classic) and ball touch/dodge ball where they took it in turns to chuck a tennis ball as hard as they could as each other! Ouch….
We got back and hung about (sunbathed!) until Sat got back from his errands. Oh it was worth it. He had Fruitella and chocolate. Wahoo! He also had some dodgy love song tapes for the journey to Luwangpanga (the village). After our tanning session, we headed out on our 2 hours trip… well, it was supposed to be 2 hours but we stopped for about 40 mins to have some chapattis and coke. Next was more dirt roads in which, the minibus had to go into a ditch (could’ve tipped over) because a truck was blocking the road, we went the wrong way 3 times, some people didn’t trust us so refused to tell us which way to go. (Someone told us to go one way and another, another way) We also saw a mongoose cross the road and a couple of monkeys for our enjoyment. Eventually, we found someone who was willing to lead us the right way – the only problem being that he was on a bike…. A push bike… and we were in a minibus… a large minibus….
This was the funniest trip ever. This guy on the bike led us through someone’s flowers, someone’s minibus high maize, a little bit of field and along a really narrow path which had a branch growing so low over it, that it almost took of the roof of the minibus! Ok, maybe I’m over exaggerating a bit, but the branch did scratch up the roof. We just made it under, but we got there! Yeah!!!
Whoops. Spoke to soon I think. Someone take me back, quick…. 2 women were jogging after the bus whaling at us. “Lalalalalalala!” They were actually going to kill us and I think we were all a bit freaked. Luckily, they were just happy to see us and instead of shaking our hands and saying ‘hi’, they hugged us and whaled some more.
This was a dream, surely. It must’ve been.
After we got out, the women went into the church building. We had a bit of a look see before heading into church. We looked at the pit-latrine area. No concrete here, let alone privacy! In fact, it stank as well. Roaches too *shudder*. The shower area wasn’t much better. It was just reeds built around a wooden frame with an entrance. It didn’t have a decent floor either. Oh yes, this was what I was expecting from Africa!
We went in to the church. Drums were banging, people were singing and dancing… and there was a bit more whaling. Craziness. Hmm, not sure if that quite describes it.
We sat on the alter area behind the pulpit. I needed to sit down. They brought us the milkiest tea on Earth, which I gave to Jimmy when him and the other guys had arrived. Instead of coming with us (because there was no room – not that this usually matters) they had taken the taxi bus (complete nutters) and everyone was glad to see some familiar faces.
The village kids were sat on a mat in the church and were dancing and singing. We just did some more sitting, trying to soak it all in, but there was a slight problem about tonight. We didn’t know where we were sleeping yet.
Eventually, we set up the projector for tonight and after that we went on a walk to the lake (a drunk person tried to take us down to the lake first but we told him nicely that we’d wait for everyone else!). Loads of people end up following us down, (‘Bzungu’) and when we got there, we noticed some fishing boats on the shore. Someone offers us a trip on these boats. Ha! Not everyone is impressed at this but everyone was eventually cajoled into going on these wobbly boats, on this lake full of nasty water. I can’t speak for the others, but this bit was one of my many highlights. We started off by going down a small canal where the boats were kept, which had insects buzzing about the reeds everywhere, but as we came out the lake just opened up before our eyes. The view was stunning. Sun was setting, water for miles in every direction with land just visible in the distance. Forget being worried about falling out of the boat and the disease that was all around us – this was all worth it! We parked the boats up and walked back to the village.
We had a mic hooked up and Patrick was talking into it… or maybe MC’ing, for about 20 mins, without breathing! Jimmy told me that he was inviting people to come and watch a video. And the people came. The video was called ‘It’s Your Choice’. It was all in Lugandan so we didn’t have a chance of understanding it. We got the basic jist that it was to do with AIDS and becoming a Christian. Or so I thought… Maz had other ideas. She still thought it was the Jesus video even after the point in the film where a guy had used a condom to seal a leak in the engine!!!! Oh my Lord. That bit made me wet myself with laughter!
That finally finished and we went around chatting to people about it. Me must’ve talked to 10 people and the funny thing was that they all happened to be saved and also went to thins church. ‘Woteva’, thought. I told them all that I’d see them on Sunday then!
We ate, put up the girls’ mozzie nets (we finally found out we were sleeping in mud huts) but while putting up the girls needs, we scared a MASSIVE cockroach off the wall and onto the floor! Whoops. We never found it.
We went outside and all the lights were out. It was pitch black and I looked up at the clearest night sky I had ever seen and will probably ever see.
Wow. This was worth it.
The milky-way lay scattered across the sky in a way so bright, that even without my glasses on, it was possible to distinguish between the stars. It went about 270 degrees around my head. And that’s not mentioning the other stars either. Awesome. My friends back in England said that they’d gone to Wales and seen the milky-way too, but I don’t think it was this amazing.
Anyway, us lads found out that we were staying in somebody’s mud hut about a 5 min walk away. I kept looking at the stars as I walked. We got to the hut and put up the nets. As we were doing this, I looked up and notice a HUGE spider on the ceiling. ‘Sat, can you shine the torch above my head a second, I’ve seen something move.’ AS he did, the light revealed not just one spider, but about 25 all on the ceiling. No lie.
Grrrrreeeaatttt (as Tony the Tiger would say)… Sat and Reg actually seemed quite scared. I just assumed that the spiders would stay on the ceiling cos there were none on the walls or floor. We finally crawled into our nets and I used my joggers as a pillow.
‘Two nights of this,’ said Sat, ‘And you’ll be talking about it for the rest of your lives.’
One night was enough.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Day Numero Sei
Day 6:
Man. I didn’t feel good. Before I’d gotten up, I’d already woken up 3 or 4 times in the night feeling rough. I forced myself to get up hoping that I’d feel better after walking around for a bit. No luck. I ate 2 pieces of toast for breakfast. Everyone was really supportive. Christine forced me to have some Resolve (drugs, not the attitude). Heh. It tasted nice and it made me feel a bit better. We got on the minibus to go to our first school of the day in a place called Timonue. Not sure if that’s spelt right. God must have a sense of humour though because we had to travel on the world’s bumpiest road to get there! I felt well enough to get involved in the ministry (just about) and afterwards, Sat made a plea to people who wanted to become Christians and around half of the kids stayed behind! (70 people roughly). Sat made it clear though that it’s for people who wanted to accept Jesus for the first time and 18 people step up. The other 50 odd had either backslidden, wanted prayer, or wanted more knowledge. Me, Andy and Anne went with the 18. Andy does the sinners prayer (there was no way I felt confident enough to do it) and it was amazing how they all repeated what Andy was saying. Afterwards, we prayed for each of them individually. I prayed for about 5 or 6 and it was fantastic. They all closed their eyes and I made sure to talk clearly and slowly.
I met a few of the other 50 afterwards, and I was feeling quite rough by then. I still found it well difficult to understand what they were asking me, too! We had a few pictures with the teachers and I made myself smile. We were told that we needed to go – I wasn’t looking forward to this journey. As we head off Sat asked me, ‘Are you feeling nauseous?’ I was feeling very achy, but not like being sick. However, after 30 minutes on a bumpy road, I felt it coming on . I got Sat to stop the minibus, jumped out of the side door, ran around the back of the minibus, almost got my leg taken off by a bike, legged it round the back of a shop and let rip. Nasty. I felt so much better afterwards though.
They guys had egg chapattis for lunch. ‘Better not risk those’ I thought and as they were eating I was trying my hardest not to nod off. Eventually, they went off to Luwero Girls School and I slept. They got back and I couldn’t sleep anymore. They were so noisy! I stayed in bed until dinner at around 7ish.
During my time in bed, Maz and Loz dressed up as oranges (orange poncho’s at least) and were asking if they could show me because ‘It’s really funny’. And they were right. It was! After that, Sat had about, what sounded like 50 people (probably 5) in the room next to me. They were loud, man. I also had my phone alarm going off in my ear. I could’ve turned it off but I didn’t want to miss dinner. I felt much better by dinnertime but I only ate rice. I didn’t trust the food anymore. Huge lumps of matokoe from last night were in my sick.
After dinner we had some fellowship with some of the Ugandan’s. We even got around to teaching them the Animal Game with hilarious results. John and Jimmy Kwunda also gave us a bit of a concert with a stringed instrument. They were really good. We finished off with a time of prayer and worship and headed off to bed. However, because I wasn’t at the school in the afternoon, the guys filled me in on what had happened. You know the only reason I’m mentioning this is because something went wrong! Basically, the guys did ‘Lean on Me’ and even though I wasn’t there to do my part, none of the guys noticed… until the very end bit that was, where Sat came in and just blagged it! It also had tipped down with rain all day. It started just after Sat had finished preaching at the Girls School and it didn’t really stop. Fantastic lightning storm too!
Man. I didn’t feel good. Before I’d gotten up, I’d already woken up 3 or 4 times in the night feeling rough. I forced myself to get up hoping that I’d feel better after walking around for a bit. No luck. I ate 2 pieces of toast for breakfast. Everyone was really supportive. Christine forced me to have some Resolve (drugs, not the attitude). Heh. It tasted nice and it made me feel a bit better. We got on the minibus to go to our first school of the day in a place called Timonue. Not sure if that’s spelt right. God must have a sense of humour though because we had to travel on the world’s bumpiest road to get there! I felt well enough to get involved in the ministry (just about) and afterwards, Sat made a plea to people who wanted to become Christians and around half of the kids stayed behind! (70 people roughly). Sat made it clear though that it’s for people who wanted to accept Jesus for the first time and 18 people step up. The other 50 odd had either backslidden, wanted prayer, or wanted more knowledge. Me, Andy and Anne went with the 18. Andy does the sinners prayer (there was no way I felt confident enough to do it) and it was amazing how they all repeated what Andy was saying. Afterwards, we prayed for each of them individually. I prayed for about 5 or 6 and it was fantastic. They all closed their eyes and I made sure to talk clearly and slowly.
I met a few of the other 50 afterwards, and I was feeling quite rough by then. I still found it well difficult to understand what they were asking me, too! We had a few pictures with the teachers and I made myself smile. We were told that we needed to go – I wasn’t looking forward to this journey. As we head off Sat asked me, ‘Are you feeling nauseous?’ I was feeling very achy, but not like being sick. However, after 30 minutes on a bumpy road, I felt it coming on . I got Sat to stop the minibus, jumped out of the side door, ran around the back of the minibus, almost got my leg taken off by a bike, legged it round the back of a shop and let rip. Nasty. I felt so much better afterwards though.
They guys had egg chapattis for lunch. ‘Better not risk those’ I thought and as they were eating I was trying my hardest not to nod off. Eventually, they went off to Luwero Girls School and I slept. They got back and I couldn’t sleep anymore. They were so noisy! I stayed in bed until dinner at around 7ish.
During my time in bed, Maz and Loz dressed up as oranges (orange poncho’s at least) and were asking if they could show me because ‘It’s really funny’. And they were right. It was! After that, Sat had about, what sounded like 50 people (probably 5) in the room next to me. They were loud, man. I also had my phone alarm going off in my ear. I could’ve turned it off but I didn’t want to miss dinner. I felt much better by dinnertime but I only ate rice. I didn’t trust the food anymore. Huge lumps of matokoe from last night were in my sick.
After dinner we had some fellowship with some of the Ugandan’s. We even got around to teaching them the Animal Game with hilarious results. John and Jimmy Kwunda also gave us a bit of a concert with a stringed instrument. They were really good. We finished off with a time of prayer and worship and headed off to bed. However, because I wasn’t at the school in the afternoon, the guys filled me in on what had happened. You know the only reason I’m mentioning this is because something went wrong! Basically, the guys did ‘Lean on Me’ and even though I wasn’t there to do my part, none of the guys noticed… until the very end bit that was, where Sat came in and just blagged it! It also had tipped down with rain all day. It started just after Sat had finished preaching at the Girls School and it didn’t really stop. Fantastic lightning storm too!
Monday, March 07, 2005
Blogger, blogger, blogger, blogger, blogger, blogger... etc
Update, UPdate.
Oh... it's a post... etc.
Right then. Down to business.
Lets start with the basics shall we?
1. The car. It's been behaving recently. I'm not sure about the amount of fuel comsumption isn't doing, but when the tank is fully empty I'll have a better idea. The leak it aquired last week has been fixed and now it's in the garage till Wednesday having some more parts replaced. Warranty is a good thing. On Firady night I managed to clock up about 45 miles. I mean, it's a 10 mile trip to church and back anyway, but when you add in the fact that we went to pizza hut after church, and then were told that we couldn't stay, and then we drive back to church, and then I drop someone off who lives quite far away anyway, but because I took a wrong turn it ended up taking up twice as long, it kinda adds up. My petrols on half and I've done about 180 miles. That doesn't mean much to me.
2. The music. Well, tonite we had worship prac and I got to play guitar for the 1st time a bit with the singers. Obviously I was a bit crap cos I wasn't 100% sure what the rythm should be and so changing chords when I was strumming upwards kinda put me off a bit. I didn't have a plectrum either, and because Jen wanted me to play loud, I had to use the backs of my fingers, which ended up being kinda red after a while! Afterwards, we practised with Dennis who's leading worship on Sunday. He asked me the other week if I could lead the singing side of it so I agreed. It should be interesting. Even though I know all the songs, I'm praying I don't forget the words!
3. Last week (the music - cont) Last week was a cool week for me, T, Andy, Dennis and Mark. We had our debut! We practised, on Thursday, the song we were going to do on Sunday but we also decided to go through another one, which I can't wait for it to be finished. It's really cool and I'm already well pleased with it. We got to finish off the one for Sunday on Saturday afternoon and we added in a kick ass drum beat for Andy to enter in with. Very cool. The performance went well as well, cos I don't think any of the musicians made any mistakes. TBH, I was concentrating on singing and I was expecting Mark to move aboutt he stage a bit more. However, when I looked over, he was glued to the spot. What?! I was moving more than Mark? How'd that happen? He put it down to nerves though which is quite funny because it made me realise just how comfortable he is with rapping rather than singing. He's actually got a really good voice - he just needs the same amount of confidence with his singing as he's got with his rapping. Anyway, the song was really well received, which is always a nice thing and people kept offering ideas as to what our band should be called. This evening I thought of 'Debut'. Whatever. I don't think any of us can be bothered to decide until we get really serious. If we ever get really serious... I'm just seeing how it goes and if it's Gods will, then that'd be unbelievably amazing. I have gotten a few prophesies out recently and they do chat about where I'll be in 5-10 years time and that if God showed me now, it would blow my mind.
Sounds like fun. ;)
I just got back from the pub today after worship prac, and we were just reminising. It's always great to remember how far people have come. I really wanted Jen's water to break too! Her baby is due in 1 week. Harriet was there too and he's had a few bad experience with the dentist. Unfortunalety for him, we spoke about dentistry for around 20 minutes. He didn't seem too happy!
I don't think there's been any more car troubles on our street since last week, which is great. I've seen a few kids walk past and up the road, but they ain't done anything.
Right. I should got to bed now because I'm up early for work tomorrow. I'll probably update y'all with another diary account.
Nite-nite.
Oh... it's a post... etc.
Right then. Down to business.
Lets start with the basics shall we?
1. The car. It's been behaving recently. I'm not sure about the amount of fuel comsumption isn't doing, but when the tank is fully empty I'll have a better idea. The leak it aquired last week has been fixed and now it's in the garage till Wednesday having some more parts replaced. Warranty is a good thing. On Firady night I managed to clock up about 45 miles. I mean, it's a 10 mile trip to church and back anyway, but when you add in the fact that we went to pizza hut after church, and then were told that we couldn't stay, and then we drive back to church, and then I drop someone off who lives quite far away anyway, but because I took a wrong turn it ended up taking up twice as long, it kinda adds up. My petrols on half and I've done about 180 miles. That doesn't mean much to me.
2. The music. Well, tonite we had worship prac and I got to play guitar for the 1st time a bit with the singers. Obviously I was a bit crap cos I wasn't 100% sure what the rythm should be and so changing chords when I was strumming upwards kinda put me off a bit. I didn't have a plectrum either, and because Jen wanted me to play loud, I had to use the backs of my fingers, which ended up being kinda red after a while! Afterwards, we practised with Dennis who's leading worship on Sunday. He asked me the other week if I could lead the singing side of it so I agreed. It should be interesting. Even though I know all the songs, I'm praying I don't forget the words!
3. Last week (the music - cont) Last week was a cool week for me, T, Andy, Dennis and Mark. We had our debut! We practised, on Thursday, the song we were going to do on Sunday but we also decided to go through another one, which I can't wait for it to be finished. It's really cool and I'm already well pleased with it. We got to finish off the one for Sunday on Saturday afternoon and we added in a kick ass drum beat for Andy to enter in with. Very cool. The performance went well as well, cos I don't think any of the musicians made any mistakes. TBH, I was concentrating on singing and I was expecting Mark to move aboutt he stage a bit more. However, when I looked over, he was glued to the spot. What?! I was moving more than Mark? How'd that happen? He put it down to nerves though which is quite funny because it made me realise just how comfortable he is with rapping rather than singing. He's actually got a really good voice - he just needs the same amount of confidence with his singing as he's got with his rapping. Anyway, the song was really well received, which is always a nice thing and people kept offering ideas as to what our band should be called. This evening I thought of 'Debut'. Whatever. I don't think any of us can be bothered to decide until we get really serious. If we ever get really serious... I'm just seeing how it goes and if it's Gods will, then that'd be unbelievably amazing. I have gotten a few prophesies out recently and they do chat about where I'll be in 5-10 years time and that if God showed me now, it would blow my mind.
Sounds like fun. ;)
I just got back from the pub today after worship prac, and we were just reminising. It's always great to remember how far people have come. I really wanted Jen's water to break too! Her baby is due in 1 week. Harriet was there too and he's had a few bad experience with the dentist. Unfortunalety for him, we spoke about dentistry for around 20 minutes. He didn't seem too happy!
I don't think there's been any more car troubles on our street since last week, which is great. I've seen a few kids walk past and up the road, but they ain't done anything.
Right. I should got to bed now because I'm up early for work tomorrow. I'll probably update y'all with another diary account.
Nite-nite.
Day 5
Day 5:
Yum. Some more sweet bananas and watermelons for breakfast. Today we went to our 3rd school and it was so hot today. I had another bath, which wasn’t too bad but I seriously didn’t want to use the hole to poop into. This was our last day in Banda and I didn’t want to go in a hole! We travelled to the school and as we past people we saw blue chickens (looked quite cool) and a little boy having a poo in the street. I looked for about 2 seconds. However, Sat stared for long enough to see some yellow poo come out and it nearly made him throw up. He shouldn’t have stared! He then said he wish he had had a camera. Strange….
We got to the school, met everybody and waited for the kids to come out. There were hundreds of them and as they ran/walked across the ground a huge dust cloud enveloped us! This was the largest school so far. The playground was packed. We taught them ‘King of the Jungle’, and Sat, being a little evil, picked one of the kids who was good at it to come out and show everybody how it was done. The kid was so embarrassed! Afterwards, the children were invited to meet us and we all nearly lost our arms! By the time we got back, it was nearly time to go to the 2nd school we went to yesterday for lunch. The head had invited us. However, being Africa, it ended up being an hour late. I needed this hour though… cos I had to use the hole…
Nuff said.
Anyway, we left and got there, and again, being Africa, it still wasn’t ready. When it came though it was really great. There were 2 different types of meat and loads for everyone. I felt so guilty because it was like stealing food from someone who needed it so much more than we did. Yesterday, Maz had broken the heads chair by doing ‘Can’t Touch This’ and today we managed to scratch his really nice table! And he still thanked us for coming to his school! That was amazing.
We finally finished and said our goodbyes to Banda as we headed off to school number 4 (our last one of the day). It was about a 10 minute drive away. We wanted to buy some necklaces from Jeninah to help fund her ministry but she wasn’t home. We couldn’t waste time though, so we headed back to the school. But guess what? They had someone else who was in the hall when we got there and we had to wait for half an hour. Ha. We entertained ourselves by looking around and videoing the school. Moses’ made his speech (end of the Presentation on the tape), which was really nice. Eventually, we did what we had gone there to do (although not after the CD player failed to work twice, messing us up a bit) and we signed another visitors book. This school was definitely my favourite up to this point because the kids seemed to be the most receptive and I enjoyed myself here the most. We make a quick getaway afterwards. Sat didn’t really want to travel to Luwero in the dark. We changed some more cash, checked and sent more mail and bought some more bottled water.
Jimmy was told to wait for me at the top of the mall and ended up waiting there for 20 minutes due to me not knowing he was there and him not seeing me go down the stairs! I went up there after everyone asked me where he was and sure enough, there he was, asking me where I’d been! Heh.
We left at about 6pm meaning that we had to travel a bit in the dark. Travelling in the day can actually be fun. Over taking. Driving fast. Mental drivers… but travelling at night was really scary. Praise God we got back safely. We all wanted to just crash out but John had booked us in somewhere to eat. Food is always good. And coke was really cheap too. I’ve been told that Uganda coke still contains some cocaine in it though! We got back at 9 and I had another cold shower. It was really nice when you were hot and had had a long day. I hoped I would get a good night sleep…. I needed it.
Yum. Some more sweet bananas and watermelons for breakfast. Today we went to our 3rd school and it was so hot today. I had another bath, which wasn’t too bad but I seriously didn’t want to use the hole to poop into. This was our last day in Banda and I didn’t want to go in a hole! We travelled to the school and as we past people we saw blue chickens (looked quite cool) and a little boy having a poo in the street. I looked for about 2 seconds. However, Sat stared for long enough to see some yellow poo come out and it nearly made him throw up. He shouldn’t have stared! He then said he wish he had had a camera. Strange….
We got to the school, met everybody and waited for the kids to come out. There were hundreds of them and as they ran/walked across the ground a huge dust cloud enveloped us! This was the largest school so far. The playground was packed. We taught them ‘King of the Jungle’, and Sat, being a little evil, picked one of the kids who was good at it to come out and show everybody how it was done. The kid was so embarrassed! Afterwards, the children were invited to meet us and we all nearly lost our arms! By the time we got back, it was nearly time to go to the 2nd school we went to yesterday for lunch. The head had invited us. However, being Africa, it ended up being an hour late. I needed this hour though… cos I had to use the hole…
Nuff said.
Anyway, we left and got there, and again, being Africa, it still wasn’t ready. When it came though it was really great. There were 2 different types of meat and loads for everyone. I felt so guilty because it was like stealing food from someone who needed it so much more than we did. Yesterday, Maz had broken the heads chair by doing ‘Can’t Touch This’ and today we managed to scratch his really nice table! And he still thanked us for coming to his school! That was amazing.
We finally finished and said our goodbyes to Banda as we headed off to school number 4 (our last one of the day). It was about a 10 minute drive away. We wanted to buy some necklaces from Jeninah to help fund her ministry but she wasn’t home. We couldn’t waste time though, so we headed back to the school. But guess what? They had someone else who was in the hall when we got there and we had to wait for half an hour. Ha. We entertained ourselves by looking around and videoing the school. Moses’ made his speech (end of the Presentation on the tape), which was really nice. Eventually, we did what we had gone there to do (although not after the CD player failed to work twice, messing us up a bit) and we signed another visitors book. This school was definitely my favourite up to this point because the kids seemed to be the most receptive and I enjoyed myself here the most. We make a quick getaway afterwards. Sat didn’t really want to travel to Luwero in the dark. We changed some more cash, checked and sent more mail and bought some more bottled water.
Jimmy was told to wait for me at the top of the mall and ended up waiting there for 20 minutes due to me not knowing he was there and him not seeing me go down the stairs! I went up there after everyone asked me where he was and sure enough, there he was, asking me where I’d been! Heh.
We left at about 6pm meaning that we had to travel a bit in the dark. Travelling in the day can actually be fun. Over taking. Driving fast. Mental drivers… but travelling at night was really scary. Praise God we got back safely. We all wanted to just crash out but John had booked us in somewhere to eat. Food is always good. And coke was really cheap too. I’ve been told that Uganda coke still contains some cocaine in it though! We got back at 9 and I had another cold shower. It was really nice when you were hot and had had a long day. I hoped I would get a good night sleep…. I needed it.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Oh look. It's day number 4.
Apparently, posting a diary of something that happened last year is not classed as 'updating my blog'. I takes me long enough to write up the diary on the computer, so I don't really care. :P
Maybe I will give you a real update soon readers. But I like the diary!
Day 4:
“Sat, can they wash my underwear? I’ve only packed one pair.” My first words of the day… luckily, they did and in fact, everybody else wanted stuff washed too. I went back to my days as a baby today and had a wash/bath using a bowl and cup. The only difference being that I was washing myself. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be and the two women who work her, Agnes and Rebecca (Moses’ wife. No not Moses’ wives!) kindly warm up the water. I had some sweet banana for the first time (sooo sweet). I hadn’t had to eat more than one normal banana since I’d been here. Praise God! The water melon was great too.
Next we made our way to the first school. Lets set the scene. Basically, there were 60 kids, all crammed into a tiny room than only just fitted them all in plus a little bit of writing space. They shuffled out and we ministered for them. I’d managed to blag doing any talking to crowds yet. It’s not my gifting. I had everyone else with me to do that! I’d pray, I’d sing, I’d evangelise to individuals, but talking to crowds is not my cuppa. Sat managed to put me on the spot by making me teach the kids a song, (Who is the King of the Jungle?). It wasn’t too bad. The kids were brilliant. They were all so kind and receptive. All of them wanted to touch your hand or ‘bongu’ i.e. respect. They all loved to ask us how we were, ‘How are you, mzungu? And some held your hand. Unbelievable.
We rested and went straight to the next school. This was a bit more organised. Everybody was in a hall and we did a bit more ministry. We met the kids and managed to just about come away with our fingers attached. We met Herbert (head master) and he invited us back to his for dinner the next day. How could we refuse *wink* and we went back to the hostel.
So far the day had been enjoyable but now was the hard bit. Time for ‘door-to-door’ evangelism. NO!!!!!
“Let’s go in two’s” I suggested.
Few. People agreed.
I just floated around with everyone giving my 2 cents here and there. Speaking of cash, someone asked me and Maz for money. Went a bit like this;
“Sponsorship”
Our reply. “We’ll pray for you?”
Here name was Barbara and her sister, Beatrice, had a son who didn’t have enough money to pay for schooling. We also had some liars.
Us: “Are you saved?”
Them: “No.”
Us: “Are you a Christian?”
Them: “Yes.”
Us: “What church do you go to?”
Them: “The one over there.” (points)
The funny thing was that everybody went there! I called one of them a liar as she walked off. We also spoke to someone who believed Jesus had forgiven him but not that he was saved. I let Reg deal with him. I also watched Sat talk to a Muslim lady. He was pretty good! Made it look well easy.
Afterwards, we went and invited Jimmy, Benson, Marion, Moses and Geoffrey to Kampala to have dinner at a place called Antonio’s. We met Sat’s friends, Rose and Amer plus there daughter, Cheryl who was actually crazy. Cute but insane. Mulalu. Jimmy and Benson ordered this nasty looking fish meal. It was just a fish, on a plate, with it’s puffy eye staring at you as you ate it *shudder* Freaked me right out. Kampala was really busy (I thought). We went to a nicer place for desert (Nando’s. Yea! – not the chicken place unfortunately) I had carrot cake and a fresh cream donut. Was quite nice.
What happened later on will remain etched in my memory for years. We drove up Namirembe hill. They had an amazing cathedral on the top of this hill. Renovated and everything. And as we were walking around and chatting, with the entire city in panoramic view, the light went out, and as we looked down to the city below (awesome view) half of it was in total darkness! (except a view car lights) We waited for them to come on again and as we did, they flickered on for about 3 seconds and then died again. What a light show! Only involved half a capital! Mesmerising!
After this we travelled back to Banda, (I was so tired) and Moses taught us a new song. ‘If you believe and I believe’ etc. It was great. We used the song for David Beckham and even Saddam. We also taught Jimmy a bit of Bristolian, ‘Gert lush’ after Christine had pounced on him with the Scottish yesterday. We got back and I climbed into my bed net and saw something hovering about. Mozzie! It was silent so must’ve been female which ment it could’ve been carrying malaria. I give it a quick smack and it goes down like a fly… or something.
Maybe I will give you a real update soon readers. But I like the diary!
Day 4:
“Sat, can they wash my underwear? I’ve only packed one pair.” My first words of the day… luckily, they did and in fact, everybody else wanted stuff washed too. I went back to my days as a baby today and had a wash/bath using a bowl and cup. The only difference being that I was washing myself. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be and the two women who work her, Agnes and Rebecca (Moses’ wife. No not Moses’ wives!) kindly warm up the water. I had some sweet banana for the first time (sooo sweet). I hadn’t had to eat more than one normal banana since I’d been here. Praise God! The water melon was great too.
Next we made our way to the first school. Lets set the scene. Basically, there were 60 kids, all crammed into a tiny room than only just fitted them all in plus a little bit of writing space. They shuffled out and we ministered for them. I’d managed to blag doing any talking to crowds yet. It’s not my gifting. I had everyone else with me to do that! I’d pray, I’d sing, I’d evangelise to individuals, but talking to crowds is not my cuppa. Sat managed to put me on the spot by making me teach the kids a song, (Who is the King of the Jungle?). It wasn’t too bad. The kids were brilliant. They were all so kind and receptive. All of them wanted to touch your hand or ‘bongu’ i.e. respect. They all loved to ask us how we were, ‘How are you, mzungu? And some held your hand. Unbelievable.
We rested and went straight to the next school. This was a bit more organised. Everybody was in a hall and we did a bit more ministry. We met the kids and managed to just about come away with our fingers attached. We met Herbert (head master) and he invited us back to his for dinner the next day. How could we refuse *wink* and we went back to the hostel.
So far the day had been enjoyable but now was the hard bit. Time for ‘door-to-door’ evangelism. NO!!!!!
“Let’s go in two’s” I suggested.
Few. People agreed.
I just floated around with everyone giving my 2 cents here and there. Speaking of cash, someone asked me and Maz for money. Went a bit like this;
“Sponsorship”
Our reply. “We’ll pray for you?”
Here name was Barbara and her sister, Beatrice, had a son who didn’t have enough money to pay for schooling. We also had some liars.
Us: “Are you saved?”
Them: “No.”
Us: “Are you a Christian?”
Them: “Yes.”
Us: “What church do you go to?”
Them: “The one over there.” (points)
The funny thing was that everybody went there! I called one of them a liar as she walked off. We also spoke to someone who believed Jesus had forgiven him but not that he was saved. I let Reg deal with him. I also watched Sat talk to a Muslim lady. He was pretty good! Made it look well easy.
Afterwards, we went and invited Jimmy, Benson, Marion, Moses and Geoffrey to Kampala to have dinner at a place called Antonio’s. We met Sat’s friends, Rose and Amer plus there daughter, Cheryl who was actually crazy. Cute but insane. Mulalu. Jimmy and Benson ordered this nasty looking fish meal. It was just a fish, on a plate, with it’s puffy eye staring at you as you ate it *shudder* Freaked me right out. Kampala was really busy (I thought). We went to a nicer place for desert (Nando’s. Yea! – not the chicken place unfortunately) I had carrot cake and a fresh cream donut. Was quite nice.
What happened later on will remain etched in my memory for years. We drove up Namirembe hill. They had an amazing cathedral on the top of this hill. Renovated and everything. And as we were walking around and chatting, with the entire city in panoramic view, the light went out, and as we looked down to the city below (awesome view) half of it was in total darkness! (except a view car lights) We waited for them to come on again and as we did, they flickered on for about 3 seconds and then died again. What a light show! Only involved half a capital! Mesmerising!
After this we travelled back to Banda, (I was so tired) and Moses taught us a new song. ‘If you believe and I believe’ etc. It was great. We used the song for David Beckham and even Saddam. We also taught Jimmy a bit of Bristolian, ‘Gert lush’ after Christine had pounced on him with the Scottish yesterday. We got back and I climbed into my bed net and saw something hovering about. Mozzie! It was silent so must’ve been female which ment it could’ve been carrying malaria. I give it a quick smack and it goes down like a fly… or something.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Day 3
Brrrrrrrrr. Cold shower!! Woke me right up. Malaria tablet – or was it the tea – made me throw up! But it gave me an excuse to go in Andrew’s nice spacious 4x4 rather than the minibus. I felt very hungry later though, cos of the lack of breakfast.
Maybe it was the boiled egg?
Anyway. Went into Kampala and paid for our safari. Pretty mzungu at the booking shop took our cash but not after Maz had been laughing about me throwing up earlier. We got all the malaria tablets we needed for £2. Probs would have been about £300 at home! We then had a while to walk around the city. People stare at us. I see bartering for the first time when Sat haggles for some towels. Paths between shops were terrible. It was like they built on a hill and never flattened it.
Next we travelled to a very nice hotel where we booked the white water rafting. This place was sweet. Swimming pool, sun beds, bar. The works. Crisps for 60p though! Went to lunch at Garden City (the mall they built for tourists). The spag bol was gooood. Used email to mail home.
Time to go to Banda! i.e.: toilet = hole in ground, bowl to bathe etc. Squeezed into the minibus for the remainder of the journey as Andrew had to head back to Luwero. Arrived in Banda after a few more nutters had cut us up. Go straight to a small school called central school or centre school and met Moses. Brilliant, humble guy. We also meet the teachers: Esther, Juliet and John.
These roads are well bumpy! It’s worse than being in a bumper car. More shouts of mzungu and bzungu as we get to where we were stayed – Canaan Hostel. Few. This place was much nicer than outside. That’s not saying much though. Hole in ground. Bowl to bathe. Just like Sat promised.
Met another family. Jeninah and her children. Her husband, Ben, had unfortunately passed away in January due to a car crash. He was a fantastic minister in the area. She is very strong in character and her faith though – a fantastic example to anyone. Her two youngest, Canaan & Garland are brill. They came up to us and gave us hugs. Benson, who by a miracle, walked away from the same car crash as his dad, greeted us and so did Marion.
Finally, we got a chance to put up our mozzie nets and settle in. And explore. I went and looked at our loo. I hoped everyone had a good aim! It’s not what I thought it’d be like though. I didn’t realise it was all concreted.
Anyway. In the evening we explored more of Banda. It was actually alive with activity and you could feel the community spirit as we walked through. Lots and lots of lights. Greens, reds, blues. It came alive at night because it’s much cooler and so people aren’t just lazing about. We eventually got to Moses’ school and put on the Jesus vid. People simple gathered around to watch. This was weird. In England the police would gather around to arrest us! After the video, we made an appeal (or at least Sat did) and we split into pairs. Maz and Me had the pleasure of being invited back to somebody’s house. Unfortunately, he was just a little bit drunk. We also got to meet some of the kids we will see tomorrow. It was really nice.
We walked back to the hostel and I got a greeting from an unwelcome visitor! The fattest roach ever! I wasn’t sleeping with that. It was on my net. The good thing is I knew where it was… until Christine tried to catch it and sent it into the shadows… Cheers! It mightn’t have been able to get through my net, but it could definitely get under! Luckily, I found it later and chased it into a hole. Everyone laughed at me. It was massive but I’d laugh if it was in their room!
Christine tried to convert Jimmy and Geoffrey into honorary Scots by giving them some Scottish lessons (See you Jimmy – hilarious) and later we taught Jimmy some Bristolian (Gert lush). Jimmy’s catchphrase for the rest of his life is now ‘See you Jimmy’! Eventually I go to sleep a bit worried that more roaches want to share a bed.
Maybe it was the boiled egg?
Anyway. Went into Kampala and paid for our safari. Pretty mzungu at the booking shop took our cash but not after Maz had been laughing about me throwing up earlier. We got all the malaria tablets we needed for £2. Probs would have been about £300 at home! We then had a while to walk around the city. People stare at us. I see bartering for the first time when Sat haggles for some towels. Paths between shops were terrible. It was like they built on a hill and never flattened it.
Next we travelled to a very nice hotel where we booked the white water rafting. This place was sweet. Swimming pool, sun beds, bar. The works. Crisps for 60p though! Went to lunch at Garden City (the mall they built for tourists). The spag bol was gooood. Used email to mail home.
Time to go to Banda! i.e.: toilet = hole in ground, bowl to bathe etc. Squeezed into the minibus for the remainder of the journey as Andrew had to head back to Luwero. Arrived in Banda after a few more nutters had cut us up. Go straight to a small school called central school or centre school and met Moses. Brilliant, humble guy. We also meet the teachers: Esther, Juliet and John.
These roads are well bumpy! It’s worse than being in a bumper car. More shouts of mzungu and bzungu as we get to where we were stayed – Canaan Hostel. Few. This place was much nicer than outside. That’s not saying much though. Hole in ground. Bowl to bathe. Just like Sat promised.
Met another family. Jeninah and her children. Her husband, Ben, had unfortunately passed away in January due to a car crash. He was a fantastic minister in the area. She is very strong in character and her faith though – a fantastic example to anyone. Her two youngest, Canaan & Garland are brill. They came up to us and gave us hugs. Benson, who by a miracle, walked away from the same car crash as his dad, greeted us and so did Marion.
Finally, we got a chance to put up our mozzie nets and settle in. And explore. I went and looked at our loo. I hoped everyone had a good aim! It’s not what I thought it’d be like though. I didn’t realise it was all concreted.
Anyway. In the evening we explored more of Banda. It was actually alive with activity and you could feel the community spirit as we walked through. Lots and lots of lights. Greens, reds, blues. It came alive at night because it’s much cooler and so people aren’t just lazing about. We eventually got to Moses’ school and put on the Jesus vid. People simple gathered around to watch. This was weird. In England the police would gather around to arrest us! After the video, we made an appeal (or at least Sat did) and we split into pairs. Maz and Me had the pleasure of being invited back to somebody’s house. Unfortunately, he was just a little bit drunk. We also got to meet some of the kids we will see tomorrow. It was really nice.
We walked back to the hostel and I got a greeting from an unwelcome visitor! The fattest roach ever! I wasn’t sleeping with that. It was on my net. The good thing is I knew where it was… until Christine tried to catch it and sent it into the shadows… Cheers! It mightn’t have been able to get through my net, but it could definitely get under! Luckily, I found it later and chased it into a hole. Everyone laughed at me. It was massive but I’d laugh if it was in their room!
Christine tried to convert Jimmy and Geoffrey into honorary Scots by giving them some Scottish lessons (See you Jimmy – hilarious) and later we taught Jimmy some Bristolian (Gert lush). Jimmy’s catchphrase for the rest of his life is now ‘See you Jimmy’! Eventually I go to sleep a bit worried that more roaches want to share a bed.
