Japanese Football at Kyle Field

For some reason, the Japanese National Football Team is coming to play the Aggies at Kyle Field. Some friends and I are excited to go see them, but when we arrive, it turns out that the Japanese team plays “soccer” and not American football. Also, the Japanese team has arranged itself on the field like a foosball table, all in rows. Each player is wearing a yellow trucker hat and broad silk tie. Somehow they are playing a combined version of American football and soccer, but everyone is staying in one place. The result is a lot of people standing around and frenzied activity surrounding the ball.

I just got back in from the bush. Construction on the children’s home is going very well, but there is still a lot to learn about Ugandan construction. I am getting to know the workers a little better and finding the best way to help out around the site. Mostly my job is to helping to lay out the floor plan and keeping the stonework level with the transit. John has me doing some other small projects in my downtime, and I am able to pitch in with the workers some as well. I am hoping to get to know the staff that is working out there with me because it is pretty lonely after all the workers go home.

The house I am staying in is fairly spacious for one person, with a gas stove and tin roof. So far the rats have been active, but well behaved. The food and dishes stay locked up and I sleep on a top bunk. I haven’t seen the bats yet, but I can hear them in the rafters. Bukaleba has a pretty mild climate and not many mosquitoes so far. The rainy seasons just started and it gets fairly cool after the rains. I have seen 5 new different types of birds every day here. It is pretty incredible. To summarize, I was enjoying myself a lot by the end of the week, but was also very relieved to have John come fetch me back to Jinja for the weekend. There is a team of 28 short term missionaries from Virginia staying at the guest house, and it is a big change from Lindsey, a Welsh woman named Anne, and myself being the only residents.

I am able to get in the word a lot, and have been reading in Joshua and Mark since coming here. I am learning a lot in Mark about service, and servant leadership. I think living out at Bukaleba will force me to do a lot of adjusting, quickly. Culturally speaking, I mean. Language is coming along well though. Soon will come the time when I have to focus on either Luganda, Lusoga, or Swahili, because people here switch fluently between the three.

Oh yeah, one of the construction worker’s name is “God”. It makes for really funny journal entries. “Talked to God today about setting door frames” and “God and Julius got in an argument today”.