Saturday, February 14, 2009

Super Pine Cove 64

I am on a date with someone I don't know. But I seem to know her in the dream. We are eating dinner at a hotel restaurant, but the hotel is the castle from Mario 64, and run by Pine Cove (A Christian Camp in Tyler, Texas). A lot of friends are working there, but they all have strange hair and beards. A friend from school has long wild hair and is taking care of the two kids of the missionaries I work for here in Jinja. For some reason we keep having to switch tables.

Hopefully these pictures will Load. The first is the team in London. Lindsey is standing to my left, he and I are staying in Jinja together. The rest are working in Kampala. Next is me at Bukaleba. Lastly, the building I am working on. I will keep posting pictures so you can see progress.

Work out at the site has been moving along. We are bringing on more laborers next week and it should speed things up and help with morale. Right now the three guys we have are being run ragged. There has been plenty of work for me to do, I help with the layout and setting windows, and when there is nothing technical to do I put my hand in moving stone and bricks, mixing mortar, or fetching water. The house I stay in is nice, but no plumbing or electricity. I caught a bat on Thursday, but decided to let him go. I spend most of Thursday thinking that if I only had one of those round straw Chinese hats, I would be perfectly happy. I started trying to make one but the grass out here is no good for weaving.

The Ugandans tell me that I look like Peter Crouch. A football player for Portsmouth. Football (soccer) is a really big deal here. Apparently it is very important that i pick a team to support.

Benson, one of the Kenyan masons, made a Chuck Norris joke on Tuesday. We were trying to move a 10,000 Liter water tank and he said that Chuck Norris could do it by himself. God taught me how to say “Do your work, with energy!” in Swahili. “Fanya Kazi, Nabidi!”

Money and skin color are two things I struggle with. I have lots of money, I am white. Ugandans know I have money because I am white. I have been told at least 4 or 5 times by someone that they are looking for an American sponsor to help them, and asked if I knew anyone who could help. I don't know how to respond.

Lindsey and I are going to go watch Lost at a friends house. The Mzungu missionary community is pretty tight knit here. Even after being here for years, these folks need at least a little “normal” time.





1 comment:

Kercho said...

i've never seen this peter crouch fellow, but I think when I was there one of our interns got told the same thing several times, or maybe it was me...needless to say ugandans aren't very good at recognizing likenesses - either that or you and I are twins