Alec Burnter-Abt, my best friend from middle school, is treating me to dinner for my birthday. Only his parents are there, and his mom looks just like my grandmother. In the middle of the meal everyone starts quietly singing "Silent Night". Slowly the whole restaurant joins in, and we are all singing together. Our voices sound exactly like the kids from "Charlie Brown Christmas".
This week was long, and interesting. Here are the Highlights.
Monday - While riding with a cement truck out to the site, the lug nuts pop off of the front drivers side tire. Apparently our driver was trying to make it on 3 nuts. He knew he was trying to cheat the system though and was driving very slowly when it happened. So there wasnt any kind of accident. Thankfully we are in the middle of a village, so our driver hops onto a boda-boda (motorcylce taxi) and drives all the way back to Jinja to pick up more bolts. 3 hours later we are back on the road. A potentially frustrating experience but i did have a good time talking to the other transport guys and the village kids.
Tuesday - We start pouring a foundation for the nursery school. All concrete here is mixed by hand, and we were only 1/4 done by 5 PM. So We cut a deal with the laborers and worked until 2:30 AM, by moonlight and lamplight.
Wednesday - I killed a snake with a piece of reinforcing steel. Caught the sucker eating a toad. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
Thursday - Had a great talk with one of our carpenters about the Kingdom of God manifesting itself here on earth. One of the singularly most encouraging moments of my life.
Friday - we are supposed to be pouring a beam in the afternoon, but the carpenters are running behind on the formwork. So John decides we are going to stay and pour on Saturday. I am not happy but decide not to complain. The masons and carpenters were pretty upset. We were in the middle of a meeting discussing the terms and conditions of a weekend pour (and facing a potential mutiny) when we get a call from the head carpenter. He has decided to go home, and we can't pour without him. So we went home early after all. Turns out God is in control, not us, and the pour is moved to Monday.
Next week is a short week. Our intern weekend is next weekend. We are travelling to Lake Bunyoni. A popular resort/camping spot to re-connect as interns and discuss our first 1/3 of the time here.
I appreciate your prayers and emails so much. This past week was a homesick week. I miss family, friends, cold milk, and beer. But not to equal degrees.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Fightin' Texas Aggie Rosebushes
I am the 12th man on the field, playing for the Fightin' Texas Aggies. But there are only about 100 people in the stands and they are all wearing red. The student section is filled with large flowering shrubs. The red flowers are in full bloom and gardeners are tending them.
Last week was a lot of hard work. I helped dig a foundation for one of the nursery school buildings and the stone is almost up. I am feeling more comfortable in the culture, but I am still trying to learn my job. There was a moment when I imagined that there was a magic door that would take me back to the states, I asked myself if I would walk through it if such a door existed. The final verdict, it would be a decision I would regret. So maybe that means I am adjusting ok.
This weekend was pretty cool, apart from Lindsey being gone. Bobby is one of the Church of Christ missionaries here. I spent Saturday helping him work on his car. He is installing a vegetable oil conversion for his 1997 diesel suburban. Then Saturday night I read a really good Alistair MacLean novel, and went with bobby to his friends house to help them harvest from a bee-hive. Got stung once through my suit.
Book Recommendation: Pursuit of the Common Good. By Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner. I wept.
Last week was a lot of hard work. I helped dig a foundation for one of the nursery school buildings and the stone is almost up. I am feeling more comfortable in the culture, but I am still trying to learn my job. There was a moment when I imagined that there was a magic door that would take me back to the states, I asked myself if I would walk through it if such a door existed. The final verdict, it would be a decision I would regret. So maybe that means I am adjusting ok.
This weekend was pretty cool, apart from Lindsey being gone. Bobby is one of the Church of Christ missionaries here. I spent Saturday helping him work on his car. He is installing a vegetable oil conversion for his 1997 diesel suburban. Then Saturday night I read a really good Alistair MacLean novel, and went with bobby to his friends house to help them harvest from a bee-hive. Got stung once through my suit.
Book Recommendation: Pursuit of the Common Good. By Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner. I wept.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Crab-Walking Through Middle School
A dear friend from high school is following me around my old middle school in Panama. Curundu Middle School, to be exact. I am sliding trough the halls on my back, propelling myself with my legs. Kind of like crab-walking. We travel through the halls this way for a while. Finally we come to the cafeteria, only to discover that the school has been converted to a women's college.
I pitched in with a lot of the work this past week, mostly carrying stone and mixing mortar. The problem has been that by becoming more of a laborer, I lose some of the clout I need in order to be a manager. I got really frustrated when some of the workers did not want to do their jobs because it was something that I had been doing. "Oh, Andrew will do it". No, Andrew is reading plans and trying to talk to the stone-cutters right now. So you need to mix the mortar. Lindsay and I talked about it for a while. It is more important for me to do my job and keep track of quality control than it is to feel good about pitching in with the work. I plan to keep working hard, but giving more attention to my managerial duties. The building is going up, the plumbing is installed, and we start digging foundations on the nursery school next week.
This weekend was AWESOME. My friend Lacey just got in country a few weeks ago and is the librarian at a Christian school in Kampala. She and her friend Jean came in to Jinja for the weekend. We celebrated my birthday, ate cake, had some great conversations, went to the official source of the nile (tourist trap, but fun), and watched Lost.
Lindsay is moving back to Kampala next week. I am really pretty busted up about it, I won't have my Jinja buddy to eat pizza with on Friday nights. But now that we know it isn't that hard to travel back and forth from Jinja and Kampala it will probably happen a little more often.
Other news, I am going on a project trip to Kenya in May. There aren't a lot of other details yet, but I will let you know as I get them. Time to work on my Swahili!
I pitched in with a lot of the work this past week, mostly carrying stone and mixing mortar. The problem has been that by becoming more of a laborer, I lose some of the clout I need in order to be a manager. I got really frustrated when some of the workers did not want to do their jobs because it was something that I had been doing. "Oh, Andrew will do it". No, Andrew is reading plans and trying to talk to the stone-cutters right now. So you need to mix the mortar. Lindsay and I talked about it for a while. It is more important for me to do my job and keep track of quality control than it is to feel good about pitching in with the work. I plan to keep working hard, but giving more attention to my managerial duties. The building is going up, the plumbing is installed, and we start digging foundations on the nursery school next week.
This weekend was AWESOME. My friend Lacey just got in country a few weeks ago and is the librarian at a Christian school in Kampala. She and her friend Jean came in to Jinja for the weekend. We celebrated my birthday, ate cake, had some great conversations, went to the official source of the nile (tourist trap, but fun), and watched Lost.
Lindsay is moving back to Kampala next week. I am really pretty busted up about it, I won't have my Jinja buddy to eat pizza with on Friday nights. But now that we know it isn't that hard to travel back and forth from Jinja and Kampala it will probably happen a little more often.
Other news, I am going on a project trip to Kenya in May. There aren't a lot of other details yet, but I will let you know as I get them. Time to work on my Swahili!
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