Well ladies and gentlemen it is that time of year. Bring on the Christmas cheer. People celebrating far and near. With everyone that they hold so dear (too much?)
Alright so the Christmas holidays have begun for us here in Uganda and I already have some stories about what I have been up to (what else is new?). But before that I am going to tell you about the wedding that I attended on Saturday. You remember the Introduction right? If not, visit the previous blog… or the one before the previous blog, I can’t remember.
Well for the wedding I’m afraid that I did not wear the Kanzu like I did for the Introduction. This time I wore a simple suit. The wedding was scheduled to start at 11 in the morning but, alas, didn’t end up starting till around 1pm. For weddings here, the Groom arrives with his best man and his groomsmen. They go and sit down on their side. Then, later on, the Bride, the maid of honour, and her bridesmaids arrive and they sit on their side, so they are both opposite each other. Then the Groom, Bride, best man, and maid of honour get up and walk towards each other, and what follows is very similar to a wedding that would take place in America. Except for one key difference, the Bride and Groom do not kiss. So then the ceremony ends (it also takes somewhat longer than a wedding in America, some three hours or so) we all go off to the reception. The reception took place in the courtyard of one of the hotels nearby. When we arrived at the reception we took our seats under the tent and waited for everyone to arrive. After that, there were some speeches, the cake was cut and eaten, some of the cakes were given out to special guests or people who had helped out a great deal, we ate food, and we left at leisure. A good time. Two of the biggest differences that I found between receptions here and in America are those of time, time is very much kept in America, and dancing, there is no dance floor, people just kinda dance, when they are walking, when they are talking, its good fun.
So that was last Saturday, on Monday it was the last work day of the year and we had an office Christmas party. Coolest thing ever: when they announced the employee of the year, the winner was the cook. Nobody ever thinks of this person. We always just assume that the food will be there or we think “cooking isn’t that hard” but we never realize the importance of that job. It was so cool to see the cook win. And it really challenged me and made me open up my eyes, because the people who hold these jobs are usually just forgotten. They work, much of the time, alone and we never realize just what they go through and the work that they put in. I don’t know, I just thought it was really cool. And it’s something that we all really need to think about, because I know that I am guilty of forgetting the people who hold these jobs.
So now we are on to Tuesday, the first day of the holidays. We decided that today we would go up to Sipi Falls, somewhere that I’m told I must visit. I would agree. This place is amazing. The scenery is crazy. And it is really somewhere to go if you want to relax. But, you know me, I didn’t just go there to relax. No I figured I would try my hand at abseiling down next to the 100m water fall. SO MUCH FUN! Then, when I reached the bottom, I stood there, getting drenched by the spray coming from the water. Actually, when I got down, I wasn’t too wet. It was hanging around, climbing up on the rocks, and going down to the water’s edge that got me soaked. There was no way I was gonna come to a place like this and not take my time in experiencing it. The best image ever was me standing on the top of one of the rocks about 20 feet from the falls, just looking into these falls as the water crashes down and the spray goes everywhere… amazing. Then the long and, somewhat intense, hike back where part of the journey included a wooden ladder and a pathway that was 1 foot, if that, wide and included a massive drop off on one side. Good times. Except when I kept getting bitten by the blinking safari ants, so annoying. Then, before we came back home, we went and had lunch with Agnus’ brother in their house in the village. Such good food. Then getting back, resting, and waiting for tomorrow.
Now on Wednesday we decided to visit some ancient rock painting in a place called Kumi. These rock paintings have been there for at least 300 years but many believe that they are much, much older. Also, one of these paintings in only found here… in the entire world (or at least that’s what I’m told.) Well it was really cool. We were able to walk around, take some pictures (of course), climb some of the rocks, see some monkeys, and relax underneath the rocks (oh yeah). Then, after exploring for some time, we headed back. It was cool though because we went there with a local who was also a friend of ours so he was able to show us the places nearby and we rested for a bit in one of the villager’s houses. It was so cool. And, by the way, life there is very different to the village that I went to. This area is very dry and very, very hot; not like the mountains. Then, before we went back home, we ate lunch at our friends house, underneath the mango trees. (Sadly they weren’t in season.)
On Thursday, we rested.
Friday morning we woke up early to go hike up Mt. Wanale, about a 2 hour hike. (For those of you who receive my newsletter, Mt. Wanale was featured on the first newsletter from Mbale.) This was blinking exhausting but so much fun. It wasn’t like a gradual incline type of hike. There were parts where each step was a couple feet higher than the last. And then, before we reached the top, we climbed up a locally made ladder… yeah. It was safe, I think. Apparently it has been there since the 1940’s and they just keep adding wood to it. It doesn’t look much like a ladder. It was fun though; a good experience. Then, when we got to the top, I sat on the edge, looking out over the amazing view of everything, listening to the sound of the waterfall next to me. After a few minutes we continued on to one of the caves there and that is where we rested for some time while eating samosas and drinking lots of water. Good stuff. Never thought I’d be having samosas in a cave in Uganda but hey, life is like that. After resting, we walked back down (the not so fun part of the walk). We got home, ate lunch, and then I planned to rest for the remainder of the day but you know that never happens and I ended up traveling with Pastor Nelson and co. to the village where I spent the week. We were traveling in a van and, as we were going, we pulled over on the side of the road. I asked “what are you doing?” and Nelson’s brother casually replied “making business.” At that point, people who were also traveling to the same area as we were, started piling in the van. Gotta love it. The same thing happened on the way back home and that trip made them some good money. It was great. At one point on the way back I was sitting in the middle seat in the front, there was a bunch of bananas on the dashboard, as well as a plastic bag full of milk… that’s right. Oh, and also on the way back from the rock paintings we traveled in one of the taxi vans here. It is a 13 seater (or 14. One of the two). There were 21 people, a baby, a chicken, and two crates of cleaning equipment inside this van, and the boot (sorry, the trunk) was full of stuff and wouldn’t close. They needed to use a rope.
So that’s it so far. Today, tomorrow (Christmas!), and Monday I relax. Then Tuesday we head off to Kenya. I’ll let you know if there are any stories from there.
Hope you all enjoy your Christmas and New Year’s.
Until next time.
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