Days 1-5

I have been super disconnected and it has been glorious! I wrote this blog earlier, but I was not connected to wifi and it erased. I'm going to try to post periodically, but I will post the rest of my pics when I get home. My journey over was easier than normal with few delays. I did arrive about an hour later in Entebbe and of course my friends were anxiously awaiting me. After the Ebola checks and immigration, I found my luggage and my friends. It was so great to see them. I relaxed with Sam and Jenny for a few days while I recovered from the long journey. They took great care of me. 

On Saturday I hitched a ride with Sam and his team into Kampala to watch his team play a game an wait for my bus. The games are running late because of the rain, so we caught a boda to find a forex so I could change money. The money rate has increased here and I got UGX 3,157 to $1. You feel really rich when you exchange money here. Then, I went back to Wandegeya to watch the boys play. The won and it was so much fun to watch them play. 

After the game, we took another boda with my luggage through the streets of Kampala with my luggage an I only screamed once, okay maybe twice. Those drivers are nice, but they weave in and out of traffic and there are huge vehicles everywhere. I arrived at the bus park in plenty of time to find 

Eric waiting for me to accompany me on my journey. Eric teaches up north in Kitgu and he had agenda a language conference in Kampala. These bus trip are not for the faint of heart. They are 9+ hours with luggage in the aisles, very hot, cramped, and crowded. It is a very uncomfortable journey, but I was thankful that I was not alone in my misery.

We arrived in Kitgum at 6 am and Eric dropped me at my hotel. This is one of my favorite places because it is cheap, clean, and has hot water. It costs about UGX 52,000, which is $13 per day. After resting, I had lunch of "pork and chips" for UGX 10,000 ($3) and linked up with the guys for a walk through the town. 

We headed to a local hotel that was supposed to have wifi, but they didn't, so we played pool instead. 

Then, the guys brought me home and I prepared for bed. Tomorrow I get to see our former students in action at their schools. 

Leaving On a Jet Plane...

Nothing get me more exciting than planning a trip! I love everything about it, from the packing to the last minute Target runs to putting my newspaper on hold. I love it all. I am a habitual list maker, so before going on a trip, there are so many lists all over the house. I also like to buy lots of gifts, so I am always running all over the place like a chicken with my head cut-off, trying to find the best, inexpensive gifts. I love picking out gifts for friends and my sponsor child. It is so much fun because I know what they like and what they need. I bought seeds for one of my friends who loves to garden. I bought t-shirts for some of my favorite former students. I bought lots of baby clothes and things for a few friends who are having babies. I bought clothes for my sponsor child. It is fun to buy things for people. It is seriously one of my favorite things.

I also did a lot of errands this week, such as going to the bank, dentist appointment, shopping, library, and packing up my classroom. It is funny the way people respond when you tell them you are getting ready to go to Africa. They always assume you are doing some mission work, but when I tell them I am just going for vacation, they are very confused. I mean, yes, I am working with an organization and visiting some schools, but I am not a missionary - far from it! I just go to reunite with my friends and disconnecting from the busyness and overwhelming consumerism here in the U.S.

I have planned an exciting itinerary this time and hope I get to see all of my friends. I am planning to catch up with my friends in Mukono this weekend and then head up to Kitgum. Kitgum is one of my favorite places. It is not easy to get there and reach it by a long bus ride, but it is worth every minute of the journey. One of my students is going to come down and ride up with me. I love Kitgum. It is hot, but the area is very peaceful and quiet. I also don't feel like a freak because people are used to seeing white people there because of all of the NGOs during the war.

After my time up north, I am going to head back down to Kampala and meet with one of my favorite authors. I want to do some editing work with her and she always has some amazing books for me. I can't wait to see her. Then, I will spend some more time with friends in Mukono before I head off to Rakai where I work with an organization called Rakai Orphans Hope Project (ROHP). I want to spend plenty of time there so that we can strategize about the organization and where we want to go in the future. Rakai is also quiet and easy going. There is a resort that I like there and I hope to relax a bit. We will also visit schools and homes of our sponsor children.

Then, it will be back to the U.S. where I will relax for a few days until dad and I head to the Grand Canyon. I am purposefully not taking my computer to Uganda, so that I can disconnect and relax a bit. I am going to read and live a lot of life while I am there. I may blog, but it depends on the wifi availability, if I post.

Monday and Tuesday

I visited Niagara Falls yesterday and it was absolutely break-taking. I was a bit disappointed with the tacky tourist traps, but we did stop in Hard Rock Cafe to pick up some souvenirs and received a recommendation for a scenic drive and winery. Of course, we had to go. The drive was beautiful, but the winery was too pretentious, so we kept going and found a more suitable place in Niagara Falls on the Lake. It looked like a story book scene situated in New England. It was so picturesque. We tried delicious drinks and an appetizer with roasted eggplant, hummus, olive tapenade, feta spread with grilled pita bread. It was delicious!

Then, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for the first day of the conference.

Joe dropped me off around 8:20 and I realized that I had to register before going to sessions. So, by the time I registered, I was about 10 minutes late to my first session. This is the pre-registration day before the actual conference and it is packed. All of the presentations are usually amazing with the latest research and biggest people in the business. It is awesome. 

main session

breakout sessions

• 8:30-9:45 Session 1 - Technology in the Language Classroom: Relevant and Authentic Learning 
• 10:00-11:15 Session 2 - Eye of the Storm: Academic Vocabulary = Successful Secondary ELLs
• 11:30-12:30 Main Session (Jim Cummins) - Universal Design in Teaching English Learners: Articulating Evidence-Based New Basics 
• 12:30-1:30 Lunch 
• 1:30-2:45 Session 3 - Mentoring Progress to Advance ELLs' Writing Development With Standards-Based Tools
• 3:00-4:15 Session 4 - How Instructional Coaching Helps ELLs and All Learners  
• 4:30-5:30 STEM Education and ELLs: Consider the Possibilities 

I know listing the sessions might be super boring to someone else, but my day was filled with learning from the best researchers in the field of second language acquisition. I was like a kid in a candy store.

After the conference, Joe and I went out to dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant. They had an appetizer, dinner, and dessert for CAD 25, which is about $22 USD. It was delicious.

organic greens salad with maple balsamic

pasta with veggies

salmon and veggies

tiramisu and creme carmel

The night with a wonderful bath and glass of wine. I absolutely love a baths and always took them growing up. I have not had a bathtub for the past 3 years and I miss it terribly. It was a nice way to wrap up the day. 

Birthday Celebration 2015!

My birthday started a day early with a student giving me a Snickers and a sweet picture. I do not take for granted the pics/notes that I get from my students. As most of you know, I teach middle schoolers and they are full of ranging hormones which vary day by day. You never what you are going to get, but I have the amazing job of watching kids grow from sixth to eighth grade. And on top of that, I get to teach English to kids from many countries/cultures and I am often the first person they meet when they come to this country. We become incredibly close. So, I was delighted when I received this sweet not from a student. She brought it to me the day before because it was our last day of school before break.

Then, at conferences I received a gift basket from one of my former students on Thursday night. I had her for two years and then I missed her eighth grade year when I went to Africa. We were really close, so it is good that she still comes back to see me. 

On my birthday morning I went to Starbucks and ordered my favorite drink for free. I love that I get a free drink of my choice and of course, everyone is so nice. 

Then, one of my students brought in a bag of my favorite candy, Snickers. I love this student so much. She came from Togo and she has been here for about four months. She is an amazing girl and has such a supportive family. 

Then, my besties met me for lunch at Sugarfire, which is an awesome BBQ place. I had BBQ pork, mac and cheese, and fried green beans. Then, we went over to Sugarfire bakery and got whoopie pies and oatmeal pies. They were delicious!

On Saturday I celebrated my birthday with my family. My mom always makes our favorite meal and cake. I chose sweet tea, chip chops, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, and chocolate cake with chocolate icing. It was delicious and reminded me of my childhood. 

After dinner and a walk over to see my dad's workshop, we opened presents and I received several thoughtful presents including a card to the J (my gym), slippers, earrings, a magnet, and luggage tags. 

This might be my favorite!

We also celebrated my aunt Mary Lou's birthday, which is on the same day as mine. Now that Ella is bigger, she helped me blow out the candles after my family sang happy birthday. Well, she tried to help, but I stole the thunder by blowing them out too quickly.

All in all, it was an amazing birthday with my family and friends and one I missed last year while in Uganda. Thank you to everyone who sent messages on Facebook, called, text, emailed, etc. for making me feel special from all around the world. I am more blessed than I deserve.

Boil Aventures...

I always have something exciting happening in the health arena and this week has been no different. On Thursday or Friday I noticed a red spot that was starting to grow and spread, but I didn't really think much about it. I worked out on Saturday as normal, enjoyed my weekend, and prepared for Monday.

See...not too bad, right?

So, then on Monday morning I woke up and noticed that my hand was very sore and growing. It looked like this:

I had a meeting after school and some of the teachers were a bit worried, so I thought maybe I should call the dermatologist and see if they could work me into the schedule. It is very difficult to get into Dr. Anadkat, so I didn't think I had a chance. When I have had these before, they are usually already down, so he doesn't get a chance to see them in action. However, when I called this morning, the office had a cancellation at 1:45 p.m., so I left work an hour early and headed to the CAM (Center for Advanced Medicine) for my appointment.

Dr. Milan Anadkat

I seriously have a huge crush on this doctor. He is personable, friendly, affectionate, and kind. It helps that he is also a cutie and possibly around my age. Today he held my hand as he examined it and didn't coil in disgust like everyone else. I was hoping that he was just going to tell me that it would go down in a few days, but no such luck. He recommended that we lance it, clean it out, and bandage it. 

prior to lancing

the office

The office at the CAM is quite impressive and could almost be mistaken for a surgical room. I knew as soon as they booked me in this room that they anticipated some sort of procedure. The procedure began with the resident shooting my hand up with lidocaine, which turned the skin around the area white. It hurt like hell, but I would rather have my hand numb when the doctor cuts into it, since I could hardly handle pricking myself with a needle.

Then, the doctor worked on opening the boil. First, he cut an X and then the liquid started flowing out. I watched the whole thing because I was so fascinated. Normally there is clear liquid, blood, and pus, but this time there was very little pus. Dr. Anadkat said that it was thicker than he expected and that maybe there was a small cyst too, but he will culture it to let me know what's going on. 

Although my hand looks a little more traumatized, I was assured that it will feel better soon. The resident bandaged me up along with some vaseline and sent me on my way. No more boils...well, at least for now. 

Memphis

Joe and I decided to drive down to Memphis, Tennessee to visit our friend Kelly. The drive was supposed to take about 4.5 hours, but it took us about 5.5 or 6 hours. The ride was mostly smooth and we stopped at Steak n Shake for dinner. We arrived around 9:30 p.m. and had drinks with our friends. Our friend Kelly left us cute little hick wine glasses, gummies, and chocolate covered berries. It was so nice and cute. After drinks and catching up, we crashed.

The first place we went today was the Civil Right Museum, which is the hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. I always feel really surreal when I visit places that are living history. It is just unexplainable to be in the same place of such overwhelming sorrow that shaped history. I felt the same way when I visited the concentration camp in Germany and the school where boy would come each night to stay away from Kony and the LRA in Uganda. I always imagine the terror that happened right where I am standing. It is monumental for me. I felt the same feeling today at the museum.

This is the balcony that MLK died on and the next picture is where James Earl Ray shot him from a boarding house. It was very eery to be standing in that place. I can't imagine having so much hate for someone that you want to kill them. The museum was amazing and I am so glad that I had the time to go and see it. It was interactive and allowed you to be part of the experience.

We went to Germantown Commissary to get BBQ. It was delicious. I had sweet potato fries and a pulled pork sandwich with a sweet tea. It was delicious. They had a BBQ spice that we bought to try at home. The first ingredient was sugar, so you know it will be good.

Then, we went to a really cool international grocery store to grab some food. I loved the seafood section and all of the produce. We have similar things at home, but on a smaller scale.

Overall, we had a great day seeing the city.