I can hardly believe its almost Christmas!!!! the weather over here is always so hot, however It rained today for a few minutes so that made the temperature go down quite a bit. As you know I am in Rwanda taking 3 weeks off for Christmas break. I have been spending time with the Thomas family and hanging out with the kids. Just the other day we went swimming together at a hotel that had a really nice pool. I had a lot of fun playing in the water with the kids and it felt really nice to cool off.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and both Chrissy Muhr and I are going to the Thomas' house to play some games eat good food and hang out. It is going to be so different spending the holidays away from home and in Africa for that matter, but I know it will be a wonderful experience. My family will be on my mind and in my prayers while I am away from them this year. I have been so blessed by God to be able to visit friends in Rwanda though such as: Drew Miller, Jonny Kaye, Chrissy Muhr, and the Thomas Family. After Christmas we are all going to kumbya which is next to a lake and it is a very relaxing and beautiful place to be.
I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and I pray that the time you have with family this year will be a blessing to you. May The New Year bring you joys of many kinds!
Love Always,
~Roxanna
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
My trip to Rwanda
I am now in Rwanda visiting the Thomas family and it's been great so far. I just arrived yesterday morning from a 10hr trip starting at 1am. I am not living with them but in a different house across the way not too far from them. I am staying with three other girls who are teachers at the school that David and Debby started a few years back.
The trip over here was so ridiculous I don't ever want to go through that again, but I have to get back to Uganda sometime. First off to buy my ticket the only times available were 1am 3am 6am or 9am. So I choose the 1am time. Meanwhile I have to wait from 6pm-12:30am until my bus leaves. So I am with Natalie (a missionarie's daughter who goes to college in Kampala) and we went to a Christmas choir concert that lasted from 8-10pm Then we went to get pizza at a restaurant we stayed for about a half hour talking and laughing then we got a private hirer to take us back to her place. To pass the time we decided to go to one of her friend's house to watch a meteor shower that was happening that night. So by the time 12:30 came around we decided it would be good to head back to her apartment to pick my stuff and take me to the bus station. However, it took a lot longer then we thought and so by the time we got back to her place I only had 10 min left to get to the bus park. Low and behold I get there only 3 min late and the bus had already left 5 min earlier. So the guy at the park told us that if we pay him 5,000 shilling he will have the bus stop so we can catch it. We agreed and as he got into the car he called to bus driver to stop, however, he did not want to stop but he was only willing to slow down.
What a funny thing to happen, I have never in my life ever chased a bus before it's quite thrilling really. So we drove and drove and drove and finally we see it, just right up ahead. However, as we are having to slow down for every speed bump the bus just goes a normal speed through them. The man that we were paying to help us stop the bus tried to call the bus driver and have him stop again but he wasn't willing to stop at all. Slow driving in Uganda isn't really slow at all, and for this bus driver I really think he didn't understand them meaning of the word "slow" because it seamed like we just got farther and farther away. So our driver got so made that he took the phone from the guy and told the bus driver he need to stop right now and that if he would have stopped a long time ago I would have been on the bus by now. So in the end he did stop and I was able to get on the bus safe and sound...... not too sure about safe but oh well I got to Rwanda just fine.
Anyhow, the bus holds 66 passengers I I just so happened to be in the clear back in the set in-between to Ugandans That was very exciting. So here I am with 5 other people very squished and very VERY hot! I was tired but I couldn't sleep because the two men on either side of me kept dosing off and gradually had no control of there body and would fall limp against my shoulder so instead I decided I was just going to lean forward and sleep that way. Welllllll, Before I new it we were going over a bump at top speed and everyone in the back became air born..... it scared me so bad that I screamed and then I laughed because it was so dag hilarious. Here we are all sleeping and trying to relax and then BAM you are tossed in the air like a little rag doll. Oh just to let you know, if someone told you it was a relaxing little drive to Rwanda I would say you've been misinformed because that drive was anything but relaxing!!!!!! I think I would have enjoyed it a little better had I been by the window, but when you are squished between to people you don't know especially in a foreign country you start to question the reason why you were going to Rwanda in the first place. Well, that wasn't the only time we became air born there were like ten other times just like it or worse.
When I finally got to the border I really had no idea where I was at or what I needed to to next so I asked someone beside me where we were and to my luck he did not understand a word I was saying. So I said to myself, ok, Roxanna, you are going to half to figure this out on your own. I think I even put up a silent prayer to God asking him to guide me, literally! Because everyone was getting off the bus I realized I need to also. As I was walking toward the office border this man came up to me with a big wade of money in his had and asked me if I needed money. Thinking that he was someone who was going to con me I just walked away and said, "No". So after getting a stamp on my passport I walk back outside and realize that the bus was gone and I have no idea where to go from there. So as I looked around I found the bus so I got on it, but as I looked around to find my stuff it was gone I could not find my bags anywhere! My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, "how could I have let this happen? why didn't I keep a better eye on my stuff?" I starting prying right then and there for God to help me find my stuff. I got off the bus went around to the side and asked some people where my stuff was. They asked me where I was going I told them that I was going to Rwanda they said my bus was just down the way several meters away. As I was walking toward the bus a group of guys swarmed around me asking if I needed to exchange Ugandan shilling for Rwandan euro I said yes, but I think I got ripped off because I didn't know the exchange rate for shilling to euro. oh well, you live and learn right. So when I finally got to the bus I realized I had to fill out another form and get my passport stamped again, at this point all I wanted to do was get to Rwanda Find a bed and go to sleep!!!!! No, I had to open up my bag show them that I wasn't smuggling any black plastic sacks into Rwanda then get on the bus again for another two hours. This time I got a window seat and I was thankful because the view going through the mountains was amazing!!!! So finally when I reached I only had to wait about 20 min before someone came to pick me. Then when i got home (to the Thomas') I found my bed and slept for 3 and half hours. It was such an eventful trip I can't wait until I get to do it again when I go back to Jinja!!!!
Love you all and thank you for all your prayers,
~Roxanna
The trip over here was so ridiculous I don't ever want to go through that again, but I have to get back to Uganda sometime. First off to buy my ticket the only times available were 1am 3am 6am or 9am. So I choose the 1am time. Meanwhile I have to wait from 6pm-12:30am until my bus leaves. So I am with Natalie (a missionarie's daughter who goes to college in Kampala) and we went to a Christmas choir concert that lasted from 8-10pm Then we went to get pizza at a restaurant we stayed for about a half hour talking and laughing then we got a private hirer to take us back to her place. To pass the time we decided to go to one of her friend's house to watch a meteor shower that was happening that night. So by the time 12:30 came around we decided it would be good to head back to her apartment to pick my stuff and take me to the bus station. However, it took a lot longer then we thought and so by the time we got back to her place I only had 10 min left to get to the bus park. Low and behold I get there only 3 min late and the bus had already left 5 min earlier. So the guy at the park told us that if we pay him 5,000 shilling he will have the bus stop so we can catch it. We agreed and as he got into the car he called to bus driver to stop, however, he did not want to stop but he was only willing to slow down.
What a funny thing to happen, I have never in my life ever chased a bus before it's quite thrilling really. So we drove and drove and drove and finally we see it, just right up ahead. However, as we are having to slow down for every speed bump the bus just goes a normal speed through them. The man that we were paying to help us stop the bus tried to call the bus driver and have him stop again but he wasn't willing to stop at all. Slow driving in Uganda isn't really slow at all, and for this bus driver I really think he didn't understand them meaning of the word "slow" because it seamed like we just got farther and farther away. So our driver got so made that he took the phone from the guy and told the bus driver he need to stop right now and that if he would have stopped a long time ago I would have been on the bus by now. So in the end he did stop and I was able to get on the bus safe and sound...... not too sure about safe but oh well I got to Rwanda just fine.
Anyhow, the bus holds 66 passengers I I just so happened to be in the clear back in the set in-between to Ugandans That was very exciting. So here I am with 5 other people very squished and very VERY hot! I was tired but I couldn't sleep because the two men on either side of me kept dosing off and gradually had no control of there body and would fall limp against my shoulder so instead I decided I was just going to lean forward and sleep that way. Welllllll, Before I new it we were going over a bump at top speed and everyone in the back became air born..... it scared me so bad that I screamed and then I laughed because it was so dag hilarious. Here we are all sleeping and trying to relax and then BAM you are tossed in the air like a little rag doll. Oh just to let you know, if someone told you it was a relaxing little drive to Rwanda I would say you've been misinformed because that drive was anything but relaxing!!!!!! I think I would have enjoyed it a little better had I been by the window, but when you are squished between to people you don't know especially in a foreign country you start to question the reason why you were going to Rwanda in the first place. Well, that wasn't the only time we became air born there were like ten other times just like it or worse.
When I finally got to the border I really had no idea where I was at or what I needed to to next so I asked someone beside me where we were and to my luck he did not understand a word I was saying. So I said to myself, ok, Roxanna, you are going to half to figure this out on your own. I think I even put up a silent prayer to God asking him to guide me, literally! Because everyone was getting off the bus I realized I need to also. As I was walking toward the office border this man came up to me with a big wade of money in his had and asked me if I needed money. Thinking that he was someone who was going to con me I just walked away and said, "No". So after getting a stamp on my passport I walk back outside and realize that the bus was gone and I have no idea where to go from there. So as I looked around I found the bus so I got on it, but as I looked around to find my stuff it was gone I could not find my bags anywhere! My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, "how could I have let this happen? why didn't I keep a better eye on my stuff?" I starting prying right then and there for God to help me find my stuff. I got off the bus went around to the side and asked some people where my stuff was. They asked me where I was going I told them that I was going to Rwanda they said my bus was just down the way several meters away. As I was walking toward the bus a group of guys swarmed around me asking if I needed to exchange Ugandan shilling for Rwandan euro I said yes, but I think I got ripped off because I didn't know the exchange rate for shilling to euro. oh well, you live and learn right. So when I finally got to the bus I realized I had to fill out another form and get my passport stamped again, at this point all I wanted to do was get to Rwanda Find a bed and go to sleep!!!!! No, I had to open up my bag show them that I wasn't smuggling any black plastic sacks into Rwanda then get on the bus again for another two hours. This time I got a window seat and I was thankful because the view going through the mountains was amazing!!!! So finally when I reached I only had to wait about 20 min before someone came to pick me. Then when i got home (to the Thomas') I found my bed and slept for 3 and half hours. It was such an eventful trip I can't wait until I get to do it again when I go back to Jinja!!!!
Love you all and thank you for all your prayers,
~Roxanna
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Deaf Awareness Week -Sep. 21st-26th
Geoffrey, Emma, Ruth, Me & Falo
Working Buddies
Charles & I just hanging out
At The Hotel in Kampala
Charles playing a made up card game with the kids
Geoffrey
He is posing silly for the camera
