Guess where I've Gone Ta?

"You are all most welcome!" (not to be confused with "You are almost welcome!") was the greeting I got when I first touched ground in Uganda.

I love it here already. It is far more connected to "the outside world" than I could have expected and it is certainly not nearly as hot as I thought it would be! The best part is that people keep reassuring me that they think it is far too hot - this is the hottest part of the year as well - and I do not feel like I am dying everyday from the heat. In fact, save the fact that I have been sleeping on top of my sheets every night, the heat is not unbearable at all. I was expecting the heat to be near as bad as it gets in Florida but the highs stay in the 80s. The lack of paved roads and presence of greenery allows the water cycle to continue unhindered unlike what happens to big cities in the states, thus keeping the temperature down long term. Our pavement keeps the heat in. Just my theory. Life a couple degrees above the equator aint so bad. Got 15 more freckles already though. (I tried counting.)

So much has happened in the last three weeks since arriving. I'll give a brief summary so as to keep you all updated but not bored with too many details.

The first two weeks we were here, we were living at the conference center waiting for the presidential elections to happen. We were on a standfast with very few places to go visit so I have not had much opportunity to connect until now. Nevertheless, those weeks were great for getting to know my fellow trainees and learn to wash my clothes by hand. Got to play guitar with Ryan some more, my friend Josh joined in, Stevie (her first name is Amanda but she goes by her middle) played some sweet 'monica. Har har.

The food at our center was bland at best. Nothing that hot sauce couldn't sure, though, which gave me a taste of home.

I have been at my homestay now for over a week. I moved in on the 26th. They are AMAZING!!! My host dad is a pastor, my host mom is an AMAZING cook, and everyone in my family is musical. Way musical. As a side note, I thought I would have to be a vegetarian during my time here because I could not stomach the meat at training (all bones and gristle, little meat) but Sarah (my host mom) cooks so well that I had to change my mind. My host brother, Richard, plays guitar and SINGS! Someone told me that he was "the best singer in Uganda" and I really could believe it. He is a very humble guy, though - it took me about a week to find out that he has a manager and I think he has a music video and stuff. He says he has only been playing guitar for a year or two but his rhythm is IMPECCABLE. He wants to learn music theory, so I am teaching him some and he is helping me work on mah rhythm. (Scott, oh man, I wish you could meet this guy and that he could meet you. Oh man, you guys would like each other.) I've been recording a little of our music here and there, too, on a little voice recorder. Oh man, we have so much fun. Another one of my "brothers" Kingsley (he is a long time family friend basically) is in a gospel reggae band and is know for being the best local producer for artists interested in going international. He has introduced me to other local big-name producers. It is crazy all the people that I am meeting! I went to a gospel concert with him and my other brother, Phila, the first weekend. It was held outside at the largest church in Uganda which holds about 15,000 people. They took me backstage to say hi and introduce me to some people (including "the best DJ in Uganda"). Crazy stuff.

Kingsley and Phila's band are going to be going on tour around Europe and, as King told me, that will make them the first Ugandan band to play for international audiences or something. I listened to a song of theirs and it was awesome. For serious. Also, one of King's friends was in town from Canada and another big-name African musician joined us on Sunday. They are both from Africa (not Uganda) originally but were living elsewhere. Erin, the Canadian, is a professional guitarist who played with Celine Deon. He was pretty good. With him playing, the other singing, Richie playing and singing (oh man, he is good), we had the most amazing time. Ryan was over too and we joined in. I recorded stuff.

We started in-school training last week and are going this week and the next, observing, co-teaching and solo teaching. That is going alright - it is neat to see some of the Ugandan school system.

Needless to say, I am God's favorite. God has many favorites (he can do that and it makes each favorite no less special), but man has God been blessing me. Good people, good food, good sleep, good house, good fam, good teaching experience, good health. Good God!

Thank you all so very much for all of your prayers. It means a lot to me and it is definitely helping. I could not have possibly imagined for things to be going so well.

Until next time,
Mark

PS My internet situation will not be established until I am at site in late April. I don't know when the next time I will be able to update my blog will be by I will try to get back on in the next few weeks. Also, with slow internet right now I can't check much internet and am not going to be staying up to date with facebook.