Honey... I'm Home!!!

LOL. Well my family was excited for me to come home. Apparently there was no honey waiting for me at the airport. Maybe next time. We will see if the mail order comes through. ;^)


To my joy I got to hold Annika when I got home. After telling Alisha all the shots and pills I had to get to go to Africa she said that I was not holding Annika until I had been home for months and been checked out by the doctor's. BUT on our way home from the airport we stopped by Alisha's and I got to hold Annika! YAY! (I guess she got the "OK" from Annika's doctor... thank you!) The next day she came to the house and I got to play with her! I put one of my head wrap's on her and oh she looked so cute. In the pictures she nearly had pulled it off but it still looks so cute right!? Me & her always have so much fun together. I don't even question why I am her favorite aunt! ha ha. I had to leave her to go to the doctor and the big news is that he wanted to do surgery... tomorrow. Ugh. I think we are going to get a second opinion! I guess that there are more problems with my leg/foot than they saw in Uganda so this is just the beginning!

Giraffe Kisses

Last year I went on a work trip to Florida where I went on a safari and got to kiss a giraffe. Really I fed the giraffe out of my mouth. We kept missing the picture so when we saw giraffe's in Kenya, I decided I needed to video-tape the occasion so not to miss it again. This time was much cleaner. I didn't get any giraffe drool in my mouth! (SCORE!) I only kissed it twice whereas in Florida I had to kiss it like 20 times. Ugh. I am done with giraffe's now and don't think that I will be kissing another one anytime soon. Okay, okay. I guess until another opportunity comes along!

Some lady walked in front of the first video. So I had to do it again...

Awe... the little ones!

Ever since I was young I always wanted to adopt kids from Africa. So imagine me being in my dream country with all of these BEAUTIFUL kids. It was hard not to bring them home with me. Really there were probably 10 I would have in an instant. But if one would have been offered to me. I would have accepted no questions in a heartbeat. What kept me not was my dad reminded me before I left that I couldn't he said I didn't have papers. So I had to keep reminding myself of that! Ugh! Above: SO CUTE!!! I was tickling their arms with my nails and all the sudden all the kids that were sitting around me stuck their arms on my laps. The cutest is after this I would be sitting with them and all the sudden one of them was tickling my arm. This continued for the rest of the trip. I loved it!
Above: Me and cute Joseph after reading multiple books. I think he was willing to skip lunch to read with me in the staff room. Two privledges they don't often get.

Above: Sitting and singing and talking... ALL AFTERNOON!

Above: Just hanging out under the shade trees. Being together.

Above: Isn't this the best picture ever!? It's after they signed my cast. They stood back for a picture and I just think it is one of my favorite. Oh! So many of my favorites!


Above: LOL. He was always doing what we were doing so here I winked at him and this is his wink back! SO CUTE huh!?
Above: They were sitting with me under the tree as I elevated my leg. Can you tell me - which are boys & which are girls?

Above: See my foot?! I told them all to back up so I could get a picture of them! These were my friends who liked to just be around me!
Above: OH! ANDREW!!!!! I would bring him home with a snap of my fingers if I could. He is the one that my second day back at the orphanage I had my cast and he had fallen on a rock and split his cheek/eye so I fixed him up. After that we were nearly inseperable. He loved to read and by golly, I loved to read to him. Perfect pair. I loved that he was in his coat in the middle of summer. He is so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so CUTE!

Above: More of the precious kids at the school whom I love SO MUCH!

African Dancing

How many times do you see a white person in the middle of 30 blacks dancin with crutches!? Hahaha. Well friday night after getting my new cast that's just what I did. (NOT what the doctor ordered!) I had talked about my love of dancing with some of our African friends and they all wanted me to go to a club. Luckily the hotel we were staying at was having a party anyways so I crashed it and went a dancin. I talked two other white people into going with me (thank you Lorna and Roger) and imagine - even with my crutches, people still wanted to dance with me! I even got proposed to! Haha

My new cast!

The ER doctor wanted me to come in to get a new cast once the swelling had gone down. But since we were so far away I had to wait until there was a taxi going to Kampalla before I headed out. So a little over a week after the accident I headed back up to Kampalla and got a new cast. The doctor cut off the old cast with what looked like sharp wrenches - it was not the most smooth cut in the world and it shook my leg a lot which pained me - but I got my new cast! Yee-ha! It is so tight and the leg is still swollen that it pains me now more than it used to. I figure maybe the pain is a good sign because maybe the doctor is forcing it to heal. It's all I can hope. The kids were thrilled that I got a new cast and excited to again sign their names. People stare at me no matter where I go. #1 because I am a Buzungu (a white person) #2 because I have crutches #3 because I have a cast and #4 because there is writings on my cast. I have to explain to everyone that in America we have people sign our casts to say, "get well soon." It is so funny how random adults will come up to me and say, "Sorry... Can I sign your foot!?" So really, the fun of signing casts isn't just for kids - adults everywhere are getting the same joy out of writing their name on someone's leg/foot.

*Oh and the doctor made my day! I don't know how most people are when they see the doctor but this guy loved me! Ha ha. He kept on commenting about how fun I was. He said, "You are very happy for being in so much pain." It probably would have helped to take pain killers after the first night, but I didn't want to load up on the medicine so I just tried to focus on other things. Although it hurt, I was fine. The doctor just made me laugh because he was so thrilled that I was a happy patient!

Awe... Cute!

We had a pretty long drive from the village to the city. 3 1/2 to 4 hours one way. So we left around 6 am and spent the day in the city and then arrived home around 8:30 pm. On our way home I was trying to catch the beautiful Africa horizon. We decided to snap some photo's of us and the teachers who rode with us. We decided to make "funny faces." They are happy enough to have a picture of them and then look at it so making faces in a picture was a new thing. They laughed and laughed each time they looked at the photo's right after we would take it. But the cutest comment came as we were arriving in Masaka. I turned around to talk to Joseph and he looked at me very confused. I said, "What!?" He said, "Can you see me?" I laughed and said, "Yes Joseph, why wouldn't I be able to see you?" He said, "Because it is dark outside and I am black."

Cute Joseph. That was the comment of the day! He was so serious and so innocent. I loved it. I told him that I could see him. This was the question for him... can you see a white person in the day? ;^)

My favorite little children

The girls always asked me to sing and dance for them but I kept saying, "No! You dance for me!" For a few days they wanted me to come down to a pond so they could dance for me. Well finally they led Lorna & I to a fish pond type thing. Boy it was a trek there for me who can't walk. Ugh! But it was so worth it. It started out as us with Swabulah and Barbra and ended up us with about 10 other girls and they kept on coming. As soon as we got to the pond Lillian and Barbra were ready to sing and dance for me. Then the little boys started coming. They said, "No! Girls only!" But within seconds the boys were dancing too. I loved it. They could have gone all night long. But we had to get back and teach the Sister Nuns how to knit. But we were down there for a good portion of the afternoon just being entertained and loving it. I LOVE THESE KIDS!!!!!!!!!!

I tried to upload my favorite video of 5 little boys singing and dancing. It was ADORABLE!!! They were like a little boy band. However, I love this one too. It is of my little mini-me Kezimbira. He is 9 years old and how many 9 year olds have you seen that can dance like this!?

I can be a mom!

There is this little boy named Kezimbira that I would gladly adopt in a second. He waits for me every day and always wants to be right by me doing things with me. He is 9 and completely adorable. The other day we were writing notes to each other because he wanted to study English with me so I would have him write me things like 4 sentences on why he is a good friend. Soon it turned into notes back and forth. This is what he wrote to me:

Jen is a good mom she has his friend is Kezimbira is a good boy and Kezimbira likes jen ever I am happy to see you jen and like you jen is a good mom i like her very very has you know.

that is the story of jey like you.

Isn't that adorable!? I absolutely loved it! It is so hard for me to not play with the kids as I wish that I could but I guess that what I am doing is making a difference too. The other day a few of us stayed back at the hotel - my leg was killing and a couple others missed the taxi and when the rest of the team returned they all mentioned at separate times how the kids all asked, "Where's Jen?! Where's Jen!?" I was so happy! The next day we drove up and I was sitting by the window (in the same seat I always sit in so my foot can be elevated on the drive) and the kids saw me and all started yelling, "Jen! Jen!" Oh I don't think that anything else could have been so wonderful!

First Africa Blessing

Well a a week ago yesterday there was a little mishap. It was my exciting news, but really it isn't so exciting. I didn't want to post it until I made sure that my mom knew and understood that everything was okay. So... the news was... I broke my leg. Last Tuesday happened also to be our first day at the orpahange, great day to break your leg right!? NO! It hurts but what bothers me most is that I can't just walk around and be normal. I have to lug a plaster cast and crutches everywhere I go, not to mention hop. But I still get to play with the kids and have fun with them as much as I can to my ability so that is a blessing. Plus after the fall, I got my first blessing in Africa and the fact that it wasn't worse, was a huge blessing. Here is the e-mail I sent home:

Well I have some news… (This is why there was a long span between me writing last Tues. to this Sunday)…

Well to understand the story you have to know the streets of Africa. I wrote about them in my blog a bit… how they are mainly dirt and very holey. Well… I was walking with Lorna home from the Internet Café and it was dark outside because we don't get home from the school until right before dark. So we went to the internet café in the light and left at dark. The hotel is only a couple blocks away from the café but somewhere in the middle of the dirt sidewalks (that are half there half not) there was a rather large hole. I fell into the hole and hurt my foot. When I pulled it out, it was already swollen. L I just sat on the ground. Some Africans ran up to me saying, "Sorry. Sorry." They and Lorna helped me up but I couldn't put any weight on my foot so I sat back down. I told Lorna I couldn't walk. Some more Africans came over (they too had seen the fall) and also said, "Sorry, Sorry." They flagged down a bota, bota (a motorcycle taxi) and I rode the last bit to the hotel. At the hotel I received a most interesting blessing from a member of our team named Tomas. As he was giving the blessing he said that my foot will not heal over night but that the blessing will be a comfort through the pain. Ugh. It went on and was a wonderful blessing, but that stood out to me. It wouldn't heal overnight? How long was I supposed to wait? Our first aid person wrapped it and got some ice and advil and tylonol and I was supported to bed with an elevated foot. The next day I was unable to go to the orphanage because of the foot. I was under strict order to keep it elevated and rest. What a dull day. I suppose it helped. I moved a little and took a shower. How awkward it was because still I was unable to put any weight on the foot. So I did it on my knees and on one foot with a chair. My ankle I noticed was not the only thing swollen but the middle of my shin on the left side had also become puffy. Everyone kept debating between a fracture and a sprain. I decided going to the hospital to get x-rays wouldn't hurt. So the next day we drove three and a half hours away from the village of Masaka that we are staying in back to the big city of Kampala. They have an international hospital there and don't worry mom. I didn't let them stick me with anything or do anything that would remotely give me any germs. The physician came in and sent me to the x-ray's. They x-rayed my foot/leg up to where it hurt and found that I had fractured my fibula. The small bone in my lower leg. It cracked pretty much straight across. It was a huge blessing I feel. I had just been praying and praying ever since it was hurt that I wouldn't need to get surgery and the bone broke and stayed completely in place, so the blessing is that I didn't have to get surgery. They were amazed that I had waited so long to come in and that it hadn't gotten any worse. Because it was swollen so much and so far up and down the leg, it was decided that it was not only a broken bone but also a sprained ankle. Blah. No good. I still feel very comforted about being here and feel like this is where I am supposed to be but it would be a lot easier without a cast and crutches. Now I don't think that I will go white water rafting or bungee jumping. So no need to worry about that. Besides moving slower, I am doing lots better and I think the leg is healing fine. The doctor said I would need the cast (made of plaster – not like US casts) for 6 weeks, but I am hoping to get it off before I come home! We will see how fast it takes this thing to heal. I am taking it easy to make it heal fast.


PLEASE DON'T WORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for your prayers! I love you and will see you pretty soon with the way time is flying by!

Love,

jen

Uganda, Saturday, June 7, 2008

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Well the Byana Mary Hill Boarding P/S project gets better and better every day. Mainly because I get to spend time with the children and the longer we are there the more names I know! Yee-ha! I love it! I love them! After talking to each one I think I make the comment, “Oh! I love him/her.” Ha Ha. The locals and villagers don’t always know how to respond. I do feel such a love for these people and children though.

Today a worker named Frank wanted me to look at his work. He had fixed some pipes. All the children gathered round and just watched me as I talked to him. I tried talking to them but sometimes they just don’t respond. Sometimes they talk and talk and other times it is like someone hit mute or turned the volume way, way down. You can see their lips moving but can’t hear a thing. It’s great. After looking at his work, and hearing all about it, I headed back to our staff room with him. I wanted to stay outside and play with the children so I stopped. I saw a little boy I was reading with yesterday named Andrew walking towards me. He had blood running down his face from right beneath his eye. Oh! I couldn’t believe it! It looked so painful. He told me he had fallen in a hole. So I had him come with me into the staff room and I cleaned him up and put a band-aid over it hoping that it would at least keep it decently clean. The poor kid. I couldn’t believe that he hadn’t started crying. Kazimbira had wanted to do some studying with me that day but I ended up just reading books with Andrew, working on a puzzle with him, and then yet again teaching the nuns how to knit. (That is what I did ALL morning long. – Forget about getting tan… I am always inside. It is good I suppose. They do LOVE learning how to do it.) All the kids stood at the windows watching everything that we did. THEY ARE SO CUTE! I am absolutely loving EVERY MINUTE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!

My blog entry for the group:

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Things have been going well at the school. The kids seem to never run out of energy and never tire of the games or songs we introduce to them. Every day we meet new faces and learn new names that we cannot pronounce and have to learn how to match them to their particular faces. We are trying to pick up on the language of Lougandan, just a little bit. The children and adults speak that as well as English.

We have had a few minor injuries but nothing to stop the work or hold us back. Everything is still running on schedule and moving forward. Bethany commented that a little boy she had a picture of from a year ago looked like he was wearing the same clothes as when she saw him now. Christa, our team leader said that many of the kids that she saw a year ago when she came are in the same clothes they were wearing then. The clothes are hardly held together by a string in some places and have gaping holes that leave their sides or fronts completely open. One little boy that Jennifer has grown close to, like many, has no shoes. When inquired about them, the ones he was given were lost. Now he runs around the weeds, branches, dirt, and rocks with none. Oh my goodness it is so sad to think he cannot get another pair of flip flops.

We love the kids more and more every day and it is hard to explain the circumstances and situations here. I am so excited for them to have this new dormitory and all of the new things that the various projects are bringing to them. It is hard for me to imagine actually living in circumstances as they do. Today Evan, Dan, and Jen were discussing a household appliance that we would like them to have. Evan said a fridge, Dan said a microwave, and Jen said a washing machine. There are so many conveniences that they do without and of course don’t think twice about it. However, still, a week after being at the school – the kids are wearing the same clothes we first met them in and to my knowledge they haven’t been cleaned yet. They just keep getting dirtier and dirtier.

Project Update:

Library:
Jennifer & Lorna stamped the books to say they belong to the school, but were unable to put them away because there was no room. So a man came to measure for new shelves and some will be built in 3 – 4 days. The project is going well and should be completed after the new shelves arrive. The kids love reading the new books but especially love being read to. Some are continually bringing book after book and another, Kezimbira is constantly asking Jen, “Can we go study now?” Irene always follows Lorna into the library and reads to her while she stamps. These new and colorful books and so intriguing to the children and I feel that they are really instilling a love of learning and especially reading. The nuns, Sister Luke Laura reads the books while we stamp and we absolutely love her doing that. She finishes one and comments how the children will love it because it is so good and such a good story. But I think more than the children will love it as she reaches for another…. Ha ha ha.

Dormitory:
Construction for the dormitory is well on its way. Leveling of the site took a lot less time than expected, putting us about one day ahead of schedule. We decided that the whole dormitory will be completed in three rooms/phases, the first of which we are planning on completing during this trip. Once finished, the first phase will be able to provide adequate sleeping area for approximately 54 students. As of now we have completed two walls of the footing. Funny thing—we came here to do the work, but the Africans pretty much won’t let us. They are always taking away the tools we are using and telling us to go rest. We do our best to take back the tools, but to no avail!

Internet:
We are up and going! The orphanage now has internet connection. We are working on getting a static IP address and connecting the rest of our sensor equipment online. As soon as it was set up, the Africans sat in front of the laptop and surfed the Internet. They didn’t move for 5 HOURS!! I think they like it!J They asked us a lot of questions about the presidential campaigns, the war in Iraq, and a nine-year-old that is going to college in the United States.

Playground:
Digging, digging, digging. We have done lots of digging for the playground. Well… maybe I haven’t so much – I tried at first but all the kids kept taking away my tools. Shoot. But others have and they have done great. The ground was leveled and concrete rings were moved to create a little tunnel way for the children. Today a hole was began for a teatherball pole. Dan played teatherball with the kids the other day and they absolutely loved it! The playground is moving by ear and we are just getting as much done as we can. Working hard every day. Bethany is a great team leader. She goes out in the morning and we rarely see her throughout the day. She is a hard worker and good at getting things done. Go Bethany!

Knitting:
Lorna & Jennifer have begun knitting an actual sweater for children. They measured a little boy named Andrew and began showing the nuns the next steps. The nuns love using the pattern cards and perhaps the most difficult part of teaching was showing them how to knit with two colors on one of the hardest pattern designs. Ha ha. That’s the last time I let them choose which one they want to do first. I will decide next time and start simple. They catch on quickly though and I think that the machine will come in very handy to give the children at least one more shirt and hopefully something to keep them warm on the cold nights. We are always ready to take a break much faster than they are. After 5 hours we are like, “Um… how bout a little break?” But I think that they could go and learn ALL DAY LONG!

Masaka, Uganda

Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Day #1 at the School

After nearly 24 hours of flying and a pit stop in Dubai plus hours driving on pot hole filled and dirt roads we reached our destination. Today, June 3 was our first day visiting the school that we will be working at for the next 2 ½ weeks. Oh! What a feeling and sight! Our van pulled up to children on each side of the road yelling “yay, yay” and then following our van up the road. As we got out all we could see were hundreds (literally around 300 plus) of little black, smiling, faces. “You are Welcome. You are welcome.” It was hard to go straight to work instead of just getting to know each child and giving them hugs. But alas, there was no time to waste before beginning the projects. We unloaded the suitcases full of donations in a little room we got to put our stuff in and we sorted it for the children. Books, playground equipment, toys, and stuffed animals, towels, and blankets, all filled the many suitcases that will be staying at the orphanage. The nursery aged children (around 150 – and there were more older) were given the small toys and the stuffed animals, then the older kids were given playground toys such as frisbee’s and soccer balls. Lorna began the toy giveaway with a book reading of Clifford the Big Red Dog. Tomas learned that when you take a picture of the children after they see the flash, in unison they all say, “yay!” Ha ha. It was the greatest thing in the world to witness. Every time they see a camera they want to be in a picture and then they want to see the picture. You end up taking picture after picture. MEMO TO SELF: Next trip, bring one of those digital small photo printers.

After unloading and a short presentation to the children, the work began.

PROJECT UPDATES:

The Dormitory: Today the ground for the dormitory was staked out, the dimensions set as to where the building would go and measured as to how far it would be from the surrounding buildings. Tomas said, “We leveled and took the altitude at different points to figure out how much dirt to remove. Tomorrow the grater will start digging and leveling the ground to the specifications that were measure today and after that…. Building time!” I have to say that it was fun to watch the children get involved and help. They were out helping level by carrying bricks off the land. Carrying bricks on your head doesn’t sound fun to me but they made it look pretty easy.

The Playground: The start of a playground. What do you do first? Pick and hoe. We couldn’t keep the children away. The whole group worked on this project at the end of the day and I am pretty sure some of the kids worked harder than the group members. They want to be involved in everything that we do. Even putting the tools away. And if they couldn’t help because there weren’t enough tools, they were fine sitting close enough to watch and laugh.

Knitting: Jen & Lorna began to teach the nuns that volunteer at the school how to work the knitting machines. They walked into our room and saw them on the tables and just got these happy expressions on their faces. They were so excited to learn how to use them so I think every nun at the school came for lessons. We set up the machines, knitted a little, let them knit, and then put it away. We then asked them to set it up, knit, and put it away. They did very good and I think that it won’t take long before they are knitting sweaters all by themselves.

Educational Materials: I think that the books that we brought more than tripled the small library that the school had. Lorna & Jen sorted one suitcase full of schoolbooks but had no room to do anymore so have to wait until tomorrow to do more. Tomorrow books will be stamped, more brought out, and unloaded and organized. We are so excited for the kids to get their hands on these books! When we ran out of room we asked the nun who was helping, “Is it too many?” Her response, a quick, “oh no!”

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching the group interact with those they were serving. I believe that through service both parts are always benefited. On their “breaks” members of the group would play frisbee, and soccer and sing and dance with the kids. It was tiring as they all always wanted to get involved. At one point I was playing frisbee with a small group and all the sudden instead of just one there were multiple Frisbees coming at me. They all wanted to play with the white person. (Or buzumu’s as they call us – interpreted to mean while people.) Group members who came to do hard labor not liking children found something special in these ones and couldn’t stay away.

We feel very welcomed at the school and are so happy to get our projects underway. A lot was accomplished today and tomorrow we will be just as worn out (if not more) we are already certain. We want to do all that we can to help and to learn on the way.

Oh and if you want to experience what we are going through: Take a cold shower and use crepe paper instead of toilet paper. (For real the toilet paper is thin and stretchy. Haha.)

Kampala, Uganda - Sunday, June 1, 2008

We arrived in Kampala Saturday. It is a bigger city. Nothing like the US cities though. The streets are still dirt and have holes ALL OVER. Their sidewalks end at any point and are also covered with holes. Someone could easily fall into one I am sure. After arriving in Kampala we walked from our hotel to an ATM to get some money. (However the ATM wouldn’t take our cards, dangit. No money.) As we walked there everyone stared at us. No, not just looked and not just stared for a minute but the whole time we were passing their faces would follow us. The city is completely chaotic. I absolutely love it. I want to drive here. There are no street signs, oh wait I saw one, other than that you just have to create your own right of way or passage. They drive on the opposite side of the road which took me a while to get used to. I would look at moving cars and think, “What the!? There is nobody driving it.” Ha ha. But I caught on soon enough. We walked down this street that none of you will even be able to imagine no matter how much detail I go into. It was horrible. There were children, I want to say babies because some couldn’t have been much older than one year, sitting about 10 feet apart on the sidewalks begging. Their hands were permanently cupped and they would just sit there and look at you with their big eyes as you passed. I believe their eyes were the biggest thing on their bodies because they were so small. They were very poorly dressed and it was awful to walk past them. I could give them money but it wouldn’t help them all too much. Not in the way I wanted to. I wanted them out of that situation and in a better place. One little girl was so tired she had fallen asleep as she sat there, but her hand was still outstretched in cupped form, another child had bird poop on her head (Saturday and Sunday when we saw them, it hadn’t been cleaned off), and another child sat holding a younger baby. I asked Violet (our Ugandan assistant) why they were out there and she said most are because their mums don’t want to take care of them. I will. Send them with me. If only….

Buzumu’s is what they call us white folk here in Africa. I believe it is the one word I will remember. They all come out of their houses (!? If that’s what you can call the 4 x 4 dirt huts they live in) to watch us come by. I like to wave at them and say “hello” It makes them smile. It has made me more grateful for my life and all the little unnecessary things I have that I take for granted. Little children run around with no shoes, dirty clothes, and no toys loving life and I think, they don’t even understand the circumstances in which they live. This is life to them. It breaks my heart. When I say hello to the locals they are quick to respond and want to become friends. They say, “Hello. They call me _____ (insert their name), I want to be your friend,” I quickly say, “okay!” I love it. Can’t have too many friends in Uganda right!?

Church was so wonderful. I went to a branch in Makono, Uganda. I am thankful for the days I served in nursery because I decided to go to primary with a little girl named Nassozi Joan. She was sitting in sacrament meeting all by herself so I asked her to come sit by me. I found out later that she was an orphan. Someone in UT is paying for her and two other little orphans to go to school there in Uganda. It isn’t an LDS school but they choose to attend the LDS church. How wonderful huh!? Well I went to primary with them and I got to teach songs that we sang in nursery and share my testimony with them. The testimony meeting was INCREDIBLE and I loved hearing all their testimonies and feel the spirit that they brought into the room as they shared. I love that no matter where we go, the gospel is the same. Mmmmm-Mmmmmm-Mmmmmm, I love it so much. As everyone was filing in (we arrived about 45 minutes early) they would say hello to EVERYONE in the room, they call came pretty early. They would welcome one another and ask how they are doing. They would come to shake my hand and welcome me. I told one man, it is so good to be here. You make me feel so welcome. He said, “Ah, the saints are the same wherever you go.” And he walked off to welcome some other members of the branch. I thought, “no. the gospel is the same but the saints are not.” In the U.S. I am greeted by not as I was here. I am sure people show it in different ways but these people have so much love and happiness that they just want to share with everyone. You can feel it and I absolutely love it!!!!!

Dubai - Friday, May 30, 2008

After hearing so much about Dubai before going there I was psyched to see this city. It wasn’t quite what I had expected however. It had many many big, tall buildings and they were designed quite uniquely but I found that it was true, 25% of the world’s crane’s must have been in Dubai because the whole city seemed to be under construction. Within the span of one block I saw maybe 15 cranes. I tried to take pictures of each one as we went on our tour throughout the city but was afraid my memory card will fill up with only cranes and lets be honest, we do have them in the US so although the majority is there, they aren’t that neat.

Perhaps my favorite part of Dubai was stopping at the Persian Gulf and wading through the water. This is the gulf where the Palm Islands are. We could see them from land but couldn’t quite make out the whole Palm Tree theme they had going on. Ha ha. We were by only 7 star hotel in the world though as we waded through the gulf. I believe they said, “$7,000 - $15,000 a night.” All the rooms are two story and have their own butler, Then the restaurant is two stories under water and you eat looking out the windows that are like walls and watch the fish swim past. Our tour guide asked if we wanted to stay there for the night but he wasn’t offering to pay. So we didn’t.

So living in Dubai is expensive. Living in the outer cities is a little cheaper. To live in the city next to Dubai for a two bedroom apartment it is $70,000 a year. Oooiii Right!? So if you want to move there, that’s just rent. Think about it.

My other favorite part was getting henna on my hand. The lady did it in like 3 minutes flat and now, I can almost be mistaken for a local!

Welcome to Blogging!

Welcome to myself to the wonderful world of blogging. Ha ha. Alisha told me to start a blog. I said, “Um , I heard that they are just for married people with kids.” Alisha said, “No. Who told you that. Lots of single people have it, plus, you can update us all on the many adventures you go on while we are back at home.” I still resisted the temptation but decided that since I am here in Africa and you are there, and I want to share pictures, this would be the best way to do it. So this is the beginning of Jen’s blog. Yay!