A Taxi, Like a Church is Never Full.

It has been a long week my friends. Last week we were trying to get everything figured out for what I will be doing. This, like the road in Uganda, was not exactly smooth.

Then on Saturday I taught some of the students to play Ultimate Frisbee. This was interesting for a couple of reason. First because they had never seen or heard of a Frisbee before. Secondly, most of the rules come from American football and basketball. Two sports which they don't really play. After quite some time though we got it all worked out and it was a blast, very hot and sweaty, but a blast none the less.

Most every evening I go on a walk with Julius or Emanuel. That will soon change however because the degree students are now on holiday. Julius is staying around for a few more days to get some assignments done. On these walks we often go to town, or if you walk away from downtown there is another market district. Those are our most common destinations. On these walks I get lessons on the language, education system, Muslims, their families, or pretty much anything that comes up. They also are very interested in learning about the United States.

One of the strangest things to me is the stark contrasts in development here. Nearly everyone has a cell phone here, but they still plow using bulls. In kampala you can be in a big department store with escalators and things, walk for 15 minutes out of town and you find a village of mud and grass thatched huts where the children run half naked, but don't worry their parents have cell phones. Some things take leaps forward, other things are still the same as they have always been. There is still nothing to do with trash here besides a) throw it on the ground (most common) b) pile it and burn it.

On Sunday I went to Sironko with Julius. I taught at the church there in the morning. The service lasted from 9:00 Am to about 12:30 PM. Then the church had a lunch. (have I mentioned that eating utensils are not preferred? They only use them in the big cities especially when mzungus are around.)That was probably the largest vat of rice I had ever seen in my entire life.

Church music here is interesting. It is usually started by one person, in front, in the audience, doesn't matter who. They just start clapping, or singing and everyone comes in and soon we have 4 part harmony going on with all kinds of clapping rhythms, some people bring their own drums and things. They also change languages frequently. Worship happens in usually 3-4 languages in every church. They will have the native language of the local tribe (35 to choose from in Uganda), Luganda (the largest tribe in Uganda)(The tribe is actually called Buganda, it is a kingdom tribe, so they have a king, and he usually doesn't like the Ugandan government because it means his power is very limited. Its rather odd and interesting.), Kiswahili (the language of Kenya so if any Kenyans are in the house, or if they speak Kiswahili and not the local language), and English. The last two are for people that are not from the area. Most people here, if they are educated, know the local language, English, Swahili, and some know Luganda as well. So they switch mid song between languages. That is interesting.

The songs always have a leader, because most of them are changed depending on how the Spirit leads. In this way it not uncommon to have a song last 5-15 minutes. They just sing one song a bunch of times differently instead of singing different songs. This is nice for the white guy who only speaks English. He can almost get some of it by the end. Although I can't always even tell if they are singing in English so he doesn't get it all that often.

Next Sunday I am off Amuria (Ah-moo-ree-ah), I think I'm going to Amuria. I'm not positive on that one.

A few more fun facts. Brandon is hard to pronounce, so many call me Wilson but the other day someone was looking at my driver's license and now people are starting to call me David. This is because it is easy and it is a Christian name. Here everyone goes by a tribal name until they are baptized and then they are given a Christian name. They therefore feel that I should be called by my Christian name, plus it is easier for them so... I'll go with it.

I went to a football game today. That was fun and exciting. I never really liked soccer much before but I think I could get into it.

I am working on finding something to do during the week. I have contacted another missions org here in Mbale. I may work with them and I may come up with something else yet I don't know. I'll keep you posted.

I attempted to attach pictures, which would make sense of the title of this blog. If you remember last week I mentioned taking a taxi built for 12, carrying 21. This week there were 28 people in it. That was full... it was during this time that I wished that Africans used deodorant. I will try the pictures again soon.