Easter Weekend(ish)

Time flies when you're having fun and when you're busy - the combination of the two has made the last week and a half seem like a blink. I don't think I'd be able to remember one day from another if not for journaling.

Wednesday (March 31st), I was happily sitting on my bed when I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough, the cockroach decided to make an appearance - in the middle of my room, with the lights on, with me playing music and making noise. I reacted very bravely by grabbing my bedside reading light and trying to scare it back into the bathroom while whimpering/pleading. I scared it, but for some reason it ran towards me and into my closet... into the pants I was planning to wear the next day - right up the leg. 😭 I slowly walked around the last place I saw him and got some "kilit" spray from the kitchen. I'm not proud of the chase that happened, but eventually it went into the hallway and flipped onto its back. Rumor: cockroaches die once they are on their back because they can't flip over. I watched it flip from its back to its legs twice, so I'm gonna say that's false. The spray slowed it down enough that I felt confident grabbing a shoe to smash it. After 10-15 seconds of repeating "I'm a big, strong man and I'm not afraid of insects" I managed to smash it. *crunch* 🙉 happy to be done with that episode I... realized it was still alive! Another smash with my shoe and I returned to figuring out how to dispose of... it's still alive?! A third smash finally did the trick. Cockroaches will definitely outlive humans. I struggled a bit to fall asleep now that I know how bold the cockroaches are.

Thursday was an interesting day at work. We had a guest come to the center to lead us in a "trauma debriefing" course/class to teach us more about what trauma is, how it affects people, and what we can do about it. Most (all?) of the people served by Imprint Hope can be classified as having experienced trauma, and some of that trauma passes on to the people working at IH. I didn't think I would get much out of it since I've surely worked through all my issues with my psychologist over the years. For better or worse, she (the speaker/leader) managed to make me discover unresolved issues as far back as Kindergarten, when my teacher (unintentionally, I'm sure) made me feel very dumb because I didn't know how to tie shoelaces. Probably a contributing factor to my need to know things and my fear of admitting when I don't know something. After work, I went to Mass at a Carmelite monastery with Maria and Clare (+kids). It was just us and about 10 priests/brothers, which was a big change from the packed church experience of the week before.

I spent most of the Good Friday trying to focus on the reason for the ~~season~~ day off. The day was cloudy and rainy for most of the morning and early afternoon, which helped set a somber mood. I fell asleep with my Bible in hand at one point and found myself relating the apostles in the garden. Oops! Shortly before 3pm, Maria picked me up to return to the monastery for the Veneration of the Cross. I suspect there weren't many/any churches in the US that allowed people to kiss the cross due to covid - another win for Uganda! If I get covid from honoring Jesus, so be it. The service was very powerful and really helped me to get in the right state of mind/soul for the death of the Lord. Afterwards, we spent some time chatting with the brothers and priests of the monastery. They showed us around, including seeing some puppies that were about 6 weeks old. 😊 We also looked at their (many) chickens, turkeys, and pigs. I'm 99% sure that the father-pig is the tallest (if not the biggest) pig I've seen. I did not expect to be impressed by a pig in Uganda after growing up in rural MI/IN, but it was another reminder that I know very little about the place I've come to. Maria tried to buy the pig on the spot, which was a hilarious conversation to watch. I was worried that she would succeed and he would be riding home in the car with us. Fortunately, they said they weren't willing to sell it because they want more piglets. When I got home, I spent the evening doing a mixture of reading, praying, and relaxing.

Saturday morning/afternoon I was given a quick tour of downtown Jinja and started trying to familiarize myself with the best places to buy various things. The main purpose of going downtown was to buy a shirt for "African Sunday" at the church across the street. They told us the prior Sunday that everyone was encouraged to wear shirts with African prints or traditional African clothing. I asked a few Ugandans if that includes me and they insisted that I should dress up/differently for it. I sure didn't want to overstep by wearing something traditional, so I opted for a shirt that was colorful and nicer than what I packed for the trip. Saturday evening, Maria picked me up for the Easter Vigil Mass at the monastery. It was a great and intimate way to celebrate Christ's resurrection, though I found myself wishing their were some instruments and a choir instead of just the ~15 of us singing. After the (2.5 hour) Mass, we wandered out of the monastery while chatting with the residents. While I was talking, I noticed a bit of a commotion nearby. It turns out that Maria had negotiated a good price to buy some roosters and hens, which were being carried to her car. 😂 After we got all (8?) of them settled, we headed to Clare's house for dinner. It was a great meal and gave us a chance to talk in a less formal way than we had been able to at work. Her passion for what she's doing (and the story of how she started) is very inspiring. I am blessed to have connected with such an amazing organization through Maria and hope I can contribute to their work in a meaningful way while I'm here - however long that may be. We left well after curfew (9pm), which was my first time breaking it. I was a little nervous, but there were tons of people out. Curfew started because of covid, but I've been told that they didn't enforce it much until they were trying to shut down political opposition to the current president prior to the January elections. I've also been told that I don't have to worry about being "caned" by the police because I'm a muzungu - they'll just try to extort me out of all the money I'm carrying. That's definitely better than being beaten, but I wouldn't mind a third option. (The chickens sat in the car through dinner - I forgot about them until I got in the car and smelled the chicken poop.)

Sunday morning I went to the "African Sunday" Easter service, which had more than enough energy to compensate for the previous night being a little tame. At the beginning, they said that they wanted us to "move and shake" our bodies, not just clap and sway a bit to the music. For a sample of the celebration, go to the 9-minute mark of this video (ignore the audio - it sounded great in person but the video did not capture it well): Jinja Town Church Live Stream 4/April/2021 - YouTube. They were also celebrating the Lead Pastor who had been there for 8 years and is leaving the country. That added to the already-extended celebration and I was forced to leave "early" after 2.5 hours so I could get to Maria's farewell brunch. Brunch included some delicious foods like two gluten free breads that Clare made - somehow she has time to be an excellent baker/cook on top of running IH and raising her kids. I also had my first "real" orange - it had dark green skin like a lime, which is apparently much more common than the orange exterior that I've always known. I was told that oranges with an orange exterior are GMOs, but google told me that colder temperatures cause the green chlorophyll to be replaced by the orange color from inside. All the fruit here is so fresh and so delicious, not to mention that it hasn't been engineered or covered in pesticides. Brunch also featured some awesome people to meet, from the US to Australia to the Netherlands. The only bad part of the day is that it was the first time my feet had been in the sun and I based my sun exposure on my arms. It was only a matter of time before I got a bad burn and I'm thankful it was limited to my scorched feet.

All in all, a great end to Holy Week and hard to believe how much has happened in less than two weeks of being here. My original plan was to leave the US after Easter, so I'm especially thankful for the "extra" time I've spent here.