Matoke Inn

I made it!
Overall, my trip wasn't too bad. Our flight out of Pittsburgh had to sit on the runway for an hour, but I was sitting next to a Christian man and we had a very encouraging conversation for about two hours, which really helped my nerves! I got lost for 1 1/2 hours in Newark Airport (so many people pointed me to the wrong places!!) but in the end I found my terminal with plenty of time to spare. I sat next to a nice Belgian woman on that flight, but we mostly slept and her English wasn't too good so we only talked for about 45 minutes.

The flight from Brussels to Kigali to Entebbe was unlike any plane ride I've ever experienced. Everyone was walking around, talking, laughing, having a great time, hanging out in the aisles... I had an empty seat next to me so lots of people came and sat by me throughout the flight while they waited in line for the bathroom or got up to stretch.

Most of the people around me were Rwandan and only spoke French. There were three small Rwandan children - two boys, ages 3 and 5, and a one year old girl -- and it was so cool, it was like an unspoken agreement that they could wander around the cabin and every person on the flight was babysitting them. They were SO cute. They sat next to me in the empty seat and I practiced my French with the boys. We watched movies and they'd teach me vocab. I taught them how to make paper fans and colored with them. The little girl could only say one word in English -- "HI!" -- and she would just wander up and down the aisle tapping everyone on the knee saying "hi-eee!" At one point I was dead asleep and she said hi to me so distinctly that I woke right up and her little eyes were staring right at me -- she wouldn't leave till I said hi back :)

I met some young people going on a mission trip to spend two weeks at an orphanage in Kampala, and I met the pastor who runs the orphanage (with 1800 kids!). What a great guy, so funny and easy to talk to and earnest about his work. He really encouraged me and he invited me to visit Sifa International (his orphanage/school) whenever I'm in Kampala.

Now I'm at Matoke Inn in Lubowa, waiting to be picked up by Milton, a deacon from an Mbale church. He's going to take me grocery shopping in Kampala, then we'll pick up Martha Wright in Namugongo and head to Mbale for the night (we'll stay with the Wingards). Tomorrow we'll had all the way up to Nakapiripirit.

In other news:
-- I thought there was some strange exotic bird in the tree outside my window this morning. Nope, those were monkeys making all that noise!

-- Saw my first of many AK-47s.

-- Driving here will always scare me.