hillary's uganda journal - june 23

Well I had a dilemma today. My computer crashed. Or at least it was threatening to, apparently. I really have no idea, I'm not technologically smart at all. This is just what Sam Straxy (one of the choir directors) was telling me. He came to figure out why I couldn't burn pictures onto DVDs (I needed to transfer the sponsorship pictures onto one so I can send the pictures back to ICN), and he ended up almost breaking this computer!! And this would've been a HUGE problem because I don't have any copies of those pictures anywhere. Oh man! I thought they were totally gone and I had no clue what I was going to do! But thank goodness he is a computer geek! So, he figured it out, and even got a DVD made! woohoo!

The choir had practice tonight, so I went to that and learned some new songs with them. Every time I see them they are learning new songs! And let me tell you, you guys are in for a treat when they come to the U.S. They are amazing!! So, with new songs, they only learn the words, the steps come later. But, in Uganda, there's no way that you can have songs being sung without some kind of movement. So they go to the extreme! They all break out there own crazy dance moves! All on beat too! Well, all of them except Peter that is. He dances like no one's watching him and like it's the most normal thing to do. But man that kid is out of control!! Vivian and Glory are so cute! They are always standing right next to each other. And no matter what the rest of the choir is doing, they are always doing the same exact thing! They just feed off of each other, A little foot movement moves to arm action, to head bobbing, until they are both jumping and spinning and dancing at the same moment! But when it's a slow song they can always be seen, hand in hand, swinging their arms to the beat. It's adorable!

I played basketball for the first time since I've been in Uganda!! It was really fun! And it was hot out, so I got to work on my tan! Double whammy! Only I had to wear my stinkin' ankle braces. So... I could get a funky tan. Dumb things.

But I have a funny story with the whole basketball thing. I went to the head master at the secondary school to see if anyone was going to be playing basketball today so I could join in. So... he called up the guy in charge of athletics at the school, who was at the fields with the football guys. And apparently a lot of them play basketball. So he told them to come back to the school to play. The next event happened so fast. All I remember asking was if I could play basketball with them every once in a while and then I heard that I'd be training these guys 3-4 times a week! WHAT?!

At the primary school I ask to observe some classes... "Oh, you want to sit in on some lessons? OK! You can come teach next Monday!" (Which is actually happening, wish me luck!) "Oh you want to play basketball? Sure! You're the new coach!"

It's funny how things work here. It almost reaches the point of manipluation. But I don't mind it, it's stretching my comfort zone! And I am actually really looking forward to these new experiences! We'll see what else the Ugandans have planned for me!!