Phew. The day is finally winding down and I successfully avoided napping and I am laying in my very comfy bed at the Imperial Hotel. Basically Africa’s Ritz Carlton…kinda. It has beautiful lush (guarded/gated) grounds and sits on the shores of the world’s biggest lake, Lake Victoria.
There are monkeys in the trees and salamanders in the bedrooms :)
But I suppose I should back up. After several hours of hanging out at the Addis Ababa airport, we boarded a much smaller plane in Ethiopian Air’s fleet. The ensuing 2 hours made my most comfortable flight ever and least comfortable flight ever, all happen in one day. I’m not sure if it was because 
I had grown quite fond of the B-777 over the long hours we spent to together or just the small rows, being elbowed by the stewardess or my seatmate every time they moved, or the smell that bothered me the most. As I mentioned before, I normally fall asleep on the take-off, but we went so fast for so long on the runway that I wasn’t sure we were going to make it off the ground. I also was regretting having eaten the eggs on the previous flight, so I avoided the meal and had restless nap on the bumpy ride.
Entebbe International Airport (EBB) is a small airport. Customs went fast and were easy. I breathed a prayer of relief when my beautiful blue suitcase came onto the consul!
The hotel is beautiful and apparently where VIPs stay when they come to Kampala, Uganda's Capital. We played on the playground that reminded me of Mexico's "death rides." Below are the teeter totter swings that nearly killed Gavin when Lani was laughing too hard and fell off. They are awesome.
We met Oscar, a 22 year old who has attended the youth conference the past couple of years. He travels 16 hours to attend, but can't this year because he is saving money to visit the states. He came to our hotel after traveling all day to see his friends on our team. He moved to Eastern Uganda when he was 12 from Northern Uganda after his father died and his uncles sold all of their belongings and kept the money for themselves. His mother moved their family, but he still calls the North home. Several weeks ago he went home for a funeral and his uncle tried to poison him. He said he prayed over his food for safety and God gave him a bad feeling about the food. Right before eating it, his other uncle came in and warned him that if he wants to live, he should not eat the food. He said the maid asked him what was wrong with the food, but then after he chose not to eat it, he watched her take the food and throw it away behind the home, outside the gate in a ditch.
Oscar's dream is to build an orphanage. He has already been given 4 acres of land and is building a meat house. He and his friends are coming to the states to raise money for his dream. So crazy what he has been through and he's younger than me. Not a surprise after reading about the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) before I came and the child soldiers; the children of this country have been through a lot, but it is still crazy to see for myself.
We practiced our skits after a tasty dinner. I played it fairly safe with potatoes, some rice, some corn type mush that wasn't corn, and some meaty thing with a tasty sauce. Oh! And peanut sauce and fruit. Took some Motrin PM and conked out before I could completely finish this entry!
(I had to give a special shout-out to this beautiful pool they have!)
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