Christmas Eve Day

It's still the 24th, but I thought I'd tell you how my day has gone so far. It started at 6am. Yes...6am. That's cause at 6am in Kampala it is 7pm the previous night in Vancouver and my family was having Christmas dinner at me aunt Candis'. We arranged for them to "Skype" me so I could talk to the whole family. Oh my, it was wonderful. I saw and talked with my Grandma for the first time since I left my family at the security gate at YVR. I cried, of course. Not because I missed them so much I wanted to be home, but because it is still amazing to me that I can see and talk to my family and friends even though we are so far apart. Of course I miss them terribly, especially right now. But as I've said, I am embracing my African Christmas and loving it.

After I got off with my family and dried my tears, I jumped back into bed and watched A White Christmas. I watch it every year, usually as I wrap presents. I am very behind in my Christmas movie watching so today is catch up day. When the movie ended I strapped on my runners and headed out to walk to the butchers to pick up our Christmas steak. It's about a 30-40 minute walk down the hill, and I even extended my walk to the Embassy Supermarket a little further down the road. It was so funny all the people from church I ran into. It made me smile. It was just like being in the Save On Foods in Lynn Valley and running into a half a dozen people I knew. It reminded me of how much Kampala is becoming home.

I forget to mention...it's really hot here! I think it is one of the hottest days since I've been here. Hold on for a second and let me check the temperature...28 degrees. And 29 degrees later this week. When I was at the butcher they had ice cream, but I was looking for a popsicle. Non to be found unfortunately =(

Now I am home after a 2 hour walk. I have to start getting ready for going to church at 4pm today and I still have two Christmas movies to watch before I go to bed. I promise to update this blog with the rest of my day later tonight.

Better Late Than Never

OK Dad, I will sit down and write in my blog!!!

Sorry it has been so long. December has been a really busy month here. First it was the 100 Christmas cards I had to write before my friends Kenny and Julia flew home to the US on the 13th. Julia mailed them from Phoenix for me. That was a lot of cards and I spent most evenings working on them.

Then it was work. I think I have mentioned a few times that we ended the 2007 fiscal year in September and started a new fiscal year October 1st with a new version of Sun Systems and a whole new way for the fields to process their monthly accountabilities. It has been hard work training the field staff, and most have limited computer knowledge. It’s a good thing I love to train as I have already had three training sessions and will be going back out to the fields in January to train some more. December also brought with it auditing of the 2007 fiscal year. For me this meant trying to figure out all the old codes and the old Sun Systems, while still trying to follow up with the fields about the current month’s accountabilities. Making your head hurt following this…me too!

Friday the 21st was our last day at work; it was also our Christmas BBQ and gift exchange. We had drawn names for buying Christmas presents, and I had to buy for James in communications. I was so happy to have drawn James, cause there were two things I new about James: he plays the guitar and he loves to mock me when I am wearing my t-shirt that says, “What’s the Point?” So I had a t-shirt made for him that said, “What is the Point?” (apparently Ugandans do not use apostrophe s). That was the easy part of the gift. The hard part was that I wanted to get James a guitar songbook. Unfortunately I finish work after 5pm everyday and have no idea where to shop for a guitar songbook. So I decided to make one. Every night last week, I stayed up past 1am copying songs with guitar chords and tabs, pasting them into word, then adding pictures and bible verses. It was over 100 pages once I was all said and done.

So now it is Sunday December 23rd. I have finished shopping and wrapping and am ready for Christmas. Tomorrow I am going to Kampala Pentecostal Church for their Christmas Eve service, then will head home for a glass of wine and a Christmas movie. Christmas morning will see Jiin and I off to Bruce and Sonya Nisely’s for brunch, a viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life, games and BBQ dinner with their children and Luke Runyon from FH US. I truly thought I would be homesick this Christmas. I am always the one organizing the holiday season at home. I thought I was the glue that held them all together. I have to give props to my brother for carrying on the traditions in my absence. But instead of being sad, I have decided to embrace this African Christmas. Instead of a pine tree with multicolored lights and a variety of decorations, I have a fake tree, with white lights and red and green decorations. Instead of turkey and stuffing, I am having teriyaki steak and salad. It is turning out to be a perfect Christmas. Of course I miss my family, but I have a new family here that I would miss if I wasn’t here.

What else…that’s all I can think of right now. If there is anything you would like me to blog on in the New Year, please leave me a comment and I will work to be more diligent in my blogging. New Years resolution #1…blog once a week.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!