Without anything specific to write about today, I'll just share a random collection of my favorite and funniest experiences so far...

There's a 15 year old boy at the mission, Otim Peter, who was also here last year. Then, he was a shy, kind of awkward boy, but this year he's more confident and outgoing and almost everything that comes out of that boy's mouth makes me crack up. So I'll give you some of my favorite Peter quotes -
On what to do with a "cryful" baby (he's spent "many years" caring for babies) -
"Because they're just crying and crying and nothing makes them happy, you just pinch them to take the crying up another level so that they'll get it all out. They think they know what's best, so you just have to teach them a lesson."

As we were sitting down together one night waiting for dinner to be ready -
"You four can sit on that bench. But me, I will remain standing because if I also sat on that bench, it would just surrender!"

After turning on the radio and starting to dance -
"Hey Betty, you come down here and we'll have a dance competition. I will just beat you a hundred times even with only one leg!" (as he started dancing while standing on one leg)

Besides being a pastor, Pastor Andrew also own a shop in the center and has a four year old boy, Jacob, who loves to play with Bruno. As we sit together before dark and watch the kids play, Bosco always translates the most amusing parts of the boys' conversations for me. Yesterday, we sat at the soccer fields watching a game and I greeted a man who rode past on a bicycle. He didn't say anything back to me but just kind of nodded his head. Bosco started laughing and told me that Bruno must be a little defensive of me because he said "Hey that guy is a fool! He doesn't even know how to respond to yoga noi!"

Bosco was also entertained enough to tell me about this conversation between Jacob and Bruno -
Jacob - "I think your shoes are too big for you."
Bruno - "Ok, then you give me yours. Those ones will fit me better."
Jacob - "No, you can't have mine. But you can come to my shop and I'll sell you some for 120 shillings" (= less than 6 cents)

A lot of times, we'll talk to the boys in English to see how much they understand and also to help them learn more. Bosco told Bruno to sing his ABCs and he did. But like most little kids, he skipped a few letters and repeated a few others, so after he was finished Bosco said, "Well done, Bruno. Next time better." Bruno didn't quite understand everything that Bosco said so he replied, "Ngai bo next time?" (Who is next time??)

When I was here last year with five other white people, we would space out our showers to save water and I also just felt like since we were in Africa, it was just a normal thing to be a little dirty. Being here by myself though, I've been more aware of how things really are in this culture. When I was in Soroti, I had gone a day without showering, which had been totally normal on our first trip. I still didn't see anything wrong with it until I heard Ann (Joseph's wife) talking to their son, Zoe. "Zoe, why have you not bathed today? You go and bathe... You are not a missionary!" I decided then it would be best to shower more often, at least while I was still in Soroti.

Then I got to Oditel where I thought surely I wouldn't be bathing so much. But since I'm here by myself this time, people (specifically Christine) pay more attention to what I'm doing. Christine came in our first night there after bathing and asked if I needed water to bathe. I ignored her pressure and told her I was just going to go to bed. The next night, she asked me again. It had been a cool day and I really hadn't planned on bathing, which again wasn't out of the ordinary for our last trip. When I told her that I thought it would be too cold to bathe now that it was night, she offered to warm up water for me, so I felt like i had to give in that time. Because I'm by myself, I feel more pressure to try to do what the people around me are doing, which is bathing every day or even twice a day. Against my wishes, I've been peer pressured into bathing more in Africa than I do in the US and if you really know me, you'll know I'm pretty disappointed by this. Don't worry too much about me though - since the people here don't know what's normal for white people hair, I can still get away without washing my hair too often :) (Kati - Day 4, curly, down - put it in the record book)

Sometimes in Uganda, people will use words that are just a little different than words we use at home. For example, "having diarrhea" becomes "diareeting" (which they talk very openly about, FYI). So sometimes, you just go along with what someone says until you can figure out what they're really talking about (fake it till you make it is the rhyming phrase I'd use to describe this ;)

So the other day, I was talking with Pastor Andrew about the microfinance project here so that I could get an update for the River. He described a couple of things people were using the money for, including solar panels for a saloon down the road. I thought it was a little strange that a pastor who never drinks alcohol would think it was a good idea to make it more convenient for the alcoholic men in the village to drink in the dark at a bar. But I figured I would talk to Wil about it first since I don't know much about the microfinance project.

Since we've been without power, they haven't been able to pump up water for showers, so we bucket bathe. I've asked Christine to help me wash my hair though since that's a little harder to do in a bucket. She helped me feel a lot better about what Andrew had told me when she picked up my shampoo and asked if I was ready for her home saloon. Ooooh right, SALON... I feel much better about getting solar panels so that people can get their hair cut.

And last of all, some of the most amusing and frequent statements/questions that come from the agricultural people of Teso:
-"You can see that that is a very healthy cow there." (Nope, I can pretty much only see that it's not dead.)
-"What crops do you grow at home?" (Uh, sometimes I pick tomatoes from the plants my brother planted...)
-"You'll notice that the rain has made the posho plants very high here." (First I'd have to know what a posho plant looked like to notice that.)
-"You hear this rain now? It's coming straight down because there's no wind. It's a good rain because none of it's being wasted." (Wait, rain can be wasted by wind??)
-"You will see the difference of vegetation as we enter into the Kapelebyong area." (It all looks pretty green and plant-like to me)
-"Do you heap/dig for potatoes?" (No, but I do peel them, boil them, mash them, fry them, or bake them... Does that count for anything?)
-"Chicken, get out of the road or I will knock you with my car!" (My favorite of all...)

Ok, that's all the Ugandan wit I have for you for now... Headed back to the village in the morning for my last week and a half!

Love you all,
Caitlin