Mutatus and pick-up lines.

It has only been one week.  One week.  Like you said last night, it seems as if I have been here for months.  It's not that a lot has happened, but I think it is more because of the process of adjusting, meeting new people, getting to know a new place, etc.  And I know from experience that before I know it I will be back home, wondering how everything happened in a blink . . . but right now it feels like I will be here forever.  One of these days I'll do a study on the perception of time and understand why this happens. 

So, let me give you a synopsis of this first week.  The majority of my time is spent doing a few choice activities: reading/working on research, exercising, eating fruit on the balcony, talking, sweating, walking around to run errands, swallowing pills, and sleeping.  Very little time is spent on food or getting ready--it's actually really nice.  I never get really hungry, so I will eat toast (or a digestive cracker) and fruit throughout the day, and then have a little bit of dinner with everyone at night.  That's just been this first week though.  The next three weeks will be very different because I will be in rural areas/traveling, so we'll see what that brings.

Besides this fluid state of daily tasks, we had a few eventful things this weekend.  We rode in a mutatu (a bus/van that is super crammed and sweaty) to the mosque (where my scarf kept falling of my head and I got in trouble for it) and then went to a fancy open-air Indian restaurant for dinner.

Saturday afternoon we went to the palace and torture chambers (so, so sad) and then spent the evening just talking outside.  

And today, I was not feeling too well so after church (Baz came!  And it was the primary program, sot hat was wonderful.) I came back and slept, and now I've just been writing e-mails and resting so that I will be okay to go to Gulu tomorrow.

A few fun facts:

• Remember that disgusting medicine when I had my hematoma that smelled like paint?  Well, there's a fruit here called jack fruit that smells just like it....and it's in our fridge....so that's a benefit to leaving for Gulu tomorrow.
• They have a really interesting concept of pick-up lines here, including, but not excluded to: "Hello nice eyes", "I love you.  I love you so much.", and "HELLOIAMSINGLE!"
• One of the girls here is really good friends with Laura Bennion.  And turns out she's taking a class with Bethany and me in the fall, so we're really excited about that.
• Driving here is absolutely crazy.  There are no lanes, no rules, and the one key to surviving is to be aggressive.  Mom, I don't know if you would be able to handle it.
• The children love getting their picture taken.  Pull out a camera and they will come running . . . 

And it's seeing those sweet, bright, wonderful smiles that make me feel all sorts of cliché, cheesy things.  So I will just stop myself there and say goodnight.  Love you.  Hope everything with Miguel's talk/party went well.  Wish I could have been there.

الجمال النقي

Fun, and maybe unknown, fact: I love the Islamic religion.  I think it is absolutely beautiful.  (Of course, we're taking away the extremism here, which is the same I would hope for anyone looking at any group with extremes; e.g., polygamists.)  And along with that comes a deep love and admiration of Arabic.  It is also absolutely beautiful.  (Dad found this out last week when we went to Deseret Book and I came across Arabic copies of everything.)

With that being said, I needed to dedicate an entire post to a trip we took to a mosque on Friday.  I just have way too many pictures to fit in with my weekend-digest post, so . . . yeah.  

AND, at sunset we climbed the minaret and looked out over the entire city and listened to the call to prayer. 

So that was my lovely Friday night.  I'll write more about how the rest of Uganda has been tomorrow.

أنا أحبك

day one

Well, if dad can be happy about anything about this adventure, it can be that I slept approximately 30.37 hours from my departure until this morning.  So basically I slept any time I wasn't eating or moving from one seat to another  (add in some chat time with my neighbors on the plane...we all became great friends).  The stop in Amsterdam made me lose a bit of focus because it was......well . . . .

. . . .obviously wonderful.  {They sold tulips in the airport....tulips.}  And it was just . . . very European.  It made me want to take a small detour and spend time biking around the Netherlands.  

Anyway, we made it here late last night, unpacked a few things, and went right to bed.  Heard some dog fights and rainstorms through the night.  I woke up to the sound of children singing.....turns out we live right next to a school.

And then, I walked out onto our balcony and read....

After that, some exercising, and a shower {accidentally only brought conditioner}, we went out to get groceries and wander around . . .

Came back, read some more, ate dinner, read more, etc.  So a really relaxed day, but we'll be getting to work tomorrow.  Oh, and it's not as hot as I imagined, so that's good.  But, it will be a process trying to figure out what to eat.  All of my essentials (i.e., milk, cereal, spinach, apples, ice cream) are kinda off-limits/unavailable/expensive here so...that will be fun.  But honestly, I don't really mind.  Just as long as I can eat just enough to function, I'll be fine.

Love you lots.  No need to worry, everything is good here.  {Oh and the children are darling.}

Off again . . . again.

{If you are new to this blog, go here and here for some background.}

So.  When I was heading to D.C., I decided that it was probably going to be my last adventure before graduating/starting work.  I had never experienced a true summer in Provo before, and I just wanted to relax and enjoy one last normal summer before starting up "real life" (as they sometimes call it).  You know, read books by the pool, go on fun trips, eat popsicles, run through the sprinklers, barbecue, camp. . . . that all sounds nice, right?

But then, about mid-way through my time at D.C., I found myself on BYU's study abroad website.  I don't know how it happened!  {Okay, yes I do.  One of my good friends was talking about his fun summer plans abroad and I decided to just peruse and just see if there wasn't something I could do.} I couldn't help it.  And I found a program in Uganda.  And it looked great.  And I could afford it.  And then three of my friends in D.C. told me they did that same program and that it was wonderful.  And so I applied. {Much to my parents' chagrin.}  And now I am heading to Africa for the next 7 weeks.

Now, that explanation makes this all sound a little whimsical and flighty.  Which it is definitely not.  Let me try and restate this: What I am doing for the next 7 weeks is fulfilling one of my longest, biggest dreams.  Top of the bucket list.  Something I have felt inexplicably drawn to since the age of 12.  {And when I say inexplicably, I mean it.  I have never been able to adequately articulate my feelings attached to this, so just know that when I say I'm drawn, this magnetism is stronger than a McKean boy to a deep-fried candy bar.}  Initially my plans were to just go do whatever humanitarian work I could help with.  But then, in October 2010, I read about an amazing man named Muhammad Yunus {I got to meet him in March!!} and his creation of the Grameen Bank.  I finally saw a way that I could use my skills to help individuals in Africa.  I immediately started searching for ways to go and work with microfinance in Africa.  For two years I searched for programs/internships that would work, but the right opportunity never arose and other opportunities got in the way.  {Albeit, they were wonderful opportunities that I would not trade for the world.}   

So finally, this last November as I was sitting in my small kitchen in D.C. late at night, I decided that I needed to seize this opportunity in Uganda.  I understood that I was taking a big risk by not doing an internship, in order to secure a job, right before I graduated . . . but it didn't matter.  My mind was set.  Nothing was going to deter me, not even vague, alluring promises from my father of a future trip to Africa together.  I prayed about it, and it felt right.  So here I am.

{This is a video someone from the program took last year.}

Some of you may be wondering exactly what I will be doing.  Research.  Research on microfinance and what incentives can be used to teach people how to save their money.  But beyond that, I will be getting my first exposure to the developing world; I will be getting a look at what is really going on.  I do not intend for this to be a one-time thing.  As I have taken classes for my international development minor, I have only gained a greater desire to make a difference in the lives of those who lack opportunity.  To teach a man to fish.  And I could go on and on, but I'm starting to realize how wordy this post is getting.

We'll just close with this.  I am leaving.  And I am excited beyond belief.  And if you would like to keep up with how things are going, just follow along on here.  

In Mark

"With men that trust in riches, it is impossible; but not impossible with men who trust in God and leave all for my sake, for with such all things are possible."