My Happy Holiday

I thought that having an entire month off of teaching would seem like a very long time to not be actively involved with something, but between a trip to Rwanda, the holidays, and a day trip to a ministry for boys formerly living in the street, the time has passed quickly!

Between the bigger events, we also had time for a few smaller activities. Last weekend Kelsea, Martha, Justus, and I took a hike up a large hill in the nearby area. The walk there took the better part of the morning and afternoon, but the view once we reached the top was so worth it!

We also had the opportunity to learn how to prepare matooke, a local staple dish made from green bananas. Our next door neighbor girl, who is home from secondary school on holiday, invited us over and engaged us in the process of peeling, steaming, and mashing the matooke. I also worked on pounding g-nuts for a long time to turn into g-nut sauce, which is typically served with the matooke.

preparing the banana leaves to steam the matooke in

After experiencing the incredibly long, sticky, and tedious process that preparing matooke proved to be, I concluded two things:

1. I admire Ugandans so much more for all the work that is put into preparing this dish in such large quantities (about 7-10 bananas per person) day after day.

2. If I were a Ugandan, I would never prepare matooke. I would stick to other foods, like rice and Irish potatoes, instead... 

For a final adventure of the holiday season, our team had a retreat at Queen Elizabeth National Park and a nearby resort-type hotel. Six of us left Mbarara at 6:30am on Monday morning to make the one and a half hour trip and spend the day doing a game drive and a boat ride at the national park. The drive was beautiful and we were blessed with wonderful weather! Although we didn't see many animals out and about on the drive, we enjoyed riding on the vehicle's roof rack (when our lives weren't flashing before our eyes!) and spotting the occasional warthog, crested crane, or kob.

The highlight of the game drive was spotting a male and a female lion quite close to the road! Seeing lions was a first for me, and it really was incredible.

After a beautiful lunch at the safari lodge, we took a relaxing boat trip on the Kazinga Channel that flows between Lake George and Lake Edward. Because it's now the dry season, many animals can easily be spotted down by the water. We saw hundreds of elephants, hippos, birds of every variety, a monitor lizard, crocodiles, monkeys, baboons, and water buffalo. It's incredible to see animals living in their natural habit doing exactly what they would be doing whether we were there watching or not. The elephants were certainly my favorite on this trip! Have you ever seen such a huge, powerful animal with such a sweet, kind face?

We spent the evening relaxing and enjoying each other's company, conversation, and the breathtaking view of the park at Kingfisher Lodge.

The rest of the team joined us on Tuesday, and we spent the entire day at the poolside soaking up some sunshine, laughing a lot, and creating some wonderful memories! It was the perfect way to wrap up the break, and although I've thoroughly enjoyed my extra free time to spend traveling and being with friends, I'm excited to start school again with Dade on Monday! I've also begun tutoring another 8-year old neighbor boy, William, to help him catch up a little before their new school year begins in February. He's a complete joy and an eager learner, suggesting that we meet together every day, so I'm really looking forward to spending more time with him in the coming weeks!