A nice big plate of...

...grasshoppers?

Yep that's right, it is officially grasshopper season here in Uganda and you will see people selling little baggies of them all over. They generally fry them up and add some salt to them, someone described it as an extra greasy potato chip. But basically to me...it is still just a grasshopper no matter what they taste like.

David helping Steven de-wing them first.

This is one food from Uganda I will not miss.

Florence's Nursery School- Face Painting!!

I got the privilege these past couple of weeks to be able to work with a nursery school nearby. EMI allows for this sweet opportunity to volunteer up to four hours a week. Thus giving me an opportunity to spend time with these kids! Most of them are still learning English so there wasn't a lot of good communication, but there was definitely plenty of joy and fun!

The school semesters are different here and the kids had their last day of the year this previous Friday. They will be off for two months before they start up again. So it was my last day with them. I have done a variety of activities with them, mainly craft-oriented, thus for their last day we decided to do face painting!

Florence showing her artistic side : )

The kids definitely started warming up to the camera.

Me trying to show my artsy side : )

Miriam, Florence's daughter helped as well.

As did her daughter Rachel.

Katie was such a sweetheart...her and her twin sister Mary are ADORABLE :) They had the best smiles. They didn't know a lot of English so they couldn't really chat with me that much.

Josie...cutie pie.

Kathy who had that face the entire time I was painting : )

The only photo of me with the kids that wasn't blurry! You get the idea though : )

They were so happy!

It was such an amazing privilege to work with these kids.

They just made my day every Tuesday!

The Land of a Thousand Hills

Rwanda....

What a beautiful, breath-taking country with such a tragic and painful history. I got the privilege this past to go to "the land of a thousand hills," a phrase most appropriately named to describe Rwanda. Upon arrival the first thing noticed was....paved roads and no trash. One of the most remarkable things about Rwanda to me is just the transformation that the country has undergone in the past fifteen years. I am still in the process of analyzing the progress that Paul Kagame has made since he came to power nine years ago, but there is no doubt that he is making progress, at least in the area of cleaning-up his country's infrastructure.

Examples of what strides Rwanda has made can clearly be seen in the capital Kigali:

Paved, clean roads with painted lines...

Organized bodas (called in Rwanda motor-taxis) with vests, helmets along with the telephone number of the company they work for.

New modern construction was broadcasted throughout the entire capital.

Photos of one of the hotels we stayed at outside our room

Up to the dining area, which has an awesome view....

Kigali Genocide Memorial...

The memorial was erected in 2004, ten years after the 1994 genocide where an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in a period of three months. Media and politically brainwashed Hutus spent these months slaughtering Tutsi and Tutsi-friendly Hutus as they declared to eliminate the entire Tutsi race. Friends turned on friends, neighbors turned on neighbors as this rampage took place.

It was a tragic time in not only Rwandan history, but the world's history as the UN and many Western countries "turned their backs" on what was happening in this small country in the heart of Africa.

This non-profit memorial serves as a reminder of not only the history that went on in Rwanda, but a reminder to prevent it from never happening again.

Gisenyi....

What a gorgeous and spectacular place. We went to this lakeside resort to one, see the beauty that is Lake Kivu with the DRC's mountain ranges soaring over it, and two, to hike in the Volcanoes National Park. Number two didn't end up working out mainly on a lack of planning on our part. This trip was kind of a "lets see what happens" trip and thus we didn't realize we needed to make a guide reservation the day before. But we were still able to see the beauty of the city and surrounding areas.

Photo opt!

Chris & Fiona, the lovely couple who feed us and gave us a place to stay while we helped out with the ministry.

Part of our trip to Rwanda consisted of working with a former EMI ministry called AIM FATER, which is a ministry creating an institution for training pastors. They are based in Kigali and wanted some new master plan ideas and some possible future land surveyed. We were able to give them some sketches and GPS points for the new land.

It was definitely great to be able to help them out, if only a little bit.

Our first group picture, which I still think is hilarious even though it's blurry. The epitome of our bus rides throughout Rwanda.

Sipi Falls

Welcome to Sipi Falls!

This past weekend we had our intern weekend away to Sipi Falls. So we set forth from the EMI compound around 9:30am and arrived at our destination, Sipi River Lodge around 7:30pm. The distance between Sipi Falls and Kampala is only around 300km, yet when you include sitting in a bus park in Kampala for 3 hours, a 4 1/2 hour drive to Mbale on a bus, another 30 minutes tracking down the driver we arranged to have waiting for us and another hour to the lodge, then you get to our 9 hour trek to Sipi! But it was definitely well worth it! We happened to stay at a very nice lodge, since our previously cheap (aka 5 dollar a night) hostel was sold out for the weekend! So we stayed at a wonderful place for around $30 a night (sooo expensive by Ugandan standards). This included a four course dinner and a very extensive breakfast spread as well. We were able to have a very relaxing (well, slightly relaxing) weekend. The interns (aka TJ, Danny, David, Kyle, Travis, Peter, & I since Jack & Jang Won were not able to make it) started off Saturday morning on a four hour hike to see the three famous Sipi waterfalls. So, let's just say that the hike was definitely not the most relaxing way to spend the day (especially the hike to the last waterfall, which I think we all definitely felt), but it was so great to be able to spend the day in outside in the beautiful scenery. A couple of us also were able to go on a coffee tour, which was definitely extensive and so much fun!

Below is a LOT of photos from the weekend. Also near the bottom is a step by step off how coffee is made : ) I loved it.

The main living area, where we hung out and had dinner.

This is officially the extent of Sipi River Lodge! One banda has 5 bunks in a dormitory style and the other two have queen size beds in them.

Welcome to my banda! Jill & I, being the only girls, got to have the double banda, which was wonderful! Best bed I've slept in in Africa for sure, including feather pillows & a wonderfully thick comforter!

Jill & I relaxing on our stone frame bed.

The shower! this picture doesn't do it justice, but it was definitely an awesome shower, with pebbles and large rocks in the basin! : )

Jill & I outside the bandas, with a wonderful waterfall in the background! : ) definitely fell asleep listening to that!

The waterfall was literally in the backyard of the resort!

Up close and personal with the first waterfall on our hike! (this is the one you can see from our lodge).

This was a common site seen throughout the Sipi region, the drying of coffee beans.

Just some interesting photos throughout the day...

The second waterfall of the day!

enough said...

This is as we continue on our journey to the other waterfall (if you look closely you can see the other two waterfalls in the distance)

I have to show the photo of the valley that we hike down to to get to the bottom of the last waterfall....here it is!

The descent begins...

The start down the ladder, just one way we were hiking down to the bottom of this valley : )

The entrance to the bat caves, which we weren't able to see because none of us had lights! So sad!

AND....ta da the final waterfall! This is the one where you can abseil down from, which I had plan on doing, but when I got back up to the top, all I could think about was having to walk back up that hill again! Maybe when I come again...in about 3-5 years : )

group photo!

Now....

....on to the coffee tour experience.

We started off on our coffee tour experience easily enough...just walking to the location that our guide was bringing us. And then we got there...a random home where a lady was washing dishes and we were told to wait as they weren't quite ready yet. We looked around at what appeared to be a personal home and definitely not a coffee plantation. Then we waited...

These children followed us to our destination and meanwhile we had a little photo session.

so adorable...

and we continued to wait for about 30-45 minutes. Right when we were thinking it wasn't really happening, they came and began the coffee tour, which turned out a lot more exhaustive than what we first imagined : )

It started off with picking our own coffee saplings...

...which we proceeded to plant and were told that when we come back in 3-5 years we will have our own coffee plant, which we can get our own coffee berries from...

After we finished planting our coffee plants, we went to another more mature plant and picked coffee berries.

Which we collected...

and put through a "pulper" I believe, which removes the berry (which they will use for composting) and leaves the coffee beans.

These are then washed and laid out to dry for a couple of days...

Then you pound them to remove the shell...

...sift them...

...and then you have the actual coffee bean which you then...

...proceed to roast.

AH! : ) Our own roasted beans....smells soooo good!

We then grounded some. Our guide placed the grounds directly in the coffee cups and poured hot water over it. Once you let them brew for a little bit, the grounds sink to the bottom.

And you enjoy! : )

Amigo's International: Kira Farm Training Centre Opening....

On Saturday a group of us got the privilege to see a former EMI project's grand opening. Amigo's International Kira Farm Training Centre is near Gayaza. The Kira Farm Training Centre has a training facility to give the children a skill before they are sent out into the community and the site also incorporates agriculture to be able to feed the children' who are housed there. The ceremony was pretty much all afternoon with multiple speakers and performances throughout the afternoon.

Ugandan women in their traditional gomaz.

An insane performance of dancers! I could not move like that for that long!

Also Joss Stone somehow got involved with Amigos and officially opened the Kira Farm Training Centre. She also sang two verses for the people.

Great photo...

This is Esther who wanted a photo taken with us! We said we were just as much a celebrity as Joss Stone was. : )

Eritrean (Ethiopian-like) Coffee Ceremony

One of my roommates, Laura, has a friend, Mabrite, who is Eritrean. She invited us over for a Ertriean Coffee Ceremony. Eritrea is located near the horn of Africa on the Red Sea. Eritrea is between Ethiopia and the Red Sea, and some of the traditions are similar including the coffee ceremony for any who have undergone an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony.

haha, I included this because i just look so bad! haha on the way to Mabrite's.

Mabrite roasting the coffee beans.

Basically she grinds the beans and pours the beans and hot water into the coffee kettle above and places it on the fire as well. Then it continues to boil and once it overflows you know it is ready. It is like an espresso and they put a lot of sugar in it, but it was very good.

Here is all of us (minus Laura taking the picture) with Mabrite and her housemates.

Roommate picture of Jen & I. Next to Christine's shop with the awesome canopy tree!

Friday Craft Market

So some posts on regular Kampala living...

Friday Craft Market is a market at Mukwano Roundabout here near city centre Kampala. We girls here favor this market because it is cheaper and you can bargain with them better then at the tourist craft market in the city. Lots of great gifts (definitely where all of my Christmas gifts are coming from)!

Boda!