still raining IN AFRICA

i'm pretty sure the rainy season was supposed to be over as of 6 days ago, but it doesn't seem to be letting up. today trent, corbin, and i were going to visit some primary schools in lugazi to scope out some new locations for stoves. we try to target schools because they benefit the most people. anyway, right before we were about to leave it starting pouring rain. corbin refused to go out in the rain, but i didn't really want to be in the house, so trent and i braved the storm. we must have looked like completely clueless mzungus. everyone was staring at us as they stood under shelter and remained dry. many of them were laughing. kind of embarassing. okay, really embarassing. i hate to stay in the house though. and we located a school that is an ideal place to build a stove. we probably could have just waited for an hour and then walked there, but i saw it as an opportunity to don my extremely fashionable REI rain jacket.

anyway, the past week and a half has been really busy and really fun. we started and finished a stove for this adorable, hard-working woman in namengo. that was a highlight. also, we (me, heid, ashley, and natalie) taught our first english class to a women's group. we used this storytelling method. we may have looked ridiculous, but i think it went over pretty well. the women were really smart and catching on very quickly. also, last week was my birthday so trent bought a cake from the broadway bakery that he and i volunteer at once a week. lydia, the girl that we are helping with the accounting there, calls me amby, because amber is really difficult for people here to see. i usually get amba, and there's an occasional ambo, but amby has been the greatest rendition of my name that i've heard thus far. anyway, she took one of the cakes that had happy birthday written in frosting and wrote amby underneath. it was hilarious.

on saturday we went to the uganda vs. niger world cup qualifier match in nampoole which is near the capital, kampala. it was really fun. quite honestly, neither team seemed to be extremely talented, but it was still really fun to watch. and before the game started these guys that had almost their entire bodies painted were painting peoples faces. most of us got a red, yellow, and black stripe on our cheek, but this guy also wrote juba on my forehead in bright blue. i thought juba was one of the star players for the cranes, but later i found out that its a city in southern sudan. supposedly you can get good opium there and there's a song about it. so yeah, i guess i walking supporter of a major drug city. great.

this tuesday was martyr's day so we traveled to namengogo (sp?) for the festival. i didn't really understand anything that was going on, but there were hundreds and hundreds of people, and we saw a really cool catholic church. but the best part of the day was this guy who was selling small pineapples on the side of the road for 300 shillings (18 cents). he cut off the outside and then sliced an x through the middle, if that makes sense. then we were able to eat it like corn on the cob. greatest idea anyone has had here yet. plus, not one canker sore. it was most definitely a success. after the festival we went into kampala. that was the first time i have been to the capital. it seemed pretty clean, but there was still no clean toilet anywhere in sight. i'll keep searching,
amber