Yesterday was one of the most intense days I have had in a very long time. It was an incredible mix of great joys and deep frustration and sadness.
The best thing to happen was the arrival of the foreknown package from the Buckley family in Ireland. It included a bunch of wonderful things, all of which I was in need of... randomly enough. And of course, it included chocolate, real chocolate. And tangfastics, my favorite candy ever. I had some of the chocolate last night, as I tried to process the incredibly large amount of things pounding through my brain.
I realized I hadn’t eaten chocolate in 2 months. How am I alive? (I think the women reading this understand what I mean by that sentiment!)
As intense as yesterday was, I see something different. The stress was enormous, but it didn’t get to me as much as it may have in other times in my life. This is encouraging. Stress has been something which has caused me a lot of trouble. But yesterday I just said “I can’t control these situations, I will do what I can and I will pray. But there is nothing more that I can do.”
One of the great moments was checking the paypal account yesterday. Thank you SO much to those who have responded to the request of assistance from the storm! We are still a ways away from the goal, but I was really encouraged and excited to see some responses. Thank you for your generosity.
In other, totally unrelated news, we are now totally transcontinental! This blog has FINALLY been successfully read in South America, meaning that it is being read/has been viewed on all the continents except Antarctica. Ok, I am a bit of a continent nerd, so this makes me really excited.
Also in other news, I am going to Kampala this weekend. I need to get a bunch of things, pick up a package, and get away from work for a little while. It also is a 3 days chance to see what is wrong with my body and how I can fix it. I might go to immigration on Monday in Kampala, there are some tricky situations here in Mbarara with immigration these days. It’ll be really good to see some dear dear friends. J The network keeps expanding. It brings me great joy!
Physically I am still struggling, with no answers. I am a bit concerned because I am really feeling bad this week, in a similar way that I felt when I ended up in the hospital. I hope I don’t have the same infection again! That would make Kampala a non option.
This week is a bit less intense for the school. We are doing a course called “Course John”. It’s a bit different from anything we’ve done so far, and it has a lot of “dynamics”… skits, experiential stuff. It’s sort of fun. It mixes up the classroom setting a bit which is good.
We have now set things up so that the students are taking on more responsibility and leadership. The staff is breaking a sigh of relief, and also laughing. The students are defiantly learning to do a lot of things, and it can be very amusing at times. Our staff meetings generally find us all laughing pretty hard! It’s beautiful to see the students growing and learning.
Some of the students are suffering from malaria. A constant reality in Africa! A few of them don’t have mosquito nets, so I’ve gone on a mission to get them for them. I think the community has some extras around, if they don’t I will probably buy a few and lend them for the rest of the school. Malaria really knocks people out, one of my “daughters” had it two weeks ago and was in bed for over 4 days!
I will fill you all in on Kampala and how that goes! I can’t wait to get a camera… soon enough I hope!
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