Adjustments

Well, it’s Thursday and I’ve had three classes so far. Faith in Action – which really focuses on how we live in a cross-cultural setting and being consciously aware of our interactions with others, because it’s not only what they do that seems strange to us, but everything we do seems strange to them; Cross-cultural ministry practicum – we should find out our sites tomorrow, First choice was a children’s home/school for the blind where they have a big agricultural program (YAY!), second choice was working with street kids in Kampala, and third was another school for visually impaired children. We also have to do a presentation on a local aid organization and my new friend Emmy and I are going to look into some programs that focus on sustainable agriculture since her house mom has been involved in that for quite some time. (Side-note: Everything is green here! Everything grows, there are crazy trees and flowers and it makes me very happy.) This morning was my first class on “East African Politics since Independence” – I’m really excited for this class, taught by my only Ugandan lecturer, because as he said this morning ‘politics effects every area of life.’ In America, politics exists while the majority of the population tries to ignore it, it works like a machine that gently hums in the background and we have no idea how important it actually is until it stops working (I am not exempt from this statement). Here, though, like everything else, politics sometimes sputters, power shifts, sometimes the machine needs a good kick or a lit match to get going and other times it fails without reason. I’m really excited to get a view on African politics, from an African, in Africa.

Students have also started arriving as general classes begin on Monday. I still don’t have a roommate, but others have come in. It’s nice to meet them and I’m really looking forward to getting to know and living with Ugandan students. Those I’ve met so far have been wonderful, maybe not as much the first year girls who said my friend and I looked like hooligans and dumb because we have piercings (so far, everyone else has assured us this is not the case, and another Ugandan friend even told us those girls were “fakeness”). I do, however, feel a little scandalous today because my skirt is really short, it doesn’t cover my knees entirely.

There’s this part of me that feels like retreating. Just the newness of everything is tiring and overwhelming, and I know that will change, but at the moment it feels like too much. Then, we talk about being “intentional” in building relationships. Which I totally believe in, it’s going to take some effort on my part. But when I’m exhausted as it is, it can be really difficult to try and make new relationships instead of rely on solitude. God has been calling me to trust in Him, that He will take care of me through the good times and through the times that have been and will be hard. He keeps reminding me that even though so much feels uncertain right now, everything will work out according to His plan in the end. I want to trust that, I want to believe it, but honestly I’m having a really difficult time doing so. I have to admit, that there’s a really big part of me that is attributing man’s actions to God’s nature. I know this is not correct, but I can’t help but feel sometimes that God has done certain things instead of recognizing that people did them. I feel as if I have been burned by God himself, and am having a hard time trusting that His plan is better than mine. 

Tomorrow, we will be getting a mini retreat – going to a hotel with a pool for the day. It is much needed, the past week has held a months worth (or more) of sensory information, and time away, not moving, traveling, reading, figuring out the town, will be really nice. I’m excited for what lies ahead. I’m excited to get into the swing of things and get used to this way of life. Every now and then, as I walk to/from the library, my dorm, or class it hits me that I’m really attending school here. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s challenging, but it is and will be good J