School

It has officially started! I feel like I just got out for the summer. That's alright though. I have almost finished my first week. This is my third year of teaching. I have taught 1st grade each year. I enjoy it. I always forget how little they are though when they come in. It's amazing how much these kids grow through the year.

I have a big class this year! I am starting off with 28 kids. Usually I start off with around 24 kids and then end the year with 27 or 28. So... we shall see how many I actually end up with. That is a ton of 6 year olds but they make me laugh and I love em. I just come home exhausted. But Mason has learned my quirks and how to suffice the crabby beast.

In about two weeks I am going to start teaching an after school ballroom dance class for the 4th graders. It's just an introduction to ballroom dance class but I am excited to be dancing again. I have never taught dance before, only done it - and I have never really worked with that age before. But it still will be fun!

Last Africa Posts

So this blog will be about the 'non' service side of my trip. We worked during the work days and then on the weekends we got to play.

One night we went to this nicer restaurant and they had goat... so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it. Needless to say the next day as we were passing the little guys on the side of the road I had a hard time looking them in the eye... I guess there isn't much difference between a cow and a goat... right? It was actually delicious! One of the other girls ordered some type of fish... needless to say - a delicacy in Uganda is to suck out the eyeballs. She did.

This is me standing at the Nile.

This is the typical 'missionary pointing on map' pose.


This was the closest I was to Mason the whole trip.


So one morning there was this random Hippo walking down the road. Of course we followed it. This was, of course, before we learned from one of the military men that hippos are the number one killing animal of people in Africa. Probably because of stupid tourists like me. But hey! I got the picture didn't I?!?


These are some pictures from our safari. It was absolutely amazing to see these animals in their natural habitat.



I loved it. Like I said before this was a life changing experience for me. It made me appreciate the things I have in my life more than I can even begin to explain. These people were so happy with so little and yet I often find myself complaining about my life when I have so much.

Here are a couple of videos that you can watch if you would like. This first one is of a boy who told me his name was Michael Jackson. I asked him if he knew who that was and he started dancing with them. Towards the end of the video the kids are climbing in the van so I am trying to get them out. Only a few of these kids spoke English.

These girls wanted to send Mason a message after they saw his picture. It is basically impossible to understand what they are saying because they would get so silly whenever the camera came on and all talk at the same time. I couldn't seem to get them to understand that I couldn't understand what they were saying. They were hilarious.

Often when we would go to the schools the kids would prepare a song for us. This was the last school we went to the day before we left. It was the perfect ending. It made me cry. Listen to the harmonies. Aren't they beautiful?

Africa II

There was a dentist who came with us. He had a whole dental clinic set up that we worked in the days that we weren't working in the schools. I got to do the whole dental assistant thing which I am COMPLETELY unqualified to do. I held down the patients, (because they didn't have chairs - of course) I handed tools, assisted pulling teeth, held in a filling... needless to say if I ever get tired of teaching I certainly have a backup career now. The thing is, is that I am quite the queasy type. I usually can't handle any type of blood or needles... but I had to overcome that very quickly as numbing needles came out. Indeed I did have a tooth fall on me - twice. Now who can say they have had that happen?? It was quite a learning experience for me. I really came to appreciate 1)my career, 2)our wonderful dentists who have patience and kindness, and 3) being raised having healthy teeth. I have never seen so many rotten teeth on young children or adults before.





Here I am holding a filling...
Bizarre - I know.













When the dentist was working on someone else we would entertain the kids and sometimes adults because they would become so nervous as the sounds of a dentist office would arise. Crazy huh!!

Another day we went to an orphanage to paint. I tried to take a before and after picture. We came in and painted while the orphans were at school. We didn't get to see their reactions but the owner was so excited. At one point I was painting a window frame and I was singing a song because thats what I do when I am working. Anyway so I was alone in the room singing to myself and I look out the window which is set on a small hill and see a little group of children watching me. They all started laughing but I kept going. They didn't speak English so we couldn't communicate, but I would sing and then point to them and they would try to repeat... I loved it.















BEFORE DURING
















AFTER - look he's holding a toothbrush!!

THE OWNER

Still more to come!!

Africa

So I have returned from my adventures around the world. I had such a wonderful time I wonder how I can even begin to capture my feelings. It was such a wonderful experience for me. It is something that I believe that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I was so blessed to meet the people I did and to do the things I did. I suppose I will just post some pictures and then tell stories about what I was able to do. These pictures and stories might come progressively as I am getting ready for school to start and feel quite busy...

We arrived on Saturday morning after traveling for over 48 hours. The next day we went to church. These were some boys that were walking home after the services. I loved seeing how even in a country where circumstances are less than favorable the church still exists and I was able to have a common ground - the gospel - with these members. This picture just touched my heart. I loved it. (You will probably hear me saying I love it quite a lot - because basically everything I did I loved.)

This is how the mom's carry their babies. Brilliant!

This is Olivia. Olivia has been an orphan since she was a baby. She wanted me to have this necklace she made so that I would "never forget her." I wore the necklace the whole trip. She was such a sweet girl. The above pictures are other children at this particular orphanage.

There must be a place in heaven for children like these.

So we spent a lot of time in the schools. We taught dental hygiene, nutrition, and set up hand washing stations in the schools and then just played. We went to about 40 schools total. Some were in the capital of Uganda - Kampala and others were out in the villages.

More to come later!! I'm still trying to upload all my pictures and figure this blog thing out.

Getting Ready To Go...

So here I am, the day before I leave to go to Uganda. I am so excited! I am so excited because this is one of those things that I have dreamed of since I was a little girl. I can't believe that I am actually going tomorrow. For some reason I think that I have these big dreams, but here I am actually getting the chance to live one of those dreams. My heart is full of appreciation to everyone who has helped me and for the support that I have received. My only regret is that I wish that my husband were able to come with me to create these memories. I hate the fact that I am going to be on the other side of the world than him for a whole month. I come back July 21st. The thing is, is that I had decided to go to Africa before I even met Mason... it just got postponed... I was suppose to go last summer but we ended up getting married instead. So now I am going this summer before we start a little family. It's going to be an adventure!

This is me and my backpack full of my personal things that I will be taking. I have a couple skirts and shirts packed in there that I will be leaving. This is a brand new camping backpack that I have only used once. Mason bought it for me last year and I think he is nervous I will ruin it... but I suppose this will put it to the ultimate test. Thanks hun, I'll be careful I promise!

These two gray boxes are full of donations that I have been collecting for a while now. I got a lot of donations from the wonderful families in my first grade class. One lady in my old ward made 45 of these hygiene kits for her birthday. It was her 45th birthday so she had her kids make 45 of them for me. Wasn't that sweet?? To the left is my little money belt next to my passport that I have to wear on my person at all times. Everything valuable I have to keep in that. Luckily I'm not taking anything valuable... just my passport. I have a fake wedding ring from our honeymoon in Mexico that I will be wearing.

The organization I will be going with is called Reach the Children. You can read more about their organization at http://www.reachthechildren.org/. We are going to be training teachers how to teach in the orphanges. We will be teaching hygiene, dental hygiene, gardening, and other things. I can't wait. I am a little nervous... I think that I am a little in denial about the fact that I am really going... but here it comes, tomorrow!

One year anniversary

We celebrated our one year anniversary this past weekend. Mason surprised me with a delicious dinner and tickets to go see 'O' a Cirque du Soleil show done over water. It was amazing! Those people have TALENT! It was an extreme circus act. We stayed in the Luxor hotel in one of the King Suites. The lady at the desk upgraded us for free because it was our anniversary.

We didn't win the big bucks, but Mason sure had fun trying. We survived our first year. It's gonna be smooth sailing from here on out... right?! Happy anniversary hun.

We were thinking about trying out...

Hawaii

During spring break we went to Maui to visit some of our friends. This was our first time going to Hawaii. We had such a good time and came home with wonderful tans! We did everything tourists usually do and loved every second of it. It was the perfect relaxing spring break vacation.

We went to a pet shop where they had these darling little pot belly pigs with leis on. When you picked them up they would SQUEAL at the top of their lungs. They were just darling!

We hiked to the top of Haleakala, the dormant volcano in Maui. It was beautiful because as you were driving up it was raining and there was a lot of cloud cover. Once you got to the top it was above the clouds and absolutely amazing. It over looked the island and is probably one of the most beautiful things we have ever seen.