The meals we ate the last few days have been phenomenal. I'm about halfway through my time here, and the main thing I miss from home (other than my family) is the food. The food really isn't that bad here because I'll eat almost anything, but we have the same things over and over, and that's what gets old. So yeah, the food was great.
Wednesday morning at 5 we woke up (well, it was the 4th time I woke up ... long story) to get to the Nile on time to catch t he ferry. We got to watch the sunrise over the most beautiful African landscape. God's power and majesty were so obvious the last few days . wow .. If you ever get to go on a safari, don't even hesitate - GO! So, we went on the safari and saw so many animals! I didn't take very many pictures because 2 girls on the trip with me had really nice cameras, so they are just going to let me load them on my computer. I can post some later when I get them. My favorite were the Jackson heartbeasts and the GIRAFFES!! The giraffes are by far my favorite animal now. We even got to see some baby giraffes!! ahh! so, so cute! The heartbeasts were just so cool looking. I can't wait for y'all to see a picture of them. They don't have any zebras in that park, which is disappointing, but we saw enough giraffes to make up for it. Seeing a lion is really rare, but we got to see a female lion for a few seconds, which was so cool. It almost sent a wave of fear in me because she looked vicious! I wasn't really expecting that. We also got to see 3 leopards! They hide in the trees, so most people never get to see them. Our tour guide had a really good eye for them, which was so cool! After our first safari was over, we headed back to the other side of the Nile where we ate a delicious lunch, and then went on a boat tour of the Nile. There were a lot of baboons waiting at the fairy that were sooo funny! One (with a little baby on his tummy) ran into a car, grabbed someone's box lunch and ran out to eat it. It was so hysterical! I have some videos of them doing some really odd things, which I can post later. We saw sooo many hippos and crocodiles. We even got really close to the waterfalls that we saw the day before. It was so beautiful!
After the boat tour we went back on a safari in search of more elephants (we only saw 1 sleeping elephant on the firs tone) and another lion. We didn't see another lion, but we saw lots of elephants!! We saw one adolescent male elephant that was a little ways away from the rest of his family. We startled him, and he didn't know what to do, so he turned, faced us (keep in mind that he is like 10 feet from us), fluffed his ears out, and I thought I was about to die... literally. I just knew he was going to charge us, but instead he just off and then stopped again, looked at us, and trumpeted. One of the girls got it on video. I almost died when we saw it because one of the girls yelled, "STOOOOOP!" So, Sempala did..very fast .. and I almost flew over the top of the car. (sorry mom!) I was scared for my life multiple times because Sempala is a crazy driver, but it was so worth it. I feel like we saw more animals in general because no one else was out on the land. We sat on top of the car the whole time, and all the sudden the heavens opened up, and it POURED! It didn't last long, but the storm brewing was sooo amazing! My friend Melissa got a really cool picture of a giraffe with the storm in the background. I'll probably end up framing it.
We sadly had to come back this afternoon. One the way home we stopped for a snack, and we were BOMBARDED by people selling us stuff and asking to marry us. haha. We ate pineapple with our heads out of the window because it was so juicy. It was still so, very, very messy. We also got more goat on a stick, which was wow, so, so good. I'm sad I just now discovered it. It's really not like me to really like something like that, but it is just so dang good. The other girls in the car tried to gross me out by telling me that it was the pieces of meat that they couldn't sell. It didn't work. If it's good, I'll eat it.
I finally got a shower today too. It was pretty cold there in the morning and at night, so we did not shower. It was much needed, especially because I had pineapple juice all over my upper body.
Sorry for this one not being very exciting. The safari was incredible beyond words, so I'm not even sure what to tell you. Hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves.
We're headed back to the village tomorrow to build the walls to the squatty. It's the same village where we will spend all next week building a home for some goats.
So on the safari, I was in awe of God for so many reasons. I was talking to a girl here about it, and I was like I was just speechless of how incredible God is, and she said, "And to think that this is what God thinks about us." It really caught me off guard, and it's still kind of sinking in. I'm really not that cool. That's what I keep wanting to tell the little kids that think we are just the best thing that ever happened to them. Yet, God loves me unconditionally and is so proud of me...weird.
Well off to do some bonding. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can.
Be praying for the team .. that nasty virus is spreading like wildfire, but thankfully no one has gotten as sick as I was.
Fun Facts:
-When Ugandans want a snack on a roadtrip, they stop for bananas, goat meat on a sick (yummm!), grilled plantains, and pineapple. Americans stop for McDonalds. Reason 402 Americans are overweight.
- Sometimes instead of saying "yes," they just nod their head with no smile or anything. It would be so rude in America. It actually still throws me for a loop. I have to just remember where I am.
PRAISE THE LORD!
-Auntie Brooke
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