Uganda!!!

Hello form Uganda! wow sounds kinda funky to say that to be honest. being here is most definitely like a dream. thats all i can say right now. to be honest everything seems to perfect. the people are fantastic, the food is good ( only carbs though hmmm) , the weather is fabulous, the scenery is beautiful, the sleep is pretty decent considering, my DTS group is so awesome, oh and I conquered the 'squattie potties' yippie! the only thing that isn't so great is the spiders... oh man. they are about the size of my middle finger. creepy huh?? so glad i have Jesus. i hired some of the guys here to kill them for me. wanna know what else is a bummer? my camera... well it somehow managed to not tag along with me after i got out of the cab from the airport... my bad. butttttt looks as if i MIGHT get it back. fingers crossed. oh, they gave us a plate for all of our meals that we bring to our meals and then eat and wash it and bring it back to our rooms. interesting thing to master. oh yea! i saw a monkey on the base!!!!! that is my highlight to this day. they were giving us a tour on a very fixed schedule and then we saw him and lost interest in anything else he was saying. oh well. the base borders a sugar cane plantation which is pretty awesome except that they told us that the men there are not good. they have raped muzungu women that have walked along the border of the base and plantation at early mornings and late nights. kinda creepy. but now i know where I'm NOT going at that time. but funny thing is that it is the most beautiful place to watch the sunset in the morning. right over lake victoria, so gorgeous!!  so we went there this morning... don't worry a group of us did. but any who i have a lecture that starts in about 7 minutes so i must get there before i get slapped at(clapped) for being late. awesome haha.. i have never used a watch this much in my LIFE weird right? but there is a first for everything right?? well thats a different topic for another day..i mean post...blog?? idk. but its been real.
until next time,
Tess

I'm still here!

why hello there. yea i didn't space the blog i just didn't put it first on my to-do list. whoops. but no worries i am posting right now so its better late than never. but it is currently 1 in the morning here and i am on ym computer ... alone... at one in the morning. normal right? but the internet is crazy slow lately, zoo its essentially my only time to actually get good connection. hmm this week about 40 new people came to holmsted( the place I'm staying at ) which is insane. and they are all from everyone across the globe from new zealand, ice land, italy, france,colorado, holland, wales,ireland,scotland, argentina,egypt,colorado. but if you didn't catch the little Colorado piece, there are 3 count it 3 people form Colorado including myself. i mean the deserves some kind of award right? this week after saying "i love kids" i got tied into being a nanny this weeks. i baby at this adorable kid logan for 8!!! hours each days. NBD. i want to take a nap with him every day. oh yea i started at 8 in the morning. and you see I'm up at 1 and getting up at 8 not so fun for me. but i found out that he has a tube in his ear which he can hear out of but whatever he hears is how he speaks so his speech is somewhat off. i love this kid.  but while i was babysitting i decided i would play hide and go seek so he was it and everyone ran off and i decided to hide near the building and i wound up in a patch of stinging nettles... if you don't know what that is. it is a plant that when you brush up against it, it essentially stings you and you get marks and it hurts horribly for about 10 minutes and then its done. yea that wasn't fun. i was found first too. also, today i was in the kitchen for about two hours ( after babysitting) washing and drying dishes and thennnn went into the 'legit' kitchen to make food for our high tea. (delicious!!) it got crazy in there. people were crying left and right and yelling was happening carazyyyyyy.  i have learned the new rules of UNO. now called extreme uno. never will go back to regular uno again. i have stayed up with a group of 3 others playing extreme uno til about 2 in the morning when our tea has officially lost its affect on us. its great. SO yea i leave on saturday for Uganda. wow! i cannot even fathom the idea of this actually being me that is doing this. but i take off at 945pm on saturday and I'm not sure when i arrive on sunday but yes please keep me in your prayers for safe travels. and then DTS ( discipleship training school) starts monday morning, bright and early 6am which is 4am london time which is 9pm denver time. crazy talk. i can do this! one thing i don't think i will be able to master is the "squattie potties" yup pretty much what they sound like. ( slum dog millionaire scene) its gonna be interesting. but i will get the opportunity to tone my thighs! score!!!! but yes i think it is time for me to hit the sack. until next time.
mweraba( goodbye in luganda) oh yea i just googled that don't be impressed :) I'm out.

Riots In London

Hello,
Many of you have probably heard of all the chaos in London with the riots and all that. in the past few days there have been 525 arrested in the past few days, 310 made last night. It is crazy. But do not fear I AM SAFE. there are 16,000 police officers on the streets of London, to prevent further destruction.  Looting,arson, and violence are the main things that are happening.  Stores along the streets we walked on were boarding up they windows and locking up early in anticipation of the riots to come. I just though i would bring light to the current situation around me. I am safe though as long as I stay indoors. ( no worries on that one!) I love you all!

Best Day :)

So yesterday was one of the best days I have had here. I went on a walk with my friend Lucy,Bastiaan,and Chelsea.  This walk was only supposed to be a quick walk to the reservoir for some cool pictures... but no. The walked lasted 7 hours!!! Mainly because we got lost I would say about 3 times and each time we were a mile of course, not the best but I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be with! SOme stories throughout the day were ... we crashed a wedding...accidentally and I am being told to say that it wasn't a 'we" thing it was a 'me' thing. (not my fault I'm loud when i go near a church :) ) We told stories in a forest ( which I'm pretty sure was private) , we screamed/sang grease songs while walking down the highway!, we got poured on, we went into a pub only to be told supper wasn't being served until 630 and it was 415, the one place we found to eat at wasn't open.  So we found a playground and played there for a while which was a bunch of fun :) , we went into a store so i could get chocolate ( majorly craving this) and had some funny encounters while in there. I have noticed when in public I don't like speaking without a British accent, sooo my few words that actually sound good , i use frequently :) , We got yelled at by the guys in a car for walking in the street ( party poopers) ,we walked through TONS of crop circles!! kinda fun but kinda weird. we took the different paths and then walked around them ( this was all when we were lost). We finally found our way back after we ate. But it was now 10 pm! such a long day. We got home and then proceeded to put pictures on Facebook which took forever and a day since the internet is horribly slow. and then went to bed.
       Today, all i did today,no joke, was get up, shower, watch movies w/ becca , eat lunch , and check emails. woo sooo productive. i loved it. and later tonight i am getting my eyebrows threaded by Dina who is a worship intern from Egypt. I don't have to pay london prices can't wait ( i think). and then tomorrow I am taking a train to london to see my friend Rhian at her flat and spend a couple days with her and then enjoy holmstead for a while more.  Well that is all for now. orrr ta ta for now!

ps. the picture attached was a tombstone near the church, i though it was magnificent. so i thought i would share it with you :)

Muli Mutya

My title is 'hello" in luganda. Luganda is the common language in Uganda and i am trying to learn the language...slowly....but I'm getting there. Hmm today It has been raining non stop and I am in love. We have internet access only in the "coach house" which is a building right off the main house. But it is so lovely and lush out ( some of my british slang I've picked up).  Today is the second to last day of orientation and the second to last day that all of the british people will be here before they say their goodbyes to their families. The house will seem so empty! I preached at our "church service" yesterday which was interesting considering i HATE public speaking! and then we did all of these trust exercises blindfolded! it was so fun.  Tonight was supposed to be our bonfire but considering the rain i think we are doing the "bonfire" in the "leather room" which should be interesting. I am about to go back to my dorm to make some bracelets with becca and katie! ha fun raun activities right? I'll keep in touch. oh yea this picture is from the lou..bathroom. it is stunning :)