Anabuti 1

This is the school I am staying at called Anabuti 1. This is a boarding school for wealthier families, and one of the most beautiful campuses I have seen. They have incredible facilities with grades from 6-12. The boys and girls are separated for everything and they are forbidden from having boy friends or girl friends. The students are not allowed to have cell phones, watch TV, eat any junk food and they have a curfew of 9. With these conditions, I too would be a much better student. They all wake up at 530 for yoga and exercises, eat breakfast and head to class from 8-4. All their meals are made by the school and the students cannot have any food from the outside. After class is over they have an hour writing time that is recquired, then an hour study hall. Still after this, the students are up very late studying. The school recquires "hobby classes" like the arts, and organized sports. All of the students are extremely disciplined and polite. 

This is the dining hall- we all sit on the ground to eat meals

This is our attempt at slow cyclng

Getting There

Traveling always makes for some pretty great stories, but getting here was just the absolute weirdest situation. From Delhi we took a 14hr train ride to Jalgoan where the school is. Around the time the train was to arrive we all grabbed our things and moved towards the door. Well turns out, we were still an hour from our stop and once we got up from our spots, other people took them over... So we stood on a moving rickety train for an hour. If that wasn't bad already, we were standing right next to the squattey potty which in the 14 hours the train had been moving managed to acquire literal shit all over the floor. Needless to say, we were sick in more ways than one. 

When we arrived at the station, a man came to us and said "I am from Anabuti school, there are 5 of you, we go" and proceeded to lead us to the van. We rode for an hour until he dropped us off at the school. Some men took us to our room and then waved goodbye. After sitting in our rooms for an hour, a man came and said breakfast was ready and took us to the dining hall. We ate and then managed to find out own way back to the room. After sitting for 3 hours, still no one had come to talk to us. At this point it was getting a little strange, so we called a student that came on the trip last year. After talking with her, we discovered that we were not even in the right area. The people at this place had absolutely no idea who we were, but had heard of the school. Upon calling the school, we find out that they also didn't know we were coming. I am not sure what the heck miscommunication happened but eventually someone came to take us to the correct place. I think they were under the impression that we were coming a different time maybe. The language barrier is larger than the gran canyon which made it all the more difficult to relay the situation. But, as always, it all worked out :) 

 

Ohhhhhh India

Ahh there is nothing better than a nice breath of fresh smog. Some general notes about India: it's very polluted, there are many people, many things smell like fecal matter...which is probably exactly what it is most of the time, there is trash everywhere, public transportation is not ideal, but not as bad as I was expecting, the way they nod their heads make them look like bobble heads, the language barrier is bigger than the gran canyon, and the food is spiiiiiiicy. General note about myself, my insides are constantly on fire!!! 

India? Don't mind if I do

The excitement hasn't quite kicked in... I'm more stuck in the surrealness of it, but tomorrow I will be traveling with 12 other Augustana students to India! We will be volunteering at one of the slum schools for 3 weeks and on the fourth week we will have the opportunity to see the sights. That will, of course, consist of seeing the Taj Mahal. It just hasn't quite hit me that tomorrow I will be in a new country seeing yet more wonders of the world that God has created! 

Other than this incredible trip, let me catch you all up on my life as of now...

I have decided on a major and knowing me, I can imagine that all of you will say that it's very fitting. I am doing an interdepartmental major or rather, a "build your own". You choose 3 different departments and pick and choose 4 classes from each to create the best fitting major; so I have chosen education, religion, and international studies. With this I am hoping to follow wherever God calls me into mission work and whatever other unimaginable things He's got in store :) 

I am really enjoying being an RA in the dorms! My floor is awesome and the job has made for some great stories thus far . As of now I am hoping to continue with this job next year as well. I am also teaching swimming lessons on campus and work as a student ambassador giving tours of campus through the admissions office. 

Also this year I have been trying to get more involved with my faith, to find more community. So at school I have joined campus outreach which goes to surrounding churches in Sioux Falls and leads youth lockins, and I have joined a bible study at my church- both of which I love! I have struggled with finding friendships and relationships with other students strong in their faith, but I'm  finding that it is true for all ages. I think we tend to shy away from bringing up faith in conversation, especially with our friends, but the friendships where that's possible make them all the more cherished. I've had a hard time finding someone whose striving to be as open about it as I am, but slowly I've been plugged into some pretty incredible relationships :) 

And no, to all of you wondering, I do not have a boyfriend! Not many guys I've met are super thrilled with the idea of living abroad as a missionary...kind of a deal breaker for myself. Haha 

That's all I got for now, I can't think of anything else riveting in my life to tell! I'll be posting soon, from the wonders of India!

The Penthouse Dream

Today is official move-in day at Augie! For those of you who don't already know, this year I am an RA for the sophomore dorms. I've actually been here for two weeks for training and preparing the buildings with bulletin boards and door decorations. We have done more bonding than seems necessary, but I can safely say I know my coworkers on a very personal level. So far I am really enjoying it, but i'll let you know how I feel when I start having to be the "bad cop". I lucked out with the penthouse suite...or rather the top floor of the building. I thought this was awesome, and don't get me wrong, I do love being on the top, and I have an incredible view, but when we had some flash flooding a couple days ago, top floor was not too kind to me. Let's just say this building has some real rustic charm :)

Another tid bit of info, I have decided to change my major. I am not sure what it is going to be... we call that "exploring" here... but I'm not too worried. The big man upstairs knows the plan, so I feel pretty confident that it's going to be okay :) As for this semester, I am checking out my options with some sociology classes. I have also recently had the thought of working for an adoption organization abroad, or maybe helping families with the travel process, I don't exactly know what that looks like or anything, but keep it in your prayers...God knows I need them :) until next time!

BodaBoda

We stayed some nights in Kampala and explored the unknown parts of the city. The first night we stayed in a hostel and ended up getting bed bugs...not ideal! Although, silver lining- at least it wasn't lice! So the next couple nights we decided to upgrade to a nicer hotel. One of the days we took a bodaboda (motorbike) tour around the city. They took us to each of the main 7 hills that make up the city. 

We went to the Gadafi Mosque, Bahai Temple, Eidi Amin torcher chamber, and they showed us a place called "organized chaos" 

And this is only half of it.... 

This is all the taxi's lined up ready to go to anywhere and everywhere... And it truly lives up to its name, but I would maybe go a little heavier on the chaos!

Tracking the scat

To finish off our grand adventure, we went on safari! We lucked out with an incredible van full of people from the UK and Australia that made it all that much more enjoyable! We were able to get super close to the animals for pictures and what not, but the other vans scared away the lions, so unfortunately we did not get to see any of them. 

And in our camp we had baboons, warthogs, and hippos! Made for quite an interesting time :)