Home Sweet Home...

On Saturday we moved into our house in Lugazi. It is brand new! But by American standards that isn't saying much, haha. The toilet has already broken at least three times, on one occasion spraying a fountain of water up into my face that soaked my from head to toe! (We do have real toilets--minus the seats, apparently that is an unnecessary luxary in Africa-- and showers with running water... that is when the water is turned on. The water has been shut off for the past three days and we didn't have a reserve tank yet since the house is brand new, so no showers or flushing toilets... problematic! As a consequence, Ashley and I had a brave adventure pooping in buckets... what a treat! The water did finally turn back on this morning though and I was finally able to take a shower! Haleluia! Mom, thanks so much for those shower wipes! I've already used half the pack since we get so muddy doing our projects.) Back to the house... Dad, you would have a fit if you saw the work the construction men are doing. They work fast and get the job done, but it is not high quality by any means. The kitchen cabinets are all crooked and half of their glass paneled doors are already cracked. The curtain rod fell out of the wall on the first day when we tried to hang the curtains up. The sink leaks... but the humbling thing is that this house is luxurious compared to most of the houses in Lugazi. I have to keep reminding myself how blessed I am to have all that I do.
We spent the day on Saturday cleaning the house out, stacking the bunk beds and getting everything moved in. The house has three small rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and dining room, and a garage. My room is the garage, haha. Besides the metal garage doors and lack of windows it is identical to the other rooms. Other than the tile floors in the kitchen, the whole house is made of concrete, and it's a good thing too, because it gets dirty quick with all the dirt roads and rain. I share the garage with six other girls and we are all like princesses sleeping under our canopy beds (aka mosquito nets). I have gotten quite used to them now though and don't even notice it. The circus outside is another story though... The house has no insulation so you can hear EVERYTHING that is going on inside and outside. The grasshoppers have a little concert from 11:00pm-4:00am, then Morris, our gaurd, has a dance party with his radio on the front porch, next comes the roosters at 5:00am making sure everyone knows the sun's about to come up, and the cows and goats like to join in with the roosters too... Oh the sounds of Uganda.
Our house is in a perfect location though. It is only a five minute walk into "down-town" Lugazi and our surrounding neighbors seem very friendly--their kids do at least. I feel like the Mzungu parade everytime we walk down the street. The run after us, grab our hands, and yell "Bye Mzungu! Bye Mzungu!" They are so cute! But I'm going to have to find a way to make them keep their distance just a tiny bit.