Good to the last drop!

Let me tell you about my exciting adventures this weekend!

I know that many of you are excited to hear about the time I spent in Kampala at the national dance competition. It was sweet. We didn't get to see the whole program, but we did see a variety of different schools perform different catagories of selections. My favorite was the traditional dance. Let me tell you those girls can shake their hips!! A little funny part about my weekend was that it started early on Friday. Kiersten came home with me at about three to hang out with my family as they love her. She stayed to night and we did many fun things like clean our shoes, iron clothes, make juice, and cut pineapple. All the time cracking jokes with Stella. We are really getting close and she is already talking about how she is running away in December so as not to have to deal with me leaving! Shannon came home at about 10 with some girls from a missionary dinner. All five of us slept in the three beds in our room. It was fun.
Here is where the Ugandan view of time sets in. In the morning, we were to meet at eight to go the competition. I had talked Judith into coming. So at 7:45 when we to leave she still wasn't ready. I told the girls to go ahead, and Kiersten and I waited for Judith. We didn't end up leaving until about 9:00. Judith, Stella, and mama kept telling us that we were very patient girls and they really admired that. So once getting to Kampala, we had to catch a couple different taxi vans which required a little walking to the park. At one point we had about 15 little street children surrounding us asking for money until some very large kind man yelled something mean and they all ran away. (After hearing this story Papa Julius taught me Nvaka. It means go away and leave me alone.) When we entered taxi park I was overwhelmed. It is larger than a football field with taxi vans parked every two inches. What you do is wander around with people shouting at you trying to sell things until you find a van going to where you want to be going. When you do, you get on and wait for it to fill up. Interesting experience. Upon entering the park Judith told us to hold tight to our purses in front of our bodies. She is a very street smart sister!

Here comes the most exciting part of the weekend. We were walking from the dance competition to eat some supper. The road was a normal paved two lane road and was sloped downward. We were walking on the left side, as in Uganda you always walk with traffic. We were separated from the road by a curb-like thing. All of a sudden Judith jumped backward and Kiersten forward. I turned around and saw a boda-boda coming toward me at a rapid pace and the guy had lost control. I took one quick step forward and then was hit by the boda man as he fell off his bike and into me. To my left was a five foot wide and four foot deep ditch lined with cement. I flew towards the ditch and managed to catch myself on the other side, with my hands. My toes remanded on the near side. Kiersten rushed over to me and helped me out of the ditch while Judith started asking over and over if I was ok. As soon as I stood up the boda man rushed onto his bike and Judith rushed us across the street. I didn't really know what was going on. I had a hole in my capris and my knee was bleeding. My leg was all scratched up and my hip hurt pretty bad. Judith kept asking if I was ok and saying that if anything happened they were answerable to the US embassy. I assured her the government would not be knocking on her door. It was pretty scary. Worse for Kiersten because she saw it all happen and saw how serious it really was. I was more concerned about my pop.
That is where the title of my blog comes from. I was carrying my very favorite pop with me a the time. It is called fruity mirinda and it is fabulous. When the man knocked me over I was very intentional about holding up my pop as to not spill it and it was a success!! I only got a couple drops on my arms and face. The rest sure tasted good :). Kiersten jokes with me because the first thing I said when she asked if I was ok was that I said, 'OH MAN. I ripped my pants." I insisted that we didn't call Papa Julius because I knew he would immediatly drive to Kampala to pick us up. When I got home he kept shaking his head and saying, my poor daughter.
Today I had all my questions answered as to why the boda man rushed off and also why Judith made us hurry away from the scene. Here in Uganda the bigger man is always responsible. If you have the bigger vehicle it is your fault. Therefore the boda man knew he would have to compensate me. Not only that but if any people came they would beat him sometimes to the point of serious injury. And if you stick around such rukus you may become guilty or involved in the fight. Since I was a mzungu, there would be no mercy on the man and a very good possibility of us girls getting robbed or hurt in a fight. Thanks Judith for the save! Everyone be assured that I am totally ok, and was very thankful not to have been wearing a skirt because I would have lost all the skin on my leg!!
Well I have to walk home now, but hopefully I'll post again soon. Love you and miss you all.