8th - 21st December 2009

It's been a while since I wrote on here! I think I missed a week when I was at home in the UK - brief recap of the week :) I had my Cambridge interviews on the 15th and they went well. I did my best, felt as relaxed as you plausibly can in that situation and felt like I was myself and came across confidently. They felt like interesting conversations, such an awesome opportunity just to be able to talk with people who are so ridiculously clever! Whether I get in or not, I know it's in God's hands, so I feel at peace about it and happy either way. Obviously I'm hopeful, but Nottingham would be SUCH a great place to be too :) I think I find out somewhere around the first week of January.. It was pretty weird being home too though. Although the weirdest thing was how not-weird my house felt! I know that sounds strange but it's hard to explain it. The running water, toilets, fridge and washing machine felt totally normal even though I thought they'd freak me out. Maybe cos it was just a quick 6 day stop I didn't have time to get totallly comfortable, so I had to accept it for what it is without really thinking about it. It was lovely seeing my family and some friends :) Thank you to everyone who made it go more smoothly and peacefully than I expected. And thank you to everyone who prayed; I really do believe it made a difference.

I missed Uganda-home a lot. In fact, when I got back it kinda felt more like home than England did. I guess that's not surprising because it's been normality for me for the last 3 and a bit months, so it becomes what you're used to.I'm really going to miss it when we go home. Having a wash outside in a bowl was actually nice when I came back! I've been realising that home isn't just about a place, it's about the people who live there with you. This feels like home too now cos I have such a wonderful family here. I have two homes, what a blessing! :) But at the same time, it kinda felt like I have no home last week. Not because I don't fit in or because nobody wants me, but because i can't just take things at face value in the UK anymore. I question things that used to just be easy and simple, taken for granted or explained away without really thinking about it. Now I look for answers where I didn't have to before. And it's the same here in Uganda; because it's a different culture, there's a constant process of 'translation' from culture to culture going on in my head. Reading things differently, modifying my own perceptions of people and actions compared with how I know they would view things as Ugandans. Ultimately that means that life in either country feels a bit more difficult, a bit more of a struggle. But what an amazing thing to be learning :)

I wonder how God will fit into my routine of life at home too. Here, everything is centred on God in a practical way. All the work that we're doing and our general way of life involves group prayer twice a day (theoretically, we're not always very good at sticking to that!) and planning Bible stuff, doing church things and bible studies and all sorts. I'll need to make a load of extra effort to keep up with Bible reading and all that sort of thing when I get home. Getting used to the change of pace in life and the different focuses I'll need to have will be a bit of a challenge.

Right, so when I got back to Ug the girls all came to meet me at the airport with Tata :) It was awesome! They didn't recognise me when I walked through cos I had my haircut when I was home-home and now have a full fringe. Only Bex saw me, the others were just peering blindly into the distance! They made a sign for me and everything, and totally embarassed me by screaming when they finally knew who I was, then jumping over the barrier to come and bundle me :D Ah I love them! We stayed at Helen and Zoe's overnight in Kampala cos the girls had to be at training early in the morning and I got in at half 10 pm so they needed sleep. We drank tea and chatted till the early hours then I stayed at Helen and Zoe's all day on Friday to catch up on sleep and journal writing! Going home was lovely on Friday night - we booked a vehicle back to the village, which was surprisingly cheap, so it was stress free and comfy(ish!). Mama didn't recognise me either lol but once she did she picked me up and spun me round, bless her. Such a lovely welcome home :D While I was gone the family put up their Christmas tree, which looks hilarious and very Ugandan, and in the evening we put up all the decorations in our little house and made paper chains with the kids. It was so good to be home, made me quite emotional! I didn't quite realise how much I'd missed it.

While I was gone the girls also got the candle making training sorted out for V.W.G. cos it didn't happen the week before when we tried to organise it; the woman didn't bother to turn up. Frustrating times! Apparently it went brilliantly though and the ladies loved it, can't wait to make more. Bex got lots of photos :) Kids Club had a good meeting on the Saturday that I missed when they did the second part of the Christmas story and made sheep masks and shepherds' beards for the Nativity that we're doing on Thursday at the Christmas party. Some of them are quite funny! Today we went to Aristoc, the craft shop in Garden City (the shopping mall) and got a load of really cool craft stuff for the Youth seminar on Boxing Day and for the party. We're planning on making the kids little gift boxes and bags with sweets in to take their crafts home :)

Not sure what else there is to update you on.... Ooo the Bambejja holiday programme! That started on the 7th in the week before I went away. We worked with the girls at the Oasis project for 4 days during their Christmas holidays, doing games and crafts and christmas carols etc. It was great fun! We reallly enjoyed having some organised routine in our days because with the schools breaking up recently and girls and boys groups stopping for the holidays we haven't had as much to do. Admittedly, we ended up running everything at Bambejja which was pretty annoying cos we weren't meant to, but still! It was great to get to know some new kids and spend time with them outside the usual village context. We each had a team of girls, mine was the grey team, and they were awesome! I got quite attatched to them, they were definitely the best in the carol singing performances even if they didn't quite come first in the games tournament...! :D We made lots of Christmas decorations and then decorated the banda with their paper chains and angel chains and stars. We even had balloons! And we got them all to make handprints and then made a Christmas tree out of them with glittery baubles hanging on it. Ah it looked soooo cool! Made me finally feel like it's Christmas..

I've decided that I don't like being in hot sun at Christmas cos it doesn't feel like the right time of year :( I much prefer snow and coldness! Can't believe how much snow you have in the UK at the moment, it's crazy. I got a little bit of it when I was home, making the contrast of coming back here all the more harsh! We even saw it on the Ugandan news, pictures of Gatwick being closed and Kent and Esex covered in snow with the Channel Tunnel closed. Craziness! I hope you're all excited about Friday. Have a lovely Christmas with your families and friends, I'll be thinking of you from here.

I'd better go now; for once I still have loads of internet time left! And it's a bit shorter today, so enjoy. I brought a laptop back from the UK for the family so hopefully they'll have internet at home within a week. It'll make emailing much easier, so maybe I'll be in contact with you more often! Sending lots of love and hugs back home-home,

Flick xXx