Uganda Arrival!

I can’t believe I am really here!  It has been almost 11 days since I landed, and I am still amazed that I finally got an opportunity to come to this wonderful continent.  I left the blizzard filled world of America and arrived in the warm, dust filled world of Uganda after 36 hours of travel time and an unexpected trip through Ethiopia (thank you snow).  Unfortunately, my luggage forgot the make the entire trip with me, so I am still without my…well, without anything really.  Note to self: always pack one extra pair of socks and underwear in carry on!

Luckily, I have generous friends here that lent me essentials (and I realize that you don’t really need much), and I soon found myself bouncing from wonderously new place to place….and no, not always in a safari van pictured above ;)

The first major even was my friend’s wedding.  In fact, Tara is the reason I am on this journey.  As a true friend for 9 years, I could not miss the opportunity to watch her join her life with a wonderful Ugandan man named Grace Nyanga.  And for a bonus, she immediately gets to be the mother of the spunky 11 year old, Edith Nyanga, who will surely grow up to have as big an impact in people’s lives as her parents have been to others. 

 The Ugandan ceremony has many unique traditions as you might imagine.  One of my favorites is when they introduced this large crowd of Ugandans as Grace’s family.  “Now,” they say to Tara, “this is YOUR burden”….HA!  Family is more than immediate here!

 This was followed by many introductions, pictures…and of course food!  Ugandans do not usually send invitations to weddings.  If you know them, or even just know of them, you come….and you come expecting to be fed as well.  Grace and Tara are both well known here in Jinja, so we had to enlist a couple “bouncers” to ensure all true friends and family got fed!

Finally, as the wedding party got whittled down to the most intimate, we drove 45 minutes down the road to a wonderful getaway right on the Nile River called The Haven.  The view from its perch was incredible.  Needless to say, we all slept well that night.

Wrapping up for the Holidays

Well, one more week left of Bonnie & Clyde here in Sarasota.  We've had a great run here, although it zipped right by.  Opening night was really exciting.

Because there is a lot of potential for this show to move to Broadway, there were a lot of people from New York and other areas in the audience hoping we would put on a good show!  Luckily, we have a fantastic creative team and a super talented cast.  Everyone worked really hard, and we ended up with a really good story to tell.  I'm definitely proud to share this with my friends and family.  

(The tragic couple, Bonnie & Clyde...and Ted on opening night)

There are a bunch of production shots on BroadwayWorld.com if you want to check it out.    

The flip side of working in Sarasota is access to some of the most beautiful beaches in America.  Siesta Key Beach has sand that I liken to Splenda.  It is made of finely ground white quartz and is always cool to the touch.  In fact, let me me show you how to end a long day in Florida:

I know, I know...how do I get through it?  Well, it's tough to bear such a horrible sight, but I always remember that there must be beauty somewhere in the world :)

Next stop for me is NC for the holidays and then a trip to Uganda for my friend's wedding and non-profit work.  I finally got all of my vaccines.  Luckily I only needed 4 shots...and I didn't faint!  I will definitely post more about my Uganda trip once I'm there or soon after I get back.  If you'd like, you can look at my friend's non-profit called Sewing Hope: empowering African organizations caring for orphans and children by teaching practical skills.  I'm really looking forward to being outside of my comfort zone again.  That is when I learn the most!

Merry Christmas to all!