The Goofy Smile

Monday this week was probably one of the best and worst days of this year so far. For starters, I stayed up late Sunday night trying to get work done for school (it was due Mon at midnight, and was turned in at 1030, hey, I'm not one of these last minute people!) Then it was up early, because I had to go in and do my skills testing for school (not the least bit intimidating, especially after failing the earlier one!). But first I had to work on careplans some more. Oh, and I did manage to squeeze in a beautiful chat or two with my favoritest, bestest guy friends from UG. I call them my "Bugos Boys" but they said that made me sound like their mum, so now I use the label to irk them a little! (cause I dearly love to tease people!) *background: they lived 4 blocks from me when we were staying in the Bugolobi flats this summer, and while it was completely out of the way, it hardly ever failed that one or the other of them would walk me home and make sure this 'mzungu' made it safe. They are both precious brothers in Christ.*
After skills testing... and yes, I did pass this time! (Praise the Lord!) it was back to working on careplans... but first I decided to actually eat something. Hmmm... not much in my cupboards because I don't get paid until this Friday. Looks like rice and beans it is! *I loved, and I mean LOVED eating rice and beans this summer. I wish I knew how to make beans the way that they did, because they were amazing.* But my knock-of beans were not half bad, and eating them with fresh rice and juice... Ahhhh! Heavenly!
I also got to have an amazing talk with Millie *a really good friend of my roommate Jenna's who is staying with us for a while* about Africa. Millie just recently got back from Niger so we compared experiences and laughed about African things, and what we miss and what we don't. I love talking to people about Africa; it makes my day every time!
Then to round out my beautiful day, I went to Step Afrika dance at McCain. Oh, I could have died right there. That was perhaps the most wonderful thing ever short of going back to my beloved UG. You should have seen the goofy smile that I wore the entire time. Some of their dances weren't entirely authentically African, but I still enjoyed that. And people actually clapped! *I have this huge paranoia thing about people that I am around that clap really well at the begining of the song, but by then end no one is clapping. I swear that my arms hurt this summer from the constant clapping for 2 hours during church!* But, the dances were beautiful, well coreographed, heart melting <3 (for me), energetic... I felt completely revitalized by the end, and had a strange yearning to take up dance (even though I am a white girl, and basically I don't have the right genes, let alone the right rhythm!).
So we all trouped home, and after finally turning in the dreaded careplan, me and Jenna and Millie all decided to hang out and tie scarves in our hair. *which just FYI, Jenna's didn't work at all, even when I tried to help, so sad :( * Of course I tied up my hair with my African scarf the way Oduka showed me, and it looked amazing!
Sometimes I think that I fall in love more with my calling to Africa when I am not even there. Its the little things that get me. Like hot water in the shower, being able to leave the windows open cause its 75 degrees in February, looking at pictures, eating tillapia and chips or rolex and pineapple or just rice and beans, *what I wouldn't give to get my hands on a Mirinda fruity!* And its silly things like talking to someone with an African accent, or wearing my rhino earrings, or my "opens", or listening to music with African beats, or Hillsong songs that we sang over there.
Okay, guess I will quit ranting now, but all this is the reason for the goofy smile on my face. Its one of those things that happens when you are in love, or so I am told...