my new do.

This past week has been an intense one, but also not quite very eventful. Sorry for the lacking blog posts, but I do now have news worth noting!

Exams and coursework are coming to an end. In the terms my Ugandan peers use, we are “revising” for a “paper” (which somehow translates to mean studying for exams???). Exams here are a really REALLY big deal. They are worth 50% of your mark and require sitting for a three hour “paper.” I had one on Wednesday, World Views, and I could equate it to the SAT’s in a way. Everyone has to have two ids to enter, and only a pen, key and those cards were allowed. People are scattered throughout the room and the exam booklets and tests are distributed. The proctor (not the teacher), even says the
fun”-yet-stressful “you are remaining with 38 minutes!” It was a tiresome three hours, but I am glad its over! Since then I have finished a term project and am preparing to do one more exam on Tuesday and two more courseworks.

It absolutely blows my mind to think that in less than two weeks I will be back in my house, in my bed, with my family, hot showers, and apples… I have missed these things in time, (my family more than that!) but feel also as if this is all I have ever known. Leaving a nearly four month journey behind will be difficult, yet there is joy in seeing friends and FAMILY!

Okay, so now for the title of the blog to manifest into details. Today I sat for nearly ten hours getting my hair plaited with long twists. My dear friend Emmah, who I met on the swings at the beginning of the term (kindred spirits from the start!) was gracious enough to spend her entire day twisting and twisting my hair. I left my room around eight fifteen in the morning and after getting the extensions, with eating lunch, scarcely-short breaks, and visiting afterward, I returned at nearly eight to campus. I-yi-yie! A very long day. But it was “sweet” to hang out with her and her cousin, in their hostel (apartment/room). So now I have long, about at my heart-length, chestnut brown hair that is in small twists. Good news: I don’t have to wash it for awhile, and I can return home with a new do. Bad news: I fear taking it out because of how much hair is supposedly normally lost. (I kinda freaked at some points thinking about it today- I had lots of time to think- but whatev!) It was amazing to me how long it took and how short it will really stay in… like two weeks maybe. A whole day for two weeks of cool hair!? I think this is a once-a-lifetime event. But I like it and had lots of fun.

About Emmah: she is a Kenyan studying in a pre-year term, which is kinda like senior year high school mixed with a freshman in junior college. She went to beauty school, so is a professional, and wants to study social work. She loves reading and watching movies. And popcorn! She is “sweet!” She even gave me a gift tonight which is so selfless and gracious: this really cute dress that she had, which I guess I commented on a few times that she looked “smart” in it. It’s really convicting and amazing to see people give of what they have in such generous ways. I wish that I could somehow be the same!

Now I am sitting in the dark with a few tea lights glowing next to me. I think I will miss the calmness that comes with a blackout (when I don’t have a paper due the next day that is!). I am leaving this semester soon behind, and am not sure quite how to understand it all. Yesterday in Kampala this guy asked me where I would be in ten years, and honestly I had (and still have not) a clue. If I came with questions, I am leaving with at least the same number. Although in different things. I have learned a lot about Jesus and my faith, but what I am going to do about it all remains the big question. I am looking forward to debrief, where hopefully I can sort out some of this, at least a slice of it!

Last week. Farewells. Hi to mom and alli. Finish exams and courseworks. Friend time. Hmm.