1 March 2013

Driving

I was driving myself to get some needed groceries the other day, and I thought to myself, "This has become 'normal'."

It has been ten and a half months since we arrived here in Uganda, and ten months since I have been driving the kids and myself around the city. If you had told me then that I would be driving around Kampala and area with confidence ten months after arriving here I don't know if I would have believed you.

Learning to drive here has been an adventure. For one thing the driver sits in the right seat of the vehicle and we drive down the road on the left hand side. You also have to stay alert at all times. You need to watch the other vehicles, "boda bodas" (motorcycles), and the people, anyone of them could go where you don't expect them to go. You have to try to expect the unexpected. Another thing about driving here is that Kampala is pretty much made up of many hills, I think 21 all together, and we have a manual transmission vehicle. It has been interesting to learn how not to let it roll to much in the wrong direction.

Now you will find me driving every day as I take the kids to school or pick them up. You will also find me going about once a week to get groceries to keep my family fed, and the laundry done and the house clean. Oh, and to make sure our puppy's have the food they need too. You may be thinking that is not so much, but here there is no one stop shopping. I may have to go to three or four different shops in one day to get everything I need.

Thank you all for your prayers as I have learned this valuable skill for living in Uganda.