This weekend we went to a Uganda Cranes game! I was so stoked out of my mind to go... and lets just say it wasn't everything I expected in skill for a world cup qualifying match... it was kind of like watching a high school soccer game... a little frustrating haha. BUT the atmosphere was like nothing I have ever experienced! Everyone was so happy and ridiculously loud! The main chant is "We go, we go, Uganda Cranes we go!" We saw this great shirt trying to depict that.... I feel like they didn't quite get it right... maybe with a few more o's it wouldn't be so weird...
It was so crazy, even just standing outside the stadium everyone was so excited. The people were just so happy! With so little to be happy about here- the people really pull together and get excited for their cranes! Practically everyone was wearing a jersey or a version of the Ugandan flag! It was awesome. Freddy (in the hat) is real cool. He has been so nice to us and has helped our group a lot since we have been here. He is a radio DJ and just a good guy. He got us the tickets to the game and showed us around. He told us that these guys with him were witch doctors and they were doing rituals so that the cranes would win! Ha! They were coming up to people with these shells with ashes on them and waving them around and touching us. It was insane. There was a mob of people and we were surrounded! Super loud and super crazy!
The fans were so excited! It was the best part of the game. Everyone was so supportive of the team....even though neither team was that great... we (i say we as if i'm ugandan...i was wearing a jersey i guess) were playing Senegal... we tied 1-1. The end was actually pretty intense. There was just a ton of sloppy fouls the entire game...
After the game was crazy too! There were so many people leaving the stadium and everyone was blowing their horns and singing and dressed up super crazy and occasionally terrifying. We went to the bathroom before leaving - it is a 4 hour drive from Kampala to Mbale...that's right we drove 8 hrs in one day for an hr and a half game- worth it. Anyways bathroom... I know everyone loves a good bathroom story... so we couldn't find the girls bathroom so Holly told us we had to go in the men's and that it's normal and there was stalls in the end of the bathroom so we just had to walk passed the trough that the men were using as a urinal nbd. As soon as we went in there the men were like "mzungu! this is gents!" but we persevered! There were other women in there after all... and believe me we weren't looking! The bathrooms were less than sanitary... but did the same job...even if the toilets were overflowing and by toilets i mean squatters... I took a picture of Mallory, Sam, and Cami and I had my creeper lens on (it's huge) so i could barely take the picture we were so close together and they fill the whole frame- but when the flash went off guys started yelling at me... as if i'd want any of that... haha. yikes.
When we came out of the bathroom all the sudden I look over and Freddy is beating a man up with his yellow horn! Turns out this man was trying to steal a cell phone from another one of the mzungus that were with us... Freddy is a good guy, but Ugandans in general are intolerant of stealing. It's a weird culture because it is so prevalent but then everybody bans together to literally beat up the thief... When we were walking to find transportation home (the team from Senegal stole our bus!) There was mobs of people everywhere and Holly was trying to take a picture with her iphone and someone stole it right out of her hands!! The people around her tried to beat up the guy but he got away. It was crazy! We were all kind of weary about our stuff after that... It took us forever to find a taxi to take us home and it was just ridiculous and everyone was real hangry. We finally made it home though and was met by the glorious surprise that KJ had made no bake cookies! heaven. a little piece of heaven.
Today the missionaries had 16 investigators at church! The work here is out of control! They do so much! We invited the elders over for dinner (well they kind of invited themselves by asking when we were having them over...) and made french toast. It was actually really fun. One of the elders dad died two weeks ago. It is so sad. He is the most awesome missionary. These guys are really good. You can just tell. We had a good time talking to them and getting to know their stories. The missionaries don't ever really get fed here because the people don't have enough for their families most days. It makes us feel like we should feed them, which i'm sure they would appreciate....
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