Source: altitudesummit.com via Merche on Pinterest

Snow White- the Christmas Pantomime

Last weekend was the second-annual Christmas Pantomime for the community in Moroto. Apparently it is a British tradition to hold a pantomime around the holidays. The play is highly audience participatory, always based on a fairy tale, and usually involves a lot of drag and slapstick comedy. For here it was an incredible feat- 28 cast members, some ugandan and the rest internationals, and an entire play written by a British NGO worker- completely for the region of Karamoja. There were 2 showings, one at 3pm last Sat for the kids and one at 7:30pm with party that followed for adults. Both shows sold out! I invited my landlord's kids/dependents to the play and they loved it. I was on costume committee and make-up:-) A job well done to the cast and crew!

Audience buzzes with anticipation. 

Cormac the narrator on right, and Isabel his favorite tree which he waters throughout the show. She would wilt on and off (bending over in a dramatic death) and the audience would scream for Cormac to come back and water her :)

Miss Handful (Alastair the British guy) in drag (ahem, my skirt), Snow White and pupils

Soldiers, 2 real US army guys and one Ugandan. Got a lot of laughs, "silly soldiers"

Other half of room at 3:pm show, money raised went to children affected by HIV/AIDS (run by the nun in red shirt) it was shown on Dec 1 - World AIDS Day

Silly soldiers capture orphan Snow White from Moroto

The "seven dwarfs" are tree choppers, collecting wood, dressed in traditional Karamajong outfits

Yeah, those trees come alive in the magical forest. 

Snow White hides among her friends in nature (had the masks brought in from someone who had a workshop in london lol) 

This little girl in her cookie monster sweater just melted my heart! She was sooo precious! And she tried so hard in all the dances and songs. She was a trooper -up until 11 pm the night of rehearsal Friday and then all day performances Saturday. She was pooped!

cutest kids. They really tried to protect Snow White!

Patting Snow White in comfort after she ate the apple

Queen Charcoal (bad for environment) and Cormac who doubles as the mirror (see hole for head in the mirror)

Miss Handful in her wedding attire for Snow White and Prince Plant-a-Lot's wedding. Got that dress in the market

Cormac escapes the mirror and asks to marry Miss Handful

And finally, Snow White and Prince Plant-a-Lot wed!

The show ends with a huge dance scene. BRAVO!

Now it is the holiday count-down :)

Thanksgiving In Moroto!!

Well, we accomplished it! I was sure we could pull it off, if I could pull off 4th of July last time I was in Uganda, I figured we could manage Tgiving. Luckily, as the newbie in town, Molly took the lead. She, admittedly, had fun getting all the recipes online and coming up with creative solutions. I am not at that part of my journey yet :) You see, people with ovens, refrigerators, vehicles, and counter space enjoy their creativity. I just count my cans on the shelf and try my best to not eat them all at one go (which is easy- green beans and corn- mm yum?) lol. Anyways, Molly is married to Ben and they work for Samaritan's Purse, a Christian NGO. They leave in December for Kurdistan, their next posting. I will then be the only American (minus some random army guys up here- but no, they aren't cute, and no, they aren't cool). Molly found the recipes from Pioneer Woman. Here I am helping her to make the stuffing. They have a bread machine- genius buy (another thing the saavy internationals get!) So she made bread on Friday and we left it out overnight to harden. Of course, we needed a way to keep ants away, so we put the bread bits in bowls on cookie sheets of water. Then we followed the recipe, sans sausage and mushrooms and with just white bread. It was, however, delicious!! I delivered it to another house for baking. We had to divide and conquer dishes for baking around town: Sue had the sweet potatoes, Anna had the dressing, Tine had bread, Lachin had the bean casserole (a hit with the one piece of bacon brought up from Kampala), and Molly took the baked mac and cheese. In addition Sue did mashed potatoes and I did the Barefoot Contessa Confetti Corn recipe (thank you canned corn!) and Molly did spinach with garlic chips. Friday night Molly and I made the pumpkin pies- Yup that's right- pulled it off! and prepped for Saturday. Saturday we spent the day preparing the dishes and dropping them off to the houses for cooking. It was an exhausting day- but so great to gather at 6:30 pm  at 2 long tables, with table places set and candles lit, and all the food there to eat. There was even a turkey (wild turkey from the compound that got loaded into a truck and taken to the restaurant for cooking the day before : /  ) It was fun, and I went to bed happy and a bit too full last Saturday. Hopefully more pictures to come- I was busy working! Oh an by the way-- the entire 48 hours was with NO POWER! Sometimes it goes out at the end of the month, or just randomly. 

You can see how close to the real thing we got! Cornbread Dressing Recipe

"Sun-Downer"

Cormac and Sue, the cutest Irish couple who are my neighbors and Cormac is a work colleague, decided it was time for a "Sun-Downer." Apparently there is a tradition to go to the top of a hill with beverages of choice on a Friday afternoon and watch the sunset. Ummmm- SIGN ME UP! Here are the photos from a week or so ago. This was followed by a pizza night at the Samaritan's Purse House (they have an incredible house for their international staff-we hosted Thanksgiving there as well). It was actually this night that we had the most severe rains to date, and the river jumped the banks causing a lot of damage in town and making life difficult for those not as lucky as us to be on the slope of the mountains. From here you can see across the region of Karamoja- see some mountains in the distance? 

Overlooking the "city"

House is towards the left are

Dinner at Tine's

A couple weeks ago we had a planning Zanzibar dinner at Tine's. She is my Belgium neighbor. This is what her place looks like- furnished!! :) I had to take pictures just so you could see the contrast between my house (which looks like a series of interrogation rooms) and hers, a welcoming oasis. Good news for me is she is set to leave in Feb, and I am all about taking over the apartment- with kitchen and furniture!! Fingers crossed!

Furniture! Lamps!

How creative? A spinach, tomato pie with spices and then she put a fried egg on top

Oven!

Cupboards!! Counterspace!

Recollection

It dawned on me yesterday that this week not only marks Thanksgiving, but also the one-year passing of my car accident! I am happy to write this, one year out, employed, and for the most part completely recovered :-) Still crazy to believe that I was driving along after dropping my cousin off at her place, with a trunk full of things for my move home the next day,  when out of nowhere a car crossed 4 lanes of traffic and hit me. Had I not swerved, it would have been head on. As it was, the car was totaled, he was jailed,and I went to get checked-over in the hospital. My 'saviors' that night were cousin Kate and Paul (parents now!!!), Korey, my parents and bros. The recovery, dealing with insurance nightmares, and unforseen events taught me a lot about patience--with systems out of my control and also patience with my body and self-esteem.  December and January were spent doing weekly physical therapy and nerve-triggering stuff. Then, February I was introduced to water thai chi at the gym. It was fantastic. A warm pool, and non-judging/mirror-free atmosphere. It didn't matter how far you could stretch-just that you could. Since then, I have tried not to beat myself up too much when I feel like I am taking too much Ibuprofen, not running, and going up a couple sizes. My empathy for those with injuries has sky-rocketed. I understand now how much an injury effects one physically and mentally. 

Thanks to you all for your love and support, through it all-- (remember when I came home with like 8 support pillows for my chairs:)) , for listening to me complain, and to mom especially- for dealing with Geico.

The year has passed--- let's never look back at this chapter ever again!!! hurrah!!

Santa will have to meet me at the beach!

I am so thrilled to report that I will be taking my first vacay since arriving to Uganda over xmas break. Although I would ideally (of course) like to be spending it with the family, it just isn't in the cards. So, I decided to pony up the money and take a chance on going with a group of internationals from here that are traveling to Zanzibar. We booked Dec. 24-31 at Sunset Bungalows in Kendwa, the northern part of the island. Here are some photos to give you a glimpse of what is in store! I am dreaming about it as I experience the not so brilliant realities of life in this town: bugs/ants/lizards/rodents everywhere and always in surprising locations/times, communication barriers, lack of food and roosters in the morning.

Climbing part 2

Mountain Climb Part 1

Group heads for the hills at 11:30AM

some scenery

climbing a bit

getting there 

Anna (DDG), me, Rahbar (wife works for UNFP), Isabelle (GIZ), and Habbib (ICRC) take a break halfway to the top