Gayaza....

I am a Gayaza girl. For those who do not know what Gayaza is, it's a pity but let me explain. Gayaza High School was set up in 1905 for the daughters of the kings, princes and officials - in other words, nobles. Gayaza has produced some of Uganda's most respected women in many professions especially medicine, education and law. It's the 'unofficial' rule that Gayaza girls will marry Budonians from Kings' College Budo (Kings' College Budo was where the sons of nobles went to school) Luckily, my hubby is a Budonian :-) I will stop myself from saying any more because I could go on forever.....

I was in Gayaza from 2000 to 2005. I hated it while I was there. It was far away from home. It was full of girls and some of them were really mean. It had a gazilion rules. We had to wear some really ugly dresses. it was rare to have something exciting happen. Get the picture? I was not a happy camper.

After I left the school a new headmistress was appointed. And boy is she cool!!!!!!!!! She was the deputy headmistress while I was there but I really wish she had been the headmistress.

Last weekend we had dinner with her and few friends and she told us about all the crazy but wonderful changes she is making in the school and I wanted to turn back the hands of time. We had a really good time.

And because we had a good time I decided to join my best friend (or rather Kahini - which is a story for another time) and go down to see good old Gayaza High School.
The Gayaza Performing Arts (GAPA) were being held. This is a competition between the eight dormitories for the top spot in music dance and drama. The eight dormitories are Sherborne, Ham & Apollo, Hutchinson, Kennedy, Corby, Kivebulaya, Cox and Rhoda Nsibambi. I was in Kennedy House and my best friend was in Sherborne House.

We had a very good time. The school has changed- for the better. And I think it has a lot to do with the new headmistress. (Those of you who were with me in school know exactly what I mean.) I got to watch Kennedy house doing their folk dance- Bwola dance and I enjoyed it. Here are some snapshots...

We also watched Corby house do their folk dance - Gazeh dance. Ham & Apollo did the Kinyarwanda dance.

Gazeh dance

Kinyarwanda dance

Even the teachers got up to dance!

At the end of the day, Kennedy House was in the 6th position (sob) and Sherborne was in the 3rd position.

In Gayaza there was/is a punishment tree. If a teacher wanted to punish you for doing something wrong they could choose to tell you to stand under the punishment tree. The aim was for you to feel ashamed because it faces the staff room so all the teachers and any visitors can see you. The punishment tree that was there while I was in school was cut down because (in my opinion and that of several others) it had borne too many sins over the last century and simply could not take any more. So now there is a new punishment tree. It is much cuter than the previous one. The one before it had thorns and hardly any leaves - it was a real punishment tree. Behold, the new punishment tree....

Cute huh?

Good old Gayaza. Even though it was a tough 6 years, I'm proud to be an Old Girl! Never Give Up!

A lil' bit of this and a lil' bit of that....

It's cold!!!!!! I know that the fact that I live in Uganda you'd think that I cannot be serious but I am. It's soooooo cold! And being at work does not help one bit. You see, it's been so hot here. So hot that some people were suggesting that we should step out of our houses in nothing. We even got text messages from the Ofice of the Prime Minister warning us of a drought and telling us to store up food. And then it happened. It rained! It started slowly at first and we thought it would be the usual drizzle that would not even quench the earth's thirst. But that was not the plan. It has been raining for the last 5 days. Hence the cold.

Quite frankly, I prefer the cold to the heat. But I wish I was not at work so that I could curl up in the couch with a nice cup of tea and watch a good movie.. I'm extrememly thankful for the rain because, as my blog title will tell you, we needed it! Our crops were not doing too bad but they sure did need some relief.I was fed up of the dust too. Well, now it's muddy but that is a lot better than dust because it does not get stuck to everything in the house.

Another thing that this week has brought was a CLIENT!!!!! In this post I wrote that I want to start up a wedding planning business. Well, the Lord provided my first clients. Isn't He good? I'll keep you posted. I'm really excited because they are a really sweet couple and they want a really sweet, intimate and fun wedding. Yay!!!

This week, my TDH hubby and I made 10 months in marriage. All I can say is that I love that man more than I ever have and I am beyond thankful that the Lord brought him into my life. It's been, still is and will forever be blissful to be his wife.

I hope you are all having a lovely week :-)

One Lovely Blog Award :-)

 
I got an award from Pretty Lashes!!!!!!! Thank you!!! I feel very honoured - especially since I've been so busy lately and have not been updating as I should.

Theses are the rules:

• Link back to the blogger who gave me this award
• Tell you seven facts about me you aren’t aware of
• Pass the award to fifteen three recently discovered blogs that I “really” like (I haven't discovered that many recently) 
• Notify the lucky chums of their awards

 Here goes:

1) I'm terrible at giving or taking directions!!! I'm getting better but I still do not trust myself. I get lost very easily and therefore have learnt how to ask for directions :-) I'm so glad I'm not a man!!!! 

2) I like to eat (or drink) raw eggs! Disgusting? Not to me! I think they are yummy! Nobody seems to understand me and I really don't care. All I know is I love raw eggs! :-D

3) I'm afraid of ALL animals! If it's not human, I'm scared of it. I can't touch them or pet them. Being 5 feet away from them is torture. And then I marry a man who wants 5 dogs? Go figure!

4) I like my comfort zone. I do not like to take risks - I always want to know what the outcome will be before I do something. I'm learning to take risks with the help of my TDH hubby and boy is it exhausting! 

5) I like to spend. And I don't know how to haggle. Yes, I confess that I think money is made to be used and not saved. But I do know that kind of thinking does not work in this world so I have had to stop myself several times. I just make sure I only have money when I need to buy something or else......

6) My palm has more lines than most people's palms. I've been told it's crowded! teeheehee!

7) I cannot roll my Rs. No matter how hard I try I can't do it :-(

And now for the fabulous blogs that I've recently discovered! 

• The Chocolate Knot
• tales of me and the husband
• The Tami-licious Life

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Today is my Dad's birthday. He is the best father any girl could ask for!!!!! No kidding.

Here are a few things that make my dad extra special to me and my family:

• He loves the Lord - with all his heart. I've always known that my dad is led by God in all he does. He never makes a move - especially a big one without hearing from the Lord. I respect him for that. 
• He loves my mum! (I say this a lot!) I don't take it for granted that I've always seen my dad shower my mum with love. The bible says "Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Ephesians 5:25 and my dad has done just that. 
• He loves his children. My dad is a family man. Many times he would cancel speaking engagements if they happened to coincide with our visitation days in boarding school. That always made me feel very important to him. He always tells us he loves us at the end of every phone call - just in case we forgot :-D
• He is a very intelligent man. Yes he is!!!! I remember when I was about 8 years old I believed he knew all the answers (sometimes I still do :-)) But the truth is that he is very intelligent and is not afraid to keep learning knew things in this world of ever changing technology. Oh, did I mention that he has a PhD in Mathematical Statistics???? Yup!!! He is intelligent!
• He is fun!!! He loves to have a good laugh. We are constantly making fun of each other and I love the fact that I can joke around with my dad.

The list could go on and on!!! Bottom line is my dad is FANTASTIC!!! I thank God that he gave me a father who is so loving so that it was easy for me to accept the love of my Father in heaven and know what real love looked like when I met my handsome farmer man :-)

I love you Daddy. I'm proud of you and super proud to be your favourite daughter :-) You are the best Daddy in the whole wide world!!! Love, your Missy :-)

Busy week....

January and February are rather slow months... at least in Uganda they are. Everybody is still in the holiday mood in January and then we had elections in February which provided some public holidays. But now, work is back in full swing. This week is busy! Well, actually it may not be that busy but it feels busy because work had been a bit slow and I'm still not feeling too good so my energy levels are not so high.

Anyway, I found a few things that made my week a little bit easier.
My babies are growing so fast!!!!! I don't want them to grow up :-(

Aren't they cute?? And growing too fast!!!! I can still remember each one of them as day-old babies! I'm getting old :-(

Each time I feel overwhelmed I just take a look at these photos and my spirits are lifted!

Now I have to get back to work! Hope you're all having a good week.