Trip to Cleveland, Ohio

Last week I went to visit the friends in Cleveland Ohio. I was a little panicked because I was going with the main man Mich and if my last flight with him was anything to go by I knew we were in for some good drama. This was going to be his second flight in an aeroplane since our trip from Kampala, so I begged Sam to come with us to the airport and make sure we had checked in before he could head back home and do his reading.

I couldn't get a flight out of the Philly airport because of the crazy rates, the cheapest was leaving from Baltimore which is about 2 hours away. We were blessed to have our navigator friends offer to drive us there especially.

We got to the Baltimore airport in good time and Sam escorted me to the check in point. Things were really smooth because he had done all the paper work for me, I had an eticket and we were also able to book sits and everything off the Internet (sophistication I tell you). After checking in I said bye to Sam and Mich and I headed off to our departure gate. Interestingly this time round Mich was filled with calm curiosity more than anything else, he stayed close to mummy and wasn't any trouble at all.

When we got on to the plane he was directed by the steward towards the pilot sit and he walked confidently without looking behind, started small talk with the pilot while I looked on. It was not until the steward laughed and said it's this way that he turned around and noticed he was not in the right place, he was given one of the airline badges and after that we went to our sit. He rushed to sit down and put on his sit belt and later asked me if he could help me put mine on I almost said do I know you?. Thanks to the educative cartoons on TV that show his favourite characters travelling and what they need to do to have safe trips.

We got to Cleveland and Hannington was there to pick us up, then we took the train all the way to our stop and walked home. I thought Cleveland was a bit like Philly, run down buildings but having it's own sophistication. The people are definitely more friendly and the neighborhood we lived in was above average.
It was nice to see Julie again, baby Ainza is all grown now she sits, and Tendo is a ball of energy. For the first hour or so Mich and Tendo looked at each other and played in silence, that was funny, like they needed time to check each other out, that was all the silence we had for the next four days. The rest of the time was filled with 'Mich, stop that', 'stop pushing', 'Mich you have to share' 'guys you are making a lot of noise', 'it's time to sleep', 'don't run in the house', 'don't push the baby'.....

Julie had a wonderful plan for the week, we went places, met people, watched a movie and like they say a picture is worth a thousand words so ...






After four days we had to head back to Philly, hopefully Sam had got enough alone time to read. There were no hitches on the flight back, Mich slept right through but was miserable the next day because he left his buddy in Cleveland.

Year 1 down

I'm really excited and privileged to say we are about to say goodbye to year 1 at Wharton. Classes are over at the school, that means no more lectures for the 1st years and 2nd years are wrapping up and waiting for graduation.
It feels great to say 1st year is over, I kind of feel like the student here and in many ways I have been a student. There has been a lot I got to learn in this year, it's not to say I will not be learning any more but I can say that I'm a little bit on top of things. I can talk with authority when sharing my views with the new admits soon to be 1st year students.
With all of the intensity that was wrapped up in the first year I can say it was great. Culture shock, finding my way around, making new friends, realising abilities I never knew I had, seeing Mich grow, exposing him to greater learning, ... there is a lot.
Getting to experience God in a whole new and intimate way, giving of my time unreservedly in ministry, seeing another dimension to my relationship with Sam, appreciating my country, friends and family more, like I said there is a lot.
Realising I don't have to be employed to make life meaningful, that the small things of life like seeing Mich make friends, being there to answer the many questions he asks (some of which leave Sam and I speechless at times), listening day by day as he begins to adopt the accent of the kids around, they make all the difference. Daily routines of giving him a bath, making breakfast, finding fun things for him to do, sitting and watching his favourite cartoons with him, seeing his personality get molded and praying to God for wisdom on how to raise him right ... there is a lot.
Now the challenge a head, moving to a new city (Dallas) for Sam's internship, having to make new friends, finding a church to attend for the three months we will be out there. Looking out for the playgrounds, shopping centers, hoping I can get some local foods (Matooke, Cassava, Gonja ...) to keep me going. Experiencing summer in a whole new way, I'm told it gets really hot in Dallas and if the heat of Philly when I had just come is anything to go by, it's really for praying. Mmhhmm it's a lot.
Thank God He has always shown me that I can find all the answers I need in Him even when I don't see how.

Wharton Welcome Weekend

Finally I can say I'm through with the Welcome weekend, it's been busy, it's been fun, it's been great! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, sometime last year I was nominated to represent the kids club at the schools "new admits week". Here are some of the students I was working with clubs.wharton.upenn.edu/welcome/students.html
When we got our ID cards the other day I was impressed with my title, Mary Ongwen, Committee Chair, '08. The last three weeks involved attending meetings once every week, there were times I wasn't up to it but knew I had to be there especially considering that we received emails the day before reminding us how mandatory these meetings were.
I made some good friends through out this period, especially colleagues in the Partners Club. See, the Kids Club and Partners Club are separate the basic difference being we have children and they don't. It was a nice time to exchange ideas and work together






We had a Q and A panel session where we could share our experiences moving to Philly and life as parents and partners to students. Then we had time for the admits to ask questions.
We also had a club expo, where we talked more about our clubs, what we did, membership e.t.c
It's been intense but now that it's over I'm kind of missing the action. Hopefully I will find something else to keep me occupied and challenged.

Easter

OK, so either Ugandans love holidays too much or America is just less spiritual. Easter as I remember it back home is like the longest holiday of the year. We have Holy Thursday (some people skip work), then Good Friday is a public holiday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, another holiday, I don't get why but it is a holiday.
May be it's the States as a whole or just Philly but the only day that is recognised is Easter Sunday. Lets not talk about the Easter Bunny and the eggs because I still have no clue how these things are related to Easter.

Sam once had an Easter egg, the contents of the egg were, a nail, a sponge, a stone and a tiny scroll with the words "Christ the King". When the buzz of Easter eggs started here I thought yeee! some more reminders of Jesus death and resurrection, only this time it seemed geared towards the kids. Sam, Mich and I were invited for lunch in Delaware, with some Ugandans the host being a Wharton alumni. We had never met but we received a very warm welcome, met lots of other Ugandans and had a great time together. Mich found some Easter eggs and from that point he became very scarce, later I found out that the Easter eggs were filled with sweets and candy.

It was nice hanging out with the Ugandan community, lots of local music playing and wonderful food ; Fish, gonja (plantain), sweet potatoes, chicken, chapati, meat, rice, dodo (greens) mmmm! very yummy. Reminded me of the sumptuous meals we had at moms place only not at tasty, the one thing I really missed was butunda (passion fruit juice), no one makes it better.

Back to the Easter theme, it's by far the most exciting Christian celebration of the year for me. I get so excited I want to dance, in my mind I borrow some of Michael Jackson's moves.
Make a sharp turn to the side, give a kick with one leg and sing,
" Alleluia (wooo) Jesus is alive, death has lost it's victory and the grave has been denied, Jesus lives forever, He's alive!"
Do a spin, then stand on my toes "He's the alpha and Omega, the first and last is He, the curse of sin is broken and we have perfect liberty, the lamb of God is risen, He's alive, He's alive!!
Now we have a new beginning, and a Kingdom that has no end, alleluia, alleluia", then I wouldn't miss to include the backslide and the finger snapping.
There is so much freedom that comes from Christ dying on the cross, wooo!!

Accents

About three weeks ago I took a cab from the bus station back home and I was trying to give the cab driver directions. For some reason I had to repeat myself 2 or 3 times before he figured out what I was saying. I thought maybe I was not audible enough, when I finally reached home the cab driver got out of the vehicle and said to me "I'm sorry mom, I wasn't able to understand what you were saying because I don't speak French".
He basically left me speechless, I mean, now my English sounds like French?!
It's now a household joke, if we go some where and Sam has to repeat himself, we just say "anti your speaking French".


Mich however is in a league of his own, it's been three months of cold and winter and poor kid has not been able to go out and play with other children except in Sunday school. He has however been watching his favourite TV shows faithful, Sesame Street, Bob the Builder, Dora the Explorer and Diego.
But now he is rolling his 'r's like crazy, waterrr, carrr, hearrr e.t.c. It only gets a little out of hand when he starts saying things like bananarrr, and sodarrr, we are trying to keep a check on that though just so he knows that not everything needs to roll with an 'r'.

Dallas (Part 2)

So we called our friends the Okoboi's and told them our flight had been cancelled and told them the soonest we could get back to Philly was Monday night. That meant Mich would have to spend two extra nights at their house. We felt bad about the unplanned extension but there was nothing we could do to change the situation.
We also called the Hotel and told them we were coming back, that was not a problem for them.

What did we spend the extra days doing?? touring the city, what else?.
Dallas is a very beautiful city, the streets are very clean, the people are very friendly, the weather at the time was very good, not hot and not cold just right. It's very green, the trees and flowers are well groomed. I thought Uganda would look like Dallas fifty or so years down the road, but only if we stop being selfish, cut the corruption and focus on the good of the country as a whole.
I also discovered that Dallas is the Bible belt, I was amazed that there were scriptures inscribed on the walls of some buildings. I saw this specifically at a place called the Thanks Giving Square, that really blessed my heart. There were also lots of churches in the area that we were living, down town.

Talking about the Train transport, there are machines at every stop for people to buy tickets depending on what kind of ticket you want. There were some for just one trip, some for a day and then for longer periods. We bought the ones for the day, got on to the bus and I was looking out for the "conductor" or ticket guy to come checking. No one showed up, people were getting on and off as they pleased, that's when I asked Sam (he always knows) whatsup? no one is checking. I found out that people are responsible citizens, tickets don't need to be checked, everybody knows they need a ticket that's all. I thought about my beloved Uganda and how that would have been abused thoroughly. Later in the day I saw a notice at the station that stated that if you were found without a ticket you would be fined handsomely may be about shs500,000 (UG cash). I was just too impressed anyway.

On Sunday we took a trolley tour which by the way was free although time and again people give money out of appreciation. The trolleys are really old but kept very well, they try to keep them as original as possible so the chairs and everything are still as they were several decades back. We met a lady on the trolley and started talking about moving to Dallas (she was moving to Dallas too) so I guess we had that in common and she was a student too. She was so happy to talk with us, she even invited us for some progii that night, a rollerskating party. She gave us her number asked us to call later so we could get together, then she called her cousin to find out if he could arrange transport, I thought how nice. Turns out the function was going to be miles away, it was starting at 9pm, she wasn't able to get transport and.... oba we are just growing old?! Anyway we didn't go, too many things to think about.
That just goes to show how friendly the people can be and I haven't mentioned the conversations that were started by people in lifts and along the road.

Finally Monday came and this time the taxi driver was from Ethiopia. How did I find out?, he asked as we were leaving the cab which country we were from, he was really excited, he rapped some Swahili there but I was only able to say one or two words back. He said he had learned it sometime ago and then said he was from Ethiopia.

Sadly I forgot the camera at home so there are no photos to show.

Dallas (Part 1)

Last Thursday Sam and I were able to arrange for a trip to Dallas, Sam had to meet with the colleagues he will be working with in Mercer and we thought it would be a good time to go house hunting.
We had a trip scheduled last month but we didn't make it because of lousy weather, it was snowing heavily, after getting to the airport and waiting for about seven hours the flight was cancelled.
This time round we had good weather, got on the plane and landed in Dallas safe and sound. Mich dearest went to spend time with our friends Felix and Candy, he has lots of fun with their girls besides the company was only able to pay for the two of us.
We got in to Dallas about 9pm, caught a cab and headed to our hotel, interestingly the cab driver had strong African looks and an accent to go with it so Sam dryly asked him where he was from. Turns out he was closer to home than we expected, well he was from Sudan and has been here for five years. It was nice because after telling him where we were from he took it upon himself to give us a guided tour of the city.
We were booked into one of the MagnoliaHotels, apart from the fact that it looked wow! the staff were very courteous, opened the cab door, took our luggage, opened the door to the hotel e.t.c I couldn't stop smiling I don't ever remember being pampered like that except on my wedding.

I had planned to sleep in the next day while Sam went to the office to meet the Partners and staff, then we would meet up later in the day to go look at housing. In the event I came with only casual clothing and sandals, I knew the weather would be fantastic here. Well, lets just say my plans were thrown out of the window.
Sam's colleagues were expecting both of us, since it was a Friday I figured my dress code would survive because in most offices Friday should be a "dress down" day. I was more concerned about meeting all these people, I was now thinking I need to ask intelligent questions and be energetic (which I wasn't feeling, not in the least). I was thinking interview mode, anti this is internship and you need to be at your best, I didn't want to get in the way of Sam getting a full time offer, anyway I also wanted to leave a good impression. I don't know why I felt under pressure, why I felt like I was going for an interview??! beats me too. Considering that I haven't been on the office scene for about 7 months now, I guess the work mode was kicking in.
Anyway so we go, the office looks quite impressive kind of reminded me of Price Waterhouse Coopers. As we took a walk around the office and got introduced to the staff (the few who were there) I noticed lots of empty desks and chairs, the setting was cubical like and of the roughly 20 cubicles only four people were actually there. You might think it was Ugandan style civil servants and some other offices we know where people leave coats on the chair and go doing personal business, no way. Majority were out at work, by the way not like down the street or something but in other states and countries. That's when it hit me that Sam will be in the same shoes, travelling like crazy. I'm told the average consultant travels every week, out on Monday and back on Thursday, not easy on the family I must say. I'm already praying to God about it, it's not going to be easy if he has to be away so often, but I trust God will look after us as He always has.
After meeting guys in the office we were invited to lunch with six of them, I was thinking damn, now the talk is going to be about consulting and complicated stuff which I don't have much knowledge on. I was wrong again, much of the conversations at the table centred around, family and travelling to Africa and China, that was nice because then I was able to talk with some authority. I was also amazed at how young the other consultants were, some were still leaving at home, but my guess is the average age is about 27 years.
Lunch was great, we had it at Neiman Marcus, I didn't bother sweating the menu, I just asked my neighbour what he was having and ordered the same, that was certainly a wise choice.
I decided to take the afternoon off and head back to the hotel while Sam stayed for some more meetings.

When he came back to the room later in the day he told me we were going out to dinner with one of his colleagues Matt and his wife. Oh oh!, I didn't have any dinner wear, remember I came with jeans and sandals and just looking at the ladies in Dallas they dress to kill, somewhat like kampalans. Then Sam's colleague calls to say something about how it's a really top end restaurant, that didn't help the situation. There was nothing I could do about it anyway, I put on what I had and that was it. We were picked up from the hotel and ooh! was Matt's wife dressed up or what?!
I tried to keep my mind off the matter but I noticed how she kept checking us out, again there was nothing to do about it. They gave us a brief tour of some of the places we could find housing, then we went to dinner at a five star restaurant. It was really great, nice food we are talking about five course meals here, excellent service, great conversation, it was a good dinner.
We got back to the hotel about 10:30pm and immediately went to be bed.

Saturday morning was ours to basically do some more research on housing, our flight was scheduled for 2:45 so we had about 5 hours.
We got on to the train and went to the different areas we had in mind, spoke to the management in charge and had a tour of the sample apartments that would be available. We ended up liking the apartments in a place called The Village. Reasons, close to the train line, shopping areas, enclosed and family friendly, Mich will have lots of running space. We were not able to make a payment since the lady wasn't sure which apartments would be available in the summer but she asked us to keep in touch closer to the time we are scheduled to come.
That pretty much took up all the time we had and now it was time to head back to the hotel, pick up our luggage and head to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. We got a cab and interestingly this time the driver looked at us and asked if we were from Africa (we must look real ... and I guess we also don't have the accents). We told him and turns out he is from Ghana, looks Ghanaian, talks like a Ghanaian and how long has he been in Dallas? 27 years. If after 27 years he spoke like that, I guess the case is closed for some of us, not that we are trying anyway.
We reached the airport in good time only to be told that our flight had been cancelled, bad weather in Philly, snowstorm and stuff. The earliest we could get back to Philly was Monday evening, that is literally 2 more days in Dallas.
I told you how we failed to leave Philly some time because of bad weather, and now we could not leave Dallas because of a snow storm in Philly.
The dilemma is, either we are not supposed to be in Philly or we are not supposed leave Dallas.
I'll tell you more in the next blog.