Happy New Year!

OK, I'm writing this preemptively, but New Year's is a big deal in Uganda, with all night church services, and wishing folks a happy new year when you first see them... no matter when in the year.  My bishop reminded me that he'll have to say "happy new year" when he sees people again, even if it's in August.


And when I was sending Christmas greetings to the class (via text), I realized that I'd have to do that for New Years, and that I'll have to adjust to my Ugandan cell phone again.  I was fumbling with the contacts, trying to get numbers out of it for the Christmas greetings.  I'm stunned at what I've forgotten. And when I return in August, I won't remember how to use my BlackBerry.  *sigh*

UCU internet now on Seacable

WOW - I just saw this when I was searching the UCU site for school fees information. I knew about the Seacable, but thought it was initially just going to Kenya (primarily, but the coastal countries).

From the article:

High speed internet has arrived.

The long awaited link to the Seacom cable has finally reached UCU...

The link to the Seacable is provided by local telecommunications company, Uganda Telecom Limited, (UTL).

UTL is currently doubling internet speeds for existing customers and will do the same for new customers.

It is under this arrangement that UCU has had its bandwidth doubled and this has greatly improved internet connectivity speeds on the campus...

The internet at UCU has been so slow that it took ages to open up a Yahoo email page.

The same amount of time was required to open a search engine like Google.

The connection to the undersea cable could surely not have come at a better time than now especially taking into account that UCS intends to increase wireless access points on campus and the library recently got partnerships with overseas libraries to share online resources...

I can vouch for how the internet did/didn't perform (as can my friends who received my plaintive texts and about needing to get to my research NOW but the network was down and/or slow), and now the potential is HUGE! E-mail, blogging, and Facebook are all great, but the fact that I may not have to do my research at all hours (because it took forEVER)... priceless.

What I did on my "summer" vacation

It's been a good holiday from school. I was amazed that it took me about six weeks to properly adjust to being home. I had given myself two weeks at home before I resumed work, and I was bored silly. I thought it was ridiculous to have given myself that much time off, and that I had made a foolish choice. Ha. When I DID resume work, it, and the commute exhausted me, and I wondered what I was thinking with even returning to work.

For the first time ever I didn't have a government client - I was doing training within the firm. I must confess that I was less than enthusiastic about this initially, but not only did God give me a job that was right up my alley, it was for the timeframe I needed, and with a team that I simply adore. He just wrapped that one up with a bow. It was in His wisdom that He gave me this assignment while I'm on holiday, because leaving was incredibly difficult.

So, I worked. And worked. Had the floors replaced in the condo (and they're gorgeous - I actually like being there now!). My car died. Really. The computer fried, so it's gone. God answered my prayers for a good snow before I left rather well. :) All in all, it was just a good time to decompress after school, and generally get settled. I enjoyed school, but being back on cultural and emotional terra firma was exactly what I needed. I didn't do a whole lot other than work and get reconnected here, but I think that was enough this time. Switching cultures like this when you're not just visiting is actually fairly violent on the psyche. I was warned, but had no idea.

The academic wrap up from last semester is as follows: Theory and Practice of Mission: A, Hebrew: B- (and THRILLED!), Pastoral Care and Counseling: A, Christian Worship: A, Introduction to the Old Tesament: B (fairly embarrassed on my exam score), General Church History: B+. Overall GPA: 4.5 out of 5. These grades rank right up there with the loaves and fishes incident (to borrow from Jan Karon), and that was the easy semester. It's tough being out of practice for comprehensive exams, but now I have ideas on how to study. I did teach Hebrew basics to a friend, though I fell way behind on the vocbulary. I've given the particles a break, so perhaps they'll like me this time 'round.

I also heard from several friends while I was home (one of my favorite texts was "who is this Edward Kennedy who is reported dead?"), and it was great to keep in touch with them.

Next up: Introduction to NT, Pentateuch, African Christian Theological Methods, Christianity in Africa, and Hebrew II (at least, that's what's written in the course structure - we shall see).