June 4

Thank you mum for the lovely email! I especially loved the last line:
"We miss you so much. Get a job, you bum." Hahahaha just kidding. When
you say "we" are flying to Denver, do you mean all of us or just you
and dad. Also, happy birthday Jacob! I can't believe my little brother
is so big!
Well, it has been an extremely eventful weekend! Friday was a public
holiday (Martyr's day) so we didn't have work. But we didn't get to
sleep in because Mark is a maniac. He got it into his head that it
would be a good idea to run to the beach. I sweetly declined because
the trip has a few big hills and Mark and Karen are marathon runners,
while Savanah is an intense soccer player. I like to run just fine,
but slowly and by myself with awesome music. But apparently it just
wouldn't be the same if I didn't come and they really wanted me there
blah blah blah. So I went. Big mistake. By the time we got to the lake
I wanted to die and we still had to come back. I made it, but I
promise here and now with all of you as my witnesses that I will never
NEVER go running with Mark Eliason again. When we got back, we did
P90X. Because that is just how hardcore we are. I had a very difficult
time walking yesterday.
After the workout from hell, we went to the beach, which was so fun!
You know how my very favorite thing in the whole world is laying in
the sand, so I had a very nice time. Plus, Malik, one of the interns,
came and hung out with us, so that was so super fun. I did get a
little burned though. It was cloudy, so I didn't realize it would
happen, but I am just not used to the malaria sensative skin and the
direct equator sunlight. My burn from the beach is actually not bad at
all, but when we were running it was really sunny. There are small
strips on my shoulders from where the tank top I was running in is
different than my swimming suit so they were very white and are now
purple. Yet another reason why that run was terrible.
Yesterday we went to Kampala for the day. The Ugandan National
football team was playing and it was CRAZY! People were already
partying in the streets. Mum, you would have hated it because it was
really loud and there were TONS of people everywhere, but I LOVED it.
It was such a fun atmosphere. We really wantedto go to the game, and
after a bit of a treasure hunt, we got tickets! Yay! We started out
our day by shopping for souvenirs, which was very successful.  We all
bought jerseys for the game, we looked so cute. And let me tell you,
we were a SENSATION. 4 muzungus walking around on game day wearing
Uganda National colors, people were absolutely BESIDE themselves. It
was fun. It's going to be sad going back to America where I am just a
normal person. Then, Sam wanted to take us to his grandmother's house
for lunch. Well, as we got on a taxi to head to granny's Sam informs
us that she lives 45 mins away. Um, HELLO. It was currently 1:00 and
we planned on being at the stadium at 2:00. We were very pissed, but
at that point there was nothing we could do. So we ate the fastest
lunch of our lives at granny's and headed to the stadium.
There is no way in a million years I could adequately describe the
experience of the football game. Just imagine it as crazy as you
possibly can and then realize that it is probably much crazier than
that. Even though we went white water rafting and everything, this was
probably the most dangerous thing we have experienced so far. And it
was AWESOME. Luckily, my pushing through crowds skills that I have
honed at concerts came in very handy. Unfortunately, some members of
my group weren't nearly as adept as I am, so by the time we finally
got in, the stands were completely full. I'm fairly certain that twice
as many tickets were sold than people who would actually fit in the
stadium. But fitting in the stadium is a crazy American idea. This is
Uganda. We don't have to fit in the stadium, we just have to get in!
Going up the stairs into the stadium was an absolute mosh pit. Again,
the only thing that kept me upright was my awesome concert skills. But
even I couldn't see anyway we were going to get through the crowd to
get into the seats. Then, people started climbing the walls and
pulling themselves up the handrails. "Oh no, there is no WAY I am
going to do that." said my brain. Then, the next second I see Sam
heading up the hand rail. Ok, I guess that's how I'm getting into the
game. Honestly I didn't even think about it, because if I did I'm
pretty sure there is no way I would have done it, but suddenly I am
climbing up the stadium wall, shimmying up the handrail, teetering
about 50 feet in the air, with people grabbing at me trying to get up
themselves. Don't worry, Mark got some awesome pictures. When we got
up to where Mark and Sam were, there was literally not a single empty
seat. Oh, but no worries, there were plenty of African men willing to
let the beautiful muzungu girls sit on their laps. Luckily I was able
to flirt my way into a seat (don't be too impressed, it is not hard to
get what you want in Africa when you are a pretty muzungu), but
Savanah spent the whole game on someone's lap. Hahahaha Or at least
she spent any part of the game where we were seated on someone's lap,
which honestly wasn't much. These fans would send any other sports
fans crying for their mothers. I don't know how familiar you all are
with a vuvuzela, but I assure you that I am more familiar. There were
thousands of them, and I swear they were all directed at my head. They
blow them when something they like happens, they blow them when they
are frustrated, they blow them to intimidate the other team, they blow
them to try to get the muzungu's attention. It was crazy. Every time
Uganda scored a goal, things would get even more crazy (which I didn't
think was possible). People threw everything they possibly could
(except the vuvuzelas of course) into the air and debris would be
raining from the sky. There was so much water bottle throwing that I
got completely soaked every time. Like, honestly, it looked like I had
been caught in a rainstorm. Plus, everyone wanted to hug the muzungus,
so we were mobbed. I loved every second of it. However, it is
definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I never need to go to a
football game in a third world country again. Actually, scratch that.
It apparently wasn't just the third wold aspect that made it crazy,
because Mark has been to many football games in South America and he
said they are absolutely tame compared to what we went through. So, I
never need to go to a football game in Africa again. But wow, I am so
glad we did it yesterday. And honestly, even though I was mad at Sam
for not adequately planning our trip to his grandmother's, if we
hadn't gone then we would have gotten to the stadium on time and
probably wouldn't have had to scale the 50 foot wall in order to get
seats, and that was a once in a lifetime experience all in itself.
When we finally got home I was so exhausted that I fell right in bed
and slept for years.
If I keep having amazing weekends like this, I am never going to want
to come home! NExt weekend is our safari, so I think the tradition
will continue.
Love you all!
Stefanie

 Oh, PS Uganda totally won. We gooooooooooooooo we go! Uganda cranes we
go! (that is their chant. It is actually very catchy and if I never
hear it again it will be too soon).