Sarah: Oops...

So I posted that we arrived in San Diego on Sunday. But you might be wondering, "What have you guys been up to since you got there?" There is really only one answer to that question:

Looking for an apartment

It's not an easy task, let me tell you. When we first got to the city, we had to find a hotel to stay in for the night. We pulled into McDonald's to use their free wifi and we found a hotel. The next day, we went searching for a cheap, pay-by-the-week hotel/hostel-type-thing. No luck. We called so many places, walked all around, talked to managers, asked around--all to no avail. Well there was one room available, but it had one twin size bed, community bathrooms, and there was some kind of lingering, foul smell. At one point, Francis turned to me and said, "I didn't know places like this existed in America". So we're winging it in a legit hotel.

Now, we're looking for an apartment. We want to be near (or in) the city because we did the suburban thing and it didn't work out too well for us. I want to be able to ride my bike to work or walk out of my door and find people living their lives out in the world instead of staying in their isolated houses. Between that and our budget, we're pretty limited to options. On top of that, none of the people we're calling to view the apartments are calling us back. Awesome. We could really use your prayers on finding somewhere to live. Or if you're not into praying, you can send some of your positive energy or thoughts our way. I'm not picky. I'll take what I can get.

You know what I realized this morning? As I pulled out my last pair of clean underwear that I packed before we left, I realized that I had no more. All of my other underwear are still in the top right dresser drawer, taped shut, in Francis' van, with all our other stuff packed around it. Oops. I hand washed the dirties today and I may or may not have to wear my bathing suit bottoms around all day. Way to go, Sarah.

washing by hand

By the way, I added some pictures to our About Us page. And when I say some I really mean a butt load.

Kelsey's guide to washing your clothes

I think I am going to institute "how to" Fridays. These how to's might not be super helpful for life in America. So maybe you should consider them your preperation guide for when you all come a visit me!

One of my favorite things about life in Uganda is that my lifestyle is eco friendly. Our power comes from solar panels on our roof. Our food comes from gardens in our neighborhood. Our laundry is done by hand. I would challenge those who think they lead eco friendly lives to try to do all of their laundry by hand. Its a commitment. At my parent's church (in America) they spend one week each year eating only rice and beans in order to better relate to people in the developing world. I have some friends who choose to spend one week a year or at least one day a month doing laundry by hand and bathing out of a bucket. It is actually so freeing to know that you can live without your modern conveniences. As long as I have a water source I can bathe and do dishes and do laundry. It makes me feel like the world is open to me. I can survive anywhere.I can do laundry without a machine! I have superhuman powers!

And now you can too.

 soap. bar soap and powder.

Crucial ingredients: dirty clothes and...

Add soap

Clothes in Uganda get much MUCH dirtier than clothes in America. My Ugandan friends do not believe that a washing machine could actually clean clothes. Sometimes I wonder if it could clean these clothes... Maybe those new fangled fancy machines with special settings. Maybe they have an African Dirt setting. Gosh that would be helpful. 

Add water from your jerry can.

It helps if you have a baby to splash in your water
even better if she is constantly trying to get in
with the laundry.

Grab the bar of soap and scrub. Dont stop until
you get good lather going.

Example of good lather.If you dont get good lather then you
don't get clean clothes. Also your arms should be hurting.
If your arms don't hurt then you also don't get clean clothes.

Squeeze out the soapy water and repeat the
process in another bucket.

At this point in the process it all looks the same. Rinse and repeat. Getting all the soap out of my clothes is for some reason more of a priority to me than actually getting my clothes clean. Although now that I have started gardening that might change. I usually wash once and rinse twice. Unless someone is helping me out then I can't get away with any shortcuts.

Next move to a bucket with clean water and rinse.

Shake the clothes to get out the wrinkles
and hang to dry. Let the sun do the rest.