As you can imagine life on the race can get a little blah (just kidding!!). There are things that we do that may not make sense but break the monotony that sometimes can occur. Many of these crazy antics begin with what we call “family time.� As we are away from our families, the people that we live life with have become our family and thus we take time each week to get together and do something. Well this month so far we have celebrated the 4th of July, Christmas in July, and my birthday!
The 4th of July was celebrated with everyone together roasting hot dogs (lucky find at the international store!) and eating some local chips. There were no fireworks to be found but instead we made a bang by singing the National Anthem and God Bless America. Overall it was a great night that made up for many of us not being at home for our favorite time of the year.
Christm
as in July was something that several of us decided to put together after hearing that people were singing Christmas music to remind them of home. It also helped that Eryn and I just happened to see a Christmas tree sitting behind the T.V. at our contacts house. Everyone was required to wear Christmas colors. We had stockings hung by a “fire,â€� presents under the tree, and ice cream to make us think of snow. We played Chinese Christmas and had some pretty cool gifts… everything from an Obama stocking hat to a snickers bar. You only wish you were hear for this.
We were not sure where we would be for my birthday (traveling to Uganda time) so we decided to go celebrate a day earlier. My team allowed me to chose a restaurant in Nairobi that we could all eat at! I decided on a local Ethiopian eatery. It was awesome! I have such an awesome team! 
The next day we actually had some team changes. I had to say goodbye to Caley (it was a great 7 months!) but welcomed John Smith and Caitlin Parker! Our new team is legit so here is one large photo of us all taken at Mgahinga National Park, Uganda. The mountain behind us touches three countries– Uganda, Rwanda, and the D.R.C. Several of us are going to attempt to climb this next week!
