Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Two days in the hole or what a weigh to go

Now that it is time to head back to Jinja the dreaded task of matching weight to space is upon me. The last two days have started in the hole. That is what I have nicknamed Dale and Debbie's basement. It's where we keep all the stuff that we gathered to take back to Jinja when we go. Now it is time to make everything fit into our luggage.

The hole is rather nice with no creepy things or slimy things running around but it is still a basement. It has lights, a level floor and it is climate controled.

I started the process by lifting up everything we are going to pack and then standing on the bathroom scale. We can carry back free of charge 300 pounds. I had hoped to be close to that but we ended up at 600lbs.

No problem. After getting the excess removed I'm down to 400lbs. Now the tedious part. Fitting it all piece by piece into trunks then weighing the trunk by standing on the scale while holding the trunk. Then I set down the trunk to weigh myself without the trunk to calculate the difference. The depressing part in this is being reminded that I've gained 10 lbs on this trip and that everyone I see in Uganda is going to remind me of that when they say, "You have put on!" At least I should be excited that I live in a country that appreciates traditionally built women and the "big" man. And no, as incredible as it may seem, two days of load shifting and working in the hole does not cause you to lose even a pound.

Now after 48 hours of laboring I've got 8 trunks ready to go. I have a men's conference to attend and my dear wife is looking for something to do. I just know she's going shopping! Life in the hole goes on!