One of the perks about staying in Kampala for the first month of my stay in Uganda is that they have plenty of places to be refreshed from the business of missionary life. One of those places is the Speke Hotel and Resort. Now of course we are on a missionary budget so we do not stay there, but they do have an Olympic size swimming pool and for just a few dollars you can spend the day swimming and lounging around the pool. It is a great retreat spot and a popular spot on the weekends for missionaries and missionary kids.
Well on my first trip to the swimming pool I thought I would be super smart and not get sunburned on my first venture into many hours in the Ugandan sun. I brought SPF 50 that was waterproof, sweat proof, and “sun” proof. I was sooo proud of myself as I coated my body with sunscreen. I was extra generous with the sunscreen as usually I dab it on and go on my marry way. I kept saying to myself the whole time I was lathering up…”you are so smart Jeannie… there is no way you are going to get burned! Good Job!”
Unfortunately the joy of my “smartness” was not long lasted! After only two and a half hours in the pool I came home to look in the mirror and much to my surprise…I looked like a lobster! I am still not quite sure how it happened…how SPF 50 was still not enough….I will just chalk this experience up to a deformed bottle of sunscreen.
However the story gets better. It happened that my roommate here was out of town for the weekend. So all weekend it was just our guard, the dogs, and me. When I came in the house and saw myself in the mirror I had to laugh at myself. I thought it was so funny because I had been so good to put on my sunscreen. I laughed at myself for a good ten minutes. Well our sweet little guard, I guess who was not used to people laughing at themselves when they are alone, yelled up to my window, “Jean…Jean…are you ok?” Since it is his job to make sure that we are safe he wanted to make sure everything was ok, but I would have loved to have known what he was thinking….I am sure it to go something like this “crazy muzungu (which means white person) she is laughing even when no one else is home.”
The missionaries have had a good time laughing about my mishap with the sunscreen and it is my first funny Africa story so I thought everyone should join in the fun! Don’t worry I am sure there will be plenty more to come!
