Travel – Page 9 – FindYourBuriedTreasure

Return from Africa means coming – or going – home

I’ve just returned from my fourth trip to Uganda in the past three years. I’ve gotten to the point where landing at Entebbe Airport makes me feel as though I’m coming home. So much about each trip is different from the others, with different teams, schedules, plans and programs. But so much about each trip is comfortable and familiar. I know that after I retrieve my luggage, I will be greeted and warmly welcomed by people I’ve come to know as family. After hugs and [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 29th, 2014|Columns, Family, Travel, Uganda|4 Comments

A Ugandan dance troupe is coming to heat up Minnesota’s winter

Question: What do you get when you take a few dozen people who live just a bit north of the equator, and drop them off in Minnesota in the middle of January – and a January of record cold to boot? Answer: We’re about to find out. That may sound like the premise for a new reality show or the latest fish-out-of-water movie or sitcom, but it’s not. It’s what is going to happen tomorrow when around 20 members of the Uganda-based Kika Troupe visit [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 17th, 2014|Columns, Travel, Uganda|Comments Off

A weekend road trip leads to Thunder Bay

The bus left Rochester at 5:30 a.m. on Friday. It pulled into Bloomington – where I boarded – at 7:00. After one last stop to pick up a few more people in Duluth, we continued on to our final destination of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Actually, we had one additional stop, a brief one at the border crossing. We didn’t pick up any additional passengers there, but we did impress the Customs agent – or at least made him smile – when we sang the first [...]

By bettyliedtke|November 1st, 2013|Columns, Toastmasters, Travel|Comments Off

Counting the moves, and counting the years

My daughter called the other day. In addition to the things we normally talk about on the phone, she asked if I remembered how old she was when we first moved from the Chicago area – where my husband and I grew up and where both of our kids were born – to Roanoke, Virginia, the first of several moves that eventually landed our family in Minnesota. I couldn’t answer off the top of my head, so I had to stop and do some mental [...]

By bettyliedtke|September 20th, 2013|Columns, Family, Travel|Comments Off

A Lesson from Star Trek

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.” Die-hard Star Trek fans will remember that line from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It’s what Spock tells Kirk after exposing himself to deadly radiation while repairing the damaged Starship Enterprise in order to save the ship and the rest of the crew. The flip side comes in the next Star Trek movie, when Kirk and crew violate orders so they can find and rescue Spock. When Spock asks [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 16th, 2013|Columns, Faith, Travel, Uganda, Values|6 Comments

Learning and relearning fills the time in Uganda

Some of the things I learned during this trip to Uganda: How to say “How are you?” “I’m fine,” and “Thank you” in Luo, the language of the Acholi tribe in Northern Uganda; What crocodile meat tastes like (better than boiled goat, in my opinion, but not as good as an ostrich burger); That wading in the Nile River is both humbling and refreshing; That a puppet waving from a bus window can make even stoic police and armed guards smile. Some of the things [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 9th, 2013|Columns, Faith, Family, Travel, Uganda|Comments Off

UGANDA TIME

Note: While I'm in Uganda, the Chanhassen Villager is publishing excerpts from my upcoming book about my first trip to Uganda, in October, 2011. Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 8:10 a.m. I really am getting used to Uganda time. By that I don’t mean that my body has finally recovered from jet lag and gotten used to the 8-hour time difference – although it has. Instead I mean that my mind is getting used to the Ugandan way of life. None of our programs have been [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 2nd, 2013|Columns, Faith, Travel, Uganda, Writing|Comments Off

Landing in Africa

Editor’s Note: Betty Liedtke is in Uganda. While she is gone, we are publishing excerpts from her upcoming book about her first trip to Uganda, in October, 2011. Tuesday Evening, October 11, 2011 I am in Africa! It doesn’t quite feel like it yet, because I haven’t actually gotten off the plane. Our Amsterdam to Entebbe flight included another stop – in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. That’s where we are now. It’s just a short stop, under an hour, and those of us going [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 21st, 2013|Columns, Travel, Uganda, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Back home to Uganda

I remember well arriving in Entebbe during my first trip to Uganda. Standing in the airport parking lot while our bags were being loaded in the van, I kept looking up at the sky and the scenery all around me, and thinking, "I'm in Africa! I'm in Africa!" It's now two trips later in just under two years, and I find myself taking it all in and enjoying the familiarity. I was welcomed as warmly as Tabitha was by her family who picked us up [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 14th, 2013|Family, Travel, Uganda, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Igniting a dream through Fire of Hope

Although I often write about what’s going on in my life and the various activities in which I’m involved, I try not to do too much self-promotion in my column. Today I’m doing a little of both, however. I hope you won’t mind. I’m going to be speaking at an event at the State Theatre in Minneapolis on January 18 and 19, called Fire of Hope. It’s being promoted as a “Girlfriends’ Getaway for God,” although men are welcome to attend, too. The program I’ll [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 4th, 2013|Coaching, Columns, Professional Speaking, Travel, Uganda|2 Comments

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