Here's something you don't expect: When we were packing to come to Uganda, we packed sparsely. Yeah, we had five huge bags that were checked through, but believe it or not we left a lot behind as well. I brought only three pairs of shoes. One is a pair of running shoes - good for walking all over the place, and very breathable. The other two pairs are dress shoes since being well dressed is very important in Uganda. One is a nice shiny black pair and the other is a nice brown pair.
For some reason - maybe the altitude, maybe the heat, or maybe I'm just retaining water - my shoes don't fit. My sneakers are stretchy enough that I can wear them and I even wear them when I play basketball but they squeeze my toes pretty good when they're laced up. My black dress shoes just barely fit my feet - they're the ones I wear to church. My brown shoes don't fit at all. I've had that pair of shoes for almost ten years and they've always fit fine. But here in Uganda I can't fit my feet into them anymore. What am I going to do with them now? Just think of what we could have fit into that space and weight if we left them back in the US! We could have brought more essentials like a couple bags of chocolate chips!