another 10 days - only talking about 5 of them

Another 10 days. Some of my peers here keep a diary of our daily activities. This would probably be a good idea so that I have some base when I sit down to write these blogs. I had been taking notes for a while, but am swiftly running out of paper. I bought some more notebooks in Kigali, but I really hope my boxes get here soon.
Ps. It’s 7:30 the morning after Christmas, so my verb tenses probably won’t agree in most of my sentences.
Sidebar – Christmas joke – what does the English teacher call Santa’s helpers? Subordinate Clauses.

And now – a day by day break down. Because you ALL need to know Every detail. ha. Who knows, maybe this will all just be a book some day. Then I’ll be glad I recorded everything…

Thursday night I got to eat pizza for the first time in 3 months. Not phenomenal, but close enough to American pizza to be pretty darn good. Friday we went over to PC office in the morning and listened to a genocide survivor give his testimony. I also talked to our coordinators to find out more about my site, so I’ll get to that in a bit. I bummed around the office all afternoon, and I think we tried some local passion fruit wine when we got back to the housing place. We were staying in a kind of a motel run by nuns next to their convent, church, school, and apparently winery – but it felt like dorms because the public bathrooms were at the end of the hallway/compound thing (all open air, with shaded sidewalks. Like the oakbrook mall, or Newsome HS. ) On the up side, they had showers. With a knob for Hot water. And the toilets flushed. Shazam.
So Saturday we spent all morning getting ready for swear in. For some of us, this meant straightening hair and hunting down jewelry. For others (me included) this meant lying flopped 6 to a bed watching everyone else get ready and finally get up (with plenty of time) to throw on my dress and twist my hair back.


Swear in:
We (all 35 trainees, our teachers, our coordinators, and staff) all bussed over to the ambassador’s house and signed in on the guest book. Then we sat. (because waiting for 50 some odd people to sign in takes a while) We opened up with the student speakers: Michele and Kevin co-read a speech in Kinyarwanda, Julie-Ann read a speech in French, and Katie Basketball (there are 2 katies, both from nebraska, so yes, that’s what we call her. The other Katie I might have ever referenced is the one who live in my house. Oh yeah, and we roomed together in Kigali over this weekend. ) anyway, Katie Basketball read a speech in English. Then we all stood and repeated the same oath all government employees do – except I think you’re supposed to pick either “swear” or “affirm” and actually say “I --- do swear or affirm to uphold the constitution…”. I kinda felt like we should have had caps to throw or something though. Oh well. This was all followed by a very nice buffet and we mingled with all the RPCVs (returned PCV) who came. Why are there a bunch of RPCVs in Kigali you ask? (ok, well maybe you don’t, but a bunch of us did) Because they all work for the State Dept. or USAID or NGOs now. I definitely picked up some business cards for people to contact when I come in to town. We had our cake while watching traditional Rwandan dancing. The dance troupe they invited is composed mostly of “children from disadvantaged families” in an effort to expose them to the arts and more of the world by performing.
We took one final picture with Everybody before we left. It is technically on facebook. I know it’s far away and hard to see us in any detail, but I’ve got a copy of it and when I post any kind of pictures, I’ll zoom in a little.

Sunday a bunch of us just lazed around – laid out in the sun in the courtyard, read and played music on our speakers. A few of us had an adventure and learned that you’re not supposed to fit 5 people in a cab, but managed to get to an Ethiopian restaurant. Food there was pretty good – I’m still not a big fan of the sponge like bread they use for plates, but they have great seasoning and it was a nice change from what we were used to. We capped off our adventure by learning the bus system. Busses in Rwanda always have the same 2 end destinations and certain stops along the way. I say always because the destinations are painted onto the bus, so there’s no switching around or taking another route one day. The Rwandans are Extremely helpful regarding busses as well. When you get close to the bus depot in the center of the city, just start asking around with the name of where you want to go, and someone will point you to the right bus. The drivers Always tell you if you are getting on the right one and won’t let you ride around for hours only to discover that the bus you’re on isn’t even going in the right direction. (presumptuous fear – I could see it happening in America) And if you’re anywhere else in the city, just ask the nearest store owner or person who looks like they know the area well where the nearest bus station is. Busses are pretty cheap too. The only frustrating thing is that it will cost you more to ride in a taxi across town than a bus for 2 hours out of town.
After this adventure, I went to the Rwandan version of BigLots which sells mostly Chinese products. I bought a lot of my kitchen supplies (pitcher, sponges, Tupperware, etc) and a wide bucket and checked prices on various other items. I was really glad to get a head start on my shopping because Monday was going to be hectic.
We had a meeting Sunday night about ordering mattresses and organizing groups for shopping on Monday. Right as we were about to start, we went over to turn off the TV in the dining room (staff was perpetually watching the TV) only to see ourselves on the Rwandan evening news! Apparently those cameras at our swear in were news cameras and they got some great shots of us looking ridiculous as we all try and be as serious as possible taking our oath. They also recorded Michele’s speech and interviewed her after. This broadcast has had some positive and negative effects: 1 - everyone knows who we are, and are excited to talk to us now. 2 – this, in turn, means we are getting hailed on the street a lot more. 3 – people think we can All speak as well as Michele and try to start conversations. 4 – especially men because the only thing better than a muzungu wife is one who already speaks his language.

So Monday was nerve-wracking. We split into 2 groups and put all our personal belongings onto the busses (that we would ride home on) and anything we bought into trunks that were labeled for us on the back of 2 large trucks. Group 1 would go to T2000 (the biglots store) and group 2 would park near the upper-scale grocery / malls that were across the street from each other. We start around 9 and at 11:30 everyone would switch sites. So you had to know exactly what you wanted to get from each site before you went, or settle for buying something that you could have possibly found cheaper or a better quality at the other store, or buying it twice. But before I could even be concerned with the shopping crunch, I had to figure out how to stay an extra day because I was supposed to meet Erika’s parents, Chantal and Mbanda, for dinner, and the reception desk had been closed on Sunday and I don’t speak enough French to make myself understood. (or KR, obviously) ok, I know you can all do this – picture me walking back and forth between the dining hall and my room (including a flight of stairs) about 8 times between breakfast and when the reception opened at 8 and checking with my teacher every stop that they would help me ask for a room and half packing up in case I didn’t get to stay, and half not packing up determined to stay and asking about a hundred questions about the truck/trunk situation because until it shows up, you don’t ever know exactly how things will work. Good grief, my pulse is rising just writing about it.
The room thing worked out and Michele stayed with me for the day. The shopping worked out and I got everything I planned on and some new books – Kidnapped by RL Stevenson and The Europeans by Henry James. I’ve decided I really like authors between 1850 and 1950. I feel more inspired to write after reading their prose.

Ok, I’ll finish my story of dinner and all the Christmas celebrations another time. Probably on Monday.
AND i'll tell you all about my site.
i promise. =)


Until then:
Things in America that I have learned about in Africa:
- Britney Murphy is dead. Who let that happen?
- New artist names Kei$ha (or something ridiculous like that). She’s hilarious. And gorgeous. Char, go look up her video on Youtube right now. First line of the song is “wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy”.
- It snowed EVERYWHERE. Except tampa. Still.

Final thoughts:
- I think Paul would have done well in the Peace Corps – Philipians 4:12-13 – I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content – whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or need. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

- but in your dreams, whatever they be, dream a little dream of me