Unearthly Bored

I have Finally caved and started listening to books on tape. Sean mentioned the other day that I had not mentioned my lack of music recently and was pleased with my growth that my loss was apparently just a blip on the radar. I had been trying to keep my verbal complaints to a minimum and keep track of my thoughts and media input on paper, but my innate laziness eventually won out and I stopped writing things down. Partially because I was willing to accept the 33 songs on Jen’s computer that I know / would be willing to listen to and have played them on repeat. I even started playing Donkey Kong with the sound on because that was enough melody to feed my ears with. Chris will also let me borrow her ipod when she’s not using it, as will Penny. And Katie has country, so I listened to it all weekend in Kigali. I had also been keeping track of my dreams for a while, but there were a few nights where either I didn’t remember them, or they were ultimately boring. Recently, they have started to be interesting again, so I’ll probably start writing again. It partially depends on the bedding situation at site – I’d forgotten just quite how small twin beds really are.
Right now, I am listening to “The BFG” because I’ve read it often enough that it’s almost like background music. I now have a whole collection of Roald Dahl books along with the Twilight series, the Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow sagas (YES!!!!!) Louis L’Amour short stories (??), Inkdeath series, Thief Lord, and Dragon Rider, and The Black Company Series by Glen Cook (again, ??). [Oh yuck – that’s a terrible voice for the giant.] not that I really have any way to listen to them once I go to site, but I’ll figure it out.

I suppose I ought to continue with last week’s saga. Monday night, Michele and I did not follow directions very carefully and instead of taking a cab to the designated neighborhood, we took a bus to the Peace Corps office which we heard was near the neighborhood. Good thing we tried to go early because we ended up walking for about 45 minutes through the nice Americanized neighborhood complete with tennis courts, golf course, and community hall. When we arrived at the Mbanda house, I felt like I was stepping into a Pleasanton home (Morgan clan will understand this). Huge, classy, beautiful, multiple stories, pool in the backyard, AND (exciting to see in Rwanda) refrigerator, microwave, pantry, island in the kitchen, and a beautiful Christmas tree in the corner adorned with lights, and ornaments – even the necessary 1st grade macaroni made and painted decorations. The Mbanda family was just delighting and delighted to meet Americans that could speak Kinyrwanda. Of course, it helps that I brought Michele with me. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and for dessert, African tea and home made tree-tomato (Japanese Plums) Italian ice.

All right, Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we had another talent show. Kevin and I opened with “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. One house recreated the last 15 minutes of the Charlie Brown Christmas movie from the Christmas speech through the dancing to the tree decorating and finally the Christmas carol at the end – all in about 5 minutes, of course. It was adorable. There were Christmas jokes and finally, Marta and Colleen read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” – Rwanda Style. After our very short talent show, we held a White Elephant gift exchange. I brought a blow up goose that squeaked, and won “A Day with the Frat Pack” which included dinner and a beer. The Frat Pack is Brandon, Austin, and Ryan, and they have quite the bro-mance going on, and they definitely earned their name.
So Christmas morning, people came over to our house way early and we started on our Christmas brunch (which we ate around 12:30). I helped cook initially, but as more people came, I just donated cooking supplies and found other things to do around the house. I cleaned some of the dishes that had started to collect from the week, and then I did my laundry. I finished just in time to wash up before eating. We had scrambled eggs with chicken and cheese and veggies in it, mac and cheese, fruit salad, and hash browns. Oh! And African tea (Hot Milk with Ginger), home made eggnog, and hot cocoa.
Morgan was my first call of the day, followed by Sean, and then my Parents. I did spend my day with the Frat Pack, but it was pretty mellow. Other people watched Love, Actually (which I watched 2 weeks ago) and Elf (which I also watched most of 2 weeks ago). I got to a point where I decided it was much easier Not to try and make December 25 feel like a holiday this year. There is no way to feel the same as when I’m at home, and it’s just too depressing to try. Plus, my time will go by much more quickly if I can just let everything run together.

Day after Christmas? I believe I posted the last blog =D. blimey, what did I do… (yes, still listening to Roald Dahl) yes! I sat at the interwebs for quite a while, trying to figure out how to load pictures – obviously didn’t work… but I think I have figured it out. When I post this tomorrow, I will try again. I went to lunch with Jen and Marta, and then came back and sat all day. Sunday was not much more exciting. I kept meaning to get to the market and buy buckets and cooking pots and things, but I’m sure you’re all aware of just how much self motivation I have with no real schedule to follow. Plus, it was still raining. Right – I haven’t mentioned that yet. As of now – at 8pm on Dec 28th, it has been raining for 5 days. I saw the sun for 3 hours on Christmas morning, 2 hours on the 26th in the afternoon, and another 2-3 yesterday around noon; because, even when it’s not raining, it is permanently cloudy.

Note – I have just discovered how to make this Word document read like a book.

This morning, our first third of PCVs were trucked off to their sites. Jen and I caught a ride into Kigali and I hit up one of the Indian markets for spices and basic foods. I now have 2 types of lentils, rice, noodles, tomato paste, some peanut butter and jelly, and mock Nutella. And Maggi cubes. As far as we understand, this is pretty much pure MSG, and it’s delicious. I’m hoping that Byumba has some stores for anything else I might need.

Ok, I swear I’m not trying to do this backwards, but I keep writing things and remembering other things I need to write about. Like my site! Ok, I don’t know a lot, but I’ll give you what I can. And I’ll try to stop saying OK so much… I am in the Gicumbi district in the north, just south of the capital, Byumba. I will live in a very small shopping strip area. Next to one of the stores, the owner has built a house. It’s pink. I do not have electricity, but I have purchased a gas tank with a thingy that sits on top and you can light like a stove. Yes, I know it has a name, no, I don’t remember what it is. I will also buy 2 small charcoal burners as well. My “kitchen”, toilet, and shower area are all in the backyard. Haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t exactly know what that means. I don’t know if there is a water spigot at the house, but if not, I can hire someone to deliver water to me.
Yesterday, I was delivered my bicycle, bike helmet, and motorcycle helmet to take to site with me. I know my school is only a few kilometers from my house, but I don’t know what the terrain is like, so I don’t know how often I will use the bike. There is a market town fairly nearby in the other direction. Apparently, this is where I will go if I need to charge things. I am hoping for very tiny things, like my phone, I will be able to charge at the school.
I am the closest Ed PCV to Kigali, but I expect I will go to Byumba more often.

Sidebar - I think the hair on my arms has bleached.

No, I don’t really have anything else to say about my site. I don’t know anything yet. I leave on Wednesday, and I don’t know when I will get back to internet again. I certainly won’t have Jen’s computer for any more of these novel sized blogs. Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 marks the first time I will ever truly live alone. I don’t really expect to sleep for at least the first week. And I don’t really know what I’m going to do about new years, but I might try and ignore it too.

- oh for the love of pete – british voice actors trying to sound like Iraqis – just tragic.

In any case, I will be procuring a PO box as soon as possible, and I will post my new address. For those of you who are interested, my phone number is posted on my facebook page. And again, if any of you are interested in the personal thoughts emails I send home, please either make a comment or message me on FB or email me and I will make sure to add you to the list.

Oh yeah – school starts on February 1. I am hoping that the teachers will be at school during January and I can help with their training. Otherwise, I will be writing a lot of letters, and practicing cooking a lot. I certainly will have time to settle in…