pandas!

Haven’t written in a few…things have been busy and days kinda blending together with language training, cross cultural and safety sessions, and tech. trainings. We had 3 current volunteers working in the health sector come talk to us about their time so far in Rwanda. All 3 of them teach English also, I think because the demand for that is much greater. They filled us in on American taboos and random Rwandan things like when you yawn people think you’re hungry. We did our laundry outside the other day in buckets with the same nasty yellow water we bathe with. Our clothes had only been hanging to dry for like 2 hours when we thought rain was coming so we took them all down and tried to hang them inside. Just a big mildew mess. And when scrubbing the clothes I’m pretty sure they are already getting worn out so feel free to send more. Turns out bringing a bunch of white clothing for heat purposes wasn’t the best move as they get crazy dirty and Rwanda isn’t “Africa hot”. Plus, we’re in rainy season and when it rains, it pours. Haven’t got my rain boots in the mail so my good ole rainbows are getting it done. Kinda…Random thought, someone in my group told me he didn’t think he would be carrying many conversations with me as I had bleached blonde hair and wear coked out glasses. Guess I wasn’t the only one judging people based on their facebook pictures.


Yesterday we met with our resource families who we will hang out with to learn Kinyarwanda and exchange cultures. My host mom is Immaculate and she has 2 kids, Noella, 14 and Cardinal, 10. My host mom and I went to her work at the pharmacy and the only thing I could read in English was vaginal tablets. They came in a box of 3. Little kids kept stopping to see me and I got a picture of a kid with a Los Angeles, CA shirt. Then on our walk to my host house I saw a little kid with the most amazing shirt EVER. Before my grandma passed away I took her pajama pants and a red, crewneck sweatshirt she had from the San Diego Zoo with the 2 pandas on it because she just adored them. So yesterday, I’m walking and a little boy had the same shirt. I almost started crying just because it was so amazing. So good to see.




When we got to the house it was definitely awkward for a little while because they speak little English and I speak little Kinyarwanda. We finally went the culture exchange route and Noella started playing dvds she had with music videos from Rwanda, India, and the US. We watched Thriller, Timbaland and One Republic, but the best was when Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World” Super Bowl edition came on. I was soooo pumped. So good. SO good! Noella had never heard of Rihanna but then a Chris Brown video came on so I tried to explain that relationship by fake choking my host mom. HA. Yep, I’m awkward. All of us volunteers were supposed to be back to our site by 4 to go to the museum but at like 230 it started raining like crazy. Of course I had a tank top and shants on so I was already freezing. My host mom kept trying to tell me I needed to take a mototaxi but we aren’t allowed to ride them but of course I can’t say that in Kinyarwandan. I just kept saying, “Oya! Ndi umustagiyeri wa Peace Corps! Oya! Oya!” That only means no, I’m a trainee with the Peace Corps. No. No. She finally got the point. A Peace Corps car came to collect some of us volunteers who had called and of course getting in I hit my elbow so friggin hard. 10 minutes later when my elbow still hurt someone was like yea you know you have blood on your purse. OH. Cool. Last thing I wanna hear about is blood in Africa. Elbow shout out to Floyd. J

Our museum trip was rescheduled due to the chaos of collecting everyone so instead we all went to get a beer. The 40s cost $1. Then as we started to leave to find food there was a city wide blackout but thankfully we have our Nokia Torches which have a little flashlight on top of the phone. We found a spot down the road still serving food off their verbal menu. Power came back within 45 minutes, followed by our food 15 minutes later. Ah well.


fish at restaurant.

Today is my first day free and only day free for at least another 2 weeks. I was all pumped to walk into town to upload this and some pictures but its pouring again. Gonna be a mellow day and then busy week. Write me! If you have Skype or a phone card call me! My number is: 250785328366. For Los Angeles people, just subtract 3 and change the color of the sky for the time change. Miss you all.