happppppy new year!

Yea, yea it’s been forever. I’ve been doing stuff. Let’s see, I passed my language, medical, cross culture, safety and security, and tech tests so I was able to swear in! We went to Kigali for 5 days right before Christmas and swore in at the ambassador’s house. Ceremony was mellow and we had lots of food after and watched dancing.


The time in Kigali was nice because it’s a big city so there are lots of good restaurants and places to shop, but it’s pretty expensive, especially with the living allowance we are on. I got a coffee that I couldn’t pass up and it was $8! Sometimes you have to splurge! The first day in Kigali I got a package from my mom from Nov. 13 but still haven’t received one from Oct. 28. Guess the mail isn’t as reliable as we thought. The day we left Kigali I got a package from Singapore filled with Oreos and mac n cheese and goodness! After I write this I am going to make some of that goodness. J

We got our moving allowance so we got to do hella shopping which was fun and a nightmare at the same time. There were 35 of us all buying similar items from 3 major stores. We had to buy everything from dishes and food to bedding and appliances. Sure was a nightmare dragging all of my crap back to where we were staying in the city. Peace Corps rented trucks to take all our stuff back to Nyanza where we would spend Christmas and then leave to site. The 2 hour ride back to Nyanza seemed especially long because I had some beers before and almost peed my pants on the bus. Oh life.

Christmas was fun. It was different without family and friends, but still enjoyable with new friends. Everyone came over to the kitchen house in the morning and started cooking brunch made up of macaroni and cheese, eggs, no bake cookies, hash browns, fruit salad, eggnog and hot chocolate. It was good stuff! One of my housemates, Nicole, really wanted a chicken for Christmas and she didn’t get one from her secret santa. On Christmas morning I heard lots of racket and Katy had snatched a chicken from outside and given it to her in bed. Nicole was thrilled! Some of us felt bad however, because the chicken definitely belonged to someone and its not like people around here have a ton to spare. So we let Santa go. The next night I was making grilled cheese and could barely see because the lights were out so I swung open the curtains all obnoxiously and almost shit myself. There was Santa in the window, more than 24 hours after he had been set free. I let the other girls swing open the curtain also and there was lots of flapping and screaming all around. The few days around Christmas were spent packing, hanging out with everyone before leaving, and watching 4 seasons of Sex and the City. Bethel left to site before I could watch the other 2 but it was fun considering I had never seen an episode before.



People started moving to their sites on Monday the 28^th. I moved on the 30^th with Megan and Ian. Our driver Verdaste, and our APCD Rukundo could not believe how much stuff I had. Seriously, it was pretty ridiculous. There is a picture Rainy posted of me with 2 bags and I will post this one. I saved most of the food I had received in care packages for when I moved knowing it would be a rough first week. Thankfully I saved as the market is a 40 minute walk away. Well, that’s what I’ve been told. They pointed somewhere up the mountain. I plan on venturing out tomorrow and it needs to happen as yesterday I ate peanut m & ms (thanks rain) and Pringles, and today I had macaroni and cheese with Cajun powder. Haha. I spent a long time setting up my water filter and its just leaking all over the place. I put a towel I bought under it and a bucket on the floor and now my bucket is filled with brown water. Guess I bought a cheap towel. What a mess. Gives me something to do tomorrow!




So I got here Wednesday and was greeted by all sorts of people and they made us “especials” which are omelettes with French fries. I’m a pretty big fan and they have them at most restaurants. Oh yea, the ride here is BRUTAL. I am literally on top of a mountain that is reachable by unpaved road with a bunch of rocks and potholes. It’s about an hour ride up and I got a bit carsick. The trip to and from may be just enough reason to keep me at site more! After a bunch of awkward greetings and staring at each other, I walked with my school director and his assistant to the school I will be teaching at. It’s a boarding school and it’s about 15 minutes away. On Thursday morning I went out to the main road to catch the bus Megan was on and head to Kibuye for New Years. I got to the road at 8:20. I stood waiting in the hot sun with flies swarming and at 9:50 Megan and the bus finally arrived. About 20 minutes down the hill we got a flat tire, of course, but the man with the Lakers sweatshirt fixed it. We made it to Rubengera where we needed to get on another bus to Kibuye. And when I say bus, I mean Volkswagon type van that they load with 20 people at least. We waited another hour as buses don’t leave until they fill up. We made it to Kibuye where 2 other volunteers are living in a house on the lake. Their place is ridiculous. It came fully furnished with deep freezer even and has WIFI! Uhh, last time I checked a ton of people in the US don’t have wireless. We made chili and spent New Years there and I left in the morning to get back to site.


I was anxious to unpack! I thought waiting for my first bus ride was annoying but on my second bus a drunk guy with 6 fingers on one hand and none on the other kept harassing me. Literally, rubbing his stub on me and putting it in my lap and saying stuff in Kinyarwanda. Even other people on the bus were telling him to stop. I put my ipod on trying to ignore him but after 30 minutes of waiting and being prodded at my ipod died and I got off and took another bus.

Getting back to site was nice but living here is obviously going to take some getting used to. The first day I didn’t have running water for awhile, yesterday I didn’t have electricity most of the day and it’s lonely! I have never lived on my own before! My house is attached to a room where people knit and such and just last night there was a wedding there! Being the new girl in town and a muzungu, people have been showing up to my door and its super awkward like when I’m in bed still. Also kids come wandering in just to stare and yesterday I was asked for my sandals by a girl who was barefoot. So, I had a gate built. Problem solved for now.I was going to write more but Jeff said no one will read it if it’s too long. Sorry guys. I’ll do better at keeping up.