Updates

Hello Everyone

I'm sorry I haven't been better about updating.  I don't have interent on my computer and all my free time is consumed by studying or sleeping.  they are keeping us very busy.  Here are a couple blogs I wrote a few days ago.  I will try and write more often and post them all at once when I get a chance.  Hope you all are doing well. 
Annie

10.30.10
Posh Corps

Every time I begin feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the lack of running water or the 6 hours it takes to make one meal, I remind myself just how great we have it here in Rwanda compared to PCV’s.  Take for example, Niger where our medical officer was working before coming to Rwanda.  He estimated that only about 15% of us will have issues with dysentery during our service as opposed to the 75% he estimated get it in Niger.  We also have a consistent 75-80 degree temperature range, not a 100 degree average.  The other perks of Rwanda would include the beautiful scenery, amazing fruits and vegetables, and most importantly (so far) no large furry bugs or critters living in my house!  Rwanda is perfect for me! 
Today was an amazing day, it was like Christmas, and we each got brand new mountain bikes!  Each came equipped with a light, water bottle, air pump, helmet and a nifty tool that has far more parts than I know what to do with.  Tomorrow we have a bike maintenance class to learn how to take care of them.  These bikes couldn’t have come at a better time.  The house I live in is at least 3 miles to the training center, other volunteer’s houses, and the city center and I was really starting to feel isolated.  Now that I have a bike I finally have some independence again to go out and explore.  Tomorrow we have ½ the day off which is the first time they have given us any free time at all so I’m very excited to do what I choose!
A couple nights ago we cooked our first meal at our house.  We joined forces with the one of the boy’s houses that’s right by us so there was 11 of us cooking.  We went to the market to buy our food at 5pm, we got home around 7, began cooking and finally ate at 11pm.  This was not a pleasurable experience and I learned quickly how difficult it is to cook with no stove or oven.  We had 3 little grill like things where we heat charcoal and then place a pot on top to cook.  We have no counter to cut vegetables on so we put cutting boards on the ground and chopped all the vegetables on them, no sink or running water to wash dishes so we did it in buckets outside.  This experience made me realize how challenging cooking for myself in Rwanda will be and that I will likely be eating a lot of peanut butter (they have it here mom!) and jelly sandwiches! 


10.29.10
Rwanda Time

Oh my…where do I begin!  My entire concept of time is gone!  I’ve been in Rwanda just over a week yet I feel like it’s been weeks and the days go by so fast but at the end, what happened in the morning feels like it was days ago!  I’m constantly taking in new information and I feel like a child because I have to learn even the simplest things.
Our days have been nonstop!  We left Kigali (the capital) on Sunday and we are now staying in Nyanza which is where we will be for the rest of our training.  It is still a large city but much more manageable than Kigali.  We are all split up into about 5 houses and have to walk each day to the training center.  Our house has one large main room and then 3 bedrooms and a bathroom.   We have electricity (most of the time) but no running water.  Our house has a brick fence around it and a gate.  We have 2 guards (one for the day and one for the night) that stay at the house all the time, they get water for us, clean the house and today he even did our laundry!  I’ve never had such luxuries!  Apparently this is fairly common and when we get to site we can choose to have someone do our chores for us as well.  I live with 3 other PCT’s (Peace Corps Trainees) and 2 LCF’s (Language and Culture Facilitators) who are both Rwandan.  Their job is to teach us how to live like Rwandans; how to cook our food outdoors with charcoal (there is no kitchen) how to buy things in the market, how to ride the bus, etc. etc.  They also spend lots of time work with us on our language skills. 
So each morning we get up and go to the training center by 7 am for breakfast then we have classes.  We usually have a couple language classes each day, a technical training session and occasionally medical or security and safety.  We eat lunch there and most often dinner as well so by the time we get home it’s after 8.  It’s been exhausting!
We have also been assigned reference families who we met on Monday.  These are families that live in Nyanza who we are supposed to spend at least 4-6 hours with each week to learn more about Rwandan culture.  On Tuesday I went to their home just to visit and Thursday I had a meal with them.  This was probably the most fascinating experience of my life.  The family speaks only Kinyarwanda so while I was there with them for about 3 hours we spent a lot of time looking at my language books pointing to different words trying to communicate.  Because of the language gap I’m still not completely sure who is a part of the family and who isn’t but I believe my family has 10 children 3 of which live at home along with 3 grandchildren.  Their house doesn’t have electricity and has about 3 rooms they all share.   We sat on the floor on straw mats; we ate with our hands and from the same dishes.  The food was actually really good; lots of fresh vegetables and fruit (bananas and pineapple) and thankfully my stomach enjoyed it as well!  They have been so welcoming and excited to have me visit. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to spend time with them to really get to know what it’s like to be Rwandan.   At one point I was sitting with my back to the door and I looked and there were at least 10 people right behind me just sitting and staring at me.  It’s fairly unusual for them to see a white person at all but especially inside a regular person’s home.  The people here are completely fascinated by muzungu’s as they call us.  We are constantly yelled at or pointed at walking down the street.  They don’t mean to be rude or mean they are just very curious.
It has been an adjustment here though and I’ve definitely experienced some culture shock.  It’s all very overwhelming, there are people everywhere all the time staring at you watching your every move, nothing looks familiar, the buildings, the roads, the stores, nothing is the same.  I feel very helpless and vulnerable at times because I don’t even know how to buy toothpaste.  But we are slowly learning and gaining more independence which is what I need to feel like I have some control again.  I’ve definitely never felt unsafe though, Peace Corps takes great care of us. 
Well that’s the abbreviated version of life here in Rwanda.  Please send e-mails, pictures, letters, anything!  I want to know how you everyone is doing!  As I get used to things here more I will hopefully be in touch more often.
Annie