“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” – Caskie Stinnett

Let’s call this “the week of many firsts”. First bout of sickness (don’t worry, I’m pretty much all better now). First time eating Rwandan “pizza” (can’t say I’d recommend it). First time running in Rwanda (and barely living through it). First celebration of a national holiday (International Women’s Day, to be exact). First time attempting to learn traditional Rwandan dance moves (with moderate success). And the first time completing tasks that in America we don’t think twice about but here become “time consuming necessities” (hmm, making water drinkable, doing laundry, planning to cook ourselves dinner).

Yesterday (March 8) was International Women’s Day (yay women!), a day that in the US seems pretty much forgotten. But here in Rwanda, it’s a national holiday. We were invited to the Nyanza stadium for a celebration that included speeches by local community members and dancing by two traditional Rwandan dance groups. But before the event could even start, we were pulled onto the field by a group of secondary students to dance; I wonder how many people’s days were made by watching the crazy “abazungu” attempt African dance moves. I know mine was. The speeches were of course difficult to follow considering they were in a language of which I’ve barely achieved the vocabulary of a 2 year old. But luckily, the language of dance is universal. I was entranced and am determined to discover the secret to move like these people do. If only I’d been able to capture it on video for you, it’s really almost impossible to describe. Their feet and legs keep time, but their torsos and arms almost seem disjointed from their bodies and are telling a completely different story. The women’s overall movement and in particular the use of their arms is (while strong) extremely fluid and calculated. The men, on the other hand, are more abrupt and rigid and use their heads more often to change the course of their movements. I truly couldn’t look away.

That night we held our own commemoration of the day; a few of us explained the history of international women’s day and shared some statistics on women around the world and in Rwanda. For instance, did you know that the Rwandan constitution states that women must compose 30% of posts with decision making power, but as of 2008, more than 48% of its legislature is female? After a brief but informative discussion on the role of women throughout different cultures, we got down to the real business: Primus drinking and more dancing. There are no words for how happy nights like those make me, and I think people immediately understand me a bit more after seeing me dance and how content it makes me. Particularly now that I have mastered “the Felicien”. Felicien, our language training manager, has a dance style unlike anyone I’ve ever seen. But with enough watching and mimic-ing, I was finally able to conquer it, and the two of us dancing became quite the spectacle.

I realize now why Peace Corps told us not to bring a lot of clothes. Because once you start having to wash all of them by hand, you wish that your wardrobe is tiny. There is a technique to it, a technique which seems to be second nature to all Rwandans, but one we Americans are completely devoid of. All I know is it took me the better part of an hour to wash 3 pairs of shorts and 3 shirts, and I had to rinse everything 4 times when I’ve been told it should only need to be done twice. There was only one casualty: my $8 Kmart watch. Fearful that it might get wet, I decided to take it off (yay me!). Note to self, when removing watch remember 1) to not have soapy, wet hands and 2) not to remove it over a bucket of water. RIP little isaha. Good thing I can find another one in the market for about $1. Anyways, there is certainly some satisfaction found in looking at clothes strewn over the clothesline and realizing the work that I put into it. That, and I won’t smell bad. Hopefully.

Today something special happened. I was given a Rwandan name. Felicien bestowed it upon me, and I hope it sticks because I kind of love it. Muraho, nitwa Umugwaneza. (Hello, my name is Umugwaneza). Umugwaneza, you ask? It roughly translates to “one who helps others, one who does good things; one who has goodness in their heart”. I was incredibly touched when I found out what it meant and hope that I can remain true to and live up to the name.

Much more to say, but I’ve got to get over to my resource family, as my host brother, Jacques, just called to say “we’re waiting for you!” Some happy things below for your enjoyment. Hope all is happy and well in your world!

Things that make me happy this week:
1) Filtered water that doesn’t actually taste like filtered water.
2) When random children walk up to me on the street, say “good morning”, grab my hand and walk with me down the road.
3) COLD Primus.
4) Peace Corps dance parties.
5) There’s a certain spot in our back courtyard that smells like cow manure. While most people would hate this, it secretly happily reminds me of home.
6) Having clean clothes by using only a bucket, water, a bar of laundry soap, and a lot of scrubbing.
7) Fresh baked bread/rolls from the local bakery, conveniently located in the same building as the only Nyanza petrol station.
8) When I feel that completing 4 sentences with a 10 year old is a successful Kinyarwanda conversation.
9) Only thing better than being a crazy “umuzungu” walking down the street is being a crazy “umuzungu” running down the street.
10) Stopping for a second, taking a deep breath, looking around and appreciating the land of a thousand hills.