Two months down, 25 to go.

Well, after two months in Rwanda, I thought it time to do some reflecting on my time here as well as look ahead to the two years I have in front of me. Over the past two months, I’ve experienced so much, learned so much, been confused by so much, been moved by so much. So settle in, grab some popcorn (no really, have some for me, kettle corn is my favorite) and let’s look back at the past two months of Amy: It’s a Rwandaful Life.

Friends/Relationships/Connections:

Well, we began as 37 strangers, picked to live and work in Rwanda (yes, my intention was to sound like the beginning of the Real World intro) and despite being down to 35 trainees (we miss you Anna and Allie!!) I’m pretty excited that I get to spend the next 2 years in this country with this group of people. Everyone comes from diverse upbringings and backgrounds and brings something different to the group. We each have unusual skills and talents, as well as a certain level of awkwardness and unique humor that will provide us with endless entertainment on this lovely continent.

Well first off, there’s Jessi, who people have already started calling my “other half,” “soul mate” and “life partner”. We’ve shared a house, a bedroom, a bed (at times), language class, clothes, and even parasitic pizza (and its aftermath). I’m grateful to have her here and look forward to many many years of friendship to come. And many visits to her house, and the mango tree that grows there, in the Eastern Province.

My housemates (Tech House Represent!) are fantastic. Jessi, Jenny, Sally, Sonya, Arielle, Sihya, Lawrence, Gilbert, Esperance and Gerardine might be the best group of people I could have ever asked to live. Nights consistently end in fits of laughter or strobe lighted dance parties or inappropriate games; fantastic (and I mean incredibly fantastic) meals have been cooked; and we just have each others backs, inside and outside of the house. I love them all. Yes, even you, Lawrence.

Then there are our LCFs and the other Peace Corps Staff who by now I pretty much just consider as my family. It’s amazing to see the relationships that blossom despite language and cultural barriers. We truly are at a point where we understand each other, and I’m not only speaking to the fact that we can now each speak a lot of the other’s language. The connection is unspoken, really. But it continues to amaze me, and bring me a ton of happiness. And sadness knowing that starting next week I won’t be spending every waking minute with these people. But they’re not going anywhere (except Abel, he’s going to South Africa for school. Yay!) and when all else fails I can stalk them via phone or facebook.

Food/Sustenance/Disease Carrying Nourishment:

Rwandan food and I are in a never-ending struggle, an epic battle of good versus evil (yet I can’t quite figure out who’s on what side). We have our tiffs, I decide I never want to speak to it or see it again, but then the hunger pains hit and I always come crawling back to the table. And then there was of course the infamous Butare Poopy Pizza incident. This is definitely the first time in my entire life that I haven’t craved pizza, in fact I’d go as far as to say pizza actually sounds repulsive. I do, however, continue to crave Chipotle, sushi and Asian food (just so you know I‘m not going entirely crazy). I’m excited to move to site and be forced to cook for myself, though along with this excitement is an almost equal dose of fear that I’ll soon be surviving on fruit, raw carrots and bread alone.

I love plantains, particularly when they’re cooked in a peanutty curry sauce. I can eat peas and carrots for almost every meal, and beans and rice will never be far from my dietary radar. I think I will learn to love dodo (it’s a green, kind of like spinach, but not really at all) but ubugari (strange dough-like ball that you dip in sauce) and I will never be friends. Ever. I’m fairly certain I’ll become a vegetarian once I get to site (despite the occasional goat brochette from a local watering hole) and I’ll continue to love potatoes in all of their different forms. The lack of “spice” is fairly depressing, so I’m excited for spices I know are on the way from my parents and hope that I can track down cayenne pepper soon, as the hot pepper that is available here (urasenda) does not agree with my pallet. Don’t get me wrong, I looooove the heat it provides, but there’s something about the flavor that I can’t stand, I’d put it up close to cilantro even. Yuck. Anyways, I hope I can experiment a lot, so if any of you are bored and want to track down recipes and send them to me to see if it’s possible to make said recipes in Rwanda, pass them along!! Just remember that I’ll most likely be cooking on either a gas tank or electric hotplate, though I have grand intentions to build a makeshift oven. Baby steps, baby steps. Buhoro buhoro.

The Language/Kinyarwanda/Something I Will Be Grateful to Know But Never Even Fathom Mastering:

Words have different meanings depending on the tone you use to speak them, again “umushyitsi“ can mean visitor or earthquake depending on how you say it. The same for “inzara” which can mean hunger or nails. EVERY verb in the entire language begins with “Ku” “Gu” or “Kw” and there is a verb for EVERYTHING. Adjectives, verbs, possession, etc. change depending on whether you’re talking about a person, a thing, and idea, a place, a foreign word, an animal, a liquid…get my drift? Oh, and don’t forget there’s a singular and plural for each of these. Well almost each of them. There’s ALWAYS an exception. And yet, I love it. It’s rhythmic, it sounds beautiful, I’m surprised often by how simple some of the rules are (but more often by how insanely difficult and confusing they are), and it’s magical when written in songs. Certain words have already permeated our vocabulary. Yes and No don’t exist, they’ve been replaced with Yego and Oya. We’ve adopted “ntakibazo” (It’s not a problem) to mean everything from “no problem” to “It’s ok” to “don’t worry about it” to “I’m not sure what else to say so I’ll just say ntakibazo”. Learning “umujura“ means “thief“ and “umusazi” means “crazy person” gave way to “umucrazy” “umupunk” “umunerd” “umucreeper”, etc. I’m still attempting to track down the word that translates into “no foreigner will ever master our language,” but I wonder if maybe it’s only at the moment we learn that word that we’ve in fact mastered the language and are no longer foreigners at all.

Other Training Funness/You want me to do what at my site?/What’s a kitchen garden?

They said time and time again, be flexible. We try, we really do, but we’re also overzealous, overachieving, read past the original assignment, always do extra credit, students. Our technical training has been great, but I think each of us is worried at the lack of practical skills we’ve acquired, particularly considering I got my job description and they want me to focus on data management and IT management. Hey, I know how to use a computer just fine, but installing internet and anti-virus software is not listed as one of my current skills. I did however learn that a kitchen garden, while a garden, is not found in one’s kitchen. But regardless I plan on trying all of the different methods which include the traditional kitchen garden, a square meter garden, and a rice sack garden. Want to know more about each of these? Let me know! We’ve also had good introductions to HIV/AIDS, malaria, family planning, nutrition, health policy, health hierarchy, assessment tools, income generating activities; all within the context of Rwanda. Cultural sessions have focused on the role of gender and religion in Rwandan society, as well as Rwandan history, dress and cuisine. Then of course we’ve had the usual safety and security lectures and medical issues (yes, I got to be an “example” for parasitic issues, go me!). When I think back on how much we’ve accomplished during training my mind spins. Imagine how much more I’ll learn during the next two years!

The culture/Umuco mu Rwanda/A new way of life:

I’m slowly realizing and even more slowly accepting that things happen here in their own time, in their own way. Disorganization and confusion are everyday occurrences and considering I’ve never been one to like chaos or change, this has had quite an impact on me. Yet, I’m adapting well (or at least I hope I am) and am learning to love the people and culture here. Despite the tragic history, there is such kindness and love in everyone you meet. Yes, the neverending “muzungu”and “give me money” can get downright annoying, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. Religion defines them, their family defines them, their history defines them, music, song and dancing define them. They are dedicated to living, to making their lives better, and to making their children’s lives better.

Things that made me happy this week:
- Finishing up my amoeba meds, being hopefully amoeba free, and getting to eat normal food (aka not peanut butter toast!) and drink alcohol again.
- Spending an entire day watching a certain guilty pleasure television show.
- Cooking with the tech housies, dancing, giggling, thumb wrestling, and wallllll.eeeeeeee.
- New shirts from the market, for about a dollar each, found by the one and only Sonya.
- Doing really really well on my mock language test. Like really good. Yay!
- Getting a sweatshirt made by an umodozi (seamstress) with the local wax print fabric. Yes it’s giraffe print, yes it’s cliché, and yes I love it.
- Instant mashed potatoes. (After a solid week of toast and peanut butter, anything would taste good, but mashed potatoes tasted FANTASTIC)
- Fast internet, or at least fast enough to skype and voice chat with the States while surfing facebook.
- Giving my first presentation in only Kinyarwanda! Jessi and I spoke about nutrition to a group of Resource Families explaining the need for a balanced diet including energy rich foods “ibitera imbaraga”, protein rich body building foods “ibyubaka umubiri” and protective foods rich in vitamins and minerals “ibirinda indwara”. It was translated well, spoken well enough and they seemed to enjoy it. At the end we even had them use the food samples we had provided to “make a balanced meal” that contained each of the different food groups. Very fun, fairly stressful, and I even had to write a paper about it. Just like school.
- A new tattoo on my foot (don’t get too excited, it’s just permanent marker) and stress reliving backrub from A.J. Us Ohioans need to stick together!