Notes to self:

- If you have clothes on the clothesline and they are almost dry, and it starts raining, take them off of the clothesline. Unless you really think they need an extra rinse cycle.
- ALWAYS check the inside of your shoes before you stick your feet inside them, thus ensuring the safety of 1) your feet and 2) whatever creepy crawly critter has made your shoe its home.
- You don’t need a garbage disposal, all you need is a culinary adventurous, voracious, growing cat.
- When you wake up panicked in the middle of the night, it’s not because there are bees inside your mosquito net, it’s because you have Mefloquine (anti-malaria drug) in your bloodstream.
- It is perfectly acceptable to feel like you’re getting ripped off when the tomato lady charges you $1.50 for a kilo, but happily hand over $6 for a jar of Smuckers grape jelly.
- Just as much as you’re allowed to secretly cuss out every person who walks past you laughing and addressing you as “muzungu” you are equally allowed to grin and wave like an idiot at the adorable children who run after you yelling “GOOD MORNING” at 5pm.
- Yes, you need that Snickers bar. And the salt and vinegar Pringles.
- Bringing your bright red, worn-in, jersey knit sheets from home was one of the best ideas you’ve ever had.
- Sometimes you’ve got to spend $1 a minute to call America, just to hear your moms voice.
- Being afraid every time you start your kerosene stove is normal, being afraid of the sound your door makes when you open it is not.
- Your cat’s favorite sleeping spot is your stomach, especially when you’re typing on your computer; deal with it.
- Seriously, stop itching the mosquito bites, I want to be able to wear skirts without utter embarrassment when I get back to America.
- One day you will be able to drink water straight out of the tap, but that day is not today. Or tomorrow for that matter.
- I give you full permission to go sit at Gorillas hotel for three hours and order only one Coke, just so you can download one podcast of This American Life.
- You really need to figure out who this Justin Bieber character is. Even Rwandans seem to know who he is at this point.
- If you think Rwandan francs seem like Monopoly money now, imagine what American dollars are going to look like to you when you go back to America in 2012.
- Sitting around drinking and cooking with 11 of your closest friends is a great way to spend your weekends, but you may want to invest in some additional plates, bowls, cups and silverware. Two of everything is just not going to cut it.
- Don’t worry, one day you’ll have Mat Kearney’s babies. Be patient.
- Your OCD has reached new levels now that your two foot tall stack of magazines is arranged in chronological order and you’ve decided to watch all of the movies on your external hard-drive in alphabetical order.
- Speaking of movies, did you really think Avatar was going to be as good as it was the first time you saw it? Remember that time you watched it in 3-D IMAX, this time you’re watching it on your 8x6 inch netbook screen.
- I miss the days when you could just lie in bed and steal internet from your next door neighbors, too.
- Yes, it’s no coincidence that the sound your cat makes when she is “hunting” in your backyard is exactly the same sound that the birds make when they’re “hunting” your cat in your backyard.
- You live in Africa, the electricity goes out almost daily. Buy some gosh darn candles already!
- You’re rarely going to sleep in past 6am, and no one will judge you if you go to sleep as soon as the sun sets. Embrace it.