"Adventure is worthwhile." -Amelia Earhart

Muraho! Amakuru? Ni meza. Nkaba ndi umukorerabushake wa Peace Corps. Ntuye muri aka karere ka Nyanza. Murakoze, murabeho! (One official day of Kinyarwanda lessons and I’ve gotten this down: “Hello! How are you? I’m fine. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. I live in Nyanza district. Thank you, goodbye!” Not bad, eh?)

At dinner tonight (while full of rice, beans, GUACAMOLE, and tree tomatoes) a few of us realized we have been Peace Corps Trainees for a week, though it feels as though I’ve already been in Rwanda for months. But I figure the one week mark deserves my first blog entry. And a quick dip into my secret chocolate stash while I type (ok, not so secret anymore considering I live with 9 other people). After a whirlwind “staging” in Philadelphia and 16 hours on flights, we arrived in Kigali, the capital, on Thursday evening. We stayed in Kigali through Sunday and our days were filled with meetings, paperwork, immunizations, food (seriously, Mom don’t worry, Peace Corps has been feeding us about every 2 hours!), and being stared at like we were the most fascinating things Rwandans had every laid eyes on. And our nights were filled with falling asleep to the pouring rain of the beginning of rainy season and adjusting to the side effects of Mefloquine, the antimalaria drugs we’re on (not too many crazy dream s yet, but apparently the more drugs I put into my body, the weirder they can get!).

On Saturday afternoon we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center, an experience which I am honestly still processing. It was incredibly moving and brought up many emotions and questions I didn’t realize I would feel and think about this soon into my time here. We are living and working in a country that only 16 years ago was in utter chaos; yet if you look around today it’s impossible not to see why Rwanda is fast becoming a development gem, with incredible steps being taken to improve their economic, education and health systems. The country is indescribably beautiful and clean and the people we have met have been kind, generous and determined. I often find myself forgetting the tragic events that occurred here, but then I will suddenly see someone in the market with only one leg or a scar across their face, snapping me back into reality.

On Sunday we drove 2ish hours south from Kigali to Nyanza where we will be spending the next 10 weeks in Pre-Service Training (PST). The 36 other trainees and I are split among 4 houses where we share living space with 3 Rwandan Peace Corps staff members who act as cultural and language facilitators. My house (fondly called “Tech House” after I presume the technical sessions we’ll be participating in) is a 20-25 minute walk from the training center where we eat and have classes. We have electricity (though as the rainy season kicks in it may become a bit less reliable) and running water in one of our two bathrooms. But I’m becoming familiar with all things “African” including bucket baths and pit latrines. Luckily, my health is great so far and I seem to be successfully making the change from bottled water to boiled/filtered water.

Last night was a momentous occasion as we were introduced to our resource families! They are resource families as opposed to host families; Rwandans are extremely private people and the program is still very new, so they’ve been unable to secure overnight homestays for us. But we are still expected to spend at least 4 hours a week with our resource families, practicing our Kinyarwanda and experiencing Rwandan culture firsthand. My resource mom’s name is Jeanne and her and her husband, Alexis, have 4 children ranging from age 2 to 10. I’ve only met Jeanne, but will meet the rest of her family tomorrow hopefully! Jeanne doesn’t speak English and neither of us know enough French to communicate much of anything ,so our first interaction (while unforgettable and joyous) played out in hand signals, broken French/English, picture drawing and some translating from other host moms. I’m extremely excited for the time I will spend with her and her family, learning about this beautiful culture and language.

We officially began Kinyarwanda lessons today and my head is already spinning with unfamiliar words, phrases and sounds. With only 24 letters in the alphabet (they did away with those pesky Q’s and X’s), letter combinations that are pronounced nothing like the letters they contain, 16 different noun classes, as well as the longest words and sentences I’ve ever seen, the next 10 weeks are promising to be nothing short of stressful and frustrating. But if you ever get the opportunity to hear Kinyarwanda spoken (*insert plug for “you should really come visit me!”) take advantage of it, as it is truly a beautifully complex language.

Ok, I apologize for the rambling, but there’s just so much to share! I’ll leave you with “Story Time: Rwanda Style” and then (hopefully) some pictures from Kigali and Nyanza.

Story Time: Rwanda Style –
1) Donny Strong does not in fact exist. The current Rwanda Peace Corps volunteers created a fake facebook account to prank us. Too bad, though, I was REALLY looking forward to discovering why a gun –toting, skoal chewing, “African gobbly gook” hater, crazy conservative from Orrville, Ohio would ever want to join Peace Corps.

2)The last minute pregnancy tests I heard about also turned out to be a lie. Though the Yellow Fever vaccine wasn’t pleasant. Neither were rabies or typhoid for that matter.

3)In Kigali we stayed at a Catholic-run facility, so I wasn’t surprised to see a crucifix on the wall above my bed. I was surprised, however, when we turned the lights off and discovered that Jesus was glowing in the dark. Rockstar.

4)Goat is actually pretty good (but does not taste like chicken, fyi), I now know what “fresh milk” really tastes like, and Rwandans have actually discovered even more ways to serve potatoes than Americans.

5)If you greet a child on the street by saying Good Evening (“mwiriwe” in Kinyarwanda) don’t be surprised when they say “Good Morning” in English back to you.

6)Before I left DC I was able to meet a girl who I’d be doing Peace Corps with. We had a great evening and it was nice to see a familiar face in Philly. Well, it must have been fate because we ended up being not only housemates, but roommates, as well as in the same Kinyarwanda lesson group. Crazy how things work out huh?
Until next time, enjoy the photos!!

It's just the beginning..

Well, I'm off to the airport. Philadelphia by noon for orientation and then the long trek to Rwanda, arriving by Thursday night! I remarkably was able to finish packing and get a little sleep last night, and woke up this morning seriously at peace with my decision and this next step that I am taking. Next time I update you all I will hopefully be in Rwanda, and what a story that shall be. Take care and here I go!!!

One week till staging. 9 days till I land in Rwanda.

I can't believe how fast the past few weeks have gone by.

I had my last days at work, which were filled with goodbye happy hours, lunches, parties, laughs and a several tears. I was amazed with the warmth and generosity of my coworkers as they shared stories from their peace corps days, as well as some extremely useful (and often hilarious) advice and gifts. I know that I've left SCMS in extremely capable hands and I look forward to not only hearing about the amazing work they'll continue to do but also visiting our field office in Rwanda!

I also had to tearfully and stressfully say goodbye to my home for the last 8 years: Washington, DC. To anyone who has moved two days after close to 30 inches of snow have fallen, I know exactly how you feel now! Our ("our" being me and my wonderful friend and roommate Lucy) goodbye and birthday party was of course planned for Saturday, February 6th, after at least 26 inches of snow pummeled the nation's capitol, pretty much paralyzing the city and keeping out anyone who wasn't within the city limits. But the troopers that they are, so many of our friends were still able to trek out to celebrate with us, and I thank each and everyone of you for making that evening so memorable!

All I have to say is my father is a rockstar. He maneuvered his little Blazer all the way to DC and into the nightmare that was my neighborhood. We were able to pack up the car and get out of the city in close to 2 hours and made it back safely to Ohio last Monday, the 8th.

Since then, life has been full of pulling together everything I'll need to pack for Rwanda. This has been nothing short of a challenge. And I must say I'm doing remarkably well (though every few minutes I add something to my "to do" or "to buy" list). I'm hoping to practice packing tomorrow, so fingers crossed on that one!

My mom also went above and beyond (per usual) and threw a (what else) SAFARI themed goodbye party, for my family and friends here in Wooster. Despite being slightly embarassed at first, embracing the cliche-ness worked wonders, and I soon found myself decorating tables with cougar print fans and elephant and monkey shaped "duckies". The food was great (all my favorites I'll dearly miss), the company was fantastic, and well, I must admit this happened:


So, in a week I'll be at staging, overwhelmed and excited and anxious I'm sure. So for now I'm enjoying sleeping alot, hot showers, cold milk, my crazy family and friends, and all of the glorious snow that continues to fall each day.

Oh, and I did get my mailing address!! This should work for at least the first 3 months of training, but can also work for the duration of my service (though I may get another PO Box closer to where my site placement is, but more to come on that later on).

For letters:
Amy Studenic, Peace Corps Trainee
PO Box 5657
Kigali, Rwanda

Don't forget "Par Avion" or "Air Mail"

For packages:
Amy Studenic, PCV
US Peace Corps
PO Box 5657
Kigali, Rwanda

So, that's it for now. Stop reading this and go write me a letter :)

Until next time...

One month left until Staging...freak out in 3..2..1..

The one thing I've noticed ever since finding out my placement is that my life consists entirely of countdowns. Countdowns until my last day of work, the goodbye/birthday extravaganza, my last day in DC, my last day in Ohio, my last day in these United States. Always "this many" days/hours/minutes until "the end". Or is it "the beginning"? Of course, I've always counted down things. The months before christmas, the days until I see my favorites, the hours until post-work drinkies. But I feel like all these countdowns have ended with happy moments/reunions/drunken stumbles home. My countdowns since December, while counting down to what I'm sure will be the most happy, exciting and life changing experience I've ever had, are also counting down to sad and tearful goodbyes, anxiety, nervousness and an overwhelming sense of...overwhelmingness.

So, apologies for the countdowns, but they're going to keep coming. But know that I type/say every single one of them with the greatest mix of happiness/sadness, excitement/anxiousness, braveness/fear. This next month is going to fly by and I know in the blink of an eye I'm going to find myself on a hill in Rwanda, mouth gaping (and camera in hand), and not be able to do anything besides reminding myself to breathe.

Alright, enough of my mindless rambling, onto some exciting news!

My staging (2 day "orientation") will be in Philadelphia on February 23rd!! I'll be flying out of Cleveland that morning and quickly meeting the 30ish people I'll be spending the following 3 months with in pre-service training :) On the 24th we'll be on a bus to NYC and our flight departs JFK at 6:10pm, with a layover in Brussels, then onto Kigali, Rwanda arriving at 7:45pm on February 25th.

It's the little things like this that are making reality set in. I'm really going, I'm really doing this, I'm really fricken excited.

Look out soon for an email from me requesting your contact info, but if you don't want to wait, send it to me now!!

Until next time.

Pays des Mille Collines

December flashed by in a blur of traveling, family, friends, food and more fun than I could have ever hoped for. I loved finally being able to tell everyone where and when I'm going, and hearing their various replies (pretty sure I heard "I'll pray for you" the most though, hmmm). But it made me realize that I haven't really explained very much about where I'm going or what I'll be doing (or at least as much as I know). So here goes:

Rwanda, often known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, is in Central Africa, just south of the equator (luckily at a high elevation so its much cooler than many other equatorial countries) and bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here's a map for those of you who are lost already..



It's slightly smaller than Massachusetts yet the population is estimated at around 10 million people. Just mull that one over for a bit. I keep hearing/reading/seeing photos about how utterly beautiful and green it is, and clean (it's actually outlawed plastic bags!) Just look at this beauty:



There are three official languages in Rwanda: French, English and Kindyarwanda (Swahili and some other dialects are also spoken). Pretty much everyone speaks Kinyarwanda and French mostly only among the educated. In 2008, Rwanda decided to switch the education system entirely from French to English (hence why many of the current Peace Corps volunteers are teaching English). So the majority of my language training will be in Kinyarwanda and from the looks of it so far, it's not going to be easy. But who doesn't love a challenge right?

Rwanda is known for its coffee, tea and of course, mountain gorillas! However, it's unfortunately also known for the devastating genocide that occurred in 1994, where it's estimated 800,000 lost their lives. I know that this history has permeated into all aspects of Rwandan culture and will be one of the most eye opening and difficult aspects of my service. But I also know all of the effort that has been made in the past 15 years to encourage unity, stability, government transparency, economic prosperity and equality. It's even the first country in the world to have a legislature with over 50% women members!

Peace Corps reopened it's program in Rwanda in January 2009, and I will be the third group of volunteers going back into country (and must say that ever since they reopened their program I'd been hoping to get placed there!). My program is Health, HIV/AIDS and Organizational Capacity Development, and the main purpose is to work with the Government and local/international NGOs to help improve access to and the efficiency of their prevention, treatment and care programs. This will end up taking a lot of different forms and will depend entirely on the site I'm placed at (which I won't know until the 2nd or 3rd month of training).

Ok, I hope that's enough of a "teaser" to get you to come and read more, as there will be so much more to come, folks. As of right now I'm awaiting my staging packet, researching what to pack, taking in as many books and movies on Rwanda as I can, and making wonderful memories with family and friends.

Until next time...

Wait, what, 76 days until I move to Rwanda?

So tomorrow I will be officially accepting my invitation to serve in Rwanda, and I'm a mixture of excitement, nervousness and anxiousness (emphasis on the excitement though!). Not surprisingly at all, everyone at work has already asked if I've made my excel spreadsheet of tasks to be done before I go; to them I say, you know me too well! I've been known to be a, how do I say this, major excel nerd(?) so it's only necessary that I continue this tradition. It may or may not have a timeline, with deadlines/deliverables. But the scariest part was when I did the quick math and realized I'll be leaving in 76 days. No, not 76 trombones, 76 days. Luckily at that moment I also reminded myself to breathe, so panic attacks and a fainting spell were avoided. Don't get me wrong, you all know how utterly happy I am that this is finally happening, but now that I see everything I have to get done in a couple short months, it will be a race to the finish. Starting with the great dentist search 2K9!! I was informed the one I was planning to go to can't do anymore free exams until February and now I have to scramble to find another (cheap!) one, so wish me luck on that. I'd really rather my savings go towards fun things (like swiss army knives/shortwave radios/tents/netbooks/solar chargers/duct tape..) than cleaning and x-raying my teeth.

I'll post more about Rwanda and the Peace Corps program there soon, promise!

Snow, christmas trees and RWANDA!!

Yesterday. It was only yesterday I woke up to my favorite thing in the world, SNOW! It was only yesterday my roommates and I got dressed in our christmas best (aka ugly holiday sweaters), put our pup, Charlotte, in her santa coat and picked out our christmas tree, walking down U street for 15 blocks caroling and lugging the tree on our shoulders. And it was only yesterday that I got my invitation to become a Peace Corps volunteer!!!! I stood on our front stoop, snow swirling above my head, my roommates grinning (and maybe a bit teary eyed) and taking photos of me as I opened the package. The first word I saw made me scream with excitement: RWANDA!!!!! All I could do for the next 5 minutes was scream and laugh and cry and say oh my god probably a dozen times. My parents got the first call and I couldn't help but remember the time my mother proclaimed the only place she didn't want me serving was Rwanda. As many of you know though, Rwanda has been pretty much my top choice since the program was reopened. I asked mom if she was sitting down, which of course she wasn't, but then it all came out like word vomit. Luckily my parents were excited and supportive (and probably nervous as hell, I just hope there weren't any tears after we hung up the phone) as they always have been my entire life.

So, I'm headed to RWANDA on February 22, 2010!! My program is Health, HIV/AIDS and Organizational Capacity Development (say that three times fast!). I'm excited and nervous beyond words and have a ton of reading to do the next couple of days before I can officially accept my nomination. Oh and do the math, I'll be leaving in 2 and a half months, aaaaahhhh!

Finally, on a corny note, I just want to say thank you to all of you, for your support and friendship and general amazingness. You've kept me sane the past two years going through this process and I'm so utterly thankful.

More to come soon, I'll keep you updated.