Sweetness Follows
on Rebecca in Rwanda (Rwanda), 11/Jun/2009 15:34, 34 days ago
This blog will be done in R.E.M. form (as in the song "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine") so that I can squish as many stories into the small space as possible. The blog title is inspired by the inevitability here that after one bad experience, a positive one follows.In the past week, since my last blog, I've learned that it only takes a Rwandan 3.5 minutes to change a flat tire on a bus, the sound of a tire popping is like a gunshot, when you kill a few little spiders in your house a big Mafia spider shows up to taunt you and then sneaks back down the drain after a few missed shoe hits, when wearing a skirt on a moto your legs accumulate dirt shrapnel wounds, the bus drivers give each other secret hand signals to alert when there's a police check, said police checks are random and can either last a minute or 20, a green lollipop that a girl on the bus buys for you is extra sweet, a melange is the quickest thing to order at the restaurant and consists of pasta, rice, fries, beans, spinach and unidentified meat- portions of which are much too big to finish, firing a nightguard is unpleasant, my neighbour the hiphop artist gave me his CD- it's not bad, the universal law of childhood is to behave blissfully unaware of your future challenges and in Rwanda to smile/hug strangers every afternoon on their way home from work, this much I know is true- there is nothing, NOTHING sweeter than the 2 year old boy who comes running down my path to hug my knees each afternoon, Rolos and ricecakes on the bus ride home from Kigali are worth sneaking even if it violates some appropriate "code" Rwandans have about not eating in public, having 5 employees at District Office stare jaws agape as I type is really funny (I am a wicked fast typer, but nonetheless), hot water is overrated I actually LOVE my cold showers, having an eight year old boy respond with "blahblahblah" when I tried to speak Kinyarwanda with him is also amusing, watching the children at Mama's orphanage give Sunday service is heartwrenchingly beautiful; little David is by far the "scene-stealer" as he toddles from one lap to the other and last Sunday I watched a 12 year old boy look after a sleeping 3 year old with such tenderness- 12 year olds at home (atleast the ones I've met) don't have that compassion in them, having a women breastfeed her baby beside me on the bus can be forgiven because his little hand was wrapped around my pinkie finger and he had a cherubic face, sitting through a 7 and 1/2 hour staff meeting in Kinyarwanda might be the most challenging thing I do this week, oh besides trying to buy vegetables on the hill- which apparently isn't just a gathering of a few hundred random Rwandans as I first thought- it's actually where you buy your vegetables, my pet gecko Bill now has a lady friend gecko Sally- both are welcome if they continue to keep the flies/mozzies away, you have to knock on the window if you want to be let off the bus, was asked if I was a francophone and I answered no "anglophone with french tendencies", went all the way to Kamonyi (bus and moto one hour) to discover the power was out and couldn't get any work done so went back down to main road and caught bus to Kigali and then back (an hour bus) to Gitarama at day's end- that was my Monday!! only met 3 crazy men this week (that's an average low), talked politics with a guy from Guinea at dinner, met a cow named "Peace" who was irritable on account of they just inseminated her- or so said the Headteacher, oh yeah and someone I work with (who will remain anonymous) has the voice and demeanor of King Julien from the Madagascar movies- cannot keep a straight face around this man and he is quite important in Kamonyi ! Oh dear ! And finally, watching Monty Python's Meaning of Life projected onto the wall of your own living room which is full of new friends from England, Australia, USA, the Phillipines, Italy and Ireland (Belgian was absent) is AWESOME !!!Miss you guys, hope all is well at home. Off to forage for dinner now and hope the water is back on when I get home (it's off for some unknown reason).Be well- Becky