Just Another Saturday in Rwanda...

Yesterday, I had two new and wonderful Rwandan experiences.  First, a dowry giving ceremony and second, a football game.

First:  The Dowry Giving Ceremony

The receptionist at my school’s sister is getting married and she invited our staff to the dowry giving.  Eight of us put on our Sunday best and headed to her mom’s house in Nyamirambo arriving “15 minutes late” for the 11:00 ceremony.  Needless to say, we were among the first to arrive.  After waiting an hour and a half, (the extra time was necessary to acquire a generator because the power went out) the ceremony began.  I won’t bore you with all of the details (though, believe you me, the ceremony was not boring, especially not with it being interpreted to me by William, my favorite guard at school and “Assistant PE Teacher”), but I will share with you the gist of the event and my favorite parts.

The Gist

The dowry giving ceremony is a time for the bride’s family to name their price for their girl.  The groom’s family makes an offer and they debate a little and then eventually present the bride to the groom and everyone eats, drinks, and bes merry.  It’s more for entertainment than to actually agree on a price, but the price will end up being paid.

My Favorite Parts

The first hilarious event was when the groom’s father elaborated on the “cow” he would pay to have the bride join his family.  A group of men went out of the garden to see the “cow” and then returned with a veterinarian who vouched for the health of the “cow” and the shepherd who sang a lovely song about the state and name of the “cow.”  The reason why this was so funny was because William informed us that there was, of course, wait for it… no cow.  The “cow” is actually amafaranga (money). 

Another comical occurrence was when the groom’s family informed the bride’s family that they had a son that wanted to marry a girl from the bride’s family, and asked if they had an eligible bachelorette. The bride’s family then presented this girl…

The groom’s family was of course not pleased and asked for an older daughter, to which the bride’s family presented this girl….

(Still not the actual bride.)  After some more shenanigans, the bride was finally presented and the bride and groom presented each other’s families with gifts, fed each other Sprite/Fanta Citron….

And we all ate a fabulous Rwandan meal.  As we were finishing the meal, I informed William that I wanted to go to the football game.  We looked at our watches and saw that it started in an hour and a half.  (Sidenote:  Now, my Muzungu friends had all been at the stadium for hours, paid 5,000RWF for tickets and surrendered their cell phones to get VIP seats.  I had been communicating with them earlier and was hoping to join them at the game.  But who needs to wait around all day and buy expensive tickets when you have William by your side?)  William informed me that, really, the wedding was finished since we were eating and we should go... which brings us to the second wonderful Rwandan experience…

The Football Game

 I had my doubts about getting into the game since my Muzungu friends had informed me of entrance’s implausibility even hours before, but William “knows the people.” So we walked through the dusty streets of Naymirambo to a taxi stand and got in a 15-passenger van taxi to town.  Then we found a Coaster bus taxi to the stadium.  Now this process takes a bit longer than you might assume with stops here and there to let people in and out of the taxis, and thus we made it to the stadium about 10 minutes before the game’s start time. 

When we arrived at the stadium, we were informed that they were no longer letting men in (as the President had already been seated), but women were free to enter.  The crowd shoved me toward the fence to enter, and I pulled the damsel in distress card and reached out and cried (not literally) for “MY FRIEND!!!!”  To which, they shooed William in the fence as well.  Once we got in the fence, there were no problems, because apparently William used to be in the President’s Guard.  Who knew?!?  He found a security officer he knew for his pat-down, and sent me to the woman (who took the obligatory “the President’s at this event, so we have to take a picture of you with your own camera to make sure it’s not a weapon of some sort” photo....).

We made it through security and ran up the steps into the stadium where we were stopped (relatively unsuccessfully) by the ticket collectors.  We waited about thirty seconds and then entered with another group of people who had somehow finagled their way in as well.  We made it to the front row merely 2 minutes after the game started.  Here was my view…

What a raucous environment.  We happened to be sitting right between Rwanda’s fans and Burkina Faso’s fans, but clearly Rwanda’s fans dominated, as you can clearly see in this guy….

And by the sardinely packed nature of the crowd:

What a fun, fun time!  It was actually my first ever live complete football game, and what better time than the

Sadly, Rwanda lost 2-1, but as it was the furthest any Rwandan sports team has made it in any competition ever, it was still a great day for Rwanda and the U-17 football team.

Thank you, William, for making it happen and totally unexpectedly transforming my Saturday into one big, fun adventure!

My Boys

First, let me apologize for the terrible formatting of any blog post of mine with photos.  Blogger doesn't make it the easiest on its users...  Second, I hope you will enjoy a few photos from this weekend when my boys danced and drummed for a party celebrating a missionary couple's 30th year in Rwanda.  I figured you might want to see the smiling faces of the loves of my life.  Enjoy!


 Me and my boys...                                                                             Wearing one of their wigs.

Drumming

 Dancing                                    Post Dancing Meal Daniel and his inanga.

What I Said at Church on January 2

First of all, murakoze cyane cyane cyane!  I would like to thank my church family for all of your support over the past year, both prayer support and financial support.  If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do in Rwanda.  While I can buy the most delicious avocado in the world for a quarter and the most delicious pineapple in the world for fifty cents, a gallon of gas is six dollars and a big box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes is…wait for it…. TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS.  But don’t worry, I never eat corn flakes for breakfast..

Now if you will, turn with me to Ephesians 5 and let’s read verses 15 and 16. 

Nuko mwirinde cyane uko mugenda mutagenda nk’abatagira ubwenge, ahubwo mugende nk’abanyabwenge, mucunguze uburyo umwete kuko iminsi ari mibi.

Oops, looks like I brought my Kinyarwanda Bible with me tonight.  I believe the NIV says, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

Now, if any country in this world knows evil days, it is Rwanda.  One hundred of the most evil days of our time were in the spring and summer of 1994 in Rwanda.  One million people were slaughtered with machetes in one hundred days merely for being a certain ethnicity.  But I’m not here to talk to you about Rwanda’s past; I’m here to talk to you about the present and future in Rwanda, about making the most of every opportunity, about open doors…

I’m sure you have all heard that when God closes a door, he opens a window.  Someone probably said that to you when some thing you really, really wanted just didn’t seem to work out.  I, however, personally think that more often than not, God opens doors and rather than just walk through them, we search for a window to jump out of. Opportunities arise every day; we just need to make the most of them.

Now for a few anecdotes from Rwanda…

Speaking of open doors, one night in February, one of my housemates left the back door open, and someone made the most of the opportunity.  That someone being a thief.  We woke up the next morning and found we were missing 3 laptops, 2 cameras, an iPod, a Kindle, a wireless router, a computer monitor, and season 2 of 24.  I wrote a series of long, in-depth blog posts about the incident if you want all the details, but I’ll give you a quick recap right now.  Basically, we had said sayonara to our belongings and gave up hope after a few days, but then exactly one week later I received an email from my friend Rachel in the US that read as follows:  “Hey Kel, just got this today...maybe has something to do with your computer? I don't know, but it would be a really weird coincidence if someone was trying to scam me and happened to write to me from Gisenyi, though I suppose they could have just gotten my email off of your computer. Weird all around.

Ø   hi rachel. My name is John Isaac i m in Gisenyi Rwanda. So if you can now you can call me on 0788570017. In bref i have some thing you lost. Please if is possible call son as pos. Merci

Now, I’ve always heard that if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn’t, but could it be true?  Could it be???  I called the number in the email which started the covert operation that led to the recovery of all of our stolen goods.  It was a daylong affair involving multiple undercover cops, plenty of time at various police stations, and a newfound friendship with the regional police commander, who is a good friend to have.  It was like the newest episode of CSI:  Rwanda.  Long story short, all of our electronics were being sold on the black market in the Congo, but thanks to one honest man named John Isaac, we got ALL of it back.  Now, if God can help us recover thousands of dollars of electronics from the black market in the Congo, I want you to tell me something God CAN’T do….  So, one of the first lessons I learned in Rwanda was that God truly is capable of absolutely anything and that He really is on our side.

The next story is about an open door that I walked through.  After teaching for 6 months at Sonrise School in Musanze, Rwanda, a new opportunity arose for me.  And wanting to make the most of every opportunity, I walked through the open doors of Kigali International Community School.  I stumbled upon an amazing community and the opportunity to influence 220 children from 30 different countries and God broadened the reach of my ministry exponentially.  And through PE, even!  I am having an absolute blast teaching fourth through twelfth grade PE at KICS and I’m enjoying the KICS community as well.  To illustrate just how supportive this community is, let me tell you about my experience with malaria.  I’m sure most of you were kept up to date by my parents, but if not, I spent four days at home in bed with a terrible fever before I was admitted to a clinic for a very strong treatment for malaria.  Then I spent four days in the clinic on a quinine IV, and God provided so much for me.  Not only did he provide a wonderful, competent doctor and healing for my terrible sickness, but he provided a very supportive community to nurse me back to life.  One of the moms from my school saw me looking pitiful in the waiting room of the clinic and I filled her in on the situation.  She said she would bring me food.  And bring me food she did!  Every meal of every day her cook made me something delicious and her driver delivered it to me in my bed.  Another KICS mom brought me tie dyed socks to raise my spirits.  My headmaster did all of my dealings with the doctor and brought me movies to watch in my room.  Another KICS mom came in one day just to wash and braid my hair.  It was an amazing outpouring of love.  I couldn’t have chosen a better place to be, and I am so thankful I walked through the open doors at KICS.

Sometimes, God opens doors for us, but other times, God leads us to a door that we have to open ourselves.  That is what happened to me upon moving to the big city of Kigali.  Back in America, I had been a faithful attendee of LEAF (Lake Eden Arts Festival) in Black Mountain, North Carolina.  Shortly after I moved to Kigali, I received the monthly update from LEAF informing me that some LEAFers were coming to Rwanda and Tanzania in August.  I took the initiative to email LEAF and set up a meeting with the director when she was in the country.  LEAF has an outreach program where they hire local performers to teach vulnerable youth in third world countries traditional music to preserve the arts and help lift the youth out of poverty.  LEAF in Rwanda has a dance troupe of 16 former street boys who learn drumming and dancing from Leonard, a member of the Rwandan national ballet.  I met with some LEAF people at a coffee shop and we shared about what our organizations did in Rwanda, and then the LEAF people were ready to go.  I stopped them and said, I LIVE in Kigali.  Is there anything I can DO to help?  I have plenty of spare time.  I suggested possibly teaching the boys English, and the LEAF representative started to cry.  They had asked the boys what they wanted, and more than any material goods, they said they wanted to learn English.  So every Tuesday and Thursday, I spend two or three hours building relationships with 16 former street boys and teaching them English.  Almost every lesson turns into an impromptu Bible study.  For example, one day I was teaching them body parts.  Now, when I learned body parts in my Kinyarwanda lesson, it was like umutwe, ugutwi, amaso, iminwya, amatoko, amaguru, and I’m done.  These boys are so thirsty for knowledge that we started at the top of the head and learned every possible facial feature, eyes, eyelids, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc.  When I went from neck to shoulders, they stopped me and asked what “THIS” was.  I said, “an Adam’s apple” which forced us to get out their Kinyarwanda bible and read the story of the Fall of Man in Genesis 3.  Adam disobeyed God, ate the apple, and was punished.  So the Adam’s apple represents the fruit stuck in his throat.  After I opened the door to teaching my boys English, God started opening doors left and right for opportunities to share biblical truths with them.  I mean, what are you supposed to do when one of them asks you what the word “forsaken” means but turn to Mark 15 and read the account of Jesus’s crucifixion?  Of all of the things I do in Rwanda, my favorite is by far hanging out with “my boys” every Tuesday and Thursday, and had I not opened the door, I wouldn’t have the privilege to share so much life together.

God has also opened another door to me that allows me to use my passion for writing and the English language to tutor two middle school boys whose father works at the US Embassy.  It is a huge blessing to have a supplemental income for the next five months, but come June, I will be living completely off of support again.  I have recently signed on for one more school year at KICS as middle and high school English teacher and will need to raise $10,000 more dollars to continue doing what I do in Rwanda until June 2012.  If you want to contribute to my ministry in Rwanda, you can write a check to Rocky Creek and mention that it is for Kelly in Rwanda and it will help me survive another year.  I would also greatly appreciate your prayers, for my effectiveness in my jobs, my health, and my boys.

Of course after spending an entire year serving in Rwanda, I have hundreds more tales to tell, and I’d love to share them with you.  But more than tell you my stories, I want to encourage you to make the most of every opportunity.  Stop looking for windows to jump out of and just walk through the doors God opens for you.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Malaria Part Two

I have been out of the hospital for a few weeks now, and as I look back at that experience, it seems so surreal.  Yesterday, I pictured myself wasting away in the crisp white sheets of my hospital bed, yellow eyes and skin, attached to my quinine IV, surrounded by all of the apple juice people brought me… and laughed.  At the time, it didn’t seem so serious.  It was just what I had to do.  Now, I realize, it was pretty serious.  Dr. Tommy did say I was in serious condition.  But in my state, I couldn’t truly comprehend just how serious my condition was. 

The only times hospitals have been graced with my presence are the few visits I have made to other ailing people, or the plethora of times I took little boys to the emergency room as receptionist at Camp Ridgecrest for Boys.  I have never been for me.  And what a first trip to the hospital!

People took VERY good care of me, and for that I am forever grateful.  My headmaster took me to the hospital, did all my dealings with the doctor, and came back multiple times to bring me more movies and just to check on me.  Two KICS moms saw me in the waiting room when they were bringing their own children to the doctor and ended up bringing me EVERY meal while I was there.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 4 days!  (Because African hospitals don’t feed you.  As a matter of fact, on the first day they gave me some nausea medicine in tablet form, and Ellie asked if they had water for me to take it, and they said, “No water.”)  Ellie got me some water and came to keep me company every day.  Some KICS teachers brought me books.  My roommate, Emily, brought me a hysterical video and homemade cards from her entire 4^th grade class.  Jadot brought me more fruit than I could ever hope to consume.  Innocent and Emmanuel visited me multiple times and brought me more apple juice than you could shake a stick at.  Another KICS mom came and washed my hair in my bathroom sink and French braided it, so I didn’t look like quite as much of a disaster as before.  Another KICS mom brought me some tie-dyed socks to cheer me up.  The pastor of my church and his daughter, my student, dropped in while they were at the doctor one day.  And I’m probably forgetting even more visitors.

While I didn’t have visitors, I watched movies… and the whole first season of Modern Family.  I did Sudoku puzzles and crossword puzzles.  I slept off and on.  The second night in the hospital, I dragged my wheel-less IV stand one meter over to my private bathroom every hour, if you know what I mean.  I told my nurse of my issue, and she brought me a container for a sample to run in the lab in the morning.  Sure enough, it was a bacterial infection… from something I ate.  Probably those two bites of pizza I ate.  Seeing as that was all I had eaten in 8 days.  The plus side of said infection was that they could just shoot some cipro into my IV and eradicate it rather quickly.

I improved a little every day and was finally released after 4 days.  My liver enzymes (normally below 40) were at 299, and so Dr. Tommy put me on bed rest for a week.  At least now I could just lie around at home instead of in the hospital.  I went to stay at Ellie’s for 4 days, because she has a much more comfortable couch than I AND CNN and MNet on TV!  I watched Oprah, Ellen, The Bachelor, etc. for a few days before I went to my uncomfortable couch and my Sudoku puzzles.  After one week, I went back to the doctor, and my liver enzymes were down in the 50s.  I got to go back to work last week.  In the whole month of November, I only worked for 6 days! 

I’m STILL not at 100%.  I lost 18 pounds and ALL of my energy, so it’s a long recovery.  I am slowly by slowly gaining back weight and energy, but sometimes I still go to bed at 7:30.  I am looking forward to Bojangle’s and Moe’s and Taco Bell and McDonald’s and Chick-fil-a to help me get back to my normal size when I come home in 12 days!!

I will be in America from December 19 through January 6.  Let me know if you want to see me, and I’ll try to make it happen!

Remember, Remember, the Month of November (Part 1)

So, as you may or may not know, the month of November hasn’t been the healthiest one of my life.  I don’t mean I’ve been prematurely eating tons of junk food for the holidays or being lazy and watching movies and not exercising.  No.   I have been afflicted.

On November 1, I came down with the ol’ strep throat.  Strep throat sucks.  The last time I came down with it was senior year of high school.  I made a doctor’s appointment, then cancelled it, then realized what a mistake I had made canceling it and made it again and prolonged the symptoms.  I wandered around my parents’ house spitting in a cup so the saliva didn’t burn my tonsils.  I ate cheese grits for the last time in my life as my mom tried to force nutrients that didn’t burn my tonsils down my throat.

This time I spent one sleepless night with a painful throat and then just lay in bed all day with a fever and some white spots on my throat.   I had a phone consultation with one of the dad doctors from KICS and took the amoxycilin I brought with me for potential sinus infections (of which I have had zero).  It hurt, but I caught it relatively early so it wasn’t a huge deal.  I missed two days of school and surrendered control of my PE classes to substitutes, which I don’t particularly enjoy doing.  Hopefully they learned how to shoot lay-ups correctly anyway…

Fast-forward one week.  On November 8, my roommate Emily came down with some flu-like symptoms.  She immediately thought malaria and started a course of Coartem.  However, there was a flu-like illness going around at school, so she was convinced she had fallen prey to it and stopped the malaria treatment.  She missed 2 days of school.

Then, on the last day of my medicine for the strep throat, November 11, I started burning with fever myself.  I barely slept Wednesday night because I was hot.  I checked my temperature in the morning and it was a blazing 100.3.  That might not sound high to you, but being the cold-hearted person I am, my “normal” body temperature falls around 96.8.  So, it was a legit fever.  I went to school to tell the headmaster I thought I was coming down with what Emily had and after wallowing on the couch in the office for an hour, he sent me home.  I spent the day in my bed lying in a pool of sweat from burning with fever.  I spent the night in my bed lying in a pool of sweat from burning with fever.  I consulted dad doctor who also assumed flu.  I spent the next day in my bed lying in a pool of sweat and groaning from fever.  Finally, Friday night, my fever reached a whopping 102.3, and I got in the bathtub, still mostly clothed and sprayed cold water on myself to stop the hell-like sensation.  Saturday, the doctor dad finally did a house visit and opted for a rapid malaria test, expecting negative results.  WRONG!  Positive.  For multiple strands of the parasite.

So I started a course of Coartem.  And Emily restarted a course of Coartem.  Apparently we got bit by the same mosquito (as that is how malaria is transmitted).  One hour later I vomited for the 5^th time in my life.  That night we took the next 4 pills.  In the morning we took 4 more.  Emily improved.  Kelly did not.  Sunday night I took 4 more pills.  Monday morning, doctor dad came for a visit and noticed something strange.  My eyes were yellow.  Finally, it was time to take me in. 

We called the headmaster, and I changed out of my Barrel o’ Monkeys PJ pants and my Cookie Monster shirt into something a little more suitable for public: some brown workout capris and a honey mustard colored t-shirt (not the most flattering outfit for a jaundiced person…).  The headmaster picked me from my house and took me to Kigali Adventist Medical Center.  I moped and groaned around the premises from the lab to the waiting room to the doctor’s office to the waiting room.  I got a blood test and tried (and failed) to give a urine specimen.  I finally saw Dr. Tommy who said, “It’s a good thing you brought her in.  She is serious!”  Serious, but not critical.  He said, “the Coartem is obviously not working.  Stop taking it.  We’ll give you an IV.  Stick around for 2 or 3 days.”  I sat in the waiting room miserable taking pity from the other waiters while they set up my “temporary” room, as the other ward was full. 

As this is already getting quite lengthy, you’ll have to wait until later to read about the stay at the clinic.  I know the suspense is killing you, but I’m tired of typing.  So there.

Jet-Setting to South Africa

This past weekend, I had the great pleasure of visiting two former Sonrise students at their new school in Honeydew, South Africa.  It was interesting how the trip came about, but I won’t bore you with the details.  Basically, it was falsely advertised to me that the price of airfare would be stunningly low.  But as we all know, when something seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t true… Long story short, there is a very good reason that Rwanda is currently pushing for improved customer service.  Anyway, I bit the bullet and forked out the necessary dough to fly to Johannesburg over my fall break.  And I couldn’t have made a better decision!

Now most people around here, when they found out I was going to South Africa for the weekend, had one of two reactions.  1)  “By yourself!?!?  Be careful!” or 2) “I’m so jealous!  What are you going to eat?”  I did go by myself, and I was never in harm’s way.  And I ate corn flakes.  Three times.  Now for those of you who don’t live in Rwanda, I’ll just let it be known that Kellogg’s Corn Flakes are available in this country for the low price of 12,500RWF (or nearly 25USD) per box.  Needless to say, I haven’t eaten any cereal in the past 10 months. 

(Sidenote:  I have since eaten cereal in Rwanda thanks to my good friend Hannah from whom I received a box of Quaker Oatmeal Squares, only THE best cereal in the world, today in the mail…)

(Sidenote to the sidenote:  If you want to mail me something, like my good friend Hannah did, you can send it to Kelly Simpson, BP 6558, Kigali Rwanda)

Back to South Africa.

African Leadership Academy is an incredibly cool school.  It is comprised of 185 of Africa’s top young leaders.  Last year 2500 students applied and only 100 were accepted into the rigorous program.  I am proud to say that 2 of the first 3 Rwandans ever admitted were my boys Emmanuel and Dieudonne.  ALA is much more like a freshman year of college than any high school I have ever seen.  It reminded me of watching all of my engineer friends pulling all-nighters and struggling through their freshman years at Clemson.  It’s a really hard transition to make from a typical African school to such a rigorous curriculum, but most of the students there are grateful for the amazing preparation they are receiving for American universities and life in general.  I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the many incredible kids I met this weekend. 

I had an absolute BLAST visiting with my boys all weekend.  I attended their classes, ate with them in the dining hall, watched them make their country proud with an intore dance during a cultural exchange event, walked around campus, met their friends and teachers, and sat down for a few chats in between.  Dieudonne’s overflowing joy and zeal for life and Emmanuel’s incredible wisdom and poise were just what I needed to refresh me for the rest of my year here in Africa. 

Every person I met at ALA was astounded A) that I live in Rwanda and B) that I would fly to South Africa just for a weekend with the sole purpose of visiting my former students.  One faculty member came to tell me that Emmanuel looked so much happier all weekend because I came to visit.  As I left campus on Monday morning, I could hardly hold back the tears as Emmanuel told me how proud he was to have had a visitor and how loved he felt that I would pay all that money to fly there just to see him.  I assure you, it was worth EVERY penny to me, too.

And now for a challenge:  Is there someone you love who lives far away from you?  Don’t just sit around and contemplate seeing him or her some day; fork out the dough and go see him or her, pronto!  I guarantee the time you share and the memories you create will be well worth the money spent.  After all, to paraphrase my friend Kelly, I would rather die broke than live lame.  And to paraphrase Emmanuel, life is about more than accumulating assets; it is about sharing life.  

A Typical Tuesday

Every morning I wake up before 6:00 and turn off my alarm (which is set for 7:00), and roll out of my (king sized) bed and get dressed. 

Then I mosey on out the bedroom door (through the streamers, which my roommates taped up at 2am on my birthday, which yes, was over a month ago)…

Down to the kitchen where I eat some breakfast.  Today it was a fried egg and a banana.  (Sorry I ate it before I remembered I was documenting my every move and had to pose a different egg with the bunch of bananas.)

I then walk out of my house…

Into the streets of my neighborhood…

With my roommate Kerry...

To school! (This is my “classroom.”)

And this is my classroom.

I start most days in the office hanging out with my best friend Clementine, our amazing receptionist.  Unfortunately, I’m only her 4^th best friend (after God, her husband, and her son), but I’m getting over it.

On Tuesdays we have staff devotions before school.  This morning was my roommate Kerry’s time to lead devotions.  She made me take this photo before she started so I wouldn’t make her nervous as she was speaking.

Now that I’m finished teaching Comparative Governments, I have a new first period class (or task):  Reorganizing the teacher resource room.  It’s quite the chore, but I kind of like organizing, so it’s a good task for me.

I apologize for not capturing me in action teaching PE.  I’m wary of posting photos of students on the Internet, so I’ll just have to let you imagine me playing soccer with the 10^th graders then Chuck Chicken and Hear No Evil, See No Evil with the 6^th graders.  After those two classes, it’s time for lunch!

Yummy cheeseburger.

After lunch I played soccer with the 9^th graders.  I’m really awful at soccer, as I’ve never played it before in my life, but I must say that my foot-eye coordination has improved drastically over the past two weeks!

After school on Tuesdays, I take Kinyarwanda lessons with a few other teachers.

Joyce, our fearless teacher, is wonderful.  Today we learned verb tenses.  Eek!  Simple present tense, present continuous, near future, far future, near past, and far past.  As of now, the only verb I can tell you in all those tenses is to cook, but I’m learning!

After Kinyarwanda, I head out the gate and say “Murabeho!” to William, the friendly guard.

Then I walk through what I’ve nicknamed “Beverly Hills Rwanda”…

Down the Nyarutarama Tennis Club Road…

Until I get to my turn-off which leads to another, much different road…

Past the golf course…

And the cow?!?...

Where I am stalked by this creepy truck (AKA Mark and Griffin) that gives me a ride up to the next main road…

Which I cross to get to the path…

To the road to my boys’ house.

My favorite part of my week and my favorite thing I do in Rwanda is to teach these boys English.  You can’t help but fall in love with those big smiles!

Most English lessons turn into impromptu Bible studies which is also cool.

It’s dark by the time I leave the boys’ house and they accompany me down their road (with an incredible view of the city)…

On my way home (sorry I don’t have a picture of me on the moto...), I stopped by the Stop and Shop Market just down the hill from my house to buy some yogurt, chocolate, and biscuits.  When I went to check out, they hadn’t any change for me, so I had to purchase another yogurt and a piece of gum, instead.  Such is life here in Africa.  When I got to my house, the moto didn’t have change either, so I had to go inside and search the house over for 500RWF which was nowhere to be found.  So I had to think creatively for the moto driver and give him a 5000 and take a 500 and two 2000s from him.  So really he had change, but he didn’t think about using different combinations of bills to make the change…  Sorry for the diatribe on change-making; only my fellow Westerners in Rwanda will truly understand.

I got home and ate this for dinner:

Then I took off my shoes and got a nice glimpse of my ankles/feet.  While I do have a sweet farmer’s tan, that, my friends, is dirt.  Straight up dirt.

 I decided maybe it was time for a shower.  And I wanted to share with you my favorite part of my shower.  My soap holder from T-2000, the Chinese store.

In case you can’t read it clearly, that says: “Blessedness Squirrel: 

With incredible magic of the pretty squirrel,

you too will be the best friend

like a lot of many people all over the world.”

After the shower, I ate my Stop and Shop snack and wrote this blog post.  Now, tomorrow I will spend literally all day loading the photos so you can see a typical Tuesday in my life.  I hope you enjoy it (AKA you better appreciate it)!