Rain, pizza and dance parties!

October here means rainy season. Some days it is still sunny and hot (mid 80s) but the past two days it rained for the majority of the day and thus was quite cold (60s? haven’t seen any thermometers!). Yesterday I had to agree with all the locals and admit I was cold – halfway home for lunch the wind and rain picked up so my legs were soaked and I decided not to finish my trek! Only 5 students made it to class that afternoon (basically the best ones), and one came wrapped up in a blanket. We had a nice time talking together, though, since the English teacher didn’t want to teach a lesson so I had 1.5 hours with them by myself and my activities (i.e. “non-lesson” things!).

Let me back up to the week before this past one. My host father was at a work conference in Nairobi, so I was able to spend more time with my host mother and Vestine. I was initially a bit worried about communication (their English is better than my Kinyarwanda, but not very good!), but we managed fine when we each used all our skills in both languages! It ended up being a fairly quiet week, with two major highlights revolving around food: 1) my host mother prepared an interesting lunch one day (hot dog buns, a dish of cooked smallish pieces of meat, and a slightly warm dish of cheese and tomatoes), which I realized was her attempt to duplicate “sandwiches” because I tried explaining my typical lunch to her and had forgotten that it would entail her making something similar for me; 2) buying a dish of ice cream for Edward (my host father’s driver) and Vestine at the airport while we waited to pick up my host father – one dish, three spoons, and one excited Bethany sharing one of her favorite foods with Rwandese people (ice cream is a strange concept for them, but they seemed to enjoy it!).

Last week was “back to normal” since my host father was back. I visited another church (Kinyarwanda service with plenty of music and energy), went to a nearby province to visit the land my family owns (and go to the cheaper market there – where I successfully bought a shirt and taught some boys the English words for foods and body parts I knew in Kinyarwanda), and …celebrated my birthday! I already knew birthdays weren’t cause for (much/any) celebration in Rwanda, due to families not having the means to celebrate or not knowing people’s actual birthdays, but I was perfectly okay with a low-key day. I enjoyed the “party” with my English class in the afternoon (I brought in some local treats – a chocolate bar, peanuts, and sweet bread which somehow got called “cake-bread”) and was sung to in French, English and Kinyarwanda 4 different times! Oh and I got to go out with Ruth, Krystan and Annie for pizza and ice cream for dinner! Woohoo!! (Not Chicago-style stuffed pizza or Brusters ice cream, but I feel quite lucky to live in a place where I can still eat my favorite foods on my birthday!)

Losing my watch and having my camera break within the same week challenged me to reflect on what is important here. I had already been wondering how I should live, as an American who is now in a developing country, and these losses spurred the question along in my mind. I often tell myself that if people here can live without it, so can I…but I realize that might not be too realistic because of our different culture, expectations, education, personalities, etc. The lack of a watch and a camera just illustrate some of the many things I have been discovering aren’t normal for people here to have/do, but to me are quite routine. In the short term, I can certainly do without a watch and camera – my cell phone tells the time and I will take mental snapshots until I get a new camera. I am still a bit obsessive about the time – it might take all year to break me of my habit of checking the time often and worrying about being more than 5 minutes late for something! (Oh and several days ago I found my watch and have resumed wearing it faithfully!)

My favorite few hours in these past 2 weeks, probably because they were a time when I was able to work closely alongside my coworkers and feel like I had an important job to do (sometimes I don’t feel all that busy/needed/helpful here yet!), was during the special event we hosted for 60+ visitors from Kenya who were interested in learning about peace programs in Rwanda, especially with youth/schools. The work of Friends Peace House and the Peace Clubs at the Friends Church Schools in the neighborhood were something they wanted to hear about so we got to host an event! While we were waiting (about an hour) for the visitors to show up, I was excited to be involved in the commotion and spent the final few minutes outside with Cecile (assistant of the Coordinator of Friends Peace House, aka organizer of the event) waiting for the buses. I was trying to help her not be nervous or stressed, and told her how excited I was. I could see she was grateful, and as the buses pulled in, she took my hand as we walked over to greet them - - I’d heard/seen this was common among friends in Africa but hadn’t experienced it firsthand! (It felt weird but made me really happy.) During the event, I got to help greet and seat the visitors, pass out drinks and be the photographer. That didn’t stop me from dancing when everyone was invited to join the girls doing traditional Rwandese dances and the floor became packed with people! I may have no clue how to do the dance, but neither did any of the Kenyans! Only in Africa does a special event open and close with music and spontaneous dancing by the whole audience (hosts, children and visitors)! Dance party, anyone? Come on over!

Due to a lack of a personal camera, I don’t have the best photos for you this week but I do have a few. Enjoy!

My family, with my host father's mother who is here visiting. I am so thankful that I was placed in this family and that they call me their daughter.

Some of the students after working on the land/in the garden. (they have unofficial yellow/blue uniforms, hence the similarity in clothes)

Feeding each other "cake-bread" on my birthday. ...It's great to see that these girls are good friends, because they come from a difficult home situation (extremely poor, maybe only one parent, etc.). Occasionally we get to laugh and have fun together, and it's great!

I love the girls at Mwana Nshuti! They seem to like me too :) Luckily their school year goes until February, so we will be able to communicate better as the year progresses. (They know a lot of English considering they've only been studying since March, though!)

I miss you all! Hope you are doing well.