Party time!

(I write pieces of this throughout the week, so please excuse the lack of fluidity)

The safety and security officer visited on Tuesday and brought us mail and packages from Kigali. It was so exciting. She also brought me my bike, so I now can try and bike these enormous, muddy hills. The most interesting parcel she brought was medicine from our PCMO. She told us she was giving it to us because if we happen to get swine flu, we are the only volunteers who the medical officer cannot get to in time, so she sent us the meds to have on hand just in case. We are the only two volunteers in all of Rwanda who have swine flu meds because we are the only two volunteers who are so ridiculously out of the way. The security officer, then decided to make fun of our lack of a copy machine, saying we could rub the paper on the back of a pig (we need to make a few copies of our passport to get our work permit, which we will have to do in Cyangugu). It was really funny. It was so nice to have a visit from people who speak English and who know us. Then they left and we had a party going through our packages and showing each other what we got. Good day.

Other sounds I forgot to add:
The grinder grinding the cassava root
Wood being chopped
The church bells ringing at 6:30, 7, 12:30, 6
Laughing (all ages and mainly at my expense)
Blaying goats

The rain is getting more ridiculous. We had to skip class Wednesday because we could not leave the house when we needed to due to the ridiculous amount of rain pouring down. We were able to make it to the market earlier in the day to get food, but after putting the food away the rain came. While at the market I saw double digits worth of red and white-stripped shirts! It was amazing. I should have counted. Emily got caught in the rain on Thursday while doing her laundry and when she came in she looked like a drowned rat. It was funny. I’ll put up a picture.

Longest words in Kinyarwanda (that I know of):
Agasumbasyamba = giraffe (this one is very strange because you use the prefix aka- or aga- to indicate that something is small, eg. Agakapu=small bag, igikapu=bag)
Umukororombya = rainbow
Nyirarupyipyinyucimpyisi = to vigorously pet a hyena in the opposite direction of fur growth

So, it finally happened. This weekend, we went to party with the people from the One Acre Fund, two of which are returned PCVs that we met during the counterpart conference. It was so much fun and Emily and I were waaaay too excited. We took motos to the main road Saturday morning then one of them picked us up and we went to get the other volunteer in Nyamasheke and one of the girls who lives on the other side of the forest also came to visit. We all went to their house and it was huge and amazing. They had a projector screen and surround sound speakers and a fridge and oven!! We had lunch and then went to the lake. I didn’t have my swimsuit with me, but waded in and it was so tempting to just jump in with all my clothes on. There was even a floating dock! Then the rain came, so we went back to the house. Dinner was amazing, pasta salad with cheese and olives (I don’t even like olives!) grilled corn and brownies!!!!!! It was amazing. We drank wine and played games and watched a movie. I felt like I was back in the states. The wine was amazing. We all spent the night and then woke up and had an delicious breakfast of French toast and fruit salad. We played scrabble and I realized I suck at that game. Then they drove us home and this is where it gets funny. We got all the way to Mwezi, it was raining and there was a pretty rainbow, but they had put rocks down on the road so we were able to get to Mwezi just fine, but when we tried to go into Mwezi, to our house, the road was not as good and was all muddy and the truck got stuck, so Em and I got out and just started walking. Well, it was really slippery and we were laughing the whole time. Emily sort of fell and got a little dirty. Right before our hill are a few shops, a barber, and a bar. Since it was raining everyone was tucked into and under the awnings of the shops and so as we walked past, they were all laughing and talking about us. I went into hysterics because I thought we looked so ridiculous in our flip flops and backpacks walking in this mud, so I stopped to bend over laughing and got my shoe stuck in the mud. I was able to pull it out, but on my next step I slipped and fell straight on my butt in front of EVERYONE! Everyone started laughing at me and of course as I got up and tried to continue on I slipped again and then again on the bridge. I didn’t fall those times, but it sure added to the laughter. My counterpart happened to be in one of the buildings and he came out and helped Emily across the bridge and us get up onto our grassy hill. We were able to make it the rest of the way home fine, but I know they were all watching me go up the hill laughing at my muddy butt. I am very thankful for a secluded house because when I got home, I just took my pants off and washed off under the tap. It was a funny and humiliating way to end a wonderful weekend.