week 2 at site

So my attempts at becoming an umuhinzi have not been going so well. I bought some carrot seeds and threw them onto the dirt in my backyard and nothing is happening. It’s been raining everyday, so I didn’t bother to water them. I also assumed the thrashing the rain would take on the seeds would pound them into the dirt, so I didn’t bother to put them into little holes and cover them. It’s only been a little over a week, so miracles just may still happen, but keep your fingers crossed for me. I want some carrots. Also, I’m not even sure if carrots grow well in the wet season. I was going to attempt to grow green beans and peas as well, but I might wait to see how this venture turns out before beginning another. I bought some ramen in the capital and really want to put peas and carrots in it like a cup o noodles, but I cant find peas anywhere in my village. I am also having trouble with getting eggs and green beans. I was planning on making fried rice, but alas, the chickens are not in heat and therefore I cannot eat eggs. It was good they stuck the two vegetarians together, but we are in a terrible place without any eggs. All we have is beans at the time being (and the protein bars momma sent me).
So, the above was written earlier in the week, and I have found eggs, someone must have mentioned that we wanted eggs because when we stopped for a fanta at the restaurant the lady brought us some eggs. I think we only told the one nun, so word spreads fast. And I was able to make fried rice, with cabbage and carrots and onion (the nuns brought us some carrots the other day from the town). So, the joys of living in a place where you get fresh produce from your own back yard are hampered by the monotony of having only a few crops at a time. I am stuck with eating cabbage, avocado, onion, tomato and sweet potato at the present season. There are also turnips at the market, but I don’t know how to cook those and I don’t know if I like turnips. I will let you know if I cave in a few weeks and try it. English lessons have been going well. People in town always say good morning no matter what time of day it is, so we’ve been trying to correct that. Still haven’t started any sort of health project, but am finding a lot of things that I will want to do. Teach about the importance of wearing shoes, coughing and sneezing into your arm, washing hands at the appropriate times, not sharing forks. We had a party at work on Thursday and it was sort of a secret santa thing. Everyone drew names and then Thursday was the day to reveal. Everyone got up and said a little something about their person and everyone tried to guess whom it was. It was really fun. After giving the gifts (which you accept but do not open until you get home), we had a dance party. Dancing in Rwanda is definitely different than dancing in the US with a few similarities. Everyone likes to get in a circle and dance cooperatively, but they like to all hold hands while dancing in a circle. We had drinks and food and I got some nice fabric from my counterpart. Saturday, I got a ride with the nuns into town and met up with the other volunteers in Nyamasheke. We shopped a little and checked out a few of the hotels. One has a masseuse and the other has a really cool garden over looking the lake. We ate pizza at one of the hotels and it was amazing. The pizza had green beans on it and cheese, two things I haven’t gotten to eat in a long time. The only downer was that there was no ice cream. I miss ice cream. Sorry all my blog entries have been about food lately, but that seems to be all I can think about. I am craving crazy things like McDonalds hamburgers, which I haven’t had in probably 10 years! I bought some cookies when I was in town and am going to attempt to make myself a cake. I could probably get the nuns to bake me a cake because they have an oven, but I feel silly asking for a cake for my birthday. Our time in town was sort of the birthday celebration because I wont make it back to town for another few weeks. Write more later.