My birthday and Permagardening

My birthday was fun! I went into my office while Adam went to work and I played on the internet and read birthday messages from people. Adam and I met up after work and he got me a pedicure. It was sooo nice! It felt so good to have clean, pretty feet again. After, we met up with his ‘big bro’ and cousin for a drink and then went out to dinner with friends at an Italian restaurant. After dinner, we went out and met up with more friends and spent the night dancing. The next day, my friend Nicole came into the capital and I met up with her at the market to try and find her something to wear to a fancy dinner with her donors. We went to the market and ran into the group of new PCVs buying housewares. I bought a pair of pants, gave them to the tailor and bought a pair of sandals and earrings and Nicole got a pair of heels for the night. We ended up finding a purple dress for her in town about an hour before the dinner. She went to the dinner and I met up with Adam and co. for drinks and she met up with us afterwards. We all left and went dancing around midnight. I had my phone in my pocket and it was getting annoying so I took it out and put it on the table that some friends were sitting around. I forgot about it and as I was in the parking lot, I realized that I didn’t have my phone, only to go back in to find it gone. L Totally my fault, but still sucks. Saturday was ‘brothers with issues’. Nicole and I went out to lunch first and then were going to go get me a new phone, but on the way, we got picked up by a friend who was going to BWI, so we just got a ride all the way there. Nicole went home that night and Adam went to meet up with his ‘big bro’ and cousin, who I met up with later. Got to play with the dog a bit and see the baby. Then, on the way to meet up with friends Adam stopped at his office to plug in his phone, but it was a Mother’s day dinner, so we ended up going in for a while and I met two of his ‘aunties’.
Sunday, we went to watch the two big football matches on TV with friends and then Adam and I tried out a new Chinese restaurant before meeting up with his cousin for one drink before going home.
Monday, I had to go to the dentist to get a cavity filled. I went to my office first and played on the internet and picked up my papers to bring with. While walking down the dirt road to the dentist’s office, a man stopped and asked if I was going to the doctor, I said yes, and he said “get in, I’ll give you a ride”. It was her husband and he was really nice. It’s a strange set up. The office is just a part of the house, so while she is working, family members will walk into or through the room. The husband came in twice while I was in there. When I lay in the chair, the hygienist reached out and stroked my cheek with one finger, I would think this is weird, but a lot of Rwandans seem to like my skin. One of Adam’s friends says that I look like I’m made of wax and always touches my cheek when he says this and my cheeks are one of Adam’s favorite places, so I wasn’t creeped out when she touched me, I just laughed. I got a lot of anesthesia and was numb for over 2 hours afterwards. While walking to the shopping center, I saw a car stop on the road and it was Adam’s big bro and cousin, so they gave me a ride. I couldn’t eat for 2 hours after and was so hungry by the time the 2 hours were up, that I ate even though I was still a little numb. Adam and I didn’t go out Monday night and I tried to get him to watch the Princess Bride, but he fell asleep! Came back to Nyamasheke on Tuesday and was just watching the clouds moving through the forest, knowing that it was raining at home. The bus stopped at one point to drop someone off and since I was in the first seat, a big group of teenaged boys saw me and came and stood by my widow staring at me and talking to and about me. Then one of them had the balls to touch me and then they all got the courage and so they were all reaching in and touching my arm, so I tried to close the window and they opened it again, so I yelled at them to go away, which just encouraged them and then everyone on the bus because now they knew that I could speak Kinyarwanda. The rest of the bus trip, the guy behind me would lean forward and ask me questions or the bus driver would ask me or someone further behind would just yell something. I finally pretended to sleep and just listened to them talking about me. I was not in the mood to be the entertainment. I just wanted to sit and listen to my music and zone out. Sometimes, I get in a bad mood and can’t take being the ‘toy’. I know that’s not what they think of me, but sometimes that’s what it feels like. I am just something to stare at and play with and they don’t care or, I guess, understand that it makes me uncomfortable or angry. I’m usually pretty understanding and don’t care, but that day I just was feeling really irritable and so every little thing that happened built on all the others and by the end I just hated everyone. Though when I got back to Mwezi, I was happy because people knew my name and would hug me and not just call me muzungu and stare. Mama Vanessa got a flashlight and looked in my mouth because I told her I went to the dentist. The week was pretty normal. Went to the clinic and to the cooperative meeting on Thursday. I was put in charge of taking pictures of the staff for their new ID cards, since I am the only person with a digital camera, so I did a lot of picture taking and helped with the pregnant ladies. Sister Dormina asked me to take pictures of her school for her on Friday morning, so I went there before going down to the clinic. It’s a technical school for students who finish primary school, but cannot afford to go to secondary school. They learn carpentry and sewing and English. I got woken up early Saturday by sister Dormina, who wanted to get the pictures I took for her on Friday. I went over to their house Friday evening, but she wasn’t back from work yet, so she came Saturday morning. I went over there and put the pictures onto her computer and took some Kinyarwanda songs from her. Turns out a lot of them were videos and they are HILARIOUS!!! I spent Saturday night watching the videos and laughing to myself. Sunday, sister Mary woke me up and took me to church. It is the day of assumption, so the parish in Gashashi was bringing a cross down to our parish. They were about an hour and a half late, so I was invited into the Priest’s house and had some tea and then we went out to the church and saw the cross being carried in. They carried it on their heads dancing and singing all the way from Gashashi!! Our church gets it for 2 days and then we are in charge of bringing it to another parish and so on, until it makes its way around the whole of Rwanda! The incense they burned smelled like pinesol and that mixed with the smell of hot people dancing wasn’t very enticing. I went home early, because I couldn’t understand the sermon, even though occasionally sister Mary would translate parts for me. But I was still at the parish a good 3 ½ hours. I made cottage cheese after church to eat with my pineapple. While I was boiling water later that day to put into the filter, two boys came to the fence and yelled “mwiriwe” (good afternoon) to me, so I yelled back “go away” and then went out to see whom it was. I didn’t recognize them, but they said “Alice, its been many days since we’ve seen you. We came to greet you.” So, I said hi and talked to them for a bit, then remembered that I had a bunch of empty water bottles and asked if they wanted some. They said yes, so I gave each of them a bottle then said bye. They didn’t leave and were just standing there playing with their bottles a good 5 minutes before asking me for water. I didn’t want to give them dirty water because I knew they were going to drink it, so I filled it with water from the tap, which they can see, and many rwandese think is clean water, and added Sur Eau, a water purifying solution. I asked the boys if they had Sur Eau at home and they said no, so I asked if they drank boiled water and they said yes. I told them it was good to drink boiled water or water with Sur Eau because it keeps them healthy. When I gave them the bottles, they left and hopefully took my lesson with them.
Monday, I took the bus to Nyanza and had to walk from the main road to the training center. It was a LONG walk and a bunch of kids walking home from school surrounded me and walked with me asking me questions and talking to me. It was nice. Kids in Nyanza are used to the bazungu from PC because the trainees worked in the schools there during training, so they aren’t so shy and don’t just stare at you, they talk to you! I liked it. The training was amazing! It was about permagardening, which is a form of permaculture that includes the techniques of biointensive gardening. We learned a lot and I am really excited to introduce this into my community and help people to grow better. Rwandese know how to farm, but this is just an extra tool to help them increase their yield. I was in Nyanza from Monday to Thursday doing this training and then came to Kigali to visit Adam for the weekend and check my email and use the internet.

Some observations about wearing pants in Africa:
You know it’s a gross bathroom when you have to roll up your pant legs before entering, skirts are much more conducive to these environments.
As soon as you step off the bus in Nyamasheke, roll up your pant legs because they will get dirty; immediately! especially in the wet season