Chapter II: In which the Connors get adopted and bid farewell to flush toilets

This actually skips forward a little bit as I am having issues uploading the part of my blog that details getting from Wisconsin to Rwanda. Hopefully, this is acceptable. we will upload that when we can.

Once we arrived in Kigali, we made our way through customs, and were met by Peace Corps Rwanda staff.  We all climbed on a bus and were transported to the Peace Corps Transit house.  The compound (and compound is as accurate a description as any due to the high walls and armed guards) contains a few bunk-beds and our last chance to enjoy western toilets, though we were warned “to be gentle with them”.  After we were fed and sent to bed, we found out we would have to share the bottom bunk due to lack of spaces.  We spent two days at the Transit House, getting shots, filling out paperwork, buying cell phones and setting up our back accounts, I took the opportunity to buy a small jug of yogurt and Berta bought salt and vinegar chips (which, sadly, ended up exploding all over the floor before they could be devoured).  Then, we all hopped in the bus again for the Kamonyi District where we would meet our host families.  

            There are 34 people in our Education 5 group and with the exception of married couples we each have a different host family.  Chris and I are only a 5 minute walk from the “Peace Corps Hub” where our group meets a few days a week for teacher training, safety and security lessons, and other general information.  Some other folks aren't as lucky and have to be bussed in on school days.  Our family has electricity 24/7, however many of our friends do not so they have to charge electronics at friends homes or at the hub. 

           Our Kinyarwanda language classes have been going well.  Our language training is very intense as there are only two or three students per class with one teacher and sometimes these last for eight hours.  Chris and I have different teachers and it is obvious that his class learns faster than mine because his class is ahead of the rest of ours even though all teachers are supposed to be teaching the same lesson every day.  Chris loves using the language at home and our family loves it!!  However, because Chris tries to speak and I do not, they have the impression I don't speak at all or do not understand them.  I just usually have nothing to say.  Also, our host parents speak French which is confusing because sometimes when we ask them questions, they respond in french and we think they are speaking kinyarwanda; then we go to school and our teacher tells us we have been learning vocabulary in french not kinyarwanda.  And sometimes our family just speaks in French/Kinyarwanda so we really don't know what is going on.

              The people here are very nice and welcoming, they always have time to chat or at least say hello.  The children really like to talk to us, they constantly are asking what our names are and fist bumping; they also ask for money I wonder how often that works for them. Today I passed a child and she was so scared of me she started crying.  Children also like to touch our skin and hair because it looks different. In church the kids will flock to you and fight for who gets to sit next to you.  Every day you will see children wandering the streets alone; it is very common for adults to leave children at home while they are at work, even if they are only 4 or five years old.  Usually it is the responsibility of the eldest daughter to take care of the younger children during the day.  The host family we live with does not have any little kids.  We live with Papa Francois, Mama Bernilde, and their daughter Rosine.  They have 6 other children but none of them live at home, some are grown and some are at a boarding school. 

             Our diet here varies little.  Everyday we eat rice and beans but it is always accompanied by at least one other item.  We have eaten fried potatoes, fried plantains, meat in tomato sauce and green beans and carrots.  There is not anything really sweet here besides Orange Fanta and Coke.  It you want to find things like potato chips, candy, or chocolate you have to go to a large city like the capital, Kigali.  There are two types of locally brewed beers one is named Primus and the other is Turbo King.  Chris likes Turbo King “Inzoga y'abagabo” (The Beer of Men) mainly due to the fact that it is named Turbo King, it tastes good too by the way..  We have also heard a story that Turbo King has such a high alcohol content that when it was made in larger bottles like Primus is it would tend to give people alcohol poisoning.  Therefore, Turbo King launched an advertising campaign promoting their new, smaller bottles that wouldn't make you end up in the hospital. We'll stop here for now and hope we can find a way to upload this in a timely manner.

       Feel free to ask us any questions in the comments section of our blog and we will do our best to answer them to the best of our ability as our internet connection allows.