Chapter 1: In which the Connors Get to Rwanda (Barely)

So here is the missing first chapter that was having uploading issues last time I tried


Welcome back everyone. At this time Roberta and I are stationed with our host family in the Kamonyi region of Rwanda. We are situated on top of a mountain and it is one of the loveliest sights I have seen. I'll get back to all that later, right now though I'll go through our ordeal in getting to where we are now.

We set off early in the morning from Ashland and after swinging through McDonald’s for one last breakfast burrito we were on our way. It started to rain after we had been on the road for a while but cleared up as we arrived in Duluth, MN This is where the trouble began. After Saying our goodbyes to Roberta's mother and grandfather, we checked our bags in and waited for our flight to O'Hare and then on to Washington DC. Duluth is not a terribly big airport and so we were privy to the functions of the other Airlines. Due to the fog that had been left by the rain the Delta flight in front of our had been canceled. However our flight was still scheduled to go. A little while after that it was stated that it was delayed. Then, about 6 hours later it was finally canceled and we were forced to hire a taxi to ship us out to the nearest hotel. So instead of arriving in DC around 4:00 and having a wonderful night, we were in the airport Econolodge. We did, however, have a fairly nice time, we ordered pizza and watched an exceptionally strange movie that was entirely instrumental and featured a sailor dancing with Arabian themed cartoons. After waking up at 4:00 AM and arriving at the airport, we were told our new flight had again been canceled due to the fog. So then, after talking to the government travel agency, we were told we had to find a way to get to Minneapolis which was about 3 hours away. So it looked as if we would have to hire a taxi that would have cost about $300. Luckily enough, while waiting for the taxi to arrive, we, along with another couple, were able to hitch a ride to Minneapolis with another displaced traveler. As it turns out he was actually driving a company car so he wouldn't accept any payment from us.

The trip down was enjoyable, and as soon as it opened we called the Peace Corps to tell them we would be arriving late for our staging event. As soon as we arrived in Minneapolis we ran as fast as our little feet would carry us and were able to find a plane bound for DC. This plane actually managed to take off and we were soon in our nation's capitol. We quickly collected our luggage, hired a taxi, checked in at the hotel and ran to the Peace Corps Staging event. We only arrived about an hour late, and managed to get most of the important information. I suppose I don't really know what we missed, so I choose to believe this. Afterword we ate dinner at the Chipotle and went back to the hotel to change. We then wandered around until we ran across a CVS, where we bought some stamps, and returned to the hotel where we watched little television before we retired for the night. The next morning we hit up the post office before boarding a buss and heading to the Dulles international airport. We had thought that we were finished with airport shenanigans, however, we were wrong.

After arriving at the airport, handing out our snazzy new official Peace Corps Passports (which look just the same as a regular passport, but who's keeping track?) we piled into line. And found out that in addition to the stipulation that our checked bags needed to be fifty pounds or less, our carry-ons had to be 25 pounds or less in total as well. Luckily we were able to jam most everything into on of our carry-ons that was now becoming a checked bag. We managed to meet the surprise criteria and even managed to have enough room to help out the other married couple get their bags evened out. Some folks were not so lucky and had to pay large sums of money to the Royal Dutch Airlines.

This was my first time spending upwards of sixteen hours on a plane, which wasn't that terrible. On the flight up there I listened to Picture of Dorian Grey and watched the second Ip Man film (In which Ip Man shows the Britts who's boss). On the second half of the trip I finished up Dorian Grey and slept/watched Django Unchained. Eventually we arrived in Kigali not too worse for the wear. I'll stop talking now since this is fairly long. Eventually we will upload more but I make no promises as to when that will be as our internet situation is kind of spotty.