Mwiriwe from Komonyi, Rwanda

Mwiriwe!!! Which means hello, good afternoon and a pluthera of other things I haven't learned so far. But, either way, hello from Rwanda. It is beautiful here, reminds me a lot of Indonesia but that should be slightly expected because of location in the world. My journey has been amazing so far. Even the things I expected to be really hard like bucket showers and squat toilets have proven much easier tasks than I expected. Kinyarwanda on the other hand is a very hard language to learn. But, it's easier living with a family and learning all the time. Some time soon I should learn how to get water and how to cook over a fire.

It has been crazy since I got here. They held the flight for us in Belgium because we sat on the runway at JFK for three hours so were running slightly late, but because of the close flight, they didn't get anyone's luggage on board. Therefore we got to stay in Kigali another night. Training has been very shotgun. Lots of training, then we were trucked an hour outside of Kigali to Kamonyi where we live with hosts familys. Mine just happens to be the family of the pastor, so when I was dropped off there were hundreds of people outside which was a little overwhelming, but my family is amazing!

I have seven Rwandan brothers and sisters and they all help me learn different things. The two youngest help me go over numbers, body parts and whatever else we can think of. The four girls are in the middle and they teach me chores, how to take care of myself and other words. And finally the oldest is Nafta, a year younger than me and speaks enough English to communicate with me and translate at times which is really nice. My Rwandan Mama is very sweet and I want to get to know her but there is a definite language barrier. Papa Bonkey is really nice and sweet, but he does ask me at least once a day if I pray. It's definitely a positive place though. Every time I'm successful at something, they all clap and cheer. It's almost easier being with my family than in class which is kind of draining throughout the day.

I've learned so much in only a week! OY! Now I can say, I want sleep, I want food, I have this, I have that! Simfite Inzara is a common phrase of mine, I don't have hunger! They're always feeding me! But it's good. I've been eating lots of carbs, beans, rice, cooked green banana, greens, unknown meat, but it's good. And I love the tea! They drink it just like in Ireland. It's only been a week. I have nine more to go with my host family and if I pass the tests and make it through, I will be sworn in to the Peace Corps as an official volunteer in July. We've very unfortunately already had two people terminate early and go home and they will be very missed. It's definitely an intense experience, but I'm happy so far.

Anyways, there will be more later, I promise, this is just an initial blog to let everyone know that I exist, and I exist well so far in Rwanda. I miss my friends and family very much and I love you all. More to come soon and know that in my times of sadness, you are my comfort! Pictures to come!