On Tuesday, my group mates and I had to do a presentation in Kinyarwanda (the language in Rwanda) on washing your hands! It was quite stressful, but it went so well. We had a game, we had a sketch and we built a hand washing station, which is so freaking cool! It's literally four sticks, a jug, some nails and some string, but it's rigged up so that you can press on one stick with your foot and it tilts the jug to pour water and you don't even have to touch anything with your hands. I think I may need to bring it back to the states when I come!
I'm now in the last week of training. I have a language test saturday morning at 8 and then hanging out with my host family. Logistically speaking, I cannot say that I think the move to my site will go smoothly, largely due to availability of wanted amenities and convenience of transportation. But as always, tuzareba, we will see. Every day my Rwandan family tells me how sad they will be when I go and that it's really bad that I am leaving. I will miss them a lot, but I will get to visit. It will be a lot harder to leave Rwanda in 2 years as I already have so many good Rwandan friends! But that's a ways away, and I'm already looking forward to getting to see Family and Friends back in the states. I miss you all so very much!
This last weekend, I got to go to the market again, where I bought some igitenge (sarongs) for the women in my family as a thank you. To my host father and my host brother, I gave my really awful kinyarwandan dictionary - it had none of the words I needed but somehow found it necessary to include the kinyarwandan words for g-string and for card number three in a deck of cards! - anyways, they loved the gifts, which I gave them Sunday evening. Monday was liberation day in Rwanda, so no one had to go to school or work. It was a really great day because we had a host family appreciation ceremony with all the families and me and another volunteer gave a short speech in Kinyarwanda.
The only thing that was missing Monday were fireworks, and maybe a cold brew, but mostly fireworks, and barbecues and maybe the fair my brother said he went to back in Oregon. But it was a really good day. Just as a side note... there is absolutely no shortage of guacamole in Rwanda, or at least the materials to make it. So far, it still kind of frightens some of the host families a bit. Especially the not-cooking part.
So a week ago, I bought some igitenge and I had a traditional Rwandan dress made, minus the head wrap, which I didn't have enough cloth for. I wore it to church on Sunday and my family as well as everyone else in the church were so happy. It was a lot of fun. I'm planning on wearing it at the swear-in ceremony next wednesday! Every day I kept asking my host family, is it saturday yet, is it four o'clock on saturday yet? I then taught them the word impatient, as I explained that I was being very impatient. They just laughed at me. We laugh at ourselves a lot. I recently learned the words for liar, shut up and various explanations equating to "Oh My God" and "Holy Crap" -more or less anyways - and so we've had a lot of fun joking with each other.
A lot of people have bought electronic movies over the course of their time here, so we've done some movie watching which has been really nice. I've also watched a lot of "How I met your mother" which I have to say I'm really hooked. It's a nice distraction from the stress of the day at night, when I can tuck myself in under my mosquito net, put my computer on my lap and watch a little bit of what could be considered a normalcy in my life (television!)
Life is good. Last night I had to explain homesickness versus missing someone. I was trying to explain that homesickness often implies a level of being sad that you are where you are and not at home. I was also trying to explain that I was so happy to be in Rwanda and in Africa, but that I missed my friends and family. Language barriers really make messages hard to get across sometimes.
But as for here, my volunteer swear in ceremony is this coming Wednesday at the US Ambassador's residence in Kigali. We met the ambassador a little while ago, however he just happened to finish his "tour of duty" so to speak, so it's an ambassador-less residence. Next Tuesday I will be packed and leaving for Kigali before swear-in on Wednesday. Then Thursday I'm headed to my assignment! Crazy that it's that close!!! That is of course if I pass all the tests today and tomorrow! OY! My brain is slowly wilting under the strain of studying! (I thought I wasn't a student, in the formal sense, anymore!) I was practicing my vocabularly last night and learning the names of some of the animals. So I told my host-brother Nafta, that I wanted to be a hippo, to which our visitor replied, "That's not possible!" I found that comment quite rude and limiting in how you address and view your life, but anyways... hahaha.
OK, now I very much need to study to prepare for my language exam, but just a short update on the world of Africa, or rather the world that I currently exist in, in which Africa is a part of! Can you tell my mind is stretching a little thin or becoming a little crazy? haha -Much love
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