On arriving in Kigali I was informed that the plan for my internship had changed slightly. Rather than spending my entire time in Kigali working at the Rwandan Development Board, I would spend the first month of my internship teaching at the small Université Catholique du Kabgayi in the city of Gitarama, about 50 km or 1 hour west of the capital.
Thus Saturday morning was spent purchasing a local cell phone, returning to Tina's house and packing/freshening up to head to my new home. Early in the afternoon the UCK van came to the bottom of Tina's street to pick me up. After picking up a few other staff members we were off to Gitarama. The drive was uneventful, I spoke a little with Patrick and Vivens, the men I would be working with, and enjoyed the scenery which is even more green and dramatic outside of Kigali.
After showing me to my room I was left to rest for a while before Patrick came to pick me up. We were going to dinner at the house of a family where Patrick had dined once before, but first he showed me around the universtiy campus. The campus is very nice, though very different from any Canadian campus I've seen. The classes are all in different long buildings with full walls of windows on both sides and completely wooden furniture inside. And only chalkboards for teaching. I have a hard time imagining many of the lectures at the U of S occurring without the sacred powepoint presentation.
On the walk to dinner I had no idea where I was going of where I was as night here is VERY dark and streets are informal and unlabelled. We were met at the gate (houses here are almost all walled in with gates that can lock) but some of the family and brought into the small back yard (concrete though, not grass) where we sat and chatted and had tea. To be fair at this point I mostly listened as the conversation was largely in Kinyarwanda. I met Grace, the lady of the house, Cassie, another woman, Grace's brother and sister-in-law (Kanyana) and Olivia, who is in charge of Public Relations at UCK. As it started to rain we quickly moved inside for drinks and conversation before dinner. I also met most of the children who live in the house, the girls were especially cute and did their best to talk to me and explain to me what was happening on the tv before they were sent to their rooms.
The conversation was somehow hilarious though it consisted of bits of French and English and a lot of translated Kinyarwanda. Kanyana was absolutely hilarious and completely determined to use what English she knew and made Patrick translate for her all the words she didn't know. Since I was drinking Rwanda tea but without milk or sugar (here tea is more like slightly flavoured powdered milk with about three heaping teaspoons of sugar) Kanyana and her husband were convinced that I was sick. Even when I explained to them that drinking tea black is what I am used to they didn't buy it. In fact, they thought the real reason I wasn't taking sugar must have been because I was diabetic.
Patrick and I left around 11 when someone came and picked us up and drove us home. All in all it was a wonderful night filled with a lot of laughter.
Daily Smiles
- playing with sunglasses with Dan before I left Tina's house (see photos)
- one of the young girls hugging me the moment I arrived at the gate of Grace's house
- one fo the girls (may or may not be the same one) taking my hand and leading me into the yard and then into the house
- the look on the two older men's faces when they entered the living room and saw me sitting there - eyes bugging out of their heads. I'm guessing they weren't expecting to find a muzungoo sitting in their living room
- the youngest boy seeming to be terrified of me
- Grace's brother asking me if I thought it was cold here and the look of complete bewilderment on his face when I explained to him that winter back home means -40C
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Kigali
For my second day in Kigali Tina and Silvie took me to "town" so I could see what the city was like and so I could exchange some money at the foreaux. We took a bus from Tina's neighbourhood to downtown (referred to as town) for 150 Rwf. The bus if really more of a full size van but of European make with 5 or 6 rows of seats and special fold up seats in the aisles. The busses are manned by two people, the driver and a younger guy who works the door, letting people in and out, collecting fares and hollering out the window which bus it is.
On arrival in town my previous impression of there not being that much traffic was quickly countered. The traffic is simply concentrated in the centre of town with thongs of people on foot, masses of motos and many many cars and buses all in a state of semi-chaos out of which some sort of order manages to form, though I'm not sure how. Sivlie needed minutes for her phone which can eaily be purchases from any one of the many boys in the street wearing yellow smocks with the MTN (local phone comany) logo on the front and I was able to exchange some of the American money I brought with me at this little office where you sit in a cubicle and the trade what you have for what you want. 50 USD got my just over 28000 Rwf. Next we caught another bus to the Rwanda Development Board office where we were to meet Hannah and here coworkers (who will eventually be my coworkers) for a farewell lunch as it's Hannah's last day.
A driver from the RDB as well was Apollo (who works at the RDB) drove us to an incredibly fancy restaurant where we ordered our fill of food and drinks and chatted leisurely in English and Kinyarwanda over a meal that lasted several hours. The food was very good, though the waiter got my order wrong and once again everyone was incredibly friendly and did their best to engage my quiet self in conversation.
Upon returning to Tina's house we went in search of an internet cafe so I could let the world back home know that I was alive and well at my destination. Upon arrival at the cafe we learned that it was closed but no worries as we encountered a friend of Tina's who had a teeny portable computer and was more than willing to go with us to SFB and attempt to access the free wi-fi there. Tina's friend was quite happy to meet me and was the first person I met who knew of Saskatoon (as opposed to just Montreal) and was excited to go there and visit his friends, hopefully sooner rather thjan later. And no, of course, he would also have to visit me. And I would be happy to have him.
After our internet adventure - the wi-fi at SFB didn't work but a friend of a friend of a friend had a hard wire connection that I was able to use for a few minutes - Tina and I returned to rest at her place for a while before getting ready to go to Apollo's for Hannah's farewell party. Once again we caught the bus but Tina was one the phone getting the last of her directions from Apollo so we got off a stop late. It wasn't a far walk though before Christophe (I think that's his name) saw us and got our attention so he could act as our guide and help us stumble through the dark to Apollo's house.
At the party were a few people I have already met at lunch - Apollo, Angelique, Chritsophe - and some new people, namely Emma from the RDB IT department. Shortly thereafter two of Hannah's other friends arrived - Rachel, and American med student in Rwanda doing reasearch and Lindsay, a Bristol grad student also gathering research in Rwanda. After much chatting and eating and drinking (it seems I never eat or drink enough to satisfy the quota the Rwandans I am with have set for me) for a few hours the four "muzungoo" girls set out to meet the rest of Hannah's ex-pat friends at a sports bar on motos which Apollo negotiated for us. My first ride on a moto was exhilirating, especially since it was night and therefore quite cool.
Shortly after arriving at the sports bar many many more people showed up, including all the US marines who work security at the American embassy, a few other Americans, some Dutchmen, Belgians and Germans, many of whose names I can't remember. The sitting in combination with the beers previously consumed made many of us pretty tired pretty quickly and after an hour or two (I have no concept of time) Angelo called the marines' driver and we were off to the dance club Planet/KBZ. This was probably one of my bigger culture shocks. The club seems sooo unbelievably sketchy to me, containing the most scantily clad women I had seen since arriveing in Rwanda (outside this bar skrits any shorter than knee lenght pretty much don't exist and cleavage is generally not shown) and a whole lot of gangsta looking guys. It made my think of the club in Save the Last Dance, but much less posh and more run down and for a long while I felt very out of place and rather uncomfortable. After a period of adjustment though it wasn't so bad. A few of the guys at the club even realized that we weren't up for crazy close dancing (us girls looked after each other pretty well and Angelo wasn't afraid to look all body builer and scary though not everyone got the hint) and we met some other Europeans who were out celebrating a birthday. All in all it was a fun night that ended with the Marines' driver taking me back to Hannah and Rachel's place for the night.
Daily Smiles
I started noting the things each day that bring a little smile to my face. Many are small cultural differences that I notice or they may be things that make me think of someone from home or that represent one of the challenges I am sure to face here. Most of my entries will finish with such lists.
- when the guy on the bus was collecting fares from everyone and leaned against my seat and also partly against me to reach the people in the back of the bus and me realizing that this is one of the moments when my personal bubble gets to be smaller than I am used to but no larger than is normal here.
- the fold up seats in the aisles of the buses that would likely never fly in Canada
- Emma asking to touch my hair and me agreeing thinking of all the times I've done it to Kevin and Eric cuz it "feels funny"
- meeting a guy named Didier on the walk back to Tina's from SFB and smiling as he is not the first Didier I've met though I can't say I would have ever expected to meet even one
- everyone constantly telling me to eat and dink more. It reminds me of Vika.
On arrival in town my previous impression of there not being that much traffic was quickly countered. The traffic is simply concentrated in the centre of town with thongs of people on foot, masses of motos and many many cars and buses all in a state of semi-chaos out of which some sort of order manages to form, though I'm not sure how. Sivlie needed minutes for her phone which can eaily be purchases from any one of the many boys in the street wearing yellow smocks with the MTN (local phone comany) logo on the front and I was able to exchange some of the American money I brought with me at this little office where you sit in a cubicle and the trade what you have for what you want. 50 USD got my just over 28000 Rwf. Next we caught another bus to the Rwanda Development Board office where we were to meet Hannah and here coworkers (who will eventually be my coworkers) for a farewell lunch as it's Hannah's last day.
A driver from the RDB as well was Apollo (who works at the RDB) drove us to an incredibly fancy restaurant where we ordered our fill of food and drinks and chatted leisurely in English and Kinyarwanda over a meal that lasted several hours. The food was very good, though the waiter got my order wrong and once again everyone was incredibly friendly and did their best to engage my quiet self in conversation.
Upon returning to Tina's house we went in search of an internet cafe so I could let the world back home know that I was alive and well at my destination. Upon arrival at the cafe we learned that it was closed but no worries as we encountered a friend of Tina's who had a teeny portable computer and was more than willing to go with us to SFB and attempt to access the free wi-fi there. Tina's friend was quite happy to meet me and was the first person I met who knew of Saskatoon (as opposed to just Montreal) and was excited to go there and visit his friends, hopefully sooner rather thjan later. And no, of course, he would also have to visit me. And I would be happy to have him.
After our internet adventure - the wi-fi at SFB didn't work but a friend of a friend of a friend had a hard wire connection that I was able to use for a few minutes - Tina and I returned to rest at her place for a while before getting ready to go to Apollo's for Hannah's farewell party. Once again we caught the bus but Tina was one the phone getting the last of her directions from Apollo so we got off a stop late. It wasn't a far walk though before Christophe (I think that's his name) saw us and got our attention so he could act as our guide and help us stumble through the dark to Apollo's house.
At the party were a few people I have already met at lunch - Apollo, Angelique, Chritsophe - and some new people, namely Emma from the RDB IT department. Shortly thereafter two of Hannah's other friends arrived - Rachel, and American med student in Rwanda doing reasearch and Lindsay, a Bristol grad student also gathering research in Rwanda. After much chatting and eating and drinking (it seems I never eat or drink enough to satisfy the quota the Rwandans I am with have set for me) for a few hours the four "muzungoo" girls set out to meet the rest of Hannah's ex-pat friends at a sports bar on motos which Apollo negotiated for us. My first ride on a moto was exhilirating, especially since it was night and therefore quite cool.
Shortly after arriving at the sports bar many many more people showed up, including all the US marines who work security at the American embassy, a few other Americans, some Dutchmen, Belgians and Germans, many of whose names I can't remember. The sitting in combination with the beers previously consumed made many of us pretty tired pretty quickly and after an hour or two (I have no concept of time) Angelo called the marines' driver and we were off to the dance club Planet/KBZ. This was probably one of my bigger culture shocks. The club seems sooo unbelievably sketchy to me, containing the most scantily clad women I had seen since arriveing in Rwanda (outside this bar skrits any shorter than knee lenght pretty much don't exist and cleavage is generally not shown) and a whole lot of gangsta looking guys. It made my think of the club in Save the Last Dance, but much less posh and more run down and for a long while I felt very out of place and rather uncomfortable. After a period of adjustment though it wasn't so bad. A few of the guys at the club even realized that we weren't up for crazy close dancing (us girls looked after each other pretty well and Angelo wasn't afraid to look all body builer and scary though not everyone got the hint) and we met some other Europeans who were out celebrating a birthday. All in all it was a fun night that ended with the Marines' driver taking me back to Hannah and Rachel's place for the night.
Daily Smiles
I started noting the things each day that bring a little smile to my face. Many are small cultural differences that I notice or they may be things that make me think of someone from home or that represent one of the challenges I am sure to face here. Most of my entries will finish with such lists.
- when the guy on the bus was collecting fares from everyone and leaned against my seat and also partly against me to reach the people in the back of the bus and me realizing that this is one of the moments when my personal bubble gets to be smaller than I am used to but no larger than is normal here.
- the fold up seats in the aisles of the buses that would likely never fly in Canada
- Emma asking to touch my hair and me agreeing thinking of all the times I've done it to Kevin and Eric cuz it "feels funny"
- meeting a guy named Didier on the walk back to Tina's from SFB and smiling as he is not the first Didier I've met though I can't say I would have ever expected to meet even one
- everyone constantly telling me to eat and dink more. It reminds me of Vika.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Land of 1000 Hills
Flying into Kigali I quickly realized that I was entering a place that very much deserved its name, the rolling hills were clearly evident from the sky. For those of you familiar with the "hills" of SK or even the foothills of Alberta please note that I used the term hill very loosely - they are really more like mini mountains, not so large as to have snow at the top but nearly tall enough to have a tree line. Sine arriving I have made several attempts at capturing the scenery in a photo however every one I manage to take fails miserably to capture the epic-ness of my surroundigs.
The distinct lack of flat was emphasized when the taxi dropped us off at the base of Tina's "street." And by street I mean a very steep and uneven red dirt road which is met by a slightly less steep but more uneven walking path just before it randomly ends without even a proper place for the taxi to turn around. Thankfully Tina enlisted one of the neighbourhood boys to carry my bags the 100 feet or so up the path to her house where I would be staying for the next two days, but not before I had what should likely be considered my first foreigner moment. The taxi let us out at the top of the road and then pulled away to turn around without first getting my luggage out of the trunk. Not knowing that the road was a dead end and unsure why non of the other girls were concerned about my escaping luggage I let out an "uhhhh...my bags?" which elicited a small chuckle from each of Tina, Hannah and Alice just before they let me know that he was about to turn around, especially since he didn't have any other option.
The afternoon was passed chatting leisurely and receiving a visit from another AIESECer who dropped in on his way home from school as well as time for my to shower and rest a little before heading to the weekly AIESEC meeing at the School of Finance and Business (SFB). The AIESEC meeting was entertaining and very different from a meeting at home. Firstly, it started about an hour late with member and very large number of alumni (like 50% of people there) sitting in a circle on the grass outside the school buildings. Barbara (TM responsible) went around the circle and everyone was required to give an update on their AIESEC activites for the last week. After each person spoke there was an opportunity for anyone else to ask questions or give suggestions regarding what could be done better. Nearly all of the people who spoke mentioned some sort of marketing call or interaction with externals, which is quite different from the very few people in @SK that actually do markting activity. Also, there were at least two occassions where individuals who were not performing were straight up called out in the meeting and asked to explain in no uncertain terms their lack of activity. Needless to say that would never happen in a meeting in Canada.
After the meeting everyone went to a club for Salsa night. One of the girls had arranged it such that by mentioning AIESEC we were not required to pay cover. The salsa part of the bar was organized such that there were plastic patio chairs arranged in rows, with tables in front of them, all facing the middle dance floor. The chairs were under and awning but the dance floor was open to the sky (which contains surprisingly few stars). Since Hannah and I had not eaten dinner we each ordered a Primus (local beer served in bottle that are roughly the size of two beer at home) and an order of fries to share for a total cost of about 3000 Rwf or 6 dollars. Service here is different from at home. The beers are brought to you, warm or cold based on your preference, and opened in front of you and then poured into a glass for you. Almost no on drinks out of a bottle, ever.
Though we were early we quickly realized that salsa night is for people who really know salsa (a few of the dancers actually teach sasla classes) meaning that I adamantly refused to get up and dance despite Joseph's (an alumnus) efforts. There was also a club part in the basement where a DJ was playing mostly American hip hop and Ugandan music which was were most of the AIESECers could be found dancing in true African fashion. At the end of the night all of us who were upstairs went down there leading a few of us (Hannah from the UK, Angelo, a US Marine and myself) feeling very white. Not so much because we were the only white people there but becaue we danced as such, making small movements in our little boxes as opposed to the Rwandans who danced big, fully using all their limbs and unafraid to make the most of all the space available to them. After the dancing was over for us Jospeh and Rom (a member of the African GN board who was just finishing his country visit) walked me back to Tina's place and helped me guess which of the gates on the hiking trail was Tina's. All in all it was a very fun night. I very much look forward to spending time with these many fun people again!
First Impressions:
- I am fro sure going to need to learn some Kinyarwanda
- It really is hilly everywhere - red dirt and green vegetated hills with hardly a flat space to be found. Even the rooms often have a slight slant to the floors!
- All the hills mean there will be lots of climbing and lots of stairs in my future.
- The people here are very nice and are unused to the quiet observant silence I usually display when encountering new circumstances and/or people. They keep asking if I'm ok.
- Everything really is made of concrete. EVERYTHING.! It's mostly kinda reddish in colour, like the dirt. Kevin and Eric weren't lying at all. Nothing is made from wood.
- "You are welcome" seems to mean come in/make yourself at home and "what's up" seems to mean how are you.
- Everyone has someone else to do most f the cookng and cleaning. Well at least everyone who is fairly well off, which is most of the people I'll be spending time with as the university and professional crown generally constitues fairly well off.
- It's not as crowded as I thought it would be. Mind you I've yet to see city centre.
- I'm going to have to get used to sitting close to strange men on moto taxis as it's a very common way of getting around here.
The distinct lack of flat was emphasized when the taxi dropped us off at the base of Tina's "street." And by street I mean a very steep and uneven red dirt road which is met by a slightly less steep but more uneven walking path just before it randomly ends without even a proper place for the taxi to turn around. Thankfully Tina enlisted one of the neighbourhood boys to carry my bags the 100 feet or so up the path to her house where I would be staying for the next two days, but not before I had what should likely be considered my first foreigner moment. The taxi let us out at the top of the road and then pulled away to turn around without first getting my luggage out of the trunk. Not knowing that the road was a dead end and unsure why non of the other girls were concerned about my escaping luggage I let out an "uhhhh...my bags?" which elicited a small chuckle from each of Tina, Hannah and Alice just before they let me know that he was about to turn around, especially since he didn't have any other option.
The afternoon was passed chatting leisurely and receiving a visit from another AIESECer who dropped in on his way home from school as well as time for my to shower and rest a little before heading to the weekly AIESEC meeing at the School of Finance and Business (SFB). The AIESEC meeting was entertaining and very different from a meeting at home. Firstly, it started about an hour late with member and very large number of alumni (like 50% of people there) sitting in a circle on the grass outside the school buildings. Barbara (TM responsible) went around the circle and everyone was required to give an update on their AIESEC activites for the last week. After each person spoke there was an opportunity for anyone else to ask questions or give suggestions regarding what could be done better. Nearly all of the people who spoke mentioned some sort of marketing call or interaction with externals, which is quite different from the very few people in @SK that actually do markting activity. Also, there were at least two occassions where individuals who were not performing were straight up called out in the meeting and asked to explain in no uncertain terms their lack of activity. Needless to say that would never happen in a meeting in Canada.
After the meeting everyone went to a club for Salsa night. One of the girls had arranged it such that by mentioning AIESEC we were not required to pay cover. The salsa part of the bar was organized such that there were plastic patio chairs arranged in rows, with tables in front of them, all facing the middle dance floor. The chairs were under and awning but the dance floor was open to the sky (which contains surprisingly few stars). Since Hannah and I had not eaten dinner we each ordered a Primus (local beer served in bottle that are roughly the size of two beer at home) and an order of fries to share for a total cost of about 3000 Rwf or 6 dollars. Service here is different from at home. The beers are brought to you, warm or cold based on your preference, and opened in front of you and then poured into a glass for you. Almost no on drinks out of a bottle, ever.
Though we were early we quickly realized that salsa night is for people who really know salsa (a few of the dancers actually teach sasla classes) meaning that I adamantly refused to get up and dance despite Joseph's (an alumnus) efforts. There was also a club part in the basement where a DJ was playing mostly American hip hop and Ugandan music which was were most of the AIESECers could be found dancing in true African fashion. At the end of the night all of us who were upstairs went down there leading a few of us (Hannah from the UK, Angelo, a US Marine and myself) feeling very white. Not so much because we were the only white people there but becaue we danced as such, making small movements in our little boxes as opposed to the Rwandans who danced big, fully using all their limbs and unafraid to make the most of all the space available to them. After the dancing was over for us Jospeh and Rom (a member of the African GN board who was just finishing his country visit) walked me back to Tina's place and helped me guess which of the gates on the hiking trail was Tina's. All in all it was a very fun night. I very much look forward to spending time with these many fun people again!
First Impressions:
- I am fro sure going to need to learn some Kinyarwanda
- It really is hilly everywhere - red dirt and green vegetated hills with hardly a flat space to be found. Even the rooms often have a slight slant to the floors!
- All the hills mean there will be lots of climbing and lots of stairs in my future.
- The people here are very nice and are unused to the quiet observant silence I usually display when encountering new circumstances and/or people. They keep asking if I'm ok.
- Everything really is made of concrete. EVERYTHING.! It's mostly kinda reddish in colour, like the dirt. Kevin and Eric weren't lying at all. Nothing is made from wood.
- "You are welcome" seems to mean come in/make yourself at home and "what's up" seems to mean how are you.
- Everyone has someone else to do most f the cookng and cleaning. Well at least everyone who is fairly well off, which is most of the people I'll be spending time with as the university and professional crown generally constitues fairly well off.
- It's not as crowded as I thought it would be. Mind you I've yet to see city centre.
- I'm going to have to get used to sitting close to strange men on moto taxis as it's a very common way of getting around here.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Travels
From the comfort of a plastic patio chair in an internet cafe in Gitarama, Rwanda I compose the first entry of my online travel journal.
Flights...
Flying to Calgary was as uneventful as any other one of such flights. Waiting for my international flight I realized I was going to be accompanied by many many people from all over Europe, a very large number of whom were returning home after competing in the World Skills competition in Calgary. On the plane I was seated next to a nice young man from Sweden who was flying home after spending time on behalf of his company at the skills competition. We swapped a couple stories before tuning into some in flight movies (J - I watched the proposal it was everything I expected it to be).
Layover in London could have been better. The airport is very nice but the terminal I was in for the better part of 8 hours was empty for most of that time and I swear everyone kept looking at me as I camped out with my laptop. I was also excited to note that Clinique products are sold in the World Duty Free. There is a very good chance I'll be picking up some of those on my way home :) Heathrow was far less complicated to navigate then I had expected though were my transit from one terminal to another not well signed and assisted by a bus I'm sure it would have been a disaster.
The Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi found me seated next to a man returning home to Zanzibar. When the plane was loading someone said something and whoever it was sounded sooooo much like Eric that I had to do a major double take. Realizing that clearly Eric would not be on this flight made it click that, hello, I was heading to Africa, and on a Kenyan airways flight so clearly there should be a lot of people on the plane with Kenyan accents!! I watched a biographical show on Fidel Castro and a West African movie that I didn't get to see the end of :( I was soooo sleepy when I got on the plane (I didn't let myself sleep in London as I wanted to do everything in my power to beat jet lag before it started) that I passed out almost immediately and missed the first snack - I hate it when I do that!!!
Layover in Jomo Kenyatta was stressful. I had my booking confirmation with Rwandair for my flight to Kigali but didn't have the actual ticket. After talking with some very helpful customer service agents at the Kenya airways transfer desk they went about setting things straight for me. After a couple hours of doing little more that chewing off what few nails I had left (sorry J) everything was worked out. But not before the guy who was helping me said "You have bags?" with an accent, intonation and facial expression so like that of K.O. (except a little quiteter) that I had to suppress a little chuckle. Pretty sure I sent that guy home with a good "stupid customer"story to entertain his family with.
The last flight, from Nairobi to Kigali, was very pleasant. The plane was nearly empty and the flight attendants were very friendly, having small conversations with nearly everyone. One of them asked me, among other things, "Are all Canadians as tall as you?" to which I just laughed and said no. It occurred to me later that perhaps I should have explained to him that Canadians come in all shapes, sizes and colours. (Aunty Leigh - at no point on any of these flights was I the only white girl. Perhaps times have changed? hahaha)
I arrived at Kigali International a few minutes early and without incident at immigration so I had to wait a few moments before Hannah (intern from UK) and Tina and Alice (AIESECers in Rwanda) were at the airport to meet me. All in all the journey was successful.
Until next time, keep fit and have fun!
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