I hate the internet here!

Hey friends! How are you? I hope life is well back in the states. We’re doing well. Sorry I haven’t written in a while. It’s so dang hard to use the internet here. It doesn’t work enough for us to get on our emails or facebook anymore…it stinks. In the beginning we were able to Skype pretty well but now…not so much! I’m sorry but we’ll figure something better out once we get to site. I’ve thought about getting a modem that we could use in the village…but it’s 20,000 RF per month for the cheapest one (40,000 RF for the best one) and that’s a lot here…and even then-we would have to hike up the mountain part way to use it…so don’t get your hopes up. It’s part of the experience huh??

A lot has been happening here. Of course there is the language. Always the language. It’s so stinking hard-but I’m sure trying. I’m hoping I’ll get it in about 2 years?? This week has been pretty taxing on us, it’s the genocide week. We have NO worries in comparison to the Rwandans on this subject but it’s hard to watch everything that happens. They have marches, speeches, and commemorating ceremonies that we attended. It’s just hard. Thankfully we’ve had lots of down time this week. We’ve gotten out of class everyday at 12 and had the rest of the day free which has been so wonderful. I needed that break. Going to class 6 days a week from 7-8 everyday is hard. We have breakfast at 7 and then dinner at 7 so we’re together pretty much all day. The trainee’s are wonderful and I’ve loved getting to know all of them but this week has been so nice to sit in my room and watch FRIENDS!! That’s right…friends. Trena brought all 10 seasons and so so so graciously allowed us to borrow those and I’ve watched the heck out of them this week.

Speaking of trainee’s… today Ali announced she would be going home. I totally cried. It’s crazy how close you can become to people in 7 weeks. I definitely wasn’t the closest person to her but I love her! She’s so happy and fun. I don’t think I’ve seen her down one time since we’ve gotten here.  She just decided it was not for her. I really liked her. Hopefully we’ll be able to stay in touch once we return! It’s so hard to see your friends leaving. You get to know these people and you just expect to see them when you visit their town or a lot during the two years-but then you find out they’re leaving and it just sucks! Statistically 1/3 of our group will leave before the 2 years are up and we’ve already lost 2 of the 37. It’s sad to think more will leave…

In other news, I am SOOO ready for a package. We got a package last Sunday night and it was the best thing ever…but now we’re ready for more. I miss American food so much that I can’t stand it. I miss dr pepper! I would give my left arm for a dr pepper which you all know is a big deal b/c I am left handed!! I have lost weight!! I’m down to 135 and still going. Yay. I am very happy about that because I’m also gaining muscle again. I played soccer yesterday with some kids for about 2 hours. Every muscle in my body aches today. But by golly I’m losing weight…not gaining it! This is good.

What is going on in the states? What the news? I can’t load articles. Julie…if you want to email me copied/pasted articles about relevant news I would love that. Anyone really can email me ANYTHING you want…I just knew Julie likes doing stuff like that. Just try not to send links because they don’t load. For some reason Gmail loads so much faster than anything else. So maybe? I need information. How’s work going? How’s school going? How are the kids doing? How are marriages going? Yes, I’m speaking to all of you. Every friend I have that reads this…please email me! I miss emails and information about my friends. I don’t want to lose touch with you guys. You all know my email address. Facebook doesn’t always work so if you email me on that…I probably won’t be able to check it for a while.

We swear-in 23 days from today. (4-12-09-10). I can NOT believe we’ve been here 7 weeks. It just doesn’t seem possible. Time is FLYING! I can’t imagine what the 2 years are going to be like. I’m nervous. I don’t know what this is going to be like and people going home make it so much scarier! Just pray for us. Please. We are in love with it here and it still feels so surreal that we live in Africa but hopefully we will never get to that point where we’re overwhelmed and want to leave.

I love you ALL! I miss you ALL! And I want to hear from you ALL!!  Please write, email, call…anything you can. We would love it.

Sarah