Sarah’s story continued…

6/6/10 B

So, we’ll start at the beginning of the bike ride. Sarah mentioned to you the not so fun parts. Now I am going to tell you all the amazing parts about the ride. Well, at least some amazing parts. Anyway, we got up early on Saturday for our (okay maybe my) long awaited bike trip to Lake Kivu which was only supposed to be around 15-25 kilometers away. Side bar: one of the Kageno nursery school teaches was getting married on Saturday and the groom had to go to Rangiro for the dowry ceremony part of the wedding…you know the part where they give a cow or money to the father of the bride. Rangiro is on the way to the lake. Anyway, we didn’t know about the wedding until about 2 days before. Okay back to the main story. We get up early, dressed in our killer “bike attire” and Elise our counterpart shows up on the moto with yes…wait for it…the groom whom we had never met before. We introduce ourselves and congratulated him and then the groom says in Kinyarwanda, “you are dressed very nice. I am happy we are going together”. WHAT!!! Another side bar: If there is one thing that our time here in Rwanda is not short of, it’s AWKWARD situations. They seem to pop up everyday at the most unexpected moments. We have decided that so much gets lost in translation that it makes things so stressful, confusing and awkward at times. Back to the story…so it seems that we are going to his dowry ceremony which I believe only close family goes to and we are dressed in sweat pants and hoodies. So, we took off on our journey with the groom and Elise ahead of us on the moto. Turns out, they ended up being so far ahead of us that we weren’t able to make it to the dowry ceremony or the wedding anyway…so we kind of felt bad especially since the groom was seemingly expecting us to be there. Anyway, that is just one of the many awkward situations we find ourselves in from day to day.

On to more cool stuff. We saw many amazing and beautiful views on our trek across the 1000 hills of Rwanda. Also, on the way back from our nothing but AWESOME (don’t listen to Sarah) bike ride we ran into an exciting yet somewhat unnerving experience. Now we had seen some monkeys on the way to the lake and one on the way back. And at one point I turned around to see Sarah stopped in the middle of the road (and on a perfectly good down hill slope which should never be wasted on a trail like this). I asked her what she was doing and she said, “SHHHHHH Listen.” She had heard some barking noises and then saw what appeared to be some really big monkeys around the corner. So, we decided to get closer as these big monkeys were in the trees directly above the path home anyway As we got closer we noticed they were baboons…many, many of them…probably 30 or more…mommas and babies…and possibly daddies. Now we had heard stories of how mean baboons can be and if threatened, especially with babies around, could possibly attack. One thing is for sure, as we whipped out our camera and begin to snap some photos, we began to notice they were not quite as excited to see us as we them. Some of the bigger ones begin to bark loudly, stomp their feet and hands on the ground and shake the trees violently. At first it was amusing and then Sarah started getting a little worried…and to be honest I might have had a few bad images in my head as to how this could play out as well. So, what do I do, that’s right…being the manly protector of a husband that I am, I pulled out my manly 1 ½ inch blade pocket knife…these baboons didn’t want any. So, as I handed my knife off to Sarah so I could snap a few last photos before taking off, one incredibly large and disgruntled baboon began to get a little perturbed that we hadn’t left yet. So, I threw everything back into the backpack and said, let’s get out of here and we sped off around the corner…screaming for our lives like a couple of little sissy school girls. Well, I say I threw everything into my backpack…until I realized once we got home that in the hustle and bustle of our “near death” experience with the primates, my camera case which had Sarah’s lip balm and a back-up 4GB SD card was left behind…birababaje (it is sad).

 This is Lake Kivu....amazing!

So the next morning roles around and bright and early I hear our counterpart outside waiting for us to open our gate (it is not uncommon for us to have visitors anytime after the sun rises). He has another gentleman with him. Elise greeted me and then asked if we lost anything on our bike ride yesterday. At this point I was thinking, was he hiding in the bushes watching us…how did he know? He seems to always be around somewhere near so that wouldn’t have surprised me. Anyway, I explained that yes I lost our camera case around 10-15 kilometers back down the road. Turns out, this man had found it on the trail and decided that it must belong to the “abazungu” that just rode by on their bikes. He thought the case and card was something to do with a computer. Anyway, this guy walked 2-3 hours one way to bring us our camera case…the nicest thing. We couldn’t believe it. So, we gave him a little money for his trouble and he went on his way. Turns out, there are still some amazingly good and honest people in the world.

We have one last thing to add to our crazy weekend. After visiting the market today we ran into a little scuffle on the way back home. We saw a large huddle of people gathered around and then noticed a few in the middle getting smacked around. The one doing the smacking around was one of our co-workers. So, naturally we stopped to see what the fuss was about. Now I am not 100% sure if this was translated correctly but from what we understood, a man who has a wife and 4 kids recently took another woman as a “wife” and got her pregnant (which polygamy is illegal now from what we’ve been told). The mother of the newly pregnant girl showed up and was demanding to know what the man was going to do about his predicament. Some local authorities had heard about the situation and asked our co-worker (who is part of the city security/defense) to find out what was going on and so…he found out what was going on and did some butt kicking in the process. Oh and from what we observed from this scuffle, Rwandans slap and backhand instead of punching. It may be different in other circumstances but in this fight…there was some major slappage going on!

Okay…I am exhausted from this weekend and from writing this blog. I hope you all are doing well back home. As always, we miss you all and hope to hear from you at some point. Take care and be blessed!!

Rings

Babies, Bike rides & Baboons….

6-6-10

I have such a hard time keeping up with this because so much happens here everyday. Even though we’re just really sitting around doing not a lot of anything….stuff just happens. TIA.

So to start with babies…my goodness they are EVERYWHERE. I mean every woman here seems to have a baby strapped to her back unless she’s too young (even then most of them are carrying their brothers and sisters) or too old (then they might be carrying their grandchild). Obviously, you all know me and well I love children. I love babies! So naturally I gravitate to the children. Well Friday in the market, our house girl Charlotte, was carrying her friends child. My counterpart decided that I should experience something I’ve never experienced before so he had her strap in this 4 week old infant to my back. It was the coolest thing ever! I swear they wrap those babies in so tight that they couldn’t go anywhere if they tried. He started kicking once she got him strapped in and I swear it has to be the closest thing you can feel to being pregnant besides being pregnant. They say they do it because it confirms the mother/child bond that is established during pregnancy so until they are up to 3 years they are strapped onto the moms back. So she literally carries her child for almost 4 years. It’s so beautiful! I loved it. I love babies….

Also, on Friday we were at the market and there was this crazy lady. Seriously crazy. She was singing this song over and over and over and doing the same dance across the whole market while everyone just stared at her. Our counterpart said she wasn’t from our village but had come from another village…ok whatever we just watched until it was dark. It started raining and we all gathered under the roofs while she alone stood in the middle of the market dancing for at least two hours. The next morning we got up pretty early and left for our bike ride which I’ll tell you more about in a few sentences. We started our trip at 8:15 am and rode about 2 to 2 ½ hours away and as we were coming up on this town…there was crazy dancing lady! Doing the same dance and singing the same song. Our counterpart said she had walked all that distance in the dark (at least probably 10 miles). He said she never sleeps! Freaky. She had just as much exuberance as the night before. Insane.

On to the bike ride. Jarod. Oh Jarod. Jarod really wanted to ride our bikes to Lake Kivu. “It’s only 15 km away and we could do it every weekend and relax” he said. So, ok. I’ll go. Although it has been 2 years since I really exercised regularly and probably 10 or more since I’ve ridden a bike…”let’s do it” I say! So off we go. Now a little back info on this country. It is known as the “Land of 1000 hills.” That my friends, is true. Except maybe an understatement. I think we “biked” and by biked I mean pushed our bikes up probably all 1000 of them. All the while, my husband keeps saying “sweetie I think Kivu is probably just around this corner or at least it will go downhill.” Umm…wrong and wrong. It never went downhill. Just uphill. The whole time….until the last leg of our journey when we FLEW downhill for about 20 minutes just to learn that the lake was at least 15 more km. So we turned around and pushed our bikes up this mountain…not hill…mountain for over an hour. SEVEN hours later, that’s right people, SEVEN hours later….we arrived home. 2 raw “uh huhs” and 4 broken wrists later. Oddly enough today….Jarod claims he isn’t that sore. I’m thinking…the next bike ride will be scouted by me before I agree to go.

On to the mouse. So you remember my recent story about the mouse?? Ok, well we bought poison. Last night, Jarod was about to pick up a “log” lying in front of our fire (it was pretty dark) and realized that it was a mouse. That’s right! A mouse. He had eaten the poison and died right there in the middle of our kitchen. He was probably 7 inches long from nose to tail. It was crazy! I was so excited. Then, this morning I am lying in bed and I heard Jarod scream “dang you mouse”. There’s another one. Oh boy. (OK…so big update. This is about 2 hours after writing this blog. Jarod and I are in the kitchen cooking and we’re talking and I hear something sound like it dropped behind me so I turned around and there is a GIANT mouse sitting on the table where we had just cut up the veggies for our minestrone. It jumped down from the ceiling, where it apparently lives and was just sitting there! So I screamed, naturally and forced Jarod to look for it. After we’ve given up, I walk into our living room and THERE IT IS sitting in our fruit bowl! It got scared and ran into our bathroom…all the while I am screaming “JAROD!!!” So then it realizes there’s no where to go in our bathroom and it runs out and almost runs over my foot….I jump into the air screaming like a sissy school girl while Jarod is finally showing up saying “what? where??” It then runs down the hall and Jarod grabs a light…as it runs into our ‘luggage’ room, realizes there’s no where to go in there so comes back into the hall and wablaam! Jarod brings on the heat with a giant piece of wood that we were about to put into the fire and seriously with one AMAZING swing….knocks the thing out in mid run! It was amazing. We couldn’t have done that again if we tried. Oh and by-the-way, it isn’t a mouse. It is a rat. See pictures. The lovely mouse here posing with the hubs’ foot. Oh and that is Sunday adding that to the next sentence….)

That’s all I have for today. A pretty eventful Friday and Saturday. Oh and the baboons…Jarod really wanted to tell that one. So…you’ll have to wait and read his. Miss you all. Thinking of you daily. Love you so much.

A successful cooking experience

6-2-10

It is absolutely amazing what you become proud of in Africa. For instance…cooking. That is probably the source of mine & Jarods most stressful situations. Every day there is that looming question that I dread upon returning home for lunch. “So, what are you going to cook?” AHH!! I want to scream because I have NO IDEA what I’m going to cook. I can just take a run to the local store and grab a few things. These meals take precise planning because otherwise, TIA, and you’ll starve if you don’t plan it out. Today, I had decided we were going to attempt vegetable soup. I was a wee bit nervous but I got in there and started. Jarod peeled the potatoes for me, which was fabulous because those things are filthy. Then, I diced the peppers, tomatoes, and carrots. Once he finished I diced the potatoes and began our adventure. Surprisingly the finished product was AMAZING. Apparently for those of you who don’t know…lemon pepper with herbs and Caribbean jerk sauce are absolutely delightful in soup. We toasted some bread and threw on a little garlic salt and the bread was fabulous. Overall it was a successful day’s journey down cooking lane. I was so proud. My nanny would probably be embarrassed to know I was proud of making vegetable soup.

On a side note, I must talk to my mother for a moment. Mom, I am very sorry. I am not trying to betray the family line of hating tomatoes. However, since coming to Banda we have probably went through about 30 tomatoes (2 weeks) because well I can now make some KILLER spaghetti sauce and tomato soup with fresh tomatoes. Today, I couldn’t even taste them in the soup! I still get totally grossed out by eating them raw or on a sandwich but cooking with them and then eating them has seriously gotten much better. I know I know. You’re shaking your head and saying yuck but well what else do I have to eat?? I love you. 

In other news, we have been sleeping much better. Jarod still hears the occasional thing that will wake him and make him wonder but the last 2 evenings I have been sleeping so well. It’s quite nice. The problem is here when the sun goes down, everyone mostly turns in because well lets face it, what else is there to do? So, obviously any noise what-so-ever is so loud. A baby crying. A bird chirping. Anything out of the normal cricket or wind blowing area is pretty much heard everywhere here. So…we’re working on it. I still think we’re sissies but whatever.

We wanted to give a shout out to all our “Juners”. Happy Anniversary Aunt Pam & Uncle Dwight on the 4th. 27 years. Congratulations. Happy Anniversary Camilla & Jim on the 15th! (Sister, I am so happy and proud for you guys. 8 whole years…you’re such an adult!). HAPPY FATHERS DAY ON THE 20TH! We love you guys and miss you so much. Happy Anniversary Nat & Steve on the 25th. Happy Anniversary Landon and Cortney on the 26th (Jarod says he’s sorry if that date is wrong-“you got married like 12 years ago” ). And last but certainly NOT least….happy birthday to my little deagy. Deagan will be a whopping 2 years old this month.  I’m so sad to miss it. We love you guys all so much and are constantly thinking of you.

(I just went to save this blog and realized when I entered the date, 6-2-10 that the first blog we wrote was saved as 3-1-10. I can’t believe we been here 3 whole months! That’s insane. I can still see our amazing parents and little sisters standing and waving goodbye at the airport. It just doesn’t seem possible. See you guys….it’s flying by!)

We're big sissy babies...

5-31-10

This is Africa (TIA). Let me just preface this with clearly we’re sissies and I know it. Obviously we do not have a western toilet. We have a squatty potty or as Africans call it a pit latrine. I did so well the first 12 weeks to avoid using one of these but lo and behold our first evening in Banda…hello squatty potty. I’m going to be honest…. It’s not so bad. For one, there is no work once you’ve done your business. You simply wipe and walk away. I’ve started to like it. No smells, clogged pipes, or overflow. Just walk away. But, ok it’s outside. I’m totally cool with it during the day. The evening however is a TOTALLY different story. I am glad my husband married me for better and for worse because that latrine in the night is my worse. I can’t do it. I’m sorry. There are bugs, frogs, and spiders. One night a frog just jumped right out of the ceiling and landed right beside me!! So now my hubby has to attend the bathroom every time I need to go once the sun goes down. He so politely stands there holding the toilet paper and the flashlight. Good job honey.

So of course, TIA, and everything is different. New, exciting, scary and different. Last Friday evening Jarod and I were sleeping. I am the dramatic one of the marriage and Jarod usually just tells me to stop being dramatic when I get all scared. Well, we were sleeping and something woke us up. I open my eyes to see Jarod staring out the window. I ask him what’s wrong and he says “shhhhhhhh.” So then, my heart is pounding and I’m lying there freaking out inside because well if Jarod is interested then it’s obviously “someone.” TIA. So well we laid there dead silent for 2 hours listening to “someone” walking outside on our gravel and then trying to get “into” our house and then sounding like it was on the roof or in the attic. We were totally freaked out. So my wonderful husband gets up and looks but finds nothing. Naturally, we told our supervisor we were FREAKED out and asked him what he thought about someone getting into our house. He told us he really felt like the area was safe but he would talk with the community mobilizer and make sure that they hadn’t heard anything. In Rwanda everyone knows everything that is happening. Someone always knows. We went out of town that night and came back last night. Jarod goes outside to brush his teeth and says…there is a man standing outside our fence. I was freaking out! Then he goes out there to ask him what he’s doing and the man has a machete! So, as Americans, I am freaking out. Jarod then finds out that while we were gone, the community had a meeting and they told people that we had someone trying to get into our house and that we were scared. The community wanted to make sure we were protected so people volunteered to guard our house from dark to dusk. They stand outside our fence with flash lights and machetes watching….for this someone…..

As we were laying there sleeping last night and feeling protected because sabahoro was out there watching over us, we hear it again. “Someone” inside our house. I force Jarod to get up and go look. He takes his stick he widdled into a “man spear” and journeys out into the hall. He walks around looking and comes back to tell me he saw nothing…nothing but a mouse. A MOUSE!!! A stinking tiny little mouse that was running around in the attic and then down the walls and then digging through our fruits and veggies and knocking stuff over. Again I say, TIA. That “someone” was something.

A little mouse that now has our neighborhood watching over us as if we are rock stars and need protecting. This is Africa.

Banda the beautiful!

Hello everyone…Jarod here. Wow we are finally here at our site…the place that we envisioned ourselves working when we started the whole application process some year and a half ago. Also, I see that Sarah has filled you in on most of the details so I will keep this short.

Banda really is an absolutely amazing place…a place surrounded by so much beauty, lush green forest, animals galore and many smiling, welcoming people and yet poverty has hit Banda so bad that it is sometimes tough just to walk to the market and see everything we see. I have never seen children so dirty…honestly, some of them may not have had a bath in months or changed clothes in months. It is sad to see but regardless of how dirty they are their faces light up with excitement the second we say hello or walk by.

So we hitched a ride with our PCMO to Kamembe to visit AJ and Gillian and it was weird leaving our village. I mean we had only been there 10 days but it felt as if we were abandoning our people even though we were coming back the next day. We waved as we drove off and their faces were curious like, you just got here and now you are leaving. I can’t imagine leaving after being here two years. I already feel a sense of attachment and commitment to our village this early in the game. Anyway, many things are happening and I am excited to see how everything will play out. Take care guys and we hope to hear from you via email, letter or however you can contact us! Be blessed!!!