13.9.07

a few lessons.

disclaimer: mom, i'm sorry for yesterday's "lesson".


looks like i learn something new everyday.

today's lesson was that i am able to venture into the local market without rwandan accompaniment. I bought beautiful brown and green printed fabric & am getting one of the local women to sew me a skirt for 300 rwf (aproximately 80 cents).

yesterday's lesson is this. I love motor taxis.

they wait in packs beside the market. boys no older than myself, wearing oversized neon windbreakers and winter coats. Dozens of green & yellow helmets gleaning in the harsh sunlight, as they laugh & elbow eachother, rolling back & forth, reving engines. Odd religious slogans in broken english slung across the front of most bikes. They grin & surround us, i barely need to barter as they try to out do one another in terms of both cost and bravado. Little boys with inferiority complexes.

Despite being the most efficient form of transportation, (the buses are not only clausterphobic, they take upwards of two hours for an under ten minute journey,) with the roads woven in and around the hills, it feels like your quite literally soaring above the city. Walls of mud brick houses, stacked atop one-another, lining the deep valleys of Kigali.

and yes, i wear a helmet.

Tomorrow i am getting my official tour of the mwana nshuti - i am a little nervous, but mostly excited to be starting work. and tonight i'm going to a book club started by a few other westerners, individuals who work for ngos in kicukiro, and a few UN members living in the area. Should be interesting and i'm cannot wait for some new reading material.

we're hoping to post some pictures soon. but the internet is a little slow, so we will see.

in other news - there is a pineapple in my bag waiting to be eaten. so i will write more later.

much love.
l.

9 comments:

new villain said...

the various modes of transportation remind of the "old country".

i love that you have a pineapple in your bag.

as for pictures, yes please! and soon.

Anonymous said...

wow!! this all sounds so amazing... now i know how it feels to be stuck in class and reading about distant amazing lands...

I almost tear wanting to be somewhere else!!

ps, flush the toilet with a bucket full of water...? that's how they do it in thailand, it all just seems to go down...

xoxo
CAT

sarah said...

Mmm fresh pinapples! And yay skirts for 80 cents!

Hope the jobs stuff goes okay. :D

Mom said...

Glad about the helmut! Is this actually a motorcycle?
I agree with Sarah. MMMMMM Fresh Pineapple. Yum.
I'd love to check out the market and the fabrics with you. Is there a lot of choice?
Hope school went well. Love you.

Rhya said...

i am glad to hear you are wearing a helmet!

miss you laura.

rhya

Anonymous said...

Laura!!! I miss you!!!!
I think Niamh is plotting against me now that the gnome photos are posted and you are not here to help me counter-plot, how convenient!!!

I love that they call you "Mzungu", that is the funniest, haha I am calling you that forever when you get home! If you learn how to speak Rwandan I will be most impressed.... random languages are by far the best...

Your blog is amazing, this is my new lifeline of sanity this year, please write lots!!!!
xoxo
Irene

Anonymous said...

Hi Laura!

I hadn't had a chance to read your blog until today and it is amazing.
It sounds like you are having such an incredible experience and you only really just got there.
Can't wait to keep reading the blog and hearing about all the adventures!
Take care and miss you!

Kim (& Judy & Glenn!)

Unknown said...

Thanks for writing your blog Laura
We are so interested and look forward to this week's adventures as you begin teaching.
We are praying for you!
Love Aunt Lois

Anonymous said...

You write very well.