School Starts

I haven't talked much about everyday stuff like eating and living yet, so I'll start with that. I feel like our guesthouse is too nice. It is very comfortable, and of course I'm not complaining about that, but it's definitely an isolated (not phsyically, but economically from the local Rwandan) island of amenities. We do have to shower with basically a hose, with hot water that's unreliable at best (and no shower curtain), plus sleep under bednets and avoiding drinking the water (dirty water also makes things like putting contacts in difficult- I got hand sanitizer in my eye for the first time today...), but overall it's very very nice.

That being said, they feed us breakfast and lunch and it's amazing. We have croissants, bread, nutella, and fruit (usually not me) every morning. Lunch is Western food, pork chops or casserole, but it's really really good. The kitchen is downstairs, so it's like we're living in better dorms than on campus UNC with better food than the dining hall!

For dinner we've had pizza or burgers a couple of times (and french fries everywhere) and when we didn't know where to go it was expensive, because we're close to the U.S. and other embassies and the small district for tourists. We've started to dig deeper and have found the local places, where for instance tonight I got goat brochettes and the best fried potato, plus two beers for less than $4!! We've also had a buffet of local food twice, and it was really interesting that it was the exact same meal. We had some intersting beans, french fries, all kinds of meat, spinach-type vegetables, and bananas that are cooked to taste like potatoes so even I eat them!

Banana beer was supposed to be the thing to try from Rwanda, but so far it's been tought to find. While it was in one bar, they sold out of it after the first of our group arrived, and most people tell us it's like moonshine, locals brewing a really strong version for themselves. I'm undeterred though, we'll definitely go back to the place we ate tonight which, rumor has it, will have it in stock.

Classes started this morning, and while reading is a pain to make time for, I'm really glad that I have a solid context to better understand Rwanda. We've been looking at everything like geography and history, especially current events, and I think the readings make it easier to engage with this place and have a better overall experience.

The rest of my day today was incredibly interesting and memorable. I walked to the closest hotel to try and find a soccer field for us to play tomorrow by talking with the cabbies. I've ended up with five Rwandans of various vocations who want to play with us tomorrow, as well as the English school across the street that will loan us a soccer or basketball! I talked to them awhile about the sports like the Champions League and asked about baseball and American football. They asked if soccer and baseball were the same thing, and so I went through the rules of baseball, comparing it to cricket, and the rules of American football, comparing it to rugby. I think they really enjoyed it!

I got back just in time to head to dinner with my fantastic group of friends here! We went to a close restaurant and finally found some great, cheap food. We hung out awhile (playing the sports/cities game was my idea and really fun), and invited a guy sitting by himself at the table over to join us. It was a great decision, as he immediately introduced himself as a member of the Rwandan national golf team! The rest of our group turned and looked at me, and of course we now have a tee time for Thursday!!!! Needless to say, I'm really excited about golfing in Rwanda.

With a handicap of 2 (that's incredibly good for those of you unfamiliar with such a great game), I figured he was upper middle class and living the good life. It took about two minutes before I realized how wrong I was, as his heartbreaking story flowed freely in very good English. He was the first Rwandan we've met to bring up the genocide in conversation, and he explained that his entire family was killed when he was 10. He lived on the streets for seven years, and told us how it was when no one cared whether he was sick or what he made of himself. He talked openly about hating Rwanda, the gacaca courts that are supposed to bring justice, and even black people everywhere (he was himself black). He said he can't love anymore, but that he wants to marry a foreigner so that he can get out of here. We didn't fully understand how he got into golf or his Muslim faith, but he said that when he's not engaged like that his mind wanders to 1994. Whenever there was a pause in the conversation, Amber and I obviosuly had no idea what to say, and he would simply continue after a few moments, obviously longing for someone to listen to him. He talked about his love for Akon (like everyone here), Manchester United (he's a card-carrying member of the fan club), the best place to watch the game for "youth like us who want to go crazy", even his hatred for Christiano Ronaldo. Like everyone here, he talked about his love for Obama but added that he disagreed with his belief in gay marriage. But it would always come back to a story of loneliness, where for example he was traveling in South Africa and someone asked where he was from. When told Rwanda, they asked why (not how) he was still alive and walked away. I kept expecting him to ask for money or help with a visa, like we hear all the time, but all he wanted was to play pool and give me golf lessons.

It was a different kind of poverty (although he was also financially poor, just supported by the state to play golf) than we witnessed in the slums, psychological rather than economic. He was clearly depressed and held a deep-seated resentment from the genocide we had read about a little but definitely not witnessed. For all the talk of reconciliation and development, he may have represented the most common view that is totally understandable and the underbelly of this country after such a life-changing and devastating experience.

Even surrounded by so many people who have nothing, I still don't say enough how lucky and thankful I am to have been given so much. This is all part of a huge, exciting, challenging adventure to me, while to so many there are no options but the daily (all day, everyday) grind of work for practically nothing. I'm so thankful to have the money to enjoy myself like this, and a loving family and friends who constantly support me. I know it's easy to find so many similar challenging circumstances in the U.S., but the question of "why me, why was I born so lucky?" is constantly on my mind, especially after conversations like this one, and an important aspect of my trip I wanted to include.

I woke up this morning to Gilbert's phone call, more than four hours before our 11:00 meeting. Ughh. I had gotten directions there on my own, so we never ended up meeting. Anyways, in class we played the role of military powers who didn't want to intervene here in Rwanda, or want to in the next one (Darfur). Class in the afternoon followed the same idea, taught by the Rwandan professor. He apologized for throwing the U.S. under the bus, but described how we totally ignored the mass murders because there was no political will, a characteristic of our society (not politicians, especially for something like this they do what the people want) that is pathetic and still rampant. We should have been apologizing to him.

We returned to the guesthouse and the fun began. I went to the school teaching english across the street and talked my way into borrowing a soccer ball and basketball, plus met some girls from Minnesota who are looking for a group like us to hang out with. The headmaster also told me yesterday she would invite her students to play, and about 12 of them came! I had brought a pump for my host family, and the school's balls were quite flat, but I had forgotten a needle. Miraculously one of the students had a needle but no pump, so we formed a great team.

The last part of my event planning was to call five Rwandans who had wanted to play. I talked to all of them, but only a taxi driver from down the street showed up to play. The area was great although poor- soccer in an overgrown and uneven field, basketball on dirt with destroyed rims, volleyball, and of course the frisbee I brought along. I jumped in to the serious "football" game for 20 to 30ish year olds, and got my tail whipped but had a great time. I ran a lot, got it occasionally, and I also believe we were winning when we had to go. It was a great experience to compete in their national pastime, and I can now add it to my list of ping pong in China and soccer in Germany!

I then took a large group to meet up with a friend from CARE. It was an adventure for sure, as one cab ran out of gas and the power went out while we ate, but I really enjoyed catching up with Linnea! She was really interesting to talk to, as she said that this country is not even close to being heeled. She said it took her two months to be able to sense the elephant always in the room that no one talks about. She also said she's found how close our consumption of things like copper can fuel poverty, but aren't going to change, just like intervening in genocides.

Hope you all are doing great!!! Keep me updated!!