“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson

It’s been too busy of a week to write a creative or concise blog post, but I’ll give it a go and add some more pictures next time. We’ve spent the week getting oriented about the city, our program, and some more Kinyarwanda language. As for the city, it’s going to take a while to get used to navigating the hills. Even if I think it’s the correct direction, the hilltops often obscure the view, and the neighborhoods haven’t become distinct for me yet. Thankfully, taking some walks has helped a bit. My brief moment of pride was when another Muzungu (a passenger on a moto) asked me for directions, and I actually had recently passed the place he was looking for, score!

It has been draining, but fun to learn all about our role with the embassy, study Kinyarwanda, discover some restaurants and clubs, and be woken up the next morning at 5am by the raucous noises of birds to start all over again. This weekend, we had the good fortune to meet some eclectic people, including a Rwandan friend of a current ETA (English teaching assistant) who works at one of the national parks around here, and a Belgian-Rwandan optometrist and his Kenyan coworkers who turned out to be fun.  I also found out people can seriously salsa (and other kinds of) dance around here! Note to self…learn the Kinyarwanda equivalent of “I have two left feet!”

Today is the first day of the academic year at Kicukiro College of Technology and official moving day into my first “house.” ( I forgot to bring my memory card to the café, so pictures to come)

t’s one of 15 subsidized houses on the campus for some teachers. I’m so excited about mine because it has mango and papaya trees in the yard. Housing is included with the grant, but the subsidized housing usually goes for $80 per month for three bedrooms and one bathroom. Compared with $600 for the off-campus equivalent, this is a great deal.

College life was good preparation for living cheaply here, since Kigali is turning out to be a pricey city. Six to ten dollars for a cab ride, you’ve got to be kidding me! Ni Menshi!!! (it’s expensive). Ok, so maybe that is pushing it, but in all honesty, a supermarket in City Center called Nakumatt wants more for a set of dishes than Walmart does. I can’t wait to shop in the outdoor market that’s a block from my house. My boss took me there today to show me around, and it’s a colorful assortment of beans, cassava and sorghum flour, almost every kind of vege or fruit you can get in the US (minus apples, but it’s an okay trade). The good news is the market produce is fresh and affordable; 4 tomates= less than 20 cents. Cooking is going to be fun! I’ll also only have to be criticized for what one of the teachers at Kicukiro called “eating like a chick” one meal a day at the campus staff cantine. How to explain that your food is absolutely delicious, but I just don’t have the appetite or metabolism to finish off a heaping plate.

Kicukiro College is actually a campus which has a technical secondary school (high school), some vocational education programs, the college, and soon to come an “incubation center” for new businesses. The short form is “IPRC” Integrated Regional Polytechnic Center.  I’ll find out tomorrow what sorts of tasks I’ll be doing in the English department here for the academic year. My head is already spinning with all the possibilities for side projects here in Kigali that complement the teaching. The Vice Principal for Academic Affairs cracked me up when I was introduced to him and he said, “You know, we’re a bunch of engineers, so we could use your help with communications.” Actually, I don’t know if the staff at Kicukiro knows what they’re in for, because I will likely be the one doing most of the learning. It will be great to meet the English teaching team tomorrow.  I have a feeling the scientists and I are going to get along.  You’d be able to spot me a mile away on this campus for being the blonde female with the difficult name. Even at the Bureau d’Immigration applying for my work permit, the officer was very puzzled. “Your name, where are you from, which land?” The beauty of coming from the US where any combination is possible.

Kinyarwanda works for the day:

Magana Tatu= 300, don’t ask me why, but this is my favorite number in Kinyarwanda because it is easy and fun to say. Plus, it’s a good price for a moto ride, a water, or a soda. I need to work more on my numbers, because counting in hundreds is a lot easier than the small numbers.  

Expectations




Fellow Fulbrighters Olivia and Katie. We're about to trek downhill and do some exploring on the first day.

Finally, finally after months of applications, preparations, and considerations I'm sitting on the balcony typing up my first story in Rwanda, trying to finish summing up my first 24 hours in country before the rains come (it's the beginning of one of the rainy seasons). Without much time devoted to thinking about the actual experience of the trip, I can say with honesty that I truly became excited about the trip itself, until actual walking down the stairs off the plane at the airport in Kigali. Before, I had been more so glad to have this opportunity through Fulbright to be a teaching assistant at Kicukiro College of Technology, while doing a service project (TBD) and especially relieved to have completed my necessary pre-preparations. I couldn't really process what life might be like for me here for 9 months. Traveling and jumping into a new environment has been the norm for me, so it was great to experience the thrill of anticipating a new place and the new people there.  

 

A mural in front of an arts center. No one home since it was Sunday
 

The three of us ETA's actually came in last night after a 16+ hour sojourn in the air and decided to enjoy a snack and drink at the "Kigali-China  Great Wall Restaurant" down the street from our hotel. It was nice to sit on the deck overlooking the city and watching the music videos on TV. Once the lights went out (the infamous "coupures de courant" a.k.a power outage), I had to chuckle at this "welcome back." 

Ok, here goes "Chinese food" in Rwanda at the Kigali-China Great Wall Restaurant on Boulevard de l'Umuganda. Actually, I went with fried plantains and some local brew called "Tusker"
 

Today, we've had the chance to enjoy some more authentic cuisine and walk around. I can't wait to try more of the fruits and vegetables here, judging from what I've eaten so far.

Petit Dejenur/Breakfast was delicious. The traditional tea and bread and the nice surprise of fresh fruit! The greenish one is passionfruit (a.k.a. marakuja) and the other was one I had never tried before: tree tomato (a.k.a ikinyomoro)

 

 The trip to downtown was a nice change of pace, allowing us to see more of what is turning out to be an expansive city. We made it there by bus, which was super easy and CHEAP (the 200 Rwanda franc fare is about 30 cents USD). However, finding a bus out of the city center was a trip...to nowhere. We tried asking several people, but the linguistic scene here is interesting. Thankfully, two of the clerks at the hotel are super friendly and turn out to be cool Kinyarwanda coaches. But when it comes to two other languages, French and English, it's hard to know which to use. There's also something to be said about  confusion resulting from the cultural aspect of three Muzungu (the equivalent of "foreigner" or "Toubab") asking where to find the bus stop either in French or English.
 

To the left is the bus that took us to city center/centre ville...my first bus ride in Rwanda!

I can't say Kigali has fit my expectations, as I'm trying not to build up too much of a schema of what's here until I see it. However, I couldn't help thinking of "clean," "hilly," and "densely populated," the recurring answer interpretations of my question "So, how is Kigali?" from people who had been here. It will be fascinating to discover what's below the surface. I have a lot of unanswered questions about Rwanda, and Africa in general. One thing I'm absolutely positive of though is that each place is rich in history of culture, especially the exchanges that have gone on between people. Hence, the title of my blog "Land of a 1000 stories." Yes, it's a shameless adaptation of the nickname of Rwanda "la pays de mille collines" (land/country of 1000 hills) but also fitting, as the stories and anecdotes we hear can help to recall the context around them in a fun, memorable, and accessible format. Spending 9 months abroad with teaching responsibilities and the charge to represent US-American culture well will no doubt be an uphill, downhill, roundabout, but rewarding journey.  

Now, I'm looking forward to what will be expected of me during orientation week and finding out about the details of my job and living situation.

I've been fighting the temptation not to compare Rwanda too much to Senegal, where I spent last fall, especially since so much of the experience thus far reminds me of being in Dakar and St. Louis. Even the little things can't be taken for granted though. This morning, on a jog I remembered the hard way that Kigali is nearly a mile high in elevation, definitely a change from running literally at sea level on the Corniche. I'll really be on the lookout for cultural nuances, since I was at a loss this morning on the sidewalk. Does one greet people as they job past? I'm sure they'll forgive a few "Nanga defs" or "Waaw/deedeets" here and there. Who knows is someone might not just answer back. Kigali is said to have a sizeable ex-pat community.  

Speaking of Wolof, being the language nerd I am, here are the Kinyarwanda words for the day. I have a feeling Kinyarwanda, being the universal language here, will find its way into future stories, as Wolof words certainly have.   

Kinyarwanda words for the day:

Oya = "no" (pronounced like a very Scandinavian-American "oh yeah") this got practiced a lot turning down taxi rides on the way to the bus

Yego= "yes" (pronounced like "yay! go")

Here in lies the problem…both of these sound kind of affirmative to my English-thinking brain. Ahhh!

Murakoze Cyane= thank you very much  Best. Phrase. Ever!

Miscellaneous discoveries on the exploration mission:

TENNIS COURTS! (clay from the looks of it) Didn't want to bug the players this time so I didn't get that close

Apparently, happy (dairy?) cows come from Rwanda as well