Arrival!

The flight was good! Long, but I always gave myself something to do. Much to my dismay, I was in a window seat with no one sitting next to me the entire way L I was totally hoping to meet some interesting traveler and chat it up for 16 hours. Or better, to chat in French :) But it worked out ok. I didn't have to bother anyone whenever I wanted to get something from my mondo carry-on. There was a severe likelihood that I could have killed someone in trying to get it out of the overhead compartment, as it did weight 32.5 lbs. So I kept it next to me. Traveling alone does have its perks!

I did make it a point to respond in French whenever the flight attendants for Brussels Airlines came by to ask if I wanted a beverage. And I chatted a tiny bit with 2 Austrians sitting across the aisle who were heading for Uganda. When our wheels finally touched Rwandan soil at the Kigali International Airport, I was filled with this insane joy and immediately had tears streaming down my face. It’s the kind of airport where you get off the plane and walk outside to the airport terminal. And we were the only flight coming in. And it was a lovely 60°F or at 7:45pm. Customs was no biggie (except waiting in line for a while with the carry-on on my back…why'd I have to bring so many books???) The customs guy asked me a few questions about the swine, which I had to ask him to repeat about 2x because I couldn't understand him. But since I'm H1N1-free, they let me in! Got myself a little dolly for my 2 suitcases, and joined the mass waiting at the baggage claim. After not too much waiting, I found mine. Yay for luggage not being lost! And there was another mass of people waiting behind a barricade to meet all of us baggage claimers. I spotted Sr. Candide and Sr. Iwona right away by their cheery smiles and lovely bluish habits. They were also with Joanne, who drove us everywhere and does an excellent job of dodging people and potholes.

We spent the night in Kigali, and we arrived at our night's lodging at about 9pm Rwanda time, 2pm American time. Got ready for bed – used the bottled water to brush my teeth – wrote in my journal a bit, and tried to fall asleep. But I had so many thoughts darting around that I couldn't sleep. And the fantastic noise of Africa was outside my window. There was quite a hustle and bustle – people out walking, riding mopeds, drivers honking at the masses of peds. It’s a happenin place. Eventually I did get to sleep. Not a very deep sleep, nor did I sleep in the next morning as I expected to, and as the Sisters expected I would. The plan was for me to sleep and for the Sisters to go do some grocery shopping in the morning. But, there were some exotic birds making beautiful noises very early, as well as church bells that went off at probably 7am. I had no idea what time it was because I never set my watch to Rwandan time, and my phone couldn't find time/date info. So I got up thinking the Sisters had already come back from their errand. In reality, they hadn't left yet! I'm very glad it worked out this way because otherwise I would have slept through our little tour of Kigali!


So, Kigali is awesome! We went to buy a sack full of coffee, and to get it we went to the factory. There's a huge warehouse where people are sitting on the ground sorting the coffee beans by hand. Then the beans go to another building to be washed, roasted, ground, and bagged. Sr. Candide gave me the insider's tour. Driving through Kigali is such a trip. There are people everywhere, walking, riding bikes, riding moped taxis, riding in the back of pick-ups, or just standing outside, sitting on the curb, hanging out. Everyone looks into the cars that drive by, since cars are fewer in number than the aforementioned forms of transportation, but there are a lot of them in Kigali. A lot of people wave and say "ma Soeur!" which means "Sister!" Most of the women are wearing brightly-colored wraparound skirts, as well as brightly colored head wraps, and/or their baby strapped to their back with another brightly colored piece of fabric. The men dress in a similar fashion as men in the States. Joanne is a pro at this pedestrian/cyclist-dodging kind of driving. We can only drive at about 25mph because the streets are so crowded, and because there are thousands of potholes! Some stretches of road are in extremely poor shape and we have to slow to a snail's pace to go over the holes.

It is a very beautiful drive to Gisenyi, as many have noted before me. Rwanda is properly called the "land of 1,000 hills." The entire landscape is hills and valleys, all completely lush and green. Some of the hills are terraced for farming, some have palm trees all over them, some have houses built into them. But everywhere you look, there's a magnificent hill right in front of you, and you feel wonderfully small on this ingeniously created earth. As we get further away from Kigali, the types of people we see change. There are still people everywhere, on foot and bike, but now they're hauling crops. A lot of people balance baskets or bags on their heads, others strap huge bags of potatoes on the backs of their bikes and – I have no idea how – ride up the hillsides. Others are carrying big bundles of sugar cane, or baskets of green leafy things, or bananas, or any other number of harvested items. We also see lots of people tending the fields – hoeing the earth with their babies on their backs, or picking leaves in the tea fields. I also chuckle when I see some kids running and sliding in this little patch of mud in the middle of a field. The kids are really excited to see Sisters, they smile and wave and shout "ma Soeur!" or "Muzungu!" ("White!"). One especially cute group asked for the bottle of water that our driver had visibly just finished off. She slowed down, handed it to them, and they just shouted with glee.

The ride was captivating – we saw a natural waterfall too! I did doze off for a little while though. I am most amazed by the number of people and the feats that they achieve – day after day they scale these hills with those bundles on their heads or bikes! How do they do it?! That's some stamina. Even in the rain, they're still going. It’s the rainy season right now, but we only got hit with a few light drizzles.

We stopped at a stand in one of the villages where a bunch of kids were selling produce. We bought tomatoes, green beans, a couple pineapples, a few avocados, and some green peppers. I got the impression that this was more than we came for. All the kids kept showing their produce to Sr. Iwona and she was bargaining with them. But I think they're happy with their purchases. The kids just stand at the window and look in the car or in the mirrors. They're just sort of mesmerized.

We finally get to Gisenyi, and to get to the mission we have to drive on this uber crowded, unpaved, hole-y street. It was great – we got even more "ma Soeur!"s and "Muzungu!"s than before! But we finally pulled up, and Dominic, one of the guards, opened the gate to let us pull in. The mission is very nice. The buildings are very well-kept, there are beautiful flowers all over, and there's a nice concrete walkway around the whole thing. And there's a garden, chickens, and 3 guard dogs who are very friendly. This mission is actually just a school and the convent for the 5 nuns who live here. I was mistaken about there being an orphanage as well – that's only the Kigali mission. And the students just finished their semester, so I won't be doing any teaching until January. Until then, I guess I'll just see what Sr. Candide has planned for me! There are 3 Canadian volunteers here, all siblings and much older than me, but have shown me around and are very friendly. We again spoke mostly French, but their English is very good.

During some downtime I took a walk around the mission and took some photos, including this one of Mt. Nyiragongo (?), the volcano on the Congo border! The smoke is red at night! A couple kids spotted me and shouted "Muzungu! Bonjour!" So I went over to the fence to talk to them and they pretty much just smiled and looked at me. I don't think they really knew any other French except "Bonjour," but the Canadians told me they all just love you. They'll follow you around (but do NOT give them anything) and you can go ahead and by fun and friendly with them. So next time I'll be prepared :) And my room is very nice, as you can see, and spacious too!