Muraho from Rwanda!

Hello everyone! It's almost hard to know where to begin this blog because it feels like sooo much has happened over the last week! We flew out on Friday and from almost the beginning it was pretty eventful because our flight to Kenya was pretty star-studded! A bunch of celebrities are doing a Kilimanjaro climb for Comic Relief so it was pretty hilarious (but also highly embarrassing) seeing people going nuts over seeing Cheryl Cole, Gary Barlow, Denise Van Outen, Chris Moyles, etc. etc. However my opinion of Ronan Keating is FOREVER changed because just as I was about to hand in my boarding card I heard this huge "OUT OF THE WAY! MAKE ROOM PLEASE!" and it was some woman bringing in Ronan bloody Keating LATE! The git bumped into me and nudged right in front! FSBs haunt me wherever I go!!!!! haha.



The journey felt pretty long anyway, and we had a bit of a sleep in Kenya airport floor... also waited around where all the celebrities were for a bit, Cheryl Cole's loud Geordie accent is ANNOYING when you're exhausted, my friends! WHY-AYE MAN!



When we eventually arrived in Kigali we went straight to the guesthouse and sleptttt... then we had a bit of a walk around just to get our bearings. There are some little mini supermarkets and plenty of internet cafes but I think we are just going to stick to using the computers here at the FVA office because they have wireless.



On Monday we had orientation and we went to visit the Genocide Memorial. It was really harrowing, I don't think we could have been emotionally prepared for it at all. It's so hard to believe that most of the people I meet here are survivors of that... it has really made me think so much. We then had a tour of Kigali in a little taxi (which is an experience unique to Africa... it brings you probably pretty close to death, but it is hilarious!!!) By the end of Monday I feel like the three of us really bonded a lot, so all in all, great day! :)



On Tuesday we got our Rwandan sim cards! We also got driven to our new jobs and I got a pretty big fright because when I was ready to leave I had to call the director and he said he would send a car... I managed to get into the wrong car! I asked and the driver said Justus had sent him so when I found out this was some random car I was pretty scared! I had to be rescued by the actual FVA driver but thankfully nothing bad happened!

As a result of the ENCOUNTER and the fact that Suzi was going to be expected to teach English to the women in GBV, we are now going to be teaching together... so neither of us will be travelling alone to Gahanga and she can get some teaching experience. Not sure whether we will move to do more of the GBV program next month while the schools are off, we'll see!

We've now been to both schools together... we totally love Gahanga II - the headmaster is an Anglican pastor and he says he is now our Rwandan father! CUTE! We have also done the taxi experience on our own and have dealt with the staring and people making fun of us "muzungus" or however the flip you spell it... we are getting soooo sick of that already but we are brave now, starting to stare back!

We've been going to a lovely little Italian restaurant a little while away, it is lovely... although two nights ago we ordered a bruschetta between us and halfway through realised we were eating raw tomatoes in Africa!!! No problems yet though - thank goodness, because we share one very small bathroom!!!!

The food has been better than expected but up until last night it was beef, beans and rice for every meal... last night we had tilapia which was yum!

Not too many creepy crawlies, we've had a few cockroaches and we have a rat called Frank who likes to wake Martine up in the night... but we're all one big happy family! lol.

I think I have mentioned pretty much everything... I'll be back sometime during the wake to update you on all the adventures and happenings!

Love and kisses from Rwanda!

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