One Month In! (It's a long one...)

So as of today it is officially one month since I left the US for Rwanda.  Time is so weird for me right now, on one hand I can't believe it has already been a month, but on the other hand, it feels like I've been hear much longer.  Either way it's definitely been a great month and I'm looking forward for what is coming next!

Last weekend we all participated in a the Rwandan community event called "Umuganda".  Basically on the last Saturday of the month each village gets together and does a community service project.  This weekend specifically we got together as a group of villages and started work on a new road and market place.  This involved hoeing and digging up grass on the side of a hill, cutting down many trees to clear the area.  A few blisters later and a lot of sweat lost, it was amazing how much land was cleared and grass was removed in just a couple of hours!  It was a great way to get involved and in a sense feel a part of the community.

Following our morning of labor we attended a Rwandan Singing Competition which consisted of already famous Rwandan singers putting on a giant concert.  It was a great time and definitely added to my growing love for Rwandan music!

Other than that exciting weekend, Pre-Service Training is full of Peace Corps Sessions and mass amounts of studying Kinyarwanda.  This upcoming Monday we have our mid Learning Progress Check (LPI).  This will see what level I'm a and what I'll need to do in order to get to the intermediate-mid level that we are expected to reach.  So despite having graduated college, homework and tests have not gone away yet!  



Along with having to be able to speak the language, I also have to be able to cook.  So we took the day off this past Wednesday and had a giant "imbabura" (charcoal stove) BBQ!! We made chicken and beef and veggies and rice and pretty much all the "luxurious" food we don't get on a daily basis.  Normally, for me, a normal meal at home is rice, ibishyimbo (beans), igitoke (plantains), and a few veggies mixed in with a sauce.  Some meat is thrown in there on random days.  My family always makes delicious food, but after having the same thing for a few weeks, spoiling ourselves was pretty nice.

FINALLY, I hope you made it this far because this is actually the most exciting part!  I officially found out where I will be living permanently after training!  My village is pretty much in the center of the country.  It is located in the northern province of the country and I will be the first P.C. Volunteer to serve at this particular site.  They didn't give us a lot of details yet because we will be visiting in about a week, but I do know that my health center is only a year old, I'll be living in a cool climate (don't be too shocked not all of Africa is scorching hot!), and I have a smaller community that my health center serves, about 10,000 people in comparison to much bigger populations other health centers in the country serve.  Here are some pictures from out Site Announcement Ceremony.  It was definitely a high point following some tiresome weeks of straight sessions and language classes.

One thing I forgot to mention, which is awesome, we met the US Ambassador of Rwanda!  She came and spoke and hearing about her experiences and how she got where she got literally gave me goose bumps it was amazing!!! I felt so lucky to meet her.

Again, I can't believe it's been a month already, and there are 26 more to go that will be full of even more than I can imagine right now.  I will try to post more frequently so you don't have o read a novel to keep up with me but if you want to know more or something I haven't mentioned always email me or contact me in an form you like.  I hope you all are doing well!

Happy 4th of July (we are celebrating a day early because Rwandan Liberation day is the same day)