Happy October Everyone! I hope you all are enjoying my favorite time of the year back in the states. Oh the many dreams I've had about pumpkin spiced everything and really cute fall outfits... but I think the last couple of weeks have been worth not being able to jump in a pile of leaves for one more year.
At the beginning of this month we had a week or to of rainy season and with the first rain I was excited because it felt like fall, however even though it physically felt like fall (the chilly weather, having to wear a sweater at all times, grayish skies all day) I couldn't do the things I really like doing during fall and that just put me in a funk. So after those days of looking at recipes I couldn't make, outfits I couldn't wear, etc it started to get sunny again. No this isn't super great because it's supposed to be rain season and they really need the water to grow crops (stay tuned for a possible post of the effects of climate change that you may not see) but for my mood and overall mental health the sun has been great. The vitamin D is in good supply I can do laundry, and I've had a lot of opportunities lately to just hang out with friends in my village and really see those relationships grow.
Last weekend consisted of a shopping trip in the nearby ton with my best friend here and a day long cooking lesson/hang out sesh with the girl who takes care of the garden at my house. This is my friend Emiliene. She is my best friend, go to person at site. She has an 8 month old son who is so adorable and is one of the few babies who actually likes me here. Since she was at a training in Musanze (google this it's one of the bigger towns in Rwanda and home to the famous volcanoes and gorillas) I went to meet her there after work on Friday for a big market shopping day. It was so fun! We perused the clothes, shoes, bags. Bought baby clothes and fruit we can't get in our village, and we just hung out. It was an amazing day of socializing outside of the bubble of my village and feeling so normal and happy with my friend.
Following that amazing day, on Sunday the girl who takes care of my garden came over and brought all the supplies to make isombe. Isombe is a traditional Rwandan dish made of extremely mashed casava leaves, peanut flour, oil, peppers, onions, garlic and some other small ingredients. Here I tried to capture the mashing of the leaves. but I basically had to use my giant mortar and pestal to smash the leaves for an hour or more, I definitely lost track of time but my arms can attest that it was a long time. So after cooking this for a while it is basically the consistency of a thick thick sauce. You can eat it with rice, potatoes, and if you get really Rwandan you eat it with ubugali. Ubugali is a spongy bread made from just casava flour and water. You can usually buy the flour at a shop but she brought the dried casava root itself and I, again using my giant mortar and pestal, ground the dried roots into flour. That was even harder but when else will I be able to say I made flour directly from scratch?? To continue the process of making the bread you just combine boiling water with the flour to get the right thick spongy consistency. When it was all done we ate and had tea and chatted about other Rwandan food, American food etc. It was super fun and a lot of work, sorry for the lack of pictures but it definitely was an all hands on deck kind of day. We even ate it with our hands, which is practical and leaves less dishes but whoever said that eating with your hands can be sexy I really do not agree...
Oh! I also showed her peanut butter for the first time so I'm planning to show her how to make it. they have peanuts and they use peanut flour but it's only in big towns that you see peanut butter so I'm excited to show her one of my favorite things.
So, on top of having an awesome social life and loving the people I live with here I've also been killing it at work recently (not to brag but it's been great.) As I've mentioned in most of my recent blogs I've been working on bring Prepex (A non-surgical male circumcision procedure that is free.) to my health center. So after jumping through hoops and making sure we have everything in place according to the Ministry of Health, etc next Thursday and Friday 4 of my nurses will officially be trained in the procedure meaning we don't have to bring the nurses from the District Hospital ($$) anymore. On top of them getting trained we already have over 550 men registered for the needed vaccinations and on the list to get an appointment to be circumcised. It's overwhelmingly more successful than I ever though possible and I'm so excited to see it actually happening. Again, the benefit of circumcision is 1. it helps prevent female to male transmission of HIV up to 60% and 2. in areas with less resources it helps with hygiene maintenance to help prevent other infections or STIs.
I just have to say lately I've been really happy with my work and my home life and a lot of it has to do with really focusing on being present here in the moment. There is always a lot to think about: the future, things I miss from home, things I can't get here, missing people, etc but I've really found that staying focused on no more than a week or two ahead can really change your daily mindset. So as I continue to do that I encourage you all to take a look at the things in your life that you may miss out on because you're looking 2-3 months or even years ahead. It might surprise you.
<3
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| I've been working on my cooking skills: Here is some taco soup I made! |
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| Hygiene Club Meeting!! |