a day out in Kigali.

Today started with me feeling much better – I even managed to eat some breakfast, and a full lunch!

I came out of the house and was greeted by a small boy on the street exclaiming excitedly “muzungu!!” I went down and hung out with the kids who don’t go to school for a bit – got peed on, spat on, poked, prodded, but it doesn’t bother me – luckily!

I felt much better when I had something to occupy my brain. It is only when I have nothing to do that I start to feel uneasy and upset.

At 12:30 the older kids came home, and it was lunch time. But then it’s nap time.. for the first little bit of time the Aunties were teaching me some Kinyarwanda, which was fun.. it’s hard sometimes when I am surrounded by all these people speaking another language, and sometimes they look at me as if they are speaking about me, but I cannot understand! (not that I think they are saying anything bad, but it’s still not fun to be completely out of a conversation you are surrounded by). Eventually me and one of the Aunties went into the house where the TV was on – it was in English – but sitting around watching TV is not something that is helping me to adjust. But now that I have learned the children’s schedule it will be easier to navigate where I should be and when. So I think things will again improve (as well as if you keep praying!!)

Then Abby came to meet me and we took the mutatu (bus) into town. Kigali is a busy place – even up around the house where I live there’s constantly people around. Constantly. The “centre” of Kigali is even crazier – cars, motos, people, everywhere. It was fun, and it felt good to do it with someone else, instead of by myself for the first time. We got a couple of errands run, then decided to take the moto back to the house… what an intense experience! A moto is a small motorcycle, with a driver, and you just tell them where you want to go, negotiate a price, and hop right on the back! There is a small handle on the back/side of the seat to hold onto (although Abby says she sometimes just has her hands in her lap..I don’t think I’ll be trying that..) They go about 30-40 miles an hour, which feels really fast when you’re out in the open air! It was terrifying for a minute or two, especially weaving around in town, but eventually it was just fun – we ended up taking two more tonight and I’m down to one-handed passenger-ing ;)

We were invited to “quiz night” at a pizza place that has a majority muzungu crowed. You would never have known you were in Rwanda being in this place. As much as it’s nice to know there are other expats around, I don’t want to become too comfortable with this, as it will make adjusting even harder. But there is a Bible study on Thursday nights I’m hoping to go to.

Anyway, I am now staying at Abby’s house for the night, which again, I hope will not interfere with my adjusting – I’ve decided I need to just stick my head up and deal with it. I’m beginning to beat myself up way too much about it, and I don’t want to fall short on my commitment to this trip. It’s a decision I made, and I have to live up to it.

Anyway, hoping that my physical and emotional strength will continue to increase, and as always, your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Thanks again

-Bronte.