Who needs the hamptons....

When you have Gisenyi, a Rwandan resort town on the northern part of Lake Kivu-a 5 minute walk from Congo. (alas, i had hoped to hike the volcano located about 10 miles north of Goma this weekend but safety concerns took precedence over my desire to see a lava lake)

So instead of scrambling up the side of a volcano, i enjoyed scrambled eggs at a heavenily $16 breakfast buffet at the fancy resort in Gisenyi. Worth every penny.

Other highlights of the weekend included:

Hiking 7 kilometers (with a steady entourage of 2-16 year olds in tow) to the next village to "bathe in the hot springs" which given the 80 year old rwandan man who "guards" the springs, the fact that they are no more than 4 feet across at most, and that locals come to boil potatoes (its takes 30 minutes) there, we decided to forgo the bath and stick a toe in instead.

Dined at the hotel Paradis, located on a beautifully lush peninsula with all the other muzungus in town. And I can attest to the freshness of the food. As we were walking in, alana exclaimed, "Oh my. Is that a goat on the back of that bike?" to which i replied, "you know, it appears to be." We then witness the live goat, strapped to the bike being carted directly into the hotel kitchen. Hmm...needless to say, I opted against the goat brochettes for a nice summer salad instead.

This is not a highlight by any means, but an interesting piece of advice: "Do not allow Congolese men to "buy" you drinks...After our long trek to the hot springs we decided to engage in a little happy hour activity at tam tam, the local beach bar. So as we starred at the beautiful horizon, watched two local men in what appeared to be Haynes underwear roll around in the sand like a chris issak video (have i mentioned that male affection, i.e. hand holding, hugging, strattling each other on the sand is commonplace behavior?), and listening to more venga boy music, the waitress came up to us and informed us that the group of (congolese) men behind us wanted to buy our drinks. Since we had just ordered and well, are students, we agreed and when the drinks came we gave them a little nod in appreciation. However, this of course resulted in two of them coming over to talk to us--which was pretty harmless as its always nice to practice french. But it got old after about 40 seconds and luckily we were saved my by "host uncle" and his friend who met us there (the uncle lives in Goma just over the border) to give me a DVD for my host mom (in what i am praying is not more soft core porn--awkward!) anyway, basically what happened is we got up to go and a waiter came running over to say that we hadn't paid....and when we explained that our nice congolese friends were going to pay the ($3) tab, he said they hadn't so we were forced to fork over our own $3...which obviously doesn't matter but what a shadey little trick to talk to muzungos...

Let's see, what else? did i mention the breakfast buffet? it had every fresh juice under the sun, including avocado-which unfortunately i didn't try because i was too full to move after my 4 trips to the pastry table....

Immediately after ingesting the largest amount of food that is humanly possible we wandered over to the beach were we witness an oddly placed step-areobics class in the middle of a park. I did not participate, but since i have never seen any areobic classes in this country (unless you count the forced "stair master" exercises of walking up the 234234 hills in kigali) it is interesting to see that the "rocking horse" has made it to rwanda.

Gisenyi in a nutshell: relaxing, glutenous and beautiful

23 minute of business update

Here you go Rob:

i met with an (admittedly) drunk dotty Brit, and gave him our curriculum/student files. We ran around a classroom placing them in random piles while, he was making classically british quips like "Much of the school is out to lunch at the moment if you know what i mean"...but i could only understand about 34% of what he was saying anyway. Our files seemed to be in order, and no difficult questions were asked about are grading schemes....

What one learns on a business trip

1. Rules of the Road: So this is my second venture out into the wide world of rural rwanda, and i have finally deciphered the various hand signals that drivers give to each other when they pass each other (on very curvy, at times frighteningly narrow roads)

• Flashing of the lights once (nearly every car/bus/truck does this when passing): this is a little, "hey can you tell me if there is a cop coming up"
• Flashing of the lights multiple times: there is a cop coming up.
• sticking hand out the window and pointing down several times with your index finger: slow down, cop ahead (basically same as blinking rapidly).
• sticking hand out above the window and waving your hand towards you kinda like you are beckoning someone: all clear ahead, no police: i.e. pedal to the medal regardless of whether you are on the side of a cliff

So I actually had the opportunity to warn several oncoming drivers of cops ahead (finger downwards) and i must admit, it is quite fun. We passed probably 7-8 policemen on the way home. It is rather odd. They stand in pairs on the side of the road in florecent jackets and point to cars they want to pull over...what stops people from ignoring them is beyond me, because the cops don't seem to have any vehicles themselves....yet somehow despite the hand signal system i saw at least 4 cars pulled over, which could result in a ticket of anywhere from $50-$150.

2. Paying $40 a night for a hotel doesn't necessarily mean that you will get hot water or a working television.

3. Spit is very important when determining your future. i.e. when going to a fortune teller or traditional medicine healer if you spit on the beak of a chick and then the healer cuts open the chick and examines their intestines they can solve you problems. They will continue to have you spit on chickens until they find one whose intestines tells a positive story (not sure what this is? a chick that has access to chocolate?!) and then you take the bones of that chick and wear them around your neck. If perhaps you are adverse to the chick technique, might i suggest spitting on two butter patties putting them in hot water and seeing if they blend together and turn white. if so, rest assured, your fortune is good. if not, have no fear, spit on butter again until you get the desired result. (this information is curtesy of the rwanda national museum.)

4. There are really cute monkeys on the campus of the national university of rwanda (which looks kinda like a U.S. University minus the monkeys and the architecture is a tad older/1970's dutch influenced at times.

5. There are many different kinds of locally grown beer (the main being banana beer or sorgohm beer) and they each have a specially shaped guord or pot to drink out of. And banana beer is not difficult to make...the whole process takes 3-4 days and it involves digging a pit, heating some bananas and some other steps i can't seem to remember at the moment.

6. The business of my business trip lasted about 23 minutes.

7. Stick with brochettes (i.e. beef shishkabobs)--although spagehetti may sound appetizing at times, here, it never is....

8. There are many different baskets/contraptions made to facilitate carrying things on ones head.

9. Very special cows get to wear jewelry for important ceremonies--usually in the form of a tail decoration and necklaces.... (number 5, 8 and 9 curtesy of the Rwandan national Museum)

10. Rwandan countryside continues to be some of the most beautiful landscape i have ever seen....

Thus wraps up my report from Butare, "intellectual capital of Rwanda"

Business Trip

I just learned (of course today-on one days notice) that tomorrow I get to go on my very first Business trip, in Rwanda that is, to Butare home of the National University of Rwanda. I am very excited to go but slightly apprehensive about the following things:

1. I am going to drop off materials I have been collecting for the "external review process" a process where 7-8 experts from Africa and Europe will review the school of public health to see if it is up to international standards. I thought that another professor here would accompany me, but now its unclear if he is able to, so this would mean I would represent the school. Which is fine, but how much do i really know about the examination/monitoring process, number of students who have dropped out, internships, etc....

2. I will have a driver. Fun--yet i feel slightly driving miss daisy about the whole thing...especially if it is just me.

3. Actually, now I'm just making things up...i'm excited to go explore a new part of Rwanda. It's only about 2 hours away from kigali (like everything else in the country) and i get to stay in a hotel which will be a nice break from the host family situation...which by the way is going very well, BUT it will be nice not to be woken up every morning at 5:45 am by a lovely little voice (who turns 7 today) singing her ABC's and counting to 100.

The Commute

Alana takes impressive pictures while on the back of a Moto. This is us on the way home from work one day:

Fruit Baskets

I'm not the only one worried about bananas....this article is mostly about Latin American Bananas, but its interesting nevertheless.

Recently, in an effort to ween myself off the endangered banana, I've been eating a lot of tree tomatoes, which taste slightly like a tomato, but sweeter with large (edible) seeds that you get to suck out of the top.

Amahora-ful Weekend (aka peaceful weekend)

Last weekend I visited quite possibly the most beautiful place I have seen, (It's in tough contention with Manchu Picchu) Kibuye, on Lake Kivu. Its about a 2 hour bus ride from Kigali (that is if the tire on your bus doesn't fall off en route...), through lush, green hills dotted with banana trees and small villages. The scenery on the way there was so beautiful i almost didn't mind the 19 people (and luggage) crammed into a 15 passenger vehicle or the overwhelming smell of B.O. from the larger gentleman in a checkered yellow suit two rows ahead of me....

Once we (we being Alana, Mary (the tulane law intern) and Whitney (William and Mary law student) arrived in the "town" of Kibuye-which consists of a gas station, several stores that all appear to be selling mattresses (does the town have a princess and the pea complex?), and several "saloons" (i.e. Salons, my favorite one i've seen in kigali is the Trust Saloon: the best place in town for waxing), we set off by foot to the Hotel Bethanie.

The hotel is beautifully situated on the Lake and definitely the most scenic hotel I have ever stayed at. And it was only $6 a person (warning: the boxed wine at the restaurant was $5 a glass and was NOT paid for by the nice russians that invited us to have a drink). Anyway, following a leisurely lunch which involved me eating a large meal of mixed vegetables, ham and cheese in what i thought was going to be with pineapples, but instead was OUT of a pineapple, we started on the 2 mile loop that is Kibuye.



Kibuye, sadly, was one of the worst regions affected by the genocide with about 50,000 people killed. I read somewhere that 9 out of every 10 Tutsi's did not survive. Along our walk, on one of the most scenic stretches, we came across a church where 4,000 Tutsi's had sought refuge, but were killed when a drunken mob raided the church. It now has a small memorial outside and we were lucky enough to visit during a church service. It was pretty haunting sitting on the stone steps listening to the beautiful hymns drift over the hills. While we were sitting there we met a group of teenage Congolese Refugees who walk 2 hours each way just to come to the service. The strength of people here never ceases to amaze me.


The next day we rented a boat to take us out to the famous "Napolean's Hat" home of the famous fruit bat. Honestly I can't say that our guidebooks description of the fruit bat had made me all that excited to see them. I had imagined seeing a few fruit fly sized bat flapping around on a deserted island. Umm.....No. When we disembarked on the island the next thing i knew andrew, our boat captain, had slipped off into the wooded area and started clapping. Soon after, the four of us were completely engulfed in a swarm of millions (apparently 3 million reside on this island-which is no more than a mile around) of fruit bats (named after the bananas they feed on) dodging (unfortunately fairly unsuccessfully) bat droppings in a scene somewhat remenicent of the London Blitz.

While we were walking around the island, which is actually a large hill resembling none other than Napolean's hat, I had a sudden impulse to start climbing this very steep "goat path" (which was more the size of a chipmunk path) up to the top of the "hat". For some reason flip flips and a skirt seemed to be suitable climbing gear, but at one point as i was clinging to a few blades of grass wondering how i could possibly go higher, i realized i had somehow steered off course. Nevertheless, somehow we all made it to the top and it was a spectacular view. To the west were the hills of Congo, to the east rolling Rwanda, and spectacular view of the lake-which is a beautiful clear blue with absolutely no boats in site.

In america no doubt, this beautiful lake would be covered with jet ski's and sail boats but here, from the top of the hat, it seemed so untouched and i had a definite pocahontas moment. Oh, just thought i'd throw a question to the world. Is anyone aware of the swimming capabilities of a cow? When we asked the guide if there were any other wildlife besides the bats on the island, he claimed sometimes cows (?!@#@) swam over for the day....keep in mind this island was probably 2 miles from the mainland, so unless he likes to refer to overweight americans as cows, i'm not quite sure this is possible.

On the ride home i kept my eyes peeled for potential cows doing the breast stroke, but all we saw were some egrets and a monkey tied to a tree on a "touristy" island which we decided to forgo since it cost $1 to land. So we motored home, with andrew as our dj providing an interesting variety of tunes ranging from Rasta music to Celine Dion to "i wanna have sex on the beach" by the venga boys. Very organic ride back....but oh so relaxing!

I think those are the highlights of my first trip outside of kigali...oh that and the fact that rwanda beat morroco in soccer and is 3-0 for the first time in their history (i think?). As we were walking around we could tell when someone scored a goal as the entire town was glued to their radios and would give us high fives and jump up and down every goal....

Can you hear me now?

Just a note on cell phone etiquette in Rwanda. when your phone rings, you answer it. It doesn't matter if you are in a business meeting in the middle of a presentation; it doesn't matter if you are on a crowded bus--in fact the driver will often turn down the music so the person can take their call. I've seen people answer their phones while clinging to motos with one hand, during meals at restaurants, and while i haven't witnessed it directly i'm sure being in labor or in the middle of a wedding proposal wouldn't stop anyone either...

I'm mentioning this after coming from a meeting, where at least 5 phone calls were received (all taken in the meeting...no one stepped out of the room) and one of those was by the person LEADING the meeting so we all just sat there for awhile listening to what i can only hope was NOT dinner plans.... I guess its because unlike in most American phone plans, you only have to pay if you MAKE a call so you don't want to have to call someone back and pay out of your own pocket. Plus, 95% of of phones don't have voice mail...

Case and Point:

Where is Airborne when you need it?!

So I have the beginnings of a sore throat. I think my 90% carbohydrate, .00001% vitamin C diet has finally got the better of me. I can currently see a lime tree growing outside my office window and am strongly considering stealing a lime...given airborne doesn't exist here, don't think that i am not above a little petty crime...

Going Bananas

Bananas are the number one subsistence crop in Rwanda, and I never knew there were so many varieties, sizes, tastes, or dishes involving bananas. There are starchy bananas, sweet bananas, green bananas, and at the moment (attracting more fruit flies than Rob's high school science project) rotten bananas in my trash can....

One of my favorite sitings to date was a guy on the bus with a chiquita banana hat that said "Chiquita, the bright spot in your day"...well these bananas are not exactly chiquita, but as long as you get the sweeter variety-which at this point since they all look similar i have trouble distinguishing exactly what i am exactly buying-it is indeed the bright spot in my day.

Everyday on my way to work I pass women carting 100+ bananas in woven baskets on their heads (yes people do carry things on their heads here...the other day i saw a guy carrying a futon-type couch on his head-with no hands!). And usually I stop and buy some bananas. 10 bananas or so cost about 50 cents.

So far I have had:

Stewed Bananas: popular african dish involving manioc leaves that tastes remarkably like potatoes...
Baked Bananas: Drier dish and not as sweet as stewed bananas
Banana Bread
Banana "Wine": Called Ugwagwa which is thick and potent and after 2 glasses better than it sounds...
Banana Juice: Similar to Ugwagwa minus the fermentation/alcohol taste
Banana Fruit Salad
and my lunch staple: A peanut butter and banana sandwich.

(I have yet to try banana beer, Wagari (which is a banana based gin?!!), or boiled and fried bananas...)

But beware, because there is an incurable bacteria strain (xanthomonas wilt or BXW) that is jeopardizing banana crops in Eastern Africa. The bacteria attacks all varieties of bananas and if not contained, this could have devastating effects on the region. (not to mention my lunch)

This bacteria is like HIV for bananas--i propose it should be called BRB-Banana Rotting Bacteria (though i hope it will NOT BRB). It attacks the banana through wounds or opening in the skin, and then causes the banana to ripen and rot prematurely. Though if you cover banana tree with a plastic covered (latex not necessary) it protects the plant from "infection". Also removing the male flowers circumcis--i mean circumvents insects from spreading the disease...And again, there is no cure. (is this revenge for all my banana demonstrations in kazakhstan? hmm....) If bananas become extinct what would be the bright spot in my day?!!

For more info on the disease this article aPEELed (sorry :)) to me: Dealing with a Deadly Banana Disease

Showers of Rwanda

Since I'm sure that my bathing habits are of great concern to all the readers out there (and because I'm feeling particularly grimy after three days without a shower) I'm taking this moment to describe the various showers I've had during my 3 weeks in country...

Hotel Isimbi ($40 a night)
Hot Water: Instant Hot Water (!)
Conditions: Showing in a tub with no curtain and a hand held shower hose.
Cons: Not great water pressure

Alberge du Caverna ($14 a night)
Hot Water: Room number 1 (Yes, but took 1-2 minutes to heat up) Room number 2: in theory yes, but i only discovered this fact after taking a shower after Alana, so apparently it takes a good 20 minutes to heat up)
Conditions: in a cement shower stall with a curtain (unique for Rwanda!)
Cons: unpredictable heat and slow

My Home: (my rent=a refridgerator)
Hot Water: No
Conditions: an elevated sort of 3x3 cubicle 1 foot from the toilet without any curtain so the entire bathroom gets soaked while showering.
Cons: no hot water, horrible water pressure, no lock on bathroom door-so living in fear that someone may walk in and see me hunched over the faucet (cant' figure out how to turn on the shower head)--on a plus side because there is not hot water my showers there have been less than 2 minutes...

Gym at Novotel: ($7)
Hot Water: YES!!
Conditions: a little slice of heaven...A private shower WITH a lock. A porcelain shower basin, wonderful water pressure, instant hot water, soap dispenser, shower curtain so your other clothes don't get wet...
Cons: $7. But will I pay $7 to take a shower? yes!!! and actually its a great place to work out as well. They have 5-6 aerobic machines (and when i get there at 7 am, there is rarely anyone there), new weight machines, and CNN....The shower situation is actually a great incentive for keeping in shape while over here. Forget all those books and tricks to get people to work out...america could solve the obesity problem if gyms were the only places with available hot water!!

Easy Rider

Kinyarwandan word of the day: Cyirahenda cyane (It's too expensive)

This phrase has come in handy, particularly for my new favorite mode of transportation in Kigali: the moto taxi. Since I have moved in with my host family, I am in a very nice neighborhood, but unfortunately it is far away from most things (except Bourbon Coffee-which i just heard that they are opening a branch in D.C....be on the lookout! More on Rwandan coffee here). So rather than take the 3 buses it requires to get to work in the morning (or 2 to get downtown) I have discovered the moto-taxi. There is nothing like whipping across an african hilltop or bouncing down a dirt road on the back of a motorcycle. Plus, rather than take a regular taxi to town (which is at least $8) I can just hop on a moto for less than $1.50.

They are cheap, always available, and all drivers are registered with the government with numbers so if one has problems, it is easy to report. Also, helmets are required for all riders. I'm still looking into buying a bicycle, but for the moment i'm enjoying the ride.

No Wave was had....

So this picture of the soccer game took 15 minutes to load so i will try in the evenings to see if i can get a quicker connection....regardless, this captures the spirit of people crammed in like sardines...you can't see if from this picture, but just to the left there is a billboard outside the stadium that at least 30 people climbed up on to watch the game for free....

Attack of the killer....

dragon flies? I'm not quite sure what the creature was, but it definitely infiltrated my bedroom last night...The situation: I just said goodnight to Farita ("host mom") and went into my bedroom to read a bit before going to bed when i noticed a dragonfly type creature on the wall. No big deal. I am actually amazed at the LACK of bug problems i have had here. So i went to kill it and sat down on my mattress again. when i saw another...hmm....killed that. Suddenly, before i knew it my room had at least 30 of these guys flying around. I realized it was my light (combined with the fact it was raining outside) so I turned off my light.

But then i heard nothing but the flapping of wings which freaked me out, so i turned on my light to kill what i could, but it was an uphill battle. Packaging tape, towels...NOTHING could keep these guys from getting in...It was seriously like a scene from a horror movie, where you could see an endless stream of bugs, yet nothing i could do would keep them out....

So for the next 20 minutes-in what i am sure would be a humorous site for anyone that happened to catch it-I was runnign around my room with a flashlight and my flip flop trying to kill these guys....finally I gave up, but awoke this morning to a blanket of dragon fly wings and carcases all over the room....hmm....maybe i should invest in a mosquito net here...

Also, i purchased a mini-fridge for the family today for a whopping $430...not sure what mini-fridges cost in the states but this did seem a little extreme....Rwanda certainly is not cheap. I saw a snickers bar for sale for $2 yesterday. The first one I have seen in the entire country, but i was able to resist.

Ma Famille

I moved in with my new host family on Saturday. The family consists of Farita, my 33 year-old "host mom" and her 6 year old daughter Chelsea--as well as apparently 2-3 other family members who randomly sleep at the apartment. The best english speaker of the bunch is chelsea, who attends an english speaking school so yesterday morning we spent a solid three hours counting to 100 over and over again, singing heads, shoulders, knees and toes and drawing pictures of animals. While the morning was rather seasame street, the evening turned into a rather X-rated affair. When I walked in from playing ulimate frisbee with a bunch of other Americans (mostly embassy folks), Farita and her neice (who is my age) Kuku were watching some god aweful american movie "Rapid?" which alternated between extremely large fake boobs in a hot tub to guys (or in some cases sexy women) blowing up and shooting everything in site. Ah, american exports...but given the context and sad fact that farita and family probably witnessed this violence first hand, i'm amazed that they can sit through it.
In fact, earlier in the evening, Ish-a local friend and newphew of Farita-described his experience during the genocide. As a 14 year old boy on his way to school one day, he witnessed the family guard take a machette and decapitate someone right infront of Ish. Horrible. There are no words to describe this. Ish seems remarkably grounded after witnessing such things at an early age...he described going home sobbing, telling his mom what he had seen and she just hugged him and gave him a cookie. What do you do in these situations? He says he still can't watch an animal being butchered....
Once you get to know people here they are surprisingly open about their experiences. I am slightly terrified to hear others stories...

BUUUUUT!

So today I experienced a must see in any developing country. A World Cup Qualifier soccer match between Rwanda and Mauritania. This game had been hyped on the radio for a weeks leading up to the game and when we arrived at the stadium nearly three hours before game time the stadium was nearly full. So our $4 tickets allowed us entry into the covered area of the stadium and if we wanted we could buy a newspaper to protect ourselves from the dusty bleacher seats. Which in retrospect, the newspaper was probably not worth the 5 cents forked over because by game time we were PACKED into rows so tightly that my t-shirt is permanently infected with the guy next to me’s lovely odor (just a note, people tend to either completely neglect their personal hygiene or overcompensate with god awful cheap cologne) Unfortunately for me, my neighbor was the former.
Anyway, despite arriving three hours before game time, there was no shortage of entertainment. Every 15 minutes or so, crowd control would break down and there would be a rush of the gates as 100’s of people would barge in without paying the proper $1 admission (for seats in the sun). Eventually they had to bring in police complete with riot gear. Also, there were people running around selling bottles of water (the only thing possible to buy in the entire stadium) and because it was so packed (i.e. people sitting on the steps, etc.) the water vendors would sometimes have to throw the water 20 rows up, which undoubtedly would hit someone in the head. Also, once you entered the sacred covered seating area you couldn't leave...so you can only imagine what bottles of water and no bathrooms led to...
So aside from people watching the stadium was in a beautiful setting. There were no scoreboards and i had no idea how much time had passed but it was a side of a hill overlooking Kigali and you could see nothing but blue sky and rolling hills in the background...by far the best scenery in a stadium I've ever had. Definitely beats the view of the four train at yankee stadium!
As for the game itself, apparently Rwanda is not known for their soccer skills-they have never qualified for the world cup before-but today you wouldn't know it! They scored one goal (or But in French) within the first 15 minutes and the crowd of 10,000 or so went absolutely crazy...chanting jumping up and down, banging drums. (apparently the government pays a group of 100 people to come to the games wear special uniforms and be in perpetual motion, cheering mode the entire game)
The only other soccer game I had been to was in Almaty, so no offense to K-stan but it was a little more low key...But i was amazed at the number of injuries....at least every 5 minutes a player went down and was flailing about on the field while a group of medics would run up and attend to them. Rwanda ended up winning 3-0 and i was a little scared people would rush the field, but the only problem was a mauritania fan that had to be apprehended by the police for jumping the fence and waving the mauritanian flag...
Alana has some great pictures of fans/game which hopefully i can steal from her and post soon...