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...