A Lesson on Time

One of my favorite things about traveling and going to new places is learning how to navigate that particular place. I usually pick on directions and understanding of how to obtain needed information to get around. Before I have that comfort feeling in a particular place, it's uncomfortable and unsettling for me. Knowing a place gives me independence in a place and ownership over what I want to do. I'm working on getting more comfortable in my surroundings here. It's taking longer to learn here than other places that I have traveled to because it's just so different from any of my other adventures. I'm getting more used to being surrounded by kids in the market, the stares I get on the street(when this happens, I usually wave and then get a big smile from the person), or having people call out to me (people like to yell out the words that they know in English which usually is good morning and I like to reply in kinyarwanda).

There are many differences here that I'm getting used to (not to say that one way is better than another, just different and something to get used to):
1. All of the grass to cut by hand using a tool that looks like a machete...enivronmentally friendly lawn movers...power of the people
2. Laundry is done by hand. I was excited to do it on my own when some of my roommates asked if I was capable of doing it. After watching me for a little while, they tried to convince me to pay someone to do it. I'm more determined than ever to do it on my own...even if it takes hours.
3. I was at the market today and there was a man sitting on the ground with his head down.
There was a crowd surrounding him. I asked the Rwandan I was with what was going on. He explained that the man probably stole something and people were taking turns hitting him. I explained to my friend that where I'm from, both the person that stole and the people that hit him will go to jail. We were both foreign to each other's systems.
4. There seems to be very little grey area here. There's good or bad, right or wrong. I had a long conversation (and continue to have it) with one of my Rwandan roommates about this. I'm sure I'll have a blog entry about this when I have a better understanding.
5. Men and women have different roles. Enough said...there will be plently more posts about this in the future.

And the biggest difference....time just works differently here
There's so much a want to say about this. I apprechiate it on one hand but also frustrated at times. Things just work slower here. I'm having to learn a balance between going at Rwandan pace and realizing that things need to get done. One of my favorite books is 3 Cups of Tea. In that book, the American is trying to get the school build and the leader of the village pulls his aside and says first we drink tea. It's about building relationships. I'm learning that to be very true...so I drink lots of tea! I working on taking things a little slower...and I bring a book where ever I go because it's rare that a meeting will start on time. There's a big emphasis at the village on time management. There are also other aspects of time that are different. I had a very interesting trip to Kigali yesterday (this was the 4th day I tried to get there...finally, success!) to get supplies for the chickens (I'm currently preparing for the arrival of 300 baby chicks). Another one of the volunteers also went to get supplies. We spent hours negotiating prices and payment for workers. In Kigali a daily worker gets 2,000frw. They get this price if they work 1 hour or 10. This was hard to work with since we only needed workers for 2 hrs and we spent that amount of time trying to figure out payment.

I love it here so far. I'm enjoying the process of learning and being in a new place. My job is great, my roommates and friends are awesome, and the kids are incredible.

As I was riding to market on the back of a bicycle, I was looking around. I saw a boy in front of a house singing and practicing Michael Jackson moves. There are so many funny sight all around. I'm excited to continue to keep my eyes open to all the wonderful, exciting, and new sights all around me.

I walked to the mango trees today and ate 6 mangoes in 1 sitting! I also had 3 passion fruit, 4 bananas, and half of a pineapple...