Back to school…

Sunrise over Africa

Not a bad first sight of Africa huh? After all the crazy flying through weird time zone changes and everything we got to Kigali on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we went to church. The pastor gave a sermon about being a Christian without conforming to the world, but also without completely separating from it. Interesting that the same exact things I struggle with at home, the Rwandans struggle with here. We also explored the city on a little scavenger hunt like thing. We maneuvered our way through the public transit system to the different parts of Kigali. Instead of trendy bicyclists with mustaches like in Portland, there are tons of savvy bota (motorcycle taxi’s) drivers with a horn and they honk that horn like it’s nobody’s business. Basically the rest of the transit system is just a ton of buses that go back and forth between different spots. It’s like Russian roulette whether or not your bus is going to stop where they say it will, so you just gotta hope that someone speaks a little English and that they can tell if the bus is really going to stop at the place they say they will. Funny thing about Rwanda, nothing is set in stone. If you go to a restaurant there’s a pretty good chance they don’t have a lot of the things on the menu. So you kinda just have to keep a second and third option in your mind. Speaking of restaurants we went to a really good pizza place that seriously had like 100 different pizzas to choose from. The menu was ridic.

On the way to the bus stop on the first day of school. So cute.

Today was the first day of classes! Definitely not ready to get back to doing actual schoolwork. We’ve all been sitting around the house trying to force ourselves to read many chapters out of many different textbooks since we finished dinner. I’m pretty sure I read the same line about 17 times before I went back to my old ways of just skimming everything. I mean come on, I’m in Africa! Classes are good though. We have a 3 hour one every morning and then we go home for lunch and have a 2 hour class on our porch. After 3 it’s free time until dinner. Today I spent that time hanging out with the one and only Alex Rettmann! Pretty cool that I got to see a familiar face while I’m halfway across the world from home. This week has been an amazing start to the semester. I’m falling in love with this place already….

Two things I’ve been surprised about here in Rwanda:

1. I’m definitely not going to lose weight like I, and many others, thought I would. The food is so good. Our cook is amazing and makes really great food that is a mix of Rwandan, Ugandan and American dishes. Also, I’m trying to be a little more adventurous with my appetite. However, there’s not a whole lot of sweets here (Chocolate is expensive), which is tragic.

2. The weather is wonderful! It is not nearly as hot or humid as I thought it would be. It’s hot, but there’s usually a nice breeze. It rains every once in a while, but just for a short time, and it’s warm rain. I could definitely get used to this.