Elle

Away for the holidays

December 23, 2018 Peace Corps

This is not the first year I haven’t been home for the Christmas holidays.  As a registered nurse and before that a respiratory therapist, I’ve spent most of or at least part of nearly every Christmas in a hospital of some sort.  Sometimes is was a children’s hospital where we got to ‘play Santa’ for the sick kids; sometimes it was in a psychiatric hospital where someone actually thought they were Santa.

Sometimes I wasn’t home for the holidays because although I worked on the actual holiday, I spent the weeks leading up to or immediately after traveling.  I’ve spent Christmas traveling in France and Germany trying to determine the best Christmas market. 

I’ve spent Christmas in Bosnia and Serbia where it truly looks like a winter wonderland and bonus!  these countries celebrate ‘western’ Christmas and Orthodox Christmas so if you time it right, you can have 2 solid weeks of holidays.

I’ve spent Christmas in Mexico watching the sun dip into the Pacific Ocean while laying stretched out on a beach and in Argentina watching the sun rise on the Atlantic coast. But this year it’s different.

Christmas at the Pacific Ocean

This year I’m 8000 miles from my actual home and about 100 from my temporary home in Rwanda. And I’m not heading home in a couple of weeks like all the other times.

These days I spend most of my time lying around the Peace Corps HQ recovering from a fall.  It’s cruel punishment really, as I am mostly alone. PC staff has a ‘no fraternization’ policy with volunteers and I guess this even means a ‘hello’ on my part is greet by a curt and/or terse response and quick retreat on their part, and since my condition, at this point is chronic, I see the PCMO at most for 5 minutes.  I’ve had a few visitors but life in the capital is forbidden per PC policy [and expensive!] so I keep to myself. And my books.  And while I can be melancholy about my situation, it doesn’t change it so I try to be positive, and hope for the day my situation changes.

 

Cooking in the Corps 3: Southern Comfort Foods

December 16, 2018 Peace Corps

In some ways, Rwanda reminds me a lot  of the Southern United States… especially the rural South The food is pretty basic, but good cooks know how to jazz it up. People still believe in old wives tales [but here they are called something different]. Church still takes up a big part of your Sunday… Football is pretty important [although a different kind of football], and kids play outside and create their own fun.  That being said this dish is as simple as they come and instantly transports me back to childhood. Introducing 2 super simple southern dishes.

Stewed Tomatoes

Ingredients:

  • Tomates [canned works best]
  • Rice
  • water
  • Oilve oil
  • Salt/pepper

Directions:

Cook rice until fluffy. If you have an onion, add it if you want to, but totally not necessary. Bring tomatoes to boil and boil off some of their juices. Add tomatoes to rice. Season with salt and pepper. That’s it.  Seriously, the easiest dish I could ever make in Rwanda.

Spam and Eggs

Another seriously southern dish that’s readily available in Rwanda.  Also it had been YEARS since I had Spam until this.

Ingredients:

  • Spam
  • Eggs
  • Potatoes
  • seasoning to taste
  • oil for frying

Directions:

Wash, peel, and cut potatoes into cubes.  Fry potatoes until brown. Add water to accelerate cooking using the fry/boil method. Cut the SPAM into bite sized cubes, and fry cubes until brown.  Crack eggs in a separate bowl if you want scrambled eggs, or the frying pan if you want fried eggs.  Cook eggs until done.  Mix potatoes, SPAM, and eggs together. Enjoy.

Where there is no wi-fi: blogging

December 9, 2018 Peace Corps

My house is a two room brick structure surrounded by concrete with with a tin roof. It has intermittent electricity, and there’s no wi-fi to be found. So how do I manage to blog from my rural Rwandan village?

Here’s what I have in the way of technology:

  • a simple laptop, case, and charger
  • SIM card for buying mobile data bundles
  • a smartphone I bought in Rwanda
  • a USB to micro-USB cord

Gone are the days of firing up the laptop, connecting wireless-ly to the cloud, and writing while also uploading and editing photos.  Gone are the days of having 10 tabs open at once. After some months of trial and error, these are the steps I now take to produce one blog post:

  1. Charge the laptop fully either while having electricity or at the health center.
  2. Draft and edit blog posts at night in a Word doc.
  3. Plug phone or storage drive into laptop and grab images for said blog post.
  4. Walk 4 miles (uphill both ways –no snow–) with laptop, cell phone, and USB drive into Huye, go to the nicest Catholic boarding house around [or second option a coffee shop with spotty wi-fi], buy a Fanta or milkshake depending on my location, add mobile data to my phone, and take a seat.
  5. Set up a hotspot
  6. Copy and paste posts onto WordPress, upload photos and add tags. I usually upload a month of posts at a time and set the to auto post every Sunday.

I can, and have, written and published many posts entirely through my phone. I prefer to type on a computer for quantity and quality writing.

This set up works OK… Not great…Not perfect but it gets the job done.  I for one will be glad to returning to the land of Starbucks and free wi-fi sooner rather than later.

Splish Splash

December 2, 2018 Peace Corps

Splish, splash, I was takin’ a [bucket] bath
Long about a Saturday night, yeah
A rub dub, just relaxin’ in the tub
Thinkin’ everythin’ was alright

Well, I stepped out the tub
I put my feet on the floor
I wrapped the towel around me and I
Opened the door……………………………

Bobby Darrin

Taking a long, hot shower [or even a short, hot shower] or a relaxing bath along are two of life’s greatest luxuries. As neither are available to me at the present time, I can only dream… dream that one day my back will get clean, the hot water will pulsate and rumble all around me, and I will work out any muscular kinks.

There are no such luxuries in my life. In Rwanda, my life revolves around a bucket. Or more accurately, buckets. A bucket for a bath. A bucket to wash clothes in. Another bucket to do dishes in. You see how it goes.

To say that I am not a morning person would be a gross understatement of fact. SO. More times than not, I do not bathe in the morning, I use those extra few minutes for another cat nap, and everyone’s is a little happier.

My morning routine

I roll out of bed around 6:45am. By that time, the roosters have been cockle-doodle-doing since about 4:30a. And the cows are moo-ing about who knows what and despite the fact that I sleep with my windows open, and do in fact hear the world coming to life starting about 5a, I roll over, pull the blanket over my eyes, turn the music up just a little bit louder, and drift in and out of consciousness for the next two or so hours. 

6:45 is the absolute latest I can arouse myself, find clean[ish] clothes, make my hair look like I, in fact, did not stick my finger in an electric socket, drink 500ml of water and eat a piece of fruit and call it breakfast, brush my teeth, take my vitamins, and get to the health center by 7:00a. Most of the time, I am the only one present at 7a, but they say work starts at 7 and like the punctual American I am, I’m there at 7 [or at least by 7:15]. 

Also, notice there’s no time to be messing around with buckets at this time of day, but what I do, is pour water from my jerry-can into my bathing bucket until it is about 1/3-1/2 of the way full, probably using  about 7-10 L of water. I then set this bucket outside in the sun, and let that amazing star perform it’s magic.

Step-by-step for bucket bathing

It’s rarely what I call hot these days, [and though sometimes I do sweat while going on long walks, it’s usually confined to the back of my head… dry shampoo is a wonderful thing] so cold, straight from the tap water is a no-go; if it’s a choice between cold water on a cool day or being dirty, being dirty may just win out.

My day usually ends around 2p so I walk the 50 or so steps from the health center to my house, make lunch/dinner, and if it’s been a sunny day, whooooo-weee…. my bucket now contains lukewarm water, which is more than adequate for me to do the deed. [It’s amazing what we can become accustomed to/ becomes normal]

I have tried to make my shower room ‘rural Rwanda luxurious‘. Bucket bathing still sucks but at least with all my tools in the designated spot, and not having to schlep them around from here to there, makes it not suck as much.

My ‘luxurious’ shower room at the house on the corner

12 Steps for the perfect bath

Step 1:  Prepare the water. Either use the sun (easiest) or use the stove to get a little warmth in the bath water

Step 2: Gather all needed supplies. Nothing worse than needing something and not being able to get it

Step 3: Get nekkid… except for flip-flops.  No amount of cleaning will make that floor clean.  Wear the flip-flops.

Step 4:  Hang clothes on the nails loving pounded into the concrete

Step 5:  Fill my cup with water.

Step 6:  Take washcloth, wet, take soap and wash face. Use the water in the cup to rinse soapy face. 20% done. [Every.Single.Time I am amazed by the amount of dirt I see in the cup.]

Step 7:  Fill cup again and pour over head. This part is so much nicer with lukewarm water.

Step 8: Shampoo. Lather. Rinse. Rinse again. 40% done.

Step 9: Using a washcloth [or loofah scrubby thing], soap it up and begin scrubbing.  I usually start at the top and work my way down… over the hills and valleys and peaks and crevices, if you know what I mean. 60% done.

Step 10: Rinse. It’s actually not too bad with warm water. While I still miss a faucet and actual hot water, this will suffice. 80% done.

Step 11:  Wash feet. Without really realizing it, it’s amazing how much dirt they can attract… even while wearing socks and shoes.

Step 12:  Rinse feet and marvel at the amount of dirt/dry skin you’ve removed. 100% done

Addendum: 

Dry self and put on clothes… Bonus points for remembering to bring clean ones.

This process usually takes approximately seven to ten minutes. When it’s a nice sunny day, there is nothing more enjoyable [in Rwanda anyway] than sitting outside, freshly bathed in the sun reading a book while letting the sun dry your hair. It’s one of the few times I can enjoy bathing, because in rural Rwanda, bathing is no longer fun; it’s just another chore to be done.

Postscript:  I have one of those Amope foot things…It is essentially a battery operated sander for feet. I use it once a week on clean feet, then slather clean, scrubbed feet in Vaseline. Finally, I put on socks and go to bed. It’s amazing how much nicer my feet are since I started doing this.

Bucket bath tools needed:

  • 1 Bucket
  • 1 cup [anywhere from 8-16oz will do], or empty plastic bottle
  • Soap of choice
  • Shampoo of choice
  • Flip-Flops
  • Non-electrical lighting [not necessarily needed if you are bathing in the middle of the day]
  • Towel and washcloth

Shout out to Bobby Darrin’s Splish Splash for this post’s inspirational title

On being thankful and having gratitude

November 26, 2018 Peace Corps

What I am thankful for–Peace Corps year one edition

Once upon a time a friend and I used to send each other our daily gratitude lists.  A list that would have anywhere from 3-7 items on it that we were truly thankful for, and would sometimes be as basic as clean water and air or as complex as a peaceful resolution to a serious problem. It was a good way to start the day… being in a state of gratitude before leaving the house.  Because sometimes life happens, and life can be a bitch.

This week contained the American Holiday of  Thanksgiving, and for the second time in a decade I find myself outside the US for this distinctly American holiday. I find myself feeling more grateful than I have in quite some time, thanks to the last few months living in Rwanda and its inevitable way it shifted the way in which I experience the world.

I am the mashed potato maker

Why am I so full of gratitude lately?

I am thankful for my education. 

Lord knows I have enough of it and sometimes it was a struggle to get and pay for, but never, not even once, did not think that I couldn’t finish high school or go to college.  I may have been/be on the most circuitous path ever, but dropping out of school because I’m female has never crossed my mind.

I was a latchkey kid, got myself up and fixed my own breakfast from about 8 years onward, and caught the school bus until I could drive, but these struggles are nothing compared to what many students in Rwanda face. Many students walk up to six kilometers every morning to get to school, some without shoes over the hilly and rocky terrain. Some struggle to concentrate, because their growling stomachs compete for their mental attention. They sit snug as bug next to their classmates — three, sometimes four to a wooden desk — in the hot or cold classroom of up to 60 students. They rely one notebook and one pen with zero additional educational materials. Kids return home, make dinner for their families, sell food at the market, and take care of their younger siblings. And repeat it all, the next day.

Living in a place where so many students stop attending school after primary school… primary school! reminds me how much of a gift my education is. I am lucky for the teachers that challenged me and the resources made available to me, and while I can’t name every teacher I’ve ever had, I do remember some of the more special ones and am thankful for them on a regular basis.

I am thankful for the kindness in my life.

Rwanda is not an easy place to be a foreigner, and I’d guess it’s probably not that easy to move to a different area within the country.  My guess for that is due to the genocide that occurred almost 25 years ago. Depending on their age, most adults in Rwanda were alive during that period either as babies, children, or young adults themselves.  It doesn’t come easy or natural for Rwandans to trust outsiders. That being said, I have experienced kindness while I’m here.  The people I work with who help me learn Kinyarwanda on a daily basis. The people who have helped me find my way when I’ve gotten turned around. Kindness comes in many forms here, but one usually has to prove his or her worthiness in order to receive it so it’s nice to experience true kindness with no strings attached.

I am thankful for life’s challenges and the values instilled by overcoming them.

It’s the hurdles I had to jump in the past that make me the driven, independent person that I am happy to be today. If it weren’t for the bumps along the way, I would not have had the opportunity to grow in ways that I did and continue to do.

As much as I have dealt with and overcome in my life,  people in my community face an entirely different set of challenges than challenges I have faced and ever will face. Their resilience, perseverance, and unwavering hospitality in these times of difficulty, is admirable.  Going through tough times in America, while still challenging, is not the same as going through tough times in Rwanda.

I am thankful for learning more about myself.

As noble as “saving the world” sounds, a majority of my Peace Corps experience thus far has been a heroic adventure of self-discovery. I have found the beauty in stepping outside of my comfort zone and saying “yes” to self-growth opportunities. I have practiced patience, continued to learn the value of making mistakes, and appreciate the importance of perseverance. I am becoming more sensitive to what makes me happy or sad, and making decisions based on those observations. Self-respect starts with making decisions with your happiness [among other things, of course] in mind.

I am so grateful that my time here has allowed me to grow in these ways.

I am thankful for my friends and family.

Though there are few places on Earth I could be where I would be physically farther from my peeps, my time away has made us closer in many ways. In order to join the Peace Corps, I had to quit a job, ‘alter’ a relationship, and give up my kitty cats to the care of another person. The support from my friends and family allowed me to  start a new chapter of life in Rwanda.

Separation often acts as a test, whether it intentional or unintentional, and to my delight, I have a small little team of supporters cheering me on this adventure of mine. While I probably could have survived [ definitely not thrived]  without them, it makes it a whole lot easier knowing that someone I know is watching Lucy and Molly, people are sending me little notes and gifts, letters and postcards, and people are generally interested in what I am doing.

I am thankful for a gained perspective on the world and its people.

I’ve traveled a fair amount prior to joining the Peace Corps. I’ve even been outside the country for an extended period of time before.  I always try to be a temporary local rather than a tourist whenever I go some place new.  But staying in a neighborhood for a week or even a month  at a time is not the same as staying in one place for a year [or two if I make it that long].  Being in the Peace Corps gives one the opportunity to truly immerse oneself in  a community, and if that person is lucky, have the community accept them as one of their very own.

I often think to myself how lucky I am to be experiencing the world through a different lens while I spend each day immersed in a community on the other side of the world. With each culture brings unique values and it has been enlightening and refreshing to experience Rwandan values, and see how they take precedence over things that are often obsessed over in the American world, such as technology, material items, money and work. Life here has changed my perspective on my personal values and I am grateful for the lifelong lesson my neighbors has taught me.

I am thankful for my cohort.

We are now a group of 22 unique and individual souls having lost a member just a few weeks ago. [She went home; she didn’t die]. To be honest I would have never even crossed paths with a lot of my cohort, let alone entertained friendship. But at almost 6 months in, I now have a ‘brother’, and a handful of close friends in the cohort which makes sticking out through the tough times a little easier. Being together [however brief] during this last week has made me realize how much I miss those who don’t live so close to me.

“I’m bored” and other Peace Corps thoughts

November 18, 2018 Peace Corps

As a kid, rule #1 was to never say ‘I’m bored” around adults. Inevitably, that would lead to the assigning of some chore that I REALLY did not want to do. As a fairly inventive kid, I was rarely bored. I read., built things and explored. I wrote stories and drew pictures. Sometimes, I talked to my friends on an actual telephone. In the house.. Anything to not tell the adults “I’m bored'”

In that regards, Peace Corps Volunteers are like kids and Peace Corps Staff are like adults. Boredom lives in the Peace Corps and everyone knows it, but no one says it. Peace Corps Volunteers around the world are in charge of their own schedule. For Peace Corps Rwanda Health, our schedule should mirror our counterpart, but at minimum, we should ‘work’ 20 hours/week. But what if your assigned counterpart has fled the country and works zero hours? Or the other one shows up 5 hours late because of ummm ‘excessive alcohol consumption’? Or you show up to the health center at 7a as you are told to do for a meeting, and sit on a hard wooden bench for an hour and no one shows up to said meeting.. What happens then?
There’s no time clock to clock in and out and in theory, PCVs should create schedules with their counterparts. But in my case, with no actual counterpart, what’s a PCV to do? 20 hours a week is approximately 11.9% of a week. How do I fill the other 88%.? I wonder around the ikigonderabuzima and look for friendly faces. Sometimes I end up in pharmacy and count pills and fill prescriptions [oooh pharmacy tech, I know how to do this job]. Other times I end up in maternity and see babies [oooh NICU nurse, I know how to do this job]. Sometimes I end up in an educational lecture [oooh, topic educator, I can do this too–just not in kinya]. Yet, other times I help unload deliveries [ooooh, inventory specialist, I can do that too]. Sometimes, and lately this has been my favorite thing to do, I peruse daily ledgers to see why people are coming to the health center [actual community health] and tally the number of cases of each admission. Then I sort by gender and age range. [oooh. beginning epidemiology]. I love doing this task mostly because it doesn’t require me speaking to people and I since government documents are in Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, French, and English, I get exposure to all 4 languages. Sometimes I bring my radio and listen to Rwanda radio and spend literally 8 hours in my office without seeing another soul. [I know, bad volunteer. We are supposed to be out meeting and greeting and gaining fluency in our language[s],] I’m very productive with the ledgers and can categorize large volumes of info into readable reports. Sometimes I weigh babies. [I can practice numbers in French and Kenya! and get tongue-tied over Rwandan names]. There is freedom to do literally anything.
Some PCVs bury themselves in their projects; some spend two years doing nothing. Some use weekends to travel around the country they are in; while others are “site rats” and barely leave their site. [This is 100% not me It’s my goal to visit everyone in my cohort’s site at least once. I don’t think the PC director would approve of that goal, but I’m going for more Rwanda integration than ‘site integration’]
Be Present. Just Be Present. That’s a feat that most Westerners cannot accomplish.–especially Americans. Peace Corps is the perfect opportunity for volunteers to release themselves from the American mindset of always being occupied or productive in a fast-paced society. I’ve gained an appreciation for unstructured time with family, friends and neighbors, hours of uninterrupted reading time (34 books and counting in 6 months)  But here  I am finding ways to keep myself entertained [yay for only child experience] , and these past 6 months are changing me and clarifying the future version of myself. Whether I like it or not, it’s changing me, and that is something powerful. I’m growing so much more aware of who I am, where I am, what I can give, and where I’m going.

When people show up late for meeting, I learn how to measure height in centimeters.

And sometimes people show up SEVERAL hours after the scheduled meeting time. I now know that I am 175cm tall.
Here’s some things I do when I’m bored (I mean really bored) at site.
  • Go on a walk
  • Listen to music and stare at the wall
  • Play with #notmycat and her babies
  • Play solitaire
  • Play banana grams by myself
  • Look up words in my Kinyarwanda/French/English dictionary and try to learn 2 languages at the same time
  • Look up “cost of living in Washington, DC” Or Washington state. Or London. Or Canada. Fall down the rabbit hole of ‘where can RNs work internationally’
  • Look up qualifications to work for MSF
  • Begin to lear Arabic despite not knowing anything about Arabic nor having anyone to speak Arabic with.
  • Speak with my neighbor in German because my German is much better than my Kinyarwanda or French
  • Make up entirely non-plausible stories in my head about living in Rwanda and speaking more German than any of the 4 official languages of the country.
  • Daydream about going on safari.
  • Read, read, read, and read some more
  • Study for the GRE
  • Make some tea
  • Do some yoga
  • Write a blog post
  • Plot revenge
  • Take a bucket bath inside my house and use the excess water to ‘mop’ the floor
  • Watch pirated movies
  • Take a three hour nap
  • Stay up until 3 am because that’s the only time I can hear myself think
  • Sort out my photos
  • Write letters to friends
  • Teach myself how to photoshop on pirated software
  • Journal, journal, journal
  • Put on a face mask
  • Plan a trip to Uganda, Kenya, and/or Tanzania
  • Plan a trip to Zimbabwe/Zambia
  • Make plans to live abroad permanently including how and where
  • Check on my bucket garden
  • Chop vegetables
  • Make grocery aka market lists
  • look up new recipes that can be made with village supplies
  • practice suturing my fake arm
  • read more books
  • listen to music
  • try to remember how to solve math problems
  • investigate taking the foreign service exam
  • WhatsAPP other PCVs

Remember why I’m here  and how joyful this whole experience is despite the ample free time!

By the numbers 2: Food and Market

November 4, 2018 Peace Corps

1:  Number of times I had pizza. Although advertised as ‘cheese pizza’ it certainly had a lot of onions on it.  Also the number of kilograms of peanuts and sugar purchase since August.

It was definitely not like thins

 

2:  Number of times I go to the market each week. Once to the Huye market and once to the Mbazi market.  I absolutely hate the market and as much as I hate the grocery store, I’m looking forward to just having to deal with Publix instead of 10 different people for 10 different items. Also number of kilograms of rice and beans purchased since August

4:  Number of new dishes I have learned to cook courtesy of my closest fellow volunteer who loves to cook

I live off Fanta Citron

5:  Number of times I have fixed spaghetti in the 2 months I’ve been at site. I went a couple of weeks without but now it’s my Friday night activity along with watching a movie—dinner and a movie… I’m leading a fancy life over here among the hills.

6:  Number of Rice Krispies Treats eaten in one day [I received 8 in a care package; had self control on day 1 and 2, then….] 3 number of days said rice crispy treats lasted

8:  The number of times I’ve eaten at the local Chinese restaurant. 4 number of different dishes I have tried at said restaurant.

12:  Number of recipes in my current rotation.  Other than the spaghetti, this ensures that I eat something different every day in a two week period. [soups, sandwiches, potatoes, eggs, and rice and beans make up the bulk of my diet]

15:  KG the amount of gas I bought in August that I am hoping will last me until February [or longer]

23:  The total number of pounds lost since my arrival in Rwanda; also the number of  pounds of pizza the average American eats.

24: Number of Fanta Citrons consumed since my arrival to the South [This may or may not be a lot, but it is my only beverage other than water.  And it’s much better for me than Dr. Pepper.

52 (out of 60):  Number of times I have skipped ‘the most important meal of the day‘.  Mornings and I are not friends. Even in Rwanda when everyone is up with the sun.

500 RWF:  Cost on a 500ml Fanta in a restaurant. 1 or 2:  Number of Fantas I drink per week.

1440:  The number off calories my fitness pal says I am supposed to eat per day. 0:  the number of times I have exceeded 1440 calories in one day; although one time I did exceed the number however the total was offset by the gratuitous amount of walking I did that day upping my calories to 2145 for the day… I came nowhere near 2145 calories.

3500 RWF:  The average amount I spend at the market buying the following:  Cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, red onions, green beans, green peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, mandarin oranges, apples, and bananas + bread and cake.

 

Cooking in the Corps 2: Crepes

October 28, 2018 Peace Corps

My absolute first experience with crepes occurred in 2010 during my South America sojourn when fellow traveler [and now friend] Emilie offered to make some.  Emilie was a former pastry chef in France so if anyone would know anything about crepes, it would be her.  As those memories are now fuzzy and clouded by copious alcohol consumption, I sure they were delicious.  Everything she made was delicious.

Fast forward a couple years and I am back in America, living and working in a small town called Traveler’s Rest, South Carolina.  One of my fellow co-workers and RNs, had decided along with her husband to take an abandoned building is said town on open a creperie.  Before the restaurant actually open, Kristin brings several varieties of crepes to work to allow us hungry health care workers to sample and give feedback as to whether this particular rendition should make it on the menu.  A few months later, Tandem opens and 4 years after opening, it’s still going strong.

Fast forward again to 2018, and I’m in quite literally the middle of Africa, in southern Rwanda, and my closest stage-mate just happens to be a fantastic cook who just so happened to spend some time in France. Whether the two are related, I don’t know, but I digress.  Anyway, said mate and I get together at regularly planned intervals for cooking and movie watching.  I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, can easily pass on chocolate and Nutella, but nearly go bananas for cinnamon apples, a recent addition into my food repertoire called Biscof cookie butter, and bananas foster.  I also love savory crepes filled with bacon, eggs, and cheese.  Needless to say I was excited to learn how to make this ‘fancy’ dish and was promised it was easy.  It is.  If I can do it, so can you.

What you will need [obviously adapt this to your surrounding.  If  you’re in America, you can probably find All-Purpose flour.  In Rwanda, not so much]

Ingredients

  • 2eggs
  • 1/2 cup of milk or 1/4 cup of milk powder + 1/4 cup of water
  • 2 tablespoons of butter [or butter-like substance]
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • dash or pinch of salt
  • whatever you want to stuff your crepes with [fruit, meat, sweetness]
  • cooking oil

Tools of the trade

  • a true non-stick skillet
  • a wire whisk
  • a bowl
  • spatula

Directions

  1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
  2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
  3. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

See. Easy Peasy, and tasty AF.

Things I miss about the USA

October 21, 2018 Peace Corps Wanderlust

Happy Labor Day. These random holidays like Labor Day and 4th of July and Memorial Day has never really meant too much to me. Working in health care, days like these are really just regular days. There’s no such thing as ‘holidays’, or at least not in the traditional sense where I’d get the same days off as everyone else and get do things like hang out at the lake with friends or enjoy cook-outs for the holiday. So in that sense joining the Peace Corps has been interesting. At one point or another I’ve celebrated every American holiday outside America, and some countries’ holidays inside that country. But nothing can replace celebrating the holiday in its original form… And while I’ve only been gone from the USA for a few months, there are still things I miss.  This post is from my previous travel blog from when I spent 16 months traveling around South America (with some updates from what I’m missing now… Some things change; some never will… like my love for good pizza).

  • Pizza  Pizza is probably my favorite food on the planet.  Back home, I probably ate pizza 3-4 times a month.  Not always the same kind or from the same place, but pizza (and a salad when I’m feeling healthy) has been a staple in my diet since the early years and I don’t suspect it leaving any time soon. I did find pizza goodness in Buenos Aires and Mendoza; however most of South America and all of Rwanda has been a huge disappointment in terms of pizza.  Bad crust, bad sauce, strange ingredients.  I can’t wait to hit up Barley’s Taproom or Sidewall’s or the Mellow Mushroom for some good pizza with olives, feta cheese, spinach, and tomatoes.

One of my Peace Corps goals is to make a pizza… a delicious pizza like the one pictured below.

Untitled

  • Watching American sports. I am a huge sports junkie and I miss meeting up with friends to watch March Madness, college bowl games, or stressing over Tennessee football. Fall is always the hardest because college football in nearly a religion in the south, and I am a follower of the sacred University of Tennessee. Watching my favorite teams at odd hours via slow internet streams just didn’t cut it, and while going to sporting events where I am is a small comfort, I am never going to follow Mexican bullfighting, Venezuelan baseball, Peruvian football, Rwandan basketball, or Buenos Aires polo when I am at home.  [Although I happily watched Super Bowl XLV live.]

I am grateful that I was in a country that was a soccer loving one with time time zones close to the original for some of the world cup matches.  Before joining the Peace Corps, I had hoped to score tickets to World Cup|Russia, but watching the games in this tiny corner of the world where soccer rules, is great for international bonding.

  •  Food variety. If I ever eat white rice again, it will be too soon. Seriously, that seemed to be the hallmark of almost every single meal I’ve eaten over the few months. I wasn’t a big fan to begin with, but having it on the plate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner got old. Fast!

  One of the staples of Rwandan cuisine is–you guessed it–white rice.  It’s no wonder I never eat this in America.

  • Free, non-carbonated water in restaurants. Again, this should be self-explanatory. Plenty of places offered free snacks, but free water? Not a chance.
  • Public transportation. Even though back home I do not live in an area with good public transportation, I like going to places where it’s accessible and easy to use.  MARTA in Atlanta has gotten me where I needed to be on more than one occasion.  Subways in Rome, New York, London, Moscow and Buenos Aires are amazing.  If I didn’t live in a rural area, I’d be all about using light rail (like Seattle’s metro link that whisks me to and from the airport to the center of town without issue) or whatever was available.  Motor bike taxis, bicycle taxis, mini buses, cars nearly falling apart, and cabs—not so much to my liking.

Bogota’s TransMileno is surprisingly efficient, and while crowded at times, it is a much better option than loading up a minibus to maximum capacity +1 and having people yell ‘stop’ when they want to get off the bus.

  • Knowing where to find things. Again, yes, you can buy just about everything you need on the road even in tiny remote villages in the middle of nowhere.  But finding those things can be a challenge. In most of the places I visited (and Madagascar is no exception), daily essentials were spread out among many smaller stores and it took me days (or weeks) to figure out where to go for what I needed.

OH, how I love Target. I spent part of my last visit to Seattle walking around this three story gem located right in the middle of the city. They had everything…

  • Not paying to use the toilet.  Or even finding a toilet when needed. I think this one is self-explanatory.  Fun fact:  did you know that, according to The Guardian, the top 10 worst places in the world to find a toilet are in Africa. One is Madagascar [4th worst place in the world to find a toilet] and two of Rwanda’s neighbors also make the list [Tanzania and Congo]  and there is a World Toilet Day (it is November 19th if you’re curious), dedicated to keeping everyone’s shit corralled so that fecal contamination of the water supply as well as diseases transmitted via the fecal-oral route are diminished.

  Another Peace Corps’ goal:  to make myself a luxurious toilet where my knees don’t creak every time I must use it or in emergency             situations, shit does not splash on my shoes/feet.

  •  Respect for people’s time. Even though I am not a scheduler by nature, I do appreciate time.  At home, when someone says “let’s meet at 8:00,” they generally mean “let’s meet at 8:00.” If they are running late, they will call or text you to let you know. We have a basic appreciation for people’s time and not wasting it. Such was not the case while I was traveling. Nothing seemed to start on time and someone saying they would meet you at 8:00 meant hopefully they would be there by 9:00 – likely with no contact whatsoever to indicate they may be late. When we were planning anything that include non-Americans  we always gave a fake time. 7:00 meant 8:00 or so. Indeed, most people didn’t arrive until closer to 8:30. I think this just reflects a more laid back attitude, but as someone who hates waiting around for no good reason, I will take the American way every day.

German trains and s-bahns are always so punctual. If I lived in Germany, I’d never be late anywhere.

Alexanderplatz

 I have found a general lack of respect for time in nearly every corner of the globe… except Germany and Switzerland… oh how I love that  place; they are so punctual.

  •  American men. I know many women love over foreign men.  Heck, I have even dated foreign men [One abroad, one who had moved to USA], but overwhelmingly, the foreign men I have met [mostly Italians and Hispanics] are overbearing, controlling, condescending, and overprotective.  I do not like being yelled at or whistled to in the street.  I do not like being asked if I ‘want to fuck’ because those are the only English words they know.  For me, that machismo attitude is such a turn off!  Give me a good old American guy who can see a woman as his equal and appreciate her independence. A guy that smells clean, wears cologne sparingly, and bathes regularly. A guy who wears baseball hats and khakis rather than skinny jeans, and who is at least my height (5’9).  If he has green eyes and curly hair, well, I’m a smitten kitten.
  • Free wi-fi:  Wi-fi is slowly making its way down south, but it is not always free, nor is it always reliable.  It brings me back to the Ethernet cords I had in college. Or dial-up.  Both make me appreciate how prevalent wi-fi is in the USA. [and Canada and Europe].  2018 hasn’t brought many upgrades to the poorer corners of the world.

But what I miss most about being away from the USA, is people and kitty cats …co-workers, friends, and family + Lucy and Molly.

 

Peace Corps Rwanda | Clothing, Electronics, and House Things

October 14, 2018 Peace Corps

I received my nomination to Madagascar in July 2017, moved from the apartment I was living in to the house I now own in October/November 2017, didn’t board the plane to Madagascar in February 2018, re-evaluated the suitcase now headed for Rwanda in May 2018. The suitcase[s] were packed and re-pack 3 times before I even left the US, but the question is, did I do a good job packing?  Did I pack the right things?  Is there something I wish I had packed but didn’t?  Is there enough clothing, or too much? Is my kitchen too ‘extra’ or just ‘extra enough?  Let’s see

Luggage

Let’s start with the bags.  I have so.many.bags. It’s unreal. My big green duffel bag’s handle broke during one of the many transfers during PST. It’s now used as a bedside table.  The main compartment has stuff left here by the previous volunteer [think mosquito net and some clothes] + clothes that no longer fit me nor can I make them work.  I’m using the small pocket on the top at a drawer of sorts where I keep my Vaseline, nail maintenance tools, and my battery operated foot scrubber.  I’ve used the larger outer pocket as sort of a trash collector.  I gathered so many papers/books, ect during PST that I don’t/won’t use anymore, and I hate the idea of burning trash so I jsut put it there. Out of site, out of mind.

The Osperey Backpack and REI backpack were solid choice which are now empty, hanging on the wall waiting patiently to be put to use again.

Another volunteer and I bought a Target suitcase set the day before leaving [and some clothes], and I have the carry-one size suitcase.  The bag is fully packed waiting on its return trip to America in February.  It will bring back a lot of things to America that I don’t need, and will bring to Rwanda a lot of things I do need [mainly food items]. I’m also taking home a few things for a fellow PCV that he will pick up upon his return to American.

My checkered tote bag served its purpose in getting my electronics here, but now sits lonely under a table.  I almost always use my backpack for quick trips around town and going to the market for the sole reason that I can carry my backpack on my back.

My leather purse will be going back to America.  It has literally been used once.

My daily backpack was packed in side another bag.  I use this bag the most and honestly it probably won’t make it the two years.  I also used this bag for my entire nursing program and paid less than $20 for it in 2014 so I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth out of it.

I have a small canvas bag that I use for my weekly market trips. I bought it at Primark for about 10 Euros in 2012/2013 that is serving it’s purpose well, and I won’t be taking it back to the US

I have acquired two more bags since arriving in Rwanda [I know. I have a problem]  One’s a padded tote and the other is more like a small cross body purse.  Currently they are serving as wall decoration. I bought them more for souvenirs than anything, but the padded tote will house my computer [if it survives that long] and my camera when I COS.

The green Osprey bag is going back to America and not returning to Rwanda. I plan to have my orange backpack + the padded tote and small  fabric purse as the only bags when I leave.  The rest are staying in Rwanda and I really don’t care what happens to them.

Clothing [I have lost nearly 25 pounds in the first 5 months so a lot of my clothing is comically large now]

In the terms of every day life, I didn’t pack a ton of clothes.  In PC-land, I have way too much clothing.

To revisit I had the following:

  • Fleece pull-over x1.  YES, I could probably use another. My plan is to completely wear this out.
  • Lightweight rain coat. YES. I use it for wind and rain. And moto rides.
  • Cardigan x3.  Three is too many. I’m taking the black one home [it’s the best quality, and I do like wearing them]; the other two I’ll wear while in Rwanda, but aren’t making the cut back to America.
  • Blouses x5.  I  brought them because PC says we need business casual clothing. I’ve worn 3 of the 5. The nicest of the bunch is returning to America when I visit. 2 will be left behind in Rwanda, and 2 [may] make it in the POST-COS wardrobe.
  • T-shirts x5.  YES. Plus I’ll be bringing more when I return to Rwanda… Plain colorful T-shirts. I doubt these will make it back to the US as I wear them everyday and hand washing isn’t kind to clothing. But they are relatively inexpensive at Target, which is where all of these came from.
  • Hoodie x2. One is returning to the US because it’s too nice for village life, and the other one won’t last/make the trip home. I fully expect it to be in threads two years from now.
  • Flannel Shirt. MEH.  I wear it occasionally. It won’t be returning to the US.
  • Other miscellaneous shirts x3. Just NO.
  •  Pants x 12.   This is INSANE. 6 will probably be too many. To be fair, I didn’t pack 12 pairs of pant, but due to care packages and shopping, I now HAVE 12 pairs of pants [most of which are too big, but I still wear them] The jeans I wore to Philadelphia are way too big and I never wear them anymore. I wore them a lot in PST, so I don’t feel too bad. I have another pair of jeans that were too small when I left for PST, but now fit. I brought one pair of scrub pants, and had 3 other pairs arrive in care packages. 1 gray, 1 black, and 1 blue.  The original gray and blue pants now look like clown pants on me. They won’t be returning to America. I bought 2 pairs of pants at Target prior to leaving. One is too big for a belt and the others I wear sparingly. [They are heavy weight brown cargo pants and washing them is a bitch].  I have 2 other pair of brown/khaki pants + 3 pair of gray/stone pair of pants. My plan is to alternate between two pair of pants, hopefully wearing them out [literally… My favorites always break down in the thigh area]. For COS, I want to be down to no more than 3 pairs of pants [possibly khaki/gray only].  I’m hoping to wear the scrubs out even though I love the quick wash/dry capabilities of them.
  • Skirts  x4– I brought 2 –one mid-calf brown skirt and one slightly below the knee blue, and have had 2 made. I’m planning to bring at most 2 back with me.
  • Socks and underwear x a lot… seriously I think I have close to 40 pairs of underwear and 20 pairs of socks SERIOUSLY!  A lot of the socks are returning to the US since I only wear wool socks or sandals.  I have 12 pairs of underwear in rotation. During training, I took out 6 pairs of underwear and 4 pairs of socks and used those exclusively. Once I moved in to my house, I took another 6 pairs of  underwear and 4 pairs of socks and put them in rotation… so now I have 12 pairs of underwear and 8 pair of socks in rotation. At the 8,16, 24 month mark, I will remove the too worn items and replace as necessary. In reserve I have 5 pairs of underwear and 3 pair of socks for my COS trip.  I have found that the cotton ones have a much shorter lifespan that the quick-dry kind.
  • Bras.  I have 3 sports bras and 4 regular bras. One of the sports bras is now too big [Yes, I’m losing weight there too]. I fully expect to be down to 2 or 3  at the end of 2 years
  • Shoes—I brought 5 pair; 2 are returning to the USA, and it their place, I will be adding my hiking boots and another pair of shower/house flops, and possibly my tennis shoes. One pair I brought just for swear in, another pair isn’t practical, and I don’t think the slide ons will last two years, and I HATE shoes that go between my toes [which are readily available here].
  • Additional clothing:  Yoga pants x2, mesh basketball shorts x2… One of each would suffice… Swimsuit not used regularly but glad to have it

Household/Kitchen Things

I didn’t pack a lot of house things since I knew I’d be living with a host family the first three months. Instead I packed a box, and shipped it to me the day before I left. In retrospect this was one of the better decisions I made concerning packing. Things inside the box included:

  • Set of knives
  • Measuring cups/spoons
  • grater
  • vegetable peeler
  • can opener
  • Stainless steel mug
  • Assorted spices
  • A few zip lock bags
  • A head lamp
  • Seeds
  • Snacks [tuna, peanut butter, hard candy, clif bars…]

Each of these things was worth the space and cost of sending myself the box.

  • Two sets of sheets [one used in PST, the other not used] Fun fact: I brought twin and full sized sheets. While I did use the twin in PST, the bed I have at my site is essentially a queen.  I had to buy sheet anyway.
  • I quilt/comforter. YES.  It was so heavy in the bag, but every day since breaking it out, I’m glad I have it. It’s warm, and I like the color.
  • 2 pillows from home. YES. Annoying in transit, but I’m so grateful to have a ‘real’ pillow.
  • down blanket and travel pillow YES. I use these when I visit other PCT. It’s nice to be comfy when outside my home environment
  • Toiletries. YES. It’s nice to have brands my skin is familiar with in an environment that’s not familiar. Leave the make-up at home, but bring quality skin care products. And lotion.  Lots of lotion.
  • Meds. YES. PC does give an adequately stocked med kit, but it’s also nice to have some things of my own because the last thing I want to do is make an hour long trek to the bus station to pick up medicine when I’m feeling sick. I use the PC med refills for things like insect repellent, condoms, lip balm, tampons, and malaria med.  Everything else I use my own supplies
  • Quick Dry Towel–Meh. I rarely use it, but will on my post COS trip.
  • Decor–I brought 3 flags, USA, SC, and University of Tennessee plus some photos/cards of/from friends back home.  These are comfort things I’m glad to have but are not at all necessary. I’ve also used ikitenge fabric to decorate the walls
  • Curtains–Totally not necessary, but I’m glad to have them

I am over all happy with the household things I have, and the only thing I wish I had was a water bottle.  How I overlooked this is beyond me.

Electronics

  • Laptop FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, YES. Bring a laptop. It doesn’t matter what kind, but have one.  I fully expect this one to not last the entire time, but it makes doing PC reports much easier.  Blogging is MUCH easier from a laptop.
  • External Hard Drive x2. One is a 1TB drive, and the other is a 2 TB. YES.  One quit working so I;m glad to have the other one.
  • Kindle… Meh. I’ve read all the books on my Kindle, but I have an app on the laptop that allows for e-reading.  The Kindle is going back to the US
  • Camera. Yes, but not unequivocally yes  I don’t like taking pictures of people so it hasn’t gotten much use yet, but I do plan to use it more when I travel.  My smaller camera is returning to the US because I never use it.  I have a tiny action camera [think Go Pro knock off], plus my iphone [which I use mainly for music since its not 4g capable], and my cell phone.  I have enough cameras
  • Flash drives x2 32GB each Meh. They are small so they don’t take up much space, but I haven’t used them yet
  • iphone I was hoping to use this as my phone but since its an older iphone its not 4G capable and the only service I get in 4G so I had to buy a Rwandan phone, but I love using it as an Ipod
  • External speaker–it quit working after about a month, or more accurately it works, there’s just a lot of static when I use it
  • Headphones x4 I have yet to use them so why I though I needed 4 pair is beyond me.  They will return to the US and I’ll use them at the gym.
  • USB charger YES. You never know about the electrical grid in the rural villages
  • Flashlight and headlamp YES  my kitchen doesn’t have electricity so  I either have to eat at 5p or use my headlamp to cook
  • Rechargeable batteries Absolutely
  • Outlet adapters  one or two should suffice; I brought 10! of the 2 pin kind [like used in Europe] which is what I need for Rwanda, but apparently places like South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya use different ones.
  • Power strip I brought it because I had it, but these are widely available in Rwanda

You will hear people say this, and if you are anything like me, you won’t believe it, but here goes anyway:  Pack half the clothing and double the snacks of the original packing plan. I legitimately wear the same clothing All.The.Time. 4 pairs of pants would have been sufficient. Maybe 6 or 7 shirts. In a country like Rwanda, villagers wear the same clothing all the time so it’s not weird if you do to.