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……
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Where there is no wi-fi: blogging
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…
Splish Splash
Splish, splash, I was takin’ a [bucket] bathLong about a Saturday night, yeahA rub dub, just relaxin’ in the tubThinkin’ everythin’ was alright Well, I stepped out the tubI put my feet on the floorI wrapped the towel around me and IOpened the door…………………………… Bobby Darrin Taking a long, hot shower [or even a short,…
On being thankful and having gratitude
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…
“I’m bored” and other Peace Corps thoughts
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…
By the numbers 2: Food and Market
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. 2: Number of times I go to the market each week. Once to the Huye market and once to the Mbazi…
Cooking in the Corps 2: Crepes
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…
Things I miss about the USA
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…
Peace Corps Rwanda | Clothing, Electronics, and House Things
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…
How I spend my days
When I was preparing to go into Peace Corps|Madagascar, I read a lot of PC blogs from a lot of countries and I found that there are a plethora of “Day in the Life of a PCV” posts out there. At first, I read them with fascination, completely hooked on every activity. Example: 5:30am –…