One Month In

I knew that my first month here would be a wash in terms of research, but it still comes as a shock that I’ve been in Rwanda a month already and have barely begun! The first month is comprised of adaptation to a different place, a different approach to work, feelings of homesickness brought about and/or compounded by stress, making contacts, and figuring out logistics. I also had scholarship applications due and an internship to arrange.

All that said.. I have gone through it all and survived the first month! The scholarships are applied to, the internship has been formalised, I’m making my plans last-minute, I’m speaking Kinyarwanda and making Rwandan sound effects. I’m staring at people without being rude, waking up to the call of our rooster and running in the mornings, seeing people I knew in 2005-06, eating pizza and drinking wine with other bazungu on the weekends, and buying bananas and passion fruit from women at the bus station. I know what’s happening on Big Brother Africa, and wear dress shoes more often than my hiking sandals. I ‘shower’ with cold water, from the waist high tap when it’s running and basin when it’s not. I say goodnight by touching the hand of each family member, and I tuck my mosquito net around my bed every night before I get in and roll into the human-size indentation in the foam mattress. I greet everyone the same way as I say goodnight, with a hand non-shake. I eat a starch-laden diet and the occasional piece of meat. I don’t walk on grass to avoid fines (it’s like walking across flowers at home, and if the police see you they fine you), and I can walk on a dirt road in the dark without tripping. Maybe I have accomplished something in the past month...

This afternoon I’m traveling to Gisenyi, on Lac Kivu, to visit a fair trade certified coffee cooperative. I’ll spend the night and then participate in their ceremony to celebrate receiving the highest price for coffee in Rwanda on Saturday. The cooperative is on an island, so will have to take a small boat to get there. I imagine it’s beautiful. And I know my remaining two months here will fly by.