Friday, April 1, 2011

{tab (that's africa baby)}

So far this week has been pretty good. I’ve taken a few days off from my project because of going to Arusha to see the Rwanda Genocide trials, and also because I wasn’t feeling very well a few of the days. Its not so much that I felt really sick, but its so miserable to be outside of the hostel when you aren’t feeling well, and half my kids are sick, and it’s a 4-5 mile walk so I didn’t think that’d help in getting me better. Plus, it’s the beginning of the rainy season here so everyone is getting a cold. Anyway, I wasn’t feeling very well, but it wasn’t too big of a deal, I just didn’t want to risk getting worse.
            The Rwanda Genocide trials were pretty interesting. It was difficult because everyone spoke different languages so in order to ask a question to the witness and get a response it took about 3 minutes. It was interesting though to witness it. Afterwards we went to lunch at Café Bamboo or something. We sat in the “garden” which is really a gravel pit on the side of a building covered with a tarp and a few fake plants to brighten it up. Ha The food was delicious though! The meat here is pretty sketchy and so you usually don’t find much good meat, but this place was great! I got enchaladas which reminded me of home just a little bit, and my friend Fredrik got pork which was to die for! I’ll definitely be going back there. After lunch in Arusha we took a few hours to go shopping around the Arusha Maasai market.

The Maasai, for those of you that don’t know, are a tribe here in Africa. They live in about the most desolate way imaginable. No power, no electricity, they live in huts literally made out of mud not even big enough to stand up in. They wear clothes around their bodies in bright colors like red, and shoes made out of bike tires. Wont lie, they are a bit creepy looking and aren’t the kind of people you want to get too close to but they are usually pretty nice. They have a great craft market too! They make all sorts of creations ranging from jewelry, scarfs, shoes, paintings, and sculptures.



That was the exciting part of the beginning of my week. The rest of the week has been spent at placement, swimming at the YMCA a 5 minutes walk away, walking around town getting ice cream (never even close to as good as the US) or sitting out back talking. One of the other updates of the week however was going to the Watering Hole. The Watering Hole is a bar run by mzungu’s (western’s/white people) and it is a little bit nicer. At the Watering Hole they have an outside cinema in which they show movies every Thursday. My friends and I booked it out on Tuesday, however, in order to have a Lion King party (we’ve all been craving the movie since being here). It was the cutest place! A wooden patio covered with a thatched roof and benches and camping type chairs spread out with a projector and a sheet in order to watch the movie. I’ll have to go back and get pictures because it was so cute and African. I loved it!
Anyway, not much else to update you on, but I’ll keep you informed! I hope that everything is going well back in the States or wherever it may be that you are at. I’m loving every second here and don’t want to come home (could someone just mail me some Café Rio, and I’ll be content). Thanks. :)
Kels

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