Young Judaea Year Course:

Year Course is a gap year program in Israel for teens who just graduated high school before entering college. Our nine months are divided into three sections. I start off the Year in Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, where we volunteer in the community. In the winter, we head down to the Negev (Israel's desert) hopefully to do outdoor work. Finally, we end the year in Jerusalem studying and also volunteering. Throughout the year, we study hebrew and live in apartments with fellow Year Course participants.

I am participating in the Social Action track of Year Course, traveling to Rwanda for the entire month of February. We are living at a youth village (made by Year Course alumni) working with orphaned children.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Akagera National Park

This blog post was inspired by my friend Ilyssa's brother's blog in college. The "Success" means something positive and the "Fail" means something negative. 


Aliza and I standing in front of a giraffe.
So,

Woke up at 5:30 AM to get on a bus that was supposed to come at 6. Fail.

Leave at 6:30. Success.

Bus 2 and 3 take a wrong turn. Fail.

Finally get to Akegera Safari National Park. Success.

Squish 3 people into a 2 people bench. Success.

Start the safari ride. Success.

See a few giraffes. Success.

Drive for an hour and a half seeing no animals and continuously bump our heads on the roof. Fail.

Frantically spend 30 minutes intensely swatting biting flies with my friend's left flip flop. Fail.

Win our war with the biting flies. Success.

See some more zebras, hippopotamuses, an elephant and warthogs. Success. 

Sing Celine Dion with our native Rwandan jeep driver. Great Success.

End our safari ride at a bathroom. Success.

Drive for an hour. Fail.

Stop at a gas station to drop the tour guide off. I has to pee. Fail. I walk to the shack behind the station, with the keyholder, only to realize the shack was an unlit room with a hole in the ground which reeked of other people's urine. FAIL.

Drive twenty minutes to a "supermarket". Fail.

Walk across the street to find a better "supermarket" only to realize the first one was much better. As hundreds of native Rwandans gather to laugh and watch the Muzungos, white people, and their every move. Fail. 

Walk to a third "supermarket" to find the exact same products with the addition of bananas. Success.

Detour to pay for the three jeeps we used. Have little Rwandan children put their noses up to the windows of the jeep while we were waiting. Fail.

Drive through a rural Rwandan town as everyone stops and stares because we are white, and scream "MUZUNGOS". Fail.

Drive up a way too steep hill. Success.

Finally arrive at Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, exhausted. Success. 
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