I've Never Been So Interesting In My Life

Again, sorry for the absence of posts but internet was down. Here are some summaries of the past few days:


Thursday
Instead of building or school in the morning, Rachel and I were assigned kitchen work all morning from 8 AM until the cooks didn't need us anymore. For four hours we chopped pineapple, green beans and peppers. By the end, my hand had formed the shape of the massive knife I was using. Rachel and I got to know each other very well in those hours, a lot of fun! We had about a two hour break until lunch. I was in line to wash my plate when the long term volunteer in my family asked me if I wanted to come to Family time tonight because it got cancelled. So I am finally going to see my family again tonight! Hopefully I will remember more names...

I had another break after lunch until 4:30 when I went to the Science Center to help out a long-term volunteer who works there. We sat for about an hour and a half sorting science-y tools that probably no one will use but they were donated from a man from Newton. Then a few of my friends came in and we listened to music as we organized and sorted.


After dinner was Family Time! I brought my camera and the girls all took model photos of themselves, it was super cute. It was so nice to get to know the girls more even though I learned only two more names.


Friday

Eating a Sumosa

Tanya and I eating our
sugar cane stick.

The crowd surrounding us.

The title of the blog post is about Friday. We worked for a little bit at the building site in the morning then walked 45 minutes to Rubona Center. Rubona is the town the village is in. We were literally celebrities. We walked around in small groups and stopped at little shops to look at clothing or fabric and after just a few minutes, the stand was crowded with local Rwandans just watching us. If you smiled at them and waved then they would do the same back, but until you waved, they just stared like they have never seen a person buying clothing before. I bought a few skirts, bananas, mango, a sugar cane stick (for 7 cents!!!). I also got this potato filled kinda dumpling thing with spice called a Sumosa (two for 100 RWF- about 15 cents). It was delicious! I also bought a lot of fabric, along with the other girls. I have a lot of things that I want to do with it, for example: make pillow cases, pants, skirts, head scarves and maybe even a blanket cover. Too many options.


After lunch, which we all skipped because we ate in Rubona, we met with Wilton, the principal of the school. He was in the RPF, Rwandan Patriotic Front, the Tutis fighting against the genocide. They still killed a lot of Hutus but stopped the genocide. He told us his story and how incredible it was. They got weapons from Uganda and entered Rwanda to fight. 


Shabbat came quickly and we changed the service up a bit. Instead of normal Kabbalat Shabbat, we did Lecha Dodi, read a story from a book of Jewish Values then we taught everyone a beautiful song. Almost all of us skipped Village Time to play Bananagrams with some of the long term volunteers. The "celebration" was just watching bad music videos so we left early and went to bed.


Saturday
Woke up late which was nice. After lunch, which I didn't go to, Talya and I went to our family's house to hang out with our girls. Two girls painted my nails red which old, chunky nail polish. I still have it on cause it reminds me of them which is really nice! They taught me this beautiful song called Lampadina. The movie after dinner was bad so we left early and went to bed.


Sunday

Me and my yummy ice cream

We took a day trip, a few hour drive, to Butari. After a very long, uncomfortable car ride, we finally arrive to a craft shop where us 14 girls went wild. Don't worry Mom and Dad - I didn't spend too much nor did I buy anything unnecessary...except for maybe one thing :). I think the house will be very happy with the gifts I am getting it. We had very little time at the crafts shop then right to a lunch buffet restaurant. I scarfed down my food then went to the super market to buy more peanut butter cause I am running out. From there, we went to an Ice Cream store that was established by an all womans traditional drum circle dance group. I bought a pineapple chocolate swirl soft serve in a cone with bananas on top! It was so good! Then to another hour long ride.

Murumbi Memorial

The main event of the day was to the Murumbi Memorial. The memorial was an old school where the Rwandan government told the Tutis to hide and was "protected" by French soldiers. The militia came and murdered the 10,000s of men, women and children hiding with help from the French soldiers. There were three barrack-like buildings that had bodies unburied from mass graves that were preserved for visitors to see. I was expecting to see face, skin and fully dressed people that still had blood on them, but it was just attached bones, some had hair and some still had clothing. I had over prepared myself so I was not as affected as I wish I was. We did a little memorial service then headed for a long drive to Kigali for dinner. 

The pizza place!

Even though the main event of the day was depressing, the day ended very happy at a pizza/Italian restaurant. Pizza is a very big deal because Rwanda doesn't really have much dairy. I was one of the few people who finished their personal pizza, aren't you proud?


We finally arrived back at the village at 9 PM for Thorns and Roses.


Week three is coming up fast along with Valentines Day!!