Expert in Anal. Chem? I think not.... (pun intended)

So I have just arrived in Kibuye, which is a small city of about 20,000 people located on Lake Kivu (FINALLY! A body of water!!). It is a three hour drive (west, my dad just informed me.. he WOULD know everything to do with the geography of this country) from Kigali, and I was asked to teach an analytical chem course to the 48 first year BLS students over the next two weeks. This is a satellite campus called Nyamishaba, where all of KHI’s students complete their first year. This area was one of the hardest hit during the genocide, and it is evident out the back window of my guest house where there are half demolished buildings on the hill that were failed to be restored. There is a memorial here that I think I will wait to go with C and R to..

 The journey here started on a small bus that 30 people crammed into. Me being just a little bit of an ‘outsider’, of course I sat in the very back corner of the bus, me and my 3 bags jammed next to a Pentecostal man. When this man wasn’t explaining Canadian history to me, asking about the acceptance of homosexuality and the perception of divorce in Canada (‘Dieu a cree les deux sexes pour un raison’ and ‘Non, le divorce c’est tres mauvais’), I sneaked glimpses out the window at this extremely hilly country. On a smoothly paved road where either lane and the shoulders are any vehicle’s game, we drove around corners that would’ve been marked 40 km/hr in the Kootenays at around 100 km/hr. We almost hit several pedestrians (this definitely isn’t Antigonish pedestrian rules i.e. if you’re in the way you’ll get hit) and a few goats, all the while with Akon blasting in the background... but we made it!

The lake is a beautiful turquoise colour, and the campus is on a little peninsula right by the water. Apparently the water is ‘cold’, which by Rwandan/Caroline’s standards is not actually cold, but it is the warmest to swim in at 6 AM. So I’ll let y’all know how that goes... I am staying in a guest house with a living room, 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, all by my lonesome. This is going to be an interesting learning experience, I can’t think of the last time that I stayed alone, had no access to the internet or easy texting/calling capabilities to my friends and family in North America. All I can say is THANK GOD (that Pentecostal man must’ve gotten to me) for music, the outdoors, books and Anthony’s many movies he left :) . I guess teaching will be busy as well as I am supposed to provide 80 hours of teaching in the next two weeks… That is definitely impossible so good thing there are about 20 hours reserved for ‘self-study’, which I have stretched out to about 40 hours…

 Robyn has settled into things in Rwamagana and came to Kigali for a weekend of mayhem (it was Caroline’s 22^nd birthday) that consisted of Indian food, Primus and a lot of happiness. I’m not sure how they usually celebrate birthdays in Rwanda but Hilaire (the guy I talked about last time) was adamant about having the birthday cake before our meal at the Indian food restaurant. I explained to him that the cake was dessert for after we eat and I still didn’t really know if he understood… what a guy. Egide, one of our friends that we visited in Butare a couple of weeks ago, surprised C by showing up at dinner! Peter, who works at the Artisan’s Co-op, and Sarah and Anne (the ladies who work at AJPHRODO also came and joined the festivities.

MOTO Burn update: Everything is healing well, but I think a bad ass scar is forming. Also turf burn (Rwanda edition) sucks too.. not that I haven’t had it before, but when the team therapist insists on putting brown potassium iodide all over it and it looks like I am trying to paint my skin to match my fellow teammates’… They had a greaaaat laugh over that, or it may have been about something totally different, I never know what ‘mizungu’ quality they are laughing at. Kids these days.

Wighland girls: Reeb and I reminisced about the two songs that EVERYTIME these following words were mentioned, singing ensued… Shotty and Nasty. And obviously I’m So Paid had to be talked about..

FRECKLES:
One of my colleagues from KHI: “they will go away soon, right?”
Caroline teaching dermatology (what are the chances) put a picture of me on the screen, then one of her students saw me after class and asked if she could rub my arms..

Another friend from Uganda, Mohammed, last weekend asked about my ‘skin disorder’..
Robyn’s students were looking at her pictures on her computer and asked if this weird skinned person would come to their class one day. I should start charging a fee…

Quick food picture (Just for you SYDNEY):

C and I call this the Nyakabanda Special. We eat it almost every night because our lunches are SO HUGE we barely even need to eat... Fresh avocado and tomato from the market on the whitest bread you will ever see (what I wouldn’t do for some Dempsters 12 grain right about now), and of course YEAST FLAKES, brought all the way from the Kootenay Co-Op in good old Nelson BC. Recently we have added green pepper and gouda… I have yet to tell you all about African tea and the infamous volcano-lunch.

Stay tuned to see how Lauren fared as a teacher...