Since I have somehow become numb to the fact that I'm leaving here in exactly 14 days (no idea how that happened; refer to my post '39 Days' and you'd think I'd be huddled in the corner, not able to go to work at the thought), I'm going to write a less-emo blog post. I saw Ravi (previous intern) do this on one of his posts and thought 'Well, I'm not creative enough to come up with something that cool so I'll just copy that someday'. It's a good way to sum up a lot of shit with what were some of my favourite things in high school, but were soon tainted by university calculus: NUMBERS.
- 5 AM. This is the time I have become accustomed to waking up at, and MAN do I hope it continues upon my return to Canada. Something soothing about waking up when it is still dark out. And then no one can see me running, save for my skin so white that it glows in the dark.
- In Kigali city, there are 900,000 people. This 'big city' is extremely tranquil relative to Kampala, Uganda, where I'm pretty sure all of its 1.8 million people were on the same street as us when we were there for an hour. Claustrophobia at its finest.
- The number of times I thought I might die while whitewater rafting on the Nile: 1.
- 15 inches: The size of the wooden penis that I proudly watched the Level 4 BLS students properly put a condom on during a Pre- & Post-HIV test counseling training session last week. Oh, and it was black, not sure why that caught me by surprise. TIA.
- Last week I spent 7 hours putting up 195 photos on Facebook of this trip. Wish I could have that day of my life back since the pictures can't come even close to capturing my experience here.
- I haven't been in BC for Easter in 4 years, ah I cannot wait for that turkey.
- The speed at which a Rwandese (read: my friends/co-workers) can type: about 13 Words per Minute. This is even slower than my dad, a feat I didn't think was possible. Oh well, I choose to lie (because let's face it, Dad can only type max 15 WPM) to see their astonishment when I say my dad types slower than them, so nta kibazo (no problem).
- It will have been almost 8 months since I've been in my hometown by the time I arrive in Nelson, the longest I've ever been away at one period of time.
- I will have been in Rwanda for 179 days of my life. This is couple days shy of 2 trimesters of a pregnancy, speaking of which....
- My sister and her fiance will be having a beautiful baby in August, which will be my 4th niece/nephew
- I have gained about 5 kilos since being here, for all you metrically-impaired people, that's about 11 lbs. Yep, I said it.
- The elevation difference between Kigali and Kamloops: 1068 meters. Thank God I am training for a fitness test taking place in Kamloops at 1416 meters.
- I have eaten vegetables 2 times in the past week, and meat only once. Not really sure what I've been eating, but can you say scurvy/protein deficiency?
- The number of times I have been waiting for transportation and a stranger has driven by to pick me up in the past few weeks: 3. How many times did I think twice about my safety? Zero.
- I am 13,898 kilometers from my house, which Wolfram-Alpha says is 0.35 times the earth's circumference. WA also says to travel that far it would take:
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| LORD I wish I was traveling by light in a vacuum, okay that's a little greedy but is it too much to ask for to travel by the speed of sound? |
- The obscene flight sched I have in the span of 3 weeks: Kigali-Addis Ababa, Addis-Heathrow, Heathrow-Halifax, Hali-Calgary, CGY-Kelowna, Kelowna-Van, Van-TO, TO-Halifax, Fredericton-TO, TO-Van). That makes TEN flights, 8 of which are between Feb 25th and March 1st. I take full responsibility for the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions of a small country.
- I have read 5 books in 6 months, something that I usually only have time for during the summers.
- The number of continents I am soooo grateful to have visited: 4. Someday I want to be able to say 7 (or 6, only the extremely hardcore go to Antarctica), but will find it difficult not to be pulled back again by the enthrallment of what is Africa.
- The number of people who have touched my life and heart here, mostly without them even knowing it: countless.
