July 1, 2019

Monday: Today we had off from work because it was Independence Day (wohoo) so we were still in Kigali in the morning. We woke up at our old homestays house and had breakfast with them! Yum, I missed some good African tea. Laura and I played a few games of cards with Marina which was super fun. We got our squad together went to Simba, got lots of fun food because it’s cheaper at Simba than in Musanze. Then we headed to Millanova to grab some chaptati and sambusa for lunch and then headed to the bus station. Amanda and I got on the bus to Kigali, got good seats and a good snack. When we got back to Musanze we stopped by Migano’s to get a loaf of bread and the place smelled INCREDIBLE! Bad news, when I arrived home I had to check for bed bugs because my bug bites were not promising. Sadly, I found a guy but he was dead and there was only one bug. I changed my sheets and called my coordinator and let them know what was going on. They are going to send people to come clean our house tomorrow to get the bugs away. Amanda and I washed some laundry, and then went to a fun Korean place for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised with FREE BOTTLED WATER, a commodity for sure, and this interesting appetizer platter. It was weird but yum. For my meal I got a dumpling soup and it was exquisite. The soup was piping hot and had the perfect amount of spice to it, and I was really pleased. There was even a ton left over that I got to take home for dinner tomorrow night. After dinner, I tried to shower at home because I really needed to wash my hair. Don’t worry my body was just recently washed but my hair was in rough shape. Unlucky girl right here, there were only droplets of water… both hot AND cold. I was upset, and there was just enough to get my hair damp. I opted to just try in the morning, and went to bed.

July 2, 2019

Tuesday: The day started off in a bad light as when I got up to shower, ABSOLUTELY NO WATER! How rude. And get this… UNLUCKY! About 30 minutes after I tried to shower (and way to late to shower) there was plenty of water and hot. My hair went in a bun for the day and it was honestly the worst it has ever been. Oil training is empowering, right ladies? Anyway had my classic bread, jempy, and bananas for breakfast and headed to work. At the beginning of work, we tried to work on the infant warmer that was still broken from Thursday and we were still having a hard time so we switched over to working on our secondary project proposals which now contains many ideas, and Boaz gave us some too so we have lots to work with! Then Boaz needed to go fix the electricity wires in the Laboratory so we went with him. It was so cool as we had to climb a nice tall ladder to get into the attic and walked on the “trees” lol just pieces of wood. We didn’t do much but it was really fun to watch and Boaz does a good job of explaining what is going on and what he is doing. For lunch Amanda and I ventured to a new restaurant called La Poillete to get some bakery goods of you guessed it, chapatti and sambusa. Amanda got a chocolate croissant which was honestly so dangerous. They heat it up for you in the wood fired oven and speechless so good. We went back to work after lunch and tried to work more on the infant warmer. We got a little further by finding a corroded battery but that didn’t seem to help either. We worked on a pulse oximeter too which was a good break. Then Boaz showed us all of these new tools that he has that helps him test different machines and such. After work, I went home and all of our mattresses and sheets were in the lawn drying #thanks bed bugs so the cleaning people were still working. But I got a kit kat and was satisfied. Then I got a nice shower, warm and powerful. So thankful. I unpacked all of my clothes (we had to pack up due to the cleaners) and made my bed again. For dinner I reheated my dumpling soup, and equally as good the night after. Very satisfied with my meals for the day. I then headed out to Migano’s to get some tea and call my parentals, journal and read. It was a much needed me day and very thankful to spend some time on my own. I freaking am in awe of Musanze and all of the vibes it has given me. The peaceful streets, quaint shops, local shops, very western shops, the hospital, the market and everything in between are giving my heart the opportunity to become its best self. I honestly can’t say I have felt more at home anywhere, than how I felt today. A big milestone, and maybe a huge sign that I will be back. Musanze you have my heart, thank you for being you. And very safe, I enjoy walking alone (sorry mom), exploring and listening to some music. Also, the fact that I can leave my laundry out at night is a god send. I geek okay guys.

July 3, 2019

Wednesday: I woke up for the day well rested and refreshed from my night of self reflecting. Headed to work for another day of fun. We were running a tad late, but God was on our side as Boaz was not there but in Kigali running some errands. The oxygen plant director took us around and showed us all the ins and outs of the oxygen plant, and how the oxygen cylinders were used around the hospital. It was very interesting to see their system on oxygen distribution, especially since the oxygen plant is very useful for the hospital in general. Most hospitals do not have oxygen plants, so they have to rely on an external supply and oxygen concentrators. When we were done with our tour we took a short break and then started to work on a few oxygen concentrators that were broken in the maintenance workshop. We got one fixed and then went to lunch. Today we went home for lunch and made some PB&J’s #yum and ate some bananas. I told our friend Gad at the hospital that I would give him chocolate (a big mistake because he didn’t forget) so he followed us home to grab his KitKat. Oh well, I will just get a new KitKat for myself! After lunch Amanda and I went back to work but Alodie was not feeling well so she stayed home to rest. Back at work we fixed 4 more oxygen concentrator and tried to fix a broken table, but the table was not having any luck. Sad! Overall, it was a very productive and empowering day at the office, especially since Boaz was not there. We took good initiative and were successful in our endeavors. After work, we went home and I ate some candy (typ, I eat terribly unhealthy things for snacks here…), cleaned my undergarments, and rinsed off from the day. Then all 3 of us headed to the kitchen to make some rice and veggies. A very good dinner and lots of fun hanging out in the kitchen listening to music and cooking. After dinner we made some tea and popcorn and went into our respected rooms to watch tv or movies. I went to watch Black Mirror, and then read and journal. It was such a relaxing night and I was in my freaking element.

July 4, 2019

Thursday: Happy July 4^th! Happy Independence Day America! Happy Liberation Day Rwanda! So today is a holiday in both of my homes so we did not have work today! I got to sleep in for a LONG time today, and truly the first time that has ever happened. I woke up to birds chirping quite loudly but it was a really nice awakening. I went out to wash the rest of my clothes, and now they are all washed so I won’t have to do lots of laundry for a while now that were in Musanze except for scrubs mostly. Then Amanda and I headed off to our second favorite place, Migano’s to get a French Toast breakfast, and I also got a fried egg and African Tea. Bless up! We sat there for a while catching up on life and the internet life and self reflection. I then went to the modern market to see if I could find a tailor to make a dress for me out of the fabric I had left from Kigali. I found a nice lady on the top floor, and I think it was her young daughter who spoke a little bit of English that helped her. Overall, I had to use basically all of the Kinyarwanda that I knew to get the dress and bags how I wanted them and INCREDIBLE she said I could pick them up tomorrow! After I conquered the tailor, I walked around town to see if I could find anything exciting, and I found tons of small little food places that I want to try in the coming weeks. Major success. Then I met up with Amanda again and we went to the Dian Fossey exhibit and learned about her conservation efforts and the gorillas in the Virunga’s (the mountains in Musanze). After the exhibit we stopped by Crema because I was desperately craving their granola. So wonderful, I am going to try to get the recipe before I leave. Once we got back home I chilled out and watched a movie on Netflix and worked with Amanda on trying to plan our adventure to Kibuye this weekend. Once it was all figured out, we showered, made some pasta for dinner, and went to our rooms to pack and watch more movies! We love our movies in Musanze, so relaxing and a good end to the day.

July 5, 2019

Friday: As normal I woke up around 6:45 to get ready for work, but this morning I awoke to a text from Boaz saying that the President extended Liberation Day so we would not be going to work AGAIN! A solid 2 day work week, so crazy. So I went back to bed for a while longer to rest up for the weekend. I got up, ate some bread and drank some tea while reading my book on the porch. It was nice to have a slow morning and listen to the birds chirp. Amanda and I got our bags packed for the weekend in Kibuye then we headed to town. We got akabenzi (fried prok) for lunch, and always took forever, but very good and worth it! I then went back to the tailor to get my bags and dresses. It was much more crowded than yesterday so it took a long time to find her and when we did she wasn’t done with the bags. She said 10 minutes so we walked around for little bit browsing and it still wasn’t done so we decided to come back on Sunday. Disappointed I didn’t have my items, but ready to get on the bus to Kibuye. We hopped on the bus and it took a lot longer than expected which was a bummer, but we had good seats so it worked out. I also purchases a sambusa from the window because I was starving, and I was very satisfied by it. We arrived in Kibuye around 7:30 and met up with everyone at the hotel. Some of the people that arrived earlier had already ordered their dinner so we went to the gas station down the road to get some snacks for dinner. We hung out in the hotel restaurant for the rest of the night and caught up.

July 6, 2019

Saturday: At the hotel we were staying in a dormitory style area, so a big room with tons of bunk beds, and a bathroom with a few showers. A few of us got up at 5:45am to watch the sunrise over the lake as the accommodation was right on Lake Kivu. It was pretty cloudy in the morning so the sunrise wasn’t as awesome as we thought it would be, but still very much pretty! I then went back to sleep for a few hours before breakfast. Breakfast in the morning was a huge buffet, and they made all different kinds of eggs that were wonderful. Sad news for me was that I wasn’t feeling too great so I did not eat as much as I wanted. I took some medicine before we went out on the lake for the day which helped a little bit. We headed out to our boat at 9:30am and it was not what anyone really expected. Pictures are below of the boat, and the way the seats were made it hard to see everyone so I would have to turn around and it also did not go very fast but the water and cold wind felt incredible. There were three islands that the boat took us too on Lake Kivu, Monkey Island, one with lots of bats lol (I can’t remember the name) and Peace Island. Monkey Island is supposed to have monkeys but apparently, they come out mostly early in the morning so we did not see any, sad day. The next island was pretty big and tall, and our boat guy took us up to the very top. None of us were expecting a hike, especially in bathing suits and chacos but it was an experience. There were TONS of bats on our hike which bombarded us and was incredible to see them so close up in huge numbers like that. When we got to the top, it was a spectacular view of Lake Kivu and a nice break from the hike we were not ready for. Peace Island was the last island we went too and consisted of our time to swim in the lake. Not much went on with the swimming except for normal lake shenanigans in the water. I hadn’t had the opportunity to swim since being in Rwanda so being in the water was a really nice change of pace. After our boat tour on Lake Kivu we were starving so we went to get some brochettes and chips from a bar close to the dock. Africa time really came out this afternoon as it took about 2 hours to get our 13 meat and chip meals. Should not have taken that long but ya know typical. The time spent waiting for our food was a tough one but nice to sit and talk to the squad. When we finally got back to the hotel there was no running water for showers so we just changed and then sat outside in the chairs by the lake talking and chilling out. For dinner we walked to another hotel in Kibuye, that was WAY farther (45 minute walk) than we thought but their restaurant also had an awesome view of the lake and was so nice. I got some citron fanta and the curry. That night also consisted of us sitting by the lake and talking till we started to fall asleep.

July 7, 2019

Sunday: We had a chance to sleep in a little bit this morning as check out was not until 10. Our morning was pretty much just waking up, packing up, and getting to the bus stop. Once we got back in Musanze it was about 3:30 and Amanda and I had a few errands to run. We headed to the market to get some fruit and vegetables, and we went without Alodie this time and honestly did a stellar job and did it quick. We then got our bread and a snack (chocolate croissant YUM) from La Poillete which is a bakery/restaurant in town. We have been getting our loafs at different places each week so we shall see how this loaf compares to the others! Then we headed to the modern market so I could pick up my tailored clothing and Amanda needed to go to the ATM. My tailor was there which was a surprise as it was pretty empty since it was getting late for a Sunday. However, she had only made one bag and the dress when I had asked for 2 bags. I tried to tell her that I would not pay her the amount originally said which was very difficult to communicate since she didn’t speak English, which was super frustrating. I gave her a little less than originally said but overall, I got gipped. I am super happy with my dress and bag that I do have but not what I paid! For dinner tonight we went to Volcano Lounge since they were closed last Monday when we tried to go. I got a Hawaiian pizza which smacked on all sorts of levels. It was a big splurge day due to the tailor situation and the pizza, but I am going to bed full and happy tonight!