Thursday, July 5, 2007

still in Kigali

Mwaramutse, good morning

Today has been really hectic so far. Ali left for Rhuengeri (a city outside Kigali where she is doing research for the Clinton foundation) at 5:45 this morning. So I walked with Ali's roomate Megan as far as the clinton foundation, then went off on my own to find a phone and get up with Caleb. I got lost and asked directions like 6 times. I really wish I knew some french. Excuse moi is about all I say- and htat's with a southern accent. Anyway, I got a phone, SIM card and charger and went to a coffee shop to charge my phone. Then I went to a tailor shop and asked some nice women where I could check the internet and one said "here, sister. i will walk you." so that was easy. Now I am about to take a mototaxi (basically a little moped) to King Phiza hospital to meet Caleb. He has a meeting with a minister of health and I am going to meet a few of his patients with a Rwandan cardiac specialist.

I realized after my last post that I never talked about my plane ride here, which was hilarious. I got up to find a trashcan and the flight attendants said 'do not bother us, we are eating'. So I asked these men waiting in line for the bathroom if they saw a trashcan. They were like "eh? eh?" So I said "trash. garbage. wastebasket?" they still no idea what i was talking about, so I held up my empty cup and pointed to it. They still just shrugged their shoulders and one of them cheers-ed me. Finally, one of them said "dustbin? dustbin?" another replied "so she wants a rubbish-basket?". It was pretty silly.

When we landed I learned I didnt have to buy a visa because America has given so much money to Rwanda since the 90s that Americans enter for free, which was nice. Then my luggage took forEVER to come. Me and this belgian guy from burundi were sitting down and had just about given up on it being lost, but then it came out.

Yesterday I ate dinner at a restaurant called New Cactus that was really cool. I asked the owner what happened to the old cactus and he said "it died." The restaurant had really cool views of the city, I will try to download pics when I can. I am about to go try to catch a moto to the hospital...I am not sure if I am supposed to hop on and throw my arms around the driver's waist? I dont want to be inappropriate, but I also dont want to fall off!

No comments: