On Monday, I moved houses. Not far, just a four or five minute walk. But I moved right next door to the project. I can see that maybe in a couple of months, that might be too close for comfort, but right now it is pretty great to roll out of bed, walk down the driveway, and walk up the next one. Kind of like college. Well ok, very little like college since Im in a house, with three other people, not a dorm with a couple hundred, I actually HAVE to get to work by 8 while biology was always a little bit optional, and well, Im in Rwanda, not Walla Walla. Details.
This morning I had a little extra time so I took some pictures of the CVCT building (thats couples voluntary counseling and testing), my new house, my yard and the driveways. OK I was a little bored, but I also wanted to demonstrate how awesomely close I am to work. Its the best commute ever!
The CVCT building is the yellow building that you cant really see. But the view is pretty nice. This is right across the dirt road from my house. I have pretty much this same view.
My new house. I like the porch a lot. In fact, I am sitting on it right now when I write this. Im a big porch fan.
My driveway is behind the whitesh gate. The driveway I take to my office is the one with the red gate.
Where we are going to have our garden in my yard.
Im not sure that we have an avocado tree like we did at the other house, but we got a lot of something.
I know the pictures arent the most artistic but at least there are a couple of snapshots of my life right now.
Today, as part of my rotations through each department and the project as a whole, I went on health visits with a community health worker. We had our transport paid by the project but it really isnt that much so we took mutatus, which are vans, about the size of minivans but they "fit" about 16 people. I love them. Sometimes the body odor is a little overwhelming but overall I just think that they are a lot of fun, at least for short distances. When you get in, you always have to go to the very back or at least the farthest empty seat, so that it fills up easily, never mind empties easily. And then once a row of seats is full, there is a small seat attached to the bench in front that folds down. So instead of having a row where people can exit, the row is blocked by folded chairs. Of course, when someone wants to get out, they can. Its just that everyone sitting in the aisle has to exit the mutatu and the person has to fold and lift the chairs to exit. And everyone else just sort of shifts around redistributing weight and getting really close until someone else comes in, takes the just emptied seat and then everyone sort of flows together like a liquid, taking up a constant amount of space. i love it because it just reminds me how people can make the most difficult things simple and the simplest things difficult. Buses in the US are much nicer, much less crowded, but somehow no one takes them, they are difficult to figure out, and inevitably take too long. Buses here are crowded, smashed, and simple. They pick you up wherever you are, no matter how crowded (to a point), and just take you where you need to go. So ok, no fancy buses here. So what. People just make it work. So there isnt always electricity or water. So what. Just make it work. Even though there is a lot less to work with, it just seems like there is still plenty. You just take what you have and you make it work. Thats what I love about it here.
This morning I had a little extra time so I took some pictures of the CVCT building (thats couples voluntary counseling and testing), my new house, my yard and the driveways. OK I was a little bored, but I also wanted to demonstrate how awesomely close I am to work. Its the best commute ever!
The CVCT building is the yellow building that you cant really see. But the view is pretty nice. This is right across the dirt road from my house. I have pretty much this same view.
My new house. I like the porch a lot. In fact, I am sitting on it right now when I write this. Im a big porch fan.
My driveway is behind the whitesh gate. The driveway I take to my office is the one with the red gate.
Where we are going to have our garden in my yard.
Im not sure that we have an avocado tree like we did at the other house, but we got a lot of something.I know the pictures arent the most artistic but at least there are a couple of snapshots of my life right now.
Today, as part of my rotations through each department and the project as a whole, I went on health visits with a community health worker. We had our transport paid by the project but it really isnt that much so we took mutatus, which are vans, about the size of minivans but they "fit" about 16 people. I love them. Sometimes the body odor is a little overwhelming but overall I just think that they are a lot of fun, at least for short distances. When you get in, you always have to go to the very back or at least the farthest empty seat, so that it fills up easily, never mind empties easily. And then once a row of seats is full, there is a small seat attached to the bench in front that folds down. So instead of having a row where people can exit, the row is blocked by folded chairs. Of course, when someone wants to get out, they can. Its just that everyone sitting in the aisle has to exit the mutatu and the person has to fold and lift the chairs to exit. And everyone else just sort of shifts around redistributing weight and getting really close until someone else comes in, takes the just emptied seat and then everyone sort of flows together like a liquid, taking up a constant amount of space. i love it because it just reminds me how people can make the most difficult things simple and the simplest things difficult. Buses in the US are much nicer, much less crowded, but somehow no one takes them, they are difficult to figure out, and inevitably take too long. Buses here are crowded, smashed, and simple. They pick you up wherever you are, no matter how crowded (to a point), and just take you where you need to go. So ok, no fancy buses here. So what. People just make it work. So there isnt always electricity or water. So what. Just make it work. Even though there is a lot less to work with, it just seems like there is still plenty. You just take what you have and you make it work. Thats what I love about it here.
No comments:
Post a Comment