1. Minibuses. Lots of things about minibuses. One of the things that I love about minibuses is that you can easily fit 16 people in them. And they are the size of a minivan. So when people say that a mid size sedan is not big enough for a family of five, I will laugh in their face. Another thing I like about mini-buses is when the "conductor" (thats the guy who opens the door while you are still screeching to a halt on the side of the road and closes the door while you are screeching away) is wearing a Spokane YMCA shirt. Little touch of home. Another thing I love about minibuses is when the driver takes it upon himself to decorate it. For example, the spiderman minibus that I rode in last night that had a decal of spiderman and his web that literally covered the car. And the inside upholstery was the same color as the decal. I believe I commented on coordination in a previous list of things I love.
2. When you order fish here, they bring a giant fish. The whole fish. Head to tail. Fried and covered in onions. So good.
3. The absolute astonishment of the staff when I revealed I had a belly button piercing. Lots of grabbing of my shirt and showing it off, pointing, and giggling ensued.
Something I DONT love... Americans preachers coming to Africa to hold rallies preaching that praying to God will cure AIDS. I cannot even begin to explain how detrimental this kind of activity is. I am not trying to say that prayer has no place in a coping strategy, but to tell people that there are documented cases of people being "cured" by prayer is well Im sorry... but its disgusting. It is detrimental to the health, spirituality, and mental well-being of these individuals and puts entire populations at risk by thinking that practicing risky behavior is ok as long as you pray afterward. There is no greater barrier to effective HIV control than evangelists telling people NOT to use condoms, NOT to see doctors, NOT to learn about HIV but just pray pray pray. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!
I cannot begin to explain how angry this makes me. How can people be so blinded by the belief in "one true god" that they turn a blind eye to what is directly in front of them? Does science have all the answers? Clearly not. Does religion have a place in every society? Yes. But when religion covers the very real experiences of millions of people and touts the miraculous curing of a few (who lets be honest, probably were given the wrong test result in the first place), it is destructive. Pure and simple.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Things I enjoy
Here is just a random list of things that I love about Rwanda...
1. Everyone has a cell phone. Ev-er-y-one. So even if you are in the middle of nowhere, climbing up a hill with a couple houses and some goats around you, you know that someone will have a phone, no matter how out of place you may think it is.
2. Everyone answers their phones at completely inappropriate times. For example, at a recent gathering someone was giving a speech and the person to whom he was giving the speech was on the phone. Didn’t stop the speech, didn’t stop the phone call.
3. Matching. It’s almost unbelievable how coordinated women are here. Shoes will match belts will match earrings will match handbags and all of them match the shirt. Imagine a completely sky blue outfit and you’re not far off from my co-workers favorite ensemble.
4. Or the opposite extreme…Complete non-matching. A really bright blue and neon green floral print chetenge (kind of like a sarong) matched with a man’s red and yellow paisley shirt. Stunning.
5. The liberal use of capes.
6. When it starts to rain, the country stops working. Literally. Meetings are canceled, the internet shuts down, buses stop running. You can actually tell someone “I couldn’t do that yesterday. It was raining”. This is in fact a legitimate excuse.
7. Umuganda. This is the monthly “mandatory” community service day. Ask any Rwandan how they spent their umuganda and the answer will be “in bed”.
1. Everyone has a cell phone. Ev-er-y-one. So even if you are in the middle of nowhere, climbing up a hill with a couple houses and some goats around you, you know that someone will have a phone, no matter how out of place you may think it is.
2. Everyone answers their phones at completely inappropriate times. For example, at a recent gathering someone was giving a speech and the person to whom he was giving the speech was on the phone. Didn’t stop the speech, didn’t stop the phone call.
3. Matching. It’s almost unbelievable how coordinated women are here. Shoes will match belts will match earrings will match handbags and all of them match the shirt. Imagine a completely sky blue outfit and you’re not far off from my co-workers favorite ensemble.
4. Or the opposite extreme…Complete non-matching. A really bright blue and neon green floral print chetenge (kind of like a sarong) matched with a man’s red and yellow paisley shirt. Stunning.
5. The liberal use of capes.
6. When it starts to rain, the country stops working. Literally. Meetings are canceled, the internet shuts down, buses stop running. You can actually tell someone “I couldn’t do that yesterday. It was raining”. This is in fact a legitimate excuse.
7. Umuganda. This is the monthly “mandatory” community service day. Ask any Rwandan how they spent their umuganda and the answer will be “in bed”.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Food around the world
Originally i was going to just write about the goat roast that my roommates and I hosted this weekend but just before doing that I got distracted by the following facebook album.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=48101028&ref=profile#/album.php?aid=57521&id=608888964&ref=nf
For those of you unable to access it, it is a series of photographs of families and the food they consume in one week, along with the cost of food. The original website and book review is here: http://menzelphoto.com/books/hp.html.
The photographs ranges from food purchased for 500 dollars in Germany featuring a lot of beer, pizza, and meat products for a family of four to 1.25 in Chad featuring a couple bags of rice and three or four small piles of fruits and vegetables for a family of four. It is an interesting look at the amount of food, amount of money, and amount of necessary nutrients consumed around the world. Although it would make sense that those in the wealthiest countries would have the best diets, it is easy to see based on the pictures why Americans are plagued with heart disease, Indians with diabetes, and English with no culinary skills. For me what was particularly interesting was to look at the amount of fruits and vegetables on each table. Those countries which had the most vegetables and the least packaging also seemed to be the ones that spawn diet fads (Mediterranean diet, japanese diet, french). Coincidence? Or a coincidence that the American family featured on average contributes four times as much garbage to the planet than the European families featured?
I will get to goat roast but I really want people to actually look at this album. I am a huge advocate of eating locally grown, seasonal produce; in other words eating sustainably and healthy, at least most of the time. I encourage each of you to look at it and consider what impact your food choices have on your health, on your wallet, and on the world.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=48101028&ref=profile#/album.php?aid=57521&id=608888964&ref=nf
For those of you unable to access it, it is a series of photographs of families and the food they consume in one week, along with the cost of food. The original website and book review is here: http://menzelphoto.com/books/hp.html.
The photographs ranges from food purchased for 500 dollars in Germany featuring a lot of beer, pizza, and meat products for a family of four to 1.25 in Chad featuring a couple bags of rice and three or four small piles of fruits and vegetables for a family of four. It is an interesting look at the amount of food, amount of money, and amount of necessary nutrients consumed around the world. Although it would make sense that those in the wealthiest countries would have the best diets, it is easy to see based on the pictures why Americans are plagued with heart disease, Indians with diabetes, and English with no culinary skills. For me what was particularly interesting was to look at the amount of fruits and vegetables on each table. Those countries which had the most vegetables and the least packaging also seemed to be the ones that spawn diet fads (Mediterranean diet, japanese diet, french). Coincidence? Or a coincidence that the American family featured on average contributes four times as much garbage to the planet than the European families featured?
I will get to goat roast but I really want people to actually look at this album. I am a huge advocate of eating locally grown, seasonal produce; in other words eating sustainably and healthy, at least most of the time. I encourage each of you to look at it and consider what impact your food choices have on your health, on your wallet, and on the world.
Monday, February 9, 2009
General update
I sent this email out a little while ago but I know that I dont have everyone's email so this is just a general update...
Hi everyone,
The spat of emails checking up on me over the past few days was a kick
in the pants to write. Thanks everyone for reminding me.
Things are going pretty well here. I am now half way through my contract at PSF and have settled into life. Rwadda doesnt seem quite so foreign anymore, in fact, it is starting to feel a little like home. Life is really pretty routine here, in its own way. I spend most of my time cooking or watching dvds or studying french. OK I dont really study french that much but it felt good to say. I found a gym about a month ago in the giant hotel near my house and go there a couple of times a week. Especially after seriously spraining my ankle a couple weekends ago leading to a swift curtailment of running. There are small differences, like the fact that my oven is about the size of a toy oven and can only fit one baking sheet in at time, making any kind of baking take twice as long. There is the fact that the gym is the size of a small bedroom but it does have a tv, so if there is a football (soccer) game on, there is always a crowd of hotel employees ringing the room with their faces pressed up against the glass watching. The dvds are usually pirated versions and occasionally have people walking in front of the camera that someone somewhere smuggled into a movie theater. The power has been a little spotty lately. It will be fine and then will just shut off for five or ten seconds and come back on. Its no problem except that it screws up downloads from itunes, which take days or weeks or in some cases months to finish.
Last weekend, I went to Bujumbura in Burundi with Carey and Leigh, two of my friends here. It was a beautiful, right on the coast of a very large lake and completely ringed by mountains. Across the lake in the distance, we could see the Congo. I have the idea in my mind that the Congo is all jungle, not too different than the Heart of Darkness. From the few glimpses I have had of the Congo and the total lack of development along the lake or in the mountains, I am pretty sure that I am not too far off. Carey, Leigh, and I just relaxed on white beaches and drank Amstel Bak, the only medium bodied beer I have had in six months and it only took a six hour drive to get it. Sometime later this month, Leigh and I are going to go up to Lake Bunyoni in Uganda and do much the same thing. As much as I love Kigali, there is a serious lack of bodies of water in town. We dont have to go as far as Burundi or Uganda to get to lakes of course, but if you are traveling anyway, why not?
In other news, I have gotten a few calls from graduate schools regarding the PhD applications I submitted in a panic a few months ago. Now that they are actually thinking of accepting me, I have to figure out what the heck I want to do. I was hoping to put the decision off another year or two but it seems as though, destiny was not going to give me the option. So there is a good chance that I will be back in the States in August, although where in the states is still up in the air. Either way, it will be a coast though, thats for sure. Oddly enough, I think the thing that I am most looking forward to, besides of course seeing all of you, is the seasons. The weather here is beautiful every day and although that isnt really a reason to complain, I look at pictures of people in winter clothes and the upcoming spring fashions (yes I look at pictures of spring fashion online) and I cant help but be a little envious. Wearing the same six or seven outfits gets pretty old and I miss the way the air feels different depending on what season it is.
So all in all, things are good. There are days when I love being here and cannot think about coming home and other days when I would give anything to be back. And usually those are actually the same day or even the same hour.
I love all of you. Please keep emailing me!
Hi everyone,
The spat of emails checking up on me over the past few days was a kick
in the pants to write. Thanks everyone for reminding me.
Things are going pretty well here. I am now half way through my contract at PSF and have settled into life. Rwadda doesnt seem quite so foreign anymore, in fact, it is starting to feel a little like home. Life is really pretty routine here, in its own way. I spend most of my time cooking or watching dvds or studying french. OK I dont really study french that much but it felt good to say. I found a gym about a month ago in the giant hotel near my house and go there a couple of times a week. Especially after seriously spraining my ankle a couple weekends ago leading to a swift curtailment of running. There are small differences, like the fact that my oven is about the size of a toy oven and can only fit one baking sheet in at time, making any kind of baking take twice as long. There is the fact that the gym is the size of a small bedroom but it does have a tv, so if there is a football (soccer) game on, there is always a crowd of hotel employees ringing the room with their faces pressed up against the glass watching. The dvds are usually pirated versions and occasionally have people walking in front of the camera that someone somewhere smuggled into a movie theater. The power has been a little spotty lately. It will be fine and then will just shut off for five or ten seconds and come back on. Its no problem except that it screws up downloads from itunes, which take days or weeks or in some cases months to finish.
Last weekend, I went to Bujumbura in Burundi with Carey and Leigh, two of my friends here. It was a beautiful, right on the coast of a very large lake and completely ringed by mountains. Across the lake in the distance, we could see the Congo. I have the idea in my mind that the Congo is all jungle, not too different than the Heart of Darkness. From the few glimpses I have had of the Congo and the total lack of development along the lake or in the mountains, I am pretty sure that I am not too far off. Carey, Leigh, and I just relaxed on white beaches and drank Amstel Bak, the only medium bodied beer I have had in six months and it only took a six hour drive to get it. Sometime later this month, Leigh and I are going to go up to Lake Bunyoni in Uganda and do much the same thing. As much as I love Kigali, there is a serious lack of bodies of water in town. We dont have to go as far as Burundi or Uganda to get to lakes of course, but if you are traveling anyway, why not?
In other news, I have gotten a few calls from graduate schools regarding the PhD applications I submitted in a panic a few months ago. Now that they are actually thinking of accepting me, I have to figure out what the heck I want to do. I was hoping to put the decision off another year or two but it seems as though, destiny was not going to give me the option. So there is a good chance that I will be back in the States in August, although where in the states is still up in the air. Either way, it will be a coast though, thats for sure. Oddly enough, I think the thing that I am most looking forward to, besides of course seeing all of you, is the seasons. The weather here is beautiful every day and although that isnt really a reason to complain, I look at pictures of people in winter clothes and the upcoming spring fashions (yes I look at pictures of spring fashion online) and I cant help but be a little envious. Wearing the same six or seven outfits gets pretty old and I miss the way the air feels different depending on what season it is.
So all in all, things are good. There are days when I love being here and cannot think about coming home and other days when I would give anything to be back. And usually those are actually the same day or even the same hour.
I love all of you. Please keep emailing me!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Burundi
This past weekend I went to Bujumbura, Burundi with Carey and Leigh, two of my friends/ colleagues. Leigh has a friend who lives there so we hopped on a bus on Friday and rode down there. The bus ride is incredibly windy on narrow roads, but it is also incredibly beautiful and even though I was car sick, I didnt want the ride to end. During the whole trip, I looked out the window at the small farms and hill terracing. Although I have said it many times, it continues to blow my mind how every square inch of land is utilized here. Despite the ingenious way of terracing the hills however, erosion is definitely present. Alongside the road, I could see the places where there have been mudslides. There are so few trees left on the hills that there is nothing keeping the soil in place other than the terracing. Kagame really needs to address the deforestation of the land, both for economic reasons (keeping national forests as tourist destinations) and for land management.
But I digress. After a few hours we got to the border crossing (apparently the fact that we were white really threw the Burundi border patrol for a loop. Our bus driver, Edmund, had to go into the office and demand our passports back. I really love that that was even possible. He just went into the office, no security, no check, just walked right in the door and said that they had held us up long enough, we were all nurses and we needed to be going thank-you-very-much). Once we had crossed the border, the difference between Rwanda and Burundi was quite stark. Although overall the quality of life is probably not too different, both countries are quite poor, Burundi was quite obviously dirtier and less organized. The roads were packed with people walking whereas in Rwanda there are usually sidewalks or something close to that and the hills, although cultivated, were not nearly as well organized and there was much more jungle and brush surrounding the farms. After another two hours or so, we came around a turn and there were suddenly no more hills. The hills sloped down to a large plain and in the distance there was a gorgeous blue lake. It still took us a while to get down to the bottom and into the town, but we were there!
Buj is very nice, more chaotic than Kigali but also smaller. So though it has lots of traffic and rule breaking and horn honking, it still manages to maintain a small town air. The first day, second, and third we went to the beach on the lake which has white sands and small trees sort of like palms and when you look across the water, in the distance you can see the green mountains of Congo ringed by clouds and mist. The beach hasnt really been developed yet so there arent too many people on it and no one hassling you to buy cloth or food or necklaces or whatever. People just leave you alone to sleep on the beach. When we got hungry we went to a small restaurant just down the beach that had a pool and pizza and tropical drinks with little umbrellas. That was pretty much our life for three days. All in all, a wonderful vacation.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Photos
While I continue to compose overdetailed accounts of my life and travels, here are more links to facebook. I have received a few emails that people cant access these without facebook accounts, but they should be public links, available to people without facebook. Please let me know if this is not the case; I will try to put photos up elsewhere but uploading is difficult as is. Two applications might just take up too much time.
Safari Day One
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023723&l=1a211&id=48101028
Safari Day Two and Blyde River Canyon
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023726&l=08c44&id=48101028
Capetown
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023727&l=82484&id=48101028
Cape of Good Hope Tour
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023778&l=f31ba&id=48101028
I tried to put these in chronological order. So we started out with a safari and Joburg tours and then went on to Capetown where we went to the water front, climbed Table Mountain, went on a wine tour, and went on a Cape of Good Hope Tour.
Safari Day One
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023723&l=1a211&id=48101028
Safari Day Two and Blyde River Canyon
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023726&l=08c44&id=48101028
Capetown
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023727&l=82484&id=48101028
Cape of Good Hope Tour
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023778&l=f31ba&id=48101028
I tried to put these in chronological order. So we started out with a safari and Joburg tours and then went on to Capetown where we went to the water front, climbed Table Mountain, went on a wine tour, and went on a Cape of Good Hope Tour.
Friday, January 9, 2009
More about South Africa
I always think that i can recount all of my adventures day by day without getting bored. Despite 26 years of evidence disproving this theory, I still keep trying. I think not this time though. So the abridged version of my trip to SA. Here we go...
I believe we ended with Katie and I eating sushi and having our eyes roll back in our heads with delight. This kind of culinary orgy continued throughout our time in South Africa. Of course there were days that werent quite so nice (we ate at gas stations a few more times than probably necessary but there is something to be said for junk food) but for the most part we indulged ourselves in middle eastern and sushi. Oh the gluttony didnt end. And of course the highlight, the unicorn, the most elusive of elusive cuisines on this side of the globe... MEXICAN FOOD! OK it wasnt that great and the margaritas were pretty weak, but when you are deprived of water, you dont complain if there is a little dirt, right?
Moving on from cuisine which, though a highlight for me, is probably not nearly as exciting for other people. We spent the first two days in Johannesburg essentially farting around, shopping, eating, getting our bearings. The third day we went to Soweto is the largest township in Johannesburg and where both Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela are from. In fact, there houses are about a block from each other on the same street. Which is pretty amazing to think that two such brilliant influential men came from the same place, knowing the same people, learning the same lessons. Its pretty cool to think about who they must have known, the people that were inspirations to them, two men who have become inspirations for so many others. What might those people have done if not restricted by race and poverty?
The Soweto tour was interesting, but I have a tendency to shy away from "misery tourism". When I was in New Orleans, I didnt especially want to see the Lower Fourth ward, I had no interest in seeing the slums outside of Bombay, and I dont want to go to Goma, in the Congo, unless I have something to contribute. Soweto is not nearly as impoverished as these places, although it is certainly poor, and the uprisings there played an important part of South African political history. And, everyone seems proud of Soweto. It was almost as though not visiting Soweto was an insult to the town of Joburg. So we hired a car and went out there with two guys who where staying with us at our hostel, the someone what overambitiously named Backpackers Ritz, and a driver we hired. Now the thing about this driver was he was pretty racist. Now I dont have a problem with a black person from South Africa nursing a lingering resentment of white people, or really for too many non-white people anywhere nursing said resentment. White people in general have a pretty terrible history of exploitation, segregation, dehumanization etc. So really, if there are members of minority groups out there that arent all about my lily white skin, than i get where you are coming from. But maybe, maybe, and I am just putting this out there, you shouldnt be in the tourism industry. When your tour guide is saying some pretty resentful things about white people and white power structures and our continuing work to suppress the black people... well that just gets uncomfortable. He wasnt a terrible man or anything, it was just that sometimes, it was uncomfortable to be lumped in with power structures and histories that I really dont agree with. And when we asked questions about things other than the struggle for apartheid, basically the only answers were that South Africa is great, South Africans are the smartest and the best, and the politicians are honest and true and there is no corruption. Which many other people were quite happy to tell us was not the case at all. National pride and racial pride are great. But that doesnt mean that they are infallible.
Oops in true Linnea fashion I got bogged down in detail and once again one entry for one day. I swear one of these days i will get better at being concise.
I believe we ended with Katie and I eating sushi and having our eyes roll back in our heads with delight. This kind of culinary orgy continued throughout our time in South Africa. Of course there were days that werent quite so nice (we ate at gas stations a few more times than probably necessary but there is something to be said for junk food) but for the most part we indulged ourselves in middle eastern and sushi. Oh the gluttony didnt end. And of course the highlight, the unicorn, the most elusive of elusive cuisines on this side of the globe... MEXICAN FOOD! OK it wasnt that great and the margaritas were pretty weak, but when you are deprived of water, you dont complain if there is a little dirt, right?
Moving on from cuisine which, though a highlight for me, is probably not nearly as exciting for other people. We spent the first two days in Johannesburg essentially farting around, shopping, eating, getting our bearings. The third day we went to Soweto is the largest township in Johannesburg and where both Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela are from. In fact, there houses are about a block from each other on the same street. Which is pretty amazing to think that two such brilliant influential men came from the same place, knowing the same people, learning the same lessons. Its pretty cool to think about who they must have known, the people that were inspirations to them, two men who have become inspirations for so many others. What might those people have done if not restricted by race and poverty?
The Soweto tour was interesting, but I have a tendency to shy away from "misery tourism". When I was in New Orleans, I didnt especially want to see the Lower Fourth ward, I had no interest in seeing the slums outside of Bombay, and I dont want to go to Goma, in the Congo, unless I have something to contribute. Soweto is not nearly as impoverished as these places, although it is certainly poor, and the uprisings there played an important part of South African political history. And, everyone seems proud of Soweto. It was almost as though not visiting Soweto was an insult to the town of Joburg. So we hired a car and went out there with two guys who where staying with us at our hostel, the someone what overambitiously named Backpackers Ritz, and a driver we hired. Now the thing about this driver was he was pretty racist. Now I dont have a problem with a black person from South Africa nursing a lingering resentment of white people, or really for too many non-white people anywhere nursing said resentment. White people in general have a pretty terrible history of exploitation, segregation, dehumanization etc. So really, if there are members of minority groups out there that arent all about my lily white skin, than i get where you are coming from. But maybe, maybe, and I am just putting this out there, you shouldnt be in the tourism industry. When your tour guide is saying some pretty resentful things about white people and white power structures and our continuing work to suppress the black people... well that just gets uncomfortable. He wasnt a terrible man or anything, it was just that sometimes, it was uncomfortable to be lumped in with power structures and histories that I really dont agree with. And when we asked questions about things other than the struggle for apartheid, basically the only answers were that South Africa is great, South Africans are the smartest and the best, and the politicians are honest and true and there is no corruption. Which many other people were quite happy to tell us was not the case at all. National pride and racial pride are great. But that doesnt mean that they are infallible.
Oops in true Linnea fashion I got bogged down in detail and once again one entry for one day. I swear one of these days i will get better at being concise.
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