12 October 2009
Welcome to Nyanza!
This is day #?. 2? 3?
It's hard to say. Days seem so long, but the stares and "muzungus" we hear constantly on the street and in the market assure us that we are still the newest arrivals in town.
In psychology there's something called "the center-stage affect". People.. teens in particular, always feel like everyone is watching their every move, everyone notices the pimple on their chin, everyone who's whispering is surly gossiping about them or making fun of the way they look/talk/act. Well, in psychology they say that this whole thing is just our imagination because in fact everyone else is also so caught up in worrying about their own self that they're too busy to occupy their thoughts with judgments about others.
WELL. Here in Nyanza, I regret to inform you, "the center-stage affect" is a reality, not just a teenage form of narcissism. We are constantly watched and talked about. It's like we're local celebrities. We don't walk alone (yet - and certainly never at night!), we keep our blinds closed, we live in homes surrounded by glass-topped fences.. heck, kids come up and dare themselves to touch us.. to see if our skin is in fact solid or just a pool of white paint we've spread all over our arms, legs and faces (don't get me wrong though, the kids are the best.. so curious, they just follow us, literally around and across town). With the adults though, it was really intimidating at first, and honestly I haven't settled into feeling incredibly comfortable here yet but today walking around the market and town with my new friend Ellie, I found that if I just acknowledge that people are talking about me when I hear "muzungu" with a friendly wave, smile and a "muraho!" (hello!), that they seem a lot less scary and in general, I feel a lot less concerned about being stared at. It's kinda like "Hey buddy, I know you're talking about me so let's just be nice now, okay? I'm not totally clueless here". I kind of want to make a public service announcement, "You see this face? This face ain't goin' anywhere.. so get used to it!" I really look forward to the day (if it'll ever exist) when we can be seen as members of the community, not just the whites with a lot of money (social misconceptions are a bitch).
So here's the latest.
- we have been divided up into 4 homes the PC has rented around town
- there are 8 ladies, 2 fellas and several language teachers living in our house
- our house is the "kitchen" house. it's where all of the cooking and meals take place which has ups and downs. Ups - we don't have to walk 20 mins to make it to breakfast at 6:45 every morning.. as goes for other meals. Downs - the kitchen staff are always around and as I've been lead to believe by our language instructors, not to be trusted. So, we keep things hidden and locked up all the time. Another down is that everyone comes here for meals meaning our house is always noisy and it's like constantly throwing a party without enough toilet paper to go around! They ration out rolls of TP and that stuff is hard to come by around these parts! Not to mention the fact that we don't have running water so we use buckets of water to "flush" the toilet.. but some house guests prefer to come over and clog up the toilet, use all of our paper and just in general make a mess. Gross!
- I consider myself a germaphobe, but I fear that that along with personal hygiene will quickly fall by the wayside. Truly.
*Mom - please send hand sanitizer!!
- This morning I took my first (of what will be many) bucket baths. Rather tricky, but I feel like my first summer in Tours, France sort of prepared me a bit for this (a bathtub with a hose that had a mind of its own and a very stingy host mom who yelled at you about using too much water). You get wet, lather up, rinse off... shivering. Today I managed to comb all of the knots out of my hair, it was beginning to dread itself. We'll see how long I'll make an effort to prevent that from happening.
- Still haven't figured out the laundry situation. Rumor has it that someone will do it for us but I've seen others washing their panties and hanging them up to dry. (Thank goodness I packed a whole slew of them, so I'm not quite that desperate yet - another thanks to MSU's recycling program for that awesome recycling bag that is doubling as a laundry bag).
- The food is still good. We all love the red sauce and the "spicy" sauce keeps the heat turned up. Lots of beans and rice. Fresh fruit for desert at every meal. Overall, I'm really satisfied so far!
- Today was the first time most of us realized just how close to the Equator we actually are. Use protection; wear sunscreen. A lot of us came home at the end of the day (it's 6:30 but pitch black out - that is the end of the day) a bit more red than when we'd left this morning. Maybe they'll have to come up with a different name for us on the streets - I don't know how to say "red person" in Kinyarwanda but I'm sure they'd have some way to go about it.
Tomorrow we begin our official language classes. As this is a new program, we're all just winging it. I've found that like in Tours where there's a 15 min late expectancy for any and all occasions, it seems to be a half hour here in Rwanda. Everyone just kinda goes at their own pace, life is just a lot slower here. This will take some getting used to for a gal who's used to having days planned out hour by hour.. what if I come to like it too much?!? :) Found out today that we will have 2 hours for lunch every day. I am very glad to have found a job that meets my daily 1 hour siesta requirement. That's awesome.
As you may know I have a cellphone now. I don't think it is capable of receiving texts from the States - at least I haven't gotten any yet. But incoming calls are good - maybe consider putting a few bucks on a skype account (I heard that calls are super super cheap on Skype) or getting a calling card if you'd like to be in touch. I was able to call Shea, my friend serving in the Philippines, the other day and that was very, very exciting! As for internet access, there's an internet cafe in town where you can get online for pretty cheap, I have yet to find wireless though.. which would be ideal for videochat, but maybe in time. We'll see. I really want to be present in the present so I'm going to try not to spend a lot of time online.
It's nearly dinner time.. better wash up (if there's any water in the restroom - I'm afraid it may get to the point where eating just won't be worth the hassle of having to figure out how to use the restroom later). HA. But seriously.
Early Happy 21st Birthday to Michelle! Those of you around, take her out, show her a good time, wish I could be there to do it myself. Love you, Shell.
Alright, Peace Out!
ps I'm just typing these up on my laptop and posting/sending them as possible.. so the news may be a day or two old when you're reading it, but considering I'm living in a house with no running water and a wood stove, I'd say getting any news out to the world is quite an accomplishment.
Also - just had one of my housemates cut my hair. it's pretty short. i bargined with a woman at the market today to get a mirror for 400 francs (80 cents American), but it's pretty small. I'll sleep on it and we'll see how this turns out. it's just hair :)
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