Friday, March 31, 2006

recycling

Visitors often ask, empty water bottle in hand, "is there recycling here?"

And the answer is No. And Yes.

No, no one melts old bottles into new ones. But yes, everything gets re-used.

Bottles are useful for storing water or cooking oil or whatever. Why would you not use the free ones that muzungus throw away?

Kids outside of Kigali have figured out that if they run alongside cars and ask for empty bottles, they often get them. An easy thing to ask for.

Really, it's just a low-tech, highly efficient method of recycling.

weirdo

Do people move overseas because they're weird?

It seems that most of the people that move overseas are a little weird. And the ones that stay the longest are the weirdest.

Which makes you wonder -- does living overseas make you weird? Or do you chose to live overseas because you're weird?

I'd guess it's the latter. If you don't quite feel at home when you are at home, why not go somewhere where you're never at home. Then hey, you're weird, but you're supposed to be, because it's not your home. Dissonance solved.

But it's possible that a long period of time away from your homeland just kind of drives you crazy. You forget which language you're speaking (is it French, Kinyarwanda, or African-English?). You forget what's culturally appropriate (was it okay to pick my nose here or not?). So you give up, and just act weird.

No big deal, you're just a weird muzungu.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

guerillas in the mist


This past weekend we summited the volcano Bisoke in the north-western part of Rwanda. Took us to over 12,000 feet at the top. It's in Volcanos National Park.
  • Rwanda is THE place to see gorillas in their natural habitat. You know, Dian Fossey and all that. Our guide showed us gorilla droppings, but no gorillas. You gotta pay big bucks to go actually see the gorillas, so we're saving it for when Corrie's family visits this summer.
  • The park borders the Congo, where you'll remember we had the fabulous experience of being mugged by the police. Apparently the trail was closed due to guerilla activity last month, so we hiked alongside 4 military guards armed with AK-47s. Reminds you that Rwanda's not as stable as it looks.
  • The mud was incredible. And Corrie's 8-year-old boots lost a sole -- she just strapped it back on and kept hiking.
  • The view from the top was, well... not there. We didn't quite get above those rain clouds.
  • The top of the volcano is a "crater lake." If you can imagine the hole in the top of a volcano filled with water rather than lava. It's cool.
  • It was great to stop working for a minute and to see how cool it can be to travel here. It's really a beautiful country.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

cow change

Up in the Northern part of Rwanda this weekend we saw a bunch of hybrid Rwandan/European cows. They look like Jerseys with short horns and strange markings on their faces.

Corrie informed me that the government did 5,000 artificial inseminations last year to make Rwandan cows have hybrid calves. So instead of the 1 liter of milk produced by a Rwandan cow, you get 10 or 15 from it's Jersey-hybrid offspring. Pretty good improvement for one generation, no?

(Why this random fact on a blog which is purportedly about the Conrads' experiences and observations? I think the Jr. Higher in me just wanted to write about 5,000 cows getting artificially inseminated. 5,000 cows. Heh, heh.)

Thursday, March 23, 2006

you can pick your friends

I appreciate how unabashed Rwandans are about picking their noses.

I mean, I've long been a nose picker. No big deal, I figure; there are worse bad habits and sometimes kleenex just doesn't do the job.

But in Rwanda nose picking isn't a bad habit, it's part of life. There's a lot of dust in Rwanda -- not too many paved roads. If you want to be able to breathe out of your nose at all, you gotta take those opportunities to clean out your nostrils.

So why be ashamed? Go ahead and pick your nose during the meeting with the Minister of Health. Why not. Everyone else is doing it, too.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

cow culture


Rwandans tend to get dreamy-eyed when they talk about cows. Cows represent wealth and prosperity and life and everything that makes life worth living.

Yes, cows.

Funny, too, since Rwandan cows aren't worth much. By some measures, keeping them costs more than the milk they produce.

But they look cool. They have long horns, unlike boring American Jerseys.

And if you want a wife, you've got to give her parents a few cows and prove you're serious. More cows if her family's rich.

One of the main traditional dances involves raising your arms above your head (think "Y" in YMCA), like the cow's horns. Another popular dance move looks a lot like milking a cow to me, but I haven't had the guts to ask anyone if it's true.

Cows are everywhere. It's not uncommon to see boys guiding their cows through major streets of Kigali. (The grass in your front yard is fair game.)

And we can expect more cows. The government recently launched its "One Cow" policy -- one cow for every family. Cows to provide milk, fertilizer, and, well, pride of ownership.

Monday, March 20, 2006

navigating kigali

There aren't any street addresses in Kigali. There are a few street names, but no one uses them. No Mapquest either.

So directions end up looking like these, which were just emailed to me. Note that this is for a 10 minute drive.

...

Directions coming from KBC, going toward the airport... Turn left at Chez Lando. Turn left again in front of the UNHCR building (Remera sign there.) Pass in front of the stadium. Road curves to the right. Turn left at first (only) paved road. After 100m you’ll pass “Isoko ya Remera” and the Kimironko bus park on the right. About 300m further, when the road just begins to curve to the left, watch for the four very short red and white columns on the left. (Rwandafoam store will be on your right.) Turn left onto the narrow dirt road in between the four columns. After passing small shops, stay on the left as the road seems to Y. (A sign saying “Ebenezer Evangelistic Mission – Kimironko” is in that Y.) Stay on that road as it curves by the charcoal making place up on the right, a church sign down on the left, and then eventually straightens out. After going bumpily past a church on the right, and then under some trees, the road will Y again (about 1.0 km from the paved road). Take the right Y. (If you stayed straight you’d run into a green/yellow/striped pink/etc. house.) Continue on that straight road until you see large yellow buildings on your right (which are the YFC training center and school buildings.) Continue past the "Jeunesse Pour Christ au Rwanda" sign on your right, and then turn right to park by the large brick building that is closest to the road.

the luxury of anonymity

I think Starbucks is one of the great luxuries of America. Not the coffee, mind you, but the space. You can go into a Starbucks, sit down, and no one will talk to you for a hour.

Here, you can't go anywhere without getting called Muzungu. And if you try to hide in the lobby of the Intercontinental hotel, you'll be hanging out with your Muzungu colleagues, who are also trying to hide.

Think I'll go there now.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

trash

Our apartment building in DC had two dumpsters that were emptied every morning. They were usually filled to overflowing by evening. The city started levying fines against the building for the rat problem the trash was causing.

Our apartment building in Kigali has two small barrels we use for trash. They get emptied maybe once a week. No rats.

Packaging is a luxury of the rich.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

internet

Been trying to upload pictures from our trip to the States for the past week, but can't seem to get them through the pipe.

You never know if your internet access is going to work here. It's kind of like the weather.

There's no internet backbone in Rwanda -- it's satellite only. So our connection doesn't seem to work as well when it's overcast. It also doesn't work as well when the phone company forgets that you paid and turns off your service. Both are pretty common.

Suffice it to say, Miami was great, the California North coast was beautiful, San Francisco cable cars still run, and our niece and nephew are the cutest ever. I guess you'll just have to trust me.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

coke

Coke is everywhere. How do they do it?

Now that I've spent some time in a developing country, I have some idea of how difficult it is to get things done. And I can not imagine trying to distribute a product to store in every tiny village, in a country with few paved roads, where cars cost 3X what they should, and where finding staff with corporate experience is nearly impossible.

But they do it, and somehow make money at 25 cents a bottle. It's hard to find a store in Rwanda that doesn't sell Coke. Not only that, but they go back and pick up the trash -- Coke is distributed in bottles which Coke picks up and refills.

Amazing.

I had a Rwandan ask me once if there was Coke in the United States -- it's so ubiquitous he assumed it was a national product. Me, I'm just happy I can get a guaranteed water-borne-parasite-free taste of home anywhere in the world.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

fatter

We're back safe in Rwanda and will get the stories flowing again.

But first, I'm proud to announce that my pants fit again. That's right, in two weeks I porked out enough to return to a 32-inch waist. Plus we brought back a suitcase full of food to hold us over.

Second, it's remarkable to me how easy the transitions were. I expected to be disoriented by all the differences moving from continent to continent. Nope. Just two things blew me away: 1) I couldn't get over the retail experience in the US (Target is amazing) and 2) it's almost scary how quickly restaurants serve food over there.