communication

the email thing is very flakey, so im just going to use this to say, Happy Mothers Day mom! just know that i love you and i think about you when i look at the beautiful flowers and greenery here... you would love it. i hope you have a wonderful day. you are amazing!

actually the communication thing in general is tricky. most of you know that im attatched to my phone and i love to blog. it has been weird to not be able to talk to people or even text them little inside jokes or let them know what im thinking or feeling. i cant call people and my team is teasing ,e because i write down everything (including planned blog titles) so that i dont forget. warning: i will blog about this like crazy when i have fast internet and a normal keyboard. on top of being slightly out of touch i also dont know either of the two main languages here... o by the way... but im learning.

okay, ill fill you in a bit on the daily routine here in Gitarama. we are staying at a shelter: hostile type place. we walk to work and everyone stares at us. we are building a house and it wILL be used as a shelter/ training center for Muslim converts. we mix cement, carry buckets of water and have cleared ground for a garden. all of those are alot of hard work and we are feeling it. i love our assignment though. a bunch of children watch us work and play with us during breaks. they love to just touch our skin, hair and my nose ring. they are soooo beautiful. we have been trying to teach each other our languages, which has been very fun ahd helpful.

yesterdqy it poured rain on the way home but i think the people that stare at us everyday when we walk to the restaurant for meals and then to work got a bit of respect for us as they watched us walk home soaking wet (normally people come outside to see us and we hear them blatantly just call us white people, and though its a different language, we were smart enough to figure that one out). its just a cultural thing though because they are very friendly and nice for the most part.

blogging is hard because i have so ,uch to tell you. ill just give you a short list of some of the thoughts ive had while being here...

i wish i at least knew French

i wish i could adopt

i wish i never had to use the restroom

i wish i didnt constantly smell of a mixture of purell and deet (occasionally i mx it up with some sweat though)

i wish all the images that are being stored in my had could be transmitted to film

i wish you were here so you wouldnt have to see film to understand

i wish i could carry massive baskets on ,y head

i wish there were more old people here... i wish there was no genocide...

i wish i was not out of internet time

well thanks for reading and praying. check out my friend and teammates blog at
www.christieinrwanda@blogspot.com