Two Triangles & A Circle

Bonjour,

I am safe and sound in Gitarama and able to write my first update... however it will be brief because the keyboard is a little different and its taking a long time to type, plus the internet is really slow.

Traveling here was really not that bad, it didnt seem like it took us 42hours, however, I do not reccomend traveling with a group of 55 people... especially when theyre 55 white loud americans, its just not smart. I do however, reccomend traveling on virgin air...it doesnt get much better than this: double decker, bendable headrests, blankets and pillows, care package with eye cover, toothbrush and toothpaste, ear plugs, and face wash cloth, hugey meals, individual tv zith movies, tv, video games, and seat to seat text messaging...wow In fact, it was so amazing i decided not to sleep on that flight at all...or in the london airport where you ca get starbucks for 6 bucks... so i stayed awake for 28 hours before i finally slept 6... then i finally got a good nights sleep the next night.

Enough about travel, lets get to the good stuff... arrived in kigali at 1030am on may 9th (happy anniversary mom and dad)...drove to our guest house, changed into girls clothes, ate lunch, and rested for a few minutes before everyone got back in vans to head to the genocide memorial. We recieved a tour there and walked around for a few hours. Then back to the hotel for dinner. I must not have been paying attention when they said that fish is big here... fried fish, fish kabobs, oh yeah. And yes... I ate it, well not all of it, but some of it. I just put each piece between ten or so fries to cover the taste... so it was manageable. Wow this is taking a long time, I need to type faster... the next dqy in kigali we walked through a poor village--all 55 of us-- and it was then that i remembered that i was white... this was made clear by the hundreds of people that lined the path, stared, sometimes pointed, and called us whities in their languqge... but it was all worth it to shake those little kids hands as we walked by...they just wanted to touch us...and i just wanted to hug them. If you wish you could have seen it yourself, just turn the tv to one of those world vision commercials, because that is exactly what it looked like, now just stick 55 white kids in there with them... so we walked to a huge tent, heard some speakers, hung out and then ate lunch...two triangles and a circle mmmmm ...triangles are beef and onions and circle is a flat bread type thing, but really good. walked back, should have worn sneakers- blisters are no fun. dinner. sleep.

wake up. flood bathroom. breakfast. leave for gitarama. stopped by our work site... kids following us again and i just want to play with them all day...after stopping by, we are all excited to be here. Lunch. Get into rooms. Meet translqtor and new friend Vanencie... us girls hang out with her and talk about usa for a while. living the african lifestyle... communal unisex bathrooms haha, not the cleanest either, but we will live, we all just laugh about it. we start work tomorrow. pray for no rain so it can happen... it rains more in gitarama than other places.

food is good. people are great. bugs arent bad. i smell but so does everyone else. i dont know how often i will update, probably in a week or so. random notes:

-thanks for card mom i didnt open it yet
-happy bday rob dog in 2 days
-i miss you hooch sarai robin jenni ashfool
-miss you mom dad g-na
-congrats on graduation sister

that is all for now friends, i love you all and stay safe... leave me some love okqay. thanks.

christie