Scott's Last Weekend: Butare Pizza, Fanta, and a Dowry

     So while I was celebrating International Nurses Day and saying farewell to Melody, Scott was frolicking in the DRC. He decided to go see the gorillas there and then climb Mt. Niryagongo as I had done a few months ago. I heard from him after the gorilla trek, which he had really enjoyed (mainly because in DRC you are bush whacking through brush with machetes... every man's dream) but then nothing until he walked in the house door Thursday of that week at 5 pm.

     It was good to have him back although there is only so much entertainment my town can provide. Tiffany and Jared came over for dinner that night and I made paneer and sweet potatoe latkes with fresh kale salad from our garden. I tend to not pay much attention when adding spice to dishes for two reasons, 1) I like spice and forget that others don't necessarily love spice as much as I do; 2) Tiffany and I were chatting as I cooked and I was distracted. Sooooo needless to say the paneer was a little spicy. Knowing that Tiffany is from Texas I didn't see this as a problem. However, I'd forgotten that Scott and Jared are both wimps when it comes to spice. They were both practically crying and sweating. Jared wouldn't cave and eat some yogurt, but Scott did pour himself a glass of milk. I felt only a little bad about the situation. Tiffany and I both thought it delicious.
     Friday morning Scott walked me to work. I figured that I'd complete everything I needed to do and then we could get a late lunch. After dropping me at the front of CHUB he wandered down the hill to the new coffee shop while I headed to my office to finish developing the new Heart Saver CPR course for the hospital. Our BLS program has really taken off. As you already know if you read this regularly (and in order), the Rwandan staff teach and test BLS without anything from us. I'm so proud of them and I'm thrilled that the transition went so well as it appears the Ministry of Health is going to allocate new HRH staff to district hospitals and not replace the nursing positions at CHUB come August. However, during the BLS process we've discovered that those without any medical or nursing background were having trouble successfully passing BLS. So we are now helping them develop a Heart Saver Course, Hands-Only CPR. I was able to finish the slides for the course as well as the exam and finally developed the answer sheet and key. The plan was to have a meeting the following week with Désiré and Wilson to discuss the direction they wished the course to take. But at that point it was 1 pm and hardly a soul could be found at the hospital so I decided it was time for lunch.
     I called Jared and sure enough he and Scott were hanging at his house drinking beer and prepping for pizza night. I grabbed some samosas to share and jumped on a moto. It was unusually hot and my head was aching so I just wasn't in the mood to walk through the hubbub of town. I arrived and was handed a beer and joined in the conversation. I also cut the firewood for the oven, which Scott found hilarious and Jared insisted on giving me a lesson on how to properly use the hand saw. It was only after the fact that I informed him that I'd been using my dad's exact same hand saw since I was about twelve.

After a bit, Tiffany came home and I decided to walk home so that I could walk Rupert and feed him and shower. I was pretty gross after cutting all the wood. I told Tiff that she was welcome to kick Scott out for a few hours if need be, he knew his way home, but they all survived.
     Just as I was wandering out of my house to head back to Tiff and Jared's Scott texted me. He was freezing, despite having put his fleece jacket on in 66˚ F weather. I had already tossed his jeans in my bag, expecting him to say he was cold, but he requested his fleece onesie so I grabbed that as well and reminded him that he could build the bonfire or perhaps stand next to the 700˚ pizza oven. Medie, Jim, Emily, Emily's friend Townsend, and Medie's friend Jane joined the four of us for a great night of pizza, good South African wine provided by Scott, bonfire, conversation, and laughter. I wanted Scott to get the real Butare experience and this weekend was dedicated to the quiet lifestyle I lead here.

     We wandered back to my house way pass our bedtime under a pitch black sky with stars shining and crashed. I was looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday. It's one of my favorite things about the weekend. Unfortunately, I had a momentary lapse in memory and forgot who was with me. Sure enough, while Scott fed Rupert in the morning, it wasn't long before they were both in my room and encouraging me to get out of bed. It wasn't even 6:30 am. I finally got up and cooked breakfast, which we enjoyed on the front porch. Then Scott was off and organizing his belongings in preparation of the last leg of this portion of his trip. I found myself comfortable on the couch and continued reading The Book Thief, which I was enjoying. It's written from the perspective of Death, which is unusual and interesting. Definitely bawled over the ending though if anyone else is interested in reading it.
     About an hour or so later Scott grabbed his Kindle and also settled on a book. The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes. We'd taken a two and half hour nap. Very typical of a gray Butare Saturday. We got up and decided to run errands, which included grand and exciting things like getting diesel, running to the grocery store, the bakery, picking up some Chinese take out for a lazy dinner since the electricity was going in and out all day, and also getting Scott's flat tire fixed. We suspect that the nail found in the tire was actually picked up in the garage because he wouldn't have gotten very far with a flat on some of the roads on which he'd been driving. We left his ridiculously dirty SUV parked outside of the garage this time around. He had been insisting on not cleaning the truck because he didn't want to appear rich as he crossed borders, which made sense to me. However I forgot to translate this to Charles and Venuste. We settled ourselves on the couch for a quiet evening after taking Rupert for a walk and I set up my mini projector and we watched my favorite movie of all time, Out of Africa.
    Sunday we woke up to an absolutely glistening clean white SUV. Charles probably spent over an hour washing the car. I felt terrible but was quite impressed with the job. Anyway, we did actually have plans for that day. One of the ICU staff nurses was getting married and we had been invited to both the dowry and wedding. We got up, Scott cooked breakfast this time around and my cup of tea just how I like it. Apparently I looked quite nice as I finished getting ready for the big event because according to Scott, I wasn't doing a good job of trying not to come home with a Rwandan husband. In an amusing feat, I rode a moto to Tumba, the neighborhood behind the hospital where many of the staff live, in heels and a dress. Several staff members were in attendance all looking very nice and Scott and I processed in with the groom's family and friends.

CHUB Staff and friends attending to the groom in traditional dress

     Now in many Rwandan celebrations there are 2 things noted by a mzungu. First, is the love for speeches. There are always speeches at a gathering no matter what the occasion and naturally, I will understand roughly every 17th word, if that. The second, is what Julie has termed, "The serving of the Fanta!" Fanta is our soda of choice here (I almost pulled a Julie right there and called it pop) and we have flavors such as Fiesta (my favorite), Citron, or Orange (childhood reminiscing can start now). You can also usually get Coca Cola or Sprite. The soda is always in glass bottles and is always served with a straw, which makes it extra carbonated when you drink it. Soda here is obviously a treat so at every special event, there is the "Serving of the Fanta!" We kind of love it. There is nothing to compare it to in the States. It is served with such gusto and pride and protocol, I just absolutely love it. But of course, try explaining this to an outsider who is traveling from South Africa where you can get absolutely anything under the sun and in plastic bottles too. I don't think Scott really understood what a procedure and big deal this tradition is until he witnessed it. I drank Fiesta (black cherry) and he had a Coca Cola. It was fantastic.

Pre Fanta excitement

Partaking in the Rwanda tradition with gusto!

     One of the nurses sat next to me and tried his best to translate what exactly was happening. While the guest to the left of Scott asked if we were brother and sister. Guess the blue eyes, blonde hair, and pale complexions could have easily lead to that conclusion. Anyway, after much time, gift giving, joking (some of these didn't really translate but others did), discussion  of the cow and "inspection" of said cow by a few of the ICU staff (inspection was not done on site as the bride's family did not host the dowry at their home), the bride finally appeared.

Gift giving from the groom's family to the bride's

She arrives!

She looked lovely and François, looking extremely regal in his suit, could not stop smiling at his bride. It was very nice to see them together.

After accepting and giving more gifts, two men started to sing. They had on hats and essentially togas over their clothes and were carrying walking sticks.

Mahoro translated for me that they represented the cows and it was a poem-song about how great the cows were etc etc. It was quite the performance. Finally, after 4.5 hours, 2 Fantas, and a few drops of rain, the dowry was over.

My HOD, Théogène and I post dowry

     Scott of course was starving even though we made sure to eat a large breakfast and my stomach was getting pretty grumbly too. We took our leave after I made sure to give François his wedding card because we weren't sure if we would go to the ceremony and reception. Halfway up the incredibly long hill from Tumba into town, my moto died. It just stopped. I have no idea why. So off I hopped in my heels and Scott and I ended up walking the rest of the way to the Ice Cream shop for avacado and egg salad chapati sandwiches for lunch. Just as I finished my ice cream dessert it started to pour down rain so we moved inside, enjoyed a beer and eventually wandered up into town. We stopped at the art co-op where I picked and Scott approved some jewelry for his family members and he got a few other items to take home.

Only thing to do when getting caught in
the rain in Rwanda is enjoy a Primus.

     Once home Scott loaded the car with a few things and we played some cards and generally just relaxed before heating up some leftovers for dinner and enjoying some fresh avocado from the garden. Then Scott thought it was a good idea to make lemon meringue pie. He had a jar of lemon curd, which I love and he insisted that all we needed to do was put it in a crust. While curd isn't the exact filling for the pie we made it work and the meringue didn't turn out too poorly either. Vanessa expressed her doubts first as she watched the two of us completely make up the entire recipe, from the crust to the filling to the meringue. It wasn't long after that we all had our doubts. However, it turned out pretty well  in the end and at the very least was extremely edible.

     Scott had experienced a weekend away and a true Butare weekend during his time in Rwanda and I think overall was very pleased to not have to drive anywhere. The only thing I wish we'd done was take a long walk down to the rice paddies because it is so beautiful. Monday morning I heard Scott get up about 4:30 am. After about 30 minutes when I heard him in the kitchen I got up to say goodbye. He finished wolfing down the cornflakes and yogurt in his bowl, grabbed his keys, and was ready to go. I think in his mind he'd been idle long enough and I could tell he was excited to get back on the road. We had debated the day before, which road he should take north to the Uganda border and I think my suggestion ultimately won due to the lack of police on that road. He gave me a big hug and a quick kiss goodbye, plugged in the coordinates to his GPS, and was off just after 5 am.

Monday afternoon when I returned from work and it was daylight I couldn't help but laugh at the rectangle of dirt left in the driveway from where his car had been parked and washed.

The remains

Scott reached the border just after 10 am, Nairobi this past Saturday and flew home for a month to the States Sunday night. And thus concludes me and Scott's South & East African Adventures.

Lessons Learned:

1) There is nothing wrong with a quiet, boring weekend.

2) Sleeping in is a thing to be cherished.

3) Just because you might be particular, doesn't mean someone else might not get it right. I need to let go of some of my Type A control issues and realize that some people can make as good a cup of tea as I can.

Day 270

As I sit here in my office practically 10,000 miles away I sometimes seriously wonder why I ever left San Francisco. I had accepted a great new job, an awesome housing situation, incredible friends, could go sailing any day I had off, and was dating a great guy. I must have swallowed the crazy pills the day I agreed to leave. But who am I kidding? It's not as though life would be any less complicated had I stayed. But some days, you just can't help but wonder, "what if?"

Melody's Departure

     International Nurses Day ended with a farewell dinner for Melody and Stewart. After three years of extremely hard work our pillars of Butare left us. It was very sad. Melody's contract is over at the end of this month, but because she had some vacation time and they were flying the dogs home (airline rules dictate when dogs can fly) so they left last Thursday.
     Dinner was classic Rwandan buffet and delicious. It was full of speeches and gifts and love. We nurses got together and gave them a gift certificate to Pet Smart knowing that it would go to good use. I am so excited for their new adventure back home in Wisconsin and can't wait to hear updates about the new house that they are building, but I can't help but be sad. Julie and I are at a lost in our office without Melody. She and Steph were our saving graces upon our arrival here in Butare. I would not have survived without either one of them.

Lessons Learned:
1) No matter the distance kindred spirits are always there for you when you need them.
2) As people start to depart, we are going to start inheriting a lot of things (ie- Melody and Stewart's entire kitchen)

International Nurses Day

     International Nurses Day is celebrated on May 12th every year. The International Council of Nurses (INC) releases a theme, this year was Nurses: A Force for Change, Care Effective/Cost Effective. It was a good theme to support here at CHUB.

Every day the nurses indicate that they don't feel valued in their profession. In many ways, I agree with them. They are overworked and underpaid. However, as Julie and I often point out to them, if they want to be valued, they need to prove their worth. Taking a 2 hour lunch break on top of a tea break during their 8 hour (Internal Medicine) or 12 hour (ICU) shift, napping on nights, leaving nursing students (many who are licensed nurses and upgrading their degree) alone with the patients, doesn't exactly scream, "I'm taking full responsibility of my position." But true to any double edge sword, why would they work harder when they aren't appreciated.

     This has made our jobs very difficult because it's almost impossible to motivate staff to make changes and about 99% of the time I don't blame them. This year thanks to Medie, we decided to make a big deal out of nurses day. She had this great idea to have the staff and students write on prayer flags why they became a nurse or wanted to be a nurse or what they enjoyed about nursing etc etc. Julie and I were extremely skeptical of this task, not going to lie. But the staff actually got really into it and once Medie had them all strung and hung it looked quite nice in the main breezeway of the hospital.

Alice, Dialysis RN using extra prayer
flags to perform a cheer :)

Medie's flag

Julie and her flag

Main breezeway with all the flags hanging

     Our physician colleagues really encouraged the days celebrations by explicitly thanks nurses and wishing them happy nurses day, which was really great to see. I think this alone helped the nurses take a little more pride in their work. The Matrons and In-Charges wanted to provide some community service so in the morning there were free blood pressure and BMI screenings for the community. Finally, the four HRH Nurses (Melody, Julie, Medie and I) hosted a lunch at the nuns convent right next to the hospital for all the nursing staff. It was a great day. We had 140 people come for lunch, which was just over half of all staff nurses at CHUB.

Blood pressure screening

BMI advice

     Julie really got the Rwandans to change how they thought about Nurses Day. She really stressed to them that this day was celebrating them as nurses, not as managers or in-charges or anything else, but nurses. And furthermore, it was not about the doctors! I think overall the staff enjoyed the celebration. The rest of the week I had nurses that I had never met before coming up to me and thanking me for the lunch, which was extremely nice. It made us all feel very much appreciated, which is incredibly nice.

Speeches before lunch

Melody tearing up as Naasson, our DON thanked
 her for all her work over the last three years.

Our trusty lunch server at the nuns

     Finally, we had a little party for the students Tuesday afternoon to celebrate nurses day. It was one of the school's last days as well so we gave them Fanta and samosas and then agreed to lots and lots of pictures. The students tend to act like the paparazzi with all the photographs taken and I seriously don't think I've ever been photographed so much in my entire life. But it was fun to laugh with them and take the photos after we did a little bit of learning. All in all, it was a really good and successful day.

The student paparazzi

Lessons Learned:

1) Even if you don't feel it every day (or even every month) we really are appreciated for all we do here.

2) The students that drive me crazy sometimes with all their incessant talking during their teaching sessions, actually enjoy their time spent with us.

3) Even when you doubt a technique or activity or idea, it's always worth giving it a shot, because you can be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Alone

     Somedays it is very hard not to feel alone in Africa. I live in the most densely populated country on this massive continent and yet have never felt so alone. I crave to be around people who have known me for years and who understand me, even without me saying a word to them.

Kibuye Weekend

     Scott and I decided to have an adventure his first weekend here in Rwanda. I desperately attempted to borrow a car for the weekend but unfortunately I wasn't able to so our adventure included a lot of Rwandan busses. However, seeing how the roads here in Rwanda are so developed, it didn't take us too much more time to reach our destination than if we'd driven ourselves.

     Saturday about lunch time we headed off for Kibuye. Kibuye is a small town on Lake Kivu. I had seen the lake from Goma when I climbed Mt. Niryagongo at the end of January and it was beautiful. But this time we were going just to hang on the lake. The good news is that as we went on our way Scott and I both were able to keep our tendency for car sickness under control. We had beautiful weather on our way to Muhanga, where we switched busses. I told Scott that I thought Crayola had come to Rwanda when they were developing all their shades of green. There are just so many as you look out the windows of the bus. From dark jungle green to silvery shades, to the bright yellow-greens; I just love it.

     Once in Kibuye we by accident hopped off one stop early (this was all my fault) but grabbed two motos to our hotel. It was about a 15-20 minute ride, which I loved. I have really embraced the motorcycle passenger lifestyle. It's just so much fun. And being mzungu they never go too fast for me. Not exactly the safest mode of transport in the world, but you only live once, right?

Scott's moto behind mine coming down
the hill into Kibuye

As we came down the last hill to our hotel I was stunned. The view was absolutely gorgeous. We hopped off the motos and I smiled at the surprised looks of both visitors and staff. The manager wasn't at reception so the staff took us down to the deck and offered us beer. Naturally, we accepted. We were also hungry so we went ahead and ordered either an extremely late lunch or very early dinner. Though true to Rwandan fashion the food took a little time to come out. Fortunately, I never exposed Scott to the 2 hour wait for food that is possible here.

Cheers!

     Scott and I both snapped a bunch of photos as the sun set over the DRC. We were eventually joined by a few Europeans who work in Kigali for all sorts of organizations and we enjoyed a few laughs before we finally were shown to our hut. Our hut was cute, small, and had an amazing view. It also only had half a door to the bathroom. Interesting design choice. We settled in, lowered the mosquito nets around the bed as it was the bewitching hour and snapped a few more photos of the glass looking lake. The fishermen actually fish all night with light, which according to Scott is illegal in the States (I had no clue, but it makes sense) and they were headed out to start their nights work.

We went back down to the main deck and enjoyed lively conversation with the group until finally about 9 pm we called it quits. We did walk down to the lake shore before making the climb back to our room. I was happy to go to sleep early and the bed was so comfortable that I snuggled right in and fell asleep. It had been an incredibly relaxing afternoon and evening.

     In the morning, we were able to see more clearly that the fishing boats were all connected. We determined that they place the nets between the boats on the poles that are at the bow and stern. All night we were able to see lanterns dotting the lake and occasionally, we heard singing. The voices drifted over the water beautifully. There was a lot of singing at dawn as the sun slowly rose to the east, which indicated that the catch of the night had been good.

     Scott had managed to ask the group that we'd spent the evening what their plans were for the following day. We were invited/asked to join them on their boat trip out to Napoleon's Hat Island for a hike. Napoleon's Hat got it's name because of the shape of the island. And true to form, from a distance, it really did look like an old 1800's hat with points at both ends. It is about a 30 minute ride from our hotel and we truly had the most perfect weather for the day trip.

Approaching Napoleon's Hat Island

     The draw to Napoleon's Hat Island is that it is the home to thousands upon thousands of fruit bats. Back in September one morning at home the Three Musketeers (Vanessa, Julie, and I) witnessed a large amount of fruit bats flying around one Sunday morning while we enjoyed some breakfast on the porch. Napoleon's Hat put that hoard to shame. There were thousands upon thousands of them flying around in broad daylight, screeching and making all sorts of ruckus. Our boat guide went up into the forest and started clapping his hands to make them fly and did they ever.

We continued our hike up the hill and were feet from many of them. It was absolutely crazy. I know that many bats don't have good vision or are blind, but I'm thinking that fruit bats are one of the species that actually do have good vision because as we were going through the brush they definitely were looking right at us.

Fruit bats!

     The view from the top of Napoleon's Hat was unbelievable. We could see for miles. It was the absolutely most perfect day. We all made it to the top in one piece and enjoyed a few laughs and the spectacular views. It was as though we were on top of the world it was so beautiful. The water sparkled in different shades of blue and green and the sky was reflecting the brilliant colors of the water while large marshmallow clouds floated by.

Hiking to the top and feeling as though we were at the top of the world

The gang at the summit

     We eventually hiked down the other side of the island and jumped back into our wooden boat. The next stop was Amahoro (Peace) Island. This was the island that use to have a great camp, which has since been abandoned. It still makes for good swimming though. There is a little "bridge" of rock that connects the two sections of the island and since we discovered cows on one section we decided to switch to the other side. Scott decided that he would walk across the bridge and did so without slipping on the rocks. I probably would have wiped out. Apparently, cows swim (who knew) and that's how they managed to get out to this island. I was impressed. I guess I had never thought about cows swimming, but then again, other animals with skinny legs and big bodies swim, so why not cows? We spent a lovely 30-40 minutes swimming in the lake and catching some rays before we decided to head back to Rwiza Village.

Scott crossing the "bridge"

Rwiza Village from the water

     It was decided that by now, we were all hungry we would regroup and meet at Cormoran Lodge for lunch. As luck would have it, that is where Scott and I were planning on spending our second night in Kibuye. All of the HRHers have talked about it and said that we had to stay there, but by the time Scott knew exactly when he'd be arriving I wasn't able to make a reservation for both nights. So we stayed at two places. We checked out and then hopped motos for the 15 minute ride over to Cormoran. And boy was it a ride. The road leading up to the lodge was rather rocky and a bumpy ride. Not to mention there were hills with massive ruts that were difficult to avoid. Apparently, Scott ended up getting off his moto at one point and walking up one of the hills. I got the better driver and was fine. We arrived at Cormoran at 2 pm and checked in immediately. I swear they gave us the largest room they have. It was fabulous. The lodge was very different from Rwiza Village. It is located on a protected cove unlike Rwiza, which has a vast view of the lake, and according to Scott's engineering eyes, the Cormoran actually took some thought and planning when being built. There was a sandy area with nice umbrellas, several kayaks, and a dock leading into the water.

Room #1: On the right above the kayak storage

     We met the group back at the main house where we enjoyed a great albeit late lunch. A few drinks and a long meal later our new friends departed to head back to Kigali. Scott and I wandered back to our fortress and changed into our suits. By the time I made it down to the water he was already in and we had a nice time, despite Scott's slight paranoia that there may be crocodiles in the lake (there aren't). After showers and respective phone calls to our mothers to wish them Happy Mother's Day, I read on the deck while Scott took a snooze. Eventually, we walked back to the main house for dinner, where we became pretty convinced that we were on another couple's honeymoon. I don't think I've seen so much PDA since I moved here. It honestly surprised me. We made a few inquires about Scott taking a boat to Gisenyi the following day to continue his adventure, but unfortunately, the boat only ran on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Cormoran Lodge

     The quiet evening lead to another night of peaceful sleep, though I am convinced the bed was better at our first hotel. The next morning we were both up at sunrise and after a continental breakfast we decided to take one last dip in the lake before we left. It was cool that morning and we both sat on the end of the dock with our feet silently creating ripples over the glass water, enjoying the view, listening to the fishermen sing about their good catch of the night, and just being. Eventually, we got in and finally it was time to call the motos and head back to the reality of work for me, and for Scott to continue his trip.

We got extremely good at getting the best seats on the bus

     As it turns out, it was a good thing we left the lodge when we did because of course, despite being told by multiple people I could put Scott on a bus from Kibuye to Gisenyi, in reality I couldn't. So back to Muhanga he came with me. About 30 minutes from Muhanga our bus got a flat tire. That was definitely a first for me. But fortunately, our bus was actually carrying a spare and about 15-20 minutes later we were continuing our journey.

Scott inspecting the rock jack used to elevate the bus.

     Once we were back in Muhanga the first task was getting Scott on the bus to Gisenyi. I was estimating in my head that it would take a least 4 hours and that was if it went direct to Gisenyi and didn't stop in Musanze. Turns out the estimate given to us was 4.5 hours and the reality was actually 5 hours. I felt terrible when I found out how long it had taken. The consolation was that it is a beautiful drive. Anyhoo, Scott picked a good seat on the bus, I settled his ticket and then ran to grab him a few snacks from a store. He insisted that he was fine, but I'm guessing when he didn't get off the bus until 5:45 that night he was glad he'd had at least a little something. 

Scott's bus from mine in Muhanga

     I hopped my bus back to Butare, where I promptly worked through the night in preparation for International Nurses Day the following day. I started to get a little nervous when by 5:30 pm I still hadn't heard from Scott and was kicking myself for having forgotten my airtime to re-load my modem. I finally heard from him about 6:30 pm. He was safely in the DRC... yep, with 15 minutes to go he crossed the border and I immediately had flashbacks to my crazy border crossing back in early February. It turns out that it worked in his favor though. Scott had left his yellow fever card at my house and since everyone wanted to go home, they didn't check for it. He was safe and sound in his sixth country in 2.5 weeks. The following day he was going gorilla trekking followed by hiking Mt. Niryagongo while I needed to work. All in all, it was a most excellent weekend adventure even despite all the bus time.

Lessons Learned:

1) The weekends become much more relaxing when you don't plan them. Plans get screwed up, better to just not have one from the start... or at least a very loose plan.

2) Life is more fun when you have a friend to go exploring with you.