A moment to breath

I have a spare moment to reflect! I have been moving at such a rapid pace that I haven't had a moment to reflect on my experience here. I was talking with John on the phone (a rare occasion!) and he asked me how I was doing and to be honest -- I didn't even know how to respond! My role here is fulfilling, and I'm glad I'm in a situation where I am stretched. My role involves a lot of counseling -- and I'm trying to help my co-workers think strategically and learn basic concepts like planning ahead for the day. Or planning to be on time for an event. I just don't like to be the one to shake people out of their culture -- what I loved about my time in Kenya was that my role was to assimilate to theirs and influence them on their level. It's really different here because Kigali is turning into a competitive city with fast-paced expectations, and so to become a robust and influential non-profit I actually do need to help them increase their expectations but I can't help feeling like a bad guy sometimes when it directly conflicts with what their culture tells them. I just don't like being "that" person. I am however, learning the delicate balance between shedding some cultural norms and tightly holding onto other ones. For example, taking breaks in the day to stop work completely to share a meal with community what we do every day at the office -- much more important than working through lunch staring at your computer trying to squeeze in as much work as possible. It's healthier for the soul and helps you keep perspective on the importance of your work and what's truly urgent.

Anyway, one good thing and one bad thing happened today. I'll start with the bad.
1) Cockroach infestation: Okay so they've been all over but I neer realized how badly till we fumigated the house. I come home in the evening to see HUNDREDS and I mean HUNDREDS of cockroaches doing a mass exodus out of the house struggling to survive but yet dying from the fumes. So most of them are dead, and the chemical smell is bad so I'm sitting on the porche with insect killer at my right side spritzing to death any survivors that wander by my feet. And these suckers are HUGE by the way. one crawled over my foot and I alsmot fell over from the fear.

2) Good news. WIRELESS INTERNET IN THE HOUSE! Ok so every day I end work at 5 and go straight to an internet cafe for about three hours to do work -- communications details, email photos to colleagues, research, etc. It's exhausting! But now we have it in the house and it is going to make my work pressures much less. AND I can skype now with people. My skype name is rachelweber1. I have a camera so you guys can see my face, which might be expanding from the ever-unavoidable carb-loading that takes place in Rwanda.

Okay everyone -- hope to hear from some friends on how you are doing. I miss you all!

Love,
Rachel