Monthly Montage: Our First Month in Kigali

We have officially been in Kigali for 38 days and I am aware that is my first "in country" blog post. All I have to say for myself is that I am on Africa time. What can I say?  I make lifestyle adjustments quickly. Here is my montage of thoughts regarding the first month that I thought you might like to know.

#iliveinaplacewherefirtreesandcactusreside

My first impression of Kigali- this wasn't what I was expecting. Kigali is the cleanest third world city I have ever been in. The entire country seems to be organized. Store fronts are beautiful manicured, and there is no trash on the street. Did you hear me? There is NO trash on the street. Pretty impressive for such a densely populated area. In fact, the last Saturday of every month is the community cleanup day and Rwandans who do not participate are charged a fee. Oh, did I mention that plastic bags are illegal in this country?  I suppose I should give up ziplocks but I'm claiming diplomatic immunity.

The weather is perfect. The sun comes up at six and sets at six. It is eighty degrees during the day and sixty degrees at night. Right now we are in the dry season, the only downside is the dust. It's like living in west Texas without the heat. But I've already been sunburned twice thanks to living on the equator. SPF 30 simply isn't cutting it.

Breathing is a problem. If you want to know what it's like to suffocate then do the 4th week of the Insanity workout upon your first week of arriving. Needless to say- I started back on week one.

The one click purchasing button on Amazon is evil and I love American peanut butter.

We have a lovely house, which will get a blog post of its own once our personal items arrive and I can actually hang things on the wall. For now, we feel like we are luxury camping as we try to MacGyver cooking dinner with what we have in the welcome kit and the strategic packing of the 200 lbs of air baggage that arrived before our other belongings. We were most happy to see our pillows and our coffee maker.

We have 4.5 bathrooms, and all of our toilets have been angled toward the door. I can only assume this is a feng shui technique to open up our chi. I have always said that having two bathrooms is the secret to a happy marriage. So basically my marriage should be like eating chocolate chip cookie dough and riding a vespa for the next two years. 

The trick to not going crazy when you first arrive at post and you don't have a car or internet is to keep yourself busy. So, I gave myself a list of projects. The first one is learn video. I haven't gotten to the second one. But I am working on two very cool video projects and an extra special multimedia project at the moment. I also hope to make a video about our first few months in Kigali so stay tuned!

I have read 12 books since arriving at post. In one, I learned about my Archetypes. Let's say that some were more flattering then others, but I gained some interesting insight about myself. 

That handsome man of mine is working some crazy hours and doing amazing things as usual. We're working on finding him a hobby and through discussions and delicious tastings with some new friends, I think beer brewing is top on the list. Frankly, I think it's strategic when your hobby-of-choice can actually support your sport-of-choice. But maybe that's just me.

Dom recently visited Gisenyi at the border with Goma. He enjoyed a five star stay at the Serena. He made sure to call and rub it in. One of his Rwandan work colleagues asked him if he'd like him to pick up some veggies from the market for him as you can get them for a better deal outside of the city. Dom told him, "Sure. Get me whatever you are getting." Dom arrived home with a 50 lb bag of veggies. It took us two days to clean all the veggies. I also learned alot about what you can make with 50 lb bags of veggies. This is what $18 buys you in the Rwandan countryside. 

That sums up the first 5 minutes of our tour! We love you! We miss you! Come visit soon!