My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the tii-iime

To begin, I sincerely apologize for the 2+ week vacation I've taken since my last blog update. I know my 2 fans (hi mom and dad!) aren't pleased.

Things have been crazy crazy here, and it seems like I've scarcely had time to catch my breath! School has been going well, and little by little, wouldn't you know it – I'm starting to form a social life! Who'd have thunk it?! IT was difficult the first month or so, because I only knew/hung out with the other KICS teachers, and since I live with 3 of them, my social circle seemed a teensy bit confined. Fortunately for me, though, they are simply EXTRAORDINARY people, namely my 3 darling roommates. We are quite the eclectic bunch, but that makes it fun. We've got each of the US regions covered, with me from the Northwest , one from the East (New Hampshire, youse guys), one from the South (Georgia, y'all), and one from the Midwest (Minnesota, donchaknow). It's fantastic, and I love learning about where everyone's from and different backgrounds, etc.

The teachers are absolutely lovely, and I wouldn't trade 'em for the world, but I must admit, that it does get hard when we basically eat, drink, think, live, and speak school constantly. We have to remind ourselves that there IS a world outside KICS, and we are allowed to experience it. So, we've taken to getting involved in our own “extra-curriculars” (speaking of which, somehow I got signed up to sponser the after-school drama club?!?! HA, that'll be a whole 'notha blog...)

We've been able to meet people through church, and mutual friends here, but one of the most exciting things about this country is that it really takes nothing – no initiation, prior contact, etc.- to make friends. For instance, this past weekend, one of my roommates and I were on our way to this coffee shop we had just discovered to work on stuff and use their internet, etc. Our house is about a 10 minute walk on dirt roads to get to a main road where we could catch any form of transportation. It gets dark here right at 6pm, so since we didn't leave till after that, it was pretty dark on our way to the street. We were almost to the main road, when a car coming the opposite direction pulled up, and a man asked us where we were going. We thought it might have been a taxi, but it turned out to be one of our neighbors we hadn't met yet. He offered to help us, to take us to a place were could catch a bus. He was a with a woman in the front seat, whom he introduced as his “honey”. After that precious intro, we couldn't resist his generous offer (I realize as I type this how shady it sounds, but it really wasn't!). So we got in, and he began gushing about how much he loved his “honey”, whose name was Tati, and how beautiful she was. He even reached over and turned on the car light so we could see her! It was probably the most adorable thing I've ever witnessed. He told us they were getting married on October 19th, and would be so honored if we would come! All within 10 minutes! He kept gushing about how happy he was to be married to her, and how wonderful the wedding would be, and that we just couldn't miss it. Of course, without any hesitation whatsoever, we accepted. They even had invitations in the car to give us! They were very, very insistent that we remember to come, and not forget. Weddings here are a pretty big deal – all day events with lots of customary Rwandan traditions, including dowry ceremonies and traditional dancing, etc. Back in the states, this sort of thing just wouldn't happen. First of all, pulling over on a dirt road and offering to help total strangers, secondly, the overflow of just adorable emotion over a loved one, and thirdly, extending a wedding invitation to literally every person you know, or meet on the street. Don't you love it?!? So to sum up, you know where I'll be on October 19^th!

Besides attending weddings of semi-strangers I meet on dirt roads, I've found quite a lot of other things to do here/get involved with. The expatriate community is pretty tight here, and very welcoming, so there is always something to do in that arena. Every Sunday night, a guy from northern Ireland holds an “indie movie night” at his house that a lot of people go to. There is also an ex-pat ladies bible study on Tuesdays, and on Wednesday's there's an open worship service at the KICS' headmaster's house that many Rwandans go to, which is the source for almost all my new friends. On Thursday's there are free salsa dancing lessons/salsa dancing practice at a restaurant in town, and I've gone the past couple weeks, which has been super fun. Somehow school and work fits in there somewhere too. Weekends fill up really fast as well, and the time is already FLYING by. When you finally save up your pennies and come visit me, we'll have plenty of places to go and visit and things to do – don't you worry.

So I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!! God bless!!

Also, what in world is “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”? How is that the #1 movie in America right now? And apparently Britney's back and better than ever?

What's happened, America?!