For The Longest Time

Yikes. This blog has suuuuure gone by the wayside over the past few months! And I might feel bad about this, if not for the fact that I have been in direct company with, what I thought was, my entire reading audience. Actually, being back in the states has allowed me to become more aware that I do have more of a following than I've been aware. That's exciting :) Granted, it's one person. But still that's a 50% increase... Not bad in times of a recession, right?

K, so I've got lots to cover. I noticed that all my bloggin buds had updated their blogs recently, also after a long sabbatical, so I figured I'd follow suit. The last entry was in March or April or something, and quite a lot has happened since then. If you weren't aware, I am currently back in the states, BUT not for too much longer. Read on for further details. I will begin this blong (get it? Blog + long because this one's gonna be a novel) with some of the immediate happenings that followed the last entry. Here goes.

The last month or so of school was a complete whirlwind. It's hard to recall now exactly all the goings-ons of the final weeks, but they were great. The kids were fantastic straight up to the end, finishing off different projects and preparing to embark on the soon-to-be new chapter of their lives - Jr. High. Yup, 5^th grade at KICS is middle school, so it's a huge transition. I organized a Jr. High shadow day for them so they could have a bitty taste of what it would be like, and the differences between primary and secondary school. It was such a great year, and even though my exhaustion level reached an all time high, it was definitely a bittersweet ending. I just simply had the best class imaginable, and had more fun with them than I thought would be possible. My younger sister was able to come visit as well, which was just so much fun for me and her and the kiddos. I was able to take a few days off of work to show her around, and we even went to Kampala for the weekend, which was also an incredible delight. A lovely end to a lovely year.

SIDENOTE: Despite having quite the chaotic schedule the last few months of the school year, I was able to make room for one rather fun extra-curricular activity... The country of Rwanda is making a grand shift towards adopting English as a national language and using it in a myriad of outlets. One of these outlets is radio, which has called for a need for English speaking DJ's. A Rwandan friend of mine who dj's for a local station was telling me about this, and how they wanted him to take on some more shows at the station and DJ in English, but he was too busy. Luckily, he was talking to the right girl. WHO, I ask you, is better qualified to talk in English than yours truly? Exactly. So, he talked to the station manager and after some minor paperwork/show-proposal, waaaa-la, I had my own radio show. Shannon, one of my roomies and fellow teachers, is my co-host for “The Melting Pot”, where we interview “foreigners” of Kigali and how they see the differences in cultures and try to pry some embarrassing stories resulting from cultural mis-communications. It's incredibly fun, and I'll have to share more about it later, cus there are some nice stories to be offered there as well.

Ok, let's move on. I finished up the year with the kiddos, had a fantastical birthday party, shed some tears over a heckuva lot of goodbyes, and came back to the States. It was so great to see the fam and friends again, have some Taco Bell (a lot of Taco Bell), and dependable, running, hot water. I missed everyone so much, and although it was a great year, being away from friends and fam was definitely the hardest part. The plan was to be home for about 2 months, including a couple weeks in Cali to visit friends, then back to Kigali in August to start prepping for another school year. But as we all know, plans don't always go the way we would have plans go...

This next part, I'll try to keep brief, and not overly dramatic (although let's be real – I love to be overly dramatic, so get ready...) Here's what went down. A couple weeks after I got home, I woke up with a radiating pain in my right shoulder/neck area. It kind of felt like some sort of pulled muscle and pinched nerve. My right arm and hand was tingly, like it was about to fall asleep all the time. It wasn't entirely unbearable, but annoying. I went to the chiropractor a couple times, and a massage therapist, but all to no avail. I eventually went to a doctor, who prescribed some steroid meds, under the assumption that it was some sort of inflamed tissue or ruptured disc that needed to “go down”. But after taking the meds, nothing was different. I decided to go in for a 2^nd opinion, and request some x-rays or MRI's, just to make sure. Upon my request, they obliged and scheduled a routine MRI. They said I should be in and out in an hour – hour and a half, tops. This was about the last week of July/1^st week of August, and I would be heading back to Kigali in about 2-3 weeks time. Unfortunately, that was just not how it ended up. They found something a little peculiar – a mysterious mass/spot on my spine, up near my neck. They kept me for more MRI's for a while, then one of the radiologists came out to talk with me. He said they were worried about the spot, and really didn't know what it was. He said I would have to go straight to the ER to see what was up. I called my parents to let them know what was going on, but no one was thinking too much of anything, so I just waited in the ER to hear any type of news. They did some more tests, and eventually had a neurosurgeon come take a look. This is where everything went afoul. The neurosurgeon, Chuck, my soon-to-be close friend, came in to talk with me. He said they didn't know what the spot was, and needed to find out, and soon. If it was something that would grow or be life-threatening, they needed to get in there fast. He said I would have to be admitted to the hospital right away, and would need emergency surgery within 24 hours. He also said that it could be one of two things – a fungal blood infection, or a tumor. Both cases would require some intense treatment, and he said for sure I would not be heading back to Africa when I was planning, nor did he expect for me to be going any time soon - or at all.

Yep. That's what he said.

Needless to say, I felt as if my world had come CRASHING down. Everything had flipped upside down in a minute. I called my parents and had them come to the hospital, figuring I wasn't quite in my right mind and might need some help making sense of it all. Eventually, they moved me to the main hospital, and said they would be prepping me for surgery all day the next day, and I would be having surgery early the following morning. To oversimplify – it was really scary. It was all really sudden and fast and everything was just askew. Yet, despite all that – I knew I was covered in prayer. And that part was just incomparable. Really.

So, I had the surgery, and was in the hospital for another 2 days in recovery before I went home. They removed about 2/3 of whatever-it-was, but the last 1/3 was pretty small, and right on the spinal cord, so removing it was gonna be too risky. So there it stayed. They were going to do tests on the part they did remove, try to figure out what it was, decide on treatment, and let me know what my life would entail in the following months. Unfortunately, this process sure did take a hot second. And I mean REALLY. They thought they would know in a matter of days, but this turned into weeks. Like I said before, it was either a blood infection or a tumor. We were really gunning for the blood infection, because the treatment for that would just be to take some antibiotics for about 6 weeks, and that would be that. The tumor would require more extensive treatment, namely chemo and radiation. But again, things weren't quite what we were hoping for. I decided to start praying boldly. The first day of school was Sept. 14, about 6 weeks from that point. I felt really strongly that I would like to be back in Kigali to start the school year off with my students, as the beginning of the year is SO important for building a classroom community. Alas, this was not the tune Chuck was singin'. He was saying that it would likely be much more time than that before I'd be OK to leave the country, but wouldn't give me a time frame, since they still didn't know what the surprise mass was. They finally figured out that it was indeed a tumor, which was a bummer, BUT thankfully they discovered it was benign (no cancer!). SO, now they just needed to figure out what TYPE of tumor it was, so they could figure out treatment and when I could get back to work in Kigali (Yeah, I know, who knew there was more than one type of tumor? Either it's a tumor or not, right? Wrong.). About a week and a half later, they found out it was a disease called Myofibroma. Apparently, it's super rare. They had to send it some docs at Harvard Med before they came up with a diagnosis. There are a few documented cases of infants with it, but, get this – only ONE other case of it in an adult on the spine (some gal in New Zealand, apparently). So upside – I get to be in medical journals and stuff. But downside – they don't really know how to treat it. Which is a big downside. They said there were 3 options: 1)Radiation – not recommended, according to Chuck. No real indication that it would work, so that one was pretty immediately ruled out. 2)Surgery – also not recommended. What's left of the tumor is small, and right on the spinal cord, and any further surgery would prove to be really complicated and risky and involve bone marrow fusion or something that sounds gross. Anyways, again – no go. Which brings us to 3) Waiting. And this is what we're gonna do. We gon' wait. Which is kind of annoying, solely because I still have all the same symptoms I did before, BUUUUUUT the best news is, that whilst waiting, I get to head back to Rwanda!! I will have to return at Christmas for more MRI's and check-up's and what not, but the part to focus on is, for the time-being, I get to go back!!! We're still kind of in the middle of this saga, but God is good, and I trust Him. It's hard, and some days I do better than other days, but for now – it's all good :)

So, in just about a weeks' time, I'm on my way back to Kigali! I won't be teaching at KICS this year, but I will be at another school in Kigali. A brand new one called the International School of Kigali (ISK), which will be in it's first year. Almost all of the teachers at ISK were ones I was fortunate enough to teach with last year, and we're under the same headmaster as well! I'm REALLY exciting about being involved in the opening/start of a new school. This is actually what I dream of doing in the future, and am totes magotes stoked about being able to experience it first hand. I can't wait to be back in Rwanda, and although this year has a lot of new aspects (new school, new house, new roomies, etc.), it's a place I love and am anxiously awaiting my year to start there.

So, this is officially the longest blog ever written in the history of blogs... Again, it's a blong. Kudos to you if you finished though. I must say, I'm impressed.

Summer hasn't been too bad, either :)

...'cept for that whole tumor incident, I guess.

Time is on my side (yes it is)

I suppose it's the time again... After an almost 3 month sabbatical, I've returned to my blog. Now, if more than the two of you (hey there parents!) read this, I'd feel bad. But since I've already told you both anything I'm writing here, my guilt is pretty much non-existent.

So, actually, the main reason I'm writing this right now, is because I've suddenly been placed with an extended period of time on my hands. Not by choice, mind you. It seems that my time has come, as I've known it would, to be plagued with an illness that only Africa can bestow. Well, not only Africa, but this type of thing is more common here than back in the States, so I'm attributing my feelings of crapiness to that. Anyhow, yesterday morning I woke up with some hardcore stomach cramps, which gave way to about 9 straight hours of... regurgitation (used the thesaurus for the least disgusting word possible). I went to the doctor in the afternoon, and after some blood tests, I was diagnosed with a fairly severe intestinal infection, and possibility of an amoeba. He gave me some hefty meds and I've pretty much been in bed ever since. Every so often I'll get a spurt of energy and be able to sit up for a while or walk around the house for a minute (keeled over the entire time, but hey – walking is walking), thus my attempts at another blog entry. Hopefully this pesky sickness o' mine will be done with by Monday, as I've already missed two days of work :(

And subsequently, and even more unfortunately, it also forced me to miss the final show of the high school drama production I've been co-directing. Yup, Thursday night was the last presentation of KICS drama presents Thornton Wilder's “The Matchmaker”. The kids have done splendidly, and I couldn't have been prouder :) If it hadn't been past the fact, I'd highly recommend purchasing a ticket down here ASAP to behold the masterpiece on stage in person. Once in a lifetime, ladies and gentlemen, once in a lifetime.

Quite a bit has been going on here, as always, but I'm not sure if much of it's “blog-worthy”.

School's going great, the kids are a hoot (that's them to the right on picture day), and save my current health concerns, life is just altogether peachy!

 About a month ago, one of my friends/roomies/fellow teachers and I went to Burundi to meet up with some other friends that were already there. Burundi, one of Rwanda's neighbors, is just about as small as she is, and also at about the same level of development. We went to Bujumbura, the capital city, which is right on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The place we stayed at was right on the beach and simply gorgeous! I must admit that at first, I wasn't so sure what exactly Buju (as the locals call it - or just me... hard to be sure..)had going for it, but golly gee, that lake was amazing!! AND apparently home to one of the world's largest and most elusive crocodiles, Gustav. No firsthand encounters there though, luckily.  

A couple weekends after that trip to Burundi, a group of us decided to take a mini-road trip outside the city to a town called Kibuye, about 2 ½ hours out of Kigali, and right on Lake Kivu, the lake that borders

 Rwanda and DRC. But wouldn't ya know it? The gods of travel and fate apparently wanted us back in Burundi, because that's where we ended up. Can you imagine how embarrassing it is to think you're going to one place, and almost 3 hours later realize that you are not in fact in the intended direction, and even more so, are in a completely different COUNTRY? Now, how often has that happened to you? Exactly. Well, after a 2 ½ hour car ride turned into 7 hours, we were all too ready for a relaxing weekend at the lake. Which is exactly what we ran into. :) The lake was beautiful and so peaceful, as was the village that surrounds it. We even took a boat ride out to a couple of the islands on the lake. The first was called “Bat Island”, and if you can surmise where this name comes from, you can imagine what we encountered there. Literally thousands and thousands of bats were on this island. We jumped onshore, our boat guide clapped his hands a couple times, and all of a sudden, bats were swarming overhead.

 I've never seen anything like it, and if you had asked me at any moment before this trip if I'd ever like to see such a thing, my answer without hesitation would have been a firm no. But those rats with wings were quite the sight.  After Bat Island, we went to another island, the name of which I forget. But this island is totally that type of island where aspiring novelists and freshly graduated transients dream of spending a year in isolation. Gorgeous and secluded and seemingly untouched by many aspects of modern civilization. Except for, of course, a shack-turned-into-bar, a few tables with shade umbrellas, and one house for the sole “native” family to dwell in whilst accommodating travelers. Complete with a wooden swing, and friendly monkey, this island was also incredible and a perfect place to read and chill and soak in the sun (I have just re-read the last bit I just wrote, and I'm pretty sure someone should hire me to write travel brochures or ads or something. If you are in a related field, feel free to contact me with job offers). Altogether a marvelous weekend, and if nothing else, made for a blog filler :)

Plenty has been going on, and I'm certain will be continuing to go on. Week after next is our Spring Break, and I'm Uganda-bound once more. I'll do my best to keep this little guy up to date a bit more, since I know you both have work picking up, and hey, it's hard to find a good time to call sometimes, right? Well I love you all and if anyone else happens to be reading this by accident, I'd love to hear from you as well :) Peace!

PS – In case you were concerned, the fact that you are reading this blog online means that I've become well enough to actually leave my bed, find a place with internet, and sit up long enough to post it. Things are looking up, baby!

Faaaameee..... I'm gonna live foreverrrr

Quick story that I know you'll be interested in...

So there's this coffee shop/restaurant I go to alllll the time because they have good wireless and hot chocolate. To offer an example of how often I'm there, I've become very good friends with most of the staff, and they usually anticipate my whim once I arrive (“Kay-deeeeee, Fanta orange?). Well, about a month or so ago, I went and one of the guys that works there, Starford (great name, eh??), asked for a “favor” of me. Apparently, one of his friends was filming a commercial for “Rwanda Coffee” brand coffee, and wanted to know if I would like to be in it. He said he wanted a “mzungu” or white person in it, to show that Rwandans and mzungus can love the coffee, alike. Never one to pass up an opportunity for fame, I clearly accepted. So for about 2 hours, I was filmed pretending to like coffee and chat it up with some Rwandan friends. My co-stars were actually really cool, and invited me to go to karaoke with them this weekend. It was hilarious, but I was kind of doubtful anything would come of it...

UNTIL

Right before I left for Christmas holiday in Tanzania, one of my “co-stars” (I LOVE saying that), told me the commercial was to be played on Rwandan national television. We don't own a TV, so I had no idea if that would be true or not. Until that night, I started receiving text messages that went soemthing like “I think I just saw you on TV....” or “I just saw your coffee commercial!” A couple days later, we were driving into the downtown area, and there is a large TV screen overlooking an intersection and I looked up to see my own face staring back down at me. Yup, there I was -peering down the roads of Kigali, sipping my Rwanda Coffee. Needless to say, I got a little excited. Apparently, the commercial has been playing a bit over the past week or so, and since I stand out a fair amount here, I'm getting recognized pretty easily. Last night, I was with some friends, and a guy came over who was friends with one of my friends. He sat down and then started talking to my friend in Kinyarwanda, which I couldn't understand. My friend then started laughing and told me that his friend had seen me in the commercial and wanted to know if I was that same girl. So, if that's not a sign of celeb-ri-tay, I don't know what is :)

I knew my life of stardom would start someday, I just didn't know it would be so soon... :)  

So far away... Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?

Embarassing, embarrassing, embarrassing. It's been almost 2 months since this thing was last updated. With valid reason, though. The last month of any semester is always the craziest, and for teachers, this is no exception, AND I've been on Christmas holiday for the past week, so it's just been a crazy whirlwind and it still hasn't really hit me that I've been living in Rwanda for almost 5 months. Yikes.

With Christmas just past, it really has hit me just how INCREDIBLY blessed I am. Just sitting here, thinking about all the many adventures I have to regale my audience of 2 with, it's hitting me again, what a fortunate lass I am. It's unbelievable, really. I know I haven't done a blasted thing to deserve it all, yet – here I am. God is so good and really is hitting me over the head with that simple fact daily.

Okay here goes. Item numero one for discussion: Thanksgiving adventures.

Although this was over a month ago, I realize many of you haven't heard of my about the excursions over Thanksgiving break (that's a lie – both of you have, but maybe I just want to write them out for my own pleasure... there's nothing wrong with that). For our thanksgiving break, my 3 roommates and I took an exotic journey across the border to Uganda. We took a 10 hour bus trip to Kampala, the capital, and then to Jinja, where the source of the Nile river is (yup, THE Nile). There, we went white water rafting down the Nile.

Um, not sure if you heard me – Whitewater RAFTING down the NILE.

It was SO amazing and crazy and scary and amazing. It was a day long excursion and there were actually some ridiculous class 4's AND 5's (that's the worst they get, for those of you that aren't into the sport, like I am...). Our raft flipped while going down one of the rapids, but we made out alive if you were concerned.

After Jinja we went back into Kampala, which if you can believe it, gave us all mild culture shock. Kampala is much more westernized than Kigali – complete with a bowling alley, mall annnnnd.... movie theater! We were a bit overwhelmed, but hit them all up and undeniably LOVED the city and Uganda and the trip as a whole.

#2 – KICS life

It's official – 1^st semester as a teacher is complete. It's quite an accomplishment really. There were definitely days (and by days, I mean weeks) when I just thought the end would never come. Some supernatural phenomenon would occur and time would just freeze with me teaching for eternity. Like some weird and pretty boring Twilight Zone episode. It's not that I was having a bad time, in fact it was a blast, but tiring beyond belief. An average amount of sleep was no more than 6 hours per night during the week (less on the weekends... ;) ). Nonetheless, it was a great semester. I know I've said it before, but I was truly blessed with an amazing group of kids. Just hilarious and so much fun. Plus I got a ton of cute Christmas stories out of the last week or so (remind me to tell you about Alex asking me to correct his letter to Santa for him...)

Number Gatatu (3 in Kinyarwanda...) – Christmas expeditions

Well we've just returned from yet another RIDICULOUS vacation, this time we went to Tanzania to see Mt. Kilimanjaro and go on safari. Again, after writing that, I can't believe my life. I feel like somehow, it's all a mistake, and God's going to come to me soon and say “Whoops! Cady, you actually weren't supposed to experience all that, so I'm gonna have to take some of those memories back. Sorry!” I'm not sure why I have been so blessed to be able to have experienced it all, but here I am. So, my roommate Shannon, our friend Liz, and I flew into Moshi, Tanzania on Dec 29^th and BAM – theres Mt. Kili, herself. Su-reeee-al. We stayed

 with some “twice-removed friends” (a friend of a friend of Liz's) who was working with the Amani Childrens' Home, a street kids outreach home that works to reunite street kids with their families. We got to go there for lunch and play and hang out with a few of the kids who were still around during holidays. I fell in love with with a little girl named Zufu, and spend the afternoon pretending we were models and taking pictures. Precious :)

We spent the next couple days in Arusha, a more “touristy” town where most of the safaris take off from. We were supposed to meet up with 2 of my other roomies in Arusha on the 1^st and

 start our safari that day, but since things never quite pan out the way you might expect here. We changed our safari plans and left on the 2^nd. We had the most adorable jolly Tanzania guide, Zachariah, who not to be vain, but was quite smitten with our lovely little group and doted on us throghout the trip. He loved to sing whatever he was thinking, so would always call the animals out to see the “beauuuu-tee-fullll guuuuhls” he had in his car. Just a doll, simply a doll. Even while he was fixing our truck which broke down 4 times (no exaggeration there folks – literally required PUSHING to get it to go, thus we rarely would turn the car off...) Another amazing thing was that we could only afford a 3 day, 2 night safari, while most serious expedition-ers spend about 8 days, and we saw every possible animal out there. They allllll came out and it was amazing! We even broke the rules once and drove up right close to some sleeping lions, who woke up and ran around our car. I'll say it again – it was amazing.

We went on safari in the Ngorongoro crater and in the Serengeti, both some of the most gorgeous places I could possibly imagine. The crater is called the “8^th wonder of the world” and for good reason. It was beautiful and amazing! Right when we got there, we got out to stretch our legs and a big ol' baboon came up. We all got out to take pictures, and that little booger, scooted right past us, swung himself through the open door of our truck, went inside and stole our bananas.  It sounds like I'm making it up, but I've got the pic to prove it!

I have a multitude of other stories to share, but I doubt anyone reads this far, so I'll stop right here. I love and miss you all and would love to hear from you soon! Happy New Year!!!

Let's Stay Together

I am thoroughly sorry for all my loyal fans (mom and dad that's you!) for not updating this thing in a month, and it may be too late to apologize, but I really am sorry.

Well, we have officially just celebrated our 3 month anniversary of African living here in Rwanda. A colleague of mine noted that if we were in a relationship, the 3 month mark would be sort of the “make it or break it” point. We would be deciding if the relationship would be going anywhere, or if it would be worth it to stick around or if we need to “go our separate ways”. Well, since that time is upon us, I have come to decide that I think this “relationship” is indeed a solid one, and well worth the effort. Basically, I think I'll stick around :).

Life here has been flying by. I truly and am loving it more and more each day and am so excited to see what each new day brings (cue the cheezy music as I segue into a song about birds singing in the dawn and the sun brilliantly shining over the hills or something equally as cliché),

Let's start with life in the 4^th grade. First of all, I just need to get it out there that I have the absolute most incredibly fabulous class imaginable. They are hilarious and adorable and so eager to learn. Now, I don't want to be too ridiculous here, because of course there are days when I want to lock them all out of the classroom, or ask the PE teacher to keep them forever instead of just an hour, but I really do enjoy them so much. They are a great and lively bunch that get excited about the nerdy things I get excited about (e.g. class elections, math games, political debates, Holes by Louis Sachar, etc.). They preformed a traditional American square dance routine a couple weekends ago at the KICS International Fall Festival and tore it up! They seriously brought the house down, and were definitely a a crowd favorite. I was so proud. They had only been practicing once a week for about a month, and did so great. We also just had a our first G.O.O.S.E. Day to end our social studies unit on being a good citizen. G.O.O.S.E. was our acronym to remember how to be a good citizen (they Get involved, Obey laws and rules, Outreach and serve, Show respect and concern, and are an Example for others – get it? GOOSE. That's strictly copyrighted by yours truly, by the way). We went all over the school and did mini-service project stuff and helped out teachers and classes wherever they needed. Again, my proudness meter just skyrocketed that day, as the kiddos rose to the challenge. What more could a teacher ask for? :)

Last weekend, to celebrate our monumental 3 month anniversary, some friends and I drove about an hour outside the city to Lake Muhazi. We planned the trip kind of last minute, so we didn't really have a plan of what to do, or even where to go. When we finally go to the lake area, we pulled over at what we presumed was a rest area or restaurant or something of the sort. It actually turned out to be a camp that was being used as a Christan sports camp run by a group of people from Canada. There were about 100 kids from nearby villages that were at this camp and they let us join them as they played musical chairs and dodgeball. Then we joined them in this AMAZING song/dance/worship time. We didn't know hardly any of the songs, of course, as they were all in Kinyarwanda (although I did know one of them from church, and being able to sing along was one of the proudest moments of my life). The kids taught us all these dances to go along with the songs, and let's just say, we all were in need of hydration after that workout. It was by far one of the funnest days I've had here :)

We have school off today – part of the reason I have the time to write in this silly thing. It was kind of an abrupt day off, as we just found out about it yesterday. The reason is a bit lengthy, but I'll give you an abridged version of what I know. Last week, a Rwandan official named Rose Kabuye was arrested on a business trip to Germany. She is kind of a national hero here, as she was key in helping end the genocide in 1994. She was also on a list that the EU put out of suspects whom they thought played a part in the killing of the former Rwandan president in early '94 (his death was one of the biggest acts that was the catalyst for genocide). She was arrested in Germany last week and sent to France today to await trial, I believe. The situation has the people here very upset, and has become a very big deal. Today, there were several peaceful demonstrations and marches planned around the city to protest Rose's arrest. The Rwandan government was encouraging businesses to close for the day so people could protest and march. The US Embassy sent out messages to all registered Americans encouraging us to stay inside today and avoid the marches, so school was canceled for the day – just to be on the safe side. No one is anticipating anything dangerous at all, but it's always good to be on the safe side. I know I would appreciate prayers for this situation, as it affects a lot of things in the government, etc. here. Here is a more comprehensive article if you want to know more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5haUdjw4-6WY87o2iVjPynUtDWGWg  and googling her name will turn up with more results as well.

Next week is our Thanksgiving break, and we're planning on traversing across the border to Uganda. We're hoping to go to Jinja, where the source of the Nile river is to go whitewater rafting, and then a day in Kampala, the capital. Unfortunately, we don't have concrete plans yet, so hopefully everything pulls through and we get to go. Again, another prayer there would be highly appreciated ;).

So to wrap up, looks like I'm ready to commit to this relationship with Africa, and we'll just have to see what God has in store.

Love love love you all!

Cady

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?!

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

So, I have been living in Africa for a month now. Wow, I still have a difficult time buying that sentence. Even though I can scarcely remember a time before I was here in Rwanda, it just isn't possible that it's already been a month! Even though I constantly feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants, school and teaching is racing by. I need to start writing more stuff down, because it all happens so quickly and instantaneously, I can hardly remember it to share with you fine people.

Where we last left off, our amazing African adventurer was amidst her 1^st week of teaching at Kigali International Community School, and somewhere between pulling her own hair out and doing cartwheels down the dusty, yet endearing, Rwandan streets. Life in Africa is quite the emotional roller coaster full of both intense frustrations and exhilarating escapades. After our first week of teaching, my fellow teachers and I were all doubting whether or not we made the correct career choices. Now, I realize the Freedom-Writing-Stand-and-Deliver-Dead-Poet's-Mr. Holland teacher would never doubt their calling, and rise to the challenge and send every student to Harvard within a month, but I am simply being honest with you (we're just that close, I know you won't tell). All of us had such little time to plan and scarcely any of the resources we've become accustomed to, and had such grand visions of the perfect first week of school that we simply could not pull off to the extent we so desired. And without much direction (in the way of textbooks, which are still non-existent) it becomes quite difficult and exhausting to plan meaningful, interesting, non-time wasting,and FUN lessons for those pesky (yet so wonderful) students :) We stayed at school working every evening, well past dark, and would leave our house at quarter to six each morning, determined to be the amazing life changing teachers we know we are.

Now, I don't mean to sound whiny, or that this particular post is a “complaint post”, but just a glimpse into my head as I went through the first week of teaching here in Rwanda. And even though teaching here is ENTIRELY different than teaching back in the states, I know my first week of being a teacher would be just as difficult anywhere. It has been almost 3 full weeks of teaching now, and to be honest, each day has become so much less stressful than the last. I've found my “niche” again, and am really having a ball. My kids are SO much fun, and really keep me on my toes :) I got two new students this week, a boy from Kazakhstan and a girl from Finland (who scarcely speaks a lick of English – good times). The boy, Alexander, was moved up from 3^rd grade into our class this week, and today at lunch I asked him how he is liking 4^th grade. He answered “Oh, I love it. I really, really love it. More than 3^rd grade, I think. You know, because in 4^th grade we work very, very hard. But this makes it more interesting for me.” Well said, Alex, well said. Just what I needed to hear :)

So all in all, it has been an amazing month. This past weekend, we had a 3-day weekend, and my roommates and I were invited to join one of the missionary families, the Jenkins, on a one day trip to Lake Kivu, on the border of Rwanda and Congo. We were a bit hesitant to go, because there is always so much to do, but we ended up all going, and it was AMAZING. I can't even begin to describe to you the beauty of the lake, as well as the Rwandan countryside as we drove up there. Luckily, I don't have to describe it, because you can look at some pictures! I set up a Picasa web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/cmtolon/MyLifeAsAMuzungu#. I recommend you check it out.

Well, I'd love to tell you more about absolutely everything that's been going on here, but I doubt anybody actually reads to the end of these posts, so I won't. Plus, it's 10 pm, and I have to plan what some 4^th graders are going to be doing tomorrow :) Our books still haven't arrived, but I'm having fun with it for now. It's nice not to be bound by silly standards and texts and actually teach applicable and relevant content...

OH, one more quick story – Here in Kigali, one of the quickest (and more importantly, cheapest) ways to get around is by “moto”, which is simply a motorcycle taxi that takes you all over town. The process is simple – you flag one down, tell them where you want to go, haggle over the price and laugh at each other's ridiculous offers (yours are always too low, theirs – too high), slip on the helmet, jump on, and off you go. Well, we had been using these to get to and from school for a couple weeks, against the advice of several veteran Rwandan expatriates, who said they were too dangerous. But being the adventurous (and by adventurous, I mean cheapskate) gal I am, I continued with the moto. And of course, I now bear the mark of the average Rwandan moto rider – a nasty burn scar on my inner calf from where my leg touched the muffler. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And on top of it, after my trip to Lake Kivu where we were on the beach all day with a large band aid covering my deformation, I know have a large square shaped tan line around the wound, making it all the more noticeable. It looks like some sort of mutant target on my leg. Oh well, you live, you learn.

Love you all and hope to hear from you soon!!