What Have I Become

I started out as a freshly graduated university student. I had never had a ‘real’ job before. Note: I don’t count being GS camp counselor, class grader, or lab researcher a ‘real’ job—they were way too cushy.
Although I had been lucky enough to have done some traveling before, I really was unprepared for coming to my first African country. In my mind I thought I packed myself up before to do my senior year of high school in Italy, I can do a year in Rwanda. I spent a summer working in London; I can do a year in Rwanda. HA. As much as I might have lived alone and far from my family, nothing had really prepared me for what I was going to go through—and I’m not sure that anything could have prepared me for it.
I was (am) a type A personality that likes to be in control. I like logic. I like set rules, schedules and plans (maybe that is why I was good at ChemE). As much as I thought I was flexible, I had never truly been tested.
All I knew about Rwanda was what I had read about in the various books before I came-and lets be honest not much of it was ‘good’.
I dreamed of meeting some nice ex-pat people, becoming great friends.
And most importantly I really thought I would only do it for a year (hence why I hadn’t really considered the Peace Corps because their commitment is longer).

Now look at me-
I’ve become hardened from dealing with different types of people in various situations (though I have yet to get full control over my crying). I totally feel comfortable getting on a bus for over 24 hours to get to my destination. I still like rules and logic, but I’m learning how to cope with all that logic and planning being flushed down the drain on a daily basis. I’ve learned so much not only about Rwanda, Africa, and the world by really following various news outlets [I admit I have become an even bigger news junkie than I was before I came, I realized before I was only a JV news junkie]. Based on my volunteer time I realized that my life style as a volunteer didn’t really mesh well with a lot of the big NGO ex-pat employees here and our experiences were much different, I actually got a long better with Africans and other volunteer types.
And probably the most important thing that I have become is married. In my first year I met a Ugandan guy and we stayed together and are now married and come October we will have been married for a year.

It’s strange to think back to senior year at UD and the following months at home, because surely when I thought about my time in Rwanda and what I hoped to accomplish I had not thought that this would be the path I would be on…but here I am.

Stay tuned in the next few months to read about my reflections about living here for 3 years and my thoughts about moving back to the US..

Resurrection of the Blog

I started this blog before I came to Rwanda in December 2008. In my first year of volunteering I had tried to update frequently, in my second year it gradually tailed off, and in my 3rd year I’ve done barely enough to qualify as blogging.
Many people say that in the beginning it is easier because you are doing something different and experiencing ‘new’ things that can always be blogged about, but as one stays in a place longer it can be difficult to blog about ‘every day’ events that aren’t unusual anymore.

Many times I have thought to revamp this and I write an entry but then I don’t have internet and I never upload the post. Not to mention I just got lazy. That is going to stop now.

After being a volunteer from Dec 2008 to May 2010 and then a paid-worker from June 2010 to now, my stay in Rwanda is finally coming to an end, or at least the end is in sight.
Just recently we actually purchased my return ticket (when I returned to Rwanda in December 2009 I came on a one-way ticket).

In the time I have been in Rwanda I have experienced a lot and grown. I want to take my remaining time to really reflect on what I have become and the ups and down of living here.

I won’t begin on the ups and downs of life here because that is going to have to take many posts and I’ll need to be more in the mood to dig into that can of worms. But for sure I can start on the “what have I become.”