Rwandan Road Videos

Just blog to show off some video taken while in Rwanda. The video isn't always the best quality, but
Enjoy!

This first video is from the back of a mototaxi riding into downtown.


The second part of the adventure we climb the last part of the hill and arrive in the city center.


Next up is a sunset drive through Kacyrui village in Kigali. The American Embassy can see to the right at the top of the video. The audio is a bit loud, so turn down your audio before watching.


The final video is a bit bumpy but it give you a look at village life in Northern Rwanda.

Rwandan Cooking

Long time no blog! I have started a few, but I've failed at completing them. I hope to back to them soon, but for now here is a quick photo tour of cooking in Rwanda.

The title of this blog my be a bit misleading. This is not a blog about Rwandan food (which deserves its own blog), but rather a blog about the food I cook in Rwanda. I have never been more challenged in my cooking than I have been here in Rwanda. The main challenges come in two forms; the first is in the limited variety of food available and the second is in the cost.

I'm fortunate to have come from a family that really enjoys food. Both my Mother and Father are great cooks and they both have totally different styles. My Father is an Asian loving soup maker and my Mother is a bit more traditional. I began baking at an early age and by the age of 8 I was baking chocolate chip cookies on my own.

Living aboard has taught me to be flexible and creative. Some people pack a first aid kit, I pack a spice kit. I never know what herbs and spices I will find and not find so it's better to be safe than sorry. My basic kit contains, Mexican chili, cumin, basil, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, curry, dill, thyme and lots of stock. If it is a longer trip I will pack just about whatever I have and use up the last ounce in my suitcase. I used to pack hair products, but really isn't what ponytails are for?

The basic fresh ingredients in Rwanda include potatoes, green bananas, green beans, carrots, onions, garlic, eggplant, green peas, zucchini, green peppers, and cabbage. As for fruit you're looking at passion fruit, bananas (both the big and small variety), mango and pineapple. When it comes to meat you can easily find goat and beef. Pork is a bit harder to find and you don't want to eat the chicken here. The fish is mostly fishy tilapia from local fish farms. As for dairy, it easy to come across milk, yogurt, Rwandan Gouda and buttermilk. Not bad you say? Well really that's it anything not on this list is exotic and can be difficult to find. We get very excited about broccoli.

Our first meals came in the form of lots and lots of soups. One of our more infamous soups was the result of ordering 3 whole chickens instead of the pieces of chicken at our local pub. It was also the last time we have ordered chicken.


Swedish ice cream buckets make great spice kits.







The purchase of our grill has greatly advanced the food items we are able to cook. Our favorites include grilled veggies and pizza. The tricky part of making the pizza is to get the cheese nice and melty. Our grill was purchased at the local metal works shop. They turn old barrels into grills, fish fryers, coal shovels and dinning room tables.

Some of the most exciting discoveries I've made include how to make sour cream, how easy it is to make pickles (using cumbers from our garden), yogurt makes a great substitute for many things, flat bread is fantastic and easy to make, green beans can go in anything!


Joss precooks one side of the pizza.

Note the grilled eggplant a pizza topping staple.


















The finished product here is a beef fajita pizza. With some feta brought in from Ireland.















Our flavors have greatly improved since the planting of a few herbs and spices. The fresh lettuce has been a great addition to our meals. This is the start of our city garden. We have grown corn, tomatoes, herbs, cucumber, zucchini, bell pepper and lettuce. It will be sad to say goodbye, but we hope the next tenants will be appreciative.

Christmas in Kigali

Ah the Holidays. A time for being with friends and family and most importantly a time to take a break! The research has been going well, but the past 2 months have been a bit intense to say the least. It easy to underestimate the energy it takes to head into the field on a weekly basis and I am feeling a bit drained from the information overload.

So, thankfully Christmas came just in-time to give us a much needed break. Rwanda is a predominantly Christan with 90% of the population either Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Seventh-day Adventist (according to Wikipedia). Unlike most Western countries Rwanda's Christmas is focused on celebration rather then Santa and the practice of gift giving. Of course there were a limited amount of lights and plastic ornaments being sold in the markets, but they did not dominate the celebration.

As expats we channeled the familiarities of our homes and bought a few small gifts, picked out a tree and put up a few bobs and bits. Joss picked up our tree at a local green house. We hoped to buy a local variety, but unfortunately they are not popular enough to sell. We ended up with variegated rubber tree, much like the one my brother liked to eat as a child. The tree was decorated and a bird on a stick was our topper. Gifts were wrapped, piled around and the scene was set.

While most Rwandan's went to Church, Mid-night Mass and Christmas morning Mass, our house cozied up with a few candles, Christmas music, sugar cookies and nice glass of wine. On Christmas morning our resident Aussie grilled up some ham and pineapple (a Christmas tradition in his house).

To mark the occasion we used our oven for the 2nd time (the first was for a Thanksgiving apple pie). We bought a fat chicken at the local supermarket, which really is huge a treat. Chickens in Rwanda leave much to be desired. They have very little meat and what is there is tough and dark. No matter how it is cooked it tastes a smokey. Our chicken was juicy and lovely. The leftovers were made into a fantastic Minnesota wild rice soup (Don't know what that is? Your life is not complete. Come visit me in MN the next time I'm there.) The meal was rounded out with stuffing, roasted potatoes, green beans and a lovely salad topped with Wendy's pomegranate dressing (thanks Mom). So nice to take a break from it all and treat ourselves.

After dinner gifts were handed out and I found myself after 33 year still playing Santa. Our gift choices reflected our place in the world and things important to us, books, chocolate and small stuffed animals from the savanna (all except the animals are a real treat). It is such liberating feeling not to be bogged down by the over-consumerism of the Western Christmas. That said it was also wonderful to make Hesron's day by giving him a Manchester United jersey.

Wherever and however you spent it, I hope your Christmas was as lovely and perfect as ours.

The settling of dust

As I write this entry I am sitting in our gazebo in the front of our house in Kacyiru. We are incredibly fortunate to be living on a newly paved road as most homes are off a road that is off a dirt road that is off another dirt road. We are in the middle of the long dry season so many of these dirt roads have now become dust roads. Walking down any of these roads results in a dust cloud Pigpen would be jealous of. The dirt covers the lower half of your body, and somehow chemically binds to your ankles in a way that only a pumas stone and Listerine can remove it. We are told that the rainy season is coming, actually we have not been told that is coming but we have been give exact dates as to when it will be here. One source told us August 15th, another September 1st, and yet another September 15th. Each person makes their claim with great conviction. August 15th is less than 24 hours away and as it stands the skies are blue and partly cloudy, depending on the part you are looking at. Either way, once the rain starts it will be here for at least 2 months, with downpours expected twice daily, this is yet another reason we are incredibly fortunate to be living on a newly paved road. Those living on the dust roads are excited for the rains to come and wash off the 6 inches of dust, however given that all roads are on hills and they are already rutted and potholed I don’t see how a muddy, slick, rutted and potholed road is a better option. But then again, what do I know, I have only been in this country for 3 weeks. I’ll keep you posted on this one.

Kigali is very different than any place I have ever lived. Coming from Minnesota, Ha Noi, and southern Sweden the first thing that will hit you is the never ending hills. Each hill is basically its own suburb and each is connected by several windy and twisted roads. To get around town we usually hop on the local taxi buses. The system is simple, but you have to know how to use it and there are no written clues. So basically you need to know the neighborhood you want to go to and which stop it comes to. Standing on the curb you listen for the drivers to yell out Remera or Mumugi . Then you aggressively cue to get a one of the 15 spots on the bus. Once they are full they fly down the windy roads and you hope they are going the direction you need them to. As you approach your stop you knock on the roof to signal your stop. The average cost is 180 RWF or about $0.25. The average travel time from our doorstep to our destination is about 45 minutes, so just going into town takes a bit of planning and appreciation of cheap public transportation.

Kigali itself is a very chilled city, especially for its size of 1 million. The city is so separated by the hills that each suburb is mostly self-contained. The center or “town” takes less than 10 to circumnavigate by foot. The main taxi-bus stop is smaller than the bus park at my high school. Town is where head for treats such as vinegar (which I have yet broken down and paid the $4 for), potato chips, wine and western canned goods. Every purchase is scrutinized, do we really need it? How will we use it? If we buy it how much will our meal cost and how many meals can we get from it? Yes 95% of our treats are consumable.

We have been slowing getting to know the expats in the community, but since our budget is as tight as a sausage casing we pick and choose our activities carefully. The top our list has so far been quiz nights, movie nights (at friends), cheapish dinners and picking up returnables from the nearby “Smarter” super market. Emily has put together a hiking group so we hope to organize some weekend outings soon!

As for work nothing too exciting has happen in the past few weeks, but next week is “Fun Week”. I will be in the field for 4 days and fun is sure to happen! Details and photos to come! Whoop, Whoop