Week 1 in Kigali

The first week has been eventful, yet not so eventful. Emily and I were whisked to the office on Monday morning, however not knowing that Rwanda is one hour behind Uganda we thought they were an hour late in picking us up!

Up to this point we had been told very little about the office, staff and capacity. So we were taken aback when we pulled into a large 2 story house with the a sign out the front. It turns out that there are about 30 local staff. We were given the grand tour and warmly welcomed by everyone.

We had lovely meetings with the Programs Director and HR man. The country director was out of the office as she was in Hanoi for a governance seminar. We have since been settling into the office and finding our respective place within the office. We walk to lunch each day and eat a buffet style of Rwandan food, which consist mainly of “Irish” potatoes, rice, plantains, salad, soup and either a beef or goat stew. Not bad food, but the starch based diet takes some getting used to.

On Wednesday and Thursday Emily was taken to field and shown a few AA project in the East, which consisted of a new school and toilets, water distribution and sponsorship programs. She is now writing reports based on the interviews they conducted. It looks like I will get a chance to visit the field on Monday and Tuesday. We will be heading to the Northern Province to investigate the possibility of implementing a new project. I’m waiting for more details, but it will be dealing with Food Rights and Women’s Rights (which is streamlined throughout all programs).


The Northern Province is where the volcanoes and mountain gorillas are located. Of course we won’t be doing any gorilla tacking, but it is a very mountainous region and the landscape is supposed to be stunning. I’ll be sure to bring my camera and to get few shots along the way. I’ve read a lot about the Volcanoes National Park and I’m very excited to be heading that way.

We haven’t had much time to settle into our new place, but we are getting comfortable with our new neighborhood. We are located just down the street from the American Embassy and the main Kigali police station. They are in the process of completing the new asphalt road outside our home. It should cut down on the amount of dust blown into our home.

As we were warned things in Kigali are not cheap! Kigali is very isolated, Goma being the closet city just on the other side of Lake Kivu and closet city of consequence being Kampala a 10 hour drive to the north. So things that do make their way here are very expensive. Electricity is also a major issue here and is very expensive. We have to prepay and enter a code into our meter. We have a hot water heater for our showers but only turn it on for about 10 min before our shower. All of our wash is hand done in buckets out the back. The tap water is safe to drink if you boil it ahead of time, but they put chlorine in the water, so you have to get over the taste. Most of the coffee in this part of Africa is awful, but we have found a local brand that is very nice, but it is about $6 a bag! Time for me to get a paying job!


Last night we meet up with an American from Seattle that is setting up an IT business based in Kigali. He took us to an expat type pizza place. It was nice to enjoy something a bit closer to home. However, the African cheese has done a number on our bellies, and it make take a few goes to get used to it! We are starting to meet a number of people living here and I’m sure in not time we will feel like “locals”! That said our Kinyrawandan needs A LOT of work. We are happy to have learned to say “I want”. Our first fully sentence being, “I want cabbage”. The first time we put this to use was at our local, where we were able to change it to “I want chicken”, with the intention of receiving 3 pieces of chicken. Unfortunately an hour later and many confused looks between us and the chef we were given 3 whole chickens! Thankfully we had had a few beers and the result was us laughing as we each attempted to consume our chickens! All is not wasted as they are waiting in the fridge and will be turned into a huge pot of chicken soup! Lesson learned!

Tonight our boss is taking the 3 of us “out”. We don’t really know what this means or will entail, but I’m sure we will have some stories to tell.

Photos of Uganda have been posted on my Facebook and Rwandan photos are soon to come!

Whew!

We finally made it to Kigali. Our time in Uganda was wonderful. I fully recommend the country to those looking for a trip to Africa in a bit less traveled country. The countryside is amazing, the people are friendly and the food is... well starchy (but not so bad in flavor). We didn't have enough money to do they typical things such a visit the National Parks and go on Safari, but we managed to squeeze in a few
amazing days mixed with a few days of pure relaxation.

We are very saddened about the bombings in Kampala. We were lucky not to be in Kamapala during the bombings. Uganda is struggling to find a legitimate lot for itself. The bombings were from terrorist outsiders and do not reflect the general safety nor tone of the country. It has been nearly ten years since any violence of this magnitude has happen. Hopefully Uganda will be able to move forward and tourist will still come.

To save some cash and for the sake of adventure Emily, Joss and I hopped on the Jaguar bus from Kampala to Kigali. The bus departed at 3 am, so we were up at 1:30 and out of the hostel gate by 2:00 am. The bus was full and it was a struggle to fit our LARGE suitcases under the bus. Thankfully after adjusting the sacks of flour, jugs of juice, americandy and cardboard boxes they were able to spare our luggage from riding the 12 hour journey on top of the bus.

It took about 6 hours to reach the boarder. From there we were stamped out of Uganda and sent over the walking bridge to Rwanda. As an American it was easy to get into the country. I was given an entry stamp and sent on my way. Joss and Emily each had to pay $60 dollars and smile nicely. While we were at this, everything was removed from the bus for inspection a process that took an hour and a half. They set the "muzunga" (white person) suitcases aside to be looked at first. They opened the first suitcase and asked us to describe what was inside, but before we could say anything another man came up and said something in Kinyarwandi. Turns out they made the decision that there were airplane luggage tags on the bag, so they must have been inspected by the airlines and are therefore fine. They then put our things back on the bus and sent us on our way.

We were told it would take about 2 get to Kigali, but it was much closer to 4. Either way we were happy to arrive in one piece and with all of our things. We hopped in a taxi and headed to our new home. We were lucky to find a place before arriving. It is a lovely little home on top of one of the many hills in Kigali. The house comes with a man named Esron. He is a guard, cook and cleaner. He is learning English and has agreed to teach us a bit of Kinyarwandi. Today he showed us how to use the taxi buses. We managed to find the 1 and only ATM in the city and thankfully it took our cards.

There are more photos and stories to come. Emily and I are on our 2nd of our Internship in Rwanda and it has already been an adventure!

Winding up of Europe 2010

In 15 days Joss and I will depart on the next adventure. Our time in Sweden has been at times too short and at other times too long, but any way you measure it has been a rewarding experience. We've made some great friends, had some fantastic adventures survived being apart and thrived while being together. It hasn't been our most crazy adventure but it has been a memorable one.

For the next two weeks Joss and I will push forward and wrap up as much as we can order to make the transition to Rwanda. I am working hard to compile as much information as I can for my thesis that is due a year from now. Joss's mum is here visiting just before we hop on the plane. Like usual there is a lot to do and a only days to fit it all in.

We land in Uganda on July 1st and will spend a few weeks traveling. We've booked a room at the Red Chili backpackers and will use it as our base. We're looking forward to many amazing things such as safaris, white water rafting down the Nile and repelling (I might have to push Joss of the cliff, but it will happen). I can't wait. We have our travel book and bird book. East Africa is known for having amazing birds, so we are looking to pick up a pair of binoculars before we head out.

Emily will meet us in Uganda on July 9th and we'll we will make our way to the south west and head towards Rwanda. Once we make it over the boarder we will only be a few hours from Kigali where we will call home for the next 6 months. Right now we are looking for a place to live and we are finding the cost to be more than we had expected. The good news is that we have made contact with a few people living in Kigali and they have been a great help. One of the people we have been emailing is actually a former LUMIDer and she responded to an email I had posted in a group forum. She had no idea that I was in the LUMID program but a few emails back and forth soon revealed a common connection to Lund University.

Last week Joss and I took a quick trip to Prague on our favorite WizzAir. We ended up couch surfing with a family we found online. They were the most generous and fantastic family we could have found. They lived atop of one of Prague's hills, so we got plenty of exercise walking to and from the city each day. Prague is an amazingly beautiful city and every turn reveals an amazing piece of history. We had 3 full days to enjoy the city's parks, pubs, museums, restaurants, street vendors, cafes and sunshine (something that has been disappointingly missing this year in Sweden). We could have easily spent a week in the city and would have loved to have the time to visit some of the towns dotted in the surrounding mountains. We hope there will be a next time!

Joss's Mum arrived in Denmark from the Faroe islands last night. Joss will spend a few days in Copenhagen with her and then she will come as stay with us for a week and a half in Lund. We have a few trips in the region planed and hope the sun will show itself for our last days in Sweden.

A year from now I will graduate from the LUMID program. You are all more than welcome to join me here in Lund to celebrate the accomplishment. So have a look at your calendars and mark a trip to Southern Sweden for early June 2011!

April in Sweden

Hej San everyone,
Today was the first day of my last course of my first year of Grad school. Very exciting. In less than 2 months time I will be half way through this journey. It's crazy how fast the time in one's life goes by. I'm so lucky to be living a life that is equally exciting and fulfilling.

The snow has finally melted and early spring flowers are popping all around Lund. The city has put out the flower boxes and filled them with Easter daffodils.

Joss and I stocked up on food and wine for the long Easter weekend. I've had the last week off for Easter break and it has been nice to have rest before the last push of the school year. In 2 months time I will have completed my first year of Grad school, with one more to go. I am 95% sure that I will be taking the Internship offer in Kigali, Rwanda. I've also been offered an Internship in Uganda, but I am more interested working in Rwanda. If possible I will work something out where I can work at both locations, but that is up in the air at this point. Other LUMID (my program) students have worked in Rwanda and I've exchanged a few emails with them. They have enjoyed their time there and one stayed on to work with a UN organization.

The plane tickets to Rwanda are very expensive, so most likely Joss and I will fly to Uganda and either take a bus or fly from there. It will save us about half of the cost doing it this way. Given our finical situation we need to take advantage of savings where we can. Also, this way we will be able to spend a week or so in Uganda. Times are exciting for us. We are working out our visa and getting our shots. Seems it will is wise to get our Yellow Fever shots before we head out. Actually they won't let us in without them.

In the mean time we are enjoying Northern Europe as best we can. Last weekend we hopped on a ferry to Rostock, Germany in the former East Germany. It's a lovely little city on the Baltic Sea. We were fortunate enough to stumble the Easter market where we were able to enjoy bratwursts, sauteed mushrooms with garlic sauce, fried potatoes with apple sauce (yes a bit strange indeed), curry sausage, and a variety of beer. Needless to say it was an enjoyable day. On Sunday we headed to Warnemunde, which is a seaside resort town that was a favorite vacation get away back in the day for leaders such as Castro. Today it is a cute little port town where you can walk around eat, drink and shop. A really nice little get away. It was a bit cold where we were there, but I'm sure in the Summer time it is lovely.

Anyway, I should be getting to my studies so that I can work out what this development thing is all about.

Enjoy the photos and drop me a line when you can.

Also, when you get the chance follow this link....
http://llamatown.wordpress.com/ Joss's blog, he updates it every so often. It is his account of our life. Take some time to read it over, and stop by from time to time.

The Swedish Way

Hej San!
So it has been 2 and a half months since I swapped Hanoi of Lund. I can't think of two more opposite places in the world. I've quickly adjusted to the quietness of the town and the less rushed way of life. I think I was about 2 years overdue on the break from living in a developing country.

Lund is this picturesque European village with it's cobble stone roads, church at the center of town, little shops along the windy city blocks and beautiful brick buildings. There are more people on bikes than in cars. The air is fresh and clear. It has been especially nice to be able to buy organic foods and feel good about what I am putting into my body. That said, we do pay a nice price for our consumables in this country.

I haven't had much of a chance to travel around the area. My schooling has been full on and it simply costs a lot of money to live here. I'm hoping now that I'm settled and I've bought things like my bike, and household items I'll be able to save up some money to take a trip once Joss arrives. If any of my friends in Europe want to offer us a couch to surf along the way let me know! We'll be happy to visit you.

My classes started in September and we've already wrapped up the first course. Our second course started this week, it'll be my first crack at Stats. I really hope some of those math skills from college kick in! I've made a lot of great friends already. There are some seriously great people in my program and I know we will be friends for a long time.

Next year at this time I will be in the middle of my internship. I'm not sure exactly where I will be interning, but I'm looking to head to Sub-Saharan to work at an NGO that is focusing on rural development, and children and women issues in particular. If you have any leads please let me know!

To my friends in the States, I'll be in MN from the 16th of December until January 5th. If you're around look me up. If you're not give me a call. I would love to hear from you.

To my friends in Europe, give me a call sometime soon. I miss you!

To my friends in Vietnam, I miss you all and I wish I was there for all of the crazy events I keep getting invited to! It's cold and dark in Sweden and I'm really missing sunny and warm Hanoi in November!

Love you all!

Last weekend in Hanoi

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to send you all a quick note to thank you for spending my last weekend with me. I had a wonderful and a great time. Every part of it was perfect, even the few frustrating moments :D

What a way to spend my last weekend... on an island, with great friends (new and old), drinking warm beers, swimming in the ocean, playing in the sand, crossing an island by bike, playing cards, shooting stars in the sky, and wanting to be nowhere else in the world.

Thanks so much for enjoying it all with me.
I'll see you all on Wednesday night!
Cheers and Love,
Annetta

p.s. A great big thank you to Nga for being our translator by default! We can do it without you, but certainly not as well. You're the best and thanks for being such a great friend to me for the past 5 1/2 years.

A transition of sorts

Life goes by quickly and seems to pass by faster every year, especially when your living on the other side of the world. The thing is, as time goes by it becomes harder to tell which side of the world is the other side. I have been in a constant spin, slowing down only long enough to take the occasional peek to see where I have been and the less occasional peek at where I am headed. Somehow, in the midst of the swirls of my life I was able piece together a plan, not a plan to stop spinning (I like the spinning) but a plan to change my course, if only slightly.

I have spent the last 5 years in Hanoi. My experiences here have been life altering. I have come to accept the clichés that now define my 20s.

After 3 years in Vietnam, a reporter asked me what my plans for the future were. I wrote the following statement.

My plan was to come to Vietnam for only six months, but I’m now on my third year. Vietnam has forever changed my life and the person I am. I don’t know how long I will do this work, but I also don’t know where I would go from here. My father has told me that he is doing the most important of his life towards the end of his life. Well, I may very well be doing the most important work of my life at the beginning of mine. It’s very scary for me. How does someone transition doing this kind of work to another type of work? How can it be more important? How can it have more meaning?
The only answer I have for myself at this time is not to show that I am nervous, overwhelmed, or distressed, but to push forward the best way I can and to figure it out as I go.

I still have many of the same feelings, but I also feel I have begun to figure it out. I have decided to move forward by going back to school. Unlike my undergrad studies, this time I know what I want to study and I know what I want to do with my life beyond my studies. It is amazing what 10 years of perspective does for a person. Wow, 10 years, ouch!!!

In recent months, I applied to three Universities, all in Europe. To my delight, they all accepted me. I have decided to take the offer at the Lund University in Sweden. For the next 2 years, I will be working towards a Masters Degree in International Development. This will allow me to refine and add to the knowledge I have gained by working at HSCV. I will then seek jobs in the development field in countries around the world.

It has taken me 2 years to settle on a plan and to execute it. It is an extreme honor to be apart of the Lund program. They accepted only 40 students out of 1700 applicants! Wow, it really blows my mind. It is going to be a challenging course, but I am really looking forward to being a student again and I am up for a new challenge in my life.

I was accepted less than a month ago, and I handed in the application for Residence Permit this week. I now have to wait 6 – 8 weeks. I will not know that I am going for sure until I receive the permit. I do not see why I will not, but there is always a chance. Help me by sending some positive vibes to the Swedish Migration Board.

If all goes well, I will be leaving Hanoi in mid-August, so that only gives me two months to pack up 5 years of life. My heart is pounding just thinking about it.

HSCV will continue past Annetta. The board has known of my plans for many months. Our board continues to grow stronger and is capable of the challenge. The HSCV Team in Hanoi is great and I know they will continue to do a wonderful job when I leave Hanoi. I will not completely leave HSCV, I will continue to give advice and be on the Board of Directors. I will do as much as I can to help.

Joss will be joining me in Sweden in 2010. He is not sure what he will do, but thanks to an agreement between Sweden and Australia, he will be able to get a one-year work visa. We are really looking forward to our European adventure.

To my friends in America, I will not be returning to America before going to Sweden. There just is not enough time or money available. It is possible I will make it to Minnesota sometime in 2010, but that will depend on my studies and finical situation. So, if you have some extra time and money come on over to Europe for a visit! I will be much closer to you than I have been for the past 5 years and it might be a good time to take advantage of it.

To my friends in Europe or close to, let me know where you are. It would be great to bump into you somewhere somehow. Lund is in the southwest corner of Sweden and just a short train ride from Copenhagen. I do not know where I will be living, but where ever it is you will have place to crash if need be. I hope you will do the same for me!

To my friends in Hanoi/Asia, I am going to miss you dearly! We have a special Hanoi bond, it is not something that can ever be duplicated, or replaced. You are a part of my heart. I know this will not be the last time we see each other. There will be a time where our paths cross again! If not in Asia, then in Europe, South America, Australia, Africa, or North America.

I guess that is how I end this fist blog. Please write me back when you can. I’d love to hear from you. Thank you for your friendship.

Luck to you all.

Sincerely,

Annetta