Odds and Ends

I am in the process of painting a chapel door at The Children’s Academy. After sanding all morning, I am now waiting for the guy who has access to the necessary materials. He is on lunch break, so I have a rare noon break to get a post in. I have been backlogging some tidbits that aren’t enough for their own post, but I want to share. For the West Wing fans, consider this “take out the trash day.”

APPARITION CHAPEL: Last Friday, on the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, I was invited to attend Mass with a group of teachers from Kigali. Mass was in Apparition Chapel, a chapel built on the site of the very first apparition to Alphonsine on November 28, 1982. Pretty dang cool!

OTHER DUTIES AS ASSIGNED: School doesn’t begin in Rwanda until September 8. As you can see from the first picture (hopefully you can tell that is the “before” picture), the classroom was in desperate need of TLC. Starting on Monday, Callixte and I sanded and painted the classroom. We didn’t speak much, but our mutual pride was evident when we pulled the tape away to reveal the clean line separating the two colors. Not bad for a couple of amateurs using brushes I would have thrown away years ago! He was the roller, I was the edger. A pretty good team.

MARKET DAYS: On Monday, Basa had to go to a nearby village to go to the bank. I asked if I could tag along. I enjoyed some firsts: I rode on a Rwandan bus, I saw the inside of a bank and learned a bit of how that works, and I visited a market. The bus was as old, dirty and run-down as you might expect in a poor country, but it only cost ~$0.25 roundtrip, so how could I complain?

I wanted to take a picture of the inside of the bank, but sometimes I don’t know what is a good idea in a foreign country, and decided pulling my phone out to start taking pictures in a bank might not be smart. Before entering the bank, Basa had to stop at a station with a scanner where they printed a copy of her ID (the lady working the printing station is the mother of a student I met last week). Basa presented the printed copy to the teller so they can write down the transaction and have her picture alongside the details. Seems like an odd process, but what do I know?

Wednesdays and Saturdays are officially “market days” in Ndago, but every day there are people who spread out their wares. Basa had to buy some eggs and beans, I just smile at people and say “Muraho” (“Hello”). Sometimes they say something back. I just keep smiling.

RWANDAN TEA: Because we are so near the equator (only about 300 miles away) the days and nights are essentially equal. Sun rises at 6, sun sets at 6. When Basa and I finish a little earlier I like to get out and walk along some of the trails (picture a goat path, not a finished trail). Yesterday we ended at 3, so I had time to go out and explore a bit. I came across this beautiful view of a Rwandan tea plantation. I am pretty sure they are growing black tea in this area.

UGANDAN WEDNESDAYS: Okay, this will sound like a joke but I swear it is true. Apparently on Wednesdays groups of people from Uganda come by the busload to visit the Divine Mercy statue. Every Wednesday. And, according to the priests who I dine with, from Uganda. Though the groups are apparently Catholic, they tend to be…shall I say…a touch revivalistic (my computer doesn’t think “revivalistic” is a word). Of course I don’t understand a single word that is being said, but there is always a preacher who sounds very angry, and worse yet, there are invariably a few women who are moved to tears by whatever is being said. And when I say “moved to tears” I want you to imagine a woman being slaughtered on an altar. I share the picture above because the last window on the left is my bedroom, and the roof jutting out on the right is the back of the amphitheater. I am not kidding, after a few minutes of hearing a woman crying in sheer agony, I went outside to see if someone was in trouble. When I got out there, I saw that she was indeed with the Ugandan crowd and no one else seemed too concerned. I sat for a while and watched various manifestations of the Holy Spirit–weeping and convulsing and the such.

I no longer run out to see if someone is being tortured. If I happen to be in my room on Ugandan Wednesdays, I have started to just go out for a long walk to a place where I cannot hear them.

TYPICAL DINNER: Last week I sent this picture to my family with the caption: “Some days I cannot identify everything on my plate.” Every dinner so far has had beans and potatoes. Usually rice with some sort of sauce (I am fortunate in that I get meat with every dinner…not very common according to the kids I have talked to). I am not always sure what the meat is. Then there is always some sort of vegetable. Most often I have peas and carrots, but I also have had some greens that might be spinach (or there is another type of green here that Basa doesn’t know how to translate to English) and in the picture above, I am pretty sure those are tiny eggplants with green beans and carrots. Admittedly I am not a picky eater, but I think the food here is good. I promise I am not going hungry!

FOOTBALL IN RWANDA: I don’t have a picture (yet), but this last Sunday I was trying to take an afternoon nap when I heard this incredibly loud, animated voice accompanied by the incessant roar of a crowd. I wondered who in the world was playing their radio so loud. It turns out there is a football stadium “down the hill” from me and not very far away. Apparently a commentator is broadcast throughout the stadium during the game. You need not be at the stadium to know what’s going on (assuming you speak Kinyarwandan). I said I don’t have a picture yet because I am definitely going to catch a soccer game while I am here. Games are free and I won’t have to pay for parking.

FOOTBALL IN AMERICA: I just have to mention that the Huskers play tomorrow morning at 3. When I looked to see what channel would be broadcasting, I noticed that the Badgers ALSO play tomorrow morning at 3. Right from the jump I am forced to declare my loyalty. Sorry, Badger fans. Even though Wisconsin is my home, I have been in Husker country over a decade more than I ever lived in the land of milk and cheese. I will be rooting for the Badgers, but watching the Huskers. I don’t believe the teams play each other this year, which helps me avoid an awkward Monday at Roncalli Catholic for at least a year.

Okay, back to painting. God bless us all.