Ijoro rwiza!

1/11/09
I've decided to include a Kinyarwanda word of the day in each blog post so that it will encourage me to learn a new word every day and you all can learn with me if you want. To make up for the past few days I'll do the entire standard introduction today:

Mwaramutse, amakuru? / Mwiriwe, amakuru? (Good morning, how are you? / Good afternoon, how are you?)
Ni meza (I'm fine)
Yawe? (And you?)
Ni meza (I'm fine)

OK, now who is coming to visit so you can use your new Kinyarwanda skills??? Didn't think so :(

Anyway, last night I got bitten by what I can only guess was a spider since I woke up after feeling a sharp pain on my knuckle and then had the terrible sensation of a burning/itching spreading up my entire right arm... it started just as an itching feeling but my entire arm was burning for a solid half hour. I took some benadryl (which helped me sleep anyway) and coated my arm with hydrocortisone which helped a lot but I can still feel the bite today. From now on I think I will be sleeping with the mosquito net over me... I haven't been using it since I'm taking Malarone and I hadn't gotten bitten yet but today I got about 5 mosquito bites and I figure trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness) wouldn't be much fun either. Guess it's time to break out the DEET too.

Today was an interesting day. We went to the Kigali Health Institute which is where the training sessions we're leading this week will be held. They have a bunch of anatomical models that we'll be using to demonstrate proper technique for speculum and bimanual exams as well as teaching normal female anatomy... in fact I have the distinct pleasure of lecturing 15 Rwandan nurses and midwives on female anatomy tomorrow - should be interesting! I'm going to do my best to get some pictures of my lecture tomorrow because the idea of ME lecturing on female anatomy to Rwandan women is just hysterical in my mind. I'm kind of excited and very grateful that Mark and Lisa are getting me so involved.

After setting up the room we went to Bourbon cafe which is the Rwandan equivalent of Starbucks (to my surprise there are no American chains in Kigali - it's so refreshing). Despite the lack of American chains, though, American prices are intact... can you believe that I spent 6,000rfw ($12usd) on an iced coffee and a chicken sandwich for lunch in KIGALI!?!?!? I mean obviously the average Rwandan isn't eating at Bourbon Cafe but I don't understand how people here afford anything - the prices are basically the same as NY. Some things are even worse... we went to the grocery store after lunch and it was 2,000rwf for a large thing of yogurt - that's $4usd!!! In the end we bought some fresh vegetables, pasta, garlic, butter and bread and made a delicious pasta primavera at home for dinner which we all ate together at the dining room table (minus Lara who still isn't feeling well). We're like one big happy family. Marc put on some Miles Davis and we worked on our PowerPoint presentations for tomorrow until now and I'm headed to bed soon. I'm glad to hear people have been enjoying my blog... I feel like it's mostly just a play by play of my day but as things get more interesting I'll try to spice it up a bit.

Ijoro rwiza (Have a good night).