The last 7 days...

4/20/2009
I fully shaved my head in the AM since I didn’t think the Mohawk would go over so well at the clinic… Mike left for Bujumbura pretty early but I’ve made arrangements to meet up with him in London next week so that should be fun. We’ve been fighting over a jumper that I found in the Red Chili in Kampala and I managed to keep hold of it so I’ll have to hide it deep in my suitcase before I get to London! Anyway, I went up to the clinic with Jessica to introduce her to everyone and then spent the rest of the day trying to figure out everything I need to get done in my last week in Rwanda :(

4/21/2009
I arranged to meet Innocent at Ivuka Art Studio this afternoon and bought two of his paintings. One is called “Happiness of Love” and the other is Untitled – they’re both amazing and I can’t wait to frame them and put them up in my new apartment (guess I have to find the new apartment first). From there I headed to the American Embassy to get pages added to my passport. It’s like a fortress on a hill in Kacyiru and they make you go through a security checkpoint twice which is kind of bizarre – what’s going to change from one metal detector to another? Getting the pages added was actually quite easy since I was the only person in the consular office (despite them having 6 windows and about 50 chairs set up… I can’t imagine they ever get that busy). Gail teaches yoga every Tuesday night at the embassy and since I was already there, I hung around until 6 and then got to go through security two more times! It was quite fun and despite the fact that I haven’t practiced in over two weeks, I was actually able to bind more postures than ever before! Pretty soon after we got home, a psychologist and her two students (Sandra, Amy & Erica) arrived but thankfully Sandra has been here before so my role as tour guide wasn’t necessary.

4/22/2009
Gail and I spent the morning together eating waffles at La Sierra (not as amazing the second time around considering the maple syrup was sadly watered down) and did some final crafts shopping – I bought 3 Imigongo paintings which are geometrical designs carved into wood and then painted with dried cow dung… here’s hoping I can get them through customs at Nairobi, London & New York!!! When we got back to the house, Lucy Q had arrived – she’s a lawyer in California that volunteers her time to deal with legal issues that WE-ACTx patients are having (mostly domestic and gender based violence cases). She moved into the bottom bunk in Gail’s room so Gail decided it would be more fun to move into Anita and my bedroom and share a bed with me instead – so we’ll be having a slumber party for the next few nights until I leave.

4/23/2009
I woke up this morning and was promptly presented with a gift from Joseph – an AMAZING t-shirt that he painted himself with a big picture of Africa on the front and a huge scene of the mountain gorillas on the back with a massive Rwandan flag. It also says "Lukas – Nomber 1" with two hearts on the front… I think it might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me and it is definitely going to be my most prized possession from Africa. I said my goodbyes at the clinic (purposefully avoiding contact with Eugene) and then we went out for salsa lessons at Pasadena (Amy & Philip who we met on the plane to Tanzania are the instructors). It was quite fun until my partner abandoned me (I promise I wasn’t THAT bad) and then I left to meet up with the Einstein crew that has been working in Kisoro and came to Rwanda to visit the gorillas this weekend. Pam, Brianne, Terry, Jen, Vic & Kevan were having dinner at Ice & Spice and I took them for drinks afterward to Republika. It was fun yet bizarre to see some familiar faces in Kigali!

4/24/2009
I had my last yoga practice with Gail, Joseph and Delphine this morning which I’m quite sad about. I also had to say goodbye to Josee and Seraphine (she came by so I could give her some clothes for her son and to say goodbye)… And so it begins – the long and painful process of leaving this place behind… Sara and Roy joined us for dinner at Republika – yet another goodbye and despite fully intending to have a big dance night out at Cadillac, we wound up coming home and going to bed early… lame-o!

4/25/2009
And so the packing begins! It’s my last Umuganda today and so there wasn’t much else to do with the morning… I think it’s going to be OK since I’m giving all of my clothes and shoes to Joseph (minus what I need for Nairobi and London). I have bought a LOT of stuff here though so it remains to be seen if my suitcase will actually close! A guy working for PIH is making a documentary about life in Rwanda (he and his friend are training 3 families in Rwinkwavu how to use digital cameras and they will be documenting their lives for the next three months). They want to try to market the film to American students wanting to do work abroad so they’re also interviewing 20-something westerners living in Rwanda which is where I fit in. Should be interesting to see where it goes but I figured it would be a good wrap-up of my time here to sit down and talk about my experiences. Afterward, we went to Heaven for a performance of “The Monument” by this Isoko theater troupe. It’s a play that has been performed in 6 translations (this one was in Kinyarwanda) and it tells the story of a young soldier in an unnamed country that has been convicted of war crimes committed during a genocide. Just as he is about to be executed, a woman offers him freedom… at a price. It was quite well done and despite some a-hole snoring next to me the whole time I really enjoyed it. From there we went to dinner with Katie and Carly at INDIAN KHAZANA!!!! They re-opened on my last night in Kigali and so I can now say I’ve dined at all three of their restaurants in East Africa… soooooo delicious! Yet again our plans to go to Car Wash and Cadillac were foiled by exhaustion so I guess I’ll have to save them for my next trip to Rwanda… Two more goodbyes tonight and more than I care to count tomorrow morning.

4/26/2009
My last morning in Kigali and it’s all feeling totally surreal. My clothes are still scattered around the room and I leave for the airport in less than 2 hours – I can’t bring myself to actually put them in the suitcase. I gave most of them to Joseph and we had a little fashion show with him before a tearful (yet giggly as always) goodbye as he left for church a few minutes ago. His facebook message to me last night says it all:

“my frind a like you know my love a love you have good naight so i am dont never for get you and i am lost frinds loving this house.”

I think my heart is literally breaking this morning…