Ikawa & Igitotsi (coffee & bananas)

Mwaramutse!  (Good Morning!) 

It's 8:15am of Day 3, and I have turned into a true Rwandan.  It's a gorgeous sunny morning in the upper 70's and I'm wearing the insert to my ski jacket while I sip my ikawa. What?  It's cold okay?  Pierre was wearing a parka-like coat too.  Ryan is taunting the Kevins with his best moo-chirp.  I need to start carrying the video camera at all times.  

Let's go back to yesterday:

Day 2.  I had an interview with the Director of Nursing at the Central Hospital of Kigali, the large government hospital.  It is several one story buildings sprawled over 10+ acres of dirt roads with people everywhere - hanging out of windows, standing in doorways begging for help, sitting on the porches, walking around (though nobody looked as lost as we did).   The interview was... interesting.  There was some difficulty trying to explain what a Physician Assistant is since there is no equivalent in Rwanda (and the language barrier wasn't helping either).  They didn't understand why a medical assistant would be performing surgeries.  I'm not a medical assistant.  Nor am I asking to perform surgery.  And no, I won't have the language mastered in 2 months to be able to communicate with patients unless they want to talk about coffee and bananas (2 of my best vocabulary words). 

The fruit here is amazing; the best we have ever had.  Mangos, pineapples, bananas, tiny bananas (?), and a few fruits that we can't find a name for - and neither can the locals.

Fun fact- one of the very few decorations in our house is a stuffed cat.  No really, its as if they stuffed their favorite house-pet and stuck it in the central bookshelf of the living room to preserve its memory forever.  Or something.  It's hands-down the creepiest thing we've seen yet... and that's saying a lot.

Here's a picture of the Kevins.  I'm sure they will be making my blog often.  I know what you really want is a picture of the stuffed cat (Fluffy).  I'll see what I can do.