Pros and Cons

Like I said before, I'm in a transition period right now, which therefore makes my ups and downs here go even more out of wack. I'll explain more about my transition soon (maybe even tomorrow!) Instead of writing a real entry, thought I'd write a list of pros and cons of living here. Sorry if this bores you, but this is more for me than for anyone else. Helps me get a better idea of how I feel about being here. I think I'm happy, but sometimes, I don't know...


PROS
1. Living in the main province.Being in a central,
urban location makes my life here
so much easier. Better access to resources.

2. My neighbors. Some of them in
particular anyway. It's nice to
finally be past that "a white person
is here so she must be rich", having
people try to rip me off, but now actually
giving me the real price. It means they
respect me and look at me more as one of
them. I definitely have a good group of
friends here, all ages, religious
backgrounds, and genders, who hang
out outside my house or who buy me a
beer at the local bar. I learn way more
from them about Rwandan history and
culture than I could ever learn from
any book (which are usually written
by foreigners visiting the country)

3. The kids in my hood. They're
just so nice and friendly.
They're always happy to see me
and greet me. All they ask for
is a hug. They brighten my day.
I have also developed a namesake
trend here.

4. Rwandan landscape. The mountains
and trees are beautiful!

5. Laid back culture. I'm from
Cali, so maybe this is more familiar
to me than my fellow PCVs from
the East Coast.

6. My new transition! I'm really happy and
excited about it! I feel very lucky to have this
opportunity!


CONS:
1. Living in the main province! It's so damn expensive!

2. Ignorance is frustrating. There's a huge
difference between locals who are well educated
versus those who aren't (as is true for well-educated
and poorly educated Americans). I've had it
up to here with being called "umuzungu" everywhere
I go, and having my hair pulled and inspected by strangers.

3. Transportation. I miss having a car! I like having
complete control of where, how, and when I go
somewhere. It slows down my life A LOT
and makes me feel much less free than I'd like to be.
I hate crawling in and out of vans
(buses are in van form here), having people's
asses in my face while others push and shove to get
in the van before people can get out. I'm also tired of
slouching and being squished like a sardine inside
those things. Gotten quite a few bruises.

4. The mountains. While pretty, they're a huge pain
in the ass to walk up and down all the time, especially
when I'm in a hurry. At least I'm burning calories. No
treadmill or gym membership needed!

5. The disorganization. Alright, I moved to Africa.
It has that general reputation, so I guess I'm
not surprised. But it goes without saying that
this slows things down, and is frustrating.

K, that about evens it out. Meant to write the pros and cons parallel to each other but it's hard to do that in this blog format. My next entry will be a lot more fun to read, I promise!