Stuck in a Funk
As a friend pointed out coughcoughClairecoughcough I haven’t been blogging too much. Sorry for who ever actually reads this thing. For a while I wasn’t blogging because I didn’t have my laptop…stupid video card. Then I went away on vacation with my dad. Tanzania was amazing btw. Will try to post a few pics (some are on my facebook page if you are friends with me, if not then who are you and why are you reading my blog haha).
It was amazing that my dad came. Part of me was so shocked that he actually made it and without any drugs. But he and I had a great time. 1st big trip we took together since our California adventure which was MANY years ago. I’ll try and write more about the trip in another post.
Then I went to Israel for the JDC mid year seminar. It was amazing to meet all the other JSC volunteers from around the world. The JSC has volunteers in Kiev Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine, Jerusalem Israel (2), Mumbai India (2), Kishinev Moldova & Minsk Belarus (1 volunteers splits her time), Berlin Germany, Bratislava Slovakia, Turkey, Addis Ababa Ethiopia, and then the 10 of us in Rwanda.
It was also nice to be in a “western” country and city. I had only been to Israel once before on Birthright and it wasn’t the best experience of my life. They cart you around from place to place and you don’t really have a chance to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy where you are. So it was definitely nice to experience Jerusalem and fully enjoy it (which I did). Crazy story about Israel but I’ll save that for another post…
Anyway back to the original thought of this post. I’ve been in a funk ever since I got back from Israel. I knew it was going to happen before we left. It happened the last time I was in Rwanda and left the country. It takes a little getting used to living here and once you get used to it if you leave and experience all the things that you miss living in Africa but have learned to live without, its hard to come back and not have them. Being in Jerusalem it was so easy to get around, the food was amazing, the atmosphere was great (I love old cities like Jerusalem and Rome). Definitely didn’t want to leave for more than one reason but I had to.
That’s not to say I wasn’t excited to come back to Rwanda and to the village. I love it here, I really do. And when I landed at Kigali International Airport I stepped off the plane and took a deep breath in and said to myself, its nice to be home. There is something about the land of a thousand hills with its red earth that is just intoxicating. Adding the fact that I was going to be able to see my kids again after a few weeks of not seeing them, I was very excited to get back to the village.
As soon as I arrived I woke them up (they were napping) they all gave me big hugs and were very excited to see me. It was great. But after that initial excitement passed it was back to the daily grind. And it has been painful to get back into. Apparently this isn’t some strange phenomenon as many of the other volunteers are experiencing similar feelings.
It’s been real hard for me to get back into village life…probably one of the hardest parts for me in general. I think I would have a much easier time overall if I was not living in the village (something I have said before). But especially going from a city like Jerusalem to the village life it is a little jarring. I have rarely ventured to the dining hall for meals, which has been made easier to do since my dad brought me a bunch of food when he came to visit. But still would be nice if I could cook every day for myself. Which is hard to accomplish as I can’t really go out and buy vegetables every day. Additionally, my roommates don’t always clean the kitchen super well and leave food out which means ants come marching in and when you see your kitchen infested with ants it doesn’t really a welcoming cooking experience.
So yea…I dunno just living in funky town now and not the good kind. Its great that all the volunteers are back together. The first time in a few months (with the exception of one volunteer who is still in Israel but we got to see her when we were there which was nice).
I don’t even know where I am going with this post, sorry I’m out of practice, just throwing stuff out there.
Anyway I’m pretty much halfway done with my placement. We got here in December and it looks like we will be leaving in November. I’m going to try and leave Rwanda in the beginning – middle of November so I can be home in time for thanksgiving & my boy’s bachelor party/wedding. We’ll see what happens. Still haven’t gotten a definitive answer as to when we are able to leave and I don’t have a flight or anything yet but will update when I do know for sure what my plan is.
Ok thats it for now. Will try to write more on a regular basis. I’m starting to feel the tingles of motivation coming back. Hopefully that means I will start diving head first into my side projects, something I put on hold during my vacation/seminar time and have yet to be able to get back into.
Mike Brand signing off…for now.
