living the high life

i have never eaten as well as i have in kigali. let me explain: last semester, i probably ate out almost every day – sandwiches, salads, whatever – and whole foods made a lot of money out of me. The only times I really cooked were the few times that we had potlucks. So, you can imagine the magnitude of my indian belly by the end of april.

except for the first day, when we ate traditional rwandan food at lunch, we have been making amazingly great meals from scratch (read: making peanut sauce from accidentally soaked peanuts). yes, we make good food even when we manage to fuck things completely up.

here’s a sampling of the dishes we’ve made:
sautéed veggies and the aforementioned (chunky) peanut sauce with pasta
thai eggplant curry, avocado and tomato salad, with naan
dessert: naan with goat cheese and honey(!)
tomato, potato and onion frittata
dessert: mango and banana fruit salad
chana masala, rice, chapatti, and salad.
rice and more of that delish thai eggplant curry (ajanta made it for us)
dessert: chapattis with nutella(!)
breakfast burritos (scrambled eggs, tomatos, onions, avocados rolled up in a chapatti) with a side of homemade mac’n’cheese (!)
dessert: toblerone

see how creative and resourceful we are? Of course, i cut vegetables, and emily (housemate and friend from rsph) and ajanta (works at psf, from emory med, friend) are the real brains behind the meals. i’m going to enjoy it for as long as i can.

a time and a place for an ill-fitting polka- dot dress.

we went out to a bar on friday night, the republika, which really made me feel that we were in a tree-house. it is basically an expat hangout (and really, really nice to boot), with the entire spectrum represented…from the conservative ‘i’m in town for a conference’ to the looney ‘i’m a yalie who shouldn’t be here’. the yalie was especially ridiculous: she’s the roommate of one of our housemate’s friends, and showed up in a strapless, polka-dot dress, which did not fit her. we left before the real festivities began: she apparently gave someone a lap dance to top off a sketchy night (for that special someone) in kigali.

we went shopping (for groceries) for the fourth time in as many days today, and other than the outing last night, i haven’t seen much of kigali. tomorrow, we are off to hike mt. kigali with the housemates. pictures to follow.

first impressions

kigali is clean! there are no animals in the main streets nor are there teeming masses of people. the house we live in, at projet san francisco, is suuuuuuper nice. running water (hot and cold), seven bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 minutes from where I’ll be working, and with some really great house-mates (taylor and tyronza, who are interns at psf). there is a housekeeper who comes by every other day, who makes my bed (!) and does our laundry. i haven’t worked much in the last 3 days. we’re in the middle of rotating through the different departments at the project – data, medical (the clinic), lab, and admin. there is a lot going on here, and we’re supposed to get a taste of how things work before we jump in to what we are actually doing for the summer. stay tuned for what that actually is (we start in a little less than two weeks).

my second impression: i'm still in a developing country. you just have to step off the main street into one of the alleys, where there are houses (which double as vegetable stands), to realize that kigali is still the capital city of a country which is in the lowest tier of the world’s economies. there are still kids dying here from malnutrition and diarrheal illnesses. and, you still rejoice when an HIV-negative two-year-old comes in with parents who are HIV-positive.

the journey

two things about traveling halfway around the world – especially to a country in which you have no experience: 1) make sure you are patient. for example, if the airline you are flying will take one look at your backpack and say it doesn’t meet its criteria for a carry on, be prepared to holla at them for a while. be prepared for them not to care. be prepared to unpack your entire carry-on and your friend’s in front of 100 people. be prepared to pay $220 for the pleasure. british airways = tools. 2) stick to the rules you were brought up with. for example, do not leave your passport at the special immigration office while you get your bags before you catch your connecting flight. No matter how many official-looking folks tell you to do so, do *not* let your passport out of your hand for one second. Otherwise, you may find yourself arguing with an immigration official (who thinks it’s not so cool that your friend is in Kenya without a passport or visa) that it was all a mistake, and that you just got confused as to how to get back to the special office.

otherwise, ba got emily and me safely to london, with surprisingly good meals: i was impressed with the ‘regular’ fare that the ‘regular’ passengers eat. it was better than some of the ‘special’ meals that my ideal airline, aingapore airlines, serves. props for that ba, props. we had a really nice 12 hour layover: nice because we saw a bunch of london with emily’s friends beck and szilvia. they were realllllly nice. i also bought cute shoes. guess i won’t go see the gorillas.

sun in the city of roses

i had a fabu time in portland seeing a bunch of friends i haven't seen in a long time.

here's what went down:

thursday: hung out with julie on her couch and tried to watch foreign films. this romanian one was totally screwed up. i don't even remember the name. something about a boy-girl, who may or may not fall in love with a drifter. ya, that was about 10 minutes of blah. the other, 'beautiful boxer' - was more entertaining. but, why does the transvestite thai boxer speak in english the whole time? it would have been more believable if she spoke in thai. she had better skin than me, though.



friday: slept in. lunch with the allison, tim, and zach-o. family friends feed my bottomless pit of a stomach.

saturday: slept in. bridgeport village is a monstrosity of a mall. i don't think that people realize the enormity of vast suburban 'california' style malls. on the plus side: i didn't forget mother's day this year. thanks, cheaper-than-godiva-and-moonstruck chocolate store!

sunday: slept in. rei: there goes my bank account, again.

monday: omg, i don't remember what i did on monday. powell's?

tuesday: slept in. target. oh, and watched a lot of 'the office' episodes online. seriously, i'm going to watch that show more diligently next season.

wednesday: slept in. target? maybe. lunch with the bg's. i bought a fake wedding ring, then promptly 'forgot' it in my parents' guest bathroom. i think the sparkly, black ring i'm now rocking matches my current romantic outlook, anyway. dinner with the afsahi clan and allison.



thursday: slept in. i went to vancouver. it is a wasteland - of strip malls. i still haven't decided if these are worse than malls. i mean, a catholic parish next to where you get your brakes replaced? are they for reals?!



but, i guess there's goodness there, too: bubble tea at my friend lisa's protege's pho place...



friday: freaked out, and did all the actual running around i should have been doing when i was sleeping in. and, happy hour michellie and john: tots at mcmenamins - how i miss you!

these are my countrymen.

um, wow.

i mean, why?

things that surprise me

1) the guy at borders pronounced my name right, on the first try...not 'laaaaaaak-shme', not 'la-kee-shme', but 'luck-shme'. go, 'timzilla'! you get a gold star.

2) how parental bickering can instantly make me feel like i'm 12. i spent most of my waking hours outside the house, today: i went to rei and dropped a *lot* of cash. then, i helped afbloghi grade tests and, generally, avoided my parents. all for naught: i still have to sleep at home.

ok, that's not much of a list, but whatevs. it'll grow.

tomorrow: old navy and target for 'work' clothes and tampons. whee, tampons.

around the world...

here's the lowdown on the next 4 months of my life.

5.10 - 5.18: pdx
5.19 - 5.21: atl
5.21 - 8.15: kigali, rwanda, with sidetrips (hopefully) to uganda, tanzania, and elsewhere in rwanda.
8.15 - 8.24: casablanca, morroco!

if you have other suggestions for what i should try to do while i'm on a continent that i know next to nothing about, comment or email! as soon as my last final is done, i will be getting my read and language acquisiton on.

nearly there!

i am almost done with my semester from hell.

i knew i was getting myself into a lot of trouble taking 20 credits in grad school. true, it's 'professional' school - and not nearly as taxing as medical or law school, and actually more labor intensive (or so i hear) than ph.d. programs (wait, someone's bound to shoot me after that comment)...but, seriously, what was i thinking? the group work seriously sucked up a lot of time. i somehow squeezed in 20, with not exactly stellar performance in any class. this does not bode well for future graduate school applications...

now, i'm almost done - i took my one in-class exam on tuesday, and have turned in 2 take home finals, 2 final projects, and made 3 presentations. i have one take-home left to turn in on friday...and that will be done by thursday morning.

this does not mean i have only been working. maybe that's the problem. i've had some sleep issues this semester, along with some family and personal stuff, but this does not account for the huge blocks of time i've wasted because of lack of motivation. i think it maybe because i don't care for research. i think it's fun to carry out research, but this program is just making me realize how much i hate actually designing studies. here's to a career outside of academia.

speaking of not working, here are some pictures.

25th birthday with the gang. we're so multicultural.

nights of 1000 dinners: grilling at debra's.

nights of 1000 dinners: nearly bringing down pearl's porch.

spring prom! after BRae's birthday.

pretty orchids. i think deb took this one.
not a gratuitous boobie shot. rather, it's sam's flower pin! yes, on my pretty dress!

jazz hands! and sam's hat.

the chicken dance, part one: cock-a-cock-a-cock-co!

the chicken dance, part two: a coodle-oodle-oo! a coodle-oodle-oo!

tres amigas. or trois amis. whichever is grammatically correct.