Birthdays and New Places

On Saturday we celebrated Noni's birthday at the very popular Indian Khazana restaurant in Kigali. Infamous mostly because it is unexpectedly one of the best Indian restaurants anywhere, and they put on a show with singing and dancing for birthdays. Over-the-top Indian costumes for the staff with clown painted faces, all the while singing "Jambo, Jambo". Pretty entertaining stuff! I also met new friends from Booz-Allen in Washington DC who are here working with the NGO distributor of HIV/AIDS treatment for our programs.

After dinner we went on a mini "bar crawl", where I got to see the newly renovated Papyrus lounge, and the new "B Club" where there is a cover charge, DJ, and the first limosine in Kigali parked in the parking lot. It is really mind blowing how fast things are progressing here. On Sunday I went on a 10K hike with Marie Claire and got caught up on lots of things about Rwanda. I watched the exciting Spain/Germany soccer match that evening new friends at my hotel.

Tonight I went to dinner with my good friend Laurie from the UK Embassy. We went to another new restaurant called "Heaven", which was recently opened by an American who runs an NGO here. It is beautiful, and I forgot to bring my camera! It is perched on one of the many hillsides overlooking the city. There is a very creative menu, and extremely attentive and friendly staff. They sell T-shirts and even have a large screen TV in the bar where we watched Andy Murray win a really, really long game at Wimbledon. This is amazing progress here.

Today was a typically busy Monday which included an afternoon Embassy celebration and send-off for the current Ambassador. He is retiring and returning to DC next week after 2.5 years in Rwanda. Tomorrow is the Rwanda Independence Day so the office is closed, and Friday the office is closed for the 4th of July. This makes the work week jam packed with tasks. But it is nice to aenjoy some days off while here. I am re-thinking my plans to go to Uganda this weekend. I am having a great time connecting and re-connecting with everyone in Kigali, I think I need to just enjoy my time here!

Unwinding on the weekend

After a long day at work on Friday we went out and enjoyed the evening in Kigali. I met up with Morgan who is helping to implement the Peace Corps in Rwanda; John one of the Marines; and my friend Patrick from here in Rwanda. We had a great time at the Hotel Milles Collines where Morgan's good friend (a Rwandese "pop star") was performing.

Today was another beautiful, sunny day and I sat by the pool chatting with other hotel guests from Egypt, Germany, and other interesting places. Some of the hot topics included the upcoming soccer match between Germany and Spain, the election situation in Zimbabwe, and the US presidential candidates (mostly because I was reading one of Obama's books).

Tonight I am off to celebrate Noni's birthday at the yummy Indian Khazana restaurant.

Last day with Daniel

Daniel's last day continued with super speed transition of tasks. Thankfully we had time for a quick lunch again in the cafeteria. It's really a nice area in the new Embassy. Although I miss going to dowtown Kigali for lunch everyday which provided nice interaction with the community, this new area encourages interaction with team members. George the chef likes to try his hand at various American food as well as Rwandan options. There is a buffet with typical Rwandan fare, as well as a "special" which is "American style" like tenderloin and mashed potatoes today or tacos yesterday. Also you can order hamburgers or salads and choose fresh juices. Amazing!
Here we are in the cafeteria...


David and I drove Daniel home so that we can keep and use his car while he is away. He offered us a quick snack of homeade ice cream and strawberries from the garden. Yum!


Most US Government employees here long-term (1-2 years) are placed in really nice homes. (In fact I attended a housing board meeting today and learned more than I wanted to know about how they are slected and managed!) Daniel's home is no exception. He has a really nice house. Here are some photos of his orchids he brought from Thailand, Congolese artwork, and his living room.

I went to a fun dinner party at Mahita's house tonight. (I forgot my camera though!) I made some new friends, and am now considering plans to travel to Uganda over the 4th of July weekend. Yay!

Long day back in the groove...

Well, I finished a 12-hour day catching up on everything at the CDC. Whew! I am replacing Daniel as Deputy Director of the CDC office for this month and we only overlap one day after which he will be gone the rest of the time I am here. I am so glad I got to see him and I can't imagine how I would have been able to help if we couldn't have spent such a long day going over everything that is going on. This is going to be HARD work. There is alot going on but it is so nice to be here and it will be an adventure. Here is a picture of Daniel at his desk- which will be my desk starting tommorrow!

The CDC, USAID, and Embassy staff have all moved into a huge new embassy over the last four months. Many things are wonderful about this- everything is new, the power source is more secure, supplies are consolidated and ordering is more efficient; all of the water in the faucets is filtered (which is so weird I have to say!); there is a pool, gym, and small commissary where Americans can buy cereal and diet coke among other things. It is really nice!! The downsides are there are alot of glitches from the move such as IT struggles, equipment issues, etc. All in all though the one USG (US government) philosophy driving this move is probably a good one. Now the three teams are just one floor away from each other, rather than in three separate buildings around Kigali. One of the initial critical tasks for me is to continue Daniel's decision-making about consolidating staff and services. This is a tough negotiating game and I'll have to jump right in and make some tough decisions. There is also a lot of budget spending tracking and program evaluation to be done. It makes me tired just thinking about it, or maybe I am just tired from the hours and hours of travel just yesterday!

I've noticed a lot of changes today. First, the missing aerobics classes in my hotel. I used to love doing kick boxing to the french instructions "un, deux, trois" every morning. I guess the instructors tried to negotiate a higher pay (especially since the foreigners were charged a really high price) but management wouldn't budge so they all quit last month. I will miss them- they were really nice. Although I know I will be getting my exercise from walking to the office everyday which is about a mile each way. I went to change money this morning and was given 2,000 franc notes. I thought something was wrong because I was so used to 5,000 notes, and the only small ones were 500, and 100. They introduced a new note since I've been gone! (500 francs= $1). A number of friends at work have since moved on to places like Iraq, India, and back to the states, which is a little sad but definitely the way it is in overseas offices. The embassy has a great cafeteria (although pricey) where I was able to have lunch today (rice and beef special- $6) with many of my friends who are still here- Marie Claire, Mahita, Kris, Josh, and Jenny. I am excited to get to know the new people here too. The group of five Marines has turned over and seem like another rowdy yet fun group of young men. I've learned there are 3 new restaurants which I need to try including a "fast food" chinese place (food usually takes 40 minutes to an hour to be served at typical restaurants here), as well as a restaurant which has begun making cheese and yogurt which is generally not available at stores here. Supposedly there is a new coffee shop that I must see as well. I was told my taxi driver from last time is awaiting my call, which I am sure I will need frequently to get around the city. I walked a ways to a small Rwandan store down the street this evening after work and bought some juice and small things to have in my hotel room. I knew three different people in the store!

My hotel is pretty comfortable. Here is a picture of the room-

Quick note about packing...

I tried to remember what I really needed last time I was in Rwanda, but it's amazing how details like that are hard to remember. I think I packed pretty well this time, but I thought I'd mention a few things that I already wish I would have packed...

(1) handy wipes (they are so handy, but I forgot them this time!)
(2) hand santizer gel (can't believe I forgot this time- I used it all the time last trip)
(3) small dish soap...I'm sure they sell something comparable here, but I am already wondering how I will wash the few dishes I brought.
(4) washcloth/small towel (I figured I needed this in an apartment last time, but hadn't considered how skimpy the hotels are with towels...I have one large towel only in my bathroom)

am sure there will be other things that come up.

The Adventure Has Begun

I arrived safe and sound in Kigali, Rwanda and have already unpacked in my hotel. I'm staying here at the Novotel http://www.novotel.com/novotel/fichehotel/gb/nov/3410/fiche_hotel.shtml, which thankfully has wireless internet in my room. Yay!

Not surprisingly, it was quite a journey getting here. When I was dropped off at Washington Dulles yesterday at 11:30A (thanks Clare!) I waited in line for 25 minutes only to find out at the check-in counter that my tickets were never purchased by the CDC. They had of course approved my trip at the last minute on Friday, but someone forgot to press "purchase now" or something. After a number of frantic calls I was able to reach the right people who quickly bought my tickets So much for the government saving money! I don't even want to know what a same-day ticket to Rwanda costs. I rushed to the gate only to find out that the flight was delayed 2.5 hours. That was only going to leave me 25 minutes in JFK to go from terminal 2 to terminal 8. When I called the CDC back they of course couldn't switch me to the more direct flight from Washington DC to Brussels because it was too expensive. Now they worry about cost! ha. So Delta put me near the front of the plane and amazingly I was able to navigate the JFK airport (which is a mess by the way) and run to my international flight which was already completed boarded when I arrived, but then we sat on the tarmac for an hour. Ugh! Good thing I packed a relatively light carry-on backpack. I slept most of that 7 hour flight trying to acclamate to the new time zone. I had a short layover in Brussels and boarded the next 7 hour flight (with a quick stop in Kenya) ending in Kigali.

Interestingly, on this flight I was seated next to the current US Ambassador in Rwanda. He remembered me and for a moment I thought he would refer to the goats from my last visit! He did mention he remembered that I organized the visit for the HHS delegation and had worked on the CDC budget planning. He mentioned some brief updates about the US programs in Rwanda and that he will leave Rwanda in 3 weeks to go work in Washington DC. I din't ask who will replace him. I guess I will find out more tomorrow. I will be picked up by the driver for work tomorrow at 8AM, which is 2AM ET! yikes. Better go to sleep if I can...

Preparing to go again

Last year even with all of my check lists and packing strategies, my Rwanda trip was unpredictable. So, this is how I've prepared for the second visit- ready for adventure...

(Baltimore Trapeze School, July 15th 2008)