New Friends!

So this morning we got a note from our contact in the New Zealand offices of GVN giving us the names of two previous Rwanda volunteers. Funny enough - one of them goes to school at one of the assistant's alma maters!! We sent them an email this morning and cannot wait to hear back from them about their experiences and advice for Rwanda.

In other news, the word is slowly leaking through my (Asst 1) firm about my departure at the end of November. The reactions from people have truly surprised and amazed me. I knew this was my workplace and my home here in DC - but people have been so happy and excited for me and sad to see me go. Truly - two people have gotten teary. I guess I just wasn't expecting that. I'm not really the type of person that needs confirmation on people's feelings about me or to validate what I'm doing - but this just makes me so excited! That may sound funny, but let me explain. It makes me feel excited that people will be watching what I'm doing in Africa. They'll be watching as I blog and write and email about the situation there and hopefully, they'll care enough about me to turn that observing into action. My hope is that they'll be attuned to a whole new life situation and will go on the journey with me.

I suppose that's partially what this blog is about. We want our friends and family to have access to us - being thousands of miles away and all - but we also want them to experience what we're doing in Rwanda and the people whose lives we're touching. Hopefully, we'll inspire others to action or to pursue more information about a situation that inspires them. Hopefully, our action to 'live out loud' will inspire others to do the same... in whatever way they want to.

Puttin' a Ring On It

Alright - officially, I (Asst 1) have let my firm know I'm leaving. No turning back now!!!

I'm so excited - our Chief of Staff was phenomenal and was so happy for me. I'm so lucky that I work somewhere that values what I want and not how much money I make them. The next four weeks are going to be crazy transitioning out of this company that has been more than my job for almost two and a half years, it's been my home and my away-from-home family. We were dysfunctional at times and sometimes we fought, but these people were my family in D.C. They were there for me through some very challenging times and brought me to a new level of my professional life. I'm am truly thankful for everyone I have met and worked with through the opportunities I've had at this company.

But now, it's time to slam this book shut and wildly open the next one. I can't wait!!

Travelin'

So we just got word today from our on-site contact, Justus, that we were cleared to fly in to Uganda on January 13 and that they would pick us up from the bus staging area in Kigali on the 14th. This is super good news for us because we were a bit weary they would not be able to arrange a pick up for us if we did not fly directly into Kigali - but they were more than happy to arrange pick up there. This is clearly exciting since we''ll be saving a little bundle on flights without having to fly in to Kigali.

So, currently, the flight plans (for Asst 1) are to fly out of Chicago on January 11th or 10th, layover in Amsterdam, then fly in to Uganda - landing on the 12th or 13th. If we land on the 12th we'll get to stay over in Entebbe for the night then jump on a bus the morning of the 14th. If we land on the 13th, we'll basically go straight from the airport to the bus stop. Apparently the buses leave at 4am from the bus stop and are first come first serve. So, we'll probably have to be getting there first!

shots pas deux

So - Thursday was the big shot day and boy do I have a recap. First of all, I had some awesome doctor doing the shots and she gave me a great debrief on Rwanda, what to expect and things to do on the ground. My two favorite pieces of advice were:

"What are the rules of eating food in Africa? Cook it. Peel it. or Forget it."

"Wear flipflops in the shower." 'Like in the dorms?' "No dear. Like if you don't wear them you may get parasites in your feet and they may fall off." '............got it. flipflops.'

So, after all that my doc went to go get my yellowfever shot, hep a shot and meningitis shot and the oral Typhoid pill. While she was getting the various diseases together in shot form, I pulled out my purse to turn my phone off and realized, I didn't have my wallet with me. I figured that since I couldnt give the yellowfever back, I better tell them to wait so I could run home, grab my wallet and come back. [Have I mentioned to this point that it is cold and rainy and the doctor is a 40 minute train ride from my house?]

The wonderfully gracious receptionist says that I can go ahead, get all my shots and meds and call in my credit card number when I got home. Perfect! I was pretty excited that I had found such awesome people to shoot me up with all these diseases!

Doc put me up on the table and I literally didn't feel a thing. 90 seconds later, I had three shots and 4 pills to take for typhoid vaccination. I ran to the train and headed back to the city to run to my apartment and grab my wallet, to make sure I could get to a 12:30pm meeting. [Remember the rain & forty degrees weather please.]

I get a few blocks from my house and go to pull out my keys because not only am I cold and wet I have to use the restroom. Then I realize, that I don't have any keys. None. No Keys. I also need to throw in here that the typhoid medicine I currently have in my purse needs to get in the refrigerator. I typically dont mind bending the rules a bit - but taking spoiled typhoid, didn't seem to be a rule I was wanting to mess with. So I call my roommate, she's at work. Other roommate, at work. So I decide that since I need to use the restroom, I better go get on a train and get to the restaurant that I have a lunch meeting at.

I get to the restaurant, sit down and my waitress comes. I decide that I really need to not have spoiled tyhpoid so I pleasantly ask our waitress to please put my typhoid in the refrigerator in the kitchen. While at lunch I get a text from my roommate letting me know that he can meet me with his keys so I can get in to the apartment.

I finish my amazing turkey burger at lunch and head over to my roommate's office building. Grab the keys, get on the bus and get to my apartment. Throw the tyhpoid in the refrigerator and pass out on the futon.

It was an amazing day for getting shot up with diseases.

SHOTS!

no, not the good ones. Tomorrow is shot day here in the nation's capitol and Asst 1 is about to get shot up with all sorts of fun bacteria (good thing she has unlimited sick days!). First thing tomorrow morning, I'll be hopping on the train and going to the travel medicine clinic. As far as I know, I'll be getting the Hep A/B series (part 1 of 2), Yellowfever and Typhoid tomorrow. I may throw some polio in for good measure this round, or possibly wait until the next round in November.

I'm basically, just hoping that my arm doesn't fall off. I have been adequately warned by my fellow Assistant, that her round of shots that were last week made her arm feel like it was being stabbed by gnomes.

Will be sure to report back tomorrow on the status of aforementioned shots... in the meantime I'll pretend to enjoy this weird rainy/cloudy/cold shenanigan weather.

Substitute Teacher's Licence

Asst 1 is HOOKED UP!

Yesterday I officially got my Indiana Substitute Teacher's License. I'm pretty stoked about this experience once I get home to Indiana.

I'm wondering what the education system in Indiana looks like now that I'm coming back after 6 years, I actually wonder what K-12 education looks like in general. I think I'm looking at it through different eyes now. It's going to be really fascinating going from a huge liberal city by way of a fairly liberal college experience back to teaching in the Bible belt of the Midwest. However, I think it will be valuable as I'm going to a country that may put our definition of "conservative" to shame.

I've been really lucky to live somewhere that has be hyper plugged in to everything going on politically and in the media. As in LA where everyone is plugged in to Hollywood or NYC with fashion, DC is where it is for the political arena. I hope that, even though I'm only in Indiana for a short time, that I can really impart some knowledge to the kids I'll be working with. I don't want to influence anyone's opinion or change any minds - I would just like to spread the knowledge about life, the world outside the Hoosier bubble and how many cool and exciting things exist out there.

moving trucks, shots, budgets, shenanigans

Guys - it's crazy out there, but the assistants have accomplished some major coups over the last couple weeks.

Asst 1:
-Scheduled Hep A/Hep B Series Shot #1 (of 2)
-Scheduled Typhoid/Yellow Fever Shots
-Reserved moving truck for post-Thanksgiving move back to Indiana
-PAID FULL PROGRAM FEE!!!!
-Secured Indiana State Substitute Teacher License (will need something to do those 8 weeks at home)
-Got some train prices for trains to Chicago to go visit best friend I haven't seen in years [Vera ;-)]
-Got all sorts of information on national parks and fun things to do in Rwanda

Asst 2:
-Secured full-time employ in Boston
-Secured full-time employ that is really fun!
-Secured new gym membership - very important for girls planning a trans-continental trip on a shoestring budget
-Made appointments for shots
-Secure health insurance, on her own, not even through her employer- discovered the intimate details of how bad our healthcare system is without a public option

Asst 1 & 2 Combined Efforts of greatness:
-Planned end-of-November moving efforts
-Been able to stay in touch enough to make sure neither of us lose our sanity, our current employs or our peace of mind about the trip. Do you know how hard this is to do from two different cities for two girls who work as much as we do??