Oh man!! The second week has come and gone. It has been so much fun getting to know Kigali
MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY
On Monday we had our usual schedule of classes and labs.
Tuesday was rather different in the evening. I made friends with some of the locals and I decided to hangout with them. They took me out to a local bar where we had drinks and brochette. Brochette is a famous roasted meat(goat, fish, beef) skewer treat in Rwanda I really wish I had a picture, but I usually just rush into my food before I remember I have to take a photo.
I happened to have a talk with one of the locals in our group called Daniel.
Daniel told me he studied fine arts but he was now into photography. His main area of focus is on Rwanda in the 20th century up till present day. In his own words, He felt that Africa as a whole is always represented in pictures as a continent of suffering and impoverished people. He says that his photography focuses on the growth and strength of the nation. He strongly believed that archives should be kept for future generations to fall back on. I was moved by this conversation partly because he saw a bright future for his country and the effort he put towards achieving this dream was impressive. Apparently, he hired cameras and travelled for hours to different parts of the country to capture this amazing side of Africa that he loves. The night ended with lighter conversations and a tonne of laughs. I was pleased
Wednesday: It was poker night with the locals from the college we live at. We meet some professors that taught civil engineering and we talked about the values of teaching and how it has improved their lives. We exchange some lingua in French, Kinyarwanda and English. They were pleased to teach us a song that went like this
Bienvenue Bienvenue au leur payee
THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY
As usual, this was the start of the weekend for us. We ended the day by having some ice cream. I called it a night early enough tho, because I felt a bit weird. By weird I mean tired and
Friday was a really good day. Like my roommate Maddy says, it was Great!!
We visited the hospital this week. First, we got introduced to the technicians and the director of the hospital. After that, we were divided into three groups to troubleshoot and fix some broken equipment. I was in a group that had to fix operating room lights that weren’t working. The control board of operating room lights was broken in that capacitors and some resistors we burned out. To fix the problem, we had to find the service manual and specification sheets from the manufacturer. Because of the limited time at the hospital, we didn’t have the chance to complete the task. We were for sure introduced to the troubleshooting process of medical devices in the developing world.
Saturday, we took a day trip to Nyungwe rain forest. It was a 10-hour bus ride to and fro from the capital. During the trip we made a pit stop at some canteen where I finally had the best brochette ever. It tasted so good that I bought three skewers.
Getting to the rain forest, we went on a hike down the hill to the canopy walk site. A Vancouver Canadian company built the canopy for tourist purposes in Rwanda. GO CANADA!!!!
During the hike down, we crossed over some red ants. Now red ants have the worst sting ever. How do I know??? Well, I was the only one in the group that managed to carry one in my socks. I obviously didn’t know this until I got to the middle of the canopy, when I felt a painful sensation. I squealed. I will have more pictures to better yet explain what happened on saturday.
SUNDAY
I found an awesome coffee shop in the kimihurura district called shokola. This had to be the best find of the week because my insides could finally settle into a peaceful oblivion. I started this blog post at the coffee shop but never finished it. We went to tiani’s and papyrus where we got coffee and Italian food. I would highly recommend this district for anyone who loves food and coffee like me.
MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY
On Monday we had our usual schedule of classes and labs.
Tuesday was rather different in the evening. I made friends with some of the locals and I decided to hangout with them. They took me out to a local bar where we had drinks and brochette. Brochette is a famous roasted meat(goat, fish, beef) skewer treat in Rwanda I really wish I had a picture, but I usually just rush into my food before I remember I have to take a photo.
I happened to have a talk with one of the locals in our group called Daniel.
Daniel told me he studied fine arts but he was now into photography. His main area of focus is on Rwanda in the 20th century up till present day. In his own words, He felt that Africa as a whole is always represented in pictures as a continent of suffering and impoverished people. He says that his photography focuses on the growth and strength of the nation. He strongly believed that archives should be kept for future generations to fall back on. I was moved by this conversation partly because he saw a bright future for his country and the effort he put towards achieving this dream was impressive. Apparently, he hired cameras and travelled for hours to different parts of the country to capture this amazing side of Africa that he loves. The night ended with lighter conversations and a tonne of laughs. I was pleased
Wednesday: It was poker night with the locals from the college we live at. We meet some professors that taught civil engineering and we talked about the values of teaching and how it has improved their lives. We exchange some lingua in French, Kinyarwanda and English. They were pleased to teach us a song that went like this
Bienvenue Bienvenue au leur payee
THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY
As usual, this was the start of the weekend for us. We ended the day by having some ice cream. I called it a night early enough tho, because I felt a bit weird. By weird I mean tired and
Friday was a really good day. Like my roommate Maddy says, it was Great!!
We visited the hospital this week. First, we got introduced to the technicians and the director of the hospital. After that, we were divided into three groups to troubleshoot and fix some broken equipment. I was in a group that had to fix operating room lights that weren’t working. The control board of operating room lights was broken in that capacitors and some resistors we burned out. To fix the problem, we had to find the service manual and specification sheets from the manufacturer. Because of the limited time at the hospital, we didn’t have the chance to complete the task. We were for sure introduced to the troubleshooting process of medical devices in the developing world.
Saturday, we took a day trip to Nyungwe rain forest. It was a 10-hour bus ride to and fro from the capital. During the trip we made a pit stop at some canteen where I finally had the best brochette ever. It tasted so good that I bought three skewers.
Getting to the rain forest, we went on a hike down the hill to the canopy walk site. A Vancouver Canadian company built the canopy for tourist purposes in Rwanda. GO CANADA!!!!
During the hike down, we crossed over some red ants. Now red ants have the worst sting ever. How do I know??? Well, I was the only one in the group that managed to carry one in my socks. I obviously didn’t know this until I got to the middle of the canopy, when I felt a painful sensation. I squealed. I will have more pictures to better yet explain what happened on saturday.
SUNDAY
I found an awesome coffee shop in the kimihurura district called shokola. This had to be the best find of the week because my insides could finally settle into a peaceful oblivion. I started this blog post at the coffee shop but never finished it. We went to tiani’s and papyrus where we got coffee and Italian food. I would highly recommend this district for anyone who loves food and coffee like me.