I am currently sitting in Starbucks. I slept in a bed for the first time in three months (and not just a skinny mattress on the floor). I have a cafe misto, which I never knew about before. I'm using just an ordinary Internet connection that's faster than anything Rwanda has. I just got a foot-long from Subway and a double chocolate chip cookie. This morning, I took a leisurely hot shower for the first time since forever.
Other teams keep getting back. It's so good to see them. One guy said I look like I just got out of Auschwitz. Another said you could play music on my ribs. I'm pretty skinny.
There's a few classmates that were overweight before the outreach. Javier lost 45 pounds on outreach. Maggie lost 30. I haven't seen her yet, but when I saw Javier, I didn't recognize him. Good for them.
I haven't posted in a while. My writing skills are nowhere near the level they'd have to be at for me to write about this last week and this coming week. I couldn't do it justice, and I probably won't try. I'm tired of blogging anyway.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
A Week in the Life
I haven't done anything super noteworthy this week, but I still want to write something worth reading, so I figured I'd make a post about one of my teammates. I've been pretty impressed with all he's gotten to do this week. So here's a day-by-day of the various ministry things he's done this week, as best as I could witness.
On Monday he was at an Internet cafe. He was looking at Google maps, and one of the guys that worked there asked if he knew how to embed a Google map into a website. He did, and so he put the map of the Internet cafe into the Internet cafe's website, and he labeled the building in Google maps so that it would show up when somebody did a Google search for an Internet cafe, and he showed the guy how to do this. The Internet cafe guy also works for a church and did the same for his church and his church's website.
On Tuesday, he had this really awesome good-deed opportunity. Our Rwandan teammate Elijah was applying for a job as a driver for the American embassy, and so he helped Elijah develop a pretty snazzy resume. He even wrote out a cover letter for him. He even put himself down as a reference on Elijah's resume so that he could say nice things about Elijah if a potential employer calls. Elijah really needs a job, and so I was really happy when I heard about all this.
On Wednesday, he helped out at Vida, the English-teaching ministry. Wednesday's topic include cuss words, because the students had all seen a movie in class and the cuss words were throwing them off. It's necessary to learn cuss words to increase listening comprehension and to learn that these particular words should not actually be said. I learned cuss words in Spanish and French but never got to that level in Chinese. Anyways, he even started the lesson by saying that the Bible says to have a clean mouths and we should all be better than to actually use these words, so he also taught replacement words, like “darn” and “screw.” It was a good class.
On Thursday I was around when he had a one-on-one with another teammate. I thought it was neat when he led the conversation into being a day-dream about future plans. I think that's a really healthy thing to do, to develop a positive outlook of one's future. She pretty much just wants to travel and says she dislikes all school. But he talked about degrees she might actually like, related to international studies and missionary work and then listed benefits of even just having a degree. At the end of it, she even said he affected her thinking and will keep all that in mind for her future. Cool.
Paul wrote his epistles in this order: Galatians, 1Thessalonians, 2Thessalonians, 1Corinthians, 2Corinthians, Romans, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, Philippians, 1Timothy, Titus and 2Timothy.
On Thursday evening, this guy read the first six. On Friday morning, he then finished reading through every Pauline epistle in the order they were written in. Also, this particular reading was all in King James Version. Wow. So on Friday morning while we were making lunch, he told a few of us about what he learned and said it was really cool to get to see Paul's emotional journeys on the mission field. Apparently, the Galatian Christians gave him a hard time, and he was disappointed in them. Then Thessalonians were a huge encouragement to Paul and they really hit it off. Then the Corinthians were another low point because of their immorality, but the Philippians brought Paul overwhelming joy. Or something like that.
On Friday afternoon, his one-on-one was with the Canadian patient. He taught her to play chess. I thought that was brilliant. She's so ditzy, and so as a solution he teaches her a mental sport. I think that's really good and empowering for her. I wish I had thought of that. Most of my one-on-ones have been kind of shallow. On Friday though Sunday, she has played and won three games against the computer (on the lowest level of difficulty, which was still a bit challenging). He helped her a lot the first game, but has been helping her progressively less each game.
On Saturday, we split into two groups. Most of us ran a church service at a youth group, but he and Michelle went with Elijah and helped Elijah's brother move. They loaded up a big moving truck, rode to the new house, and unloaded it all.
On Sunday, we did the “You're Everything” skit again. Then he preached a sermon with the theme, “God did not call me to be successful; He called me to be faithful.” He used what he had learned from reading Paul's letters chronologically. And as always, he opened with a few jokes in Kinyarwanda before continuing in English. It was a short sermon that was to the point, which all of us in the audience really appreciated.
My teammates are awesome people. It's going to be very emotional to leave all these people that I've been attached at the hip with for the last three months.
On Monday he was at an Internet cafe. He was looking at Google maps, and one of the guys that worked there asked if he knew how to embed a Google map into a website. He did, and so he put the map of the Internet cafe into the Internet cafe's website, and he labeled the building in Google maps so that it would show up when somebody did a Google search for an Internet cafe, and he showed the guy how to do this. The Internet cafe guy also works for a church and did the same for his church and his church's website.
On Tuesday, he had this really awesome good-deed opportunity. Our Rwandan teammate Elijah was applying for a job as a driver for the American embassy, and so he helped Elijah develop a pretty snazzy resume. He even wrote out a cover letter for him. He even put himself down as a reference on Elijah's resume so that he could say nice things about Elijah if a potential employer calls. Elijah really needs a job, and so I was really happy when I heard about all this.
On Wednesday, he helped out at Vida, the English-teaching ministry. Wednesday's topic include cuss words, because the students had all seen a movie in class and the cuss words were throwing them off. It's necessary to learn cuss words to increase listening comprehension and to learn that these particular words should not actually be said. I learned cuss words in Spanish and French but never got to that level in Chinese. Anyways, he even started the lesson by saying that the Bible says to have a clean mouths and we should all be better than to actually use these words, so he also taught replacement words, like “darn” and “screw.” It was a good class.
On Thursday I was around when he had a one-on-one with another teammate. I thought it was neat when he led the conversation into being a day-dream about future plans. I think that's a really healthy thing to do, to develop a positive outlook of one's future. She pretty much just wants to travel and says she dislikes all school. But he talked about degrees she might actually like, related to international studies and missionary work and then listed benefits of even just having a degree. At the end of it, she even said he affected her thinking and will keep all that in mind for her future. Cool.
Paul wrote his epistles in this order: Galatians, 1Thessalonians, 2Thessalonians, 1Corinthians, 2Corinthians, Romans, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, Philippians, 1Timothy, Titus and 2Timothy.
On Thursday evening, this guy read the first six. On Friday morning, he then finished reading through every Pauline epistle in the order they were written in. Also, this particular reading was all in King James Version. Wow. So on Friday morning while we were making lunch, he told a few of us about what he learned and said it was really cool to get to see Paul's emotional journeys on the mission field. Apparently, the Galatian Christians gave him a hard time, and he was disappointed in them. Then Thessalonians were a huge encouragement to Paul and they really hit it off. Then the Corinthians were another low point because of their immorality, but the Philippians brought Paul overwhelming joy. Or something like that.
On Friday afternoon, his one-on-one was with the Canadian patient. He taught her to play chess. I thought that was brilliant. She's so ditzy, and so as a solution he teaches her a mental sport. I think that's really good and empowering for her. I wish I had thought of that. Most of my one-on-ones have been kind of shallow. On Friday though Sunday, she has played and won three games against the computer (on the lowest level of difficulty, which was still a bit challenging). He helped her a lot the first game, but has been helping her progressively less each game.
On Saturday, we split into two groups. Most of us ran a church service at a youth group, but he and Michelle went with Elijah and helped Elijah's brother move. They loaded up a big moving truck, rode to the new house, and unloaded it all.
On Sunday, we did the “You're Everything” skit again. Then he preached a sermon with the theme, “God did not call me to be successful; He called me to be faithful.” He used what he had learned from reading Paul's letters chronologically. And as always, he opened with a few jokes in Kinyarwanda before continuing in English. It was a short sermon that was to the point, which all of us in the audience really appreciated.
My teammates are awesome people. It's going to be very emotional to leave all these people that I've been attached at the hip with for the last three months.
Ministries Overview
We were supposed to go to Uganda, and then we didn't. We had wrapped up our music ministry. The Rwandan pastor (Sylvan) of our newly planted told Luke that he (Sylvan) would take over the preaching, so we wouldn't be needed anymore. So our ministries were finished, except for the twice-weekly English class. So we had an opportunity to start new ministries. We didn't know exactly what yet, but that was just exciting. At the same time, we also felt kind of finished and ready to go home.
So as we're praying about our next steps, our leader gets really excited to share a new idea she had, after “receiving some intense revelation” the night before. The idea turned out to be that we would spend our afternoons doing one-on-one sessions with each other. She figured this was fitting since so much of our ministry is about ministering to each other. She said she's done everything that she feels God called her to do in Rwanda. So we'd give everyone a dollar or two to split up into pairs and go somewhere like a cafe and hang out with each other, so that a mix of fun things and deep conversations could take place.
Everyone was pretty tired from all the work we had been doing and were generally happy about the idea. However, at least some of us got the feeling that it's kind of silly that we came to Rwanda and are doing something we could be doing anywhere. I didn't raise much of a fuss cause I'm still teaching English.
The one-on-ones turned out to be awesome because they're making us all really close to each other, and they are bringing about a lot of edification.
We're still doing a few other things. We went to an orphanage and taught English last Saturday. This Saturday we split up to either help Elijah's brother move or run a program at a youth group. And on Fridays, we play soccer with a team on a dirt court on the other end of town.
We're also doing a Bible study of Hebrews. We have a lot of time for prayer and Bible reading. I feel like I ought to try to learn more about everything going on with friends back home so I can have more informed prayers.
Also, I have 20 gigs of music from Sam. I'm very happy about that.
So as we're praying about our next steps, our leader gets really excited to share a new idea she had, after “receiving some intense revelation” the night before. The idea turned out to be that we would spend our afternoons doing one-on-one sessions with each other. She figured this was fitting since so much of our ministry is about ministering to each other. She said she's done everything that she feels God called her to do in Rwanda. So we'd give everyone a dollar or two to split up into pairs and go somewhere like a cafe and hang out with each other, so that a mix of fun things and deep conversations could take place.
Everyone was pretty tired from all the work we had been doing and were generally happy about the idea. However, at least some of us got the feeling that it's kind of silly that we came to Rwanda and are doing something we could be doing anywhere. I didn't raise much of a fuss cause I'm still teaching English.
The one-on-ones turned out to be awesome because they're making us all really close to each other, and they are bringing about a lot of edification.
We're still doing a few other things. We went to an orphanage and taught English last Saturday. This Saturday we split up to either help Elijah's brother move or run a program at a youth group. And on Fridays, we play soccer with a team on a dirt court on the other end of town.
We're also doing a Bible study of Hebrews. We have a lot of time for prayer and Bible reading. I feel like I ought to try to learn more about everything going on with friends back home so I can have more informed prayers.
Also, I have 20 gigs of music from Sam. I'm very happy about that.
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Care Package That Saved My Life
A couple weeks ago, Elijah checked his PO Box and there was one item for me- one glorious item that would impact my morale for the next couple weeks and beyond- a care package put together by mom and Tara. It had beef jerky, Reece's Nutrageous bars, fruit leather strips, three boxes of Macaroni and Cheese, gourmet hot chocolate packets, and various hygiene products.
The Nutrageous bars saved me because we have such salty meals. After a meal, it seems like the most delicious thing I've ever put into my mouth, every time.
The hot chocolate is awesome because I put it into coffee and have an awesome mocha. The team buys hot chocolate, but it's plain compared to the flavored Land-O-Lakes packets, and plus our team runs out sometimes. I feel spoiled even talking about good hot chocolate in Africa.
One week ago was the middle of my illness. I had a fever, headache, and stomach problems. Last Monday, the headache and fever finally disappeared after a couple difficult days. The next day they came back a bit, but then they were gone the following day. The stomach problems lingered for a few more days. I haven't weighed this little since high school.
While I was sick, the team went out to do ministry and I stayed at the house. There wasn't any food in our house, and I was hungry. So I made macaroni and cheese, and it was perfect. Most of how the care package saved my life came from that day.
We also seem to go a very long time in between meals, and the jerky and fruit strips are absolutely delicious snacks. This probably helps me out every day.
Also, the beef jerky is meat! Glorious meat! My protein intake isn't near my American diet, but this was still a huge step up.
This was too funny to pass up. The toilet paper I received was also worth a good laugh, because Africa does have toilet paper. Except our team ran out one night, and I had diarrhea, so having that toilet paper there actually did really save my ass. Ha! I love puns.
The whole team has gotten a tiny bit of this enjoyment. It's like I've been tithing it and giving a tiny bit each time I dip into it.
The Nutrageous bars saved me because we have such salty meals. After a meal, it seems like the most delicious thing I've ever put into my mouth, every time.
The hot chocolate is awesome because I put it into coffee and have an awesome mocha. The team buys hot chocolate, but it's plain compared to the flavored Land-O-Lakes packets, and plus our team runs out sometimes. I feel spoiled even talking about good hot chocolate in Africa.
One week ago was the middle of my illness. I had a fever, headache, and stomach problems. Last Monday, the headache and fever finally disappeared after a couple difficult days. The next day they came back a bit, but then they were gone the following day. The stomach problems lingered for a few more days. I haven't weighed this little since high school.
While I was sick, the team went out to do ministry and I stayed at the house. There wasn't any food in our house, and I was hungry. So I made macaroni and cheese, and it was perfect. Most of how the care package saved my life came from that day.
We also seem to go a very long time in between meals, and the jerky and fruit strips are absolutely delicious snacks. This probably helps me out every day.
Also, the beef jerky is meat! Glorious meat! My protein intake isn't near my American diet, but this was still a huge step up.
This was too funny to pass up. The toilet paper I received was also worth a good laugh, because Africa does have toilet paper. Except our team ran out one night, and I had diarrhea, so having that toilet paper there actually did really save my ass. Ha! I love puns.
The whole team has gotten a tiny bit of this enjoyment. It's like I've been tithing it and giving a tiny bit each time I dip into it.
I am extremely disappointed in Rwandan food.
Mexico has taco stands. Taiwan has teriyaki stands. I thought that every culture had street food. But in Rwanda, it's not culturally acceptable to walk and eat. No one eats in public. There's nothing quick and tasty that they make. There's nothing quick that they make at all. The closest thing there is to street food is the Rwandan foods that every minimart has. They are...
Sambusa – Plain ground beef stuffed into a slightly crispy deep-fried triangle-shaped breading.
Ndazi – Fried bread. Like a bread roll that tastes like a plain donut.
Capati – Fried bread in the shape of a tortilla.
Those are the main items that are indigenous Rwandan foods. We make pretty good meals sometimes, but sometimes we're just too busy so we make these foods. At this point, we've had these foods so much that our tolerance for these foods is extremely small, and we mostly just choose to not eat or to eat very little on those meals. I dip into my beef jerky.
I think it might be hard for everyone back home to identify with what a strong emotional reaction everyone here experiences anytime someone starts reminiscing about a bacon cheese burger...
Sambusa – Plain ground beef stuffed into a slightly crispy deep-fried triangle-shaped breading.
Ndazi – Fried bread. Like a bread roll that tastes like a plain donut.
Capati – Fried bread in the shape of a tortilla.
Those are the main items that are indigenous Rwandan foods. We make pretty good meals sometimes, but sometimes we're just too busy so we make these foods. At this point, we've had these foods so much that our tolerance for these foods is extremely small, and we mostly just choose to not eat or to eat very little on those meals. I dip into my beef jerky.
I think it might be hard for everyone back home to identify with what a strong emotional reaction everyone here experiences anytime someone starts reminiscing about a bacon cheese burger...
Friday, February 4, 2011
An Overhaul of Updating
I've been kind of bad lately about keeping this blog up to date. That's because a whole lot has happened, and we've been really busy. I haven't even written a newsletter to my house church for the last couple weeks. That's a mistake on my part. I'm working on it now.
So I just put up five major posts (six including this one).
The first one is about the Uganda decision (we're not going to Uganda anymore.).
The second is about Dawn and Pieter's visit.
The third is a hilarious story. White people are very desirable here...
The fourth is about how some of us have grown, including myself.
The fifth gives a sneak-peak into some of the fruit of our ministry.
In other news, our team has been really sick of the feelings of division on the team. And we've decided to start over fresh and try to connect with each other more. So over the last two days, we've watched all three Lord of the Rings movies. Our music classes have ended to we might (hopefully) start a new ministry or two.
Also, I have a lot of videos to upload. They'll get up eventually.
So I just put up five major posts (six including this one).
The first one is about the Uganda decision (we're not going to Uganda anymore.).
The second is about Dawn and Pieter's visit.
The third is a hilarious story. White people are very desirable here...
The fourth is about how some of us have grown, including myself.
The fifth gives a sneak-peak into some of the fruit of our ministry.
In other news, our team has been really sick of the feelings of division on the team. And we've decided to start over fresh and try to connect with each other more. So over the last two days, we've watched all three Lord of the Rings movies. Our music classes have ended to we might (hopefully) start a new ministry or two.
Also, I have a lot of videos to upload. They'll get up eventually.
"I feel beautiful for the first time in my life" (aka, God's Work in Busanza)
Luke has been co-pastoring with Pastor Sylvan the church we started in Busanza. One day, he devotes the service to letting them come up and share what God's been doing in their lives. Here's a sampling of the things they said.
“I used to beat my kids. But then I accepted Christ in my life. I don't beat my kids anymore, and now I have peace.”
“I used to smoke, drink, and sleep around. And I've always felt sick. But I accepted Christ, and I stopped living badly. I got baptized last week, and when I got baptized, I stopped feeling sick.”
“There was a man that used to come over to sleep with me, but he had other women too. I accepted Christ, and last time when he came over, I said I won't sleep with him anymore.”
“I used to be a Catholic priest. And then I walked away from God and did my own thing. And then I heard there was a church meeting in the area, and I decided to check it out. I'm walking with Jesus now.”
“I have never felt beautiful in my life. But when you showed all those pictures of the stars and the beautiful things in outer space, and then you said God still calls us His main work of art, I felt beautiful for the first time in my life.”
“At first, I put you on a higher level because you were a muzungu (white person), but now I realize my value and we're all on the same level. And even the people that sit on the street begging are loved by God.”
Luke also told us more about that day...
“We had bought them Bibles. And so they were clutching their Bibles when they walked into church. There were three adults when we started. There were 45 this last Sunday.
When we got there, even the adults just looked so ratty. But it seems like they're putting more effort into the way they look.”
“I used to beat my kids. But then I accepted Christ in my life. I don't beat my kids anymore, and now I have peace.”
“I used to smoke, drink, and sleep around. And I've always felt sick. But I accepted Christ, and I stopped living badly. I got baptized last week, and when I got baptized, I stopped feeling sick.”
“There was a man that used to come over to sleep with me, but he had other women too. I accepted Christ, and last time when he came over, I said I won't sleep with him anymore.”
“I used to be a Catholic priest. And then I walked away from God and did my own thing. And then I heard there was a church meeting in the area, and I decided to check it out. I'm walking with Jesus now.”
“I have never felt beautiful in my life. But when you showed all those pictures of the stars and the beautiful things in outer space, and then you said God still calls us His main work of art, I felt beautiful for the first time in my life.”
“At first, I put you on a higher level because you were a muzungu (white person), but now I realize my value and we're all on the same level. And even the people that sit on the street begging are loved by God.”
Luke also told us more about that day...
“We had bought them Bibles. And so they were clutching their Bibles when they walked into church. There were three adults when we started. There were 45 this last Sunday.
When we got there, even the adults just looked so ratty. But it seems like they're putting more effort into the way they look.”
Healing (Or Counseling, Part 2)
It's awesome how our team is growing. We are all growing in the healing that God has for us, and we're also growing together. I thought “Girl A” sounds too cold, so isntead I've come up with Latin-based names for my family here...
Tharince screamed, so I thought she saw a rat or a snake again. So somebody hurries outside and see that's she's crying, and she says she just feels extremely frustrated because she feels fat and ugly. So she got comforted and people continue to encourage her and rebuke the lies she's been believing about herself for the last four years. Next time I spoke in church, it was about Hellenism. It's still a very hard struggle for her, but she's definitely getting better.
Amarice experienced a lot of healing from with her one-on-one with Pieter, just because he's such a good older man. When older men take advantage of a girl, it can make older men seem scary, so just having an older man who is just so good was an extremely positive experience. She's also changed her views on dating and relationships so that she's really hoping to not date til she's found the guy she wants to marry.
Florence broke up with her boyfriend, and he took it really well. It's clear she made the right decision, so I'm happy for her, even though it was still hard.
Aemilia went for a walk with me and we had a really good one and one. She has struggled with the belief that she was created without value, so we did an exercise where she listed good qualities about herself, and then we talked about the ones she left out. It went well, so it was a positive experience, which was very healing for me, cause before the DTS, with one of the last people I had one-on-one's with that I tried to help, I was a complete failure. But the feelings from that experience are fading, which I'm pretty happy about.
Tharince screamed, so I thought she saw a rat or a snake again. So somebody hurries outside and see that's she's crying, and she says she just feels extremely frustrated because she feels fat and ugly. So she got comforted and people continue to encourage her and rebuke the lies she's been believing about herself for the last four years. Next time I spoke in church, it was about Hellenism. It's still a very hard struggle for her, but she's definitely getting better.
Amarice experienced a lot of healing from with her one-on-one with Pieter, just because he's such a good older man. When older men take advantage of a girl, it can make older men seem scary, so just having an older man who is just so good was an extremely positive experience. She's also changed her views on dating and relationships so that she's really hoping to not date til she's found the guy she wants to marry.
Florence broke up with her boyfriend, and he took it really well. It's clear she made the right decision, so I'm happy for her, even though it was still hard.
Aemilia went for a walk with me and we had a really good one and one. She has struggled with the belief that she was created without value, so we did an exercise where she listed good qualities about herself, and then we talked about the ones she left out. It went well, so it was a positive experience, which was very healing for me, cause before the DTS, with one of the last people I had one-on-one's with that I tried to help, I was a complete failure. But the feelings from that experience are fading, which I'm pretty happy about.
"You Are So Womanly"...
Context: We have a creepy neighbor guy named Eric. He's 20 years old. He speaks great French and some English. Here's a story that Michelle told us, written from her perspective...
“One fine day, I see Eric's head pop over the wall. I'm in the hammock. Next thing you know, you see him walking through the gate, cause whoever went through it last didn't lock it. I'm lying in the hammock, so it's awkward just cause he's standing there talking to me. He's goes inside, but must have not gotten enough attention, so he comes back out.”
He says, “You walk out with me to the gate.”
“Sure.”
“Can you walk out here (outside the gate) with me, no problem.”
“I stay here, no problem.”
“Please, come outside with me, no problem.”
[She gives in and steps outside with him, and he begins...]
“I wanted to tell you this last week. You're white and I'm black. You're rich and I'm not. But I love you...
I see you there, and then my heart feels so full. You are so womanly. Do you understand?”
“Yeah... we can be friends.”
“Friends?! I am not child. I do not want friends. I want to marry you!...
I see that you have a good heart. I'm not rich but I'm going to the university. I prayed about it. And it would be good. You're a Christian, and I am a Christian.”
“I'm sorry, but I have a boyfriend in America.”
“A boyfriend?” (He face falls, and he starts stumbling around.) But he says, “We can still be friends. It's OK?
“Sure.” (And at this point, I'm thinking I should probably give him a hug. I meant to give him a hips-out, chest out hug. But he gives really excited and pulls me in for a really tight hug. And then we start swaying and he says...)
“Oh Michelle! Oh Michelle!”
So I push him off of me and run inside.
(When we saw her face, we all sat down on the kitchen floor cause we knew a good story was coming, and I transcribed it.)
“One fine day, I see Eric's head pop over the wall. I'm in the hammock. Next thing you know, you see him walking through the gate, cause whoever went through it last didn't lock it. I'm lying in the hammock, so it's awkward just cause he's standing there talking to me. He's goes inside, but must have not gotten enough attention, so he comes back out.”
He says, “You walk out with me to the gate.”
“Sure.”
“Can you walk out here (outside the gate) with me, no problem.”
“I stay here, no problem.”
“Please, come outside with me, no problem.”
[She gives in and steps outside with him, and he begins...]
“I wanted to tell you this last week. You're white and I'm black. You're rich and I'm not. But I love you...
I see you there, and then my heart feels so full. You are so womanly. Do you understand?”
“Yeah... we can be friends.”
“Friends?! I am not child. I do not want friends. I want to marry you!...
I see that you have a good heart. I'm not rich but I'm going to the university. I prayed about it. And it would be good. You're a Christian, and I am a Christian.”
“I'm sorry, but I have a boyfriend in America.”
“A boyfriend?” (He face falls, and he starts stumbling around.) But he says, “We can still be friends. It's OK?
“Sure.” (And at this point, I'm thinking I should probably give him a hug. I meant to give him a hips-out, chest out hug. But he gives really excited and pulls me in for a really tight hug. And then we start swaying and he says...)
“Oh Michelle! Oh Michelle!”
So I push him off of me and run inside.
(When we saw her face, we all sat down on the kitchen floor cause we knew a good story was coming, and I transcribed it.)
Dawn and Pieter's Pastoral Visit
Dawn and Pieter are our school leaders. Our school split up into six outreach teams around the world, and Dawn and Pieter visit every one of them. They arrived in Rwanda last Sunday night, and they left on Tuesday night.
They like me, and they were happy to hear about everything I've gotten to do in Rwanda and about my role in the team, but they also had a couple rebukes.
Dawn said I need to be doing a lot more to carry Mikaela. I thought that was out of line because I'm really nice to Mikaela. Mikaela had been having a hard time, but there really isn't a whole lot I can about that.
Dawn also said I should be rebuking people for complaining. I think that'd be hilarious because of the nature of the complaints in question.
“I feel like I'm just getting rebuked all the time.”
“You shouldn't say that.”
“But nobody listens to me.”
“Quiet, you!”
I refuse to take sides about other people's grievances. I simply nod and sympathetically say I'm sorry.
Dawn also said she gets the feeling that I would do a lot of things differently than Mikaela. So I said, “Well, when Mikaela spent a week crying in her room because she felt rejected, I would have done things differently.” Dawn said she didn't know that had happened and agreed that that was a fault, but she said the “spirit of disagreement still creeps out” even if I don't say anything about it. I disagree, because I think it's important to have at least some freedom of thought, and I think that it's a very important skill to be able to disagree respectfully. YWAM isn't supposed to be a cult.
Another funny part about the one-on-one was that Dawn said, “You can have a terrible outreach leader and still have a great outreach; not that Mikaela is a terrible leader (then why did you say that?). Maybe it would be easier to have an older, more mature leader, but this is the leader that God chose for you.” WOAH! This is the leader that YOU chose, Dawn. I hate it when she uses “Dawn” and “God” interchangeably. I know a lot of prayer went into it, but the problem with an organization as charismatic as YWAM is that their decisions are often “God's decisions”.
When Dawn was encouraging, it was nice, and when she said something I disagreed with, I mostly nodded and held my peace.
Everything Pieter says is always extremely reasonable. He doesn't say much, but the quality of his words is extremely high.
Both Dawn and Pieter are very strong in the grace of God, and they are very powerful agents of healing. But at the same time, Dawn is a bit crazy.
They like me, and they were happy to hear about everything I've gotten to do in Rwanda and about my role in the team, but they also had a couple rebukes.
Dawn said I need to be doing a lot more to carry Mikaela. I thought that was out of line because I'm really nice to Mikaela. Mikaela had been having a hard time, but there really isn't a whole lot I can about that.
Dawn also said I should be rebuking people for complaining. I think that'd be hilarious because of the nature of the complaints in question.
“I feel like I'm just getting rebuked all the time.”
“You shouldn't say that.”
“But nobody listens to me.”
“Quiet, you!”
I refuse to take sides about other people's grievances. I simply nod and sympathetically say I'm sorry.
Dawn also said she gets the feeling that I would do a lot of things differently than Mikaela. So I said, “Well, when Mikaela spent a week crying in her room because she felt rejected, I would have done things differently.” Dawn said she didn't know that had happened and agreed that that was a fault, but she said the “spirit of disagreement still creeps out” even if I don't say anything about it. I disagree, because I think it's important to have at least some freedom of thought, and I think that it's a very important skill to be able to disagree respectfully. YWAM isn't supposed to be a cult.
Another funny part about the one-on-one was that Dawn said, “You can have a terrible outreach leader and still have a great outreach; not that Mikaela is a terrible leader (then why did you say that?). Maybe it would be easier to have an older, more mature leader, but this is the leader that God chose for you.” WOAH! This is the leader that YOU chose, Dawn. I hate it when she uses “Dawn” and “God” interchangeably. I know a lot of prayer went into it, but the problem with an organization as charismatic as YWAM is that their decisions are often “God's decisions”.
When Dawn was encouraging, it was nice, and when she said something I disagreed with, I mostly nodded and held my peace.
Everything Pieter says is always extremely reasonable. He doesn't say much, but the quality of his words is extremely high.
Both Dawn and Pieter are very strong in the grace of God, and they are very powerful agents of healing. But at the same time, Dawn is a bit crazy.
The Uganda Decision
We have decided to stay in Rwanda for the last month instead of going to Uganda. Here's the story...
The United States and Canada have both put Uganda on the list of countries that they tell their citizens not to go to. So if we tried to get visas to Uganda in the United States, we would be denied. We were only able to get visas because we did it in Rwanda. Because Uganda is on the “do not travel” list, the US government wouldn't do anything to help us if we got arrested because we were told not to go there. Apparently, Fedex also has Uganda in the highest category of risk.
Joseph Kony is a Ugandan. He is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is the organization that kidnaps child soldiers and is guilty of pretty atrocious crimes against humanity. Joseph Kony is on the Top Ten Most Wanted list. (#1 is Osama bin Laden). He and his army are currently training and recruiting in Congo. Their goal is to overthrow the government of Uganda and establish a theocratic government. The LRA is thought to have abducted 66,000 children. It's mainly been active in northern Uganda.
Gulu is just a bad area. When we tell Rwandans that we're going to be in Gulu, the expression on their face changes. They don't always believe us, and then they seem worried.
There is an enormous cultural divide between northern and southern Uganda. The languages they speak do not even belong to the same language family. Southerners speak Bantu languages, and northerners speak Nilotic languages. Northern Ugandans hate the current President of Uganda. He has been in power for 25 years, and opposition, especially in Northern Uganda, has been growing.
It is election season. Election day is February 18th. The middle of our time in Uganda. We will be in Northern Uganda. There have already been bombs that have gone off in Uganda.
Our leader, Mikaela, did not know any of this when she chose Uganda. We've given her all this information, and it didn't change her mind. She kept saying she needs a word from God to change her mind. There were three people that said if the team goes to Gulu, they are going home. I just said I don't have the heart to make my family worry about me for a month.
So Mikaela's solution was for us to just keep praying about it until we all got the same answer from God. The problem was that every time we prayed about it and talked about it, the case against going to Uganda just kept getting stronger. This was very upsetting to our leader.
The fourth time that Mikaela started crying at a meeting was when she was saying she felt alone. It's lonely at the top. She took it a bit personally that we weren't willing to go to Uganda. She also said she wants to be pursued as a friend.
The fifth time when she said, “If we're not called to Uganda, why did God put it so strongly in my heart for the last four months?” It was extremely hard for her to let go of Uganda.
Every time we had an emotional meeting, she hadn't been going out and doing ministry with us. She had to take personal days because the stress was really getting to her.
She said she feels like a bad leader. I would feel guilty telling her she's a good leader, because maybe it'd be better if she weren't in positions like this.
First time leaders don't normally lead by themselves on their first outreach. But they had six outreach groups, and it just worked out that this one didn't have a co-leader.
So Dawn and Pieter arrived recently, and they told us the answer about Uganda was a No. They explained that the YWAM council has disagreements sometimes, and they pray about their decisions, and if even one person gets a “No,” then the answer is no, even if the President “got a yes.” “And the fear of God rests on that one person who makes the organization's decision a 'no.'”
Then the apologized to everyone because they felt convicted about telling us the answer is no instead of telling Mikaela the answer is no so that she could tell us so that she would still be honored as the leader of the team.
Then Mikaela apologized to us for drawing out the decision and all of its anxiety because she just had not yet learned that principle about how YWAM operates.
So we've put all that behind us and we're starting over fresh now. :-)
The United States and Canada have both put Uganda on the list of countries that they tell their citizens not to go to. So if we tried to get visas to Uganda in the United States, we would be denied. We were only able to get visas because we did it in Rwanda. Because Uganda is on the “do not travel” list, the US government wouldn't do anything to help us if we got arrested because we were told not to go there. Apparently, Fedex also has Uganda in the highest category of risk.
Joseph Kony is a Ugandan. He is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is the organization that kidnaps child soldiers and is guilty of pretty atrocious crimes against humanity. Joseph Kony is on the Top Ten Most Wanted list. (#1 is Osama bin Laden). He and his army are currently training and recruiting in Congo. Their goal is to overthrow the government of Uganda and establish a theocratic government. The LRA is thought to have abducted 66,000 children. It's mainly been active in northern Uganda.
Gulu is just a bad area. When we tell Rwandans that we're going to be in Gulu, the expression on their face changes. They don't always believe us, and then they seem worried.
There is an enormous cultural divide between northern and southern Uganda. The languages they speak do not even belong to the same language family. Southerners speak Bantu languages, and northerners speak Nilotic languages. Northern Ugandans hate the current President of Uganda. He has been in power for 25 years, and opposition, especially in Northern Uganda, has been growing.
It is election season. Election day is February 18th. The middle of our time in Uganda. We will be in Northern Uganda. There have already been bombs that have gone off in Uganda.
Our leader, Mikaela, did not know any of this when she chose Uganda. We've given her all this information, and it didn't change her mind. She kept saying she needs a word from God to change her mind. There were three people that said if the team goes to Gulu, they are going home. I just said I don't have the heart to make my family worry about me for a month.
So Mikaela's solution was for us to just keep praying about it until we all got the same answer from God. The problem was that every time we prayed about it and talked about it, the case against going to Uganda just kept getting stronger. This was very upsetting to our leader.
The fourth time that Mikaela started crying at a meeting was when she was saying she felt alone. It's lonely at the top. She took it a bit personally that we weren't willing to go to Uganda. She also said she wants to be pursued as a friend.
The fifth time when she said, “If we're not called to Uganda, why did God put it so strongly in my heart for the last four months?” It was extremely hard for her to let go of Uganda.
Every time we had an emotional meeting, she hadn't been going out and doing ministry with us. She had to take personal days because the stress was really getting to her.
She said she feels like a bad leader. I would feel guilty telling her she's a good leader, because maybe it'd be better if she weren't in positions like this.
First time leaders don't normally lead by themselves on their first outreach. But they had six outreach groups, and it just worked out that this one didn't have a co-leader.
So Dawn and Pieter arrived recently, and they told us the answer about Uganda was a No. They explained that the YWAM council has disagreements sometimes, and they pray about their decisions, and if even one person gets a “No,” then the answer is no, even if the President “got a yes.” “And the fear of God rests on that one person who makes the organization's decision a 'no.'”
Then the apologized to everyone because they felt convicted about telling us the answer is no instead of telling Mikaela the answer is no so that she could tell us so that she would still be honored as the leader of the team.
Then Mikaela apologized to us for drawing out the decision and all of its anxiety because she just had not yet learned that principle about how YWAM operates.
So we've put all that behind us and we're starting over fresh now. :-)
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Week 6 Update
On Wednesday, I'm having each of my English students give 5 minute speeches to the rest of the class. I'll have candy for them. I'm excited about it.
On Sunday, our guitar and piano students are going to be performing worship songs for our base church in Remera (Christ Gospel Church). Our team is also performing our drama at the service. We're going to have one or two people speak. I don't think I'll give a sermon, but I'm going to make sure I at least share a few words of encouragement, because they've been very good to us. It's going to be our last Sunday before we leave for Uganda.
We went to the U-17 African championship game on Saturday. The soccer stadium is only a 10-minute bus ride from the bus stop closest to our house. It's hard to believe that every player was under 17-years-old because the level of skill was high enough that it felt like watching a world cup game. Rwanda had made it to the final game, and they were playing Burkina Faso. It was a great game. They kept showing us muzungus (white people) on the big screen, and one of our Rwandan friends said he saw us on TV. It's too bad Rwanda lost, 1-2. President Paul Kagame was there too. He doesn't smile at all ever. I talked to a pastor that said he grew up in the same village as Paul Kagame, and apparently Paul Kagame has always been a very serious person. He is known for being a workaholic.
We helped plant a church in Busanza, and Luke was basically co-pastoring it with the Rwandan pastor, Pastor Sylvan. The Busanza church services happen on the same nights I teach English (we all take a bus to the same town and then we split up with a few of us walking to Vida for English and the rest going to help out at the church), so I wasn't very involved in the church, but he fills in the team when we do debriefing each night. On Sunday, he heard feedback from the members. One woman said something along the lines of, “I had never felt beautiful in my life, but when you showed the photographs of space from the NASA satellite and talked about how much God loves us, I realize that God loves me. At first, I had put you on a higher level because you were a muzungu, but now I realize my value, and we're all on the same level. And even the people that sit on the street begging are loved by God.” I may be combining together testimonies from more than one person, but the point is the same. Luke was tearing up when he was hearing things like that. Also, we bought them Bibles. They were clutching their Bibles as they walked to church. There were three adults in the church when we started. There were 45 this last Sunday. Also, when we first showed up, Luke said that even the adults looked dirty and unkempt, but that now, it seems like they're caring more about life and how they look and are putting effort into the way they look for church. Also, eight people got baptized last Sunday.
This week, our leader broke down in tears at a team meeting for the third time. The first time was when we said we all disagreed with the no-Internet rule and asked her to reconsider, and she felt attacked. The second time was when she was talking about a sense of team disunity and how hurt she was when she feels negative vibes from people. This last and third time was when she was telling us she was repenting from not leading from a position of love and how she wasn't handling everyone well. I think that last meeting did a lot of good in getting us to talk about what we can do to have greater unity. Our team has a blast, but sometimes we can be shallow, and a couple people have felt left out. So we addressed that, and we all feel much better now.
I think our leader is pretty happy with me. At the beginning of the trip, she kind of admit being intimidated by me, which is totally fair, because it just kind of works out that most our team decisions kind of have to run through me cause they need me to decide if we can afford it and then they need me to hand the money to them. But I am extremely selective when it comes to picking my battles, and I'm as careful as I can be to make sure Mikaela feels respected. And I try to give her affirmation at good opportunities. I don't think I'm sexist, but all my male leaders/supervisors have done an outstanding job, but I'm still afraid to believe 1Timothy 2:12-15.
On Sunday, our guitar and piano students are going to be performing worship songs for our base church in Remera (Christ Gospel Church). Our team is also performing our drama at the service. We're going to have one or two people speak. I don't think I'll give a sermon, but I'm going to make sure I at least share a few words of encouragement, because they've been very good to us. It's going to be our last Sunday before we leave for Uganda.
We went to the U-17 African championship game on Saturday. The soccer stadium is only a 10-minute bus ride from the bus stop closest to our house. It's hard to believe that every player was under 17-years-old because the level of skill was high enough that it felt like watching a world cup game. Rwanda had made it to the final game, and they were playing Burkina Faso. It was a great game. They kept showing us muzungus (white people) on the big screen, and one of our Rwandan friends said he saw us on TV. It's too bad Rwanda lost, 1-2. President Paul Kagame was there too. He doesn't smile at all ever. I talked to a pastor that said he grew up in the same village as Paul Kagame, and apparently Paul Kagame has always been a very serious person. He is known for being a workaholic.
We helped plant a church in Busanza, and Luke was basically co-pastoring it with the Rwandan pastor, Pastor Sylvan. The Busanza church services happen on the same nights I teach English (we all take a bus to the same town and then we split up with a few of us walking to Vida for English and the rest going to help out at the church), so I wasn't very involved in the church, but he fills in the team when we do debriefing each night. On Sunday, he heard feedback from the members. One woman said something along the lines of, “I had never felt beautiful in my life, but when you showed the photographs of space from the NASA satellite and talked about how much God loves us, I realize that God loves me. At first, I had put you on a higher level because you were a muzungu, but now I realize my value, and we're all on the same level. And even the people that sit on the street begging are loved by God.” I may be combining together testimonies from more than one person, but the point is the same. Luke was tearing up when he was hearing things like that. Also, we bought them Bibles. They were clutching their Bibles as they walked to church. There were three adults in the church when we started. There were 45 this last Sunday. Also, when we first showed up, Luke said that even the adults looked dirty and unkempt, but that now, it seems like they're caring more about life and how they look and are putting effort into the way they look for church. Also, eight people got baptized last Sunday.
This week, our leader broke down in tears at a team meeting for the third time. The first time was when we said we all disagreed with the no-Internet rule and asked her to reconsider, and she felt attacked. The second time was when she was talking about a sense of team disunity and how hurt she was when she feels negative vibes from people. This last and third time was when she was telling us she was repenting from not leading from a position of love and how she wasn't handling everyone well. I think that last meeting did a lot of good in getting us to talk about what we can do to have greater unity. Our team has a blast, but sometimes we can be shallow, and a couple people have felt left out. So we addressed that, and we all feel much better now.
I think our leader is pretty happy with me. At the beginning of the trip, she kind of admit being intimidated by me, which is totally fair, because it just kind of works out that most our team decisions kind of have to run through me cause they need me to decide if we can afford it and then they need me to hand the money to them. But I am extremely selective when it comes to picking my battles, and I'm as careful as I can be to make sure Mikaela feels respected. And I try to give her affirmation at good opportunities. I don't think I'm sexist, but all my male leaders/supervisors have done an outstanding job, but I'm still afraid to believe 1Timothy 2:12-15.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Career Options
Here's a blog post I've written mainly to bounce the ideas off my parents, but I'll share it with you guys too, and so if any of you have advice, I'm all ears.
My favorite secular author is Malcolm Gladwell.* He once wrote about the characteristics that are true of fulfilling careers. In fulfilling careers, you find three commonalities: autonomy, complexity, and performance-reward synchronization. Autonomy is how much you get to be your own boss, so entrepreneurs score highly, but café employees that are even told how to greet their customers don't get to enjoy much autonomy. For complexity, an entrepreneur may need to be skilled in totally separate areas, while an assembly line worker may have to screw a thousand bolts in the same spot every day. Lastly, a salesman may make more money for every single bit of success, but most people on wages or salaries might be paid at the same rate regardless of how good they are at their job.
I want a good career, and I'm considering three options. It's not about the money, but money is a consideration, and it often goes hand in hand with the top-tier careers I'd want because capitalism rewards high-demand services.
Med School
Med School is four years. The first two are non-clinical, and the last two are clinical. The average med school student graduates with a debt of $157,000. After med school, graduates have five years of residency. During residency, they make about $40,000 / year and will work 80 hours per week. After five years, they become an attending physician. A doctor that does general or family practice makes $150,000-$250,000 per year. Doctors who specialize make more, so at the other end of the spectrum, a brain surgeon makes $600,000 per year. If I became a doctor, I would want to be a brain surgeon. I think I would enjoy it the most because it's the most challenging and interesting.
I did not know that OHSU is ranked so highly nationally. Every year, they have about 5,000 applicants; they interview 600 of them; and they admit 155.
The main deterrent for me wanting to become a doctor is the residency phase. If I work 80 hrs/wk, I would either become insane or depressed. I would much rather have a family and get to spend a lot of time with them. And still have time for reading, music, and sports. And I'm not sure I'd enjoy doing surgery enough to justify that kind of hell. And I'd be 34 before I finally have it made.
Business School.
Business school is only two years, and the subject matter is much easier, which I have mixed feelings about because I want to be challenged, but I don't want to have to work too hard either.
I would need a few years work experience to get in, so I would have to work as an engineer for a while. It wouldn't be bad, but it wouldn't be super exciting either.
The stereotype about finance guys is that they're slaves to money and want to chase pies in the sky.
“Just do what you would enjoy.”
“What if what you enjoy is money?”
“Then study finance.”
As for the pie-in-sky mentality, business deals are volatile and uncertain. You can become salaried if you become a workaholic slave to an investment firm instead of going it alone, but that doesn't seem much better. I might as well be a medical resident.
I might enjoy finance, but the biggest problem with this career path is that it has the lowest social utility. Playing with stocks, bonds, private equity, and real estate doesn't really improve society all that much. I want to mainly work for my own enjoyment anyway, but why choose business when I can enjoy something more technical with more barriers to entry.
This is also the broadest option for me because business has so many fields. I could choose get an MBA in finance, Masters in Real Estate, or a Masters in Engineering Management (and be a higher-up at a company). I'm not sure which one I'd choose.
Masters in Biomedical Engineering
Think Luke Skywalker's robotic hand in Star Wars. Or Will Smith's robotic hand in I, Robot. Every time I see a person missing a limb, I feel the injustice of it and I think it'd be so awesome to restore their capabilities. Biomedical technology is exploding right now because technology is advancing exponentially and we're growing in medical knowledge at the same time and medicine is so complicated that there's still so much that we don't know. You put all this together, and there's a lot of potential and growth in this field.
Getting an MS in BME would take two or three years. It's probably the best option for high-end finances with the least hell. I'd get home from Rwanda, work for a year and a half, and start grad school in the fall of 2012, and then come back and get a better job.
Looking at job openings for engineers, most of them say a master's degree is strongly preferred, and most positions require a few years of work experience. So I'd have to get an entry-level job when I get back. I know that I need to get a master's degree, because most of the stuff you can do with just a bachelor's degree is also stuff that companies use technicians with a 2-year degree to do. So if I'm going to get a master's in engineering, it might as well be biomedical engineering. Nuclear engineering is a distant second option.
Right now, this option is in the lead. I'd also have the choice of getting a MS in BME, working for a few years and then still getting an MBA. Or some programs have a joint BME and MD degree. Either way, I'm going home and working first. And right away I want to start reading books about the difference career paths, especially testimonials of people that chose these careers and then wrote reflections about it.
University of Washington is really highly ranked in every one of these categories for its graduate programs. It's by far the best school in the Northwest. Maybe I could just live in Vancouver for six months and then I could pay in-state tuition to UW. The rest of the top-tier schools are in California, the Northeast, and a few in the Midwest. I think I would apply for a scattering of famous schools and use University of Washington as a backup.
*Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist for the New Yorker. He simply finds interesting things to write about and then comes up with really cool insights about that topic. One of his books is called “Outliers”. Outliers in this context refers to the people lie outside the average level of success; i.e., exceptionalliy successful people (regardless of what field they've entered.) He writes about the characteristics that most closely correlate with being successful at what you do. Like, intelligence helps, but it's not as important as you might think.
My favorite secular author is Malcolm Gladwell.* He once wrote about the characteristics that are true of fulfilling careers. In fulfilling careers, you find three commonalities: autonomy, complexity, and performance-reward synchronization. Autonomy is how much you get to be your own boss, so entrepreneurs score highly, but café employees that are even told how to greet their customers don't get to enjoy much autonomy. For complexity, an entrepreneur may need to be skilled in totally separate areas, while an assembly line worker may have to screw a thousand bolts in the same spot every day. Lastly, a salesman may make more money for every single bit of success, but most people on wages or salaries might be paid at the same rate regardless of how good they are at their job.
I want a good career, and I'm considering three options. It's not about the money, but money is a consideration, and it often goes hand in hand with the top-tier careers I'd want because capitalism rewards high-demand services.
Med School
Med School is four years. The first two are non-clinical, and the last two are clinical. The average med school student graduates with a debt of $157,000. After med school, graduates have five years of residency. During residency, they make about $40,000 / year and will work 80 hours per week. After five years, they become an attending physician. A doctor that does general or family practice makes $150,000-$250,000 per year. Doctors who specialize make more, so at the other end of the spectrum, a brain surgeon makes $600,000 per year. If I became a doctor, I would want to be a brain surgeon. I think I would enjoy it the most because it's the most challenging and interesting.
I did not know that OHSU is ranked so highly nationally. Every year, they have about 5,000 applicants; they interview 600 of them; and they admit 155.
The main deterrent for me wanting to become a doctor is the residency phase. If I work 80 hrs/wk, I would either become insane or depressed. I would much rather have a family and get to spend a lot of time with them. And still have time for reading, music, and sports. And I'm not sure I'd enjoy doing surgery enough to justify that kind of hell. And I'd be 34 before I finally have it made.
Business School.
Business school is only two years, and the subject matter is much easier, which I have mixed feelings about because I want to be challenged, but I don't want to have to work too hard either.
I would need a few years work experience to get in, so I would have to work as an engineer for a while. It wouldn't be bad, but it wouldn't be super exciting either.
The stereotype about finance guys is that they're slaves to money and want to chase pies in the sky.
“Just do what you would enjoy.”
“What if what you enjoy is money?”
“Then study finance.”
As for the pie-in-sky mentality, business deals are volatile and uncertain. You can become salaried if you become a workaholic slave to an investment firm instead of going it alone, but that doesn't seem much better. I might as well be a medical resident.
I might enjoy finance, but the biggest problem with this career path is that it has the lowest social utility. Playing with stocks, bonds, private equity, and real estate doesn't really improve society all that much. I want to mainly work for my own enjoyment anyway, but why choose business when I can enjoy something more technical with more barriers to entry.
This is also the broadest option for me because business has so many fields. I could choose get an MBA in finance, Masters in Real Estate, or a Masters in Engineering Management (and be a higher-up at a company). I'm not sure which one I'd choose.
Masters in Biomedical Engineering
Think Luke Skywalker's robotic hand in Star Wars. Or Will Smith's robotic hand in I, Robot. Every time I see a person missing a limb, I feel the injustice of it and I think it'd be so awesome to restore their capabilities. Biomedical technology is exploding right now because technology is advancing exponentially and we're growing in medical knowledge at the same time and medicine is so complicated that there's still so much that we don't know. You put all this together, and there's a lot of potential and growth in this field.
Getting an MS in BME would take two or three years. It's probably the best option for high-end finances with the least hell. I'd get home from Rwanda, work for a year and a half, and start grad school in the fall of 2012, and then come back and get a better job.
Looking at job openings for engineers, most of them say a master's degree is strongly preferred, and most positions require a few years of work experience. So I'd have to get an entry-level job when I get back. I know that I need to get a master's degree, because most of the stuff you can do with just a bachelor's degree is also stuff that companies use technicians with a 2-year degree to do. So if I'm going to get a master's in engineering, it might as well be biomedical engineering. Nuclear engineering is a distant second option.
Right now, this option is in the lead. I'd also have the choice of getting a MS in BME, working for a few years and then still getting an MBA. Or some programs have a joint BME and MD degree. Either way, I'm going home and working first. And right away I want to start reading books about the difference career paths, especially testimonials of people that chose these careers and then wrote reflections about it.
University of Washington is really highly ranked in every one of these categories for its graduate programs. It's by far the best school in the Northwest. Maybe I could just live in Vancouver for six months and then I could pay in-state tuition to UW. The rest of the top-tier schools are in California, the Northeast, and a few in the Midwest. I think I would apply for a scattering of famous schools and use University of Washington as a backup.
*Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist for the New Yorker. He simply finds interesting things to write about and then comes up with really cool insights about that topic. One of his books is called “Outliers”. Outliers in this context refers to the people lie outside the average level of success; i.e., exceptionalliy successful people (regardless of what field they've entered.) He writes about the characteristics that most closely correlate with being successful at what you do. Like, intelligence helps, but it's not as important as you might think.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Monday on the Horizon
It's 1 AM here. While I'm sleeping, it'll be afternoon/evening for all of you, so I wanted to make sure I got a couple blog posts up for you guys before I went to bed. When I wake up tomorrow, I'll be going to the bank and an Internet cafe. I hope I succeed in getting in touch with a bunch of you after I wake up tomorrow. Fingers crossed. :-)
Mutara
Our team joined a Rwandan pastor named Pastor Claude to plant a church in the small town of Mutara. Pastor Claude has planted 4 churches in his career. This was going to be his fifth, and we all crammed into a bus to take us there on Wednesday morning.
We stopped at a small town on the way. I gave a sermon in Kinyarwanda on John 11. We had Elijah translating into English for my team (and to make sure I was saying what I thought I was saying). Then we performed the You're Everything skit. As always, the church attendance was almost entirely little kids and breast-feeding mothers.
After another hour of driving, we arrived at what would be our house for the rest of the week. It had no running water or bathroom. The out-house smelled awful. The only furniture in the house was our foam mattresses. They were like normal mattresses, except they were 5 times skinnier than normal mattresses. Mine was so lumpy that I chose to sleep on the concrete floor the first night. That turned out to be a poor decision. I slept on the mattress on the other nights, and it wasn't so bad.
After the first night, we showed up the next morning to work on the site of the future church. We used machetes to take out the thorn bushes that were growing all over the future field next to the house of Pastor Claude's mom. After the field was made, we went into the woods and cut down about 40 small trees with machetes and dragged them back to the field. We dug 2-foot holes in the ground with machetes and hoes. We made a grid of these holes and dropped the trees into them to serve as the poles for a tent for the church. We nailed on other trees to serve as the cross members and tent supports. We tied tarps over the cross members and had a covering. I gave a short testimony and Elijah preached a message. The Pastor then gave an altar call for salvation and about 100% of the audience came forward and repeated the sinner's prayer. The audience was mostly little kids. There were a few adults too. One of them was an old lady whose really old husband-like live-in boyfriend came out to get her out of the church and she said to leave her alone; if he resists her, she'll beat him up and kick him out of her house. The pastor separated them and talked to them. He was drunk and just needed to calm down. The pastor also encouraged her as a new convert to not be violent.
Also, we rented a film-reel projector and screen and played the JESUS film for a crowd of maybe 80, mostly kids. The sound wasn't working so one of the church guys narrated the film on the microphone. We played the first half of the film on Saturday night. One of the guys helping us stayed behind to play the second half on Sunday night. We left on Sunday afternoon after the church service. Luke preached the sermon that morning, and that Pastor again had an altar call. Again, all the 20 or so kids came forward. They may have been doing this for the second time, but they were happy for Jesus nonetheless.
There were a lot of health issues that we saw. Some of the kids had an umbilical hernia, where the umbilical cord isn't cut correctly so instead of a belly button, it just looks like they have just a giant tumor. A lot of kids have skin issues, like scabs on their chins. One kid was missing an eye. Another had an eye problem where the whites of her eyes were solid pink, but it was different from pink eye. One kid had elaphantitus on his fingers. I'm mainly able to give so much description to these issues because our nurse teammate pointed these out. She also asked why so many of the kids have tear-shaped scars under both their eyes. Elijah explained that there is a witchcraft operation where they take a red-hot poker and stick it underneath their eyes. With a growing church in the area, hopefully witchcraft will decrease.
We stopped at a small town on the way. I gave a sermon in Kinyarwanda on John 11. We had Elijah translating into English for my team (and to make sure I was saying what I thought I was saying). Then we performed the You're Everything skit. As always, the church attendance was almost entirely little kids and breast-feeding mothers.
After another hour of driving, we arrived at what would be our house for the rest of the week. It had no running water or bathroom. The out-house smelled awful. The only furniture in the house was our foam mattresses. They were like normal mattresses, except they were 5 times skinnier than normal mattresses. Mine was so lumpy that I chose to sleep on the concrete floor the first night. That turned out to be a poor decision. I slept on the mattress on the other nights, and it wasn't so bad.
After the first night, we showed up the next morning to work on the site of the future church. We used machetes to take out the thorn bushes that were growing all over the future field next to the house of Pastor Claude's mom. After the field was made, we went into the woods and cut down about 40 small trees with machetes and dragged them back to the field. We dug 2-foot holes in the ground with machetes and hoes. We made a grid of these holes and dropped the trees into them to serve as the poles for a tent for the church. We nailed on other trees to serve as the cross members and tent supports. We tied tarps over the cross members and had a covering. I gave a short testimony and Elijah preached a message. The Pastor then gave an altar call for salvation and about 100% of the audience came forward and repeated the sinner's prayer. The audience was mostly little kids. There were a few adults too. One of them was an old lady whose really old husband-like live-in boyfriend came out to get her out of the church and she said to leave her alone; if he resists her, she'll beat him up and kick him out of her house. The pastor separated them and talked to them. He was drunk and just needed to calm down. The pastor also encouraged her as a new convert to not be violent.
Also, we rented a film-reel projector and screen and played the JESUS film for a crowd of maybe 80, mostly kids. The sound wasn't working so one of the church guys narrated the film on the microphone. We played the first half of the film on Saturday night. One of the guys helping us stayed behind to play the second half on Sunday night. We left on Sunday afternoon after the church service. Luke preached the sermon that morning, and that Pastor again had an altar call. Again, all the 20 or so kids came forward. They may have been doing this for the second time, but they were happy for Jesus nonetheless.
There were a lot of health issues that we saw. Some of the kids had an umbilical hernia, where the umbilical cord isn't cut correctly so instead of a belly button, it just looks like they have just a giant tumor. A lot of kids have skin issues, like scabs on their chins. One kid was missing an eye. Another had an eye problem where the whites of her eyes were solid pink, but it was different from pink eye. One kid had elaphantitus on his fingers. I'm mainly able to give so much description to these issues because our nurse teammate pointed these out. She also asked why so many of the kids have tear-shaped scars under both their eyes. Elijah explained that there is a witchcraft operation where they take a red-hot poker and stick it underneath their eyes. With a growing church in the area, hopefully witchcraft will decrease.
Counseling
I've heard that one complaint about becoming a doctor is that doctors are trained to treat patients and lose touch with the humanity of their patients. Patients become nothing more than just cases in which they aim to find the correct diagnosis and prognosis. I was thinking about that because I thought it might sound a bit cold to talk about my family here as if they were counseling patients. I'm really close to everyone here, and they're so much more than the issues they've dealt with. So this post is more like a side note about my experience here. I have a counseling text book with me. I'm still early in the book. I only like counseling because it helps people. I'm enough of an uneducated beginner that my main influence just comes from being somebody that cares, and I only give marginal bits of actual counseling. Some of these people may to visit Portland someday, so I definitely wouldn't want to be using real names.
Girl A. She has struggled with an eating disorder for 4 years. She's getting encouragement from the other girls, and she's getting a hold on the underlying issues. Also, her parents are divorced. Her mom is in a wheel chair with MS. Her dad is an alcoholic who has lost his sight. Both are on welfare. She also needs work on her life outlook and plans, because at this point she doesn't dare to hope for college and a fulfilling career.
Girl B. She is very musically talented and comes from a moderately healthy family. She was sexually abused by her choir teacher in high school. Her last relationship was a 3-month relationship that was overly physical, and she's still dealing with the effects.
Girl C. Her parents are together, but they were having difficulties when she left. They appear to be doing better now. Her parents have little overt spirituality but have been improving since she left for outreach. She had an addiction to pornography for 2-3 years. She's in a relationship but feels she ought to be brake up with him. She's 19 and he's 24, and he wants to get married. She is not physically attracted to him at all, but she feels shallow for giving this any weight.
Girl D. She is 26 years old. She's in a relationship with a 36-year-old for two years. He's been wanting to marry to her for a year, but she's dragging her feet. She feels something might be wrong with her for not wanting to get married to him. She's leaning towards breaking up with him but doesn't have the heart to do it. During lecture phase, she came into a prayer circle during lecture phase for women who had been raped before, but she hasn't mentioned this since.
The other two girls aren't dealing with any major specific issues.
Guy A. He experimented with homosexuality in high school but rejected it and has had two girlfriends since. He was addicted to pornography for 4 years.
Guy B. He was addicted to pornography for 5 years. His dad left the family when he was 14. His mom remarried to a good man. His dad is still a raging alcoholic that the rest of the family hates. He has forgiven his father and is working to reconcile his family to God and to each other. He is planning on getting engaged a few weeks after DTS ends to a girl her met during lecture.
I love how we are involved in outreach ministry, but at the same time, we're ministering to each other. I feel like a lot of the good I'm doing here in Rwanda is helping my teammates with their own life journeys and encouraging my teammates so that they can be continue being a blessing to Rwanda.
I also like how there is no set of experiences that is completely beyond healing. And it's awesome that God uses our backgrounds and experiences in our ministries.
Girl A. She has struggled with an eating disorder for 4 years. She's getting encouragement from the other girls, and she's getting a hold on the underlying issues. Also, her parents are divorced. Her mom is in a wheel chair with MS. Her dad is an alcoholic who has lost his sight. Both are on welfare. She also needs work on her life outlook and plans, because at this point she doesn't dare to hope for college and a fulfilling career.
Girl B. She is very musically talented and comes from a moderately healthy family. She was sexually abused by her choir teacher in high school. Her last relationship was a 3-month relationship that was overly physical, and she's still dealing with the effects.
Girl C. Her parents are together, but they were having difficulties when she left. They appear to be doing better now. Her parents have little overt spirituality but have been improving since she left for outreach. She had an addiction to pornography for 2-3 years. She's in a relationship but feels she ought to be brake up with him. She's 19 and he's 24, and he wants to get married. She is not physically attracted to him at all, but she feels shallow for giving this any weight.
Girl D. She is 26 years old. She's in a relationship with a 36-year-old for two years. He's been wanting to marry to her for a year, but she's dragging her feet. She feels something might be wrong with her for not wanting to get married to him. She's leaning towards breaking up with him but doesn't have the heart to do it. During lecture phase, she came into a prayer circle during lecture phase for women who had been raped before, but she hasn't mentioned this since.
The other two girls aren't dealing with any major specific issues.
Guy A. He experimented with homosexuality in high school but rejected it and has had two girlfriends since. He was addicted to pornography for 4 years.
Guy B. He was addicted to pornography for 5 years. His dad left the family when he was 14. His mom remarried to a good man. His dad is still a raging alcoholic that the rest of the family hates. He has forgiven his father and is working to reconcile his family to God and to each other. He is planning on getting engaged a few weeks after DTS ends to a girl her met during lecture.
I love how we are involved in outreach ministry, but at the same time, we're ministering to each other. I feel like a lot of the good I'm doing here in Rwanda is helping my teammates with their own life journeys and encouraging my teammates so that they can be continue being a blessing to Rwanda.
I also like how there is no set of experiences that is completely beyond healing. And it's awesome that God uses our backgrounds and experiences in our ministries.
Monday, January 10, 2011
I am here...
(Hey mom, click on the pictures to make them bigger.)
Rwanda is in East Africa. To the right of DR Congo. Below Uganda. To the left of United Republic of Tanzania.
Rwanda is shaped like a lima bean. Kigali is in the middle.
Our house is on the eastern edge of Kigali.
Here is a close-up of our house.
We travel to Busanza for church planting.
There are three blue-roofed school buildings in Busanza. Our church meets in the middle school building. Each building is just one dark class room.
Notice Busanza is in the middle of nowhere. When you click on "What's this?" on Google Maps, it finds the nearest major roads and gives you its geographic coordinates.
I am currently sitting in the mall in Nyarutarama.
Here's a close up of the mall.
Pretty cool, eh?
Rwanda is in East Africa. To the right of DR Congo. Below Uganda. To the left of United Republic of Tanzania.
Rwanda is shaped like a lima bean. Kigali is in the middle.
Our house is on the eastern edge of Kigali.
Here is a close-up of our house.
We travel to Busanza for church planting.
There are three blue-roofed school buildings in Busanza. Our church meets in the middle school building. Each building is just one dark class room.
Notice Busanza is in the middle of nowhere. When you click on "What's this?" on Google Maps, it finds the nearest major roads and gives you its geographic coordinates.
I am currently sitting in the mall in Nyarutarama.
Here's a close up of the mall.
Pretty cool, eh?
Monday Monday
I love Mondays.
We have Mondays off. Completely off.
In Nyarutarama, there is a really nice mall called the MTN Center. The MTN Group is a giant telecommunications company based in South Africa. It's an internet service provider in Rwanda. On the third floor of this mall, there is a excessively nice cafe, the Bourbon Cafe. You can order something and then get free Internet.
The mocha I just had was amazing. I also ordered a chocolate croissant. It was warm with melted chocolate on top.
We have Mondays off. Completely off.
In Nyarutarama, there is a really nice mall called the MTN Center. The MTN Group is a giant telecommunications company based in South Africa. It's an internet service provider in Rwanda. On the third floor of this mall, there is a excessively nice cafe, the Bourbon Cafe. You can order something and then get free Internet.
The mocha I just had was amazing. I also ordered a chocolate croissant. It was warm with melted chocolate on top.
Fun Team Dynamics
A lot of our team members have pet peeves about things that gross them out while they're eating. Luke goes crazy when you mention finding a random crunch in our rice (we have to pick through our rice before cooking it because there's little rocks in the rice and sometimes we miss one). Michelle gets really grossed out by the idea of finding a hair in your food. Kara gets nauseous when you make the the slurping sound of someone sucking the the saliva off their retainer.
Luke has a silent laugh and it's awesome cause when I tell a good joke, he just looks like he's frozen for like 15 seconds and he looks like he's imitating a peacock. Kara has a really really loud laugh.
Michelle is a nurse, and we're lucky she's on the team, cause Katie got a staff infection, and Michelle got her some medication to treat it. She's also in charge of making sure we have the right anti-malaria stuff, which is a difficult thing to do because the medicine packages, even though they're multilingual, have different names for all the medicines.
Luke, Sam, Kara and I really enjoy talking about gastrointestinal topics. Especially Kara. There's a lot to talk about because the food and our stomachs haven't always gotten along, and also there's hard-to-aim-at squatty potties (a hole in the ground that smells worse than any smell in the US).
Luke has a silent laugh and it's awesome cause when I tell a good joke, he just looks like he's frozen for like 15 seconds and he looks like he's imitating a peacock. Kara has a really really loud laugh.
Michelle is a nurse, and we're lucky she's on the team, cause Katie got a staff infection, and Michelle got her some medication to treat it. She's also in charge of making sure we have the right anti-malaria stuff, which is a difficult thing to do because the medicine packages, even though they're multilingual, have different names for all the medicines.
Luke, Sam, Kara and I really enjoy talking about gastrointestinal topics. Especially Kara. There's a lot to talk about because the food and our stomachs haven't always gotten along, and also there's hard-to-aim-at squatty potties (a hole in the ground that smells worse than any smell in the US).
Monday, January 3, 2011
Unfortunate Team Dynamics
This is the third blog post in a row. They're written over the last week, because our Internet access day is Monday. I'm going to call people back home when it gets later in the day, since we're ten hours ahead.
Our team leader, Mikaela, may be ahead of the curve to lead a team at the mere age of 19, but I still keep being surprised when she does something really immature. Here's just one story that gives a perfect picture of a pattern that's been making half the team a bit disillusioned with team dynamics...
We have team meetings. At one meeting, Mikaela was gone, so Luke was facilitating. And Kara, Sam, and Madi mentioned their teaching positions are extremely frustrating to them, partly because they say they aren't really the teaching type. They were hoping we could add a street ministry, or maybe Kara could perform with her guitar at a bar. Part of the problem is we keep going to Busanza for the small country church we're planting, and Luke keeps preaching there, but they don't have any real roles, aside from let the kids touch their hair and hold their hands. So we brought it up at this team meeting. Now, we wanted to be very careful that Mikaela doesn't take all this personally again, so we talked a lot about the best way to bring this up to Mikaela. We decided that Luke would give her a heads up, and then the dissenters would talk to her individually.
On Sunday, as always, we went to a restaurant for dinner like we always do. We did the affirmation circle, which took a while with ten people. Every person was in the hot seat and other people just started saying nice things about them. And after being there at least an hour and a half, it came to be 8:30. We asked what time the busses stop running, and Elijah said 9:00. I also thought we were being rude for not clearing out so long after we had finished eating. Mikaela decided that we still had to bring up something quickly and shouldn't wait til we got home. She first mentioned that she felt a bit sad that we hadn't been completely open and honest with her. Then she brought up the problem of people not having their hearts in the right place with the ministries they'd been given. Then Luke preached a sermon to us about “How bad do you want it? Isn't God worth it?” Then they wanted our feedback, and I chipped in that first, we hope Mikaela doesn't feel sad because we were very intent about being open and honest with her in the most Christ-like way. She said she really appreciates that a whole lot. But she didn't really connect it to her introduction about how she felt sad that we weren't being open. We didn't have much time for feedback, because we had to leave. We were too late for any bus to come by us, so we had to walk for a while to a main bus stop and try to find a bus home. There were only a few busses and there were a lot of people trying to cram into them. A couple Rwandans saw us and started arguing with others on our behalf because they felt that we should be pushed ahead onto the bus because we were guests in their countrry. So we got onto a bus and made it home.
It would have been much more mature to wait until we got home so that we could have had an actual discussion. I understand she was anxious to bring it up, but she gave in to impatience. And her response to our original point was just defensiveness. I like the ministries we've gotten to do, and I am happy to be here. But working with a childish leader is now another thing that we're doing for God.
They had planned it out to do affirmations right before rebuking us. Using affirmation time as a ploy took away from it a bit, but I was still pretty happy with what people said about me....
“You have an insane amount of knowledge, but you're extremely gentle about it.”
“You have unlimited patience, especially in your teaching.”
“You're a really, really good listener.”
“You're really funny.”
“You're an encourager.”
Our team leader, Mikaela, may be ahead of the curve to lead a team at the mere age of 19, but I still keep being surprised when she does something really immature. Here's just one story that gives a perfect picture of a pattern that's been making half the team a bit disillusioned with team dynamics...
We have team meetings. At one meeting, Mikaela was gone, so Luke was facilitating. And Kara, Sam, and Madi mentioned their teaching positions are extremely frustrating to them, partly because they say they aren't really the teaching type. They were hoping we could add a street ministry, or maybe Kara could perform with her guitar at a bar. Part of the problem is we keep going to Busanza for the small country church we're planting, and Luke keeps preaching there, but they don't have any real roles, aside from let the kids touch their hair and hold their hands. So we brought it up at this team meeting. Now, we wanted to be very careful that Mikaela doesn't take all this personally again, so we talked a lot about the best way to bring this up to Mikaela. We decided that Luke would give her a heads up, and then the dissenters would talk to her individually.
On Sunday, as always, we went to a restaurant for dinner like we always do. We did the affirmation circle, which took a while with ten people. Every person was in the hot seat and other people just started saying nice things about them. And after being there at least an hour and a half, it came to be 8:30. We asked what time the busses stop running, and Elijah said 9:00. I also thought we were being rude for not clearing out so long after we had finished eating. Mikaela decided that we still had to bring up something quickly and shouldn't wait til we got home. She first mentioned that she felt a bit sad that we hadn't been completely open and honest with her. Then she brought up the problem of people not having their hearts in the right place with the ministries they'd been given. Then Luke preached a sermon to us about “How bad do you want it? Isn't God worth it?” Then they wanted our feedback, and I chipped in that first, we hope Mikaela doesn't feel sad because we were very intent about being open and honest with her in the most Christ-like way. She said she really appreciates that a whole lot. But she didn't really connect it to her introduction about how she felt sad that we weren't being open. We didn't have much time for feedback, because we had to leave. We were too late for any bus to come by us, so we had to walk for a while to a main bus stop and try to find a bus home. There were only a few busses and there were a lot of people trying to cram into them. A couple Rwandans saw us and started arguing with others on our behalf because they felt that we should be pushed ahead onto the bus because we were guests in their countrry. So we got onto a bus and made it home.
It would have been much more mature to wait until we got home so that we could have had an actual discussion. I understand she was anxious to bring it up, but she gave in to impatience. And her response to our original point was just defensiveness. I like the ministries we've gotten to do, and I am happy to be here. But working with a childish leader is now another thing that we're doing for God.
They had planned it out to do affirmations right before rebuking us. Using affirmation time as a ploy took away from it a bit, but I was still pretty happy with what people said about me....
“You have an insane amount of knowledge, but you're extremely gentle about it.”
“You have unlimited patience, especially in your teaching.”
“You're a really, really good listener.”
“You're really funny.”
“You're an encourager.”
A Little Success Story
Every Wednesday and Friday, we go to a village called Busanza. The first time (mentioned on Tuesday of A Week of Days in the Life), our church service had 2 mothers and 20 kids. The second time, we had maybe 9 adults and more kids. The third time, we had 25 people. The fourth time, we had 35 adults, including Rosette, the widow who could barely walk but still walked all the way to church, and 50-60 kids. Ten people came forward to receive Christ. We are outgrowing the classroom that we've been meeting in. We show up two hours before the service and just walk around, inviting people to church. It's really easy to visit people because they stay outside so much. We split up in groups with at least one Rwandan in each group to do most the talking and interpreting when we want to say something. I'm going to push for us to start handing out Bibles as well.
Random Cultural Reflections
Here in Rwanda...
Some men grow out the fingernail on their pinky. I saw one that was 3 inches long. I asked Elijah about it. He said it's not for any purpose; it's just random. Bras are not commonly worn. Almost every car is a Toyota. Guys hold hands with their guy friends. Public breastfeeding is much more common. Luke was speaking at a church once and he said 6 of them were nursing and he found it a bit harder to get through his message. Everyone smells like B.O. Elijah says it's because people without running water only ever throw water on their head, and they definitely don't use deodorant. When you're standing in line, you have to stand close enough to someone to be almost touching in order to be considered in line. Girls look just like boys except that they always wear skirts. Most women have their hair a bit longer than the guys' buzzed heads, but it's still a pretty compact afro. Men and women often carry heavy things on their heads. They normally have some cloth wrapped around their head to make it softer and distribute pressure. Little kids love shouting “Muzungu!” (“whitey!”) and running up to us and shaking our hands. Everyone else just stares, mainly at the women. People are extremely helpful about directions; we might have gotten on the wrong bus once and 5 different passengers started arguing among themselves about which route we should take. Most of the time, the bus we take is just an overgrown van that is crowded enough that people have to get up if someone in a row behind them wants to go. A couple times, Elijah has argued with a person that was trying to charge us extra for something, but for the most part, we're charged the same price for goods and services as the locals. A lot of people speak English. Most of the time, people seem really pleased when I try to speak Kinyarwanda and show that I'm trying to learn it.
I'm glad to have learned so much about a foreign culture, but it also makes me really like American culture.
Some men grow out the fingernail on their pinky. I saw one that was 3 inches long. I asked Elijah about it. He said it's not for any purpose; it's just random. Bras are not commonly worn. Almost every car is a Toyota. Guys hold hands with their guy friends. Public breastfeeding is much more common. Luke was speaking at a church once and he said 6 of them were nursing and he found it a bit harder to get through his message. Everyone smells like B.O. Elijah says it's because people without running water only ever throw water on their head, and they definitely don't use deodorant. When you're standing in line, you have to stand close enough to someone to be almost touching in order to be considered in line. Girls look just like boys except that they always wear skirts. Most women have their hair a bit longer than the guys' buzzed heads, but it's still a pretty compact afro. Men and women often carry heavy things on their heads. They normally have some cloth wrapped around their head to make it softer and distribute pressure. Little kids love shouting “Muzungu!” (“whitey!”) and running up to us and shaking our hands. Everyone else just stares, mainly at the women. People are extremely helpful about directions; we might have gotten on the wrong bus once and 5 different passengers started arguing among themselves about which route we should take. Most of the time, the bus we take is just an overgrown van that is crowded enough that people have to get up if someone in a row behind them wants to go. A couple times, Elijah has argued with a person that was trying to charge us extra for something, but for the most part, we're charged the same price for goods and services as the locals. A lot of people speak English. Most of the time, people seem really pleased when I try to speak Kinyarwanda and show that I'm trying to learn it.
I'm glad to have learned so much about a foreign culture, but it also makes me really like American culture.
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