Slapped...in the Face...AGAIN!

The day after I returned from training, I went to work and not even one hour went by before I was slapped in my face...TWICE!  After the initial shock and getting over my bruised ego and hurt feelings, I thought to myself, man, you guys really must have missed me.  I absolutely positively love the affection and the fact that my coworkers like me so much, but isn't there a less aggressive, less painful way for them to show their feelings??  A slap in the face doesn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.  And it's not just a tap to the cheek either...it's more like a...here, see for yourself.  Hold your hand up next to your face and then make contact with your cheek with the same force that you would if you were clapping your hands...and then push your head to the side.  If you did it how it's done to me here, you probably bruised your own ego a bit and here is where I welcome you to my world  :-P

I've said on several occasions that I don't like that "kind" gesture, but I guess it's just something that I'm going to have to get used to.  When someone gets really excited telling a story, they slap you; if you do something or have something really cool, they slap you; if you've been gone for a while and come back, they slap you...I guess if I were to compare the gesture to something in America, it would be the little shoulder shove that ladies give each other when they are telling a story or someone cracks a small joke...kind of like the "girl-shut-up" shove.  It's a playful shove, and I guess the slap is supposed to be the same thing...except in my eyes, it's not all that "playful."

I didn't mention this in the last post, but when I first arrived back to my house after training, I noticed a bunch of HUGE

Back to Reality

Back to Reality

I have so many stories to share that I don't know where to begin!  I guess I'll start with the ten day training that myself and the other PCVs attended almost two weeks ago.  The training was held in northern Rwanda in a district called Musanze and ohhhmygeeee it was sooo very beautiul!!! (Musanze is a touristy type spot; this is where the volcanoes, gorillas, and tons of other beautiful sights are located).  In case you're wondering, no I didn't get to see the gorillas, but I will definitely be going next year with my family when they come to visit!! Yayy mee!!!

PC put us in a fancy hotel with hot water and tons of good food!! It even had a swimming pool! I'm sure I don't have to tell you that I over-indulged in the food and probably over-did it with the HOT showers (you have no idea how good it felt to be able to take a HOT shower with RUNNING water).  For the bulk of the time, we were in meetings alllll day long and once we were finally able to take a break and explore the town, we all seemed to get culture shocked all over again.  I must say, it was tough being around familiar faces all day, every day, for ten days and then having to come back to our sites by ourselves.  A few volunteers had warned us that after being gone for longer than a week, you kind of have to reintegrate yourself back in, and I now know that they weren't lying.  It's not so much reintegrating though, it's more getting used to the standard of living again; back to bucket baths and cooking for two hours before you can eat...back to the critters and staring at the strange spot on the wall for what seems like hours because you have nothing better to do...lol (that last one is a half truth, I don't do it all the time, but I have caught myself staring off into space on more than one occasion). 

Anywho,

Let the Fun Begin!!

It has been much too long since my last post; boy how time flies when you're having fun!  I've been super duper busy typing up a community health report, not to mention I just got back to my village from a 10-day in service training!  With that being said, please bare with me as I slowly, but surely type up all of my new, fun and exciting experiences.  In the meantime, I am making a tab titled CHA where you can view the extremely LONG report that I had to submit a couple of weeks ago.  It's basically a compilation of all the research I have been doing for the last three months on my community.  The purpose of this document is to give the volunteers a solid idea of what types of things we can do to help our communities.  From this, we are supposed to come up with and implement a project (or two...or three...or more) that will be sustainable and beneficial to the people in our village communities.  I have listed out the biggest health problems and have listed a few potential projects to go along with them.  I would really like it if you took a look at the document and helped me brainstorm some ideas for sustainable projects.  I have a few ideas, but 21 heads (the followers of this blog) are better than one!!  Once I decide on a project, I'll FINALLY have a concrete job to do! YAYY!!! Ready, set, let the fun begin!!

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

P.S.  Thank you ahead of time for your help and suggestions!! You guys are the best!