Arrival in Rwanda

Hi everyone,
As many of you know, I left the Denver area almost immediately after I finished up my school year. I first headed home for La. to visit my family and attend a few special events. On Sunday, June 8, I attended my new nephew's baptism. His name is Sam and I also became his godfather.
His was great during the service. In fact he clapped each time the priest mentioned eternal life!!!
I visited with family that week. Then, on Saturday, June 13 I went to my friends' (BC and Brandi) wedding in the New Orleans area.

On Sunday, I took off from New Orleans bound for Kigali, Rwanda. I'll be working on a project for school. Back in Colorado, I am in the global health track at the school of medicine. Which basically means that in addition to my degree I am getting some further education in global health. This summer I'll be working on a project as part of that.

Thankfully, I made it here safe and with no problems. It's quite a trek to get here, though. My flight itinerary to me from New Orleans to Houston to London to Nairobi, Kenya to Bujumbura, Burundi to Kigali, Rwanda.

So, my first stop was in Houston. While I was waiting for my plane to London, I went to show my required documentation for international travel to the folks at Continental airlines. They gave me a small scare. They asked where I was ultimately going and I replied that I was going to Rwanda. They looked up the required documentation. Then, they told me that I was missing a certain visa and that I wouldn't be allowed to board the plane until we got it taken care of. I had gone through this documentation check in New Orleans, so I was a little surprised that I was being told this in Houston. I politely told them that I think they had the wrong information. After a short discussion, the man working for Continental printed out the documentation requirements for me and we discovered that he thought I was going to Angola, not Rwanda. Then everything was resolved and they let me get on the plane.

On the first long plane flight (to London), I sat next to an American guy in his 30's who went to school in London for a master's in international politics. The flight was overnight, but unfortunately, I only got about 30 minutes of sleep. I had a 10 hour layover in London. So, I went into town, got some food and walked around a bit. I found a rose garden and laid down to rest. After about 3 hours or so, I got really tired and decided to go back to the airport and try to sleep. So, I went back and got about 1 and a half hours of sleep there. After I woke up, I got fish and chips at a restaurant in the airport. It was good, but certainly nothing special. The fish still had the skin on one side and the fries weren't very crisp. Oh well. I guess I'll have to go back sometime and find a better place. Oh before I finish talking about London..... Heathrow Airport is a mess....especially terminals 4 & 5. That place is like a maze and how it is built seems very oddly disorganized. I was kind of surprised that a place like London had such a mess of an airport. But, I just kept asking people where to go and they were all very nice.
Then from London to Nairobi (the second overnight flight), I sat next to a woman in her 20's from Norway that worked for the UN in Kenya. She had been visiting Norway and was on her way back to Kenya. This time I got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep. So that was great.

After leaving Nairobi, I went through Bujumbura before coming to Kigali (Rwanda.) Bujumbura (Burundi) had an interesting airport. It looked kinda of like what you see in the movies...an isolated and underdeveloped airport with UN planes and helicopters.
Eventually, I arrived here in Rwanda at about 10:20 am. It took a few minutes to go through immigration and customs. My bags were off the plane and ready to be picked up as soon as I got through. That was great. In fact, I went through customs on the 2nd floor of the airport and could see my bags over a balcony while I was waiting in line. What a relief. I was a little worried about my bags not making it because the transfer in Nairobi was rushed and not well organized. But, everything worked out great!!!!!

Dr. Bardella (my faculty advisor) and her husband got there about 10 minutes later, picked me up and took me to the house I'm staying at. Wow! Our house is on a hill and has an incredible view off the back porch overlooking the town and some hills/mountains. I've got a large bedroom and my own bathroom, too. I hung out with Dr. Bardella and her husband for a little while. He then had to be at a meeting. So, Dr. Bardella went to her house to get me some food. I took a shower and unpacked a little. Dr. Bardella came back and we hung out for a couple of hours talking about medical education.

Then I took a 2 hour nap!!!! That was awesome!!!! I woke up around 5pm and went to the cell phone store for a phone. After the cell phone store, I went to Dr. Bardella house for dinner. I made it home at about 8:30 last night and was in bed by 9:15pm.
All in all yesterday was a great day!

Today has been good, too. I've wandered around a bit. At one point I met some school children near the Kigali soccer stadium. They were excited to hang out and a few of them even had the confidence to try out their English skills with me. Their English was pretty rough and they didn't understand the majority of what I said. But, their English is certainly better than my Kinyarwandan (the local language...pronounced Keenyah Wahndan.)

I'm starting to get over the jet lag a little. I don't feel nearly as disoriented today as I did yesterday. I imagine within a couple of days I'll be doing well.
I hope all of you are doing well. I'll try to post some pictures at some point.