Wednesday-
I slept well last night, probably because I was so exhausted from yesterday. The Rwandans got up at 5am again and turned on the lights. Puvii got up and turned them off again, so the students shuffled around in the dark until 6am. On thing that makes me uncomfortable is that the Rwandan girls walk around our dorm all morning naked or half naked. I am a pretty modest person, so I feel really awkward waking up to a bunch of naked girls mopping the floor. The guys in our group don't have a nice new bathroom to use, so they are doing worse than us, because they are very uncomfortable and apparently the guys dorms smell horrible. They said the guys get up at 5am too and dance around to the radio naked. Joy.
At our first interview today, we asked a young girl questions about her family because her parents were out in the field working. Her 50-something year old father came home at the end of it and was very excited to see us. He asked how old I was and didn't believe that I am 20. Then he had Felix tell me that I am his white wife. He shook my hand at the end of the interview but wouldn't let go and led me by the hand to our next interview which was pretty awkward. Then we kept trying to play with my hair and take pictures of me. WEIRD! I was polite, but inside all I could think was "Stay away from me, and go hit on somebody your own age!"
I saw the most adorable children and got to hold a beautiful baby that I didn't want to give back. We did four interviews before lunch and two after lunch. Today went a lot better than yesterday did because we weren't as tired and cranky, but it was still at least emotionally exhausting.
We came back and took naps again. Then we played volley ball with the students here. Our game attracted a big crowd. Everyone laughed at my spastic jump when I try to hit the ball. I can't help being completely uncoordinated! Dr. Dwight, Nathan from FH, and a businessman came to say hi. They are in the area finding a place to build a resort/safari lodge to make jobs for people. In America, we tend to dislike developers that want to plop a bunch of building down on what used to be a nice field, but here it really is a great way to help people get jobs. Here we want development.
We ate dinner and then I went to some of the rooms to talk to the students. The girls were very nice. Then I helped type up our information from today. I took another bucket bath. a bunch of girls came and sat on my bed and asked me to pray for them. then they took my journal and started reading it out loud and writing down the vocabulary words they didn't know.. Thankfully they read from the beginning, when I was still at orientation. There was no sense that my journal might be private. Then they brushed my hair, which was awesome. They can play with my hair as much as they want as far as I am concerned, I love that.
I miss American food. I miss personal space. I am normally very happy to be surrounded by people, but here we just get stared at all the time, and I am so emotionally drained from the day that I want to be left alone. This is like going to a very uncomfortable summer camp.
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