episode 1!

flights were great - slept like a champ with a little help from my friend melatonin. had to run past a caribou coffee to make the flight into brussels. so sad. i fell asleep before the plane took off. jet lag is no joke - two days of flying will kick you in the teeth.

so i met evangeline lily in the kigali airport. she is strikingly beautiful in person and very kind. this is, of course, semi paraphrased…
me: are you seriously evangeline lilly?
she: ha! yes, but let's pretend i am not.
me: of course! there are two eager sets of male eyeballs following your every move over there, shall i play defense?
we: talk about rwanda - what i'm doing, her relief work here, etc. she's cool.
me: can i be a nerd and ask you about lost?
she: (big laugh) sure!
me: are you relieved or sad it's over?
she: relieved. can't wait to start new projects. will be doing some writing.
me: well, my friends and i are exhausted from theorizing about the show, so we're glad it's over, too.

we laugh, i meet her friends, we go separate ways. i enjoy thinking about my friend micah freaking out while reading this. i never liked kate, but i like evangeline lily. except that she was stunningly beautiful after flying in from wherever. i looked like a piece of burnt toast. totally unfair.

what i have learned:
$5 inflatable neck pillow - priceless. need a rolling/backpack/overnight bag that can under the seat or in overhead bin. always buy a bottle of water upon entry into airport, and take your remaining euros from your last trip in case you are stuck with no water and no country appropriate cash. for the love of everything, keep headphones or squishy earplugs stashed at all times, because the screaming children with find me, each other, and all work together to create a cacophony of blood curdling screams while their parents thumb thru skymall. pray for a subdued sense of smell on flights. all airlines should have foot rests for the short people! i still love skymall and wonder if anyone has ever bought a lawn lion. or the lamp lady. the sound of cows mooing in the morning makes me giggle uncontrollably. goats bleating makes me laugh even harder. little kids will laugh when you take a pic of a goat. little kids are fascinated by seeing their own photo on your camera. dogs are to east nashville what kangaroos are to australia what goats are to rwanda. while in rwanda, i will smell like sunblock and bugspray. rwandan mosquitos laugh at bug spray without DEET. i miss electricity and my hair dryer.

i like mosquito netting - makes me feel like an 8 year old princess.

you can't understand how beautiful this country is until you see it!


what i forgot:
a microfiber shammy towel. drip.
to break in my shoes. am a moron.
more than one voltage converter. arg.
disposable ice packs for swollen feet and overheated everything.
long skirts.
to be in shape for hiking up and down mountains. they mean it when they say land of 1000 hills….

so far i have only terrified one child. scratch that.... i terrified two at the orphanage today.
M&J theorize that they think i'm a ghost. kids and adults alike want to touch my skin and my hair. one rather clever teenage fella asked me if he could practice english with me, and i obliged. with a huge brilliantly white grin, he touched my hand, raised both eyebrows, and said:
"ahr yoo ahn ahngel sent flom hee-vahn?"
i laughed and laughed and he looked pleased with himself. he noticed i was blushing and immediately said, "yoo air peenk face." phooey.

the best part is talking to little kids who all stare and giggle until one is voted/pushed to approach the muzungus (white people) - they shyly shuffle forward and then yell,
"gooood haftanoon how-a rah you i yam fine!" and then run away laughing. when we kneel down to talk to them, they kneel down, too. hilarious.
naomi take pic.jpg ¬
"mwitwande?" i say. their eyes are enormous. they whisper their name.
"nitwa melanie," i respond. they try to repeat it, giggle, trying to hide behind each other. we decided, after many failures to explain my name, that they understand mellie better than melanie. mellie it is. they are fascinated with my tattoo, so i said, "ururabyo violetta!" (flower violet) and they giggled and ran away. so basically, i can only communicate with first grade or younger.

internettin' is VERY limited, so hopefully i can get some good stuff in at least once a week. i have 42,897 photos, but the internet is quite slow. i'm so spoiled.

episode 2: i am so going to talk about the food. and our projects. we met the coolest family today! seeing redeemer's support in action is astounding - our support helped this widow get a house for her and five kids. stay tuned. this week we meet with widows, teach conversational english to secondary school (high schoolers), build a house, learn traditional rwandese dancing (mercy) and a few things i forgot because i don't have a calendar. oy.

ps, this RULES. all of it.