Who Needs a Kitchen Faucet Anyway.....

Well…we have been in Rwanda one week and one day, but who’s counting? Friday night saw our first night in our house, so we are making progress in getting settled…

Much of last week we spent down in Kigali buying furniture and appliances for the house….what an experience THAT WAS….for those of you who know Russell and I,  you know we have very different shopping styles…I AM NOT A SHOPPER….I am a buyer….I need it (or want it), I locate a store that has it, I buy it…Russell on the other hand, generally doesn’t buy a stick of gum that he hasn’t researched first….then more research, THEN purchase.  In the US, the differences in us can be a “situation”….in Rwanda, they can REALLY be a “situation”….and poor Kat Watson was with us every step of the way, and bless her heart. We couldn’t have done it without her!!

NOW…his method has served us well for things like cars, appliances, electronics…you know, non-decorating type items…..we were in Kigali for three days, and the first two were spent on “research”….checking out who had what and what had who and looking, sitting in, opening, examining, comparing….now mind you, I made my choices on day 1….mostly....the furniture we found on day two and it is being handmade by Rwandan craftsmen (at a furniture co-op) out of mahogany….and I think it’s going to be beautiful…..they say it will be ready in 3 weeks…which probably means 4-5…I’ll keep ya posted…the funniest part of buying the furniture was after we made all our choices, and it came time to do the invoice, the guy says to us….”Let’s go to my car”….excuse me???  “We go to my car”. So off we trek to the dude’s 1990 Toyota Corolla and do the deal, in cash, of course…I seriously felt like I was on an episode of COPS….sitting in a car, exchanging cash with some dude in a 1990 Toyota Corolla…I’m just sayin…..

By day three, I was DONE….done like the Thanksgiving turkey done…..I was not shopping one minute longer…so Russell finished getting all the necessities, and back to Musanze we came….followed closely by the delivery truck with all the appliances for the kitchen….

So….they tell us the house is ready for occupancy and for the most part it was…the folks over at the Ishema Hotel have been wonderful to get as much set up for us as possible, i.e….our bed and a plastic outdoor table and chairs to use as a dining table until ours is delivered…sparse, but what else do you need. But once they delivered the appliances, it was clear we had a lot of work left to do…normally, Russell could and would do all that himself, but here…different story…it has been a HOOT watching all the appliances get connected….the funniest one being the washing machine, which here, gets put on the back porch, but there wasn’t water, so they drilled a hole in the wall of the kitchen just where the faucet is located, so that every time I need to do a load of clothes, we have to unhook the faucet (leaving us without running water in the kitchen) and run the washer….we are hoping tomorrow that will change, but even after a week, we have learned not to expect anything to happen like it should.  Last night, I did dishes in the bathtub, which is REALLY funny, because more than 20 years ago, when we first moved to Wyoming, there was a few weeks I did dishes in the bathtub, and I haven’t let the cutest boy in the world EVER forget that hardship….. God really does have a sense of humor!!

Still a few issues to deal with…this morning as I was getting ready for church, and was about to dry my hair, my hairdryer blew up (you know, the REALLY nice one I just bought in Europe at 30% more because of the exchange rate, so that it would have the correct plug and voltage), so I dried my hair in front of the oscillating fan (if I were 6 feet tall and weighed 100 pounds, I would have felt like a supermodel, standing there in front of that fan with my hair blowing every which direction, but since I’m not and I don’t….it wasn’t pretty), and figured I could use my flat iron (also a European purchase) to smooth it all out….yeah…not so much!! My hair looked like I stuck my finger in a light socket because it is so humid here…..there won’t be any pictures taken of me anytime soon…let me just say THAT out loud!!

BUT….we have much for which to be thankful….a lovely cottage (included a couple of pictures this time), the frig, cooker (stove) and washer hooked up (and no, they don’t really do dryers here…just a line and some clothes pins), HOT WATER, a bed with a mosquito net, our trunks- mostly unpacked, a night guard hired and already working (his name is Kiiza,  and he’s just about the nicest thing ever), Russell’s assistant/translator hired (his name is Ronald, and his story is a blog unto itself), feeling more settled and less homesick every day (hey, at least I’m not feeling like I need to take to the bed and pull the covers over my head), nights spent, not in front of the TV, or at yet another endless meeting, but talking or playing backgammon and thus far, staying healthy!!! Prayers for that, in particular, would be greatly appreciated.

I also want to take this opportunity to wish our moms a very Happy Mother’s Day….both Russell and I are so blessed to have grown up with (and still have) mom’s who have supported us through the craziest of hopes and dreams and ideas….we miss them so much and wish we could be with them today, and I wish I could be with my own kids, but hope that all of them have a WONDERFUL day….. they know how much we love them!!

UPDATE: Hair dryer seems to be working again…must have just needed to “reset”…WHEW!!!