See...Ummm...Wha Had Happened Was.....

OK….for the most part, this was a great week….my tummy has been doing  great , for going on the second week, so I’ve been able to eat and get my strength back….

I told you last week that Beatrice, Christine and I were in a planting mode…and got our herbs and tomatoes planted in cups…holes in the bottoms, sittin on plates and water in the plates…my daddy taught me well….and look at em grow….they are doing great…we all three treat them like they are our babies….you should see us out there admiring our work….then, just Thursday, we planted the watermelon, cantaloupe and zucchini straight into the ground….y.u.m.m.y….I just hope the altitude and cool nights don’t kill us there….time will tell, but the anticipation is awesome!!  We are still eating fresh beans from the garden everyday…just pick them, shell them and cook them….and the corn should be ready in the next 3-4 weeks!! I already have a list of more seeds I’m going to get when we are back home in August…food and flowers…oh, the yard and garden this Muzungu and her faithful side-kicks are going to have!!! I have included photos of our cups.....the first taken  just a couple of days after planting…the second, just yesterday….also, a picture of one of our “mounds” where we planted the other things….and looks like we are already getting watermelon sprouting….SCORE!!!

Also, this week, at the hotel…it was a fun week!! Our pastry chef quit a few weeks ago (he had to go back to Uganda to deal with Land Wranglers on his land there….it’s like the wild, wild, west, people), which left the assistant pastry chef as “the guy” in our bakery kitchen.  Xavier is his name…and one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. He has an infectious smile and an attitude like no-other. The guy is seriously HAPPY all the time!! I love that!! Anyway, as he told me, “I am a bread guy”…he loves to bake breads, make breads, come-up with new breads….now, in general….the Rwandan’s like their breads very dry…it’s why I don’t, for the most part, care for it…fresh out of the oven, it’s like it’s been sitting out for a day or two….I’m not complaining…it’s just another cultural difference. (The same is true of the meat they eat…VERY tough for the most part…and they like it that way). But, at Ishema, they have prided themselves in cakes and pastries as well, but Xavier isn’t really a “pastry guy”…..SO….I spent the better part of a couple of days with him, TRYING to help him learn the art of cake decoration….and this was a challenge on several levels. I say trying because, let’s face, it, I’m no expert myself….I can hold my own pretty well for family birthdays and such, but professional…I think not! First off…we have about three or four (there are a few more, but they are the really odd ones) cake decorating tips…and we only have the following colors of food coloring paste: Black, brown, green, blue (and just a titch of yellow). AND no bags to put the icing in…apparently they have been using rolled up paper bags….yeah…I have NO idea how to do THAT! The other thing they use here is icing sugar…talk about SWEET…holy cow…and it’s not powdered sugar…and instead of butter and milk, they use egg whites as a thinner and as their “moist” ingredient…so, let me put it this way…the consistency of their icing is SOOO not what I’m used to!! But…he seemed to have that part down, so all he really needed was help with the decoration part…I brought a few zip-lock bags that we had from when we sent stuff in our trunks, and we proceeded to try to decorate a cake….the first one was darling…(and no, no photo of it..didn’t have my camera that day), and I taught him the idea of using fresh flowers as decoration on a cake (for a woman or wedding)…WELL….he thought that was the greatest thing since sliced bread (no-pun intended)….next up…two birthday cakes for boys/men….remember our color choices….and can’t exactly use pink or yellow flowers on a cake for Innocent, the man….so we just did the best we could. I did let him do most of the work...with me just guiding him…and I tried to let him come up with the ideas of how to decorate...well….by the time we were done…he was BEAMING with pride at what he had accomplished! I did include photos of that…THAT’s the part of the job I love the most…teaching and encouraging. Am I  honest with them about ways to improve? …absolutely….but always in a positive way…I try never to be negative, as in beating them down in order to get them to do what they should be doing….that is fairly common here in Rwanda…that style of management, and not effective, in my opinion. My goal is to build them up, so they can gain the self confidence needed to become the best at what they do….It was a pleasure to spend that time in the bakery kitchen with Xavier. If nothing else, we had a ton of fun!! And this Muzungu taught Xavier the art of the“high five”.

An opportunity came up earlier in the week for Russell and I to head over to Kibuye (a town to the east of Kigali a couple of hours and right on the shores of Lake Kivu) to see the orphanage we didn’t get to visit a few weeks ago because I was so sick with my tummy, but also to meet and consult with a guy from Denver, who with some partners, are building an Eco-Lodge there as well. We were going to head down to Kigali on Saturday afternoon, over to Kibuye on Sunday, spend the night and back home by Monday evening. ….

But before we left on Saturday…it was a stunningly blue-bird weather day here…we decided to go for a little bike ride…ya know…get a little exercise and check out the area and road headed up to Volcanoes National Park. We’ve been doing that at least once a week…it’s a wonderful way to get the lay of the land. That road is also great for bike riding because there is very little motorized traffic…mostly people on foot, and from that road you can see all seven volcanoes surrounding Musanze. It is truly spectacular. Now before I go any further, I need to tell you that on most of the main roads around here, they have built into the roads (on both sides) these very deep, culvert like, concrete ditches to help with the water run-off during the rainy season. I have included a photo I took of Sabinyo  (which means jagged tooth), one of the seven volcanoes, and in that picture you can see what Russell has always referred to as the man-traps….the concrete ditches. Well…we’re riding along and I see another great photo op…an “oh, beautiful, wish you were here” picture (I included those photos as well), so I wait until I see a driveway into a not-yet- completed home…and the driveway, which is actually more like a walkway, also made of concrete, across the man-trap. So, I pull my bike in very carefully…take my pictures…and here’s when it gets interesting. Instead of pulling forward and turning around so that I could go back across the “bridge” forward, I decide to back up (hey, I’m ON the bridge, so I don’t have to back far)…and here’s where I made my mistake…I turned around to check and see if there were any cars or people coming and when I did, my back tire slipped sideways off the bridge, and the man-trap gobbled up me, and my bike on top of me. NOW, let me also say that while I, maybe, USED to be, I am no longer known for my cat-like reflexes and I can now confirm that I don’t bounce like I used to either!!  (and, YES, I was wearing a helmet) I knew instantly that I had hurt my ankle… badly…in fact, I thought it was broken…it swelled so badly, so quickly, and holy moly did it ever hurt. Russell was off his bike and helping me before I even stopped NOT bouncing, and immediately went into his EMT mode (yes, he is even an EMT, training he had to get when he was a NOLS instructor and out in the mountains for a minimum of 30 days at a time). Of course, we didn’t take my shoe off, and decided fairly quickly that getting me home and the ankle up and iced and the whole R.I.C.E. thing done was a priority…problem is…how? Well…the ride up is mostly an uphill grade, so down is, well, down…so  I coasted home…didn’t have to peddle two times the whole way…once we got my shoe off…yeah…let the major swelling begin…(and I also lost my signature, Strawberry Margarita, toe-nail polish on that foot so he could check my circulation) and after calling half the people we know here, who are in the medical profession, it was decided I would have to go to the hospital to get an x-ray… so Anna Reed came and got us with her car and took us over there, but she couldn’t stay because of a previous commitment , so I literally was wheeled into the x-ray room by Noel, the trusty x-ray tech (and he took a GREAT x-ray…it was crystal clear), and then he and Russell proceed to read the film (the dr. I need to see wasn’t there) and they decide it wasn’t broken…I’ve included photos of me with Noel (how do you like the shades) and then when I was waiting outside for Russell to pay (the x-ray costs us $14 USD),  and as you can see, I was the center of attention…everyone wanted to see the Muzungu lady with the ace bandages, and even more odd to them, ICE…and then…time to come home and no Anna Reed, so Russell wheeled me all the way home in the wheelchair…you think we get looks normally, just walking down the street, you should have seen the looks with us wheeling down the street. So yesterday, the Dr. made a house call…looked at the film and my ankle, and no it’s not broken, but the sprain is severe enough that today they put a cast on for a couple of weeks…but no fiberglass up here…only plaster, and no metal crutches, only wooden, so  the folks up at Shyira Hosptial were kind enough to send those things down to the hospital here in town,and over we traipse for such and I am now the proud owner of a black cast on right ankle…oh…the eye candy that is my leg!  I have to stay off my foot…with it propped up, for a while… and, again…with NO HGTV, (and my iPod decided to quit working yesterday), but that’s ok, too! It is what it is!!

 




 But…I brought pain meds with us from home for just these kinds of situations, and I’m doin ok…this really hasn’t freaked me out at all…ok...that may have something to do with the hydrocodone…I’m just sayin…no…really…accidents happen, although I have learned to NEVER, EVER, EVER back over a man-trap. Russell is taking good care of me, and our prayer is that once the cast comes off, I’ll be as good as new…ok…as good as old!! And hey, for what it’s worth…Noel told me I had GREAT bones “for someone my age”…THAT, people, was the silver lining of the day :) Y’all all have a great week….I think I’ll prop my foot up and stay a while!!