Oh, me, Oh my… where do I even begin on what has transpired in the last 2 weeks! Sit down people, this is gonna take a while…
Last post, we were getting settled back into life in Rwanda. Excited to be getting our two containers that, we were told, were ready to go and head up to Musanze. HA HA HA HA HA! … Yeah, not so much!!! The process of getting the containers, it turned out, was similar to pulling the teeth of a 20’ crocodile sans nitrous oxide! After three days, and a trip to Kigali by the cutest boy in the world, container #1 was actually released and on its way. It arrived around 12:30 AM on Tuesday, the 17th. We had requested, if possible, that the container that DID NOT have the 5000 lb. generator, come first, so that we could get everything unloaded, making it easier to concentrate on the biggest unloading project of all when the generator did arrive.
Let me digress here for a minute or two. WAY back in August. TCBITW hired some local guys, which we fondly refer to as our “special forces” to dig a giant ramp, essentially, hand digging an unloading dock, as it were, to the cement pad where we knew would be the final resting place of the generator. Since there aren’t really cranes or forklifts to speak of in this country, or at least in THIS part of the country, logic told us we needed to be forward thinking (and thinking outside the box) when it came to getting that generator unloaded (I have included photos for those, who like me, that are visual).
OK, back to the story… YAY, progress… #1 container arrives, and since it was after midnight, I was already home… no sense in ALL of us waiting up for a truck to simply drive through the gates. We knew we wouldn’t start unloading until first light. The look on Russell’s face when he walked in the door (while simultaneously shaking his head) was one I can’t EVEN describe. And these are the words I hear, “Of ALLLLLL the contingencies we have thought through and planned for, what is THE ONE, the ONLY ONE, we NEVER considered”? HMMMMM, I say… why don’t you just put me out of my misery and TELL ME? Well, he says, “They loaded the container backwards on the truck. The doors are facing the cab”!!! SKEEEERRRTTT… WHHHAAATTTT???? Oh, that’s right people… a picture is worth a thousand words, and the photos speaks volumes! And of course, it WAS the container with the 5000 lb. generator! OK, so let’s recap… one container WITH 5000 lb. generator, but backwards on the truck, making our, oh so proud of loading dock, USELESS… and not just useless, but now a hazard!
So, next morning, they unhitched the cab of the truck from the container, and we proceed to unload everything we can, except the generator (which actually consists of a 2000 lb. fuel tank and the 3000 pound generator itself). The generator actually sits nicely on top of said fuel tank, or as I call it, the rocket ship, cause should that puppy ever blow… that’s where we’ll all be… outer space! Now, we were also hoping for the other container first, since it contained most of the furniture we had ordered for the houses here on campus. And what I have yet to mention is that TCBITW had agreed to host a Canadian mission group, consisting of 11 people, who were to arrive here in Musanze on Sunday, the 22nd for a 12 day stay with us here at the MOC… Ahhh… but the mattresses WERE on the first container… so we are making progress… ohhhh, but the beds, sheets, towels, pillows, etc. were not! One step forward, two steps, back!
Onward in my story… apparently there IS a crane (besides Frasier) in Rwanda, so we call it up from Kigali, I mean, what else were we to do… but in the meantime, Andy, our general manager, heads into to town to see if he can locate something, ANYTHING, that might help us get that generator and tank off the VERY BACK of that container. Well… 7 hours later, and up pops, “the dude” …that’s what I’ll call him because I don’t know his actual name… owner of Break Down Service… I kid you not, this is the name on his truck, and it’s not so much a crane as a tow truck. Oh yeah… I’m thinkin… this is gonna work out just real good!! SOOOO… on we (and I say “we” very figuratively) proceed to unload the tank and generator with “the dude’s” tow truck! Again, pictures included, cause you can’t even really describe the whole process. What I can tell you is “the dude” was, pardon my French, a smarty pants! At one point he argued vehemently with TCBITW that they should just unload the generator perpendicularly onto the back of the tow truck, instead of actually moving the truck so that it lined up with the generator, so that they could then “slide” the generator onto the truck, as they did with the fuel tank. Now, those of you who know TCBITW know he really does not lose his cool – I mean, hardly EVER! WELL… he finally, after a 20 minute “discussion and explanation via translator” of why that wasn’t a good idea, as in, that sucker would just tip his truck right on over like me on a bike in Rwanda… told the guy, “DUDE, you want to get paid, you do it MY way, or don’t do it at all.” We all sort of held our breath, thinking, what happens if “the dude” with attitude drives off! This could be bad, really bad… ahhh, but he didn’t, and moved the truck like RR wanted! By this time it is getting dark and they tried several times to “hit the mark” on top of the fuel tank… last time… 1/8 of an inch off, and “the dude” simply lowers the generator, pulls off the chains and says “I am finished,” in Kinyarwanda! Okie Dokie then, I guess we’re done here! Fortunately, Russell knew he had wenches coming that would remedy the 1/8 of an inch thing. We were glad to see “the dude” and his “tude” go, but by golly, he did get the job done! So, I’ll give him that! That crane from Kigali never did show up!
Now… those of you with small bladders, may want to take a potty break at this point, because I am just getting going on the SECOND container…
SO… everything unloaded from #1 Container, and Frances and I are “putting together” fools… there were stainless steel kitchen counters, metal shelving, all kinds of consumables to be organized and inventoried… you know… HERE is where my OCD comes in EXTREMELY handy… give me something to organize and inventory… yowsa… am I ever a happy camper?!
In the meantime, the shipping company assures us that the #2 container will be on its way and to us by Wednesday, the 18th… late afternoon… still plenty of time to get it unloaded, and the beds we needed for the Canadian group to be assembled, and ready for use! Well, Wednesday passes… no container… Thursday… no container… by Friday… TCBITW was on his way to Kigali bright and early at 5 am to “get r done”… spent all day back and forth with the customs folks, nope… no go on Friday. Back he comes Friday night. By the time he gets home Friday night, they summoned him back to Kigali on Saturday bright and early at 5 am… still time we think… we got this! Back and forth all day on Saturday… nope… not gonna happen! Time for Plan B for the Canadians… got them rooms in town for Sunday night and Monday night, not knowing, at this point, when we would actually get #2 container. Back TCBITW goes on Monday to Kigali, and well, it appears that all the paperwork that we did WAY back in July to avoid such issues, was the WRONG paperwork. We blame this squarely on the shipping company, since they assured us (and it IS their job to know these things, and why we pay them $15,000 a pop PER container), we had everything we needed. Apparently, we shouldn’t even have gotten #1 container, but God showed up big time, and what should have taken 2-3 weeks to sort out, RR got sorted on Monday, and the #2 container finally arrived within our gates at 8:30 PM Monday night!! Can I hear a BIG WOOT WOOT?!! By day break on Tuesday, we were unloading the #2 container, and with the help of all the Canadians, got that sucker unloaded and furniture put on the porches of the right houses, and then THEY started all the assembly of THEIR OWN BEDS (which they slept in Tuesday night)! I have to tell you… they have been INVALUABLE to getting things done in the last few days. BUT, to add insult to injury, TCBITW got a call from Jeffrey Lee’s wife, Kristen (Jeffrey is CEO of the Opportunity International Bank here in Rwanda), and they had 13 South Korean doctors in country and wondered if we, by chance, could host them overnight on Wednesday, the 25th… and what does he say… “Of Course” he says… ”SURE, NO PROBLEM.” Did I also mention that by this point I had 4 fever blisters pop up in an hour period from stress (and two more the next day). So shall we recap once again… #1 Container, done, with the help of “the dude” with the “tude.” #2 container, FINALLY done, with the help of God and the Canadians, number of people sleeping on campus Wednesday the 25th – THIRTY-ONE… number of people we feed Wednesday night… 40, with the power out the ENTIRE time, and NO, the generator is not working yet… who’s had time for THAT?!? OH MY GOODNESS!!
And then on top of everything else, Russell says to me, “go pack up everything in our house so we can move the old furniture out (what was here when we got here and what we had at our old house), and move the new furniture in”… yeah, that’s me, doncha know, the girl that just LOVES CHANGE, LOVES CHAOS, LOVES UNSETTLING MY NEST! OY VEY!!!! Is that another fever blister I feel??
The good news is WE DID IT! Not without some kinks and tempers flaring (who ME)… and there are LOTS AND LOTS of pictures that captures what has been going on!
Just when you think it can’t get more interesting, more stressful, more comical, more BLESSED! I am learning… it can ALWAYS get more of all of those, but especially, MORE BLESSED! We are, in these last two weeks, feeling more blessed than ever! We still have A LONG way to go, but we made some HUGE progress these last two weeks… AND, as you can see, we now have “real” toilet paper, Kleenex and enough Clorox to last us a year – we hope!
Thanks for all your prayers, and words of encouragement… the simplest of those means the WORLD to us! Love and hugs from my, back to normal, new and improved, nest!
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| Even Frasier was like....WHAAATT?? |
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| Getting instructions for how this whole thing was going to go! |
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| I mean, WHAT do you even say?? |
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| Our beautiful loading ramp, ready for the unload....ummmm, or not! |
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| The only think holding the container locked - assuring huh? |
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| FINALLY open.... |
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| All the tires on the truck looked like this - also assuring, huh? |
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| A joint effort of unloading... |
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| Beatrice's way of carrying a box to the kitchen! Love it! |
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| Frances, our Head of English, with our 15 new computers for the English Institute!! |
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| Trying to get the container repositioned to unload the generator |
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| A plethera of things to put together.... |
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| The fuel tank being moved onto the concrete pad by "the dude" with the attitude! |
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| The only think left is the generator...look how back heavy this sucker was!! |
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| A bright spot was SugarBear with her new picnic table! |
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| And off she goes.... |
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| Now the final push to get her into place! |
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| And the negotiations begin.... |
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| Now comes the generator...with "the dude" with attitude and his truck sideways! |
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| The only think pulling that honker of a thing! |
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| The cutest boy in the world "splaining" how this was NOT going to go! |
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| And "the dude" was going to have to drop it ON Russell if he planned to get it on the truck THAT way! |
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| Sudden change of heart by "the dude" when he realized he might not get paid...hmmmm! |
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| OK...time to set her on the rocket! |
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| Lord help us...the only thing holding that generator up! |
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| Russell has gone to painting again...this time for our Canadian residents |
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| In position in the light of day!! |
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| Our new sink!! |
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| Before photos of the kitchen...clearly I twtich, what with my OCD.... |
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| Old sink..where the new stainless steel sink and table will go! |
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| Old shelves...left by the Austrians.... |
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| Old table next to frig and freezer! |
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| New Shelves & Stainless Tables... |
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| New Shelving... |
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| New Table next to Frig & Freezer |
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| Stainless table next to new shelving... |
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| New shelving for the the dining room... |
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| Unloading the #2 Container... |
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| Group Effort.... |
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| Couldn't have done it without the help from the Canadian Mission Team!! |
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| My un-nested nest :( |
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| OCD ALERT....OCD ALERT.... |
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| Poor little entry way... |
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| oh, oh...new bedroom... |
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| And new wardrobes... |
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| Happy Entry Way... |
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| The nest has new furntirure...cept for the big black recliner... |
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| This is the furnture that will eventually decorate all the houses on campus! |
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| Dining area w/new bookcases! |
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| Who says there's no Sams in Rwanda!! |
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| There is at the MOC baby!! |
