big day

we had a big day today and i am so tired. we got up early to head to butare to visit the memorial near there. it was a 2 hour bus ride and the view was absolutely amazing. rwanda is gorgeous!!! i am not ready to talk about what i saw today at the memorial. i don't think it has sunken in. i do know i feel sad and ashamed because of my morbid curiousity. i know they have created these memorials in the hopes to educate and remember but to hear the stories straight from a survivor and to see the skeletons and preserved bodies of so many people... it is overwhelming.

yesterday was a much more fun day...i tried to teach the boys how to play baseball. i really thought it would be easy to teach them but oh my it wasn't. i had to make the bases out of cardboard box sides. i tried to demonstrate how to pitch and how to hit and they got that part. but when it came to running the bases and the outs...it went a bit crazy. there were boys running past each other and runners catching their team mates hits and outfielders standing in the running lines of the bases...i am going to try again on monday. it was pretty hot yesterday probably the hottest day so far. but we had a huge angry rainstorm last night it was wonderful! and the temperature dropped and it is so comfortable outside. it is weird to have rain now since it is their dry season but i think most welcome the rain here.
i also tried to teach one of the classes old macdonald and it was hilarious. one because i can not sing and two the kids didn't get the melody or any of it. but we laughed for almost the entire class and they kept trying so hard even though i was not making it understandable to them.

tonight we are going out for drinks after dinner to the neighbor hotel. after today i am pretty excited to have a drink or two. and i realized my 20 year reunion was last night....i hope it went well and i can't wait to see everyone's pics and hear the stories. i have really lost track of time here.

kenya airlines is on strike so one of the new volunteers is stuck at the nairobi airport. and another new volunteer finally made it in last night but her luggage did not. karen is suppose to leave tonight but there are no kenya airline planes flying to or from kigali until we don't know when.

on the way home from butare today there was a little boy on the bus. when we stopped i gave him a pack of stickers and he was soooo happy. the children here are so beautiful and i love it! i don't think he knew what they were or what to do with them but he seemed to think it was so great that some weird looking stranger gave him something. i still am having trouble comprehending how appreciative rwandans are about everything. it is really amazing.