Rwandan time

Above is the view from our apartment balcony.

Sorry for the lack of updates but we were having troubles with our internet. After many hours of trying to sort it out, we have learned a lot, not the least of which is Rwandan time - no one seems in a hurry. Our internet actually comes from a USB drive that has a sim card connected to the mobile and now that we know how to add more minutes to the card we are golden (it did cost us a $30 cab ride to get it all sorted out).

Yesterday was spent trying to get set up. Fred, one of the first year residents, met us and took us into town to Simba (local supermarket). We took a common taxi to get there and it was quite an adventure - didn't know so many people could fit into one little minivan. We spent the evening relaxing and working on presentations. We couldn't get the stove working so lived on peanut butter and bread for the day. If this keeps up, I could come home a lot skinnier :) We also spent an hour doing our P90X workout. We had to close the drapes as we suspect the neighbours would think we were crazy.

Today was our first day at CHUK, the public hospital. We met all of the important people and then spent the morning in the OR with Fred. Poor Fred - Anita and I had lots of advice for him and he may never want to see us again. The cases were challenging ENT airway cases but so far everyone survived. The good news is that they now have 4 new Datex- ohmeda anesthetic machines with all the best monitors (pulse oximeters, end tidal CO2 etc) so we felt at home. Not sure it made up for the fact that we didn't know any of the drugs and that there was no succnylcholine.

Lunch was at the local buffet restaurant called Karibu. The food is a little bland but will keep us satisfied. (still thinking this may be a good weight loss experiment). We walked into the center of town and spent hours sorting out the gorilla permits but are ready to go on Nov 14th. This was followed by more shopping - Anita and I are single handedly supporting the Rwandan economy.

Above - Anita cooking supper. The light is dim so we use our camping lights

The guys came to fix the stove and Anita cooked an excellent vegetarian pasta - the first flavorful meal we have had.

Overall things are good here. The people are very friendly and we feel safe. It is fun exploring a new culture!

Janice and Anita

PS. uploading photos is very slow but we will keep trying