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Published: July 27th 2009
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Greetings from Kigali! I arrived safely last night after three flights. Although I still feel a little guilty, I must say that business class is a nice way to travel! The food was excellent (lamb stew, ice cream with fresh berries and whipped cream) and the seats were really comfortable. I slet for a few hours from RDU to Heathrow and then a few more from Heathrow to Nairobi. My connection there was tight and I could only check my luggage to Nairobi rather than all the way to Kigali. The woman at the Transfer Desk was helpful, but when my flight for Kigali was boarding, the luggage from my flight was still being unloaded. I did the paperwork when I got to Kigali and my bag arrived this afternoon.
My driver was at the airport and brought me to the apartment which is nice and very large - I think it's bigger than my house! I was really tired, but didn't sleep very well due to the strange noises (most of which were probably in my head) and worrying about my luggage and my first day. I finally dozed off about 1:45am and then woke up around 4am. I
set the alarm for 8am so I could be up and ready for work. I called the office and they came and picked me up. I wasn't actually scheduled to be there until the afternoon so I came back here for a while. I went back to the office after 12pm and Jessica, Jennifer, and I went to a lunch buffet. My stomach was off, but the food was good. The restaurant is very close to the apartment so I think I will get to know the place well. They do take away at night as well as sit down and they have pizza.
At lunch, we talked about my agenda for the next three weeks and, although it sounds like a lot of work, it also sounds like a lot of fun! We started right after lunch and I have two meetings tomorrow, including one at 8:15am with a high ranking woman at the Rwandan Ministry of Health.
I'm set up at FHI now and working from the Research House. They have three buildings: the Big House, the White House, and the Research House. Rose from IT got me all set up and I was good to
go very quickly.
Now that I have my luggage, I feel more settled and I'm looking forward to clean clothes tomorrow. I had a few critical things packed, but now I have everything, including the chocolate I brought for the office. I have cable TV with a few interesting choices plus CNN and the BBC so all is well, It's going to be an early night as I'm feeling really tired. I made a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner with Rwandan gouda - very nice. There are a few stores near the apartment and the FHI folks were thoughtful enough to have the basics (bread, milk, water, cheese, and coffee) already here for me.
Jennifer is going to go through the guidebook with me tomorrow and point out where quite a few things are. That will be helpful and I can start to explore a bit.
Here are a few photos of my office at FHI and the apartment plus a food photo for Steph (not very exciting, but I promise to do better).
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Steph
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Cool Place
Nancy, You rock! Thanks for the photo of the food! :) I think the kitchen is big enough for you to have a personal chef....:) I can't wait to hear about your adventures on this trip. Rest up!