Monsters, the creation of

So, the PO Box mail contest resulted in a three way tie!  Huge thanks to the Stouts for their very impressive Christmas card (the narrows, African Safari & Burma) sent Jan. 2, David & Janet Elder for their very adorable Christmas card (Evan, Hayley & Lauren) sent Dec. 17 and Dennis, for the fun postcard sent Jan. 10.  It was great to get mail so far from home and to confirm the (at least somewhat successful) capabilities of the mail service here.  I went to the post office box in Kigali this past weekend (1/19), so there's no telling how long they were waiting for me.  I'll check the box again in 2 weeks.  Fun!

I spent last weekend in Kigali.  It was great to take hot showers (hot, but full of giant roach sitings), but impossible to find any internet and I also couldn't find anyplace showing the division championship games.  I have subsequently learned that the Harbowl is pending and I am very excited. I'll be trying to find the game in two weeks, though I expect it to air around 2 AM Monday morning here, which will take some of the fun out of it.  Colin Technobowl vs. Ray Lewis.  I love it.  Should be a fun game.

Kigali was fun.  I took motos all around town and am starting to get some sense of direction, though I hate bartering for the price of a moto.  I went to a big market and ate out at good Indian food, Mexican food and Chinese food restaurants.  I bought some things for the house in the village like a travel coffee mug I had been wanting to take coffee to work and also some sponges. Thrilling!

While shopping in Nakumatt, I found these Kenyan underpants that cut straight to the chase and do not suger coat it for you:

Later, wandering around behind the Bank of Kigali, I found a place that takes all manner of sports bet and another place that sells Nikes, so I think I'm going to be just fine here:

I also went to a cool market at Nyabugogo and saw this towering pile of beautiful peppers:

Internet continues to be quite limited, both in Kigali and in the village.  I write offline and then paste in e-mails when it looks like there is a little bandwidth.  That's okay for blog posts, but makes my work, researching possible university and internship options for these students nearly impossible.  Things at work are moving at an snails pace, an arthritic, fat snail.

On the other hand, things in my family seem to be going pretty well.  I'll also be running a 'club' that meets once a week called a tutoring club, but i'm not sure at this point what that entails.  As always, do stay tuned.

I started running some track workouts twice a week and that should be a good way to try and establish some normalcy and burn off some of the frustration of work in the village.

Tip for the day. Do NOT. Do NOT for any reason google "jungle rot."

Forgive me if I've already been over this, but my name here is "Kodney".  Courtney, suffice it to say, is not a common Rwandan name.  Rs are hard in Kinyarwanda (maybe more on that in another post).  So when I tell anyone here my name, they look at me funny and after several tries say "Kodney".  (Incidentally, I think Sweet Baby Kate used to call me "Torney" about 12 years ago.) I happily respond to Kondey, it's no problem.  It has been funny to see it in writing in several official documents as well.  It's cool to have a new nickname, though nothing will ever supplant CMFK.  Some of the other cousins call me "Kods" which I think would go over big with my Aussie crowd, or maybe "Kod-o" I just don't know…

It's totally normal to be frightened of the dark tea color of the water my laundry is soaking in, right?  Yes, my clothing was THAT dirty.  The Rwandan soil, at least here at this village, is a beautiful deep red that gets on all my pants and socks, and when the wind blows (all the time) on my arms, neck, face, eyes, teeth and soul.  That soil also clings purty-tight-now to my clothes, which when I do laundry move from filthy, to only just dirty.  It's all relative.

A note on Monsters, the creation of: I'm a little competitive.  I like contests, the more arbitrary the better.  See past Chicken-Nugget-off (Lost!), 5-Guys-Off (Won!), Buffalo-Wing-off (Lost that day and for the next 6 days), Marshmallow-off (Won!), Vending Machine Challenge (We all lost that one.).  When I'm in the doldrums and looking for something to look forward to and something else to focus on, I propose a little contest.  See a pattern above?  These usually end BADLY.  

Well, note to future Kodney: "DON'T PROPOSE A PUSH-UP CONTEST TO A RECENT DISCHARGE OF THE ISRALI ARMY!" Geeze.  Really? So keep in mind, Rwanda is a country that already has some ground to make up for equality of women's sports.  I've challenged a fellow cousin to a three-stage pushup contest (on 2/2, 3/3 and 4/4).  (Mostly, at the time, I proposed it to make myself do some pushups.)  The terms are that he's spotting me 30 for the 2/2 event, but that after that, the absolute margin of victory is the go-forward line.  So, in actual terms, on 2/2 if I do 30 pushups and he does 50, I win by 10, and the line for the 3/3 event is Me +20.5.  (He's too nice a guy and not at all a shark, so he's giving me the half.  For the chatter angle I hope it all turns on that half, I really do.)  

This, Gomer Pyle: Sur-Prise Sur-prise, is turning out lose-lose for me. First of all, my scouts tell me he can do 85, and I can only do 40, so I'll lose the 2/2 event by a comfortable margin (unless I get a visit from Lance Armstrong's medical team in the next couple days).  More importantly, this little contest has spread like wildfire around this village.  His family is excited about it.  My family is excited about it.  The director of Informal Education is excited about it.  So I'll lose in front of a big audience.  What's worse, I'll let down my girls in family 8.  Now on 3/3, let's say the line moves to Me +45, that's great and maybe I've even got a chance to "win"no one in the village will give a clap about that.  [Note: Let's leave all the 'Who should sandbag what in Round 1?' strategy out of this for now, for my own sake, unless you are Romer or Drew Jones and want to reach out to me directly with strategy.]   My girls will just see me do 42, him do 81 and think I lost again. By a TON.  So: There's no backing out now and Dwight Howard and all soccer players are owning that 'faking an injury' strategy, so I'm left with trying to lose with some dignity.  I'll keep you posted.

Editors note on 2/10:

Avi asked me to tell you that he disputes nearly everything above, especially his 'recent discharge' from the Israeli army, which to his point was 6 years ago.  For further clarifications on Avi's point of view, check out his blog, if he ever starts one.