I'm home

For those of you who have not been following me on facebook and have just been looking at the blogspot post, I just wanted to let you know that I arrived in Little Rock around 6pm on Friday.

I left Kigali at 20:45.  The guy who checked my bags didn't know how to charge me for an extra bag, so I actually got to fly with that bag for free as opposed to paying $50 for it.  Then, on both the Kigali->Brussels and the Brussels->Chicago flight, I was the only person in my section, so I got to stretch out and get as much sleep as possible on a flight.  Then, when I got to Chicago, I went up to the American Airlines desk to ask to be put on standby for the 4:10 flight to Little Rock, as opposed to the 8pm flight to Little Rock.  Miraculously, I was the only person on the standby list to make it onto the plane.  

I arrived in Little Rock around 6pm, and my dad picked me up from the airport and then took me to a restaurant, where my mom met us.  Then we went back to my house, where I gave them their presents and then left.  It felt good to be home.  My cat obviously missed me.  I took a shower, and as soon as I turned off the water, I could hear her meowing constantly at the bathroom door until I came out.  She slept directly beside me all night long, and woke me up at 6 am with demands for attention.  Apparently, she thinks a month is a bit too long for me to be away.

However, there will be some things that I am going to miss about Rwanda:

1)  the fruit. A whole pineapple costs about 300 francs, or 60 cents US, and it's way better than the ones you buy at the store here.  Mangos are HUGE and taste heavenly and are cheap, also.  Passionfruit is everywhere and cheap as well.

2)  not being able to understand what people around you are saying.  I actually quite enjoy this about foreign countries.  Instead of having to overhear people's gossip, you can just tune out the Kinyarwandan while you're on the bus, the plane, at the store, and do your own thing.  As soon as I got back in the western world and had to hear people complaining about their flights, I had to groan inwardly, especially when I got back to Arkansas and overheard a couple of drunk college guys at the bar in the restaurant.  

3)  the patients.  My patients were awesome, and I could be assured that every 3rd patient was a "what on earth is that!" patient.  Someone would come and grab me every so often, and I'd go into a clinic room only to go "what is eating away that woman's face?  oh, basal cell carcinoma" or "what is wrong with that kid's tongue?  It's so swollen!" or "seriously, is her spleen really that big? it takes up half her abdomen!" or "she's complaining about something coming out of her vagina...oh my, it's her uterus."  Medicine in the US can be more run of the mill:  COPDers, End Stage Liver Disease, Heart Failure, Asthma, Diabetes, etc.  

4)  the weather.  Yes, it was hotter in Kigali than in Shyira, but it was always a sunny day, and it was a pleasant 80-90 degrees.  As compared to Arkansas where I've been freezing the entire time I've been back.

The things I won't miss:  cold water showers, being stared at all the time by the Rwandans, the mosquitos and other bugs, roosters crowing at the crack of dawn in Shyira, the mosque's call to prayer at the crack of dawn in Kigali and Gisenyi, powdered milk, having to filter tap water, and then having to worry about people trying to rip you off at the market.  

So, I think this is going to be my last post, but I plan on editing the other posts and adding more pictures after church, so stay tuned for at least a couple more days!

And I also wanted to thank all the people at St. Mark's and my family and friends for all their support and prayers, and for the Kings for allowing me to come in the first place. Everything went wonderfully well, and I'm so thankful I got to have this experience.  

Amohoro (Peace)!