Thursday, June 18, 2009

Uyu Munsi Myiza

Yes, I recently celebrated my birthday. In not only another country but another hemisphere and in another language. I can’t believe my birthday festivities. Oh my goodness, it was three days of celebrations of me. Insanity. But amazingness! Everyone pulled together here to surprise me amazingly on my birthday. I walked around all day and didn’t really feel like it was my birthday. And yet, here it is and 20 people came in and surprised me.

 

I was prepared for it to be tough to be apart from all of my friends and family. I started the day off bright and early at 7am to try to implement this new patient flow system in the health center. We’re trying to help patient wait time be less and also help guide patients and staff through the process. It’s hard but fun and I now know the colors (we’re labeling and categorizing patients by age and giving them a colour so now I can say ubururu makumyabibiri guino hano. (I spelled most of that wrong but that’s ok ;) Anyways, I’m improving ha ;)

 

Also- there are some of the most beautiful babies at the health center. They are seriously adorable. There was a one year old the other day with his poor leg broken. But still with a big smile on his face and then a big cast on his little leg. All the babies tend to just hang out and are very docile. The moms tie the babies to their backs. So, all you can see are their little heads popping out of the fabric tied to the mother.

 

Ok- So, back to the ol’ birthday. So, after working a long day, I was stalled for a fair bit and taken to the soccer field to watch the game and then to get a sambusa (why I just want my trademark daily omelette??? And then yoga and then bed?) And then someone needed a broom (seriously??? Whyyyyyyyy…….) SO I got back to the mess that is my house and then all of a sudden I turn around and I see a glow and there in my mess of a living room, is my counterpart, my host parents x 2 and the doctors and nurses and my two neighbors, Hassan and Solange. Ok, so let me back up. Solange totally lied and said that she couldn’t even hang out my birthday night because her training lasted too long and she couldn’t be there!!! She totally lied via SMS… for reals! Bah, darn I had NOOOOO idea which is what I said probably forty times.

I was sooo embarrassed at the disrepair of my house and the fact that everything was everywhere (oh yikes!~) But people dealt because they know that I'm a junk show ;)

 

Murakoze cyane! They planned it themselves and apparently I am the first surprise party in my village. Totally awesome, I mean, I almost cried. I couldn’t believe it. I did tear but held it together. All drank fanta and Mutzig and enjoyed the amazing birthday cake. It was so lovely and thank you to my entire village. I can’t believe that you guys came together. We have 50 million pictures and as soon as I actually get strong internet, I’ll post some.

 

To all of you who are reading this and wanting to be PCVers, never underestimate the power of people to surprise you. It seriously ended up being one of the best birthdays. We all took ridiculous pictures and drank together and talked in our three common languages. So, fun!

 

Those at home, thank you for all of the facebook birthday wishes and emails too! It really meant a lot. Au bientot.

 

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