Part I: We Moved

So, we moved to Rwanda 2 weeks ago...

And I guess I owe some of you an update on life and such.  The short answer is that is has been really good...and really hard at the same time, really exciting and really sad, and really fun and sometimes pretty boring. And while people told me that those kinds of paradoxes were likely to be the story of our cross cultural living experience, I think I didn't really get it until we all landed here two weeks ago.

The good news is that we had about as easy of a transition as we could have had.  We moved into a beautiful house that was furnished because one of the partners in my company moved back to the states and gave me a great deal on everything. We had the car already. We had four friends who brought cars to pick us and our stuff up at the airport. I knew where I was and how to get around. We had been coached on where to shop. We were able to continue to employ the guard and house manager from departing friends who are fantastic. We had a dinner in the fridge and banana bread already made when we set foot in our house. Internet -Setup. Power - On. Cell phones - check. Everything, in relative terms was so easy. And I knew that.

But then I went to a dinner on Friday night with several other expat families and hearing their transition stories (looking for cars, houses, sharing temporary housing with 15 people or more) I think it sunk in again how easy we have had it.  And that's not to say its "easy" to move 8,000 miles. It wasn't. I had a stress induced stomach ache for 2 weeks before, during and after our transit. It took an act of God (and several friends and family members, and every logistical bone in my body) to get 24 boxes / suitcases out of my house in Richmond, to an airport, onto the plane, out of baggage claim and to our new place.

But, the prevailing emotion as we settle is that I feel blessed. Blessed to have had it "easy". To have a family that is pretty good (has a doctorate in?) flexibility. Blessed to have had so many good friends to say good bye to. Blessed to already know so many here in Kigali that we have been able to host people 5 or 6 times already in the last 14 days.

And if the prevailing emotion is feeling blessed, then the secondary one is sadness. Leaving Richmond was unbelievably difficult.  Leaving family before and at the airport was crazy difficult.  Meeting new people and having to tell them my high school basketball stories for the first time...I mean seriously, who HASN'T heard my high school basketball stories?  Just a reminder that while Kigali is highly concentrated with incredibly awesome people, they are all new people...and that's hard, even as it's pretty cool. 

There's more to this story - the work transition, the fact that we live a block from the best burger joint in town, the study I'm running collecting data on motorcycle taxis (trying to understand why none of them have a working spedometer), the fact that Adrianne and I are heading to a party at the ambassador's house tomorrow night, Micah's projectile vomit Sunday, Lucy's projectile vomit in the Addis Ababa airport, bedbugs, my colleague who graduated from business school and was given 9 cows by friends and family, the things we've missed the most, how I've learned how to ride my motorcycle, and stuff like that.  But I'll save that for Part 2...

Don't worry, Adrianne will be back for the next one. 

Peace,

HT