Muraho n'umwaka mushya muhire! Hello and Happy New Year!
Well, I'm now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. I swore in yesterday in Kigali with the 64 others in our group, and I'm heading off to my site today. It's an exciting time, to be sure.
I thought that I'd write some on the Holiday Season here in Rwanda, since that just ended.
First, Christmas is not nearly as heavily celebrated here as it is in the US or Europe. It's definitely not about gift giving; gifts are typically only given to small children, and then they are only candy and small toys. Also, the stores and other businesses in towns are still mostly open for business on Christmas Day, which was quite a shock to see. The only time that most of them were closed was during Mass, which is very well attended on Christmas, as you can imagine.
For our Christmas, we celebrated on Christmas Eve by having a White Elephant gift exchange and a Talent Show at a local restaurant. On Christmas, I went to Mass with a few of our Rwandan teachers, then ate my way through the day, starting with chili and corn bread, then moving on to traditional Rwandan fare with my Host Family, and finally finishing with sweets baked in the Christmas spirit by some other Trainees. It was a nice Christmas overall, though certainly different.
New Year's in Rwanda is more widely celebrated than Christmas, and its celebration is much more similar to that in the US. Adults are likely to stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve to see in the New Year, whereas children are usually in bed. New Year's Day is shared with family and friends, and children may be given small gifts again.
For our New Year's celebration, we had a farewell to our Rwandan teachers at the same restaurant we were at for Christmas Eve. Then, I hung out with my housemates all night until midnight. There are no fireworks extravaganzas or big shiny balls dropping seemingly from the sky, but I was happy to see the arrival of 2011.
I apologize for the short length of this post, but I'm leaving for my site in about an hour, and I have a few things to do to get ready. Have a great start to 2011 and keep in touch!
Happy New Year Matthew! By the time you read this, you will have been at your new post for a while. I do hope everything is going well and that your new adventures will be as interesting and fun as your past adventures have been. I am looking forward to hearing about your first days teaching and how well you get along with your students and fellow faculty members. Good luck and bonne chance!
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