Ah yes - so I feel quite refreshed after having just had a small ice cream cup from a local supermarket! My ice cream addiction has been quite unsatisfied since I have been here, and I will be honest and say that I am looking forward to a big bowl with some chocolate syrup when I get home! ;-)

My week at school has been quite fun, though no incredible incidents have taken place. I have learned how to get their attention a bit more in class - "Muceceke! (Be quiet) Umva! (listen) Sipio? (understand?)" :-) .....By now it seems the kids have made huge progress on the months of the year and they all pretty much have learned the days of the weeks. They continue to point to my colored signs that I hung in the back of the classroom and it makes me smile and feel so happy when I hear them chanting away as a group - although I will keep working on their pronunciation of TH-ursday! I made some progress coloring the sheet of flowers that will serve as the cover for their art books. Other activities included reviewing letters I and B and coloring photocopies of my "work" drawings I made. I have really done well learning the names of all of my students, too, which is so awesome when I can just holler out to any student whose attention I need to get! :-) Such a cool feeling, too, when they look at me like, wow - she knows my name?!

Back at the house, we have been losing power a lot more than ever before and even went nearly 24 hours without. It isn't so bad except that it gets dark by 6:30 so you have a hard time finding a reason to stay up at night! :-) One night us three girls had quite the time trying to both avoid contact but chase and kill this massive cockroach around the living room! It was nothing I had seen before, which eyes that actually looked at you! Ugh!! I was finally able to get him down with y sandal but I will be honest in saying that we have spent the last few days staring at the corners of the living room, just waiting for his friends to come, too! UGH!

With the welcoming of October, we received five new volunteers on Thursday night, so we are now at nine. Three from Australia, one from England, and one from Canada. As before, it will be very interesting to see how the dynamics of the house change during my last month here.

Saturday while five volunteers went to Gisenyi, I took a day trip with another volunteer to Nyanza where the "Palace Museum" and art center are located. It is a small town that I sense does not get many tourists coming through. After the two hour ride, we walked for about 35 minutes and it was one of the more "modern" residential areas I had been in. The town was quite picturesque and the people were very kind but also kept to themselves. We had just a handful of kids that would briefly follow us on the walk, but other than that, it was simple, friendly "Muzungu, Amakuru?" greetings from strangers on the street.

When we arrived, a very friendly young man took us towards to house and acted as our guide for the afternoon. The first home we saw was the house built for the king during colonization in the 1930's and was lived in until the late 1950's. When we first approached, we were asked to remove our shoes - they really take much pride in the appearance and upkeep of this area. The house was a long building with doors for each room on both sides. The rooms were quite modern geometric patterns painted on the walls in dark shades of red, green, blue and yellow. There were historical photos all over the walls ranging from when the Belgiums first came to greet the king, dressed in very traditional clothing with a spear in one hand and his thatched hut behind him; to photos in the 1950's when the next king was visiting Belgium, dressed in a suit boarding a helicopter. These photos clearly demonstrated how just 25 years of colonization completely changed the livelihood of these people.

The first couple rooms were work areas for the king to finalize business for the various communities and tribes. There were three main common rooms, one each for greeting regular visitors, chiefs of various districts, and for Europeans. Some rooms were decorated with 120 unique spears that represent protection. There were fireplaces in two of the rooms and the bureaus and tables were constructed in very expensive looking dark wood. This house clearly demonstrated the effects of colonization on the daily living style for the king, even with modern bath tubs and sinks in the bathrooms.

As we were on the tour of the house, there were many local Rwandans also visiting the museum. It was so interesting to hear them as more detailed questions, obvious that they had studied their history and were pieces together other stories they had heard with the photos on the walls and the stories we were being told. It was a real treat, adding a whole unique dynamic to the tour.

From the back area you could look out across a deep valley to a hill on the other side and see a massive white mansion. This house was built by the king after he had traveled to Beligum and had seen homes in Europe. Returning to Rwanda, he wanted a house built more for a king and thus started work on this one. However, he died before he could ever move in. I am not sure what it used to be, but the last few years it has served as an art museum, which we also visited later in the day.

The next area we toured was the chief's traditional house that had since been reconstructed, but had been lived in until the Belgiums came to Rwanda. There was a tall straw/bamboo fence around the communal area into which all visitors had to be invited. The house on the outside is built in a circular fashion with a small entryway in front. In front of the entryway there was a red circular porch with a white ledge in the front which apparently could not be stepped over. Visitors would first be welcomed into this main communal area and then would be called to the front of the house by the king when he was ready to see them. They would have to walk to the left side of the porch area and approach the king from a break in the white ledge there. Once invited inside, there was a a second circular wall constructed from numerous narrow weaved panels. This divided the foyer area from the living area. Guests inside were divided - men on the left, women on the right - from where they had to further await to be called into the main room. The entrance of the main room had a hearth in the middle, used both for cooking and for heat. Only med could be inside this main area. The women had to go past this entrance, around to the back to meet with the king's wife there. The back of the visiting room had a break in the panel, behind which a ledge was constructed that the king slept on. He was surrounded by baskets that were used for storing clothes and one special basket holding a gourd used to drink banana beer before bed. His wife, since she could not be in the main room, had a separate entrance to the bed from the back of the house.

When exiting the main house, you walked behind and faced two other huts of nearly the same set up, only on a smaller scale. One to the left was used to store milk and had to be guarded by a young virgin girl so as to not contaminate their milk. There were gourds and wooden containers of various sizes that were used to store the milk before bringing out to the king. The hut to the right was used to store their beer, which was always guarded by a young virgin boy. The first thing you notice about this hut is the missing white ledge in front. Apparently, they did not have this ledge as all the boys guarding the beer would live in constant intoxication so the ledge was left off to avoid them tripping and spilling the beer as they delivered it to the king. Inside there were different containers to hold their various beers - sorghum, honey and banana.

One thing that really surprised me as I walked through all of these houses was how incredibly cool it was inside. They really knew how to use their local resources to construct a cozy and cool hut to call home.

When we left the king's palace, we walked around the valley to the house on the opposite hill to visit the art museum there. Most of the pieces inside were from 2004 and 2006 so we speculated there must have been some art competition during those years. The pieces were quite remarkable - many clearly inspired by horrific sights during the genocide, but others quite the opposite, depicting in 3-d the artists' impressions of modern development in Rwanda and its place in Africa. It was really quite fascinating and I cannot wait to share some of the photos I was able to capture.