23. Thanksgiving in Rwanda

Nov. 26 and 28, 2015

Strawberry tort becomes our Thanksgiving dessert!

We had two Thanksgivings. Combining the two, we had Thanksgiving with our "extended Rwandan family" since arriving here on Nov. 3rd.

On Thursday, Nov. 26, the proper Thanksgiving day, Isaac came home from school on the "early bus" because soccer practice was rained out. Naomi got home from school (dropped off by the late school bus) at 5:30pm. Ruth Ann's 4pm meeting went until 5:30, so she got home shortly after Naomi. So it was a busy evening, but we still managed to pull together mashed potatoes, gravy, a green salad, green beans almondine and Rwandan sweet potatoes (which are white) with a brown sugar sauce. Isaac was the omelet chef! We had dinner "just the 4 of us" with many of our favorite Thanksgiving foods, but we didn't try to make it a big production. I did get the closest thing I could find to a pie -- a strawberry tart from a great bakery named RZ Manna. We shared "dessert" with our Dutch friends at the house, Laura and Marlou.

"Pie all gone" -- Laura and Marlou join us for dessert at "Thanksgiving #1"

On Saturday, Nov. 28,

we coordinated with our house-mates to create a lovely meal. Chris and Sandra (from NL) and Emily, Anna and Steena (from SE) all pitched in! The Kaczor's contributed mashed potatoes, gravy and two types of apple dessert: a 'makeshift' apple pie and an apple crisp. Both desserts were accomplished without an oven! But instead of a crust for the bottom of the pie, Ruth Ann bought a "tart bottom" from a local bakery.

Sandra made "dodo" a delicious local vegetable that is prepared similar to creamed spinach. She also prepared a green bean and carrot mix which was wonderful. The Swedish team blew us all away, however, by preparing 122 Swedish meatballs, with accompanying gravy!

The feast is finished! L to R: John, Naomi with our new Rwandan friends: Fracois, Emily, Steena, (Isaac), Anna, Chris, Sandra. (Dutch friends Marlou and Laura were away.)

Thanksgiving #2 gathering - it was delightful!

Apple pie in a tart shell, apple crisp and assorted ice cream for dessert!

22. Triple Birthday Party - on Isaac's "birth day"

Nov. 18, 2015

Waling from our house to the crepes restaurant.

"Petit Gourmand" restaurant. "Thumbs up" crepes and salads!

Double birthday cakes.

Three November birthdays being celebrated - Patrick, Naomi & Isaac

Everyone at the Kimihurura house was there! Including Francois, Grace and her daughter, Solange. Also Chris, Sandra and some of Sandra's family.

"Powers" card game.

21. Proud owners of a 2001 Rav4 - used-car shopping in Kigali

Nov. 18, 2015

The 1998 Nissan Pathfinder we didn't buy.

Another huge milestone in our "moving process" was completing the car-buying process. The whole thing had started with a 'used car ad' for a 1998 Nissan Pathfinder, which I had received while I was still in the US. Looked great! So I had called Jean Marie soon after we arrived and within my first week, Jean Marie had arranged to bring it and show it to me. Long story short, it got stuck in the driveway and after multiple attempts to get it going, nothing seemed to be working. I left Jean Marie there with the Pathfinder because I had to continue with Isaac and Naomi for our dinner appointment (at a place we would possibly rent.) I learned later, the vehicle had to be towed.

While we didn't buy that Pathfinder, we actually did end up working with Jean Marie all the way through the car-search-and-buy process. He showed us a newish 2011 Ford pick-up -- "no, not going to work." We test drove two 2001 Rav4s, each privately owned and in different parts of the city.  Then John arrived in Rwanda. By this time, I was convinced a Rav4 was going to be the way to go. Se we test-drove "Chantel's" Rav4 carefully and even drove it out to a mechanic to have him check it out. But - could not come to a price agreement with Chantel. So we walked away. The next morning, John had gotten in touch with someone else selling a Rav4 -- but she didn't want to give up possession until January. "Not going to work."

Next day -- got a text. Chantel had come down slightly in price and we were dreading the thought of more arduous days of finding and test-driving vehicles. So we came up a little from our price and, behold! We finally had a deal. We agreed that the next day, Nov. 18, Jean Marie would pick up John, take him to meet Chantel and finish the transaction. 

There were many steps in this final purchasing and registering with the authorities process. One step for us involved John searching desperately for a passport photo required when changing ownership of a vehicle (?!?... don't ask.)
[Author: Ruth Ann]

20. Starting and getting through the visa-work permit process

Nov. 16 - 24, 2015

Rwanda Development Board (RDB) building

I had been dreading it -- but with my 30 day tourist visa window closing, I forced myself to tackle the process of obtaining a resident visa. "Keep expectations low" for how fast and how transparent the process will be. That's how I got through it. And really, it was not that bad compared to stories I've heard of obtaining visas in other countries.

I had decided, for no really good reason other than it seemed simpler (but how would I know?) -- to go for an "entrepreneur" resident and work visa instead of a "researcher" resident and work visa. So this is a class G2 visa. The steps I took were approximately as follows:

1. Go to the DGIE (Directorate of Immigration and Emigration), between 7:30 and 11:30am, to ask what forms, docs, certs, etc. needed. Wrote down the things he verbally listed I would need. (No such thing as an easy-to-pick-up printed list, nor a list on a website.)

2. Go to Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to register my small business, Artisan Coffee Imports. This was an amazingly modern and helpful process. With no wait at all, an agent had me sit next to her and we walked through the steps of registering my business while I watched her fill out the fields on her computer. 6 hours later, my certificate with a tax id number was available to download from the website.

3. Go to photo printing store near the Kimihurura house where one can get passport photos quickly taken and printed. Nice Indian-Rwandan guy runs this store.

4. Go back to DGIE with registered business form, application forms, photo, CV, police letter. Forgot to write a letter requesting residency and the agent told me I had not printed the correct certificate from RDB for my business. (There are 2. I had printed the short one, not the long one.)

5. Went to "printing shop" nearby the DGIE to quickly type and print needed letter and get the correct RDB form printed from the RDB website. The young lady managing the printer seemed very used to this process. It was trickier than the first time I was there, however, because the internet was down.

6. Got back to the DGIE at about 11:25am on the Friday. Got a 'number' still (they stop giving them out at 11:30am).  After handing my passport and documents to the agent, he checked them and then said I was ready to pay my ~ $120 fee. I had to go to another room with a "mobile money" agent to pay the fee. I immediately got a text confirming that I had paid.

7. Go back to the DGIE agent who checks on a computer screen that I have paid. He writes something on my application form and says I'm done. They will notify me when my passport is ready to pick up. So I walk out... without my passport and with only a verbal promise that it will be ready sometime next week.  I only realize later that it would be wise to ask for some kind of tracking number or receipt, confirming what I had just given them.

8. Fortunately, I was spared any hard lessons about asking for receipts. A couple of DGIE agents called and visited the following Monday to ask questions about my business. And before the end of the week I was able to pick up my passport with it's resident visa pasted inside.

19. John Arrives!

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015

Same day as our visit to Patrick's home, but in the evening, John arrived and we finally got back together again as a family-of-four. Isaac and Naomi were, of course, so glad to have their Dad back, and I was, of course, grateful, too, for numerous reasons. Not the smallest was simply to be able to begin sharing the experiences here directly, instead of through hit-and-miss phone calls and emails.

John's "delayed departure" from the US became part of the plan as we realized (sometime in September) that there was a significant discrepancy between how soon John's work meetings would be completed and when Isaac and Naomi needed to be starting school in Rwanda. Delaying Isaac and Naomi's start in school any further would have meant not only starting mid-year, but mid-term for Green Hills School. So we decided on the staggered 'move schedule', which also provided some advantages in terms of Ruth Ann being able to send word to John about "what else to bring."
[Author: Ruth Ann]

John arriving at Kigali International Airport! (It's about 8pm)

Next day (Nov. 16) - celebration of John's arrival at Shokola restaurant in Kimihurura. In the background you see the beautiful panorama of the lights of Kigali. The restaurant is entirely "open-air" on one side.

18.5 Dinner invitation to a Rwandan home

Marlou looks over the 'farm' and side yard of Vaeria's home.

Nov. 15, 2015
Friend Patrick invited us to visit his home in Mulindi, just outside of Kigali. His mother, Valeria, is apparently used to the routine: Patrick invites friends to his house and asks his mom to cook a nice Rwandan meal! Which, it seems, she enjoys. She enjoys meeting the people that are a part of her son's life. One can imagine it, since she lost two sons (Patrick's older brothers) and her husband in the genocide. Patrick and Patrick's grandmother are the only family she has left.

It was truly impressive that she cooked such a wonderful buffet of traditional Rwandan food for eight of us! Our group was the 3 Swedish students, the 2 Dutch students and us (Ruth, Isaac and Naomi), packed into two taxis to get there. The lead taxi was driven by a friend of Patrick's who knew how to find the house!

The wonderful meal of green bananas in sauce, "chips" (deep fried potatoes), green beans, dodo (a kind of Rwandan spinach well-cooked with light cream sauce), cabbage salad, meat stew and rice was shared in the living room as we sat in the circle of chairs and sofas. Afterwards we walked a short distance down the road to the small shop Patrick (aka true entrepreneur) has just opened. Then Valeria gave the group a tour of her large and very steep garden behind her house.
[Author: Ruth Ann]

The group arrives at Patrick's and Valeria's home.

Naomi agreed, it is a lovely, pleasant house.

Isaac and Patrick. Note Patrick's cool "Ikawa" (Coffee) t-shirt.

Taxis in this neighborhood are bicycles, not motorbikes, like in downtown Kigali.

Valeria and Patrick.

Homemade Rwandan food. What a spread!

Ruth's favorite East African soft drink - Stoney Tanglawezi (ginger ale).

Naomi accepted Valeria's gift on behalf of our group -- a traditional Rwanda basket filled with bananas.

Paparazzi wait outside the gate to Valeria's and Patrick's house.

Tour of Valeria's plantation, which includes maize and banana.

Our group's fan club.

Isaac and the gaggle of kids outside Patrick's shop.

Cultural intersection.

We sat in a circle here -- first a round of soft drinks and then the delicious food.

Laura and Marlou (from Netherlands)

Stina, Emelie and Anna (from Sweden)

18. First day of school BOTH Isaac and Naomi

Friday, Nov. 13, 2015
To put it simply, figuring out the school situation for Naomi and Isaac was very time consuming and felt like it took forever. This was especially so when I found out after our first visit to Green Hills Academy that Isaac would not be allowed to be in the 11th grade. Granted, I had made a lot of assumptions back in September without confirming them with the school. I knew I was being over-optimistic that "everything was set". Probably I just didn't have the strength to continue the arduous emailing and phone calling required to learn and confirm anything about the schools in Kigali.

So on Nov. 10, the day before what I thought would be Isaac and Naomi's first day of school, we learned that my assumption was wrong that Isaac would be allowed to join the 11th grade of this International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum "mid year". I had made this assumption because a family member had recently been allowed to join an IB high school in Germany for her 12th grade year. She told me she was allowed to do this as an exception because she didn't require an official IB certificate at graduation. Guess what -- Rwanda is different than Germany!

Long story short, Green Hills' principal said he could not risk any precedent of students being allowed to start the intense 11th-12th grade 'block' of studies mid-stream. In other words, the problem was we were arriving in the middle of the school year, not at the beginning (in August). So the only solution was to have Isaac enroll in the 10th grade (even though he just completed that grade in the US.) I checked with Isaac's counselor in Ann Arbor, and she said she can still transfer the credits and Isaac will still be able to graduate on time (in June 2017) in the US system.

So Naomi had her first day at Green Hills Academy (GHA) on Nov. 12, and on Friday, Nov. 13, we had things straightened out enough that both kids could start!
[Author: Ruth Ann]

Morning drop-off on Isaac's first day: Isaac, Naomi and Mom... all happy to finally have things worked out to go to Green Hills.

Bad photo of Isaac in his homeroom class. There is a tuft of blond hair if you look closely!

The amazing line-up of Toyota Land Cruisers at pick-up time at the end of the school-day!

End of first day for Isaac -- day 2 for Naomi!

The following week we even got the custom bus pick-up and drop-off arranged! (Critical, when you don't have a car.)