Great Meetings

so far here in kigali we have met with many government ministers and today
we will meet with the president. there could be many exciting
opportunities here. its been very fruitful so far. more to come.

Heading South

had a great dinner last night with our friend Peter and he brought along 2 people.  one was a british engineer who has been in rwanda since 1995 and works for a kenyan family supervising the construction of  houses  Also with us was rwandan guy who owns a construction company here.

today we have hired a guy to drive us 3 hours to the south to a small village where we will meet the little girl that heather sponsored.  we tried to confirm reservations with a hostel where we can sleep tonight but we not able to communicate.  even our current hotel staff could not talk to them so we will see what happens. 

then we will go to Butare which is also in the south and spend monday night there and return to kigali tuesday.  if i have internet before then ill be suprised but i will post if i can. 

getting slightly better at using these rwandan keyboards. :-)

Contact Info

hard to type on East African keyboard.

We procured a local cell phone today 250 country code, 05127876 number.

good day today.  bought some stuff.  heading out to Ethiopian buffett.  we go to a small village tomorrow.

Kigali

We arrived yesterday afternoon on time.  We caught a ride from the Airport with a friend we made during the flight.  He is an american vice president of a new cell phone/internet company here in Rwanda.  We were invited to go hang out with american diplomats but we had a miscommunication on the timing so liz and I just at dinner on our own downtown.

Things seem pretty inexpensive here so far, but it is quite expensive i'm told compared to most of Africa. 

cab ride downtown: $4
pint of local beer: $1 - 2$
dinner in nice restaurant for two with drinks/desert:  $20

We walked around some of the downtown markets yesterday.  Tons people, tons of panhandlers, crowds of kids who follow you until you give them money or go into a nice shop.  Pretty typical developing world stuff I suppose. 

The weather here is perfect.  Mosquitos aren't bad.  We're still waiting to meet up with our friend Heather whose flight was delayed coming from Uganda.

...update...as I'm writing this post in the internet cafe, the hotel staff guy just walked down the street to tell us that Heather has arrived!  Cool.  Off to do some shopping today in the markets and get a phone hopefully.

African Arrival

After 14+ hours of flight time we arrived here in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia last night successfully. We stayed at a hotel here (The
Queen of Sheba) and this morning we're at the airport again waiting
for our flight to kigali, rwanda. it is very exciting to be here!

This morning when we got up at 6:00am local time there were people
herding cows down the middle of the street. and our hotel was on a
really busy street. then we packed into a bus and came here. There's
a lot of construction going on here. The scaffolding around the new
buildings is made of tree branches. i just paid for 10 minutes here
at the internet booth and the connection is super slow so that's all
for now. we fly to kenya (nairobi) and then to kigali. more
communication to follow!

Pants Sizes

Liz and I are getting ready to head off to Rwanda in a day or two so I've been going to the store to get some new clothes. I don't know what it is about travelling internationally that makes one want to buy new clothes, but there you go. I haven't bought new pants in at least 2 years, but all of a sudden I'm now a 38/34. This is the same size I wore in high school. I wonder if they are doing the same thing in men's clothing that they do in women's clothing. Making the sizes smaller so the consumer feels better about themselves. I already feel pretty good about myself no matter what my pants size....but I have to admit....I do feel good wearing the same size I did in school...maybe this isn't such a bad thing.

Oh, and I bought a new DV cam today and a new digital camera. very exciting. Great pictures of Africa are sure to come.

Mother Nature Heals Malibu

A great interview with one of the legends of American sports.

Maths

I think I had to watch this in grade school....

KT Tunstall Is Awesome

I've played around with looping hardware before but she takes it to a new level!

Don't Drink And Drive

It's a good rule to follow anyway, but if you insist beware of the new DUI tests being administered.

What Be Your Nerd Type?

Found this quiz over at Jedi's blog. My results: Science/Math nerd with musician nerd coming in second place. Seems right to me. Click the link at the bottom to discover your own.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) Well, maybe you aren't this extreme, but you're in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don't worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help.
Musician
Literature Nerd
Drama Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Social Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Great Turtle Video

Great video of a sea turtle...complete with nice music.


Amazing Loggerhead Turtle Video - The most amazing bloopers are here



But what do sea turtles become when they grow up? Morla of course!

A Man Among Wolves

A friend sent this around the other day and I had to share. I know people who are passionate about their work. But is it possible to be too passionate? I guess wolves wouldn't be too bad, but what if someone were studying cockroaches? "Hey, what are you doing in my nasty apartment?" "Don't mind me, I'm studying your roaches. And could you please turn off the light!"

Happy Easter

Obey Gravity!

from thinkgeek.com

Thinking about building an anti-gravity device in the basement of the science building? Think again! Make no attempts to defy gravity. You would be acting against the law. (see standard formula below!)

Gravitational force = (G * m1 * m2) / (d²)

Don't give the Gravity police a reason to knock on your door, do us a favor and always obey gravity. De-molecularization isn't pretty. Blue Dusk t-shirt with orange/white design with a retro looking gravity cop (blowing his super sci-fi whistle) and the phrase 'Obey Gravity, It's The law!'. 100% Cotton heavyweight T-shirt. Gravitational constant not included but implied.

Speech Generator

Got up at 5:00am today. It's now 1:40am the next day. Must sleep. But not before eating some Del Taco.

In the mean time here's something to play with. Some of the voices are kind of funny.

Chocolate Geek

Perhaps not as thought provoking as Jesus, but if you're a fan of Dr. Who, then this is pretty cool.

Super Canteen Boy

I have a couple friends here in C-town whose sons are in the scouts. A few of them are even pursuing their eagle scout badge, which I greatly admire. After all, only 2% of all scouts ever attain this level.

This kid takes it to a new level. If there's a super overachieving type A badge then I'm sure he's got it. But the picture with the story with his homemade sashes really reminded me of canteen boy.

Actual Super Scout:

Canteen Boy:

The Scout Law:
A Scout is trustworthy, obedient, loyal, cheerful, helpful, thrifty, friendly, brave, courteous, clean, kind and reverent.

If only we had the same requirements for our politicians.

Shampoo And The Kaye Effect

Scientists of the University of Twente in The Netherlands won a prestigious place in the 'Hall of Fame' of videos about fluid-in-motion. They have made a video of leaping shampoo, in which they explain the so-called Kaye effect. Scientifically interesting but also of great aesthetic beauty!

The Charleston and Daft Punk

Who knew a popular dance from the 1920's could go so well with french house music.

Holy Week Begins

Think of it like "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel. Except replace sharks with Jesus. We've got Palm Sunday to start. Then Maundy Thursday. Good Friday is next followed by Holy Saturday with the Grande Finale of Easter Vigil next sunday. It's all God, all week. Don't miss the exciting action! (never heard of Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday? See the link below to brush up on your holy trivia and impress everyone at your next party.)

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!

Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and having salvation,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the war-horses from Jerusalem,

and the battle bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Zechariah 9:9-10

Read more on Holy Week here.