Swear in went well: Kevin and I spoke in Kinyarwanda, Julie Ann spoke in French, and Katy spoke in English. Katy and I wore umushananas (oo-moo-SHA-nah-nah) for our speeches, they're native clothing that are basically a bunchy skirt worn really high on the waist, and a tank top because the top is this toga-style, tied on one shoulder, rectangular fabric draped over the body.
After our little ceremony, speeches, and thanking everyone for our training, two reporters asked to interview me for the Rwandan news! One was from the newspaper and we were in the next day's news. And the other--the TV crew-- asked me questions, had me speaking English and Kinyarwanda, and asked me some questions about training and such. The next day we were on the TV! I was out with my friend Alphonsine visiting her family when we got some phone calls from people congratulating us on on our Kinyarwanda skills on TV... kind of embarrassing that the whole country has seen/heard me speaking their language after only 10 weeks of lessons, but totally cool too! The family we were with has a TV, but no cable so we couldn't watch the news and see me flapping my gums.
Afterwards, we were in Kigali and I stayed with Charissa to meet the family of the roommate of her friend in Colorado. They lived in America for 21 years, came back to Rwanda, he is like the diretor of an international ONG in Rwanda, and she runs an orphanage. Their three kids live in the US: one in Cali, one in Colorado, and one in Pennsylvania (I think) the Californian is in town and we got to meet him! and... we speak better kinyarwanda than him! Its sooooo weird! Like the whole night, the parents were totally flabbergasted at the Kinyarwanda we speak! It was really funnny to watch her crack up at our language skills and her disbelief that these two white girls can speak her language and she understands it.
When we got back to our training site, we literally stepped off the bus when we were greeted by a lady walking by who said she saw me on TV and congratulated us on our Kinyarwanda skills. Every once in a while, while traveling, or going around town people will say that they saw us on TV.
As if being the "muzungu" (white people) wasn't enough reason to stare at us, now we're TV stars! ;)
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