1. The buses. There is no set schedule, neither are there set routes. The buses usually come around the same time, but not always, but they may come early or late, and once at the last stop, they won't leave to run the route again until the bus is full, which accounts for much of the variation in the timing of the buses. I once sat on a bus for 25 minutes waiting for it to fill up so we could leave, but that was on a Sunday afternoon, it usually doesn't take quite that long. Also, most of the buses here are not like buses in America. They are about the size of 15 passenger vans, and all but the back row have seats that fold down into the aisle so that someone can sit there two. There is no personal space on the buses; for the bus to be full enough to leave, there must be 4 people in each row, regardless of the size of the people or how squished they might be. I'm always very grateful when someone skinny sits next to me.
2. Motos. The most common, and also the most dangerous, form of transportation in Kigali. You just sit behind the driver on the motorcycle and he can take you anywhere you want to go. They are fast and cheap, and also account for well over 90% of the traffic accidents in Kigali, because the zip around cars and many of the people who drive them are wild. We're not allowed to take them because they're so dangerous, and I am totally ok with that.
3. Umuganda. The last Saturday of every month is mandatory community service day for all Rwandans. All business are closed, and people gather with others in their umudugudu (the smallest unit of Rwandan civil society, 50 households) to work on projects in their neighborhoods. It's really a pretty cool idea.
4. Utilities are sporadic. We have running water in my homestay, but because there's not enough water in the region it's not uncommon to turn on the faucet and find that we don't have water for a day or two. In this even we have a spicket outside that I assume draws from a well, and we just bring water inside in buckets to do whatever we need to do. This seems to happen about once a week. It's also not uncommon for the power to go out for 15 minutes or so, though it doesn't happen often. My homestay mom says that this is just because the electrical companies here aren't reliable.
5. Street vendors. I hate them. They sell everything from fruit and candy to shoes and pants and belts. They just walk around, holding out their wares and yelling "Sister! Sister!" following me a few feet down the sidewalk trying to convince me to buy something. They're everywhere, and it's really annoying.
6. People here are really religious, and it's not considered rude to ask someone what they're religious beliefs are. I've noticed that people often just assume that you're Christian, just because almost everyone else is. They have a hard time understanding what Atheism or Buddhism are, just because nearly everyone here is Christian or Muslim.
7. It is 100% ok to describe someone as fat or skinny or by how light or dark their skin is. This makes sense when you think about it, because everyone here has the same hair, skin, and eye color, so generally describing someone as "you know, the blonde girl" is out.
8. Most people get up really early here. Even on the weekends I have not yet been able to sleep past 8 o'clock, and my little brother thinks I sleep super late. I really miss sleeping in.
9. Househelp. Most people here don't have washing machines, ovens, etc., so it is really common to employ live-in houshelp to do laundry and cook and clean. It would be really difficult to come home from work and then do laundry by hand and cook a meal on a charcoal oven, clean the house and haul in water from outside to do so, so most middle class families here have a houseboy or housegirl to do these things.
I can't think of anything else, though, as I said, there are countless other differences, these are just the big ones.
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