So, Megan, what have you been up to these days?

That's such a good question. My life has not been especially eventful for the past week or so. The most dramatic event we've had here in the house since the late-night hospital trip was last Monday, when we finally got sick of our disgusting, clogged kitchen sink and figured out how to disassemble the pipes beneath our sink so we could empty all the food out of it. Yes, that's an important life skill, but it was also gross. Other than that my days have been mostly quiet, spent in the house doing secondary source research for my paper. I spent most of last week reading multiple Rwandan laws and international human rights treaties, and occasionally going out to lunch and doing laundry. About a month or so ago someone in our group made an amazing discovery: a bagel shop in Kigali! It's owned by a woman from Boston, and they have not only bagels, cream cheese (!), and a variety of toppings for the bagels, but also doughnuts and sometimes even cookies! The first time I went they were just taking a batch of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. The African Bagel Company is definitely one of my favorite places to eat here, and all of use have to exercise a good bit of self-control to keep from going there every other day.

When we're not eating fantastic bagels, we usually just go up to the market and buy food to cook for dinner. Veggie stir-fry happens a lot, as does pasta or eggs on chapati (or bagels). I'm realizing here that I really like to cook, and I'm looking forward to going home and having more ingredients at my disposal, as well as more utensils, an oven, and a stove that isn't on the floor. Last night my friend and I sauteed green beans, bell peppers, broccoli, and eggplant in a tomato sauce, but no, we don't cook fantastic fresh food every night. Tonight I was feeling lazy, so dinner consisted of some passion fruit, yogurt, and peanuts from the store up the street. That store also happens to sell Pringles, to which everyone in the house is now addicted. Funny thing is, I haven't eaten Pringles since I was in elementary school, but here I just get so excited about Western food that I would eat a can a day if I let myself. Plus it's just impossible to stop eating Pringles, and one can is not that big.

We turn in our research papers next Friday, and I'm trying not to stress about it even though I know I'm in an ok place. My only major obstacle at this point is that I haven't been able to contact anyone from one of the NGOs I need to speak with; the number on their website isn't correct, no one answers my emails, and addresses aren't really a thing in Rwanda so I have no idea how to find their office. I just sent an email to their international headquarters in Belgium hoping they can give me a working phone number. Other than that, I had my first interview today, which went really well, and I'm working on setting up another interview with my friend's host mom. I'm hoping to finish writing everything except the results section of my paper this week, so that all I have to do next week is that final section and maybe some interviews. As usual, when I have work to do I have a hard time taking time out to relax, but my goal for tonight is to chill out and read a book. SIT's small library contained multiple books from my Amazon wishlist, one of which I am going to go force myself to read now rather than doing anything productive, because relaxing while I'm working on a big paper is ok!

Have a good day folks!