Whiney

I believe I've hit my first slump. Rwandans are driving me crazy so I'm going to take this opportunity to whine a bit.

Top three things that drive me crazy about Rwandans:

1. Lack of manners. There is no such thing as chivalry here or really politeness in general. There is no precedent for men holding open doors for women. People push each other or get in each other's way without saying excuse me. Please and thank you are rarely used. Lines don't exist here. You just sort of crowd around and push each other out of the way. And it's not like everyone here moves slowly and acts like they have all the time in the world. Some people are in a rush yet no one else seems to care to get out of their way or move any faster than at a snail's pace.

2. Lack of logic. The other day my bus 'broke down'. We were driving to Kigali (a quick 50 minute ride) and all of a sudden we had to pull over to the side of the road. A couple guys started walking down the road. Forty minutes later, when they returned, I figured out that we didn't really break down. We just ran out of gasoline. Really! You couldn't plan for a 50 minute drive. That was too much. There are many more examples of things that just seem so obvious, so simple, yet no logic. One of my favorite irritations is on the radio. They play music yet decide to talk over the songs. The DJs just butt right in and say whatever they want, usually not even related to the song being played. What's with that?! Couldn't people here the songs better if there was no talking? Hmm.

3. Grunting. The amount of communication that takes place with no actual words is astounding. Sometimes you can hear a whole half of a phone conversation and the one person will not have uttered a single word. It's just constant grunting noises. And no one says 'bye' on the phone, they just hang up. Use your words!

Every little thing is driving me crazy the past few days. Why do people act this way? Why do they complain about the food yet not cook different things? Why do they grow so much produce yet not eat any of it? Why do they raise a ton of goats yet have a social stigma against goat milk? Why do all the stores sell exactly the same thing and think they are going to be successful against other stores? Why do they shake hands every five seconds and are then shocked when they all get sick all the time? Why do they call every woman 'sister' when they are trying to sell something? Why do they think I want to get on the bus or in a cab even when it's going in the opposite direction I'm walking?

Ugh.