"It's raining with no tea!" -D

I know I've been delinquent in posting, and to those of you who try to keep up with my blog, I do sincerely apologize. Rather than lament over the last few undocumented months, though, I thought I'd give you a brief recap so I can start posting about the present soon.

In late April, Ryan and I adopted the new love of our lives: our puppy Rafiki. It was actually an impulse decision based almost solely on the cuteness of another adopted puppy we saw, but 5 months later we could not be happier with our decision.

Having a dog in Rwanda is no easy task, though. Rwandans, understandably, don't typically have household pets; why worry about another mouth to feed? Unfortunately, though, many people treat these animals with outright hostility even if they have owners. It's been a struggle just to teach people to see Rafiki as a thinking, feeling creature, much less to actually warm up to her and like her. Ryan and I have both had small successes with this element of cross-cultural exchange, though, and I personally have come to consider those successes among my proudest accomplishments here.

Rafiki on the day we got her, at about one month old. Her name means friend in Swahili.

Rafiki at about 5 months old. I chose this picture not only because it shows how much she's grown, but also because it shows one of her quirky idiosyncrasies: awkward sleeping positions.

In May, Ryan and I happily celebrated our one-year anniversary. Our gift to ourselves was to finally visit one of Rwanda's most infamous tourist attractions: the mountain gorillas. We were able to get within a few feet of most of them during our hour-long visit to their home. It was an incredible experience!

Ryan and I with the Agashya group of gorillas just a few feet behind us.

In June, a group of volunteers from my class finished the pilot program for teaching English to Rwandan judges and court staff. Although we only taught the classes for four months, I think I can speak on behalf of all of us when I say what an exciting experience it was to be able to work with a group of adult professionals who were committed to improving their English skills. The pilot program was a major success and will continue next year even after my class is gone.

The judges and court staff with their certificates for successfully completing the pilot program.

July marked the last month of the painfully long second term, as well as one of my favorite holidays: American Independence Day! I try very hard to be open-minded and avoid ethnocentricity, but know this: living in Rwanda makes me very proud to be American. So Ryan, Sally, myself, and our dogs got dressed up in our most American gear and had ourselves a party.

Ryan, Sally, and I posing for the self-timer to show off our American pride on the 4th of July.

And finally, August. Peace Corps policy is to have a close-of-service (COS) conference roughly 90 days before COS. So last month our group officially came together for the last time to celebrate and commiserate. Although we all came from different places in the States, dispersed to different places after a few weeks in Rwanda, and have certainly had our highs and (very) lows throughout the last 23 months, this is a group that I am very proud to be a part of.

ED 1 celebrating the light at the end of the tunnel!

Now it's September and I'm down to one last school term and a few months at site. More to come on how that feels.