Ok. Now I have attempted two days in a row to download my blog entries from a disk. I have finally decided to give in and attempt to write on the spot.

So this week has been filled with holidays. Tuesday was a holiday for the parliamentary elections and yesterday was Heroes Day/Patriot Day. Heroes Day marks the day in 1990 when the RPF invaded from Uganda. Although I am told there are Rwandan heroes aside from the RPF, they day seems to me a dedication to that invasion.

I have been a serious election monitor this week. On Monday I went to watch the youth vote. There are two seats set aside for representation of the youth, one set aside for the disabled, and 24 set aside for women (in addition to the seats they may win in the regular elections). So a ton of us (monitors, press, candidates, interested people) gathered in the Kigali International School (built with the care of funds from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and watched as each ballot cast by the youth council was read. The names of the candidates were all listed on the chalk board and a tick was put after the name as ballots were called out. Pretty old school, but exciting. Two young men won the seats and afterwards there was a ceremony where the old representatives passed on their wisdom to the new reps.

A side note: The transitional government decided that the youth should be represented in parliament due to their neglected status in previous years. It is recognized that the youth suffered horribly during the genocide and that also many of them were complicit in atrocious crimes during the war (rape, murder, etc.). Seats were also designated to women and the disabled due to the fact that they are traditionally marginalized.

On Tuesday I went to observe the regular parliamentary elections. It wasn't too remarkable, in that it mirrored what we do in the States, but I did notice a pretty low voter turnout at the station I visited. Today are the women elections.

So far I hear that RPF won about 73% of the seats. A little too high if you ask me, and there are reports of intimidation - not to mention the fact that three parties joined up with RPF to dominate the votes.

Aside from all that, I am doing well. Funny that Kerri should write about a wedding in East Timor because I am supposed to attend one myself this weekend.

I lead a pretty clean life here. I wake up at about 6 every morning and I am exhausted by 9pm. When I travel I will treat myself to a beer, which usually puts me to sleep.

Some side notes...I had to break down and tell my roommate yesterday that he should be careful not to discuss a woman's weight with her should he visit the US. Over the last month he will say something like, you eat very little but you are not thin. It doesn't bother me but I had to break it to him that women in the US don't want a man to tell them they are fat. He also told me that people ask if I got my freckles due to the hot Rwandan sun. Nope! I borught them with me!