Turning 24 in Rwanda (By the Numbers)

• Today, I turn 24 years old. There are the same number of hours in the day as I have years of my life.

• The average life expectancy in Rwanda is 40. In 19 days, the Rwandan people will be heading to the polls in what I hope to be a peaceful election. 

• My Mother, the person I should be celebrating this day with, aptly pointed out I have been in Alberta once in the past 5 years during the day of my birth. Eep, sorry Ma! 

• I have 47 students in my class. We have, on average, 4 hours of class a day. We have a midterm quiz on Friday, that has 25 questions; 8 on the Central Nervous System, 9 on Diabetes and 8 on the Integument. I hope to not fail a student. I am younger than the vast majority of my students. 

• I have spent 103 days in Rwanda, there are 50 days left before a flight home beckons.

• For the past 11 days, for the first time in my life, I have not eaten meat. I don't know when the next time I will eat it.

• I kissed a girl for the first time when I was 16. She later broke it to me I wasn't her first kiss. 

• I'd like to think that I've participated in more light-saber fights than the average mortal; 4. 

• I first sipped an alcoholic beverage when I was 5. After cartwheeling down the stairs in dramatic fashion, it would be 11 years before I would eye another one. 

• I've smoked 2 cigarettes in my life. After watching an autopsy being done on a smoker and analyzing his lungs, I decided 2 would be all the cigarettes I will ever have.

• I was hit from behind 4 times that I can remember in Minor Hockey. After the fourth time, I remember quitting the game I loved. In October, for the first time in 10 years, I plan to play out a full season.

• There are 4 nurses in my immediate family; they are the most caring people I know.

• I am 13,894 kilometers away from my bed, a new record.

• I earn approximately $3000 a month less than I could make for doing the same job in Canada.You couldn't put a price on the experience I've gained here. 

• Wanting to do something exciting last weekend, I went to the 10th most dangerous country on the planet for 4 hours this weekend. I don't ever wanted to return to the Congo. 

• This is the 19th post on this blog. Usually, an entry takes anywhere from 4-10 hours from memory to finished post. 

•  This entry was written in 1 hour (birthday's aren't supposed to be spent in front of a computer).