on my computer

The background on the Toshiba, as long as I lived in Rwanda, was this little boy from a clothing distribution in Rusenyi. He was three or four and looking up at E., the Canadian woman who came with her husband to show me around when I first arrived. I love this picture. You can see him here:



When I came back to the US, I handed in the Toshiba, moved to New York, and bought myself an IBM for law school. (It should be fairly obvious that I'm talking about laptops, not desktops.) I set it up with a new background: the view from my front porch in Kibuye. When I felt homesick for my little cabin on the lake, I could just look at my computer screen. This photo has been on the blog before, but I know you want to see it again:



A few weeks ago, I decided it was time for something new. But what? I didn't want a picture involving me, or even people, really. I wanted to stick with Rwanda, even though Tanzania is more recent, because it is Rwanda that I miss when I miss Africa. Tanzania was more like a pleasant interlude. In fact, I wanted something that felt close to home, not just any Rwanda picture. I finally settled on the view from the district offices in Kibuye, above the (only) roundabout, looking down the main road toward the lake. And sometimes when I'm sitting in class, I minimize everything I'm doing just to look for a while at Kibuye:



And that's not all. My screensaver is photos - photos of everywhere I've gone since I bought my camera. I love watching them, never knowing what is coming next: a storm over the lake? a little girl laughing? me smiling in a little plane? a row of extinct volcanos? It's amazing how pictures can connect you to so many parts of your life, even though you can only live in one place at a time.