Rwandan President and Safari

So after this weekend i've held a python found in the wild, eaten Indian food in Africa, and met some really cute British soldiers!

On Friday we did not have to work because the President was coming to speak in Gitarama. GO FIGURE Rwanda's day of Independence is also America's... July 4th. Pretty neat? I thought so too. Mama Arlene invited us to go to the stadium (where the president was speaking) with her, her children, and her staff. We thought it was a great idea! We had to wake up at 6am because people were starting to line the streets to get into the stadium (literally over a mile of people standing in line). Everyone in ALL OF RWANDA was supposed to wear a white shirt... Of course I LOVED the patriotism... I mean there are many people starving in Rwanda, but somehow the majority still put their complaints aside and talk about the positive aspects of their country without rolling their eyes or being disrespectful to their president who is human, just like the rest of us--Sound unfamiliar?

So we wake up and put on our white tshirts. While we were getting ready Maddie and I wore red, white, and blue lais (Hawaiian flower necklaces) I brought to celebrate America! Of course we took them off before we left the house... We met Mama and the 40ish people with her. So we are walking up the road passing all these people in line, and I am really confused because I always thought you go to the END of the line... Well happens to be that Mama doesn't like waiting in line, and believes that because they are Urukundo Home for Children and do great things for Gitarama they should be let in right away, no waiting-i mean the people in the front of the line camped out like Duke Cameron Crazy Tenters, but no biggie. Power to you BUT some of these guards with giant machine guns did not really agree. So Mama just would go to a different entrance of the stadium and demand entry. She was basically running around the stadium at 77 years old with all these people (Maddie, me, the orphans) running after her-seriously great... So as she was talking to yet ANOTHER soldier that was not going to let us cut hundreds of people in line, Maddie and I find some really cute British soldiers who happened to be stationed here from the good ol country that wouldn't let me in... I don't believe in holding grudges + their smiles totally made up for it!

I really did not think Mama was going to get us i,n and after being with the Brits, I started not to care BUT she never lets us down... At the last entrance, she told them the governor (her personal friend-actually true) told us to come in this entrance... They patted us all down and checked our bags, and we were in!!! Well the celebration didn't start for HOURS. When it did start there were lots of cool dances, military marching, marching bands, etc. But everything was in Rwandan-Maddie and I brought books and Power Bars... We were set... The Snicker Marathon Bars rule by the way--> I'm averaging 1 per day (i'm sure that's great for me... we can't even run so i'm just taking in tons of protein, fat, and sugar LOVE IT) So we saw the president, waved our Rwandan flags, and left the hard concrete seats in the mid-afternoon. Mama had 2 Mazungus (aka. white people--our new favorite word-i plan to use it ALL the time from now on) staying with her for a week to help her build stuff... We went out to dinner with them... OF COURSE I brought our 4th of July lais... well I guess they are not as into celebrating the lovely USA and kindof bashed our country. I was really missing sitting on Carmel golf course eating watermelon watching the fireworks with all my great PATRIOTIC friends... LOVE you guys... WELL for Rwandan standards the food was great-we had omlets and my new favorite Rwandan food Bruchette (not to be confused with prochutte or bruchetta--when people first told me about it, I couldn't figure it out)... its actually cooked goat on a stick--it's great... And for once, Maddie not eating meat means i get more good food... hurray! Before we went to sleep, Maddie and I talked about what/who we were with last 4th of July... it was fun thinking back on those memories.. I never thought of 4th of July being such a big deal, but you only miss what you can't have BUT HEY at least we celebrated Rwandan Independence- better than no independence at all !!! + because of my British visa trouble, I have decided I will celebrate the 4th of August and have a mini-independence celebration and just pretend its July! BYOB

SO Saturday we traveled to Kigali to do more site seeing. Maddie and I had done our research and wanted to go to all the good restaurants.. We went to a pizza place overlooking the city (BEAUTIFUL) where we met some Mazungus from USA... One was a Gonzaga Lacrosse player who used to live in Bethesda, near Bowie, my old hometown, I was PSYCHED... we had some ice-cream with our new favorite friends and we were off... Off to shop of course!! The director of the YWCA was INCREDIBLE and took us shopping and to the cool coffee place, Bourban Coffee (modeled after Starbucks)- Maddie and I were really in our element

Then with our driver and Oliver (Epiphanie's son/our traveling companion/translator/body guard/bff) we drove over an hour to our next hotel... Well I guess arguing about prices is the fun thing to do around here, because we stood in the dark getting eaten by mosquitos (good thing we took our Malaria pills!) for literally over an hour while the owner of the place and Oliver decided how much it would cost... After an hour and 1/2 they finally got the price down $4... SO not necessary but hey-gotta love that kid for using his skills... Maddie and I were impressed with the Beer Garden because obviously these people were clever and put Heineken Beer Bottles around all the palm trees--BEER GARDEN.. get it? Well that amused us the entire night...

We went out to dinner at 9:30- it took 3 hours to get some frites (fries) and bruchette (Maddie tried a teeny tiny piece.. still not her thing) we went to bed, exhausted BUT BEFORE WE DID we sprayed all our hard-core North Face, Safari clothes and accessories with major bug stuff (not the spray you buy at Wal-Mart...OH NO-this you can only find at REI-we both now are members--be jealous...) We woke up at 4:30am (gotta get on the road to see the animals)... We had some GU (the stuff you have during long races) and some more power bars... headed into our oh so cool jeep and arrived at the "Game Park: SAFARI ADVENTURE." The animals are out during the morning, so in jumped our guide and we were off... We saw hippos (my fav), giraffes, Zeebras, monkeys, antelope (i think that's what that was...) snakes.. all sorts of stuff... We got to stand on top of the jeep to look at stuff through my binoculars (prepared I am) and we got to get out of the jeep to take pictures..it took some convincing but finally Maddie and I promised the guide we would not sue if we got eaten because we would be dead (we also shared our food)... and he let us... one of the best parts was meeting some German old man who got his Phd in snakes... he jumped into the lake (with crocs and hippos) and finds a baby python (as long as me) HUGE... he let us hold it and put it around our necks.. I look horrified in the picture.. oh well

So on our way home from the park, we talked Oliver into taking us to the Indian restaurant in Kigali.. it was good-a little over-decorated, but hey, totally up to them... SO TIRED... I went to bed very very early...

Today we interviewed... 13 kids showed up instead of 5 or 6 (the usual number)... a bit intense for a Monday, but as always the children were beautiful, sweet, kind, and self-less... It's always an honor getting to know them for an hour or so per person... They were really astonished when we pulled out our July 4th lais for them... we thought we would spread the good American spirit...

Greg comes tomorrow with our package including NUTELLA AND SOY SAUCE!!! could not be any more excited...

I think i am going to workout now... at some point i'll tape it for you... it's hilarious... I do a few jumping jacks, crunches, some "kick your butts" (when you stand in one place and literally do that) all in our bedroom... it just makes us feel some what productive-it can't be that great... Oh the best is when we jump rope-little kids come and watch us...

MISS EVERYONE-especially Mariel ;)

Love,
Jessica