"Peace"-full weekend

So on Friday our office was absolutely INFESTED with cockroaches... needless to say, we left early. Standing on top of chairs and swatting them with paper bags is not how we wanted to spend our day. Before we left, though, our co-worker Julius noticed us being all uneasy and made an interesting comment. He said, "You know, during the genocide, they called my people 'cockroaches' when they killed us, so now we say these bugs are just our brothers and sisters. You shouldn't be scared of my family!" It made us chuckle but looking back was very upsetting to think about his family being targeted and killed, and knowing that he was one of those that they called "cockroach."

We went home, then from there decided to go downtown. As we were walking to the minibus, I heard lots of honking, which is tyipcal of cab drivers asking if we need a ride, but then Mike turned around and walked towards the car. I looked up and saw Olivier, our driver to Akagera park our first weekend here, and a really cool guy. He said he was headed downtown and would give us a ride, and even drove us to the bus station and explained to us where to go to buy a bus ticket for Monday, when we were going to see the gorillas. So helpful, and we definitely want to hang out with him soon- he's a great guy.

After grabbing lunch at the "Muzungu Mall" as we call it, we started to head back to Nyamirambo to meet Julius, who was arranging for me and another intern, Sarah (also from New York/Connecticut!) to get traditional African dresses for Dr. Joseph's wedding the following day. However, we were running late and all of the minibuses that drove by were jam-packed, so we were freaking out because we were at least half an hour's walk from where we needed to be. All of a sudden, a car with two older men pulled over and said they were going to Nyamirambo and asked us if we needed a ride. In most countries, it would probably be stupid to get in; however, our tourist book even mentioned that people frequently offer rides to strangers, occassionally asking for a cab fare and sometimes completely for free. These men were talking to us and saying how Americans are always such great people ("politics aside," was his caveat, which made me laugh) and just making small talk. He also joked that I must be poor because my jeans had a large hole in them so he wasn't asking us for money, but that "la jeunesse te fait riche!" (youth makes you rich!) so I should enjoy that. With that, he dropped us off exactly where we needed to go and waved us off. So friendly, and we couldn't believe our luck!

Fast forward to Monday morning, when we go to the bus station that Olivier pointed out, but quickly were overwhelmed by a crowd of men. From behind us we hear "Mike! Mike!" so we look and see a man, Marcel, whom we had met earlier that week. He was on our street at that time and started talking to us in very good English, asking us about America and our work in Rwanda, showing us his card saying that he is a "Rwanda Culture and Language Tutor", and just generally having friendly conversation. He somehow was able to find us in downtown Kigali and pick us out of the crowd (not that it was hard.. we were the only Muzungus around) and asked us where we needed to go. We told him and he led us to the front desk, translated everything for us and got us our tickets. He then explained how he was a born-again Christian, did everything for Jesus, not to make money, and asked if there was anything else he could do to help us out. We took his card and said we'd be in touch, and meanwhile were flat out shocked by our repeated luck. The people here really are the friendliest than I've ever encountered anywhere in the world!

Mike's already blogged about our gorilla experience so I don't have much more to add to that, only that the ride up was amazing, with gorgeous views and Bob Marley playing the whole way up. The way back wasn't as fun when they decided to add one extra person to our row (there was only room for 4, but there were 5 adults and one child- not fun!) and while the roads weaving through the thousand hills provided beautiful scenery, it wasn't so good for my already-queasy stomach...

More to come soon :)
xoxo