It was my friend, Nicole's birthday, so we went up to Gisenyi to celebrate. We got there in the afternoon and immediately hit the beach (after a trying time finding a place to stay). We put our toes in the sand and rolled up our pants to wade in the water. It was beautiful! We met a girl and her brother on the beach and when we were leaving to shower and get ready for dinner, the girl jumped in the car with us and came back to our room. Then she invited her brother and his friend over and we got a little uncomfortable, so we asked them to leave so we could change and we'd call after dinner. They stayed outside the room knocking on the door a good half hour!!! We went to dinner around 9:30pm and got back to the room late and just went to sleep, after repeated calls from the girl and her brother. The next day we went to the fancy hotel's beach and bought lounge chairs (with cushions!) and sat under the umbrella and drank iced coffee. We went swimming and just lounged on the beach all day reading Cosmo and Elle (she brought them from the states). It was a wonderful day! As we were leaving we noticed we were looking a little red. We showered and went out for dinner and when we got back to the room we were in pain! We just laid on the bed in our underware and ended up falling asleep at 8:30. We woke up again around 11, but it was raining, so we just went back to sleep. The next morning, we wanted to go visit an orphanage in the area, but no one seemed to know where it was. By the time we found it, we realized that it was really far and was going to cost a lot of money to get there and back, so we just jumped onto the bus back to Kigali. Some of our friends were in a volleyball tournament, so we went to watch and they ended up getting second prize and we all split 5 pizza's. Afterwards, we went to a bar to watch the superbowl. It started at 1:30 in the morning and didn't finish until 5! I heard the call to prayer as I was walking in the door! I pretty much was sleeping the second half and just woke to the sounds of cheering and caught the replay. The next day Adam and I watched the game again at a decent hour with a bunch of people who missed it the night (morning?) before. I got ridiculed by an American behind us because i asked if it was Eli or Peyton who was playing. "Are you American?" "Uh, yes" "And you dont know who's playing?! You had to ask the Rwandan!?" Jerks. But they ended up bring pretty cool. I just felt like an idiot. I currently look like rudolph and am peeling from head to toe! Stupid equitorial sun...
I was the last person on the 9:30 bus. Had to run from the ticket place down the hill to the other side of the circle to catch it, but i made it! On the bus ride home, i wasnt feeling very well and the lady next to me bought one seat for her and her 3 children! She had a baby girl on her back, a 3 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. She sat with the baby, while i had the 3 year old on my lap, head on my chest, sleeping and the 6 year old slept on a teenage boy in front of us. Children in Africa are like communal property. Its completely normal and acceptable to touch other people's children. It made me feel better to cuddle with a baby, so it wasn't too bad. The baby stole my waterbottle though and i just let her play with it, but then the mom opened it and started giving her kids drinks. That sucked, cause i was still thirsty. The lady on the other side of me kept putting her had on my thigh and that made me uncomfortable! Personal space is not something people really care or think about, so its not really weird to me any more to be touched by a stranger, but her hand kept creeping up and i didnt not appreciate that. But she was old and I think just trying to keep her balance on the multitude of turns, so i just tried to ignore it.
Got home right after the rain so I didnt have any of my usual suckiness (slipping and falling in the mud, etc) So I was pretty happy. Emily's friend from Cameroon had informed her that she had two friends traveling in Africa who wanted to come by Rwanda, so we got mattresses and made up the beds for them and they arrived Tuesday night. We ate dinner and played rummy and then watched a movie. Today (wednesday 2/10) they are visiting the health clinic and going to check out the market (which is really not much). They have been traveling all over the continent and will continue for another 25 or so days before going back to the states.
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