I am constantly impressed here by the kindness of strangers, or rather, everyone here. While in the US I feel that there's a precious few who are happy to help others even if it means going a bit out of their way...here in Rwanda, the vast majority will do whatever they can to help and please you. I've been told it's a cultural thing - Rwandans are determined to please and always say, "Yes!", even if they are completely clueless...out of respect.
There's always a smile on their face when you ask for help!
Today, we (Denise, Scovea, a new girl named Ariel and I) went to a rugby math-a-thon somewhere on a field that was literally near nowhere. We hopped on four different motos who all acted as if they knew where they were going. They didn't. But what an adventure! Some moto was asked to stop to help our motos with directions, and he sat for a while with us to consider what was the best way to go to this field.
We ended up on some treacherous dirt roads in what seemed like a little village tucked away in Kigali. The roads, unlike the rest of Kigali's clean and smooth roads, were terrible. They were pitted with rocks and deeply-entrenched water streams, and always uphill. My moto driver was the bravest of them all. He revved his engine and plowed through the streets, avoiding children in the road and getting capsized. But every hole got bigger further down the road! It was ridiculous! At every pit we faced, in the mud, we'd laugh together even harder, saying, "Oh la la!"
Finally, we hit a dead end to nowhere and I got off. But a group of little boys, with Scovea's Kinyarwandan skills, offered to help us through the intense forest ahead of us to reach the gaming field, at last! The first thing we see is a bit, deep ravine. The little boys hopped over the big gap while I said, "Oh, hell no!" So, one little boy walked up the hill with me to show me where there was a clean patch of land that acted as a bridge between the two pieces of land. I was so grateful.
And then there were the pools of mud and cow poo and other joys. That was fun.
But wherever I go, people never seem put out by helping out. It's like they think, why not?! It could be fun (especially with this here muzungu). And maybe they'll even get paid. And besides, maybe they'll be asking for help soon.
We watched rugby for a few hours with a bunch of people. Of course I noticed random locals taking pictures of me. I'm just so white, compared to even the other expats. And we watched fit men in tight outfits run into each other over and over again. And we played with teeny tiny puppies!!! These little spitzer collies or whatever! I fell in love with those baby puppies immediately.
Afterwards (and after a nice nap on a hammock), we went to a restaurant called Heaven for my birthday dinner and a movie. It's funny - some of my second-year students actually served us! Kind of bizarre... The food was very tasty, but expensive! But still tasty. The restaurant is gorgeous. The movie that they showed was "War Horse". It was a really bad movie. I just want to warn you all, even if you want to see it, don't. Just. Don't.
There's always a smile on their face when you ask for help!
Today, we (Denise, Scovea, a new girl named Ariel and I) went to a rugby math-a-thon somewhere on a field that was literally near nowhere. We hopped on four different motos who all acted as if they knew where they were going. They didn't. But what an adventure! Some moto was asked to stop to help our motos with directions, and he sat for a while with us to consider what was the best way to go to this field.
We ended up on some treacherous dirt roads in what seemed like a little village tucked away in Kigali. The roads, unlike the rest of Kigali's clean and smooth roads, were terrible. They were pitted with rocks and deeply-entrenched water streams, and always uphill. My moto driver was the bravest of them all. He revved his engine and plowed through the streets, avoiding children in the road and getting capsized. But every hole got bigger further down the road! It was ridiculous! At every pit we faced, in the mud, we'd laugh together even harder, saying, "Oh la la!"
Finally, we hit a dead end to nowhere and I got off. But a group of little boys, with Scovea's Kinyarwandan skills, offered to help us through the intense forest ahead of us to reach the gaming field, at last! The first thing we see is a bit, deep ravine. The little boys hopped over the big gap while I said, "Oh, hell no!" So, one little boy walked up the hill with me to show me where there was a clean patch of land that acted as a bridge between the two pieces of land. I was so grateful.
And then there were the pools of mud and cow poo and other joys. That was fun.
But wherever I go, people never seem put out by helping out. It's like they think, why not?! It could be fun (especially with this here muzungu). And maybe they'll even get paid. And besides, maybe they'll be asking for help soon.
We watched rugby for a few hours with a bunch of people. Of course I noticed random locals taking pictures of me. I'm just so white, compared to even the other expats. And we watched fit men in tight outfits run into each other over and over again. And we played with teeny tiny puppies!!! These little spitzer collies or whatever! I fell in love with those baby puppies immediately.
Afterwards (and after a nice nap on a hammock), we went to a restaurant called Heaven for my birthday dinner and a movie. It's funny - some of my second-year students actually served us! Kind of bizarre... The food was very tasty, but expensive! But still tasty. The restaurant is gorgeous. The movie that they showed was "War Horse". It was a really bad movie. I just want to warn you all, even if you want to see it, don't. Just. Don't.
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