This past weekend I experienced the world of the expats…aka ex-patriots. That is basically what everyone is called who is “Mzungu” or white. The expats are all around the ages 21-27 about and are living in Africa for internships with embassies, humanitarian work, or some kind of business consulting like I am doing. I didn’t really expect that we wo
uld be going out, but apparently on the weekends itis cool to get together and have a good time. On Friday we started the night by all hoping in a car, jamming to Bob Marley
and off-roading to a local Belgium party. It is funny how little Expats are here because it already seems like I know everyone. It was a surreal night, and I didn’t expect to be going out at all while I was in Africa…I am still not so sure how I feel abo
ut it. On Sunday we were invited to a bbq on lake Muhsavi with some people from the U.S. Embassy. It was kind of stressful though cause we brought our puppy Sasu (“bullet”) and he almost got killed by a German Shepherd. On Monday we had our first official business meeting for KEZA. My job tasks for the week are to go out and do some market research around Kigali and my only means of transportation are packed vans or motos (motorcycle taxis). While I am getting everything ready I like to stop by Buranga and spend some time with the women. Yesterday we played the name game and I got about 15 names down, but they are all hard to say. The women enjoyed laughing at me as I tried to pronounce them. I think they are really starting to warm up to me. They taught me how to roll a paper bead and then we talked about my freckles, toe rings, and they asked if I could paint their nails. They are so great and I can’t wait to spend the whole summer w
ith them. The main goal of my job will be preparing them to continue on with the business plan that I create for them and teaching them step by step ho
w to maintain relations and bring in a continuous income for their families after I leave. Yesterday we decided to take one of those vans I was talking about for the first time. We walked up the hill to catch one and on the way up ran into a video shop owner who is friends with our roommate. He invited us to his sister-in-laws wedding on Sunday and I absolutely can’t wait! App
parently they dress you in traditional wear when you get there, so I am sure the pictures will be a pretty good laugh. Weddings here are supposed to last until the early morning… its going to be unbelievable. Anyways…so we then packed into these mom size vans th
at are the buses here. And they pile about 20 people into them…I am surprised they even move, but they are defiantly the cheap way to travel…only about 2
5 cents equivalent to the center of town. We got to one of the large roundabouts and all of a sudden the driver swerved to the side of the road. A black SUV came by and slowed down, windows down, with men just giving us the death stare. Everyone was trying to get a look out the windows while I was freaking out a litt
le bit inside wondering what was happening. Then all of a sudden a landrover with Rwandan flags on either side sped by… turns out it was President Kagame…no big deal. Haha expect that my heart was beating out of my chest cause I had no idea what was going on.
Last night we heard that the Championship match, Manchester United and Barcelona would be played on a huge flat screen at Le Petit Stadium. I was going to make sure I got there because watching futbol reminded me of all the good times back in Ireland. We grabbed some motos there but by the time we got there we realized we defiantly should have left earlier. The stadium was almost packed and there were multiple mob
s to buy tickets. I had to get one… SO I told the girls to give me their money and I elbowed my way to the ticket holder. It was such chaos and queing up is really not a concept here. It w
as me, a girl muzungu against a crowd of about 50 men. I came out on top with three tickets. Just when we thought the fight was over… there were even more people pushing to get through the gates… once again a mob mentality…all to watch the game on TV! I grabbed the girls and we pushed out way through once again,
each praying that the next would get through. We did! When we got in we were three of maybe 6 muzungus and probably the only women. I started chanting “Glory Glory Man United!” taught by my lil woo back in Ireland
ahhhh goood timessss. We found some of my local friends and watched the match….very depressing match might I add. In the second half the score was Barce 1 Man-U 0 and all of a sudden we could hear
rain coming down hard on the tin roof. Lightening flashed and the screen went blank. Then all of
a sudden a swarm of giant termites with the w
ing span the size of you palm came rushing into the st
adium. The mixture of water outside and bright lights inside brought them all in. One came close to my face and i flinched...my friend next to me said no don't be afraid ...they taste good! Just pluck off the wings... "ill pass."All of a sudden everyone started cheering…turns out Barce scored again. It
was chaos. At the same time you had no idea wat was going on….you still knew what was going on back in Rome from someone’s hand held radio. Sad days… Barce ending up winning but I held strong to my chant. To say the least it was quite the experience…different then Ireland, but amazing!
