Rwanda 2015 | Days 7 & 8

Our first full weekend in Rwanda was a good one. A really, really good one, full of new experiences!

Friday | September 18th

Our anniversary! But we didn’t let that stop us. We started the morning picking up Viannie and delivering some school supplies from a sponsor back in the states.

They were having class outside, so we stayed away as not to cause a riot.

This precious girl’s sponsor had sent over some school supplies and a letter, so we made a special trip to deliver them to her and check up on her for him.

After we delivered the school supplies, we headed back to Kane to see if the pottery we had ordered was ready.

We sang a few songs with the kids.

And picked up a few extra riders on our way back from Kane. Hi, Elie.

Then we headed back to Gahanga I where we had spent the morning.

See how fast we get surrounded? Also, notice the teacher in the background with the stick. Kids are terrified of the stick!

Most kids just want to shake your hand and tell you “hello” in English. Almost every child in Rwanda can answer “How are you?” with “I am fine”.

We watched these little girls do this dancing game for a good 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, we still had no idea how the game worked.

But it didn’t stop us from trying!

I must say, I was the only one who successfully (sorta) figured it out…before the monster ruined our game but I did “win” one round where I got the be the leader.

We had to bust out the selfie stick after we had finally finished the last of our interviews at Gahagana I.

And Viannie twisted Jessica’s hair. Painfully tight. Eek!

All kinds of naps happened on Friday.

After we got home (and we napped, of course) the guys headed to the salon to get “fresh” for the wedding we were attending on Saturday and Josephine took the girls to pick out our traditional Rwandan wear for the wedding. We all felt like princesses picking out and trying on our gowns!

I laughed at the hard part that Cory got but he got what he asked for. They also cleaned his ears and washed his face…won’t find that here in the States!

Josephine sent us to a Japanese/Korean restaurant for our anniversary dinner and I had the best sushi of my life. In Rwanda.

While it was a little sad not to celebrate our anniversary with the whole group like we did last year, it was nice to get a beautiful dinner with just the two of us on an outdoor patio with my favorite view!

Not him. The lights behind him. Duh.

Cory ate a bowl of tentacles. With hot sauce.

I think I will do a whole separate post on the gifts he got me. They definitely deserve a post of their own!

Saturday | September 19th

On Saturday we rested and did a little shopping in the morning and then had to scramble to get ready for our first ever Rwandan wedding reception.

Well, some of us scrambled. Poor Jessica had been so sick the night before but was determined not to miss the wedding.

We. were. in. LOVE. with our traditional Rwandan gowns. We wanted to keep them, but the shop we rented them from was a bit pricey! Maybe next year…

We matched!

We got there super early–the reception was definitely running on “African time”–so we took a few minutes outside to enjoy the nice weather and take lots of photographs while everyone was looking so nice!

One of the best parts about wearing the traditional wear was when we had to stop by Nakumatt, the grocery store, before heading home. We got SO many stares and people kept walking by saying “oh wow–so smart!” and “look: so beautiful and so smart!”. We were confused by this at first until Cory explained that when they say “smart” in Rwanda they mean you look nice; you look sharp. Sure made us feel good!

Words can’t express what the couple means to me and Cory. I thank God every single day for crossing our paths…even 3000 miles apart!

The reception itself was a blast! We were all seated as spectators to watch dancers perform several pieces, followed by speeches from male elder representatives from both families. We could see the newlyweds straining to look over the crowd at the gang of muzungus that had shown up at their wedding, trying to figure out where we came from! It was hilarious! When it was time to present gifts to the married couple, instead of just leaving gifts on a table with cards as we do here in the USA, each gifts is presented to the couple one at a time by the gift-giver, who then is photographed with the couple. When it was our time to go up there and present the gift that Josephine had brought them, I would have given anything to have had photos of the looks on everyone’s face when all these Americans popped up there grinning for pictures.

Join me next week as we head to Nyabihu…my most favorite place on earth!

Wanna catch up on Rwanda 2015?

Getting There, Days 1 & 2
Days 3 & 4
Days 5 & 6
A Glimpse Into Our Trip

You can see our Rwanda 2014 trip recaps here and Rwanda 2013 trip recap here.