My Very Own Visitors!

12/20/09

Today I had two visitors come, and I welcomed them with true Rwandan style :) Pudee, a resident of Madison, WI who is from Rwanda, asked me to bring a few things with me for her brother, who lives in Kigali. I agreed, and I called her brother when I arrived to find out how I could get his stuff to him. He said he has a cousin named Gaudence who lives in Gisenyi, so I can just give the stuff to her. So I called Gaudence and her husband (whose name I could not really understand) came to meet me a few weeks ago. He said his wife also wanted to meet me, but she was unable to come that day. Well, they called me this weekend to say that they would both like to come to Muhato for a visit! I was very happy to have visitors, and I asked Sr. Candide if it would be ok for me to offer them a Fanta. It is custom that you always offer something, usually a Fanta, Sprite, Coke, or beer, and your guests must accept. She said yes. So they came this afternoon with baby Anna, who is 4 months old. She was adorable.

It would be very easy for me to label our meeting as awkward, but I think that by Rwandan standards, it really was not. In general, people here are quieter. There is not the constant pressure to fill an awkward silence with conversation. I have been a part of many group conversations in which a brief period of silence exists, and you just sit and smile and look content. If something to talk about comes to mind, you bring it up in conversation. If not, no worries.

Well, due to this cultural norm, and likely due to the language barrier (they spoke English, but had a hard time understanding me even if I spoke slowly), we had a fair amount of silence. But I thank God for the social medium of babies. You can always comment on how cute the baby is, how beautiful her eyes are, or any other thing about the baby. She really was a gem. We talked a bit about Gaudence's aunt back home in the States, about the proximity of Christmas, about Gaudence's studies (she is in school right now studying sociology), and about foods that I have especially enjoyed since I've been here. Her husband offered to bring me some of this little fish that is very common by them. Now, the one thing that I found peculiar is that they traveled a very long way to come see me, and they only stayed for like a half an hour. If I understood correctly, they caught a boat to cross a portion of Lake Kivu at 6am today. Then when they reached shore they drove (I think took a bus/taxi thing) into town, and then from town they walked here. That is insanely far! And with a baby?!

But Gaudence kept saying that she wanted to see the school. She asked if it is possible to find a teaching position here. I responded that I didn't know, that I am simply a volunteer here and the Sisters take care of the operation of the school.  I think I will be in contact with them again, especially if they really want to bring me little fish. But next time I want to make it clear that they don't have to come if the journey is too far or too taxing! And I want to further emphasize my detachment from the inner-workings of the school, lest they try to use me as leverage for sticking a foot in the door here. Well, after a brief visit, they left so they could catch their homeward-bound boat. It was a lovely meeting.

Something I just remembered about bus/taxi things:

Here is one of my laugh-so-hard-I-cried moments:  OK, so last Sunday I went with Amiral to the natural hot spring. Well, after walking around for a few hours, it was nearing time for me to get home. So we begin walking, but I know that we had a very far moto-taxi (public moped) ride here, so there is no way we can walk all the way back before dark. So I tell him this, and he says we will take a taxi. Um, right, ok. We'll take a taxi, sure. So we're coming up a hill, and at the top there is a large crowd of people who have gathered around a guy breakdancing in the street. There's music blaring, and people are clapping and cheering. Right across from this there is an empty taxi just sitting there. A "taxi" is a van-like vehicle, probably the size of a mini school bus. I see them all over town, but I always thought they were private vehicles that belonged to hotels or tour groups or something. But it makes sense that there would be public transit in this form as well. So, ok here's the good part. Amiral just walks right up to this taxi and gets in the driver's seat. I'm thinking to myself, "What the heck are we doing? Are you going to drive this thing? I don’t think so!" I follow him, and since I don't know what else to do I just get in next to him. Well upon entering the vehicle I realize that he has actually gotten in on the passenger side. The steering wheel is on the right side here. Good, you're not thinking of driving this thing. Good. And the front row of seats consists of the driver's seat, and a big seat that probably fits 3 more people. There is hideous puke green shag carpet lining the dashboard in a poor attempt at making the interior look nice. There is also a dashing retro-looking plaid design on the plastic that lines the doors, and the same plaid pattern found on the other seats, beneath the clear vinyl protective covering.

And I can't shut the door. I'm afraid I'm going to break the handle off. Somebody walking by stops to close it for me. So we're just sitting in the front row of this empty 1975 ugly van, there's no driver, and I have no clue if there will be a driver anytime soon, and there's breakdancing outside. What a scene. So I just lose it. I start cracking up uncontrollably, and Amiral also starts laughing as I try to explain why I find this so funny and he can't understand a word. Well, gradually a few other prospective travelers also get inside in order to wait for the driver.

Ok so now I see that this is normal, this is what you do. You see a taxi, you get in, and when it gets full the driver will see that he has business, so he comes to take you where you need to go. We wait for like 10 minutes, and I see that its really starting to get dark and I've got to get back to Muhato. A moto-taxi comes by and we flag him down. Problem solved.

I guess Amiral just waited for the driver or caught his own moto, I'm not sure. But I needed to get home so I went with this one. This is a very far trek – a 2,000 RWF ride, which is probably higher than normal because its almost dark and I'm a muzungu. But I just pay him and head home. The ride is probably around 25 minutes, but it was really a nice journey. But I found it weird that the driver stopped to say hi to a friend he noticed on the road. Do you normally make your passenger wait for you to finish your little chatsie? I consider this poor business. Nevertheless, I was grateful for the presence of this moto-taxi and his ability to get me home safely.

One other thing…yesterday I grabbed a small papaya for dessert, and much to my delight I found that it was no papaya, it was a mango! Grown right in the backyard. Mmmm.


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