Happy Holidays!

My holidays were good, but lacked electricity and internet (I was out of town), thus here is a belated blog to wish you Merry Christmas and happy New Year! Christmas found me with my host family at a rustic camp on Lake Kivu in southeastern Rwanda and New Years found me with my fellow Rwanda/Burundi SALTers, Annie and Janelle, at a 'resort' on a small lake in southern Uganda. I fully enjoyed my time relaxing with my host family and friends and the opportunity to feel closer to them as we cooked and did activities together. I especially appreciated the conversations, good food (especially in Uganda with PBJs, yogurt and museli, and pizza at a local restaurant), time to read for fun, playing games (Farkle and cards with my host mom and sister, and Dutch Blitz with the SALTers), and made the most of the sun for a brief swim in each place because other times it was cold (by my current standards – probably 50-55 at night and 60-65 when there was no sun)! Oh and I can’t forget to mention our canoeing endeavor in Uganda…3 people + 1 big wooden dugout canoe + 1 big sturdy paddle and 1 small weak paddle = 1 zigzagging, turning canoe! (How one local, paddling always on the same side of the boat, keeps the boat going straight seemingly effortlessly is beyond me!)

Overall it didn’t feel much like the holidays, since there aren’t the same traditions here, but it was great to have vacation time and see more of East Africa. In Rwanda, Christmas and New Years are days to go to church and thank God for what He has done for you during the past year. After church, families gather together and go home to prepare a “feast” (I’ve heard meat and fresh milk are the favorites that are added to the traditional starches and sauces that people prepare) and go to visit friends. It’s a pretty simple day but definitely involve the things that are most important in any culture – family, friends and food. Even though I knew people don’t usually exchange gifts on Christmas here, I felt on edge until the evening of Christmas day because I hadn’t brought any gifts for my family – just in case they had adapted my culture and gotten something. Turns out I didn’t need to worry because there was no mention of gifts the whole day. We did send text messages to our friends and coworkers we couldn’t go visit to wish them a Merry Christmas.  

When I got home from my trip to Uganda, it was so nice and felt so natural to be welcomed back home to our house in Kigali. (Guess that’s a good sign that I’m with a good host family!) It has been 2 weeks since I have been in Kigali, aside from the evening in between my two trips, and I am glad to be home now. Oh and it turns out “presents” are done around the New Year!! Not to worry, they aren’t presents for people specifically (so it’s still ok I didn’t get anything for my host family), they are more like new and improved household items (and possibly clothes) that are purchased to celebrate the new year. So we now have a nice set of silverware, a few more serving bowls and a trash can (our first!). Yay.

Here are some photos from my travels – enjoy!

Kumbya, the camp on Lake Kivu. I could see the lake, from a different angle, from my bedroom window!

Monkeys really do like bananas! (They were 100ft away from our cabin and I was SO excited to see them!!! They loved to run up and grab the bananas we tossed, using their adorable little hands to peel them and scarf them down!)

This one ran straight over my head on a branch, across our roof and
down the other side to get to another grove of trees!

The people who were staying at Kumbya...my host family and the family of another pastor from the Friends Church who live in the area. It was good to try to spend time in language-free activities with them (cooking, eating, swimming).

Dancing and singing at church on Christmas!
(Note: the orange things hanging are flowers - common church decorations for any  special days/events.)

A Christmas day family portrait at the lake!

Peaceful Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda, where Janelle, Annie and I stayed for 4 days.

We slept comfortably in our safari tent (equipped with beds!) with a view onto the lake.

Janelle taking a turn paddling our crazy canoe!

A perfect spot to rest for lunch during our canoe adventure.

Annie and Janelle at our favorite local restaurant (their guacamole and pizza were delicious!).

Apparently New Years is a national holiday in Uganda meaning none of the buses were running. We eventually discovered a cheap way to travel: sharing a taxi with 9 other people to get to the Rwanda-Uganda border, then taking a public mini-bus in Rwanda all the way to Kigali. This photo should show you how crowded our car was - 5 people in front and 4 plus a baby in back. Notice the woman AND the driver sharing a seat...and our car wasn't an automatic! We enjoyed the adventure though :)

Now, after a busy month of traveling, I am about to go back to my routine of teaching and other projects at Friends Peace House/Mwana Nshuti. I am more or less looking forward to it :) Hope you all had time to rest and enjoy the holidays! Wish I could have seen you!