Weekend Activities

Weekdays are for working & going to school, weekends are for exploring and connecting!

On Saturday we drove south of Kigali to La Palisse hotel in Nyamata, where we met my colleague Lambert to swim at the very large and beautiful pool.  The water wasn't too warm and the kids didn't stay in long, but I swam some laps and we all hung out for a while waiting for food we ordered.  We're learning to expect things to take a little while. :)  

After swimming, we went to Lambert's house (a few kilometers from the hotel, back towards Kigali) where we ate a very yummy meal (beef, potatoes, and peas) and watched a Premier League soccer/football match.  

The main roads here are very nice - this is heading back into Kigali.  Large sidewalks/footpaths along the road.

We then came home and rested for a bit, and then Caleb and I went out to a very, very nice restaurant called Meza Malonga that's just up the hill from our house.  Some of the most beautifully presented and most creative food I've had (outside of Ty's restaurants, of course), highlighting ingredients and flavors from across Africa.  Meanwhile, it was POURING rain and the kids lost power back at the house, so while we were having a world-class meal they were eating mac & cheese (from our small ration we brought with us) in the dark.  An effective lesson in haves & have-nots.

Photos of our 11-course meal - we didn't even get a menu, they just brought out the courses. I did ask the chef-owner to send us the menu, so if I get it I can update with item descriptions.

  

 

This sorbet course served with dry ice kinda stole the show.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit and had breakfast at home, and then had Ildephonse over to our house for coffee.  My godmother, Jean, worked here in Kigali for USAID for several years, and she introduced me to Ildephonse, who runs a radio station in the northeast part of the country.  We had coffee and chatted with him for a while on our porch, getting a detailed and very helpful lesson in Rwandan government structure.  Caleb took notes and can provide more details.  

In the afternoon Caleb and I walked to our nearest shopping area, about a 20 min walk, and got supplies for the week.  Then we drove over to the area near the kids school to meet up with Gisele and her kids, Liz (6) and Nolan (5).  Gisele's close friend is married to Didier, a Rwandan who went to CU for grad school and worked on the Ghana cookstove projects with me.  Our plan was to take the kids to a nearby park, but it was raining again (it's been doing that a lot) so we went to a coffee shop in the MTN center (a small shopping mall) and the kids ran around up there.  Gisele works for an organization that supports women coffee growers and horticulturalists, so we chatted about her work and also got some advice on where to shop in town - next weekend she's going to take us to the Kimironko Market.  

 This evening we'll have dinner at home (spaghetti) and Zoom with the Dickinson family, and then it's time to get ready for our second school/work week!  Caleb and I will both be ramping up our work, including lots of evening meetings, so that will be another adjustment.  I'm also going to go to Lambert's office a couple of days, and may go with him to visit a school where they're testing out a new water filtration system.  So much to learn about...

Lambert's office is in the Silverback Mall