Mom Comes to Africa

Last Friday evening, I picked up my mom at the Kigali airport.  Yes, she did fly ALL THE WAY to Africa ALL BY HERSELF.  I told her she was a big girl, and she could do it, and she did!  I took her straight from the airport to the national stadium for a basketball game between the AND1 Mixtape Legends and the Rwanda Street Ballers.  It was quite entertaining and a nice transition to life in Africa, what with all the American basketball players in our midst…

Saturday, we went to African Bagel Company for the most delicious donuts in the world.  Or at least more delicious than most in America and the only ones I’ve really come across in Africa.  Mom got to meet lots of people I know and we sat and chatted for a few hours before we headed to town to watch the LEAF Intore Cultural Troupe practice dancing and drumming.  They all loved having Mama Teacha in their midst and she enjoyed meeting the loves of my life.  Then we went to my friend’s business’s launch and saw all of her lovely accessories on display before riding on the scooter through the mist to meet some other friends for dinner at Zen.  It’s dry season here in Rwanda, but you wouldn’t have known it on Saturday night.  We got stuck at Zen for 2 hours waiting for the rain to die down enough to scoot home where we arrived to a house with no power.  I assured Mom it’d be back before the morning, as it never goes out for more than a couple hours…

Sunday morning we woke up to no power.  I feared for the 5 pounds of cheddar cheese in the powerless refrigerator that had just arrived from America.  We walked to church (where she almost fell asleep numerous times thanks to a bit of jet lag and the help of a dreadfully boring sermon) and then walked to meet Emma at Magda Café for lunch.  They had no power either, but they were still functional and we felt better about our lack of power at home.  We walked down to check out Ivuka Arts Studio and looked at all of the art and watched some precious little children perform some traditional dances for us.  After our jaunt to Ivuka, we loaded up two backpacks of stuff and walked to Rugando.  First stop was Jessica’s house.  I was taking her all of my maternity-esque clothes, you know, all my flowy hippie stuff…  Then we went to the Bennett’s and had a delectable meal with some fabulous fellowship.  After dinner, we opened presents like it was Christmas and made the girls’ lives by giving them cheese packets from macaroni and cheese boxes.

Monday, I dropped Mom off at the Genocide Memorial and went to teach a couple of my tutees.  I picked her up after a long, emotional tour of the super sad memorial and we went to Afrika Bite for a nice African buffet lunch.  Rwandan food is by no means exciting, but there is nothing super unordinary that she had to choke down just to say she did…  After lunch, we headed to town to do a little shopping at the craft co-op and Nakumatt.  We went to dinner with two other mom/daughter duos (well they both had dads, too…) at New Cactus and then came home to rest up for our early morning wake up call.

Tuesday was devoted to Butare, the home of the National Museum.  We stopped the bus before it got to town so we could go to the museum.  Shortly after disembarking, I realized I left my phone on the bus.  Mom freaked out a little, but I was confident I would get it back.  This is Rwanda, after all.  We hopped on motos and rode back to the bus station.  They assured us the driver would shortly bring the phone and so we went back to the museum, which is only closed on 4 major national holidays…and that particular Tuesday.  All that travel for nothing!  Bummer.  We walked to town, did a little more handicraft shopping and got ice cream at Inzozi Nziza, which is always a pleasure.  We ate lunch then hopped back on the bus for a 2 hour ride back to Kigali.  Tuesday night we took some shoes and some Fantas to the LEAF boys’ house and they hung out with Teacha and Mama Teacha.  A few of them gave her speeches in English.  I think the most complimentary thing they said was that she was very special because she gave birth to me.  I agree.

Wednesday, I took Mom with me to teach some of my tutees and she got some good ol’ Korean hospitality.  After English lessons, we went to Shokola for some internetting.  Later we went to Khana Kazana (my favorite place in Rwanda) for some tasty Indian food and then over to Heaven for Godfrey’s solo art exhibition.  He had some pretty incredible stuff on display. 

Thursday, we hit up the market for a bit which gave Mom a real African experience.  I dropped off some fabric to get a dress and some pants made.  After the market, we went to Lalibela for Mom’s first Ethiopian meal ever.  Then we went to the Hotel Mille Collines for happy hour brochettes.

Friday, we went to Akagera National Park.  Our driver picked us up at 5:00am then went to pick up our travel companions at their house.  He promptly fell asleep at the first stoplight.  He drove rather erratically and soon informed us that he had picked people up at the airport at 2am before he came to get us at 5, so he hadn’t slept very much.  Awesome.  We made it to the park and our park guide took over the driving responsibilities and let the driver sleep.  We saw lots of animals.  Giraffes, zebra, waterbucks, birds, impala, various other breeds of antelope, warthogs, hippos, etc.  I’d seen them all before on safari in Tanzania, but I had never been to Akagera, so it was nice.

Saturday morning we woke up early and took the bus to Gisenyi.  We sat out on the sandy beach most of the day and then took the longest moto ride ever to Kigufi to sleep at this super cute little cozy guesthouse on the lake.  There were 2 other guests staying there that night, so the nuns set the dinner table for 4 and we shared dinner with two Polish girls.  Only in Africa…

Sunday morning we hopped back on an early bus to Musanze and went to Sonrise, my old stomping ground.  We were told chapel was at 8, but really it was at 9:30.  So we sat around reading our Kindles for a bit before church started.  This week’s service was far more entertaining than last week’s as the preacher jumped and danced and jumped and jumped and jumped.  We hung out with some of my special students and ate lunch with them before busing back to Kigali.

Monday and Tuesday were relatively uneventful.  I made Mom eat goat.  We went back to the market.  Then she packed up, and we headed back to the airport.  I didn’t take a single picture.  If you want proof of her visit, you’ll have to make her put hers on Facebook…