The whole weekend

So it has been quite some time since I have wrote a blog entry. Sorry about that. I had a very fun-filled weekend and I did not really have the chance to write on here... so today is Tuesday, the 26th of January. Okay so let me back up to Friday. On Friday, I worked all day long and then my roommate and I headed to "mumugee" (town) to get some meat for dinner. Because we do not have a refrigerator or freezer we have to eat meat the same day we purchase it. We ended up going in a European specialty store while we were there as well and I purchased a can of Pringles. I started eating them immediately and I was SO happy to eat a name brand food! Even though it was still LOTS OF STARCH! They love starch in Rwanda. So then we went to the other grocery store to get the meat, and got some for dinner and some sausage for breakfast the next morning. Then we both purchased a "Mars Bar" (ice cream bar). It costs me close to $7.00...but my roommate and I decided that once in awhile you need some chocolate...and let me tell you, it was worth it. I was happy to have some comfort foods! Then we took the bus back home and made some dinner (meat, rice, mushrooms, and vegs). It was really good. We ended up getting ready and went over to her friend Alex's to meet up with him and a few friends. It was very interesting because we couldn't find our way for a long time. We weren't getting good directions from Alex and our cab driver was getting frustrated, so we just got out and walked. Finally Alex came and got us from whereever we were on his mo-ped bike. It was the first time that I heard a dog bark in Rwanda too. There were a lot of guard dogs over in this area. We hung out at his house for a few hours and met his friends and then they were leaving to go to KBC where the club is. So we decided to tag along. We all piled into a taxi, and 2 people took motor-taxis, and we headed out. There was a cover charge of about $4 (Kigali is expensive, I told you). The club was interesting. They played a lot of American music, like I heard that Black Eyed Peas song "I got a feeling, that tonights gonna be a good night" and "Who Let the Dogs Out" haha. But they also played a few African songs, which I thought was awesome. The club had a few different rooms, and one room had a live band. They played some Bob Marley and that song "Hotel California" and some other American songs. There was a guy with dreads who dragged my roommate on stage, and proceeded to drag me up there as well. It was INTERESTING to say the least. I had a lot of fun. We left shortly after 2 AM, walked home and went to bed. I was very sweaty by the end of the night.

The next morning we both missed hearing our alarm clocks, so we didn't wake up til 10ish. We then were running late, but made a quick breakfast and headed into town. We went to the "bus station" to purchase bus tickets to go to Nyanza. We took a 2 hour bus ride there. I snapped some amazing pictures on the way there. We got there and went to see the old tribal chief's hut/palace replica. It was really cool. Then we walked a little ways to see the old King's Palace. We got a guided tour of that. Then we walked over to the Art Museum, which was originally supposed to be used as the King's palace, but he died so it has been converted into an elegant art museum.  We had some trouble getting a ride from there to town because there were no motor-taxis along that road. But we talked to some people and had them call us one. We got back to town and waited around until we had to take the bus at 6PM. After a really long bus ride back, we arrived in Kigali and went home. I called it a night.

The following morning I got up and did some laundry and cleaning. My British friend then asked me if I wanted to go to dinner at this really nice restaurant that we kept hearing about, Shacolat. It was really great. It was kinda like how lounges in DC look, except it was outside. It had two firepits as well. I got a fish dish which came with, guess what, potatoes! I can never seem to escape rice and potatoes! After that I came home and got on the phone with Andrew. I found out that he had looked at the Bristow Manor reception venue I had wanted, and he loved it! He was waiting to sign a contract for our new wedding date of August 14. I was relieved and went to bed happy.

Yesterday I worked all day...then last night was "Quiz Night" run by a bunch of white people working over here in Rwanda. My friend Dan and I went to it. It was at this pizza place right down the road from my house called "Sol E Luna." We ordered a lasagna and pizza and it was so good! I was glad to have some more comfort food. So much for loosing weight in Rwanda, huh? After that, I came home around 10:30 to find out that Andrew had signed the contract for Bristow Manor and sent in the deposit. That made me so happy!

So now it is Tuesday, and I will write back in here when my whole day is through and I have more to say about this wonderful day. Sorry for the REALLY LONG entry!