A Time for Work and a Time for... Play!

Kevin and I have shared a lot about what we are doing work-wise, but I'm not sure we've shared a lot about how much we've been enjoying the Rwandan culture. In particular, because things are so much less expensive here, we can go on some pretty fantastic dates. Just as an example, let me share about our weekend:

Friday Night: Thanks to one of Kevin's coworkers, we learned about Marine Movie Night. (I kid you not, it is exactly what it sounds like.) We spent an evening at the US Embassy, watching the moving 'Safehouse' and eating fast food and popcorn. In all the night was less than $20 bucks, but everyone there spoke English and we met some really fascinating people. In a place like that, everyone is in Rwanda for a purpose, and for most of them, they have a really neat story. We met two other law students. One is working on a project for the Supreme Court that Kevin tangentially worked on as well. We met a photographer who teaches at a local university. I cannot express how nice it was to talk American and watch a movie together. Great evening!

Saturday Night: We're on an email list called Kigali Life. It shares all kinds of fun activities. Well last week it told us about the perfect Saturday night date. We went to a restaurant called Heaven. They had live painting by some local Rwandan artists, and a modern art exhibit by a local gallery. The food was truly the best I've eaten in Rwanda. We sat outside, under a thatched roof, and watched some painters for 2 hours while we ate. It was delightful!

Sunday Afternoon: After going to church and having lunch with some new and hilarious friends, we went to a national soccer game - Rwanda v. Benin. It was a qualifier for the World Cup and the Africa Cup. The environment was fantastic! There were people painted all crazy colors and there was even one Benin fan nearby inciting trouble. Rwanda played so much better than anyone anticipated, but they squandered a good opportunity in the last minute. Even still the game ended with a tie (1-1). Trust me when I say that Benin had no right scoring a goal in that game! It was a blast and you really can't beat it when the tickets were less than $5... for both of us.

Monday Evening: Tonight, we're planning on going out to our favorite place - Sol e Luna. It's a pizza place about a 5 minute walk from our apartment. You sit outside and have a beautiful view of the city. Not only that, but on Monday nights, they have trivia night, which is very popular with ex-pats and is done exclusively in English. Last time we went, no one told us to join a team, so it was Kevin and I versus teams of 8 people. We fixed that this time. We're bringing some friends, so it should be a great time. It'll cost $20 and it'll be totally worth it!

We'll settle in the rest of the week, but this weekend we were invited to go to the Kwita Izina, a very special ceremony where they publicly name all the baby gorillas that were born in the past year.  Expect pictures and a great blog post. From what I hear, it's a bucket list type event.

We have just 10 days left in Rwanda, and while I can hardly believe it's almost over, we have truly gotten the most out of every single day. What a blessing to travel with my best friend! Thank you for your support and your prayers. Our relationship has grown in ways we didn't expect. God is revealing who we are individually and as a couple and is providing a lot of guidance for the future.