I know that 26 isn't very old in the scheme of things, but for some reason to me it seems a whole lot older than 24 or 25. 24 is still considered early twenties, then 25 is mid twenties, so 26 seems like late twenties to me (and closer to 30!). Anyway, I don't seem too worried about growing up too soon since I still have no plans to settle down anytime soon. Unfortunately my birthday weekend was spent in bed, with a thermometer, juice, water, and my ipod as I was sick with the flu. After taking my temperature and realizing I definitely had a fever, I was a bit worried about malaria. It is supposed to bring on flu-like symptoms and last for a few weeks, so I immediately called my coordinator and someone came in a car to take Amy and I to the hospital. After explaining some of my symptoms to the doctor, in broken english, he told me I'd need to head to the lab to get some bloodwork done. Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm pretty terrified of needles, so I was definitely dreading getting blood drawn, especially over here since we weren't sure what the facilities would look like. Although the floor wasn't too clean, some of the cabinet doors were broken off, and no latex gloves were worn, the technician did open a sterile needle for me, so that was a little reassuring. I, of course, had to look away while he was drawing my blood, but in the middle of it, Amy came over and held my hand, and I thought, crap, things must be really bad! Appparently he had missed my vein a few times, then was digging around to find it...luckily I didn't see how enormous the needle was until he was all done, or I probably would have fainted. So after about 30 minutes of processing the blood, I found out I didn't have malaria! The doctor thought I had a chest infection, so prescribed me some cough syrup, antibiotics, and some ibprofen for the fever. Unfortunately after 7 days on the antibiotics I'm still coughing, but still hoping that it will clear up soon!
Back to the birthday festivities! The Rwandan diet tends to be quite starch heavy, lots of rice, potatoes, green bananas, bread, etc, so I have really been craving a big piece of meat. On my birthday I went out to a cafe with our friend Lucy and got myself a big burger--it was awesome. After some time on the internet reading birthday wishes, we headed to the U.S. Embassy to sit by their pool for a while. We conveniently brought along all our toiletry needs (shampoo, soap, facewash, etc.) to indulge in one of their hot showers---and boy was it amazing--especially after not having water at our house for a week! We also met a couple other Americans whose parents work at the Embassy who were here on holiday for a few weeks. For dinner, we had planned to go to a Thai restaurant that I had been reading about in one of the guidebooks. After circling around the area for a while trying to find the restaurant, we settled on an Ethiopian restaurant instead, a cuisine we had talked about trying while we were here. So after waiting about an hour for our meal, the waitress brought out a giant pancake-looking dish with all sorts of little piles all over it, sauces, vegetables, and something resembling meat. We dug into the pancake (which is supposed to be used like a fork to pick up the sauces, meat, and veggies), and took a few bites of this strange food. It was actually going down pretty well until one of our friends mentioned that the pancake tasted like a mixture between soggy bread and a kitchen sponge. After that comment, none of us really ate much more, which may have been a good thing beacause after inspection, we're pretty sure the meat on my plate was some type of animal vertebrae. The only thing that really saved our dinner was a predator-prey discovery channel viewing of a gecko on the ceiling going after a moth for it's dinner. Dessert was served back at the U.S. Embassy, and although the ice cream was no comparison to Ben and Jerry's, it was a great ending to a very eventful birthday! We plan on celebrating again this weekend with a few drinks and undoubtedly a tastier dinner.
We are beginning to feel a bit confined in Kigali, so are looking into booking some trips away on weekends. One thing we're dying to see is the gorilla's, which is pricey, but we've heard well worth it. Another trip that some friends are trying to plan is over into the DRC (Congo), to climb an active volcano and visit the border town of Goma. We had to visit the Congolese Embassy to apply for a tourist visa, and were told that we needed to have Rwandan residence visas (which neither of us have), an invitation letter from the Congolese government, and, most importantly photocopies of our credit card in order to get into the country. Luckily, the woman at reception kindly organized a meeting for us with the Congolese Ambassador, whom everyone in the waiting room had to stand and greet when he arrived in the building. After moving from 3 different waiting areas, the receptionist told us that she would be translating, and that we would be asked some questions and make sure that we answer them completely truthfully. Luckily the Ambassador, or "Your Excellence" as the receptionist called him, spoke french, so I was able to understand bits and pieces of what he was saying. Other than asking about our jobs back home, wishing me a happy birthday, and briefly asking why we wanted to visit the Congo, it was a pretty painless meeting. We were granted a one month visa for $140 US Dollars, for a trip that would actually only take a day or two. Unfortunately we later discovered that Amy's Rwandan visa is only single entry, so she may get stuck in the DRC if she leaves, or have to pay for another visa to re-enter Rwanda. Our weekend trip to the volcano is postponed for now, but hopefully we will book the gorilla trek soon--something we've both been looking forward to!
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