Night Before the End

This was the last night of fun and excitement as we begin to say goodbye to the Thomas Family and think about heading home.

A little bit of excitement on an off road trip.

The Dancers

We went to a Museum and watched some traditional dancing. They were all incredible.

Here is Lindsay: On our way to the museum, we had our first experience with Rwandan fast food. We stopped by a roadside stand that sold roasted goat kebabs and maize (corn that is much tougher than our much loved sweet corn in the States). We also picked up drinkable yogurt, pink or white, and passionfruit juice. We then proceeded to eat all this in the car, smashed side by side, 4 in the back seat, a corn cob in one hand and a beef kebab in the other. The goat was delicious and the corn definitely gave my jaw a workout.
The dancing was incredibly expressive, as you will see, but my favorite part of the presentation was when the native dancers grabbed a few of the YCEW kids and were trying to teach them how to dance Rwandan style. Much said, I was definitely smiling, and grateful that it wasn't me they grabbed to try my hand at Rwandan dancing. :) Hope all is well in the States. We love you and miss you.



This Picture is of some Kids up North... We all found it funny that the kids is getting an elbow in the eye.

More Pics

A Note from Ingrid about last week:

Last week was probably the most out of my comfort-zone I have ever been. The students at the high school decided that it would be a good idea to feed me during lunch(literally) and we got made fun of a lot, I'm not entirely sure for what reasons, but at least they were entertained. We also had a major GIANT-Spider problem, they pretty much were trying to eat us the entire time, I saw the light flash before my eyes quite a few times, but I achieved in killing my first spider. However, through this last week I learned more about Rwandan Culture than I have the entire time here. Rwandans are more comfortable around each other and being close to ones they don't know. They also have very different ideas when it comes to family and relationships than we do. I learned a lot, however I was quite relieved to get back to Kigali.
PEACE OUTTTTT

Finally Back in Kigali

We are back in Kigali after a long week of being rock stars and crowded so you can't even breath. We visited two different schools and several churches. We got to play Volleyball in the rain, and some soccer. The spiders where big, and the food was amazing.
Here is Anna with her perspective on the week:

Since I really and I mean really like my space there was a time this week when I needed my space after being a celebrity for less than a week. Let me tell you, all my childhood dreams of being a huge superstar in hollywood and having a pet chiwawa that I could carry around in my purse were totally dashed...When the clock struck 4 we all groaned 'cause that meant that once again we would have to go appease our fans by playing soccer with them. We also knew that we were going to make fools of ourselves because they are soccer stars and we're definentely not! Before play commenced, play with the kids was happening whether we like it or not. We didn't have enough hands to be held and I had two plastic balls wrapped in rubber bands being kicked and thrown at me with the expectation that they would be returned.
We finally started the game but as we had thought they were AMAZING! At half time I had had enough of the constant blur of bodies and got a replacement so I could hang out on the side lines. Earlier I had been so against hanging out with people but the adrenaline from the game had made me excited to go find the kids I had been playing earlier. So I did and I was soon surrounded once again but this time I really enjoyed getting to know some of the kids personalities.


A note from Drew:

Greetings to all our Oregonian/Hawaiian brothers sisters mothers fathers sinners and Josh Reid!

One the challenges that I have consistently encoutered in the course of our trip is that of communication. A typical conversation usually entails a couple of languages, hello, how are you, do you speak french, and do like obama or McCain and will you give me money? During this past week , as the tension began to build within me, I became frustrated about my inability to communicate with the locals. But after a couple days up north, we finally started speaking the same language; the language of sport. As we traded high fives, smiles and cheers, I finally felt a deeper connection beyond the level of "hey, how are you." Who needs french anyway?

A note from Amy:
Joshua Reid, i am quite offended that Drew has replaced me as your "main man." we'll take this outside when i get back.

More Pictures will be posted tomorrow, with some more notes about the last week. It;s just too much information for the internet out here to handle.

We all are looking forward to our own beds and our loved ones. Thank you all for your Prayers and comments... the Kids love them.