A Musical Evening at the Japanese Residence!

While Tim and Sue were here we were invited to the Japanese 

Residence for an evening of beautiful music! 

 A little rice wine for starters!

We were one of the first guests to arrive.

They had converted a lower living room area
into a small concert hall.

The Japanese Ambassador kicked off the evening with a welcome and then the singer and her accompanist
came down the circular staircase to begin their performance.
Many of the cabinet ministers and their wives/husbands were also there… ( in fact, we sort of wondered why we had been invited).

The vocalist was quite good! 

As well as the pianist!  

They did a variety of classical operatic music….

but when they did Amazing Grace… the whole room
exploded with applause!

Junko, the ambassador's wife, is a good friend from AIC
and I want to thank her and the ambassador for
including us in a wonderful evening.

It was very special!

Thanks again!

love,
margie

Back to Sue and Tim for the rest of the evening.

Modern Communication

Four people! Four cups of coffee!

Three computers and One Book! 

 What we have here is an
Outdoor Starbucks!!

Two Days of Exploring Kigali!

Today we chilled in the morning… but hit the Umubano hotel for lunch.  Three beautiful girls… We get a lot of attention wherever we go. 

 After lunch we took a short jaunt down the street to introduce Tim and Sue and girls to Carnegie Mellon University in Rwanda!

Wonder what this conversation was about? 

Looks like it was going both ways!

After Bruce's office..it was photo op time with THEE sign!
Fun….

and formal.

The next morning, Tim headed out with Bruce to work and we girls had our own day!
First stop… The AIC coffee morning at Kirsty's house!
Benu and Dima ready for coffee!

Pictures of other members at Kirsty's… 

More and more friends! 

The beautiful table spread!

 Ladies from all over the world….

 Turkey, Australia and the Netherlands….
with a difficult decision.
"But should we make more coffee or tea?"

Joelle and Antoinette!

Sue and Maria getting acquainted.

  Goodbye old board!!  You were wonderful!!
After the election…most of the new board represented here. 

 Always having fun together!

Sue found a new little love… Sherri's little friend!

Well, after the coffee… we headed for lunch and then
to the 5D theatre…at the top of the Kigali City Center.

Looking calm and collected!

This first time I did this I was scared to death….
so I wanted to see if others would have the same experience.
Sue wasn't sure at first… but then… 

She jumped on, too!    I stayed off to take pictures! 

So, it wasn't my imagination…
 This thing is better than a Disney ride….

         

                 It makes you laugh, grip the seat, and hang on for dear life!

And life is dear….and even more dear with 

long-time friends and family…

Whether they are friends and family from home or from

California or from around the world they are all 

dear and mean so much to us.  

The Lord has put so many people in our lives 

and being in Kigali has only added to that number with 

some very special ladies and gents.  I'm so glad that Sue and the 

girls got to meet a few of them today!  

And I'm so glad Sue and Tim and their family 

are here with us.

Love to all our friends and family!

margie

It Wasn't Quiet for Long!

    We did get the sheets off the beds and the laundry done… right before our next set of travelers arrived!!  Tim and Sue Chou and their girls arrived from California a day after Heather and Colin left…..Whew!!!  

Tim and Bruce did their post graduate studies together at University of Illinois…. So we've been friends a LONG time! 

And it is so cool how we just pick up where we left off…

only on a different continent almost 40 years later.  

Up for breakfast and church and just catching up!
Having Danielle, Alexandra and Caroline was so much fun…
Like having our kids around when they were in their teens and early 20's!!  

After church we headed to boarding school to meet Patrick and Cynthia and to see how they are doing in school.
And this is how it is done… Meeting teachers out under the trees
at a table and everyone crowding around listening to how
well everyone is doing…  ( or not?)  

 Here we are with Cynthia…on the left.

 Jet lag attacks and it's time for Sunday afternoon naps! 

Tim and I ran to a grocery store that is recently opened called Sawu City to pick up a few things.

It has a well stocked freezer section,  fruits and veggies
and lots of goodies…

But none as good as the Brood---or BREAD!  All sorts of speciality breads coming from the Netherlands, I think.

Tim had taken my camera and was taking pictures…

The rest of the day we just chilled and rested up
to get ready for the week ahead.  We have been together
since the guys were in school…so we didn't have to go back that
far to catch up… but it has been a few years!

It is so great to have these guys with us!!!
love,
margie

Kigali Experiences and Homeward Bound!

The last day… oh my… how i hate these "end of our time together" times!  But today will be that day with Heather and Colin and the kids! 

But this morning..  was an AIC outing to RwaCof so off we went!

RwaCof is a plant in town run by the man on the right…. He is my friend, Nalini's husband!  At this plant coffee beans are brought from all over the country.  They are cleaned, sorted, dried and distributed from this place.  They travel to Europe and America for the most part but the beans are not roasted until
they reach their location! 

Some of the gang going for the tour!
Heather and Colin are the babes of the group.

One of the loaded trucks and the AIC group hearing all about how it works.  Colin took all the pics on the inside and i think you've seen those before… but they had a great tour and learned alot
about coffee from Rwanda.  They have friends in Indiana, Pa that
run Commonplace Coffee and I believe they are now
ordering from Rwanda to share its coffee with their customers ! 

 After the tour and lunch Heather and Colin went to visit the Genocide Memorial.  I left them there on their own and took the kids!  I had not seen the outside all redone… It looks wonderful
and is very functional. 

A view of downtown from the parking lot..

They have really made major revisions

From the memorial down to the parking lot!

The new,  yet to be completed amphitheater next to the lower
part of the parking lot with tons of seating. 

  The new Eternal Flame is lit for the 100 days in remembrance of those lost during the Genocide.
The Memorial begins in April but the flame burns on..through the 100 days. 

It sets near the mass grave of over 250,000 Tutsis killed during this time. 

This is the plaque that thanks all those that donated and provided the additions to the Memorial.  They did a beautiful job!

Sitting down for our last meal together.

Having hamburgers and fries…. getting ready for
re-entry into life in the States.

Gramma (me) made a terrible mistake on birthday front.
We celebrated Elizabeth's day and a little of H's since
it was June 7th.. BUT I forgot it is also Brian's big day
on June 7th..  so I created a veggie cake with the end
of our carrot cake and added the tomatoes and lettuce
for decoration.  It was pretty lame.. but Brian was
glad we didn't forget him.  He is such a great little guy..

And he loves veggies!!  He'll be turning 6!  Wow..
where has time gone.

 The Turkish Air flight leaves around midnight.. so the kids were
doing great for being up and ready to go.   Ready to take the long flight back.

 Innocent wanted this picture of us together…
I'm glad we have it, too…even though my eyes
are filled with tears.

It is so exciting when the kids come with their
families but the leaving part is pretty hard.  It seems
so right to have them here with us.

Thanks for coming Heather and Colin and Elizabeth
and Brian and Katherine.  You certainly brought our
quiet house to life here in Kigali…..but it will
be awfully quiet in the days to come.  It was
so wonderful to have you here with us!!!

love,
mom/margie