Lost in Translation

So...I am about to go to work, but I thought I should let the world know a few things about Kinyarwanda.

1st - I think "muzungu" roughly translated, means 'sucker'. We have accepted the fact that we will probably pay a little more for things here than would a Rwandan. That is the price we pay for being white I guess. But some people take it to the extreme. I was leaving the coffee shop a few nights ago, and flagged down a beloved Moto-taxi. I told him where I lived and asked how much. He wanted 1500 rwf. 1500! He had this little smile on his face like "I am about to make a killing!" Well this muzungu is no sucker! I laughed and talked him down to 700. Much better. That has happened a few times, but hopefully they will learn that we are wise to their tricks, and will not settle for them. Then, yesterday, coming back from church (an English service in an Episcopal Cathedral) we hopped on a bus and drove for less than 5 minutes. More like three. They took 2000 for the 4 of us. It should have been 500. So Kim started arguing with the guy and a crowd of Rwandans gathered around and started talking. We just stood buy and watched the show. Finally they gave us 1000 back, saying that they thought we wanted an 'express' bus, and so that's why it costs so much. Ha.

2nd - The language barrier is irrelevant under the age of 7, all you need are non-verbals. I went on a walk with Andrew and Arthur last night to visit one of his (Andrew's) banking friends. He had two little daughters, I'd say 4 and 5. So they were very shy at first, until Arthur took my Fanta and I pretended I didn't know where it was. When I realized he took it, I pretended to pout and then cry. That they understood quite well, and they laughed at my pain. I then chased Arthur around tickling him, then I tickled the girls too, and it quickly devolved into me chasing them around the house and the yard, and them chasing me. Then Andrew, Arthur and I went to get a brouchette and one of his colleagues showed up, so we were there for about an hour, and Arthur fell asleep in my lap again. A good day.

Time for work, more on MOUCECORE coming soon...