My 24th birthday

One card is from my roommates and another from a Senior Two classes. (Two classes also coordinated among themselves to sing Happy Birthday to me)

To celebrate my entry into my mid-twenties, I got two cakes, three bottles of banana beer, a box filled with biscuits (cookies), a hunk of cheese, a vase of flowers, and Fanta to my heart’s content.  As well as sweet potato chips (fries) for dinner because they know that is my favorite.

I got two cakes for my birthday!  The frosted one was bought from a local baker.  Prepared cake is a very expensive treat in Rwanda, likely because most Rwandans do not have an oven.   However, I’m lucky to live next door to nuns who do know how to bake, consequently the second, unfrosted cake!  I walked in before dinner to about 10 women singing happy birthday to me, including several of the nuns.  A very unique birthday!  They even had three candles lit for me to blow out.  

After dinner my roommates sang happy birthday to me again, this time in Kinyarwanda, and we dug into the cakes.  They both tasted a bit like very sweet cornbread (I think they must have used maize flour).  The frosted cake had the consistency of cornbread and the homemade cake was sweeter and had a lighter cake-ier texture.  Both cakes are now gone!

A teacher bought this banana beer for me in the capital, Kigali.  It cannot be bought in Nyamata because it is too expensive for the average person here and thus does not sell.  I believe it is about a $1.50.  The drink could not really be described as a beer, although that’s its name, because there are no hops or bitter taste at all.  Perhaps I could describe it better as a cider?  But it has a chalkier consistency and alcohol content similar to red wine.  The taste is pleasantly fruity but the alcohol is perceptible.

Glucose biscuits do not have the sweetness of Western cookies but are more similar to Vanilla Wafers or Graham Crackers.

Rwandans don’t really eat cheese, which should be surprising because they drink so much milk and dairy is such a part of their culture.  But cheese is fairly pricy So this is a very special gift.

Vase of Flowers

People LOVE Fanta here.  They drink that over Coke.  I actually took this picture at a wedding to demonstrate how popular it is.  In the US it seems it is more of a children’s drink but here all ages enjoy this very sweet soda.