Wedding Fun and More!

If someone were to tell me that the end of my Peace Corps service would be the hardest, I wouldn't have believed them.  In May I believe I described these last 3 months as the last 3 miles of a marathon.  Well, these last three weeks have been like the last sprint, you can see the finish line, the majority of the work is done, there's no where to go but forward.  And, despite your legs, your lungs, your feet wanting you to stop and take a rest, you keep pushing forward.  Not going to lie it's been a rough couple of weeks as I see the finish line and prepare to leave.  But what I think the difficulty truly stems from is that I really hate to say goodbye and I really hate the gut wrenching feeling that comes when you look into someone's eyes who has touched your life in an unforgettable way and realize that you don't know when the next time you'll see them again.
You're probably thinking that this is a really negative post and why am I writing this?  I feel like I just needed to share what it's really like because the difficulties have also been alongside some amazing times as I get closer to the end and that's what I'm going to share now, but I wanted you to all be inside my head a little bit more than I think I usually allow in order to see how deeply and extraordinarily my experience and the people in Rwanda have influenced me and wherever my life goes next.

So, let me tell you a story!
Last weekend I attended the wedding of the younger sister of my counterpart Etienne.  It was located in the rural part of the Southern Province where him and his sisters were born.  I woke up at 4 am to get ready and left my house, still in the dark, at 5 in order to reach Kigali by 7.  Once there we drove another 3 or so hours to where the wedding was located.  After these hours of traveling we finally reached the wedding venue set up with tents over the chairs for the families to sit and a proper stage for the bride and groom to sit in front of everyone.  Upon arrival I get shuttled into the room where other people are changing and getting ready for ceremonies.  I get handed an outfit and am told that I am a part of the ceremonies today!  Using the skills I've developed throughout my years of sport tournaments I managed

The Bride in the middle!

to modestly change there in the middle of the room with all the other girls, it was an instant bonding moment especially as they helped me tie the skirt and properly fasten everything.  I eventually met up with Etienne's other sister Jackie who made me a part of the group despite me not knowing anyone.  We took so many pictures of ourselves and watched as the bride got ready.
The first ceremony was the dowry ceremony.  I got to help her present the gifts to the family of the groom and sit with the wedding party at the front.  It was fun being apart of everything backstage which also meant I didn't have to sit through too many kinyarwanda speeches or drink mass amounts of fanta!
 After the short appearance at the dowry ceremony we took the bride back to the preparation room and helped her change into her white wedding dress for the church ceremony.  They are Catholic so it simply included mass and vows like you would imagine a classic Catholic wedding ceremony in the states.  Then we went back outside for the reception where we danced and gave gifts to the newly weds.
Finally before heading back to Kigali, after the happy couple was sent to their new home, Etienne toasted his family with a final beer/fanta.
It was probably one of my favorite Rwandan celebrations I've attended.  Being apart of his sister's day and feeling as a part of their family was incredible.  Jackie is only 2 years older than me and she's amazing.  I only met her one other time before but she just let me be her shadow for the day, telling me what to do where to go, and taking so many pictures together.
The next day I had planned to go home after the long day of travel and eventfulness however of course there was an after after party at Etienne's house for all of his neighbors in Kigali, and to my surprise some people from Muyongwe!  There were two community health workers and one of our night guards (who is also one of our running buddies) who made the trek from Muyongwe to celebrate with Etienne.  This was also the first time one of the community health workers had ever been to Kigali and he was amazed at how close it actually is to Muyongwe.
So we hung out all day, had a few beers and then had a ceremony where Etienne talked about the wedding and thanked everyone for coming.  We then ate probably the most amazing Rwandan food I've ever had in my 2 years.  They cooked it with spices and flavors I din't even know they cooked with here and it was incredible!!

One of the Muyongwe Community Health Worker
giving a speech at the party.

So even though it was later than I had planned I had to get back to site, so I ended up traveling with my fellow Muyongwe neighbors.  That was an adventure and a journey I'll never forget.  The small twedge that we needed to take initially wasn't available when we got to the bus station which caused an initial amount of anxiety but eventually we found one and headed back.  As usual, they packed us all in and I was sitting next to the night guard who is probably close to twice my height and how he fit his legs into that small space, I'll never know!  As we were going and it started to get dark he assured me not to worry because we were all traveling together and I felt this sense of togetherness that was so awesome and made a sort of unfavorable traveling situation great.  We also ended up walking back together from where the twedge dropped us off and it was a great evening stroll and saved me some money.
This weekend was one that was full of events and time outside of work and outside of my village that I got to spend some time with some amazing people.  It was exactly what I needed going into the final 3 weeks.
To wrap up one more awesome thing that came out of this week was that I found out a new volunteer will be replacing me at my health center!!! I'm so excited for her to come visit next week so I can show her how amazing Muyongwe is and share the work and the life I've created there over the past 2 years.  I hope I've given you a decent view of what life has been like lately, a little less work and a little more play but still adding to the incredible experience I'me having and yes that includes the struggles too! <3 nbsp="" p="">