Torpedo, then and now

Those of you who read this blog in 2008 may remember a posting about our little neighbor girl. I never understood what she was saying when I asked her name, and neither did John. I dubbed her "Torpedo" because when she saw us coming out of our house she flew toward us like a torpedo and didn't stop until she slammed into us and hugged us around the legs. If we forgot something and had to go back to the house, even just for 2 minutes, we got another hug when she saw us again. I came to look forward to these hugs and to love this little girl.

Today (June 2009) I took a stroll down the old street looking for our little neighbor. She seemed a bit shy at first, but when I smiled and waved at her she shot out of her yard just like she used to. Above is a picture of my little friend in February 2008; below is the picture I took of her and her brother today. She's as cute as ever.

Another story about driving in Rwanda

Todd and Andria are the other people (besides Mica and I) who are staying at the visitors' house. We've been hanging out with them a lot. Yesterday we did some tourist stuff, including visiting the the palace of the last king of Rwanda in Nyanza, about an hour away. That's another story for another day. John went with us, but I offered to drive because he's still awaiting his driving license and I'm the only other person with experience driving here. I assured everyone that letting me drive would be a fine thing to do. We arranged ourselves in the vehicle and set off down the drive toward the road. About 150 meters later, as you can see from the picture, I got the truck stuck in the mud. Don't blame me--the tires are almost entirely bald. Once stuck, the lack of traction kept us stuck. A bunch of guys with shovels and bamboo poles appeared apparently from nowhere, dug out both front tires, and laid the poles down for me to drive over. Todd took pictures and video just to ensure that I never live this down.