Days in Rwanda are usually great. Days in my life are usually great. Rarely, and I mean rarely, are days ever as good as today was, regardless of being in Rwanda, Canada, anywhere. It started by sleeping all night and not being bitten by mosquitos. I guess word got out that I’ll get out of bed and kill all night long if I have to, because there just aren’t mosquitoes in my room anymore.
From that amazing start, the day rapidly improved when I saw my email and heard from Darren that he bought us Sigur Ros tickets in PORTLAND. At first I was choked we didn’t get Vancouver tickets, but quickly realized the only thing better than seeing Sigur Ros would be road tripping to one of my favorite cities, where two of my favorite cousins live, to see Sigur Ros.
Back at the house, we interviewed Sigfried for the documentary. The interview was conducted in Kinyarwandan, so I couldn’t understand much, but from what Lama said Sigfried killed it. Often I have to judge things off of people’s reactions here; people start laughing, and I gather something is funny. When Lama covers his eyes, shakes his head and sighs, I can tell something is blowing his mind. Today it was Sigfried. I can’t wait to sit down with Lama and translate it all. The Rwandans are certainly gifted with words.
We paused the interview momentarily to allow the day to keep getting better; Freddy, Lama’s cousin arrived with the greatest gifts of all time: he brought us a brand new working refrigerator, a wireless router and E-video card, and a container of ice cream. So in one fell swoop we got cold beer, the internet, and mocha flavored dessert! Freddy is my favorite person ever, he has personally given me the top three gifts I’ve ever had in my life. You thought Christmas at 5 was fun? Try getting a fridge in Rwanda!
Freddy and Sigfried joined us for lunch and they made our meal time extra lively. Freddy told us a lot of great stories, one that included him helicoptering over Rwanda, and we asked if there would be any possibility to film from a helicopter. He said for sure, he’ll just talk to his guys and it won’t even cost that much. !!!!!! is all I have to say to that.
Sigfried took off soon after lunch, and Freddy a little later so he wouldn’t be on the road at night. We repeatedly thanked him for his kindness, and he was so modest saying it was no big deal. He’s just such an awesome guy, we have to get revenge on him when we return to Kigali. Once he was gone, the three of us worked and hung out. While I was working I was listening to music on shuffle, and “Always Where I Need To Be” by the Kooks came on, and that catapulted my day ahead even further. I didn’t think it was possible, but it made me feel even better.
I realized that even though I’ve been productive here, I should take full advantage of being in such an amazing location with such rich culture and stories around me. So I came up with a short film idea that I would like to make, and I ran it past the team and they supported it and so we’re actually going to film it tomorrow. We’ve cast it and booked our actors, so tomorrow morning we’re making a short! I can’t wait. I’ll post it as soon as it’s finished. Wait, no I won’t. I’ll post it as soon as we are in Kigali and I have fast enough internet to upload something. Anyway, Regina came over later and joined us for dinner, and afterwards we all hung out. We showed Regina Sigfried’s interview and she just said “Wow. No comments at all.” so obviously Sigfried’s got it going on. Regina left around 10 and we went to bed right after she left. I can’t believe how many awesome things were crammed into this day.
