Back home

It seems like blogging is not my thing, but I am not giving up anyway. One post in six months? That's not too bad I guess, jk. Anyways, his last summer I finally got to go back home and visit. It was one of my best experience I have ever had. Right after I got off the airplane, I was welcomed by my two aunts, my brother and other friends. They were all excited to see me; I was too. We took a bus to get to my hometown, which is two hours from Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. There, they welcomed me like I was some kind of local star or hero. They thought maybe I was somehow changed by living in the States. They used to call me " American". Like my friends would come to my house and say:" Hi The American guy". I honestly didn't like that. I was treated like a stranger in my own country. I mean I was happy and excited to be back home, but I had hard time with reversal culture shock. I had to be as careful as I could to show them that I am still the same Placide they knew couple of years back. I knew I had changed a little bit, because the American culture is way different that Rwandans. Here is an example: In America, people value time a lot. They only do things they have scheduled and planned to do. In Rwanda, people are more important than time. If someone comes to your house, you have to cancel whatever you had planned and just stay at home until they leave. If you leave him or her, they will think you are rude. Another short example is that when people come to visit you, you have to walk them to the gate. I experienced a lot when I was back home. I came to notice some values of our culture, but again there are other things that don't make any sense to me. Like men don't eat out on the streets; men don't cry; women don't whistle...The list is long.