July 16:
Eden and I woke up at around 7:30. She is sleeping in a pack and play that a sweet friend loaned us and we have a big room to ourselves. She asked for Sianna immediately. However, no one else was around so we went outside ourselves to enjoy the morning air and the serenading birds that love to make noise here. After a while the rest of the house appeared and we all ate breakfast at our leisure. I got to introduce Eden to my favorite fruit ever, amatunda, or passion fruit. It's a small round fruit with a hard brown exterior. You puncture it and tear it open and then suck the seeds out from inside. It's just delicious and Eden asked for more and more. She has been really good thus far about eating whatever I give her, though German and Rwandan foods are quite different than what she usually eats.
Eden and I hung around the house all morning, talking with the others who live in the house (various extended family members). I bathed Eden, using a basin of water and a cup because we don't have running water and she was not a fan. But we manged to get through it. I could tell that she was still really tired because she was being fussy and touchy, which is not her normal self. So we both went back to bed from 11-1:30. When we woke up she was in a much better mood. Eden is not warming as quickly to Roberts mom as she has to her cousins so I worked on trying to get them acquainted. This resulted in the two kicking a ball back and forth on the front porch, which seemed to delight each of them.
Olivier came to take us to run some errands which included changing money and getting my phone on a network here. Eden already adores Olivier and calls him 'Oyayaya'. If you know Oliver, you are not surorised at all as he is possibly the easiest person to adore, ever. We had coffee and croissants at the Bourbon Coffee at the MTN center; an old haunt of mine. We also ran into the bride whose wedding we will attend tomorrow, Clairice,who is a dear friend. Then Olivier took us to kimironko market where I used to go frequently to buy fabric and gifts. It's a crazy place. Your senses are assaulted by both the stink of the crowded and dirty stalls, and the aroma of delicious food cooking. People hollered at us left and right, asking us to buy their goods or pay them to watch our car. It's funny but of all the places in Rwanda this market makes me physically miss living here the most. I can't explain why, because it's chaotic and loud and dirty, but in my heart I just love it. Olivier helped me buy fabric to have some clothes made for Eden and the we went and picked up an umushanana that the bride had made for Eden to wear to the wedding. It's the traditional Rwandan dress and oh my word the way my heart exploded when i saw her in it.
We arrived back at the house for coloring and reading with cousins, a dinner that included hot fresh chipati, and a much earlier bed time for Eden. Before bed, during her nightly prayer, she detoured from the usual (thanking God for the Robinson family each by name) and thanked God for each of her newfound cousins, by name, and unprompted by me.
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