R&R

This Saturday, a friend and I took a day of R&R at the Hotel Serena in Kigali. Even though we were only a few blocks from my house, it felt like we were a world away on vacation. We began the day with the hotel’s breakfast buffet, which was exactly what I’d been missing – crepes, eggs, sausage, fresh bread, tomatoes, bacon, potatoes, fruit, real juice, coffee. It was perfect, especially sitting on the porch overlooking the garden and the pool. After breakfast, we moved down to a couple lounge chairs by the pool. The next few hours were spent laying in the sun, drinking Fanta and watching the past two weeks' episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (it only takes a couple days to download an episode on iTunes!). Eventually we decided to go for a swim, which was nice, even if the paint from the bottom of the pool did dye our feet bright blue. The best part of the day, though, was probably the shower I took after swimming. I’m sure it probably sounds strange to be so excited over a shower, but if you’d been using the shower at my house for the past six weeks, you’d be thrilled to have both hot water and water pressure too. After a late lunch and some more lounging by the pool (and maybe another shower, if I dare admit it), we went to Bourbon Café, a new, very-western coffee shop, complete with comfortable couches and wireless internet. Not a bad vacation considering I never left town!