New to Kigali

I realized tonight just how easy it is to identify people who have just recently arrived in Kigali from those of us who have been here a while. I went to a party at a house where fourteen interns for an international non-governmental organization are living for four months. These fourteen have been in Rwanda for almost three weeks, and while that may seem like a decent bit of time, I realized tonight that it's really not. Two of my friends and I were the first to arrive at the party. While we walked in wearing jeans or casual skirts with basic shirts and scarves, the interns were wearing the latest fashions from the rest of the world, dressed to the nines in cocktail dresses or cute pants and tops, all complete with high heels. At first I wondered whether we were just under-dressed for the occasion (which was Saturday night), but as more and more people arrived, I realized that it seemed to be a difference based on how long we had been in Kigali. It became easy to look around the room or the porch and identify who was new to Kigali and who was not. The new ones were much more well-dressed, had put on makeup and had used straighteners and curlers to fix their hair. The rest of us had thought we were doing well by wearing clean clothes and showering (neither of which is always an easy feat).

I think I may be in fashion trouble when I leave Africa.