Yesterday we took a break from translating and transcribing to go see our Rwandan colleagues' home institution, INES – Ruhengeri, and play some sports! There was an intense basketball game between our REU team and the INES staff and student team, but our REU team finished strong and won the game 22-20. 

 

After the game was over, some of us stuck around for a rematch, while others ventured over to the volleyball court. After a few ‘oops’, we finally got the hang of it and had a lot of fun! It was interesting to see how serious the Rwandan locals take their community sports. There was a crowd cheering on both the basketball and volleyball games, along with a few referees! There were also 30+ school children running around and playing their own games. 

 

After volleyball, we noticed there was a small group of adults jumping around and what looked like dancing. We made our way over to check it and join what ended up being an exercise group led by the gym class teacher at INES! We were challenged to sit on the ground and try to stand up with just one leg, and it was way harder than it looked! Only the teacher and one other person was able to successfully do it. After that, we partnered up and had to stand on one leg, and hold our partner’s leg as well as their other hand. If that wasn’t hard enough, we then had to jump and spin around!! We continued to do more stretches and exercises, and lots of jumping! It was by far one of the funniest and unexpected experiences I’ve had, and one that I will never forget. Once that wrapped up, we made our way back to the basketball court, took a group photo, and made our way back to our hotel to have dinner and work on transcriptions.