Love Struck

Here are a couple of funny (or unfunny) run-ins I've had with love (and like):

"She's My Sister"

I think it's officially safe to say that men are the same everywhere...whether in America or Africa; Arizona or Rwanda, they still insist on lying and playing childish games.  There are about four students who live in the row of houses behind my house and one of them introduced me to her boyfriend a couple of weeks ago when he came to visit.  Ever since then, she's been telling me, "My boyfriend wants to greet you on the phone...when can he greet you??"  Finally one day, she came to my house on the phone and told me that her bf was on the other line.  We greeted one another in English (he speaks English really well) and then I passed the phone back to the girl.  No sooner than she placed the phone next to her ear, she passed it back to me.  Here is how the conversation went:

Me: Yes?

Him: Text me your number, I want to visit you.

Me: When you come to visit your girlfriend, you can both come to visit me.

Him: My girlfriend?  She told you she's my girlfriend?

Me: Yes.

Him: She is not my girlfriend, she is my sister.  Text me your number.

At this point I laughed and passed the phone back to the girl.  She and her "brother" said their goodbyes and then I told her what he said (this conversation was in broken Kinyarwanda since she doesn't speak much English):

Me: How long have you two been together?

Her: 3 months

Me: He said that you're his sister.

Her: He said that?? Just now??

Me: Yes. 

Her: He is a liar

And then she proceeded to laugh hysterically.  I'm not sure what the joke was, but in America, a situation like this is anything but funny to a girl.  She would be ready to beat me and her man up! Especially with him trying to holla on her phone...with her sitting right there!!  Once her laughter finally ceased, she handed me her phone and told me to read.  It was a text from her "brother."  It said, "You make big things in my heart..like joy, happiness, love..."  This text neither confirms nor denies that he is her boyfriend, but it does confirm  that he's her something.  Needless to say, there are dogs all over the world.

Culture SN: Books before boys.  The girl's parents don't know that she has a bf.  In Rwanda, girls are not allowed to have a boyfriend until they finish their final year of secondary school...Now that's definitely some culture that the US can afford to adopt.

"You Know I Love You"

I have somehow gotten used to hearing those three little words from complete strangers, but the other day, I heard them again and they definitely ruffled my feathers a bit.  There is a college student from my church who had been asking me if we could visit one another.  I obliged, and we hung out one day with one of the ministers from church and with his younger brother.  We all talked and laughed for a couple of hours and then I went back home.  A couple days later, this is the text message I got:

"None se Keza konkukumbuye nkubonyegute?"

The only thing I understood in this sentence was my name, so I text back good morning and told him that I didn't understand.  The rest of the conversation went like this:

Him: I mean that I miss you so much so what can I do?  You know I love you.

Me: I know the people here get a little confused on the difference between like and love so I did my best to explain it to him in the simplest English possible.  I said to him: That is bad to say to a new friend.  You can say I like you because you are like my brother.

Him: Yes it's bad for someone but the Bible said that we have to love everybody whatever is poor or rich or out of Africa.  Both are human beings, so Keza I am very sorry to show you my inside. Thanks.

Me: In America we say I like you to friends and we say I love you to family.  It is just cultural differences.

And then he never responded.

Lesson Learned in all this: definitely no more visiting with guys in Rwanda.  They tend to get the wrong idea.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea