Surprise, party!

I got home from school a little late last night from school and unbeknownst to me, Alodie and I were having company. I walked in and dropped my bag when Alodie shouted “JaniE, Karibu” (welcome). In the living room was a friend of Alodie’s and then her fiancée showed up! It was great to meet them and Alodie was positively blissful. Having 3 people who all speak a common language when you do not is slightly strange for a host. I sat on the couch, smiled and nodded while Alodie made and served dinner with tea and everyone spoke Kinderwanda.  Fabien, Alodie’s man is very nice and I was really glad to meet him. I think he is a farmer, he definitely speaks no French or English and is very sweet to Alodie. They were quite cute and she often smacked his arm and giggled. Apparently flirting is universal.

In celebration, Alodie had made meat. Meat (not sure what animal) is served in smallish chunks with no knife, so the only option is to put a piece in  your mouth and chew.  I think because it was my house, I got a rather large chunk. At the beginning of dinner, I put it in my mouth and began to chew. I chewed and chewed and chewed. 15 minutes later, an exceptionally long dinner for us, I was still chewing and hadn’t made a dent. I started to ponder my options.  Should try to swallow it whole and take my chances with choking? Do people in Rwanda know the Heimlich? Could I do the self-Heimlich like Miranda in Sex and the City? At one point when no one was looking, I spit it into my bowl. It was still huge, but now gray and horrible looking so I decided I couldn’t leave it there.  I spooned it back in my mouth and gave it another shot. Even thinking about swallowing activated my gag reflex. Finally, everyone was done,  (still chewing) I grabbed all the plates, motioned for Alodie to sit and went out back. I dumped the plates and spit the massive chunk of meat out the window. The impromptu party was fun and I am glad I met her friend and Fiancée but it took the rest of the night to recover from the meat trauma.