Back to Work for a Rest

MTN Centre by John_in_Kigali

Bit of a hectic weekend :)

Thursday night was a play at Torero called The Rwanda Monologues. Went along and saw Nidhi, Steve, Ivana, a couple of the other vols, David from Salsa, Giudi, Anja - lots of people there. Was good socially, and you got a free drink with the ticket and supposedly free food too, but it never arrived, and I didn't stay long enough to push the matter. The adverts had been in English so I assumed it was in English, but it was in Kinyarwanda and French with English written in the programme. Good concept, but the venue was rather cramped for the number of people, and I think a lot couldn't follow in French so they were chatting instead. I left about ten minutes into it, and escaped back to Stella where Cathryn and her colleague Brad were having a drink.

As a concept, it was a good one, just not really my cuppa tea. Still, the FRW 3,000 I paid for the ticket went to a good cause.

We ended up staying at Stella for a while, eating there and chatting away. It was a nice night.

Friday was excellent, it was movie night at the American Embassy again - an extremely dishy Marine tending the bar :op Went with Cathryn and Brad and bumped into Anja there. It was Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond film. Bit average, sorry - Daniel Craig just doesn't do it for me. People wince when I say I'm more a Timothy Dalton kinda gal. A guy who certainly ages well and made a perfect villain in Hot Fuzz ;)

The editing wasn't so good either - one of those boy films where if you just swift-pan over everything and make it all as blurry as possible nobody will stop to question how impossible the action actually is. If you can't see it, you can't disbelieve it ;o/

Lot fewer people there than last time, too. Think people came in droves before just to see what it was actually like inside the embassy. Also, being a Friday, they probably had other things to do. It was fun though, and so much more welcoming than the British Embassy has ever been.

After that, we headed back to Kisimenti with Anja, who gave us a lift. Went to the new bar that's opened opposite my house and had a good drink.

Saturday was a relaxed morning, then I went to Hirut's for a dinner party. Brad's just moved into Cathryn's old room. There were about 15 people and the menu consisted of wonderful Sierra Leonean dishes like jollof rice, peanut spicy chicken, curry soup, and, for afters, Hirut's legendary chocolate cake and banana rice bread. It was wonderful. Lovely people too, from a range of development backgrounds.

After everyone had left, Hirut brought out the hooka pipe and apple tobacco. We sat and shared the shisha and drank little cups of extremely nice tea. Then Cahtryn and I walked up the hill and swung past home en route to her friend Lauri's house to watch the England v. Ireland match. There was a signal loss through part of the first half, but the game didn't hot up until the very end. 14-13 to Ireland. I could just about keep my head up high. Would have been highly embarrassing if we hadn't swung that last impressive (err, or lucky?) try. I was about one of three England supporters surrounded by around 30 Irish supporters :op

Lauri had also ordered boxes and boxes of pizza from SoleLuna, and had a fridge full of beer. Really beautiful house, too. Met an interesting guy called Kieran who runs a tax and revenue consultancy. He took myself and Cathryn to Havana for a couple of draft Mutzigs after the game. Lovely Irish guy with a penchant for decent poetry. Had a good natter. He's been here six years now and is considering Sierra Leone, so I hope to put him in contact with Hirut.

Then Cathryn and I pootled on to a birthday party at our friend Kersti's house (where we went for pancakes the other week). Lovely big house. The drive was lit by tea lights all the way to the door. Really nice, though we arrived towards the end. Plenty of cake still left, and we had a decent boogie. Some lovely people there. Headed home around 2:45 as we were absolutely shattered and had drunk our fill. Managed to get a lift home with the police, as Cathryn waved them down thinking they were a taxi :op

Slight down is that I caught myself on a step and managed to skin the sole of my left foot. It's extremely painful and I'm hobbling about like an old woman. Doused it in iodine but it's still weeping a lot - had to take painkillers last night to get to sleep. Between that and my moto burn (opposite leg) I've been in the wars, but my chest seems to have cleared up at least.

Sunday, we lay in our beds a very long time, groaning occasionally and trying to remember what we did the night before. Eventually, we crawled to the kitchen to make tea... and discovered the electricity was still off. It had been off since we got back from the dinner party the day before. No tea, no computer, no DVDs. Crap way to spend a Sunday.

To consol ourselves, we went to Bourbon at the MTN Centre and ordered a slap-up lunch followed by ice-cream.

"We'd like to order one scoop of the cheesecake ice-cream each. One with mango, the other with peanut butter and chocolate."

Waitress goes away and comes back with two scoops of cheesecake.

"No, one with mango and the other with peanut butter and chocolate."

Goes away, doesn't come back.

"SSSSSSS, SSSSSS - excuse me, our ice-cream?"

"Ice-cream? But you ordered the cheesecake and a mango smoothie."

"No! We ordered two scoops of cheesecake ice-cream, one with mango and one with peanut butter and chocolate."

Thoughtful pause.

"Oh. But we don't have cheesecake ice-cream."

"Yes you do."

"No, no cheesecake ice-cream. Only cheese."

Cheese ice-cream!? Does that come with crackers and a slice of apple?

"Let me show you..."

Cathryn goes to show her and returns.

"It is cheesecake ice-cream, it's peanut butter and chocolate they've run out of."

20 minutes later.

"Here you go..."

"No, that's one scoop of cheesecake and one of mango - now put one of each of those in each tub - together."

15 minutes later.

"That's it! Brilliant, thanks."

Cathryn's friend once told her: "You know the Rwandan national symbol of the peace basket? It shouldn't be the national symbol of Rwanda. The national symbol of Rwanda should be the back of a waiter."

We laugh about that often, it is so very true.

After lunch we headed home again and Cathryn moved out. She's gone to stay with her friend Isadora for a week. I'm going to miss her, it's been a lot of fun but at least now my liver will get a break ;)

As we were leaving Bourbon, we ran into Brad, who reminded us it was movie night at Paul's. I decided to go as, by 7pm, my electricity was still out. It had come on for about 20 minutes then died again. Well over 24 hours without electricity, and I didn't fancy sitting in the dark on my own all night.

The movie was Milk, a most excellent film. Really enjoyed just hanging out with a glass of wine and some chocolate. It's a nice atmosphere at Paul's, and the films he chooses are often very good. Brad and Hirut were there - they came by Brad's motorbike but walked me down the hill to find a moto. It's a slightly remote area of town. Motos don't tend to traverse it as they assume everyone has a car (sure sign you're in a rich neighbourhood).

So, yes, was a long and interesting weekend. Focusing this week on developing an internal policies document for RNAD. Supposed to have a staff meeting (our first regular one) today but not happening as so many people are away. Rained all morning, so I couldn’t go in - nobody goes anywhere if it rains - then told not to worry as no one is around. Slow as ever, but don't mind so much. Will start packing soon for the house move in a couple of weeks, hosting a friend of the family in May, then probably going to start casting around for jobs come June. See what's out there.

Opened Karen's parcel: full of chocolate, sweets, and other such things that are now hideously out of date. I tentatively tried a chocolate button and it was indeed well past its prime. Marmite hopefully doesn't go off, though? Although it had leaked over everything. Book of Roger McGough's poetry and a Swahili dictionary. All good stuff :)

So - back to developing holiday request forms and expense sheets.

Off to Kibungo again this weekend to see Jeff and Addison. Jeff's thrown in the towel and decided to leave. So many people leaving soon: Cathryn, Jeff, Anja, Hirut, Brad (the latter two may be back soon-ish). I will be pretty friendless after I move to my new pad.

[NB 2013: This was the first time I met Kieran. He's since gone on to become Tax Inspector General of Burundi. He gets bodyguards to go to work, and gave an awesome interview for The Guardian. ]