Happy Birthday To Me

SoleLuna

Phew.

Just recovering!

Well, I have to say it didn't quite start out as the best birthday ever. I was really ill most of the week and slept Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (my actual birthday) and most of Thursday.

I e-mailed Paula mid-week to say I was thinking about postponing the weekend because I didn't think I'd be up for it. She'd also sprained her ankle in mumuji on her way back to Gahini.

By Thursday morning I was feeling quite a bit better, though. I decided that it would probably do me some good to get out of the house, and definitely to have something to eat. I hadn't eaten much during my period in isolation. Paula had left me a lovely wood carved birthday gorilla on the spare bed pillow... didn't eat it :)

Bruce came to stay on the Friday night as he had a meeting at VSO. This was really nice. He brought me banana loaf and pecan cake from UTC - very luxurious! He couldn't stay for the Saturday bash, but really wanted to see SoleLuna, so I took him and ate fish - something light for my tummy. Also had a small beer. Felt pretty good. I gave him my bed as he's incredibly tall. Also, because I wanted to finally test out my spare bed and see what it was like. It's hard! Paula could sleep on anything. Might consider another mattress for it.

Paula and Martine had both texted to ask whether the do was still on. I'd replied saying yes, but it seems the network went down as not one of the texts I sent to Bruce, Jo, Martine or Paula got through that day. I was really p!ssed off because I'd spent a fortune texting. Because they didn't hear back, they assumed it was a no and were both in Gahini for the weekend. On top of that, two schools in different districs organised teacher training courses, so pretty much all of the Education vols were off to those.

I was a bit worried come Saturday that no one would turn up. I'd bought a box of wine (£25 - my guard's entire monthly salary), waragi, soft drinks and loads of party snacks. Marisa had already arranged to come and stay with me on the Saturday night. She turned up around 5pm. I'd said 5pm for drinks at mine, then SoleLuna from about 7pm.

We sat around and chatted. I wasn't feeling too confident. Then Jo turned up with her fiancé Pierre and her uni friend Dirk (Dutch), who is out working for some government department. About half an hour later, Sue and Eric came with two new volunteers: Els and Alicia (British and Australian respectively), and two Rwandese friends: Claver and François. Then Ally, my Scottish lawyer friend from the plane, turned up. So, about 12 of us had a really good drinking sesh at the house then went for chow, where we met up with another volunteer who left VSO before I arrived and now works for Handicap International. She was also celebrating her birthday and Joanne & Morley were there. It was a most excellent night indeed. Everyone had a really good time, then came back to mine for more drinks. It was brilliant to have such a mix of people with different backgrounds, not just a VSO crowd. New friendships have been formed and there was a lot of laughter, which is always good. I got the whole 'happy birthday' embarrassing song thing and a candle on my pizza.

Really was good, and I hadn't seen Ally since carols at the Ambassador’s. It is really cool just to catch up with life outside VSO.

This morning Marisa bought a giant papaya and we breakfasted on that and the best chocolate biscuits in the world then headed down to Nyarutarama pool (this time I remembered the way!) and went for a luxurious dip. We stayed for lunch there. Felt like I was on holiday - glorious weather, too. Meandered back and she's just doing some shopping before heading home. Been a fabby weekend, but I'm utterly knackered now. Eaten so much! Feeling worlds better. Hope this week doesn't get too hectic.



[NB 2013: Oops. One more special post. The lady sharing her birthday with me is Lies, who you'll hear lots more about shortly. She lives in Belgium now with her family. It's traditional for Cathryn and I to drive over once a year to see them.]