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Friday, 6pm, a soirée for our new Country Director who is starting at the end of May. Me thinking 'casual drinks at the bar' - boy am I glad I wasn't wearing jeans! Huge marquee, reminiscent of carol singing at the Ambassador's house, almost all 40 volunteers, many of their bosses, and the new British Ambassador. Quite a turn-out. Rivers of free booze, mountains of - mightily delicious - free food. Total decadence. Had fun, but was tired pretty quick. I had a long day between writing documents, the Capacity Building meeting and IT training. I'd been asleep until 20 minutes before I arrived, but I was looking good - appropriate for the occasion - and it was nice to see everyone.
Afterwards, we all hitched a lift with the outgoing Country Director to SoleLuna for Geert's leaving do - another volunteer cutting short and running. Happening a lot here. About a 50/50 split between those ending early and those extending. Life is tough, even by VSO standards apparently. They have trouble keeping people and I think money does become an issue after a while. It's too tempting to go for the big salaries with the UN or Ministries, rather than tough it out with no running water as a volunteer. *shrug*
SoleLuna was okay. I shared some wine with Viv. Not quite as sweet when you're paying for it, though ;) Didn’t stay long. By half-nine I was on a moto to Drew's as he was having a BBQ. It was Regis' 25th birthday. Again, more free booze than you could shake a glass at. He'd even filled the bath with ice. Where the hell did he get that!? Some other VSOs appeared: Cathryn, Epiphanie, Judy, Loona, Eastern Alicia (rather than Kigali Alicia) and her sister Jenny. It was fun. Packed with Rwandese guys, including Christian, who looks sexier every time I see him.
After that, they headed to H20, and the VSO contingent took a cab to One Love to re-join the SoleLuna crowd. We danced the night away. I found myself a dancing partner, Michael, who was very cute and excellent to dance with. Unusually for me, we actually swapped numbers. But I was direct about 'nshuti, si umugabo' (friend, not husband ;) ). He understood, and it would be cool to see him again for more dancing.
Ezra is flying out on a Canadian tour today. He wanted to record something last night, so I hadn't heard from D, who had gone to help. I rolled home exhausted around 2am but I have no idea when he got back. I have a vague recollection of hearing the lock going and the birds singing, but could be confused. It's half-ten and he's still sleeping, so maybe not...
But, anyway, a girl's got to dance.
It's been a long week. I haven't done tons, but I feel shattered. Thursday was long. I had a text at quarter-past seven in the morning from Augustin saying 'meeting, VSO, 9am - go'. I had no idea what the meeting was about. It turned out to be a really important one for planning the last year of DFID funding. I was there from 9-4pm. Then from 4pm I was at the IT workshop with Lauren, an American teacher who wants to get involved in our organisation. She signs well, and is totally lovely, so we went to Chez Lando for drinks and chat. All going well, but overdue a holiday and can't wait for Kampala. Bring it awn.
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