T'ra Then

Chinese Plum or 'Tree Tomato'

Hmmm. Sitting here listening to Drowning Pool's LTBHTF and wondering whether that's grossly inappropriate given where I'm living ;)

Found Clueless in the VSO library. Never seen it before. Thought I'd hate it but actually a really cute ending. Can't beat a bit of girlie chick-flick mush sometimes.

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I was originally writing this post to describe Friday afternoon, which was a wonderful day. Sad because two vols were leaving: Antonia, who's been here three years now, and Joanne, who was one year. Antonia’s another signer from North Wales, she really helped to show me the ropes when I arrived. She'll be greatly missed, but hopefully popping back in January if we can get a project together.

So, instead of holding a disability meeting, we headed to SoleLuna and had the most amazing Italian melange in the world ever! Utterly fantastic food, and a lovely chat between us girlies in Disability: Martine, Karen, Antonia, Joanne, Amanda, Emilienne and myself. Really excellent day.

Joanne's just got back from Tanzania. She climbed Kilimanjaro with her partner, Morley, and Irish Joe. It was utterly fascinating listening to them talking about it.

Going to postpone my presentation until next time, but gave Karen a one-on-one run through as she was after ideas for a couple of things she's doing.

After that, I headed to Stella with Cathryn and American Alicia who were here for the Kivu Writers Group, an organisation for school children to help develop their skills in poetry, prose and storytelling. Really interesting project, but doesn't have a volunteer of its own, so it's helped along by a couple of vols as extracurricular. They're also suffering a funding crisis. I said I might stop by today and take a look. I'm going to try and give them a hand with funding in the meantime, but a bit wary of taking on too much.

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Anyway, that aside, it's almost 7pm here and D's walked in. He came back the night I thought he went to Uganda, but then disappeared last night. I had no idea what was going on, but at that point I wasn't too bothered - hit despondency.

Anyway, he's come back tonight and amazingly taken the initiative to move out! Literally, front room is full of his stuff and he's waiting for a mate to pick him up, even gave the keys back. There's a couple of things he's lent to friends that he still needs to return but, right now, I'm feeling very relieved indeed.

Didn’t make it to Kivu Writers this time, but will next time for sure. Today I decided to go swimming and spent ages in the pool. It was really good - bit overcast, so not too hot. There were very few people in the pool and I walked to Nyarutarama and back on my own - no hassle. It was dead relaxing, and I saw some beautiful birds - one that looked like a robin, with bright red cheeks and an electric blue breast.

Bought a ton of fruit on the way back: Chinese plums, mango, Chinese lanterns, oranges and even a watermelon. Feasted on it when I got in. Think my body's gone into shock. I'm on a bit of an exercise fest at the moment - think I've spent too long indoors staring at spreadsheets. I just want to go and work off some energy.

Can't believe I'm getting my house back tonight! I keep wondering if I should feel really bad about it? He hasn't got a house yet, but I feel I did more than enough: free accommodation for four months, help with CV, use of the computer and internet, cash, help with driving lessons... really, I think that was enough. He could have really used that time to get a job and get himself set up, but I ended up feeling like his mum. Sooo, live and learn.

David from Salsa called me up asking to take me out for the day, but the buzz says no. Great dance partner, dubious 'anything other' apparently.

I think I'm through with the whole lurv thayng right now. I've got plenty else on my plate and it's all far too complicated here. Ain't worth the hassle. Time to have some quality me time.

Got an exciting day tomorrow, but not allowed to say anything about it ;)