Farewell Kigali, Hello Freetown

Outdoor Café at Simba

Yippeee!

Yesterday I met Hirut in town and we went and got our tickets. Can't pay for anything on card here, so I had to get the price, run to Bancor, withdraw the money, run back up the hill, hang around 20 minutes for the electricity to come back on, and pay for the flight lol Was a scorching hot day.

But I have them! We leave Kigali at 4:00am on 18th December, change at Nairobi (*cringe* - the worst airport in the world!) for three hours, then take another plane at 9:30am all the way to West Africa and Sierra Leone, where we take a helicopter to the mainland and the capital, Freetown.

Apparently it's going to be very hot, extremely poor, and full of mosquitoes. But... it's not Rwanda! :)

Due to the time of year it's a little tricky getting a flight back, so we're leaving on 6th January at 7:30pm. That's longer than I expected to stay, but really looking forward to it. I've just bought my travel insurance through a site Hirut recommended: International Health Insurance. It's absolutely excellent. Doesn't matter where you live or where you're going to, it's just a one-stop easy click-click-click process, with reasonable prices.

After buying the tickets, we went to Karibu for lunch and to meet up with another CouchSurfer in town. He's here for four months doing research for his post-grad. Nice guy, and he and Hirut went to uni near each other.

We talked the whole afternoon away from arund 1:30 to about 6pm, then moved to Simba for milkshakes and juice. I made a mad dash home, changed, and went to Paula's 35th birthday party at Torero.

This week has been okay. Eric left Friday, and I've been getting to grips with housework once more. I've given Karzai time off after a bag went missing, and I think someone's been drinking some of my supplies. When I first asked him, he didn't recall seeing the bag, then he suggested that I ask D. I haven't seen D in months, so find it hard to see why he would turn up unannounced and take a bag with nothing worth taking in it... I don't think Karzai is dishonest as such, he's had plenty of opportunity to take money and never has. I just think he threw it away and now doesn't want to tell me. There's also the matter of him only doing what he feels like doing. My house is infinitely cleaner now that I've started taking care of it again. Gets me some exercise, too. I'll give him a couple of days work over Christmas, as my house-sitter wants a hand with laundry, and I'll call him when the garden needs doing.

Friday night was a really good night, if a little sad. It was Alicia's leaving do. She's been here two years, and is a teacher out of town. She's the one who got me into working with the arts organisation. We had a great meal at SoleLuna, loads of people there: Cathryn, Ivana, Giudi, Han, Mans, Ken, Amanda and a few others. Then most of us headed to Stella to meet up with the Kivu Writers for more drinks and goodbyes.

I left around 11pm and had a big, slightly emotional, hug with Alicia. Going to miss her. So many people leaving at the moment.

Then, last night, we went to Torero for Paula's 35th birthday. That was nice, but I wasn't in a huge party mood. I stuck around for food, but headed home after. Lots of the new volunteers were there, and I briefly met the lady who is house-sitting for me over Christmas. Apparently, one of J's friends, B, who is from an Indian family, but was born and grew up in Africa (just got back from Goma), took a shine to me at Alicia's leaving do and Cathryn was in charge of giving me his number. Deary me, East Africa, the place to be for speed dating! J's words were 'tell her he loved her' - lol Ah, the intricacies of African romance. Translates into English as 'he rather liked her.'

But, as we know, things are always one extreme or the other here.

Anyway, I think the rainy season has broken. It's getting really hot here and everyone's getting the Kigali cough from the rising dust. Good preparation for Siera Leone. You forget how hot most of Africa is living at this altitude. Uganda was pretty warm, too.

Anyway, back to washing my clothes in the gloriously sunny garden with a tub of Omo and a green plastic bucket. I've missed it, actually.