Partied Out

I drink, therefore I am!

:)o}

Friday night was absolutely excellent. It was Han & Mans' leaving party at SoleLuna. They'd been here two years and befriended just about everybody. About 30 people turned up including Cathryn, Giudi, Paula, Lies, Nidhi, Antonia, Steve, Chris, Martine and a plethora of fellow and ex-VSOs including one lady who volunteered in 1999.

It was an excellent, lively atmosphere and the pizza was superb. We ate much, drank much, and talked much.

Ruairí was staying with me Friday and Saturday night, which was an absolute pleasure (honest mate - great to see you :op), and I managed to raid his hard drive for new music.

Last night was my fourth consecutive night on the razz, beginning with the pub quiz at Torero, salsa at Passadena, and the leaving do at SoleLuna.

We all met at La Lunadora, up the road from my office, where we always hold the VSO Family Dinner during each intake's ICT1 (In Country Training) and there's amazing Intore dancing and food.

Then, as it's Chris' birthday today, a large contingent of us headed to One Love for more drinks and some quality boogieing. Much fun was had by all. The only slight down to the night was when I walked the new guys up to Cadillac to get taxis and then, like a plonker, walked back on my own. It's literally just round the corner but, in that short distance, I managed to attract just about every eejit in Kigali. First a taxi that wasn't really a taxi started curb crawling me along the road. I was polite and said 'oya, murakozi - injourno ngiza' (which I can't spell but translates as 'no thanks, good night') but the guy just kept on going, so I was more direct and told him 'no, leave me alone,' at which point he started rattling off abuse at me and was joined by a moto driver behind who also trailed me and wouldn't go away. I tried to call Eric and Nidh just to tell them I was walking back and to hold out for me, but they'd gone inside to dance so didn't hear their phones.

So, I eventually made the gates of One Love and was walking into the compound when a guy on the road started following me saying 'hey baby, I've been waiting for you - you're so pretty, slow down'!!! Argh! I was extremely blunt and told him to back off, but he kept following.

It was just totally bizarre, and I was a bit shaken by it. I've never had that before and certainly never been hassled at One Love. But, lesson learned - don't do it again.

It was all okay though, and I got home around 2am and flopped into bed.

Lazy morning with Ruairí, catching up on e-mails and organising the next couple of weekends. Next weekend is Tiga's birthday and she's holding a bash in Butare then, the week after, I'm organising a little house party with my friends Jeff and Addison, who live in Kibungo in the South-East.

They have a large house with four spare beds and a pizza oven in the garden, but they don't know many people, so I've invited Martine, Ruairí, Eric and Chris along to say 'hello' on the Friday. They all seem to think they can make it, but see how it pans out. It would be really nice as I don't know that area at all, and Eric lives just up the road in Kabarondo, so I might go check that out after.

Really looking forward to it all as I haven't been out of Kigali for a while and I love VSO parties, they're usually a lot of fun and silliness.

I'm having a real sense of general happiness and health at the moment (touch wood). The start of this year has been a lot of fun - long may it continue. I still don't know anything more about the housing situation come March, but feeling much more positive about everything.