Am I Dead?

6:30 am.

Hmmm.

Never did make it to KBC.

Ended up at SoleLuna. There were loads of people there as both Brad and a VSO, Tina, were having their last night goodbyes, so loads of vols and loads of Brad's mates. It was a wicked night.

Eventually all the VSOs except Ruairí - who is staying with me - and everyone else in the restaurant, went home. Guess what happened...

Lock-in mark II :op

Serious. We stayed so long that all the staff left again and turned the lights off on us! It was hilarious. So we just carried on, Cathryn had some Vodka and we just sat and chilled out.

One of the best moments was one of Brad's mates sitting next to me - this blew us both away - read the fifth paragraph of this post I made on 16th November 2007, my first week in the office.

This guy I was sat next to? Simon.

The whole table turned when we realised and made a huge commotion about it! He'd seen me once before with Brad and he thought it was me but wasn't sure. Totally funny and such a coincidence. We're pledged to remain firm drinking buddies. He was touring in the UK at the end of last year so gave me an update on everything going on there and we chatted away for ages. He's a cool dude.

We had such a good night but eventually it was time for Brad to leave. I've never seen anything like it before. There were four of his Rwandan mates, me, Cathryn and Ruairí left. When he finally made his exit everyone except Ruairí (who had only just met him) were in tears. It was majorly sad. One of the guys took it particularly hard and was really sobbing. I tried to comfort him by singing Everything's Gonna be Alright and Redemption Song.

It all went a bit quiet after that, all trying to reconcile ourselves to a world without Brad, then he called and told us to get over to his place - there was gin left and he didn't have to be at the airport until 6am. So Baudouin managed to pile all six of us into his car and we high-tailed it over to Nyarutarama to continue the party.

I think it was good. Cathryn wasn't quite ready to let go yet. I hate seeing her so sad, they were really close friends and she said it'll be the same when I leave. It's such an unpleasant part of ex-patting. People come, people go. Hey oh. Snow. (Sorry, got the Chilis going round in my head ;) ).

So, Thursday night was a seriously late one. Ruiarí and I stumbled in through my gate at 6:30 this morning! Man, we were whacked. We sat on the doorstep in broad daylight looking at the world wondering what just happened.

We slumped straight into our beds and zonked out. Was a blessing not having to put the mosquito net down as the mossies were all asleep before us.

Our trip home was aided by Baudouin, who gave us a lift up the hill before going back to take Brad to the airport. On the way out of the compound the guard stopped us and did a full boot check and everything - it was really weird. I'll have to ask what that was about. Could just have been he was bored and wanted something to do, or maybe because it's umaganda today he was checking why he was working or something. Dunno.

Anyway, on the subject of Baudouin, he and I took a little sojourn upstairs toward the end of the night and got groovy together. He's a really nice guy, though we were both sooo tired. But it was fun. Think I may be seeing a bit more of him. It's nice and uncomplicated. D sent me an 'I miss you' message the other day and I still haven't replied yet. Which is bad of me, but I just don't feel inclined to. I like D, always have, he's a nice guy too, but I just don't want a full-on relationship right now. Or at least, I don't want to feel responsible for someone. It sounds silly but it makes such a difference to go out drinking or for a meal with someone who can pay for themselves and has a steady income. Also someone with a good group of friends, who you can really relax around. With D it was always my friends we hung out with or, when it was his, they were just so quiet and you felt like you were constantly carrying the conversation. I'm done with quiet. Brad likened me to a 'disco ball' that just drops down into the social situation. I don't know exactly what he meant by that, but it was meant as a compliment and I think he was saying people notice me and perhaps I bring a little sparkle. I like being likened to a disco ball. But you can't keep up the energy without people who also radiate energy - like Cathryn, Brad, and so forth. You hang out with people you bounce with.

Aaanyway. It was a great night and a fitting farewell.

I needed to go to the bank today and Rauirí was meeting another volunteer, Joe, in town, so we took the happy bus (playing cheesey music) to UTC and then went down to the Dream Hotel sports bar where Steve joined us for the Everton v. Chelsea match. It's been a scorching hot day. We ordered food and I found myself with yet another cold beer in my hand. He's gone off for a night out with Paula & Sonya but I was totally knackered so I'm home relaxing. Going to put on a DVD and crash out. Really need to catch up on some sleeeeep but extremely happy and well in myself.