One And A Half Years!

Bourbon, home away from home.
View from MTN Centre balcony.

May 4th 2009. I've been in Rwanda exactly one-and-a-half years now :op

I'm sitting on the bed feeling faintly sick. This is due to over-indulgence.

Once again, with colleagues busy with other things so not much reason to go to the office and sit on me tod, I decided, after a leisurely peruse of e-mails, a cup of tea, and a shower to meander over to the MTN Centre in Nyarutarama for lunch and a change of scenery.

I've been trying to write this sodding academic article on the standardisation of sign languages for weeks and, despite a strong start, I was slowly losing the will to live every time I looked at it. It's supposed to help advise the country's leading academic on disability, and any others who would like to debate the relative merits of Deaf ownership of sign language. It's not like I have much to do at the moment: this, an internal procedures manual, and a funding application - that's about it, and when you have so little to do, people notice when you don't do it. I was starting to feel like a bit of a scrounger and realised that my time invested in the Single Parents Network was becoming disproportionate to time invested in my actual placement.

Drastic action was required.

Hence, MTN Centre. And, to be fair, it worked. I promised myself I could have as many really expensive cups of coffee as I liked providing I didn't leave until it was finished. It had to be done. No wasting time on the internet, no skiving off with a good book.

So, one grilled chicken salad, marakuja juice, and two tall cafe lattés (with little crumbly butter biscuits) later - a 7,200 word essay on the standardisation of sign language and the dangers of linguistic imperialism was born. I celebrated with a large slab of double chocolate brownie.

Hence I'm feeling a bit queasy. I was gagging for chocolate yesterday, but didn't have any. I've survived the past few days on peanut butter rolls and diet (ironically) cuppa soup. So, I figured I deserved a treat. Only my body can't handle the calorie shock it once could.

I think I spent about five hours there in total and spent a whacking total of FRW 8,000 (almost GBP 10) - which is a huge amount, but it needed doing and I couldn't do it 1) in the house and 2) without brain sustenance.

It feel like it's been a very relaxed but productive day.

Then I went to get some bread in the shop downstairs for peanut butter sandwiches tomorrow and found camembert and tinned cat food!!! First time I've seen either of these in Rwanda. I splashed out. Spent a small fortune in there, but the cats are extremely happy. Though they're not fusspots over food, which is nice, so I will adjust back to tinned sardines and bread afterwards. Think Felix will give them good stinky farts though :op

There's not been a huge amount to report of late, really. Oh - though some very sad news, Marilyn's friend Julie didn't make it here as her mum passed away. Thoughts are with her. Hope she makes it here another time as I know she very much wants to see the country.

I'm still busy on the job hunt. Got turned down for the first one I applied for a few months back. Never mind, plenty more in the sea etc. Been looking at Afghanistan, Sudan, Chad and Egypt - quite a few jobs about but it's the experience level which is tough, very few entry-level positions for international development. Still, not in any huge rush, though it'd be nice to be making money again for sure.

Just pootling along really. Feeling pretty groovy, but really need a holiday at some point. Finished a fantastic book today: Sister of my Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, the lady who did Mistress of Spices, only this was ten times better. I was blubbing like a baby at the end :op

MTN are still top of the crappest company in the world ever list. The internet is like watching paint dry, some days you don't get it at all, and they still charge stupid prices for a service they can't deliver. On top of which, they changed the text message centre number so that it wipes out all your text credit. I spent a whole day wondering why I couldn't text anyone. Then, two days after doing it, they send you a text message telling you the new number and it works again. If the brainiaks had any concept of customer service, surely they'd tell you that before changing the number, not two days after? Numpties.

But, yeah, I'm bored of bitching about them.

Not much else to say, really. Life's life 18 months in.