Lovely Night

AEE Guesthouse, Remera

Finally, a post that isn't bashing the BNP ;)

Taking the day off.

Had a lovely evening yesterday.

Was a long day - 8:30 to 5pm at AEE Guesthouse in Kabeza, Remera for the VSO Leavers' Forum. It was a long day but it was okay. Probably didn't require an entire seven-and-a-half hours, got a bit repetitive in parts, but useful. Loads of people leaving: Eric, Tiga, Andy, Norbert (who only just arrived a couple of months ago), Tina, Bruce, Steve etc. and loads who weren't at the workshop: Joe, Martine, Jane...

Strange. Thought it was a bit early to have it but, after listening to some of the visa info and stuff, it's good to have it early as there's lots to do.

So, finally finished that and walked back towards Kisi with Bruce and Eric, then took a bus to the American Embassy and met B there for film night. Rose was supposed to come too but she had to work late.

They were showing Slumdog Millionaire, which I've wanted to see for ages. B had already seen it but didn't mind watching it again. FRW 3,000 but all the popcorn you could eat. I really enjoyed it. It was a good film, but I think the hype surrounding it built it up too much. It was a good film but not an outstanding one.

Then we left and started walking to get a moto, but instead we just kept walking - all the way from the Embassy to Torero in town! That's quite a walk, but it was excellent, just chatting away. Reminded me of the time D and I walked from the American Embassy to Sola Luna. It's really lovely walking around Kigali at night with someone. Think I got my share of exercise for the month.

Torero was brilliant: Black, Blue, 'Zungu were playing all the classics: Van Morrison, B.B. King - most excellent. Irene and Nidhi were also there, then Ruairi turned up towards the end. Was a nice night and it's B's birthday today so we counted down to midnight.

Was a bit strange being at Torero and not drinking. I'm still on antibiotics - today's the last day (they were supposed to give me 7 days' supply but only gave me six). I think I'll be back at the doc's on Monday though, as it hasn't cleared up. Looks better than it was, but I've still got white spots. I still feel absolutely fine except for the tiredness - really tired, but no pain, no fever - nothing. Very weird.

Just lazing around today. Going to another birthday bash later at SoleLuna. Looking forward to a decent feed.

In Rwandan news: 99% of Gishwati Forest destroyed, NASA pictures reveal.

5th Rwandan Film Festival begins. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a critic of this though as, once again, the advertising has predictably been non-existent. People really have no idea how to make the most of free advertising in Rwanda, so you never hear about anything until it's over. Who is going to make that much effort to find out times/dates/venues? Shan't be troubling myself this year as last year was very shoddily run: late starts, broken screens, hard-to-find venues. I don't think the international movie industry is quite shaking in its boots just yet, especially not with Uganda's Amakula festival just up the road with an extremely good selection and excellent organisational planning. Advertising, organisational planning, and time keeping always let things down in Kigali when it comes to events.

But, anyway.

All is mostly fine in the world.