Wow. did I mention that time passes quickly? Maybe not. But I have been thinking it for about 4 weeks now. And I think everyone else that I have met here is also thinking the same thing. Ok, wait. That just sounds egotistical. My bad. But what I mean is that it seems that a lotof the people are utterly shocked when I say I've only got 3 days left here. Yup. You have read correctly. 3 days. Wow.
So. What has been happening this week? Sunday was definitely a crazy day. I’ll try and keep this one shorter as last time it got REALLY long. The last bit to add to that week was that there were two rather large cockroaches that I witnessed the deaths of. The first one was stuck on its back outside and when I walked by it I realised it was being devoured by tons of ants. You go ants! Rid this world of those creatures. The second one was chilling outside my room when I got back. One of my house mate ladies was walking by so I called her over to see it. She casually started stamping on it with her barely clad feet and then picked up its remains with her BARE HANDS. She looked at me, laughed and said, “You fear?” When I just sort of feebly nodded she swung it in my face, laughed again and walked off.
Sunday I got up pretty early. I didn’t mean to but I woke up at 6:15 with this black thing hanging directly above my head. So I though I should probably get up and get rid of it before I even tried to get more sleep. Bit of a fail, I missed it and it fell onto my bed and swiftly crawled under my sheets. Hmm. So after pulling back all my sheets, shaking them off and finding nothing, it was time to start getting ready for church. Chaka, Claire and I headed up the hill to catch a bus and stopped on our way to get some breakfast at the little boutique shop place. It was yummy :) Hard boiled eggs, chapatti wraps and ginger tea. The men were interested to see how I would handle the ginger tea as apparently it’s quite strong and even the men “cry” when they drink it. I liked it though! It was very refreshing.
Claire headed off to her church and Chaka and I ended up waiting for a bus for too long. Bit of an adventure and we got to church almost an hour late but it was all good. It was a very good service at St Ettiene’s. I headed off to Remera afterwards to meet the Baby Class worker Cathy, an English lady, and her family. I got there like an hour early so I ended up walking around this convenience store for a good 40 minutes trying not to look suspicious. Cathy and her family arrived and I went off to their house for lunch. Great family, very lively and friendly. Had a wonderful meal, pizza and apple cake with custard, and it was kind of nice to have western food for a change. I stayed at Cathy’s the whole afternoon. She took me to her kids school, KICS, which was very nice and then dropped me off in Remera to meet a friend.
I had met this girl, Becca, at bible study. She was in Rwanda for 6 months as part of her college program. We went to this evening worship service called Heart of Worship. It was great to be involved in true heartfelt worship again. Very encouraging. I ended up taking the wrong bus back but luckily got off in time. I called Louis and asked if he could give me a ride home as I wasn’t too keen on taking public back by myself when it was so late. I sort of scared them as they weren’t sure why I had to call for a ride but it was fine.
Monday I actually spent most of my day in the office, helping to type up exams. I’ve been doing a lot of office work and I can actually almost type without looking at the keyboard at all now. I’m rather proud of myself. I was planning for a trip to Butare on Wednesday to see the National Museum and the Historic King’s Palace. I figured something out with Winnie and arranged to go with Justine. There was no water that night and there was still no water Tuesday morning. Blurgh. I had an early lesson so I taught and then went to Baby Class and helped out. Porridge was amazing on Tuesday. I don’t know what they put in it but it was incredible. Did more typing in the office and then headed back to the room to talk to the parents! And my Grandma :) It was nice. They were preparing to head down to Cambridge with Andrew. Oh so weird. Evening check: Still no water.
Wednesday Morning: Still no water. I had to take a “shower” with a wet wipe. But that’s just new experiences for you. I had to be up before 6am to get to Remera for 7. Hey, guess what? Nina, the not-a-morning-person person made it :) I got breakfast from the same little boutique by the main road. I met Justine and we headed to Butare. Not any problem getting tickets or anything and I fell asleep on the bus which was good. Got to catch up on the sleep I missed. Got to Butare around 10ish and we were dropped off literally right outside the museum. Nice.
The museum was interesting but it was just Justine and I walking around reading things. We headed up to the main part of town afterwards, got some lunch (which was really yummy) and then got a bus to Nyanza to see The King’s Palace. The King’s Palace is so cool! It’s the traditional hut and layout of the compound and it was amazing. I got to see the traditional cows and there was a new born calf which was 3 days old. So cute! We had arranged with the Nyanza bus company to be picked up directly from the KP place so that was convenient. We got back to Kigali and then went to Gishushu for bible study. Lots of people that night! Got home and… THERE WAS WATER! :D Everyone rejoice!
Thursday midterms started. So I just sat in the office and kept typing. I was invited to this hang out dinner thing at a restaurant called Mama Africa. So I went in the evening. It was raining and muddy and the guy who invited me gave me a lift on his bike so I was soaked by the time I got there. But it was good fun! I met LOTS of new people as it was the birthday of one of the girls so many showed up. I got a ride back on the motorbike again and because I didn’t put my foot on the foot rest, I melted the bottom of my shoe off on the exhaust pipe. Oops. Oh well.
The next day, I had been signed up to go with the little kids (Middle Class, Top Class and Primary 1) to this children’s fun park called Bambinos. We weren’t leaving till 9 so I got to sleep in :) Whoo! Bambino’s was fun but tiring. After I got back to school, I did more typing but I had to leave around 3:30 to meet a couple called Nicholas and Elsie at 4. Elsie runs a craft store and its all made by widows of the genocide. They’re such a great family. Hazel introduced me to them when I first got here and I hadn’t seen them since so they invited me for dinner.
There was a bit of confusion while I was waiting to meet Elsie because there are too many petrol stations of the same name around that area but we finally found each other. I went with her to her Bible Study with the ladies who work in her shop. I bought a couple of things and then headed to her house for dinner. WOW they have a nice place. I met her two younger kids, Juliet and Jamie and had a great evening with them. I didn’t get home till 10pm. I went to bed and slept in this morning for the first time in awhile. I think my bed is giving me scoliosis though. It’s not exactly flat…
So, today I was hoping to go to Gisenyi with staff and friends but no one was really available so I had to cancel it. I’ve been in the office again. Typing up tests etc. I was planning on going into town to do some things but I think it’s too late now. Tomorrow is church and I have some things to do in town. Monday is my last day at school and I’m planning a small party for the teachers. Then Tuesday I’ll probably be in school for some of the time, and then I leave in the evening. It has been such an amazing time here and I am truly going to miss this country and these people. There is no doubt about it, I am coming back.
P.S. I fail at keeping these things short.
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