Sunday September 27, 2009
Tonight is my first night alone in Rwanda. Tina has gone home for a few weeks and I’m sitting here eating and….just a little bit jumpy. Why? you ask…just read on, friends. Just read on.
It was a great weekend! Kigali was actually very overwhelming. I wasn’t used to all the lights (and when I originally got there I thought it was dark!). There was great (and expensive) food everywhere. If I cook for myself in Kibungo, I probably don’t spend more than $20 in a week. I think I spent that over the course of my whole trip to Kigali. But, it was so great to meet up with other volunteers and see how everyone was doing. Christine and Dorothy came back with me to Kibungo as there house is another 45 minutes past me. We spent the night relaxing and ate a big meal before heading off to sleep. That’s when the fun started!
Christine shared a room with me but as I was falling asleep under the protective cover of my mosquito net, I hear the familiar “buzz, buzz” of, what the British and Australians call, a Mozzie! Bugger was INSIDE the net. So, trying to not disturb Christine, I turned on the light to find him. It’s the mosquitoes that are out at night that carry malaria. So, I wanted to find her (it’s only the females that carry malaria) before she found me. But to no avail. No worries, I’m sure she’s gone, so I head back to sleep…until….
Tina had said she was going to watch a movie and so, if she was too loud, we were to tell her. I started to here her saying “Ah! Get out…get out….” At first I thought it was the movie, until I realize that she was talking to something. I thought it might be a bee or wasp. But it continued and then I heard some banging. So, I got up and – at the last minute - decided to put on my sandals. As soon as I open my door I see it – Stuart Little running away from Tina who is shooing this little black mouse out of the house. (I guess it wasn’t Stuart Little because he is white, and drives a convertible….) So, she grabs the broom from the dodgy room where he has just ran. He’s hiding behind the shelf and then she’s trying to hit him outside and he’s scared and trying to climb the wall. Then he runs toward me and toward back in the rooms, so I jump a little and then block his way and “gently” kick him toward our door, which is locked and we don’t have the key but eventually with feet and broom he manages to get outside to FREEDOM!!! Jean our guard (or Johnny Boy, as he is called) has been staring at these hysterical girls in pjs, kicking the mouse out. We returned to bed, happy that the mouse is safe outside. Then Tina hears a thud. The next morning there was fresh blood in our back yard.
The funny thing is that Dorothy heard a little bit of this and Christine slept right through it! How? I don’t know! I got back into bed and had a hard time controlling the giggles. I tried because I didn’t want to wake Christine.
Today was a lazy day of a gourmet breakfast (rolls from Kigali and fruit from Kibungo) and amazing Rwandan coffee. We eventually wandered out for mélange and to the internet café. We ran into Jason and went over for tea. We hid out from the rain and came up with ideas of Zanibar at New Years’s. Tina has gone and now Dorothy and Christine are back home. I guess I’m officially on my own now. Cooking today I found a wasp hanging around the veggies. I swatted it away and couldn’t find it – until I felt something on my leg. There he is! I wasn’t sure if he’d stung me because I’ve never been stung so I don’t know what it feels like. But then I realized that I don’t know if I’m allergic, so I got my phone to call Jason incase my throat swelled up. Don’t think he bit me. I guess I’m officially on my own now. If I’m a little bit jumpy….it’s because I’m wondering what creatures I’ll have to face on my own. Greg the Gecko has moved into my room which will at least keep the mozzies away.
No comments:
Post a Comment