I just spent the last five minutes sitting here in my living room watching our two geckos compete from prime eating territory. One had its tail arched and the “click, click, click” sound are fighting words. Eventually that one realized there were enough bugs in our house that there was no need to fight it out. Plenty to go around boys! He just meandered on top of his roommate to find another hunting ground. Today is Sunday and very relaxing. After Jean, our guard, was at his usually 5:30 sweeping ritual, I fell back asleep. And then I got a 6:30am text from Aimey (very welcome), after which I fell back asleep again. I eventually woke up at 8:30 and spent another hour staring up at my mosquito net before deciding I should make the most of my day. Now, what “make the most” actually means I’m not too sure. I made myself some coffee and sat and read for a good 2 hours! I gave up on Brick Lane. Wasn’t enjoying it at all. So, I started Water For Elephants and am already happy I brought it from home. Today was already a good day. Well, then the wind picked up and because all our windows and doors are open, things started blowing and the doors started slamming. No sooner had I I got up to get a rock to prop it open when I caught a glimpse of Tina hurling bricks onto the roof of one of the out buildings. I went out to help because I could clearly see that the tin roof was blowing up and needed to be weighed down. She told me that last year the wind came up and left 20,000 people without roofs! Okay, back to enjoying my day – until Tina told me that our water has gone off. This has happened a few times since I’ve been here and it never lasts more than a few hours. I originally was annoyed at the sound of our “running” toilet but it’s a welcome sign because it means the water is on. However, it could last weeks – or so I’ve been told. Last night I even had plans to top up our jerry cans this morning. Lesson number one: When you think your jerry cans need topping up, don’t wait until tomorrow! Do it then! I have faith (pray with me here, folks) that the water will go back on today or at least tomorrow.
Regardless of the water situation, I decided to put on my sneakers and get some exercise. That doesn’t not mean running – as I think the only time one should run is when one is being chased or if you’re life is in danger because of an erupting volcano or something like that. And even then, everyone KNOWS that lava does not move that fast so a light jog would, I’m sure, be sufficient. No, I was going for a walk. I put on my sneakers which are barely a year and a half old but still a bright white thanks, in part, to the Talisman centre and the fact that I never do exercise outside. Why would I? Of course, three steps into my walk they were covered by the red dirt of Rwanda and the idea of keeping my shoes clean become a novelty (sort of like the idea of running water). The walk was pleasant enough and I was greeted often by a “Mzungu Bite!” (Not bite as in bite a piece of cake, but bitte as in the German “thanks”). It’s a slang “hello” and used by young people. (Thank God, they don’t think I’m old!) I came back hoping that the water had turned on and was disappointed to find out that, no, we’re still waterless. But happy to find out that Tina was making stew for lunch. Yum! Today is a good day.
Yesterday, was also a good day. A trip the bank to withdraw some money from the account that I “opened” on Wednesday. Well, I think it was too much to ask for the bank to be open during its regular 8am -11am Saturday hours. It’s been closed since Thursday due to a system failure and, as far as I can see, has no plans to open. That was okay because I have some money left. We went to the market to buy the only vegetables and fruits it looks like I’ll be eating in the next year – and even then Tina has told me that the variety is remarkably higher now than it usually is. We bought tomatoes, carrots, garlic (to add to our avocado, green beans, potato and peppers already at home) and we bought passion fruit, lemony-orange things, Japanese tomatoes and pineapple (to add to our bananas). I bought a pair of flip flops to wear around the house but need to disinfect them, as I’m sure they are used.
Then we decided to catch a bus to Kayonza where we hoped to jump on a moto to take us to Lake Muhazi. Well, we lucked out because when we arrived at Kayonza we were able to grab a bus which is much cheaper, even if we did pay the mzungu price. We stopped at Jambo Beach where Tina and I ate most our lunch without Jason who was having the time of his life watching birds. We felt very relaxed and then we wandered down the road (it’s actually the road to Uganda) to visit the Seeds of Peace guesthouse. We ran into another volunteer and sat on the grass and chatted. None of us swam for fear of bilharzia. Back home the driver dropped Tina and I off right in front of our house. Before we made a fruit salad for dinner, we redecorated the kitchen. We put in an extra shelf and Tina brought in a cloth wall hanging with pictures of her neighbourhood in London. After which I told her that I had a gigantic Canadian flag that my mom gave me. She was so excited (she loves Canada – who doesn’t?, Really) and we put that up to cover most of the holes. We also put up a Bolivia postcard I brought to cover the other holes. That will be our decorating style – we’re asking all of you to send post cards to cover up the holes in our kitchen. Email me for my address, if you want!
Later on….
We just returned from a great dinner at Jason’s. You can tell this guy has done this before. He lived two years in Eritrea and so is good at this “living with no fridge, one pan, one burner, wash all your food in iodine, boil all your water” thing. He had Tina and Suzanne and I over for supper. Tina is a GENIUS because she suggested we bring over a towel and shampoo in case his water is working. Well, not only is it was it working but he must have the best shower in all of Kibungo. Oh, don’t get your hopes up. It wasn’t hot – it was still FREEZING – but it sprayed evenly and just with the right amount of pressure (unlike our pouring stream of cold water). We showered and were served sweet and sour stir fried vegetables over rice with CHOCOLATE for dessert. The genius thing was that he (and Tina and I imagine every other experience volunteer) has packets of powered sauces (curry, sweet and sour etc.) that they brought from home. Genius. We walked home in the PITCH BLACK and stopped at the store to buy bread. The men there know us now (are there any other mzungu girls in Kibungo) and they were all drinking, offering us Rwandan whiskey. Thanks, but no thanks. Now I’m ready for bed, clean and ready to face my first whole week working in Rwanda.
Much later on…..like 8 hours later (Monday morning)
Thank you to Jean for his 5:30 sweep, sweep, sweeping for if it wasn’t for him I may not have heard the leaking toilet. At precisely 5:41 am I heard the best sound I’ve ever heard. Our toilet started to run. Of course I debated waiting the hour before getting up but realized that I learned my first Rwandan lesson: DON’T WAIT! So as I put my sandals on I heard that Tina had the same idea. The shower was already running for us to fill our jerry cans, our buckets, our basins and our bottles. Our water comes down in one straight stream – usually – but because of this pressure it was splashing everywhere. I took one jerry can outside because the tap there has much better pressure. Pressure is an understatement. There I am at 5:45 in the morning trying to fill up this HEAVY jerry can with water spraying and gushing everywhere. I’m getting soaked and I think more water is ending up on me than in the can. But, forty-five minutes later we managed to get everything filled up. So, I’ve decided to not go back to bed but to stay up, drink a coffee and read my book. Looks like this week is already looking good!
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