After another long and great week, I was looking forward to a mzungu filled weekend. A large VSO contingent would be descending on Kibungo for the weekend for a day trip on Saturday to Akagera National Park (like Rwanda’s answer to the Serengeti or like the Masa Mara’s little brother). I had opted out of the trip for two reasons. One: I have already been. Two: I am planning for a safari in the summer in Kenya or Tanzania. But I was excited that my friends were coming for a visit AND I’d have a relaxing day of reading, blogging and general being in Kibungo.
Friday morning I slept in and when I woke up there was no electricity. No problem it’s probably just gone off. It will be on when everyone gets here. You know, as I’ve said, we have no power or water during the day now. It usually comes on around 5:30 or 6pm with the water following shortly thereafter. It might sound like an inconvenience but the truth is, because it’s predictable you can find reliability in that predictability. It’s not so bad if you plan for it. Anyway, I made coffee on my kerosene stove which, I believe, to be a bigger threat to my safety than malaria because I should not operate heavy (or basic) equipment without caffeine
The day was good and I got ready to meet the girls at the bus for 6pm. At 5:30pm, on cue, the lights came on and….10 seconds later, promptly shut off. Damn! And just as I was plugging in my computer - which had exactly 11 minutes of battery life when I turned it on. Then it came on again – phew! – and off again. And then it didn’t come back on. And either did the water. Okay – no problem – four people in my house with no power or water and a few jerry cans filled. Nte kibazo! While I waited for the bus to pull up the sky opened and the rain came down and down and down and after the girls got off the bus we huddled under the gas station shelter until it abated – which it never did. Eventually we went to the store attached to the gas station (which I often frequent) and the guys there served us beer and peanuts and brochettes. It wasn’t so bad!
The next day the water and power were still off but the gang headed out at 5:30 and I spent the rest of the day reading, napping and one 4 km walk to the post office (only to find parcels for other people and none for me – stop here to pity me for just a moment. Okay? Okay.) At 5:30pm I got a text saying that they would all have dinner in the park (just as well, because cooking and eating the dark is never fun). I rushed up to the district office to plug in my phone and charge my computer. I got there are realized I’d left my back door wide open so I had to come back home. I made some eggs in the dark and then raced up to grabbed my phone from the office just in time to get Karen calling to tell me they were on their way. On my way home, past the romp-way (round about) all of a sudden all the lights in the town went out. And then back on and when I arrived home I was so happy to see that my light was on too. It was a miracle!!! I don’t mind having no power but when I’m hosting friends – and when my computer is dead – I realize that I don’t adapt well to some things here. They just annoy me. So when I saw the lights my heart lifted and I realized it made me so happy that I should write about book about getting light. Then I realized that Genesis already covered that and I suppose it’s a much bigger deal when God says “Let there be light” and the whole world gets it than when Electrogas makes the same statement.
The gang arrived shortly after and we stayed up chatting. I was happy to hear that their weather was good and they saw an elephant which is so rare in Akagera!. Well done. Today is Sunday I had a nice lunch with Karen and Jeremy and finished my third book of the weekend. Yes folks. I finished THREE books this weekend. That’s what happens when there’s no power, I guess. Here they are (in case you’re interested):
Friday: I finished Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult. Honestly, I picked this book up at the program office in Kigali one day when I had arrived for one night but realized I had to stay two nights in the city and didn’t bring my book with me. It is a typical Jodi Picoult formulaic piece of crap. Some family comes up against some crisis that is so controversial and the lawyers get involved and blaze a trail for this medical drama. And just when you think you’ve figured it out and there are 12 pages left, the main character dies. Okay, so this was good in My Sister’s Keeper – when it was the first book of her’s I read. But it gets old really fast but the fact that I predicted that the main character would die didn’t exactly make the book less enjoyable. See – I think that was impossible. And yet, I still read it. But then again, I’ve been addicted to season 1 of Gossip Girl. I guess my standards are sinking about as quickly as Titanic (which, by the way, as a movie I would classify with Jodi Picoult novels).
Saturday: After my long walk to the post office, I curled up on my couch with Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller. I think I’d started watching this movie on the plane to Peru but found it strange and boring. I never finished it but this week when I was in the program office, I picked it up. Partly because it was nominated for a Man Booker Prize but mostly because it was short and I’m still slogging my way through Anna Karenina. This book was oddly fabulous. Okay – I’ll admit, a little creepy (42 year old teacher has a relationship with a 15 year old student) – okay A LOT creepy – but that isn’t the creepiest part. The creepiness factor was high because of the narrator, herself. So, I finished this book mid-afternoon and the creepiness, was in part because the writing was so good that I’d felt that I’d spent all day with Barbara, the narrator.
Sunday: I began The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne on Saturday (when I realized that my light was no going on and so I couldn’t even watch one episode of Gossip Girl). This is a kids’ book (would make a great novel study in Grade 7! – and ever the teacher I’ve already begun to think of lesson plans…..) and so I finished it after a few hours. It’s a cute story about a German boy who’s father works at Auschwitz (which he calls “Out-With”) and a Jewish boy who is a prisoner there. It’s apparently now a ‘major motion picture’ which I think could be good – and much better than a minor motion picture, or worse a major still life picture.
Now…sigh, I think I must continue with Anna Karenina. But I have a shelf full of a few others that could contribute to my procrastination. Oh…what to do? … Oh, I think I must go. There are kids banging on my gate saying “Anna!” They’ve been doing this all afternoon and running away when I approach. (Okay, I know that since I’ve been here my complexion is like the Face of a Thousand Hills but I’m not that bad. Am I?)
….
The kids didn’t run away. We chatted and I explained that they didn’t have to run away but it was okay to say “hello.” They were friendly and now they know I’m not a big scary monster.
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