Was IS that crawling in my rice?.

Okay, so no one said that living here was going to easy. I get that. I got an email from Tina today that said it perfectly: you sometimes feel like you spend all day on a moto, you get home from work and wash and boil water and get ready for the next day before it’s too late and you collapse into bed. There are some great down times though. I’m trying to get through Anna Karenina (while at the same time reading a typical Jodie Picoult novel). This weekend was one of those relaxing weekends.

We all arrived in August. In our intake, most of us are teachers or TOEFL people but Julie was working at the Kigali Genocide Memorial centre for six months. Well, her time is coming to an end so we all headed out to Jambo Beach on Lake Muhazi for a big farewell. We arrived at different times and ordered some food. We waited for an hour or hour and half for food. Okay, fine. We drank beer on the lake. Sarah and I brought our cameras to practice our skills. We all stayed at the Seeds of Peace guest house next door in little bungalows which, come to think of it, I forgot to take pictures of. Back to Jambo for dinner which we ordered no later than 7:30 and were pleasantly surprised to receive it all in just over 2 HOURS!!!! By this time we were all half cut and challenging each other with eighties movie quotes (I nearly choked on my beer when, out of nowhere, Sarah screamed. Clearly a reference to Home Alone).

 

It was also Sarah who came back from the washroom with a look of terror on her face. She calmly explained that if we were that hungry we could eat the huge spider she saw in the toilet and something about the fact that it was so big it could probably feed us all.  Of course when I had to use the facilities, I brought her with me and …. there it was. Hiding but half sticking out. I even chose the pit latrine (which, I have learned, is also has the pleasantly deceiving name of Turkish Toilet) over the proper toilet because it was further away. When we got back to the table to share what we had seen, half of the group had to come and see for themselves and Jason confirmed my worst fears: yes, it was a tarantula! (A little one, mind you but the last time I check, a tarantula is a tarantula is a FREAKING tarantula.) Thankfully, I’d had 1 ½ Primus (and no dinner at this point…..) so was as calm as I could be. Never mind, dinner came, (cold and late), the beer flowed and Jason negotiated a reduced rate for the half sized portions (at full prices) and long wait. We all headed back to the Seeds of Peace under a starry night. The service at Seeds of Peace was mildly better, in that there was no water at all but wait for breakfast wasn’t as long and the staff were great. Breakfast overlooking the lake and then all the muzungus got on the to Tanzania-Uganda road to catch our buses home. It was a bit sad. Julie is so great and she'll really be missed here, I know that. But I'm planning to visit her in the UK where we can check out the gastronomic delights that don't include melange. I also realized that my time is coming to an end --- okay not really. I'm not even half way done but it did remind me that time is moving quickly forward. Pretty sure I'll be looking at tarantula's at my own farewell.....

Christine and I came here for a snack in the garden. I noticed some flowers that were dying and needed pruning and since I’ve done no gardening since I’ve been here, I decided I could make use of my free time. I began in earnest until I disrupted what might have been a wasp’s nest. Ah well….they’re more scared of me – I thought. Evidently, they were not. I was stung twice. I explained to Christine that I’d never been stung before and didn’t know if I was allergic. So, ever my nursemaid, she calmly got cold water and sting cream as we waited for me to go into anaphylactic shock. I never did. Phew!

 In the afternoon, I went on a hunt for raw eggs and since Consolee’s shop was closed, I was having little luck. Until I thought I’d try Moses at Moderne restaurant. Sure enough he’d sell me some “for 100, because it’s you!” As he gave them to me, he said, “I’ll give these to you for free!” I then promised to come back for lunch on Wednesday. On the way home I heard “ANNA!!!” from a little voice somewhere around knee height at the romp-way. “ANNA!!!!” Sure enough Patrick and his wife, Delphine were there hanging around after church and Pamela has recognized me (or Patrick reminded her). Still – she waved and waved until I got down and she gave me a huge hug.

 Back home I engaged in my usual tidying it up (I’m so messy and leave my stuff all over my house), boiling water, updating the blog, reading, getting ready for and doing some  work. Then, there I was picking stones out of my rice as usually when one of the stones moved. Crawling in my rice was some sort of bug.

 Old Anna: Eeewwww grossssse! And then promptly through out entire batch while promising to never eat rice again, let alone buy it from the market where it sits on the table outside in a large pile as the perfect hiding place for creepy crawlies.

 New Anna: sqwish, toss it aside, continue to pick stones out of rice. Really, can’t be bothered to go on a hunt for rice and market day isn’t until Wednesday.