Kigali

For my second day in Kigali Tina and Silvie took me to "town" so I could see what the city was like and so I could exchange some money at the foreaux. We took a bus from Tina's neighbourhood to downtown (referred to as town) for 150 Rwf. The bus if really more of a full size van but of European make with 5 or 6 rows of seats and special fold up seats in the aisles. The busses are manned by two people, the driver and a younger guy who works the door, letting people in and out, collecting fares and hollering out the window which bus it is.

On arrival in town my previous impression of there not being that much traffic was quickly countered. The traffic is simply concentrated in the centre of town with thongs of people on foot, masses of motos and many many cars and buses all in a state of semi-chaos out of which some sort of order manages to form, though I'm not sure how. Sivlie needed minutes for her phone which can eaily be purchases from any one of the many boys in the street wearing yellow smocks with the MTN (local phone comany) logo on the front and I was able to exchange some of the American money I brought with me at this little office where you sit in a cubicle and the trade what you have for what you want. 50 USD got my just over 28000 Rwf. Next we caught another bus to the Rwanda Development Board office where we were to meet Hannah and here coworkers (who will eventually be my coworkers) for a farewell lunch as it's Hannah's last day.

A driver from the RDB as well was Apollo (who works at the RDB) drove us to an incredibly fancy restaurant where we ordered our fill of food and drinks and chatted leisurely in English and Kinyarwanda over a meal that lasted several hours. The food was very good, though the waiter got my order wrong and once again everyone was incredibly friendly and did their best to engage my quiet self in conversation.

Upon returning to Tina's house we went in search of an internet cafe so I could let the world back home know that I was alive and well at my destination. Upon arrival at the cafe we learned that it was closed but no worries as we encountered a friend of Tina's who had a teeny portable computer and was more than willing to go with us to SFB and attempt to access the free wi-fi there. Tina's friend was quite happy to meet me and was the first person I met who knew of Saskatoon (as opposed to just Montreal) and was excited to go there and visit his friends, hopefully sooner rather thjan later. And no, of course, he would also have to visit me. And I would be happy to have him.

After our internet adventure - the wi-fi at SFB didn't work but a friend of a friend of a friend had a hard wire connection that I was able to use for a few minutes - Tina and I returned to rest at her place for a while before getting ready to go to Apollo's for Hannah's farewell party. Once again we caught the bus but Tina was one the phone getting the last of her directions from Apollo so we got off a stop late. It wasn't a far walk though before Christophe (I think that's his name) saw us and got our attention so he could act as our guide and help us stumble through the dark to Apollo's house.

At the party were a few people I have already met at lunch - Apollo, Angelique, Chritsophe - and some new people, namely Emma from the RDB IT department. Shortly thereafter two of Hannah's other friends arrived - Rachel, and American med student in Rwanda doing reasearch and Lindsay, a Bristol grad student also gathering research in Rwanda. After much chatting and eating and drinking (it seems I never eat or drink enough to satisfy the quota the Rwandans I am with have set for me) for a few hours the four "muzungoo" girls set out to meet the rest of Hannah's ex-pat friends at a sports bar on motos which Apollo negotiated for us. My first ride on a moto was exhilirating, especially since it was night and therefore quite cool.

Shortly after arriving at the sports bar many many more people showed up, including all the US marines who work security at the American embassy, a few other Americans, some Dutchmen, Belgians and Germans, many of whose names I can't remember. The sitting in combination with the beers previously consumed made many of us pretty tired pretty quickly and after an hour or two (I have no concept of time) Angelo called the marines' driver and we were off to the dance club Planet/KBZ. This was probably one of my bigger culture shocks. The club seems sooo unbelievably sketchy to me, containing the most scantily clad women I had seen since arriveing in Rwanda (outside this bar skrits any shorter than knee lenght pretty much don't exist and cleavage is generally not shown) and a whole lot of gangsta looking guys. It made my think of the club in Save the Last Dance, but much less posh and more run down and for a long while I felt very out of place and rather uncomfortable. After a period of adjustment though it wasn't so bad. A few of the guys at the club even realized that we weren't up for crazy close dancing (us girls looked after each other pretty well and Angelo wasn't afraid to look all body builer and scary though not everyone got the hint) and we met some other Europeans who were out celebrating a birthday. All in all it was a fun night that ended with the Marines' driver taking me back to Hannah and Rachel's place for the night.

Daily Smiles

I started noting the things each day that bring a little smile to my face. Many are small cultural differences that I notice or they may be things that make me think of someone from home or that represent one of the challenges I am sure to face here. Most of my entries will finish with such lists.

- when the guy on the bus was collecting fares from everyone and leaned against my seat and also partly against me to reach the people in the back of the bus and me realizing that this is one of the moments when my personal bubble gets to be smaller than I am used to but no larger than is normal here.
- the fold up seats in the aisles of the buses that would likely never fly in Canada
- Emma asking to touch my hair and me agreeing thinking of all the times I've done it to Kevin and Eric cuz it "feels funny"
- meeting a guy named Didier on the walk back to Tina's from SFB and smiling as he is not the first Didier I've met though I can't say I would have ever expected to meet even one
- everyone constantly telling me to eat and dink more. It reminds me of Vika.