Adventures with Kittens

Hah. Anyone for a banana murphin? I think it's a West Country recipe... ;)

Or, my ultimate comfort food: French toast (egg-fried bread) with Nutella, bananas and squirty cream. Nomnomnom.

Well, one of my feral kittens is making progress. She now feels comfortable enough to steal my food, sleep on my bed and even once jumped onto a chair to stand on my feet. She still won't let me stroke her yet, but we sometimes play pattercake with our paws.

Food Theft

Destruction of Property

Flea Distribution

My lovely friend Suzanne sent out an aid parcel of cat toys. The Big Blue Mouse has proved a particular hit and each morning I have to walk to the end of the garden to retrieve the poor sausage. The pointy red light pen is also much admired, and has been chased across the porch, up walls and into shoes.

To satisfy my need for cuddles, I occasionally go over to my friend Pieter's house and requisition his kitten, Igi.

In not quite so fluffy baby news, I also have a tiny praying mantis. I think it might be the offspring of the giant one from last year. It's really active, running and jumping all over the place. Even landed on my neck at one point. I think it's kind of cute.

So, what's been going on since the last update? Well, I've had my fill of being irritated by men. The messy one got a job at a high flying law firm, haven't seen him since. Met another attractive-on-the-surface guy, our eyes meet through the flames of a fire, only to agree to a date we never ended up having because he turned out to be such a pain in the arse over whatsapp. Honestly, sometimes I think there are two completely separate dating manuals for the UK and Rwanda. There's no chance of ever being on the same page, because you're not even reading the same book.

I've given up entirely on that and thrown myself into the arts instead.

 

This is me last week singing I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day at the Iwacu Wellness campfire sing-a-long. I get a little less terrified each week, and I'm now trying to find similar songs I can wrap my (limited) voice around. I'm currently in love with I Am Stretched On Your Grave after hearing it on Peaky Blinders. Obsessively listening to it and trying to get my voice to lap up the licks. I find a good way to get your head around a new song is to listen to it through headphones whilst singing along and recording yourself on Audacity. You can always sing along to something more easily than by yourself, so if you can separate yourself singing it reasonably well, you can then learn from your own voice and it becomes easier to find your comfort point.

I would just like to point out the bonfire... Yeah. The bonfire. Didn't fall into it this time. Yay me.

It is such a lovely night. Every Sunday, 7-9 p.m. at Iwacu Wellness Centre in Kagugu - rain permitting. Bring a song, a poem or an instrument.

One of the guys there is restringing my guitar and going to teach me how to use it. Supposed to pick it up tonight, but not sure I'll go as the wet season arrived last week. Each night we have the most amazing thunder and lightning. The whole sky lights up purple and the rain is serious. I currently have a moat around my house at the moment. Considering introducing crocodiles.

With the first rains came the little flying bugs. When the rains arrive they come out of the ground in their thousands. Apparently you can fry them and eat them, but I just like watching them. They only live for about a day.

Although the rain often rains off events, it's also quite helpful. Houses in hot climates often aren't very well soundproofed - lots of ventilation bricks. At least when it rains I can practise singing without feeling self-conscious, because you can't hear anything over the sound of the rain.

Also went to my first Spoken Word Rwanda (Facebook/Twitter) event. Last Wednesday of every month, but they don't usually tell you where until the night before. It was a really good night. Lots of poets and singers. I'm trying to decide if I could build up the courage, but you get so little notice to prepare for the theme.

@Sturrminator performing #2YearsinKigali

Also went to an excellent book launch. Imagine We published their first book by former Miss Rwanda contestant Peace Kwizera. It's a really lovely children's book. Beautifully illustrated by Inkstain, and really important as there are so few books authored and published in Rwanda. It's also nice because it contains some really strong role models for girls as well as boys, each based on a person Peace knows, such as her sister, who was the inspiration for the pilot. It's just a shame Rwanda doesn't have PayPal so that they could sell it internationally.

Also had a fab time at the new Republika (Repub Lounge) in Kimihurura last Monday. The old Republika used to be an institution. This was the first time I'd been to the new one and it's just as good. The marketing guys for Iwacu run an after work networking event every Monday from 5-10 p.m. The manager, Solange, and her brother were there and we ended up drinking with them until closing. It was a really good night.