The Bradley Bop

What a weekend.

This was me on Friday night having just ordered my first ever home delivery pizza in Rwanda!

How amazing is that? Taking a leaf out of Naked Pizza's book, SoleLuna now delivers to the door... well, close to the door. My house takes about three pages of directions, so they did well. The guy walked back with me, and remembered exactly where it was the second time.

All this for around FRW 7,000 (£6).

Very cool.

I was working at home Friday night. There wasn't much in the cupboards, so I decided to treat myself. Friday is Friday, after all.

Sadly, things got progressively worse from thereon in...

On Saturday night I headed back to Izola to meet up with some old friends: Simon, Aaron and Shakur. These are old-time drinking buddies. It used to be them, me, Brad and Cathryn touring the bars of Kigali. We hadn't seen each other in five years!

Five years ago: Aaron, Brad, Simon and Shakur

We truly missed Brad and Cathryn. Brad used to wear a baseball cap and do this dance, which has now become an institution.

Uh, yes. I do sound like a moron. I had been drinking (heavily) by that point.

These guys are just the best. Shakur's gone back to school, and his English is really good now. Aaron works as a physiotherapist up north, and Simon has become a bit of a celebrity. He's a talented intore dancer and artist. He's toured around the world. The government picked up on this and paid to send him to South Africa for a Master's degree, then gave him a job as events co-ordinator to the President! This year was the 20th anniversary of the genocide, and he was in charge of organising a four-month Olympic-flame style tour of a lamp around the country. It eventually ended at Gisozi, where Kagame himself lit the commemorative flame.

So, Si is pretty well known now, having been on TV a lot. He used to work on films like Shooting Dogs and, I think, Last King of Scotland. We met in a recording studio by my office the week that I started work in Rwanda, then had a chance reunion some time later over pizza. It's nice to say 'I knew him before he was famous,' but, honestly, he hasn't changed much.

Simon, Shakur and Aaron through beer goggles.

Also met another friend of theirs. A nice guy, but he likes his drink and, I suspect, the ladies. He offered me a place to live and when I looked across the table Shakur and Si were both shaking their heads. These guys have got my back, it was funny.

We started drinking properly around 8pm, and had to keep going because it was England v. Italy (let's not talk about that, shall we?). We drank our way through that, then me, Si and Shakur headed over to this weird stretch of road near Amahoro. The entire place is end-to-end bars. There was this awesome place called The Lemon Tree, where Si introduced me to some Ugandan friends who run a restaurant. 

I completely lost track of time, and when we left they wouldn't let me take a moto because they said they were unsafe, so they paid for a taxi. The taxi guy was really lovely, but he miscalculated a speed bump - actually, I don't think he saw it at all - and after he hit it the engine cut out. I assumed it was because we'd hit the bump so hard, but it turns out he'd just run out of fuel. So we waited in the middle of the road with a local guard (and his AK47) whilst a midnight moto went to fill up a can for us. I couldn't leave him and take a moto because he'd promised Si he'd take me to my door and call to say I was home safe.

By the time I reached my gate, it was almost 6am and starting to get light! I accidentally woke our guard, Jado, and we sat watching the sunrise together.

Kigali at 6AM

From My Room

There's a wonderful meme...

It is so true. I was BROKEN. I slept until about 2pm, spent the entire day in my PJs watching re-runs of old TV series, and only moved when I needed the bathroom or a cup of coffee. Oh, and to order another pizza. I am so out of practise, and these guys are pro. 

Everything hurt, and there wasn't even waragi involved.

I swear, I am never drinking or smoking ever, ever again... at least not until next weekend.

It's Monday now, and I still don't feel 100%. I have been productive, though. Ran my first Associate Consultant interview this morning via Skype to Kampala. Really positive experience, very talented person. I have a face-to-face back at Izola on Wednesday with another lady. I will not be drinking anything other than Fanta.

Planning to continue the recruitment drive for local consultants over the next couple of weeks, then start fishing for work mid-July, after my work permit comes through.

Popped back to the bank today. Left with a big smile on my face as I picked up my business chequebook.