Lots of Goodies

 

Lovely picture taken by my friend Harris from the top of Westerwelle Startup Haus.

It's been a very eventful few weeks.

Each month we have an entrepreneur's lunch at a different restaurant, where people meet and network. This month I met a lovely couple, who two days later sent me an emergency text asking whether I knew a doctor who does house calls. An interesting question. Turns out, I don't. So Harris very graciously left a conference to follow me into a remote area of the city. The lady had put her back out and couldn't move. What were the chances - both she and Harris are Greek, and he has a similar back condition and had the exact injections she needed. We were able to help them out, and they gave us tickets to their tech event at Westerwelle as a thank you.

That night, I went out with another friend who is staying for a few days, and she brought her friend who was in a horrible situation. She'd come out here to work with local organisation, including the LGBT community, and was kicked out of her home by her host family for being gay. Shitty situation, so brought her home with us and she's staying for a couple of months so that she can finish what she came here to do.

I lost my last house because my landlord's family took it off him for being gay, and I refused to pay rent to someone who would do that. So, it happens a lot still. My friend Carter is holding the first trans conference here soon, he's been turned down by so many venues already and received messages from other Rwandans with the usual gumf about 'it's un-Rwandan,' and 'against the law' (which it most certainly isn't). Thankfully, there's been far more support for the event. Funny those who want to be nasty about it send a direct message, whereas those who want to share the positivity do so more publicly. Still a long way to go, though.

My friend Chris is back in the country and has become an investor in a local restaurant. Looking forward to free pizza and menu testing. Next month they're holding the EU Business Forum there. It's another business networking event, but a bit posher. This week it was held at the British Ambassador's house. Plenty of drinks and nibbles. Walked home with my friend Cecile and started to discuss joint consultancy ventures.

Also helped a couple out choosing a piano. A gentleman had two and was willing to sell one, so I went to check them out and advise. They were both in very good condition, so it came down to preference of sound quality and design. More about that here. 

Had lots of treats delivered. Harris brought a huge supply of chocolate, whisky, pesto and expensive toiletries with him. 

Swanky Rituals Goodies

  

My lovely friend Sameer went to India for a few weeks. Whilst he was there, the tea plantation he works at was sold off! So he's just returned home to see what happens to his job. All a bit worrying. Hoping he gets to stay. He brought me a box of my favourite Indian sweets and told me I had to eat them within a week. Four hours later, I'd finished half the box...

 

Then went to a BBQ and got talking to this lady about our mutual friend Patrizia, who left Rwanda a few years ago. So, we decided to take a selfie and send it to Patrizia...

...and Patrizia replied 'I'm visiting Kigali next week!' She brought me a whole load of lovely cheese, chocolate and numnums.

 

So I'm well stocked for goodies at the moment, and got to do mango gazpacho tasting at CasaKeza the other day. Part of the new lunch menu.

 

My local bar has started doing live music on Thursdays and Victor's opened his cocktail cart.

  

Also had some fabulous nights out. Harris took me to a swanky restaurant, The Hut, for my birthday. Champers was drunk, as were passion fruit mojitos, and BBQ spare ribs (which were eaten, rather than drunk). 

Last beer as a 37-year-old

Birthday Bounty Brownie

Had a grand night out dancing until 3 a.m. with friends Mac, Chris, Harris, Claudia and Antonio last week. My foot is finally starting to get a little better after tearing my Achilles six months ago. I'm still hobbling about like an elderly lady, but I can just about dance again. Really good night. And my friend Kassim came from Belgium with his friend Mario to play a Holy Jah Doves reunion! These guys were huge about ten years ago, so it was a real blast from the past. I used to go with my friend Cathryn to visit him and Lies each year.

Kassim

The only weird thing here is that many of the clubs who put on stunningly good live music, just fill the entire dance floor with plastic chairs and people just sit there watching. It's really weird. Best place so far was Bar 514, which is open air and has plenty of room to dance and decent bands. 

In non-party related news, the wet season arrived with a vengeance. Actually, I don't think the short dry season ever really happened. As a result, loads of houses have damp problems. My landlord said it's happening more and more, and thinks it may be poor-quality imported building materials. Had to have two of my rooms knocked about and replastered.

 

 

 

  

During this, I discovered the most incredible moth. It's as big as the span of my hand (thumb to tip of little finger when outstretched). Incredible creature, and thankfully found its way out before the cats discovered it.

In cat news, same, same.

In food news, soup.

In home delivery news, we had quite a chuckle about what I ordered v. what I got from Horebu Supermarket recently.

Heh.Yeah. 

Anyway.

In news news, things are a bit weird at the moment. There's a massive kerfuffle going on between Rwanda and Uganda, resulting in borders being closed, bridges being burned (quite literally), and troops being deployed.

We've all got one eye on the news from Goma at the moment, as they attempt to stop Ebola reaching the city, from which it could spread along lots of different transport routes. Only, dickish rebels in DRC keep attacking medical facilities, killing doctors and assaulting people seeking vaccination.

And extremely sad news this morning about Ethiopian Airlines, with the Beeb reporting no survivors. Still waiting to find out what happened.

All of this has made me realise, I should really update my blog more often.

Lazy Sunday today, contemplating making carrot cake, cuddling some cats and enjoying The Good Place on Netflix.