The Night Before

Dad's been updating his blog and added this old photo of us at Westonbirt Arboretum a few years back. The colours are quite incredible there in autumn. Meanwhile, living in a country of eternal equinox. Sometimes a bit wetter, sometimes a bit drier, but the plants always look the same. It would be nice to pop back and see the leaves turn, but I don't think I'd cope with the weather. 

After doing all that work on other people's pianos, I finally got around to tuning my own the other day. I put the mute rail back on and I've been practising quite a bit lately. Trying to get to a point where I can sing and play at the same time, so working on a few slow pieces and trying to figure out my range. Singing really isn't my strong suit, but then neither is playing the piano, so what the hay. It's fun. It's raining so much here at the moment and there's a certain pleasure in playing the piano with the doors open and the rain pelting down.

Tuning Kit

I got trapped in a café for almost two hours the other day - absolutely torrential. It's rained non-stop all day today, too. Very ready for the dry season to arrive. 

In health news, all's much better but I've had persistent tonsillitis for almost four weeks now. I'd had two rounds of antibiotics and Harris prescribed me a third. It's definitely mild, but it hasn't fully gone away. Final dose tomorrow, so will see what I do after that. Sick of taking pills, but willing to try anything that sorts it out. I've been gargling with Listerine - anything the colour of absinthe is a bad idea.

 

Harris has been cheering me up with fabulous food. Thankfully the throat infection doesn't hurt, so hasn't impeded my ability to scoff fabulous quantities of smoked salmon, towering sculptures of onion rings on burgers, or steaming prawn tempura.

 

 

 

He's just returned from a round trip to Bankock, where he was offered a rather impressive job with an international organisation. Rather proud of him. 

In nature news, I think I found the worm from Labyrinth. He was on my sink and was literally the length of my little fingernail. Very hard to photograph, but very cute.

Wandering to a bar last night, we discovered a fascinating mushroom stump. Looks a bit like birch polypores from the UK, but obviously a local species.

Continuing the week of treats, I booked myself in for a little spruce up on Thursday. My fella gets back tomorrow, so thought I'd make an effort. Found a lovely lady in a quiet suburb who does beauty treatments at home. I had my eyebrows threaded, which hurt just as much as the first time I tried it, had a facial, my first, which didn't hurt at all, and then had my hair hennaed. 

I have to give such a shout out to Malvika for this. She's from India, lived in Rwanda twenty-four years, and grows her own henna plants. She prepares it with a secret recipe and it's the most glorious henna I have ever had. I usually just buy whatever dried sachets they sell at Sharma's - you never get the same stuff twice - but this was made with love. It takes her a day to prepare and two-and-a-half hours to apply and set.

Got snacks and a constant supply of masala chai whilst I waited.

Washed it out in the back yard under the sunshine, which is a rare occurrence at the moment. Then applied coconut oil and had to leave that in until the next day. Could not be happier with it. It's a really gorgeous colour, like fire when it hits the sun. 

It was fun. I'm not much one for beauty parlours. Some people find them relaxing, but being touched by strangers usually makes me a bit tense. She really put me at ease though, and as it was at her home it was more like going round a mate's house than a major event. 

It wasn't all for the blokey. It was also a treat for making it through my first week of my new job. I'm working with two survivors organisations and I'm absolutely loving it. I was living off small, intermittent contracts before and this is a major change in that it's a steady salary with a long-term work plan. I really like the team and it's small enough that decisions get made quickly. The work they do is incredible and I feel really honoured to be a part of it, but I did forget what it involves a little. I worked with survivors a lot during my first two-year stint in Rwanda back in 2007-09, when I worked in disability. I brushed against the subject again in 2015 when I headed a youth human rights programme and we ran a lot of discussions on genocide and invited guest speakers. But since then I've mostly been working in the fields of English editing, e-learning, organisational training and the like. It's taking a moment to adjust back to it. I was doing some work for a student survivors group on Monday, reading a report, and I had to stop for a moment when I got to the 'completely wiped out' project. It's an event they hold each year around memorial time, where they ask friends and neighbours to come and share photos, names, testimonies and any other evidence they have of the existence of families who have been completely wiped out. To tell the stories of families where there was no one left alive to speak. So far, they have recorded over 15,500 families consisting of almost 69,000 individuals. 

Having lived here a while and worked where I've worked, you can find yourself becoming a bit immune to certain things. I've been around Kigali Memorial perhaps eight or nine times, and sat outside whilst others have been round a couple more. I can walk through it with minimal discomfort if I don't stop to think too hard. But every now and then, someone tells you something you didn't know - like the 'completely wiped out' project - and it just floors you. It's good in a way, because it helps you realise that you're not hardened, you still feel and you understand, but you've processed that information and you're getting on with living. You couldn't work in a field like this if you constantly felt everything all of the time. But sometimes you still need a moment to steady yourself. 

As I say, I'm extremely honoured to be working with these organisation, and with such strong people doing such big work. I'm still waiting to hear whether my visa has been renewed, so that's a little stressful, but hopefully this is the start of a long working relationship. 

Meanwhile, in completely non-work-related news, fella gets back tomorrow. He's at Delhi at the moment, waiting for his connecting flight. We haven't seen each other since meltdown-gate, over a month ago, and so very much has happened whilst he's been away. I had a huge health struggle with malaria - and now tonsillitis (sexy). Friends have come and gone, and in some cases come back again. I've started my new job. We haven't said much since he's been away. A few texts, a lot of emojis, and one video call. Some ridiculously pretty pictures of cherry blossom in Shillong.

 

  

But also many days when we weren't in contact. Enough time to think crazy thoughts and for insecurity to bite. He's only got a few hours in Kigali before he has to head north for work on Monday. I have no idea what it'll be like. I'm pretty nervous. Found some old photos harking back to simpler times when we were just drinking buddies and never talked about anything more serious than whether we believed in ghosts. All I can do is wait. See what happens. See how it feels. Underneath it all, we are still friends either way.

Week of Treats

 

Now that my strength has returned, I've gone back to tuning pianos. Had a couple of call outs. One to perform an overpull on this very cute Dutch Rippen, which I first saw back in 2017. It's built to look like a grand piano on its side.

 

 

 

Also went back to tune this Korean Samick, which I helped a couple purchase at the end of February. Nice instrument and holding its tuning well.

Piano tuning is extremely physical work, so I haven't been able to do it for a while. It was nice to get back to it, but I feel like I really want to train other people to do it. It takes around three hours start to finish, and sometimes longer if the piano is very out of tune. Takes a lot of patience. I'm more interested in fixing things that have broken, so it would be nice to have someone else who can go and deal with tunings. If my visa renews, I plan to turn this from a hobby into a company and maybe do take on a trainee. 

On a random note, check out this historic piano my cousin found in Tajikistan.

In other news, been spending a lot of time at Fat Mamas, which is a guesthouse and Indian restaurant where my friend Harris is staying. It's just behind the conventions centre and really quiet. Nice pool and view of the city lights. Some dramatic skies the other day.

 

I've just started a contract with two large survivors organisations in town. When I went to their office to sign the contract, I noticed this on their wall.

(panoramic, click to enlarge)

It's a panoramic of Kigali taken around fifteen years ago, circa 2004. Ten years after the genocide. The hill in the picture above is Kigali city centre and central business district. Loads of trees and not a single high rise building in sight. Hardly recognised it. This is what it looks like today.

[UPDATE: Actually, it's KIST hill, not the CBD, which is far off to the right and out of shot, but it still illustrates the development that's taken place].

Source

Pretty amazing.

I've dubbed this the 'week of treats' because I feel I deserve it for having survived the past month.

Treats began last night at the new Kigali map launch party. I have a talented friend who does tourist street maps for Kigali, Kampala and Nairobi. She's been here for a couple of months updating the Kigali map and last night held a launch party at Inzora Rooftop Café. I bought a couple of copies of her artwork to hang up. Katie, the owner of Inzora, also served up a spiced rum cocktail called the Cartographer, along with a cheese selection board.

The Cartographer

As with any event in Kigali, I bumped into at least five friends, and made a couple of new ones. One of these friends being a lady called Becky, who I went to Kigali Heights with afterwards for beer and a bit more food. Had a really good chat about psychology, social work and the state of the world.

Treats continued this morning when I headed over to Via Via, a place I hadn't been to before. It's run by Astrid, who I also met at cocktail night. She was launching a full English breakfast. People have been searching for one in Kigali and coming up short, so she hired an English guy to train her chefs, and this morning it went life. I was the first customer to taste it and it was spot on. Also, a really nice place to sit and relax - quiet area of town, big garden, absolutely gorgeous dog who walked in a couple of weeks ago and called the place home.

 

 

Another treat was finally receiving a parcel from dad. The postal service is pretty much non-existent anymore. This parcel was dated 10th September and I only got an arrival notification on 14th November. Last year I received a Christmas parcel in March. I ordered some piano parts from the US in July and still no sign of them yet. It's a bit of a disaster. Also, because there's no door-to-door postal service here, everybody has to go and collect anything that arrives. I ended up waiting over half an hour to get my dad's parcel, but it was worth it. Full of chocolate and nice things. Thanks dad!

Post Office Queue

Treats will continue this week, although interspersed with crazy amounts of work as my contracts start on Monday. Will explain a bit more about those at some point in the future. Sameer also gets back from India in one week. I'm hoping there might be treats then too, if I get two seconds to see him before he has to go back to Gisenyi.

Out and About

I have been out and about a lot in the past week. Fully recovered now and friends in town. This is the lovely Antonia, who I first met in 2007 when I was fresh off the boat and living in a little roundhouse in Kisimenti. She turned up at the gate with another VSO volunteer, Karen, both working with the Deaf community. I was a newly-arrived sign language interpreter here to support the development of Rwanda's first dictionary of Rwandan Sign Language. The VSO community is strong and many of us have stayed in touch all these years later. 

Antonia sometimes pops back to Rwanda to catch up with friends and visit ongoing projects. It was a real pleasure to see her again, it's been many years. Plenty to talk about over lunch at Kiseki. 

Kiseki Green Tea Ice Cream

Had a lovely evening at Harris's lodgings, which is also an Indian restaurant with a pool. It was dark, so no decent photos, but I hope to go back for a swim if it ever stops raining. We chowed down on malai kofta whilst watching El Camino, the Netflix follow-up film to Breaking Bad.

Also had a lovely lunch at Kigali Heights with the Kigali Entrepreneurs Forum, which is an informal business network. We meet at a different restaurant each month to chat and share business information. 

In between all that, I went for a tour of a local health centre that's opening in January. I'm waiting to start a contract with two survivors organisations, and this is one of their projects. It's really impressive and I got to look inside an ambulance. 

There's some interesting things about ambulances. To keep down noise pollution, they're only allowed to use their sirens at blocked junctions. Someone said they can be fined otherwise. This is maybe an okay strategy in cities, as none of the houses here have double glazing or any form of soundproofing, but it's tricky out on the country roads where they come tearing past in an emergency, but you don't hear them coming, so you only know if you happen to glance in your mirror. Sometimes feels like they're trying to drum up business.

A friend asked me why you'd need a siren on an ambulance, and I explained how in the UK, when people hear a siren, they know an emergency vehicle is coming, so all the cars pull over and stop to let it pass. It makes the response time much faster and avoids accidents.

Someone said, 'But it's the same with the president's cavalcade. It doesn't use sirens either.'

But the president's cavalcade, when it passes through town, radios ahead to the police who stop all the traffic. They don't need a siren to warn someone they're coming because there's nothing in the road to hit.

It's an interesting balance between wanting to keep noise pollution to a minimum and wanting to keep people alive - both patients waiting for emergency help and those who might accidentally get in the way of a speeding emergency vehicle. 

There was also the issue of equipping the ambulances, which is very expensive. Currently, the three ambulances above are sharing one defibrillator because they cost around FRW 3 million each (around £2,500/$3,300). And that's just one piece of equipment you need for an ambulance.

It was very interesting to learn about the challenges faced by emergency services, and to look around the health centre. It's going to be an interesting few months and I'm looking forward to visiting projects in the field again, which is something I haven't done in a few years. 

Had another nice night out with Harris, checked out a restaurant we hadn't been to before - Billy's Bistro at Century Park. They do a Fancy Friday and it's very fancy and very yummy. Shiny menus. For under 10,000 you get a starter, a main and dessert. We were even treated to an extra dessert - chocolate mousse and cheesecake. Great atmosphere, view of the convention centre, friendly staff and live music. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Excuse the excessive pictures of table tops, but they've decorated them to look like old shipping containers and I thought it looked really cute.

  

Then, last night, we headed over to see Andy and the gang at White Club, the new name for former Pacha Club/Metallica/Rosty VIP in Kimironko (places round here change their names a lot). Viva Beats is a tradition for us. I'd say they're the best live band in Kigali. Seriously talented group and a real music hall atmosphere. They don't start until late on a Saturday, but the place is always jumping by the end - so many people dancing to an infusion of rock, modern pop, Congolese and East African influences.

They live to spread happiness - it's always an endorphin rush. We stumbled home in the early hours. Three straight days of drinking and enjoyment. Having an exquisitely lazy Sunday today, doing nothing of any importance. Might tidy up a bit later, might not. Time for another cuppa tea. 

After a shitting awful month, things are slowly returning to normal. Health is immaculate, still haven't found Gizmo yet but not giving up hope, and my relationship has been salvaged. Was a bit rocky for a moment, but thanks to a three-hour time difference between here and Shillong, we were both awake at stupid o'clock in the morning one night. He texted and we started talking. We're crazy about each other, and I guess that sort of crazy can absorb a few mistakes. I just can't wait for him to get back - another two weeks. Long-term readers will know it's been over a decade since I tried an actual relationship, and that didn't go so well. It takes a while to adjust to having someone else in your life, being vulnerable, insecure, trusting each other and getting to know one another. Not to mention the difference in our living arrangements and lifestyles (his pristine house and full-time staff, my rather untidy, self-catered bachelorette pad with cats). Yes, we've been friends a long time, but drinking buddies. There's still a lot to learn.

But I'm looking forward to it. I'm very much in love and excited for the future.

I'll leave off with a lovely picture Harris took of the bonfire at Jo's place the other day.