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.