The day I turned 31
I try not to linger to much on details, I think it is better to try and keep it brief... except I'm not very good at not rambling. I though that to give you an idea of life in detail for one day. My birthday seemed like a good idea as I can compare it to last year: I worked a day in Minuteman, got my first hemorrhoid which was congratulated by my flatmate, had a great night out at the Holyrood Tavern where I used to work, a quick photo shoot for the Nukes surf band and the day off the next day to introduce an arachaphob friend to a tarantula at the butterfly farm. great day.
by comparison: May 24th 2007 (all times approximate as I don't have a working watch... don't need it) Ginsenyi, Rwanda
04.00 Woke up to a banging noise outside the hotel room, when to check to out, didn't see anything more than a couple of cats on the roof.
05.00 Woke again to a mosquito buzzing in my ear, so I got up and set up the mosquito net above my bed. I woke up Flic who was in the bed next to me, we were sharing a twin room, she also set up her net.
08.00 Woke up. I finished reading my book, I read a lot here, more than I have read in my life I think, It helps to have a good book for all the times spent waiting. This book was excellent, it's called 'shackled Continent' a former writer from 'the economist' looks at why Africa is a mess, I have a much better understanding of it all now. I would never have bothered to read the book if I was not here, But I now have an understanding or the people and places so things make a bit more sense. Flic gave me a snickers bar... yum.
09.00 popped to the hotel reception and gave them my bucket for hot water so I could have a hot water bucket shower. luxury.
09.30 Flic and I joined Fred, a Canadian that we met up the Volcano in Congo the day before, for breakfast. I ordered one tomato and toast each, a black tea for me and for Flic warm milk.
09.35 I got my omelet and tea.
09.40 we got presented with 4 pieces of uncooked bread bun which we send back to be toasted.
09.50 the toast and Flic's milk
10.00 the butter arrives
10.05 after a bit of questioning Flic got a cold omelet. Despite ordering the same thing for 4 days in the same hotel somehow they get it different every time. They over charged because they claimed that today the omelets had 3 eggs instead of 2.
10.30 packing and procrastinating packing, it is kind of equivalent to cleaning my room. Flic gave me another gift of a bracelet she made from hair beads in the colours of the Ethiopian flag (rasta colours)
11.29 Decided I had to pack my steel caps and wear my flip-flops due to my under-the-callus blister that i had popped the night before had re-sealed and re-filled.
11.30 spent a while negotiating with the hotel in bad french to store our luggage in the office while we went out, they were not happy about the bike in their grubby office.
12.00 one hour in the internet, I wrote and posted the blog on Congo while my email slowly opened, took 45 mins to finally get there: no emails. filled in the rest of the hour mucking about on Myspace. Flic researched logistics, visa, hotels and country information.
13.00 Left our small bags at the internet place and went down to the lake for a swim, were followed by a few children and 3 women who laughed at the state of my skirt that is now ripped at the back.
13.15 went swimming in the lake as a small crowd formed to watch the spectacle. Some girls came in the water with us and we impressed them with our handstands.
13.30 left the water and attempted to get dressed and remove the wet bikinis with some sort of dignity. the children (now numbering 30) kept a respectful distance of about 40cm... moving in closer to get a better look and better laugh at my unmaintained bikini line and discussing the world of weirdness before them.
14.00 back to the hotel for their $2 all you can eat buffet of starchy foods.
14.30 bought bus tickets to the capital Kigali, negotiated the price of getting the bike on the bus.
14.45 played card games for an hour waiting for the bus to leave.
15.50 popped across the road to the bus station, although no one helped me with my bag a few in the ubiquitous crowd asked for money for their services. I don't pay people who do nothing. I got a seat over the luggage compartment on the (rather large) bus, this way i could see if anyone was getting my bag out when we stopped.
16.07 Bus left. This is surprisingly on time. Flic was in the aisle so she had a smelly old man who dribbled on himself engage her in conversation that was translated by the guy behind ("you are lovely etc"). We had fantastic views of children, hills, children, lush green farms, children.. tons of children, I mean ridiculous amounts of children... how are all these kids going to get jobs when there grow up? Not many old people, I think the average life expecancy in this area is about 47 years... which makes me over middle age.
20.00 Dark arrival into Kigali, the bus dropped us off near a hotel we found in the guidebook. Our legs were still suffering from the volcano hike and I was weighted down with a far-too-full backpack and Flic has her bike (Edward) the hotel was full except for the most expensive room, but the staff were rude so we chose to walk to the next one.
21.00 after an hour walking up steep hills with all our gear loaded onto Edward, a group of guys approached us one moved in like he was gong to push me... showing off to his mates, as he grabbed my arm i pushed him back he resisted so i punched him in the shoulder "oh solly, solly" he said "Go Away." I said.
21.30 We asked a many people, referred to our maps a lot and finally got to our third choice of hotel. it was a bit smelly, but the price was good so we booked for 2 nights. I pointed out on the registration card that it was my birthday and asked for a discount... I have got into the habit of saying things in slow, clear English then attempting to repeat them in bad french, as I don't know the french for "may I have a discount?" I replaced it with "a little gift for me?" The manager smiled and charged us full price.
21.35 The manager returned with a lovely and very frilly Christmas card sealed in plastic and unwritten on. "happy aniversaire" she said, I was chuffed.
21.40 The manager returned again and showed us photos of his girlfriend who does no live in the city but is going to school somewhere at the moment.
21.45 The manager returned again to show us some more pictures of his girlfriend, they shall be married next year, he is very happy about that.
22.00 we went out in search of food.
22.30 our 5th resturant and a hell of a lot of walking and talking to people later we found a place that was: 1) open, 2) had food 3) had a cook and 4) could serve us. I orders number 31 on the menu: chicken soup. perfect, well worth the wait.
23.00 headed back to the hotel, where I wrote this down and watched an occasional beetle scuttle across the floor.
Yep, so that is a day in the life. tomorrow Flic and I go to Burundi. It's a county that I only learn existed last week. did you know about it? its tiny and just blow Rwanda... I have know idea what is there, hopefully a boat and a way to get through to Tanzania.
by comparison: May 24th 2007 (all times approximate as I don't have a working watch... don't need it) Ginsenyi, Rwanda
04.00 Woke up to a banging noise outside the hotel room, when to check to out, didn't see anything more than a couple of cats on the roof.
05.00 Woke again to a mosquito buzzing in my ear, so I got up and set up the mosquito net above my bed. I woke up Flic who was in the bed next to me, we were sharing a twin room, she also set up her net.
08.00 Woke up. I finished reading my book, I read a lot here, more than I have read in my life I think, It helps to have a good book for all the times spent waiting. This book was excellent, it's called 'shackled Continent' a former writer from 'the economist' looks at why Africa is a mess, I have a much better understanding of it all now. I would never have bothered to read the book if I was not here, But I now have an understanding or the people and places so things make a bit more sense. Flic gave me a snickers bar... yum.
09.00 popped to the hotel reception and gave them my bucket for hot water so I could have a hot water bucket shower. luxury.
09.30 Flic and I joined Fred, a Canadian that we met up the Volcano in Congo the day before, for breakfast. I ordered one tomato and toast each, a black tea for me and for Flic warm milk.
09.35 I got my omelet and tea.
09.40 we got presented with 4 pieces of uncooked bread bun which we send back to be toasted.
09.50 the toast and Flic's milk
10.00 the butter arrives
10.05 after a bit of questioning Flic got a cold omelet. Despite ordering the same thing for 4 days in the same hotel somehow they get it different every time. They over charged because they claimed that today the omelets had 3 eggs instead of 2.
10.30 packing and procrastinating packing, it is kind of equivalent to cleaning my room. Flic gave me another gift of a bracelet she made from hair beads in the colours of the Ethiopian flag (rasta colours)
11.29 Decided I had to pack my steel caps and wear my flip-flops due to my under-the-callus blister that i had popped the night before had re-sealed and re-filled.
11.30 spent a while negotiating with the hotel in bad french to store our luggage in the office while we went out, they were not happy about the bike in their grubby office.
12.00 one hour in the internet, I wrote and posted the blog on Congo while my email slowly opened, took 45 mins to finally get there: no emails. filled in the rest of the hour mucking about on Myspace. Flic researched logistics, visa, hotels and country information.
13.00 Left our small bags at the internet place and went down to the lake for a swim, were followed by a few children and 3 women who laughed at the state of my skirt that is now ripped at the back.
13.15 went swimming in the lake as a small crowd formed to watch the spectacle. Some girls came in the water with us and we impressed them with our handstands.
13.30 left the water and attempted to get dressed and remove the wet bikinis with some sort of dignity. the children (now numbering 30) kept a respectful distance of about 40cm... moving in closer to get a better look and better laugh at my unmaintained bikini line and discussing the world of weirdness before them.
14.00 back to the hotel for their $2 all you can eat buffet of starchy foods.
14.30 bought bus tickets to the capital Kigali, negotiated the price of getting the bike on the bus.
14.45 played card games for an hour waiting for the bus to leave.
15.50 popped across the road to the bus station, although no one helped me with my bag a few in the ubiquitous crowd asked for money for their services. I don't pay people who do nothing. I got a seat over the luggage compartment on the (rather large) bus, this way i could see if anyone was getting my bag out when we stopped.
16.07 Bus left. This is surprisingly on time. Flic was in the aisle so she had a smelly old man who dribbled on himself engage her in conversation that was translated by the guy behind ("you are lovely etc"). We had fantastic views of children, hills, children, lush green farms, children.. tons of children, I mean ridiculous amounts of children... how are all these kids going to get jobs when there grow up? Not many old people, I think the average life expecancy in this area is about 47 years... which makes me over middle age.
20.00 Dark arrival into Kigali, the bus dropped us off near a hotel we found in the guidebook. Our legs were still suffering from the volcano hike and I was weighted down with a far-too-full backpack and Flic has her bike (Edward) the hotel was full except for the most expensive room, but the staff were rude so we chose to walk to the next one.
21.00 after an hour walking up steep hills with all our gear loaded onto Edward, a group of guys approached us one moved in like he was gong to push me... showing off to his mates, as he grabbed my arm i pushed him back he resisted so i punched him in the shoulder "oh solly, solly" he said "Go Away." I said.
21.30 We asked a many people, referred to our maps a lot and finally got to our third choice of hotel. it was a bit smelly, but the price was good so we booked for 2 nights. I pointed out on the registration card that it was my birthday and asked for a discount... I have got into the habit of saying things in slow, clear English then attempting to repeat them in bad french, as I don't know the french for "may I have a discount?" I replaced it with "a little gift for me?" The manager smiled and charged us full price.
21.35 The manager returned with a lovely and very frilly Christmas card sealed in plastic and unwritten on. "happy aniversaire" she said, I was chuffed.
21.40 The manager returned again and showed us photos of his girlfriend who does no live in the city but is going to school somewhere at the moment.
21.45 The manager returned again to show us some more pictures of his girlfriend, they shall be married next year, he is very happy about that.
22.00 we went out in search of food.
22.30 our 5th resturant and a hell of a lot of walking and talking to people later we found a place that was: 1) open, 2) had food 3) had a cook and 4) could serve us. I orders number 31 on the menu: chicken soup. perfect, well worth the wait.
23.00 headed back to the hotel, where I wrote this down and watched an occasional beetle scuttle across the floor.
Yep, so that is a day in the life. tomorrow Flic and I go to Burundi. It's a county that I only learn existed last week. did you know about it? its tiny and just blow Rwanda... I have know idea what is there, hopefully a boat and a way to get through to Tanzania.
posted by Rachel | 4:35 pm
4 Comments:
Awwwww! Happy Birthday girl! I am so sorry I haven't emailed you since you've gone to Africe (I am terrible). It sounds like you are having an amazing adventure :)
I wish you all the best and happy (belated) birthday!
-Karsten
Karsten!
Hello! I had no idea you dropped by this blog. I've cheered up a bit since I last saw ya. Hope you get a good summer this year with plenty of different coloured grapes. hugs to you and Fred and everyone.
R.
how can you not know about the existence of Burundi at the age of 31, you ignorant prat.
Hi Anon,
Actually I discovered the existance of Burundi the week before I turned 31, it was those first 30 years of ignorance I should be ashamed of. And it's not just Burundi, oh no, I have a whole world of ignorance regarding little countries begining with B.
Bahrain, Benin, Belize, Bhutan, Brunei, Belarus (ok, Belarus isn't so little)
Guess I've just got to keep travelling. :)
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