the first of the lasts

..or at least consciously

so today we went up to Boabab in Nyakabanda on mont Kigali for lunch which as usual was a leisurely laid back kind of deal - with friendly bow tied staff who manage to get service just about right




brochette, salad and top-up ketchup served in your own private banda - what more can you ask for

so we have a month to go now. Car is sold, we have found a nice couple to rent our house, most of our things for sale have been sold, and we are beginning to pack up bit by bit - the movers will come on the 24th, but we need to organise and simplify before they do, or we could end up having the junk drawer move with us intact again...we managed to have not cleared out one room on the move from NL, and arrived with useful items such as takeaway menus, and bike keys to long long rusted bikes...

Student Selection

Last Wednesday was one of the logistical highlights of the ORI calendar - language testing - thank heavens I have nothing to do with the logistics, but just go where I am assigned.

This year, as last I was assigned to SOS Kigali to administer tests in French and English to 120 or so students, - unlike last year, 2 others were along for the ride, and we only had 4 rather full rooms to oversee, so it went without incident.

Each year I wonder how many of the students in the room will make it through to the next stage...this year there were 1500 applicants (less than last year) competing for the 25-30 places that will be available





scary looking teaching aid!

goodbye trees

the trees next to the main road have been cut down to make way for extra lanes on one of the main routes into the city known as "Peage" or toll as this is where you have to pay your fare on the buses to town

while this road is often bottle-necked I'm not sure that extra lanes will solve anything, since they end at a roundabout at one end and traffic lights at the other

progress I suppose

AIC Food Fair

..was last Saturday but I've just got round to downloading the photos

this year my UK contribution was somewhat simplified from previous cucumber sandwich mayhem to jelly - genius, just boil the kettle and stir!


dutchies testing the wares

the Italians always put on an incredible spread


the premise of the day is to raise money for the AIC (African International Club) for their small projects funding - 5 million rwf was raised this year (around 7,000 euro) - the various parts of the expat community are chivvied by the embassies to cook fantastic food representing their countries which is then donated. It also acts as one of the few expat community day events - we prayed for no rain - and got none, but it was 30+ and sunny...2 beers and a pimms on top of a full tummy had me heading for a nap as soon as we got home....

Cat behaviour

Our cats like minced meat, but every now and than they get sardines. Today was a sardine day, so we had some complaints this morning. Reason for the cats to look for alternatives

In the afternoon Neville came in with a bird in his mouth. I managed to get him out the house, thanking him to show me this great catch. Musti was very interested, but kept her distance, to make clear it was his kill, Neville made some growling noises and had a killing look. Nobody in his right mind would come near.
Even though the bird was rather dead already, Neville kept playing and sitting next to it for at least an hour. After that he did start eating it. During all this Musti was watching from a distance clearly determined by cat law. On one of his throws Neville accidentally came close to Musti and gave her an evil growl, musti kept her cool.


Mine!


Official distance 3,14 meters (Pi)


Little pause


Pass me the salt please

How to get a job

Over the last two days I have been reading application letters for a job opening. I think I will look for a job in HR; it's a laugh.

Here are some things I came across from the just 46 applicants:

- ...Bloodgroup O+
- Karate certificate
- Kindergarten certificate
- readership experience (rwandans have problems with r's and l's)
- Worship and singing God's songs
- I am computerized in Word...
- An applicant referred to the wrong job
- An applicant referred to a newspaper which didn't run the advert
- male: president of WOMEN student association
- skills: internet, several times (in all fairness, it is hard here to get a proper connection)
- training of fire extinguisher
- "I swear that if employed I will work competitively to fulfill my
responsibility."
The best:
- To work hard for my country, country's well-being, for its economic
growth, for people's well-being, and for rural sector development: my
hard work has great impact to the whole world

The thing that seems to be lacking is motivation. There were even letters with the heading 'motivation letter' just saying they want the job and love to come for an interview. There might be about three that mention some motivation or show that they have an idea what the job is about. There was a couple who just couldn't be bothered to write a cover letter. I have no prove but judging by layout and word choice most letters are copied from internet or given as example by the university.

If you think I am making it up, think again, I never could make this up!

Now seriously: it is actually quite sad a whole nation is not capable of writing a letter.

Gorillas

So, because Thursday and Friday were days off we went to see the gorillas.

We left Thursday afternoon to find a hotel in Musanze. Checked out four hotels and opted for the last, newly opened, appropriately named Gorillas. We know them from branches in Kigali and Gisenyi. We do wonder how a new building can have fungus on a wall. We drove to the office where we had to be at 7 AM, we need to time it right in order to stay longer in bed.

We slept fine even though we noticed the rain which started in the night. The 5.15 alarm was not pleasant. After our toast and bad coffee we went off in the rain. Waited some more at the office, luckily they had reasonable coffee. Notice the importance of coffee at that hour. We were lucky to be assigned a reasonably closeby group together with an english lady we know, with two friends of hers, and a couple from Mexico who had seen the gorillas in Uganda the day before.
The drive to the edge of the park was worse than any off roading we did so far. We abandoned the vehicles at the side of the road, walking was quicker and safer. One guy was left to guard the cars. The walk was a mixture of uphill through fields and jumping over small rivers. As later became clear these rivers were actually the path we meant to be taking.

At the stone fence of the park the guide explained that the trackers actually did not find the gorillas yet. So we waited. The rain stopped, but it was still cold and wet. After about an hour the guide said that the gorillas could not be found. We had the choice of going back and rebooking or going to another group, driving a bit and walking for another hour and a half, and back.
We opted for another day. On our descent we got a call over the walky-talky, they found them. So we turn back. Indeed, the walk was not too long, but with this rain everything was muddy and slippery.

We had an hour with the group. Most of them were in the trees and therefore invisible. The members of the family in the open were: Daddy and two kids and mammy and a small one.
Mammy was grooming her baby all the time and giving it hugs. Daddy just was, one of his kids was grooming him. The other one was the star of the day. At first he just sat and ate something, but later he started to roll in the plants and even trying to impress us by beating his chest. We wanted to take him home. So cute.

On the way back it started to rain again. This time the gods wanted to prove the earlier rains was nothing, it rained hard; big, cold rain. So the walk back was no fun. We were soaked. We just jumped in the car for safety. Just one problem. We had to go back on the same road.
We made it to the tarmac, even though it cost Hazel a few years of her life. The noise the car made continued on the tarmac, it turned out we have hit some stones a bit too hard and the protecting plate at the bottom of the car was dangling loose. We drove with lot of noise the last bit on tarmac to the office, luckily the plate came loose of its one as we did not have any proper tools and the metal was folded over the screw to undo it.

We swam into the hotel where we planned our lunch (is 15.00 still lunch?). Used the toilets to put other clothes on, this made a world of a difference. After lunch, where they seem to think beef is the same as fish, we were nearly human. Two hours drive home, pie for dinner and in bed by 20.00, we were exhausted.

Looking back it was an adventure.




The little performer


Proof


Big daddy silverback


Caring mother