Cadeau

On Tuesday prior to the move, we gave our staff some gifts (hair clippers for the guys, and some girly things for Clarisse) along with their final salary, extra cash etc

We have since been the lucky recipients of some reciprocal gifts, which not all unfortunately will make it beyond the hotel room due to the accompanying woodworm- so here are the photos for posterity.

oh the sweet times we have spent with Evariste....

Parcel wrapping is an art form

Roadworks

The roadworks on the main road into the centre of Kigali continue apace - an ambitious road widening scheme which managed to bring Kigali traffic to a standstill on many occasions







Our 12-15 min drive to the embassy could take upwards of an hour in the five lane traffic, and saw us taking a 10km detour to get to the same turn off which is just 1.5km down the hill!




the seemingly sudden decision to re-do this main road at the same time has had suspicious minds pointing out that the elections are coming up - it's a more mundane reason than that - it has only rained once in the past three weeks....

Football and farewells

Saturday saw us selling off the last of our (for sale) possessions to various Rwandans and embassy personnel, and on to the football where the Orange fans were out in full regalia for the match against Japan.

Somehow, more than other nationalities the dutch manage to mobilise for football matches - shame the football wasn't as exciting as the crowd would have wished for, but a win is a win - or as a t-shirt we saw said - better 1-0 ahead than 1-0 behind...must be the wisdom of the Cruijf.



Out for a quick bite (or so we thought) to the italianest Italian restaurant in Kigali Sole Luna (Sun and Moon) - you almost expect lady and the tramp to be sharing a plate of spaghetti meatballs at the next table - but its good grub, even if the lasagna takes an hour.


Lon went to the car wash to watch Cameroon lose (one game a day is already over my limit) - and no, he's not lost the plot, but Car Wash is a carwash and bar, which has the biggest screen in Kigali for the matches outside of the stadiums (stadia??)


Sunday, more packing, sorting and then onto a farewell party complete with brochette!


Nev our able assistant helping ...

..it finally happened

at the weekend we decided to borrow the embassy's old pick up for two reasons, firstly as we wanted to drop the Suzuki off for a full service, and secondly so we could go round on our Kigali safari as we did at the beginning of our posting without my having heart failure at every pothole.

We had just finished a slightly off piste route, and were in Kanobe near the airport when we heard a strange whooshing sound - I thought it perhaps was a helicopter, but no we had a completely flat blown tyre.

Some poking round in the back of the pickup revealed a missing bit for the jack, no warning triangle (legally obliged) ditto fire extinguisher. So, we called the embassy driver to come and help us. Releasing the spare tyre from under the pickup required a complicated meccano type arrangement which was poked in a small hole above the numberplate.

It was quite a relief that several passing cars stopped to see if they could offer any help.


so this is Vincent helping us out. I took more photos which have somehow been gremlinned - oh well.

This is the outcome I expected on our many off road drives, so I was kind of relieved that it finally happened, and when it did we were on tarmac in a recognisable place.

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....