The List
This is not an obscure film, but an important moment in our lives as it might determent the place we will live for four years.
Today the list came from The Hague, we have to choose between three and ten postings from the list. I will have to motivate my choices and in March/April we will know more. It could be one of my choices, but they can also decide to send me elsewhere.
The possibilities so far are limited.
Basically Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) or Lusaka (Zambia).
As I have to put three down, we might put Addis Adeba down, but this one is a scale higher than my present one, and therefore unlikely.
It is possible they will like to send me to Juba (South Sudan) but as this is one of the worst posts for Hazel I will have to strongly object to that.
Earlier unofficial information that Mali would be an option was incorrect.
It has to be said there will be at least one addendum next week, so it could change. For now we have to go on the assumption this is it.
We are very pleased to find Lusaka on the list, this will definitely be our favourite.
Now the big task ahead is to write the motivation.
So get your soutern and eastern Africa guidebooks out.
We will keep you informed via this medium.
Lon Zomer and Hazel O'Dea - their life abroad
Friday, 30 October 2009
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Uganda
We decided this autumn to go for a break in Uganda.
The first couple of days we spent at lake Bunyonyi. This lake is just across the border, just two hours drive from Kigali. The first day we visited Kabale, just a small town with a main road which is too small for two cars and bicycles on either side. We relaxed with a beer at the lake side. We were the only ones in the hotel/lodge because it is low season (occaisional rains).
Part of the steep road towards the lake. If you enlarge the photo you see somewhere in the middle a sign 'humps'. It is nice of them to tell you that after several humps.
The second day we went for a drive. See if we could find the market at the south side of the lake. It turned out a bit longer than we planned. One wrong turn got us on a muddy track, this kind of mud clung to the tires, which makes it impossible to steer. We nearly got stuck in a mudpool because of lack of traction. We ended up doing a full circle around the lake with the occasional view over the lake. Nice lake with islands dotted in it.
After that we proceeded to Queen Elizabeth national park. We prebooked a new lodge at the edge of the park with discount. It was lovely; the park is basically a vast plain surrounded by mountains/hills. Our lodge was on a hill overlooking the whole park; brilliant!
The next morning we went for a bushwalk in a forest reserve just before the park, in this forest you can also go for chimp tracking, but we opted for just a walk. We didn't see any monkeys, just until the end next to the road. But the forest was nice, though humid. We also wanted to go on a boat trip in the park from one of the lodges. As it was low season this could only be done in the afternoon. We decided not to hang around for a day (which would have been fine) but to do it that afternoon. We didn't realise that we had to pay park fees to go there, which made the 15 dollars each suddenly 120 USD (total), slight advantage is that we had a 10 USD discount for living in the East African Union.
As we were driving towards the lodge we saw some elephants on the road. Even a bigger surprise was the hippo crossing the road right in front of us. So in stead of doing a long safari we now saw the main animals of the park, while driving at 60 km/h in order to make the boat.
The boat trip was nice, completely different experience from driving safaris. More relaxing. We saw many buffaloes, birds, hippos, the odd eagle and even three elephants on the river bank. We were sharing the boat with a group of dutchies, who we would encounter later in Kabale again. What is the saying: You can't avoid death, taxes and the Dutch.
One happy looking hippo.
The following day we followed our path northwards towards Fort Portal. This is a road that goes straight through the park. As we paid our 24 hour fee, we went off a side road twice, the first time we didn't see anything noteworthy the second time we went through a gate with a 'coffee shop / internet cafe'. The coffee was the most expensive and worst coffee I had in a long time. The route took us past some mini craters, some with forest, some with lake, rather beautiful. Onwards towards Fort Portal, sometimes 120 k/h and sometimes hard braking for speed bumps. Our theory is that the amount of bumps is related to how much backhanders you have paid to an official and is some sort of status. Sometimes three houses have 5 bumps, sometimes a whole village has none. Sometimes they are indicated, sometimes none. It keeps you alert.
In Fort Portal we staid in a guest house run by a English man and Dutch lady. Nice couple, looked like they live there a long time already, which also has an effect on the upbringing of their teenage son I think. As we were their while a friend of them returned we could join the small party they gave. They invited some Dutch people, some mixed couples and the other guests from the guesthouse where two english medical students and a danish girl. A nice mix. There were some children who felt the need to give a small show, basically they did a dance to three 'kinderen voor kinderen' song. (children for children is a group of children singing to raise funds for poor children). We had a good laugh. The english girl and boy seemed to have a totally different experience from us, they stay in a place without electricity, sometimes no water and 7 hours away from a big city, without a car. Makes you realise that we do have a lot of luxury.
We decided not to stay another day but to had towards lake Bunyonyi again. The B road we took was fine, until we went of it to see some crater lakes. We ended up doing a circle and took the same road again from Fort Portal. The road went through another national park, this was forest with a.o. a lot of bamboo, had a nice feel to it.
The Kabale area is probably the cabbage area of Uganda, we came across several big piles of cabbage.
We arrived back in Kabale and slept in Kabale, not at the lake this time. The White Horse Inn was a reasonable choice, but yet again africans are not good at the details in service. It took a man an hour to come by, look at the light bulb, disappear for a while and put a new lightbulb in. We did tell him, if you shake the bulb, you can hear it is broken.
Monday we went to explore more unknown territory. The road to Kisoro was being remade, the surface was good, but there were several stops because of working man or one-lane tracks. The approach to Kisoro town was brilliant, some nice valleys with a volcano on the background, the pictures don't do it justice, you have to be there.
The town itself seemed a nice hub for locals, a big market and a lot of different kind of shops. The border crossing was like any border crossing: unclear where you have to go, but we managed. As an extra surprise they added the fact that we had to write in a big book who the owner of the vehicle was, where we came from and where we were going, this on both side of the border. I think Mr. Zomer left Uganda, but Mr. Lonako entered Rwanda, I wonder if they will find out this inconsistency.
As a welcome it started to rain on the Rwanda side, a shame. After a good lunch at the hotel of a colleague of mine in Musanze (Ruhengeri) we took the best road in Rwanda. The road is rather new and every village, no matter the size, seems to have sign. The road remains dangerous because of all the pedestrians using the road, it is not really wide enough for that.
We arrived reasonably early in Gisenyi so we had a drive around. It is a shame nobody does anything with those nice old colonial buildings. It does appear to be the policy to tear some down, it is not clear what will rise on those spots.
Instead of going straight back we took the scenic route, via Kibuye. It is a nice road in terms of views, but the road was rather jiggly. I don't know if that is a proper word, but I will describe. The road was made a while ago in layers, first layer being stones, over which sand is compressed. The sand is now partly gone which leaves a road of rocky surface. You can compare it by driving over cobblestones (kinderkopjes). This is not too bad as roads go, but after over three hours our bodies where quiet pleased to see the tarmac.
Somewhere between Gisenyi en Kibuye.
After lunch at Bethanies (Sambousa and fish brochette) back the bendy road to Gitarama and home.
Clarisse was surprised to see us a day earlier than planned and hurried to finish all sort of things (which didn't need to be done in our opinion).
The first couple of days we spent at lake Bunyonyi. This lake is just across the border, just two hours drive from Kigali. The first day we visited Kabale, just a small town with a main road which is too small for two cars and bicycles on either side. We relaxed with a beer at the lake side. We were the only ones in the hotel/lodge because it is low season (occaisional rains).
Part of the steep road towards the lake. If you enlarge the photo you see somewhere in the middle a sign 'humps'. It is nice of them to tell you that after several humps.
The second day we went for a drive. See if we could find the market at the south side of the lake. It turned out a bit longer than we planned. One wrong turn got us on a muddy track, this kind of mud clung to the tires, which makes it impossible to steer. We nearly got stuck in a mudpool because of lack of traction. We ended up doing a full circle around the lake with the occasional view over the lake. Nice lake with islands dotted in it.
After that we proceeded to Queen Elizabeth national park. We prebooked a new lodge at the edge of the park with discount. It was lovely; the park is basically a vast plain surrounded by mountains/hills. Our lodge was on a hill overlooking the whole park; brilliant!
The next morning we went for a bushwalk in a forest reserve just before the park, in this forest you can also go for chimp tracking, but we opted for just a walk. We didn't see any monkeys, just until the end next to the road. But the forest was nice, though humid. We also wanted to go on a boat trip in the park from one of the lodges. As it was low season this could only be done in the afternoon. We decided not to hang around for a day (which would have been fine) but to do it that afternoon. We didn't realise that we had to pay park fees to go there, which made the 15 dollars each suddenly 120 USD (total), slight advantage is that we had a 10 USD discount for living in the East African Union.
As we were driving towards the lodge we saw some elephants on the road. Even a bigger surprise was the hippo crossing the road right in front of us. So in stead of doing a long safari we now saw the main animals of the park, while driving at 60 km/h in order to make the boat.
The boat trip was nice, completely different experience from driving safaris. More relaxing. We saw many buffaloes, birds, hippos, the odd eagle and even three elephants on the river bank. We were sharing the boat with a group of dutchies, who we would encounter later in Kabale again. What is the saying: You can't avoid death, taxes and the Dutch.
One happy looking hippo.
The following day we followed our path northwards towards Fort Portal. This is a road that goes straight through the park. As we paid our 24 hour fee, we went off a side road twice, the first time we didn't see anything noteworthy the second time we went through a gate with a 'coffee shop / internet cafe'. The coffee was the most expensive and worst coffee I had in a long time. The route took us past some mini craters, some with forest, some with lake, rather beautiful. Onwards towards Fort Portal, sometimes 120 k/h and sometimes hard braking for speed bumps. Our theory is that the amount of bumps is related to how much backhanders you have paid to an official and is some sort of status. Sometimes three houses have 5 bumps, sometimes a whole village has none. Sometimes they are indicated, sometimes none. It keeps you alert.
In Fort Portal we staid in a guest house run by a English man and Dutch lady. Nice couple, looked like they live there a long time already, which also has an effect on the upbringing of their teenage son I think. As we were their while a friend of them returned we could join the small party they gave. They invited some Dutch people, some mixed couples and the other guests from the guesthouse where two english medical students and a danish girl. A nice mix. There were some children who felt the need to give a small show, basically they did a dance to three 'kinderen voor kinderen' song. (children for children is a group of children singing to raise funds for poor children). We had a good laugh. The english girl and boy seemed to have a totally different experience from us, they stay in a place without electricity, sometimes no water and 7 hours away from a big city, without a car. Makes you realise that we do have a lot of luxury.
We decided not to stay another day but to had towards lake Bunyonyi again. The B road we took was fine, until we went of it to see some crater lakes. We ended up doing a circle and took the same road again from Fort Portal. The road went through another national park, this was forest with a.o. a lot of bamboo, had a nice feel to it.
The Kabale area is probably the cabbage area of Uganda, we came across several big piles of cabbage.
We arrived back in Kabale and slept in Kabale, not at the lake this time. The White Horse Inn was a reasonable choice, but yet again africans are not good at the details in service. It took a man an hour to come by, look at the light bulb, disappear for a while and put a new lightbulb in. We did tell him, if you shake the bulb, you can hear it is broken.
Monday we went to explore more unknown territory. The road to Kisoro was being remade, the surface was good, but there were several stops because of working man or one-lane tracks. The approach to Kisoro town was brilliant, some nice valleys with a volcano on the background, the pictures don't do it justice, you have to be there.
The town itself seemed a nice hub for locals, a big market and a lot of different kind of shops. The border crossing was like any border crossing: unclear where you have to go, but we managed. As an extra surprise they added the fact that we had to write in a big book who the owner of the vehicle was, where we came from and where we were going, this on both side of the border. I think Mr. Zomer left Uganda, but Mr. Lonako entered Rwanda, I wonder if they will find out this inconsistency.
As a welcome it started to rain on the Rwanda side, a shame. After a good lunch at the hotel of a colleague of mine in Musanze (Ruhengeri) we took the best road in Rwanda. The road is rather new and every village, no matter the size, seems to have sign. The road remains dangerous because of all the pedestrians using the road, it is not really wide enough for that.
We arrived reasonably early in Gisenyi so we had a drive around. It is a shame nobody does anything with those nice old colonial buildings. It does appear to be the policy to tear some down, it is not clear what will rise on those spots.
Instead of going straight back we took the scenic route, via Kibuye. It is a nice road in terms of views, but the road was rather jiggly. I don't know if that is a proper word, but I will describe. The road was made a while ago in layers, first layer being stones, over which sand is compressed. The sand is now partly gone which leaves a road of rocky surface. You can compare it by driving over cobblestones (kinderkopjes). This is not too bad as roads go, but after over three hours our bodies where quiet pleased to see the tarmac.
Somewhere between Gisenyi en Kibuye.
After lunch at Bethanies (Sambousa and fish brochette) back the bendy road to Gitarama and home.
Clarisse was surprised to see us a day earlier than planned and hurried to finish all sort of things (which didn't need to be done in our opinion).
Saturday, 17 October 2009
Congo Bongo
A friend phoned if we felt like going to a Congolese band.
We assumed that this would mean some drums and african guitar, but swinging.
It started 19.30. This turned out to be 19.30 african time. Around 20.45 we were asked to go inside - but it was OK, cold beer, great view and good company. So we paid our 1.000 RWF (Eur 1.20) along with 30 others and entered. A bit weird; there were three small blokes rapping on some taped music. Our hope was on the un-manned drumset.
Then after some noisy sound testing some Michael Jackson music come on and a man started moonwalking etc. He did well, but his face was too serious.
Finally a man with sunglasses announced the band and nearly fall from the stairs, because he couldn't see a thing. Apparently this band from Kisangani in Eastern Congo is world famous in this region.
I must say we had a wonderful evening, they were very impressive. Two singers, a tall and a very short bloke, dancing in time. Funny to see how the same movements give a different impression on tall and small people.
It was a good mixture of music, mostly modern rap-like. Sometimes a congolese tune mixed in. Not the 3 minutes pop songs, but proper length well structured songs. They sang in tune, the sound quality was good, they were great showmen. I would gladly put them on a club podium in Europe.
In short: we had a good time watching the catchy, danceable music. The only thing is that they sing in French, but to be honest, often you can not understand lirics anyway.
Go see them if you get a chance.
A good example of their music on this link.
http://www.myspace.com/pasnas
Nice to see they left like a good rockband all of them in a small minibus.
Friday, 16 October 2009
Bierfest
It is October so time for a bierfest.
On Friday we went for a drive to find the place, we didn't want to be doing that in the dark. We had a nice drive and actually did find it, even though there are no signs whatsoever anywhere.
Closeby we made this photo
I would be a proud beekeeper if I had a hive in a tree like that.
All local beer (and soda's, called Fanta here) is made by Bralirwa a Heineken company.
Under their best beer brand, Mutzig, they organised a bierfest. It reflected the local culture in many ways:
- It was in Jurupark. A very vague useless map, but still everybody can find it.
- There was a parking attendent, but he did his job very badly.
- There was plenty of food, but you had to fight for it.
- A mix of whites and rich (often overdressed) rwandans.
- A good performance of rwandan band (until they started improvising), an average band of whites with a overconfident singer and an average sound system.
- There was even a VIP Dutchy, but hardly anyone noticed or knew.
Typically Hazel knew that the Bralirwa commercial director was married to someone named Opstelten, but I never knew, until I saw a familiar face being introduced as father of, it took me a while to make the connection. Unfortunately for the man there are always people who like to feel important and have to talk to him. I on the otherhand am above that all, even though he was a VVD major in Utrecht while I was an active young socialist; instead we both drunk beer, seperately.
So after sending a man to find the last softdrink, we went, we had seen the highlights and it was getting cold.
In short it was an enjoyable evening, the best you can get in Rwanda.
On Friday we went for a drive to find the place, we didn't want to be doing that in the dark. We had a nice drive and actually did find it, even though there are no signs whatsoever anywhere.
Closeby we made this photo
I would be a proud beekeeper if I had a hive in a tree like that.
All local beer (and soda's, called Fanta here) is made by Bralirwa a Heineken company.
Under their best beer brand, Mutzig, they organised a bierfest. It reflected the local culture in many ways:
- It was in Jurupark. A very vague useless map, but still everybody can find it.
- There was a parking attendent, but he did his job very badly.
- There was plenty of food, but you had to fight for it.
- A mix of whites and rich (often overdressed) rwandans.
- A good performance of rwandan band (until they started improvising), an average band of whites with a overconfident singer and an average sound system.
- There was even a VIP Dutchy, but hardly anyone noticed or knew.
Typically Hazel knew that the Bralirwa commercial director was married to someone named Opstelten, but I never knew, until I saw a familiar face being introduced as father of, it took me a while to make the connection. Unfortunately for the man there are always people who like to feel important and have to talk to him. I on the otherhand am above that all, even though he was a VVD major in Utrecht while I was an active young socialist; instead we both drunk beer, seperately.
So after sending a man to find the last softdrink, we went, we had seen the highlights and it was getting cold.
In short it was an enjoyable evening, the best you can get in Rwanda.
Snert
My mum would be proud.
Hazel doesn't want a Dutch passport, but she does deserve one. She made perfect snert. Of course not like mum makes, but still perfect.
Who would have guesed, snert made in Rwanda, and it is the weather to eat it!
Sorry for the non Dutch, they probably have no idea why I am so excited.
Hazel doesn't want a Dutch passport, but she does deserve one. She made perfect snert. Of course not like mum makes, but still perfect.
Who would have guesed, snert made in Rwanda, and it is the weather to eat it!
Sorry for the non Dutch, they probably have no idea why I am so excited.
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Bujumbura
Lon's colleague Jaco moved from Rwanda last year to neighbouring Burundi as part of the Embassy Office there. He requested that Lon come down for a few days to do some financial verifications etc and since I hadn't yet been to Burundi I came too.
We were driven down by an Embassy chauffeur on Saturday morning, stopping in Butare for a coffee, before heading to the border. The chauffeur took care of all the formalities (what a luxury!) and we stayed sitting in the air-conditioned car!
The route through Burundi to Bujumbura saw us passing unterrassed hills, and towns which were subtly different from Rwanda, we also decreased altitude from 1500m to 775m which meant a huge change in temperature - so despite it being as hot as it ever is in Kigali now, we really noticed the difference.
We spent the remains of Saturday hanging out at Jaco and Leontines, and watched the sunset at a local bar (theoretically over Lake Tanganyika but it is so overcast at the moment that the lake remained invisible)
Sunday we brunched, took a tour of Bujumbura, and then went to hang out at Bora Bora - a very chilled place on the beach (note the pool - its not safe to swim in the lake because of the hippos and crocodiles) - we really had the feeling that we were a long way from Kigali.
Roundabout (why are European ones always so boring??)
Traffic police who have recently been trained by the Dutch
street life
There is a park in the centre of town, with swings, trees and plants, and is very popular for healthy Burundians working out in the shade.
On Monday Lon went to work, and I went on a tour of Bujumbura with Leontine. Firstly we changed money at a forex and Leo almost got into the wrong chauffeur driven silver Suzuki (as it was parked in front) and to the supermarkets and the coffee shop before the guys came home for lunch.
In Bujumbura there are some habits which differ from ours in Rwanda. Most people have a cook, and so eat the main meal at lunch time, and since the cook has to justify his existence lunch is a delicious three course affair involving sauces and finely chopped vegetables (our cook ((me)) just chops things haphazardly!)
We went to visit the Grand Marche in the afternoon, a big market in the centre of town. Again for me it was about making comparisons to Kigali's main market - in this case the roof is much higher, which means is has an airier feel. Celeste the driver came with us to help us navigate, I was hoping to find some of the local material, but didn't succeed - but we did of course search the whole market, only to go back to the first stall to buy something!
On Tuesday we went with Ellen as well (another NL partner who has relocated to Burundi) to the Rusizi national park which is just on the edge of the town. We were accompanied by an armed policeman instead of a ranger since there wasn't enough space for both in the car. We saw lots of birds and many hippo families.
hippo print
Then we went for coffee in the local coffee shop Aroma, which is a hang out for wireless internet users, and coffee drinkers.
Before lunch we went to the Congolese market and enjoyed haggling for treasures - much emboldened by each others presence and better at haggling for it too, and then spent the remains of the afternoon cooling off in the pool at Ellen’s since Jaco and Leontines was empty for repairs.
In the evening, waiting for Lon and Jaco to return from the Embassy Office (not Embassy as they are under the wing of Kigali) I heard fireworks..or so I thought, and was about to say so when I realised it was unlikely. There was an extended exchange of (automatic) fire on a hill in the distance (10km away)...the guards explanation of thieves seemed unlikely, but it was a stark reminder that life in Burundi is different - there is a curfew with roadblocks round the city at night, and its not safe to go off to the countryside for a drive as we do here. Another example is the tea plantation where Jaco used to take the dog for a walk on a Sunday is now no-go as there are armed rebels camping there.
Wednesday we went speed shopping at a local Christian cooperative which has a large selection of items, chickens and chicken feeders, milk and yoghurt, school bags and wooden furniture, and beautiful glazed pottery. We had to hurry as we had appointments at the Buj spa - a place with Thai massage ladies and a sauna. It was clean, and professional, and I had a full body massage given by a miniature Thai lady using hands and elbows which was both wonderful and painful.
We just had time after lunch to go to the marvellous greek run butchers which wouldn't be out of place in any European town, and finish the money buying chorizo and ham before catching the 45 minute plane back home.
We were driven down by an Embassy chauffeur on Saturday morning, stopping in Butare for a coffee, before heading to the border. The chauffeur took care of all the formalities (what a luxury!) and we stayed sitting in the air-conditioned car!
The route through Burundi to Bujumbura saw us passing unterrassed hills, and towns which were subtly different from Rwanda, we also decreased altitude from 1500m to 775m which meant a huge change in temperature - so despite it being as hot as it ever is in Kigali now, we really noticed the difference.
We spent the remains of Saturday hanging out at Jaco and Leontines, and watched the sunset at a local bar (theoretically over Lake Tanganyika but it is so overcast at the moment that the lake remained invisible)
Sunday we brunched, took a tour of Bujumbura, and then went to hang out at Bora Bora - a very chilled place on the beach (note the pool - its not safe to swim in the lake because of the hippos and crocodiles) - we really had the feeling that we were a long way from Kigali.
Roundabout (why are European ones always so boring??)
Traffic police who have recently been trained by the Dutch
street life
There is a park in the centre of town, with swings, trees and plants, and is very popular for healthy Burundians working out in the shade.
On Monday Lon went to work, and I went on a tour of Bujumbura with Leontine. Firstly we changed money at a forex and Leo almost got into the wrong chauffeur driven silver Suzuki (as it was parked in front) and to the supermarkets and the coffee shop before the guys came home for lunch.
In Bujumbura there are some habits which differ from ours in Rwanda. Most people have a cook, and so eat the main meal at lunch time, and since the cook has to justify his existence lunch is a delicious three course affair involving sauces and finely chopped vegetables (our cook ((me)) just chops things haphazardly!)
We went to visit the Grand Marche in the afternoon, a big market in the centre of town. Again for me it was about making comparisons to Kigali's main market - in this case the roof is much higher, which means is has an airier feel. Celeste the driver came with us to help us navigate, I was hoping to find some of the local material, but didn't succeed - but we did of course search the whole market, only to go back to the first stall to buy something!
On Tuesday we went with Ellen as well (another NL partner who has relocated to Burundi) to the Rusizi national park which is just on the edge of the town. We were accompanied by an armed policeman instead of a ranger since there wasn't enough space for both in the car. We saw lots of birds and many hippo families.
hippo print
Then we went for coffee in the local coffee shop Aroma, which is a hang out for wireless internet users, and coffee drinkers.
Before lunch we went to the Congolese market and enjoyed haggling for treasures - much emboldened by each others presence and better at haggling for it too, and then spent the remains of the afternoon cooling off in the pool at Ellen’s since Jaco and Leontines was empty for repairs.
In the evening, waiting for Lon and Jaco to return from the Embassy Office (not Embassy as they are under the wing of Kigali) I heard fireworks..or so I thought, and was about to say so when I realised it was unlikely. There was an extended exchange of (automatic) fire on a hill in the distance (10km away)...the guards explanation of thieves seemed unlikely, but it was a stark reminder that life in Burundi is different - there is a curfew with roadblocks round the city at night, and its not safe to go off to the countryside for a drive as we do here. Another example is the tea plantation where Jaco used to take the dog for a walk on a Sunday is now no-go as there are armed rebels camping there.
Wednesday we went speed shopping at a local Christian cooperative which has a large selection of items, chickens and chicken feeders, milk and yoghurt, school bags and wooden furniture, and beautiful glazed pottery. We had to hurry as we had appointments at the Buj spa - a place with Thai massage ladies and a sauna. It was clean, and professional, and I had a full body massage given by a miniature Thai lady using hands and elbows which was both wonderful and painful.
We just had time after lunch to go to the marvellous greek run butchers which wouldn't be out of place in any European town, and finish the money buying chorizo and ham before catching the 45 minute plane back home.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Dobby
We didn't put it in our holiday report, because we didn't want to spoil it.
While we were in France we had some bad news from home. One of our cats had had an accident. Dobby (the female) was found not far from our house, clearly hit by a car. She must have died instantly.
We asked my colleague Jojan to be the guardian of our cats while we were away, just in case. She has a cat and a dog and knows what to do. Jojan got a panic call on her way to work on a Monday morning. She made sure that no immediate actions was needed, did some things at work and came to the house a.s.a.p. Evariste and Clarisse were busy discussing together with our Monday guard. Jojan handled the situation brilliantly. She sent her gardener of to find a box to put Dobby in. Clarisse got one of her favorite blankets. Evarist went to look for some plants and a stone. Jojan asked to paint Dobby's name on a piece of wood, but apperantly in Rwanda you use a stone.
It was hard for Clarisse, she was more attached to the cats than she realised and she somehow felt guilty this happened during our holidays. Jojan came by several time to check on her, it took her a while to get over it.
We knew that Dobby went over the wall, so it was possible she could be hit one day. But still it came as a shock. Neville was still a bit confused when we came back, but it could also be all the suitcases. Anyway, it looks he is getting used to being alone. He only does not want to sleep in the basket. They used to share it as kittens, but at some point Dobby kicked him out, now he still feels he is not allowed in it. He loves all the extra attention he gets now.
Red tape
Hopefully we can go this weekend to Bujumbura.
A couple of weeks ago my colleague in Bujumbura asked for some help, and I (and Hazel) would like to go there for a few day. So...
It turned out that our visas for Rwanda just expired, so we had to get new ones in order to be allowed back. So on Monday we filled in the form and gave 8 photos each, just in case. It should take a week. So I made very clear, we need it in a week, so should just work.
During the week it became clear this was not going to happen. This Tuesday I got the forms back with the comment that the photo was not correct. Somehow it was OK for the ministry, but now the immigration office needed one with a white background, not grey. The Dutch photos always need a grey background and we specially had some extra made in The Netherlands in order to have some quality. So we should get our passports back this Thursday, so we can leave on Saturday. Let's hope we get our Burundi visas at the border, we have no time to get those here.
The good news regarding red tape: Rwanda jumped 76 places on the 'Doing bussiness index'. This is surprising and very welcome. The country is developing and is very dependent from (foreign) investors. They cut the time to register by 255 days, imagine what it used to be.
A couple of weeks ago my colleague in Bujumbura asked for some help, and I (and Hazel) would like to go there for a few day. So...
It turned out that our visas for Rwanda just expired, so we had to get new ones in order to be allowed back. So on Monday we filled in the form and gave 8 photos each, just in case. It should take a week. So I made very clear, we need it in a week, so should just work.
During the week it became clear this was not going to happen. This Tuesday I got the forms back with the comment that the photo was not correct. Somehow it was OK for the ministry, but now the immigration office needed one with a white background, not grey. The Dutch photos always need a grey background and we specially had some extra made in The Netherlands in order to have some quality. So we should get our passports back this Thursday, so we can leave on Saturday. Let's hope we get our Burundi visas at the border, we have no time to get those here.
The good news regarding red tape: Rwanda jumped 76 places on the 'Doing bussiness index'. This is surprising and very welcome. The country is developing and is very dependent from (foreign) investors. They cut the time to register by 255 days, imagine what it used to be.
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