The biggest thing I've been working on thus far has finally come to an end and I now have both my visa and my Foreign National ID card. And it only took 6 visits to the Immigration office. Trips 1-3 were attempts to drop off materials, with two false starts (sending me back to obtain more letters) and trips 4-6 were pick-up attemps. The best was today where I stayed at the Immigration office for four hours - I was beginning to thinkI shoud just bring a pillow and move in, but finally someone showed up having acquired all the appropriate signatures and I have in hand as of today all my official doccuments, officially. I can say that throughout the process the people at the office have been generally quite helpful.
The last week has been good as well just in terms of getting settled. I still get on wrong busses, but I can generally now figure out what went wrong and how to get back to where I was supposed to go, which is always a huge plus. My torilla making skills are improving marginally, but I'll keep working on it.
Last weekend, I went to the Movie Night at the US Embassy which was really a lot of fun. They were screening Shrek Ever After on a giant inflatable screen (giving me ideas for camp already...) outside at the Embassy. There was a fundraiser for a charity where you could buy (really good) brochettes, samosas, burgers, and salad, and the Marines were tending bar where you could get quite cheap beers. While as the Embassy I met a few people from all over the place (Singapore, Thailand, India, Germany, Canada, and Vermont) and there was an epic 3-game match of foosball which was a blast.
I ended up heading out with some people I met and he headed out to meet another friend and hang out at her place for awhile, and then headed to a (very French) house party. After staying there for awhile we headed to one of the Kigali clubs, Papyrus, which was really a lot of fun. It's largely a mix of expats and trendy Rwandans, with the standard compliment of those who - er... - work there. So I had to do the standard 'thank you but no thanks' thing a few times but we easily got back to dancing and having fun. It was a rather funny mix of music, somewhat predictable American pop stuff, with some 80s and 90s throwbacks in the mix. Overall, just fun music, nothing superb musically, but fun. In any event, when 4AM rolled around we decided we should probably head out so a quick moto ride and I was back home. The place is in Kimihurura, which is actualyl quite close to where I live, so that's always a good thing. So come 5 AM, I was finally getting to bed. The construction that started next door at 8 AM was, well, painful. :-)
I ended up meeting up with the same group the next night for dinner at someone's house, and some amazing food. Spent a decent amount of the evening speaking with sme really cool people, and flipping between french and english depending on the conversation. The french is going well, but the Rwandan-inflected french with all of the shadow vowels is really hard to understand. Later that night we ended up back at Papyrus, and this time I got to bed at 4 AM. It's been quite a while since I've been out dancing that late and it really was a lot of fun. I'm excited to see more of the Kigali clubs (well, the other one or two, lol).
I also caused quite the spectacle when I went for a run the other day. While out for a run, I got stares, bewilderment, laughs, and applause from more than one set of school children. Granted, I am happy to admit that the 6'2 white guy in shorts and a tshirt running in the mountains was a sight to behold, but the attention was a little much. Toward the end I just smiled and waved and was like, yeah white guy going for a run here.... I will say that I just about died... The combination of the fact that I think every direction is uphill, it was hotter than hell, and it's a mile above sea level. I'm hoping the next time will be better :-) IN any event it felt good to be out and around.
And this is gross...
Oh, and I hesitate to share this final point, but folks, in Rwanda, iron your clothes. I hadn't been ironing everyting because I had checked and there aren't really Tsetse flies in Kigali. This is true. The flies to be concerned about, the ones who lay eggs on your clothes as they dry that then hatch when in contact with your skin and bury their way in, are not indeed Tsetse flies. They are Tumbu flies (Putzi). I do not like them. I do not like them at all. Suffice it to say, after some serious freaking out, I removed a three larvae, thankfully all from innocuous places. They were removed very early, so nothing like the pictures you will see if you (inevitable) search for them online, and I guess they don't really cause any harm other than the massive freakout. The ones I removed were like a tiny white worm/maggott only about the size of a mechinacial ppencil lead. They get much bigger and I guess naturally dropout of your skin after 10-15 days, but I have no interest in seeint that happen - ever. And while there's no real danger, it was, however, perhaps the grossest thing I've ever had to do... I will be ironing ALL clothes from now on. ALL.
To end on a positive note, Kigali is beautiful tonight, and the moon looks just like you'd expect a cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland to appear with his glowing eyes over the bright, and reddish, moon. No power cuts for almost a week as well, which is always nice!
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