'the views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO'.
Sunday 4th October 2009
Whoever heard of builders who work on SUNDAYS!!! 2 weeks in a row...this really sucks!!! Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!! I had been hoping for a nice lie in...but that was not to be...it was not just the builders...but also the elephant (or possibly the small bird) break dancing on the roof of the house...again, not a great deal was achieved...but I did notice that above the slightly creepy shadow of a child...is the word Jesus...maybe that is who it is meant to be...not quite sure if that make me feel better or worse...Melanie headed off late in the afternoon. Back at the house, dusk was well and truly on its way...While I was sat in the chair reading my book by the light of a torch...I saw a shadow move under the sofa...following this was some rustling and shuffling...coming from inside the sofa...I called Alexandre and tried to explain that I thought that there was some sort of animal in the sofa...but I don’t think he understood...and by the time he had come in...the noises had stopped...about 5 minutes later..he came into the living room, looked around for a while, picked up a newspaper and sat down on the sofa to read it...he has never before done anything like that...and he didn’t look very comfortable...after about 20 minutes...Ruairi arrived home and Alexandre took this as his cue to leave...it was very strange indeed...I wonder whether he thought I was asking him to come in and sit on the sofa...oh I guess we will never know!!!

'the views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO'.

Saturday 3rd October 2009

After a nice lie in...it was time to tidy the house...yes, yes...I tidied...but only because I was expecting a visitor...Melanie was coming for the weekend to experience the delights of Gisagara...unfortunately everything in Butare and Gisagara was closed due to local elections...but after some hunting she did finally manage to track down a moto to bring her out! After a little bit of hunting on my part...I managed to find her, as she had not been dropped by the house...I actually found her and a rather large group of children...just after we got back to the house my phone went...it was my mum...but while she was on the phone to me...there was someone at her door...it was Tom...we had a really nice chat...well...as nice as you can have with Tom...the rest of the day was spent chatting and catching up...

'the views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO'.

Friday 2nd October 2009

Still nursing my very patchy sunburn, I managed to drag myself into the education office at just gone 7am this morning. Ruairi had got the bus as he was off to Kigali for the weekend. I arrived in the office just seconds after Alexis, the generator was not yet on and we were ushered out of the office so that the floors could be mopped. Outside I was chatting with Alexis...Francois was nowhere to be seen at this point!...I have been talking with Ruairi about how old we think Alexis might be...turns out he is 34...he was born in the Congo and only moved to Rwanda following the genocide in 1996, however he does still see himself as Rwandese...we then got onto the subject of teaching in the UK. Alexis was astonished that all lessons in the UK are taught through English...AND we speak English at home!!! I tried to explain that with ENGLISH being the national language of ENGLAND...it was natural for all lessons to be taught through it and for us to speak it at home...he was most surprised...but nothing more was said...Back in the office I asked what there was to do...was there anything he wanted me to do...anything I can help with...ANYTHING AT ALL...the response to all of those questions...no...no...no...rubbish...so there I was from 7am until 12pm...with nothing more to do than write a bit of my blog...oh my days...I even resorted to chess at one point...I have never played chess in the whole entire life...well certainly not on a computer!! Francois came in at one point...set up his computer and then left again...while Alexis had an email to send so had to go to the district office...leaving me in my own in the education office...for hours on end...with nothing to do...I hear you asking...why not go home...well I couldn’t because Francois had left his laptop...but at 12pm I was sent home for lunch anyway! Walking home I was followed by a large group of children who had just been let out of school...but they were all asking for money...knowing that I needed to buy bread for my lunch...I didn’t feel that having told the children I had no money...I could then go and buy bread in...Back at the house...the builders were still milling around...trying to look as if they are actually working...and I asked Alexandre to get some bread...oh my days...it was the freshest, softest...nicest bread I have had since I got here!!! I then headed to the district office in the afternoon where I had to waste another 4 hours...at least this time I had the internet! During the afternoon...there was another big rain but it had passed by the time I came to walk home...unfortunately it had returned by the evening...and going for a wee in the rain is no fun at all!! I also found Alexandre curled up on the veranda at the back of the house...it was very windy and cold...but I think the roof of his ‘new’ house might leak!...it was still raining when I went to bed...rubbish...