I can’t believe that this time last week I was having a final supper with my folks followed by dancing with Tom and his very high wasted trouser dancing! Anyway...6 days living in Rwanda, I still only have one suitcase, apparently my case wasn’t even put onto the plane...so it is sat at London Heathrow Airport....quite why no one realised that a case that should have been in Kigali 6 days days ago was still in London...but anyway...following a very long frustrating visit to the airport, my case has been located...now we are just awaiting its arrival. Training started on Monday, a welcome meeting and a walking tour of the city. The hustle and bustle of Kigali looks, feels and smells different to anything I have ever experienced before, the smell of taxi bus fumes...I think I might quite like it! I am a little concerned however, that if I am often unable to find my way around London where everything is signposted...what on earth am I going to do here!! Tuesday we started our Kinyarwanda lessons...oh...my...total...god....I am REALLY bad!!!! Ha ha ha! So...language training is from 8.30 -10.45 each morning (although I am not going tomorrow as I am going to try and sort out my luggage!!) We have had several placement discussions and I now have a clearer idea of what I am going to be doing, however, I really think it is going to be a case of waiting and seeing what happens when I meet my employer next week and go to Gisagara, where I will be working. We have also had cultural training, training for using kerosene lamps and stoves, bbqs, and water filters...I am sure that I will have forgotten all of this by the time I actually get to my house! I have been very brave with the food...I am sure that you all would have been very proud of me, especially considering how I was only a few months ago! Anyway...The other night, in addition to the usual goat stew (which I have tried!) and fish (although I am not quite sure where it is from as we are totally landlocked...land fish maybe? Mika did predict this happening!) anyway...chicken was also on offer...although at first I was not sure what it was...I waited for Paul one of the other volunteers to try it first....he said was definitely chicken...awesome!!! So I got some chicken....now you have to remember that by 7pm it is dark...and the lighting is best described as low and milky...things are quite difficult to see...anyway, I helped myself to chicken and while I was putting it on my plate...I spotted an olive. I love olives, although I did nearly break a tooth on an olive stone last week! So...I also took the olive...the chicken was very nice indeed...and then for the olive...I have no idea why I thought there might be an olive in the middle of Rwanda, at the time it didn’t seem in the slightest bit strange. I saved the olive till last...the only problem was...it wasn’t a bloody olive...I think it was a chicken Kidney...oh my god...I nearly ate a kidney...I was even careful not to break a tooth on the stone!! So...yes...my food adventures have gone far further than anyone had ever predicted...but I don’t think I will be trying that one again in a hurry!!! Ha ha ha!!! So...sorry for the boring waffle...I am sure that you are all finding it far more interesting than the work you should be doing right now!!! I am sure I will be back again soon with another thrilling instalment...I am just off for a drink...

Day Two

Breakfast was at 7.30am. I have managed to put an outfit together from the clothes stashed in my backpack and in my hand luggage...after a morning nap we headed to the bus stop to get a taxi bus into Kigali city. On the minibus each row 3 seats has a fold down seat in the middle...this was where I found myself...practically kneeling on the floor on a very bumpy bus ride...wedged by my elbows, between two Rwandan. One of the men was very concerned that I was so frightened in this seat that I had steadied myself with my elbows, and offered to swap. I didn’t really know how to explain that I didn’t really know where to hold on and that I was actually having fun!!! On arrival in Kigali city, we went to the supermarket (part of a Kenyan chain) where I was able to buy a pair of (still rather oversized) traditional leather flip flops as the ones from the hotel were starting to hurt my feet, so I had gone out in Melanie, my roommate’s size seven sandals. We got a drink in cafe, and headed home for yet more melange! I arrived home only to find the biggest blister in the world on my toe...no...it REALLY hurts!!!! SO I had to return to the bathroom slippers! Training starts in the morning so early nights all round!

Rwanda...Day One

We boarded the flight from Addis Ababa at 10.30am and I was asleep before the plane even took off...no surprises there then! We landed in Kigali, Rwanda at 12pm on Saturday 29th August 2009. There was some paperwork to be completed, and it seems that even Rwanda have jumped onto the SWINE FLU wagon, with forms to complete about recent flu like symptoms (sorry this is really very boring isn’t it!!!???) ANYWAY...we are about to get on to the exciting stuff!!! Through customs with no problems and on to collect out baggage...and here is where the fun really begins...so, we are waiting by the carousels, and all the bags are being belched out some black hole somewhere and making their way around on the conveyer belt...very soon I am able to haul my backpack from the belt...now I just have to wait for my giant suitcase...so I waited...and waited...and waited a little longer...eventually everyone from the flight had collected their bags and suitcases...I was still a bag down...the suitcase, which contained the majority of my clothes was nowhere to be seen...I asked a guard and was taken into an office, I was joined by Mike, the project manager for VSO Rwanda, I was assured that this was not uncommon and very often cases would arrive later that day or the following day...I filled out the relevant forms and headed through the barrier, with a lot less than I had left London with! We were greeted by several members of VSO staff and volunteers already in placement here, including Ruairi, who is to be my new housemate when I get to Gisagara following 10 days of training.
Our bags and cases were loaded into the back of pickup trucks and we were taken to our hotel. Rooms were allocated; I am sharing with another teacher called Melanie. Lunch was served shortly after, salads, rice, potatoes (chipped), peas, carrots, fish, and goat stew, also known as Melange... After lunch was when I realised that in addition to all of my clothes being in my suitcase, I was also missing all of my shoes, with the exception of the trainers I had been wearing non-stop for the last 24 hours and I only had the one pair of socks I was wearing...very kindly...one of the other volunteers offered me a pair of ‘bathroom slippers’ which had been left in her room. These were very basic; one size fits all blue flip flops...not so bad? Well...they were probably a size 10 (at least) and both of them happened to be left feet...I looked very silly indeed! One of the staff members of the hotel saw this and managed to find me a matching pair! Later we walked into town to some change money, and use the internet...I nearly bought pants, but thought better of it...the pants on display in the glass cabinet were interesting...thankfully clothes dry very quickly here so that was not a problem! On the way back we went for drink as the football was on. The sun was setting by 6.30pm so we decided to head back to the hotel as the roads are tricky to manage during the day, let alone in the dark!

Rwanda...Day one

We boarded the flight from Addis Ababa at 10.30am and I was asleep before the plane even took off...no surprises there then! We landed in Kigali, Rwanda at 12pm on Saturday 29th August 2009. There was some paperwork to be completed, and it seems that even Rwanda have jumped onto the SWINE FLU wagon, with forms to complete about recent flu like symptoms (sorry this is really very boring isn’t it!!!???) ANYWAY...we are about to get on to the exciting stuff!!! Through customs with no problems and on to collect out baggage...and here is where the fun really begins...so, we are waiting by the carousels, and all the bags are being belched out some black hole somewhere and making their way around on the conveyer belt...very soon I am able to haul my backpack from the belt...now I just have to wait for my giant suitcase...so I waited...and waited...and waited a little longer...eventually everyone from the flight had collected their bags and suitcases...I was still a bag down...the suitcase, which contained the majority of my clothes was nowhere to be seen...I asked a guard and was taken into an office, I was joined by Mike, the project manager for VSO Rwanda, I was assured that this was not uncommon and very often cases would arrive later that day or the following day...I filled out the relevant forms and headed through the barrier, with a lot less than I had left London with! We were greeted by several members of VSO staff and volunteers already in placement here, including Ruairi, who is to be my new housemate when I get to Gisagara following 10 days of training.
Our bags and cases were loaded into the back of pickup trucks and we were taken to our hotel. Rooms were allocated; I am sharing with another teacher called Melanie. Lunch was served shortly after, salads, rice, potatoes (chipped), peas, carrots, fish, and goat stew, also known as Melange... After lunch was when I realised that in addition to all of my clothes being in my suitcase, I was also missing all of my shoes, with the exception of the trainers I had been wearing non-stop for the last 24 hours and I only had the one pair of socks I was wearing...very kindly...one of the other volunteers offered me a pair of ‘bathroom slippers’ which had been left in her room. These were very basic; one size fits all blue flip flops...not so bad? Well...they were probably a size 10 (at least) and both of them happened to be left feet...I looked very silly indeed! One of the staff members of the hotel saw this and managed to find me a matching pair! Later we walked into town to some change money, and use the internet...I nearly bought pants, but thought better of it...the pants on display in the glass cabinet were interesting...thankfully clothes dry very quickly here so that was not a problem! On the way back we went for drink as the football was on. The sun was setting by 6.30pm so we decided to head back to the hotel as the roads are tricky to manage during the day, let alone in the dark!

Dissertations to departure...

So, my dissertation is finished...bound and handed in...my tooth is fixed and my bags are nearly packed! I still have some bits and pieces to buy although I am sure that I will forget something anyway! We decided that the train to the airport would be best as it is bank holiday weekend and reading festival and the last thing I wanted was to get stuck in traffic on the M 40 or the M25! I arrived at the airport (surprisingly with time to spare) with my Dad, after saying my goodbyes at Banbury train station. When I went to check in, I was informed that although my main luggage was ok, I was 7kilos over for my hand luggage (not really surprising considering I had packed everything which made my main luggage too heavy into my laptop case and hand luggage holdall including clothes, books, notebooks, camera...so basically, a bit of everything!) I was told to go upstairs and I would have to pay my excess before boarding the plane. After meeting some other volunteers at the check-in I went for a coffee, before saying my final goodbye... It was only after I had been through the security checks that I realised I still £100 in my pocket...RUBBISH...what to do...other than spend it? I decided that perfume was part of the answer to this problem, however, I was not anticipating the ridicule I received from the shop attendant. Although, at 29 years old, I should know better than to ask for ‘Britney Spears’’ perfume (I know, I know, but it really does smell nice on me!!!!) so, anyway I settled for a large bottle of Armani Elle...only to discover another £30 in my purse! Finally it was time to board the plane. I seem to have been waiting for this moment for months, yet when it arrived, felt strangely nervous, but only for the fact that the man with the scales was there weighing peoples hand luggage again! Anyway, the man either felt sorry for me or really didn’t realise that I had two bags, he weighed only my laptop bag (without my laptop in it) so I sailed through with flying colours and no excess baggage to pay! Woop woop!!! On the plane out our flight was delayed, not that I minded...I was already asleep which was how it stayed, for most of the 8 hour flight, until we landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 9.30am on Saturday morning...Although I did wake once to see the most spectacular red and orange sunset!

Stepping into the world of blogging...

And so it begins...my very first blog! I have 5 days until I leave for 'Le Pays des Milles Collines' also known as Rwanda...and yet there is still so very much to be done! I still have my dissertation to finish, print, bind and hand in...a tooth to be fixed...lots of shopping to do...and of course packing. At the moment, my life for the next two years is spread across the floor in my room before it is packed up at some point between now and Friday afternoon. Quite why I am worrying about packing when I haven't yet got a ticket is beyond me...but I am sure it will all work out and I WILL be on that plane on Friday! So, I am sure that I will find the time to distract myself from whatever it is I should be doing over the next 5 days in order to keep those of you who are the slightest bit interested in what I am up to, up to date!