Celebrate good times, come on!
on Rose Hardman (Rwanda), 10/Oct/2010 12:02, 34 days ago
This week I learnt that Matatus are not actually called Matatus. This is actually the Ugandan word for the Taxi bus. In Rwanda they are called Taxi buses. Or possibly Taxi bisi. Now I’m not so sure.Anyway, this week... Pete booked flights to come to Rwanda! He will be arriving on the 21st December and leaving on the 3rd January so we get to spend Christmas and New Year together. Needless, to say I am very excited and have already started the planning. I am spreadsheet and itinerary happy!We had a very busy, but enjoyable week in work. Hopefully we will hear soon if it was also a successful week.Pauline arrived on Friday and we met with some other volunteers in the Green Garden for a Friday drink or two. An early start on Saturday for me, Pauline and Julia as we were visiting one of the schools in Julia’s district. They were holding a celebration to which Julia had been invited (and I had invited myself!) We were a ‘little’ late arriving (by ‘little’ read two hours- although I'm pretty sure this wasn't our fault...) We were mortified to find on arrival that, not only had they waited forus before beginning, but that we were the special guests! We were clapped into the hall and then had to sit at the front facing the audience! Talk about red faces. After I had got over the embarrassment I started to enjoy the dancing and theatre.  There was a very interesting performance which had obviously been inspired by Michael Jackson. I must admit that I may not have been entirely professional during that dance as I wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes. Julia had to give a speech and then Pauline and I were called up to the microphone for an impromptu speech. Although‘speech’ is probably an exaggeration as I just introduced myself, thanked them for having me and said education was important- profound words!Unfortunately we had to leave the celebration early to get to Kigali. It was my first long taxi-bisi ride and it was a very beautiful journey, if a little uncomfortable! Saturday night was Mutzig Festival night and the volunteers were out in force! Julia and I were staying with Emily and Richard so we met them at the stadium where they had been watching Rwanda vs Benin. Unfortunately Rwanda had lost. As we were waiting for them a stream of cars with blacked out windows sailed past. I later learnt that Paul Kagame had been watching the match. I hope he wasn't too disappointed with the result!The festival was not what we were expecting at all! We’d thought it would be a couple of benches in a field with a sound system and some bottles of Mutzig. Instead there were tea lights and lanterns welcoming us to a stage with a live band and DJ, free bars, and FREE FOOD! It was brilliant! Needless to say we headed straight for the food. It was a great night with lots of dancing to what seemed to be music from a 90s disco! "I say Beer- You say Fest..."We had a lovely lazy Sunday, thanks to the hostess with the mostess, Emily. Then I headed into Rwanda to do a quick round of the cafes and meet fellow volunteers to have a proper catch up that wasn’t interrupted by ‘If I say Beer, you say Fest, Beer...’ Julia and I then rendezvoused in Nakomat- a large supermarket selling international food. This was my first experience of Nakomat and I had to restrain myself from buying the whole shop. I’m not sure I should be allowed in there again-it reminded me of all the food I am missing! It took all the strength in the world to walk away from the Marmite, but at £10 I just can’t justify it!We didn’t make it to the volunteer dinner on Sunday as we were exhausted and the rains started just after we got home. That did mean that we were able to catch up on Gavin and Stacey though whilst enjoying our newly purchased ‘La vache qui rit’!The frog that sheltered from the rain in our house!