slow ride, take it easy

Sweet Jesus, I forgot how slow the internet could be. Though almost all places in this city are connected, the time it takes to load a page can be unbelieveably slow. Slllloooowww.

Right, well, I made it. In once piece, as did my luggage! Quel surprise. It was a long day after flying into Brussels and waiting for the 8 hour connecting flight to Kigali. Fortunately, the flight passed with little drama. The food was questionable, there was a big black guy with a cold on my right and...4 Danes on their way to Entebbe in the seat behind me.
Seriously...I can't escape them. ;)

Regardless, after an hour of waiting for my luggage it all rumbled down the belt, intact thankfully. I was a bit worried that the two moving boxes I had packed would have gaping holes in them with bits and pieces of my "life" strewn everywhere. But those moving boxes proved to hold up well (many thanks Patricia!). I was met in the airport by a UNDP personnel and my friend Will, a super cool Congolese guy I met on my first Rwandan tour.

The evening ended quietly with a nice dinner at a funky little restaurant, so by the time my head hit the pillow at 23:00 it was lights-out.

Today I found myself slathering on sunscreen - to only experience an overcast day. I also have realized that I didn't really need to bring my perfume as the only eau de toilette I will be wearing is "Autan" a delightful German mosquito spray.

I didn't start work at UNHCR as I was moving instead between different UN offices doing various adminstrative stuff that would normally take 30 minutes, but here...takes a full morning. It was fine though since I felt seriously jet-lagged and sitting, semi-sleeping in different corridors was fine by me. I got a security briefing, as well as a medical one and was informed to throroughly wash all fruits and veggies I consume, even with soap. Mmmmmmmmm, sudsy veggies is totally what I came to the African sub-continent for. I have more admin stuff to complete Monday morning before I'll be taken to the HCR office, but I am looking forward to seeing what it is all about and actually getting into my role. I think it's going to be challenging, but interesting nonetheless. We'll see how I feel after a week of paperwork and sitting in front of my computer screen writing briefings. :P

Following the admin stuff, I was dropped off back at my guest house in the early afternoon. I decided to get hooked up with a mobile phone number, some Rwandan Francs and to check out the new mall that was totally not there when I came 4 years ago, but obviously caters to Richie Rich Westerners, like myself. I had two greasy samosas for lunch and half a baguette that had a rather sweet taste to it. The jet-lag/food combination knocked me out and I napped it up for a solid 2 hours.

Though it's mostly how I remember it, it's also different somehow. It's cleaner, there's been a lot more development, people (at least in Kigali) are doing ok economically, stuff is more expensive, there are more people around that speak English (along with French and the local languages) and I have seen more Chinese and Arab people walking the streets than I expected to. I think there's quite a bit of money being pumped into the country coming from these regions.

So despite missing Copenhagen - well not really CPH, just the people really - it feels lovely so far to be back. Despite having been spoken to in Kinyarwanda several times already - perhaps it's the braids? - and been almost ripped off monetarily by a saleswoman who either didn't know her math (or thought that I didn't) when giving me back my change, I feel a sort of comfort being here. Relaxed in a way, because the weather is much better, life isn't moving so quickly and because, hey, I'm always a fan of a new adventure.

Right, I'm off to get some food and experience something other than flourescent lighting. Happy weekend!!