Friday 22 January 2010

Day 2 Kigali, Rwanda

So update on yesterday, Emmanuel & I walked to a great buffet place near his work for lunch & watched a bit of tennis on the telly.  After that we walked over to COOJARD a cooperative bank which I learned has doubled it's members since I joined in October 2008, impressive huh?  Then back to the office for the not nearly as glamourous process of filling out grant paperwork.  Towards the afternoon I became sooooo sleepy that I could hardly manage, so I decided to go & exchange some US$ for Frw (Rwandan Francs) then quick drive back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner and a night club.  Had I realised the night club didn't start until 11pm, I probably would have opted out, but everyone kept saying 8.30pm . . . at 8.30 it became 9.30pm . . . and so on, but it was great to see what it was all about & amazingly I managed to stay awake!

Today I took a taxi over to the US Embassy, Consular Services office and added more pages to my passport.  You're not missreading, I was able to add pages to my passport within an hour, unlike the US & UK which take minimum of 3 weeks - how great is that?  I had not realised that Kenya's transit visa would be a full page which meant when I'd miss calculated & would need more pages before I got to Australia which is where I'd planned to get it done, but I think I totally made out this way!

But nearly as exciting & maybe actually a bit more, I took my first moto trip.  There are tons of motorcycle taxi's around the city and instead of paying 4000 Frw the typical fare for a muzungu (white person) to get home I only had to pay 500Frw - so far I reckon this is the best deal of 2010!!  And before I got on I said, "I'm not in a rush, so please drive slowly" and he did (bonus)

Once "home" (aka the Iris Guesthouse) Emmanuel brought me a phone with a new sim card and his lap top so I could entertain myself this afternoon whilst he's out at a meeting.  Would love to stay & write more, but I think it's lunch time since it's nearly 13.30 here (we're 2 hours ahead of GMT for anyone who's interested)

4 comments:

  1. great job...how do you have time to keep the blog up so nicely?

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  2. Thanks to me, Mom, Dad was just able to post a comment. It was a bit of a process, but we did it!
    The moto sounds great, especially at the price!

    Guess you were watching the Australian Open a bit. As am I.

    So glad you love Rwada!

    Love Mommio

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  3. Glad to hear you were able to add pages to your passport so easily! Who knew! Hope you have fun!
    I'm sick (just in time for the weekend :(
    Love your sis

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  4. sounds like the US could learn from other countries as far as making travel convenient. i hope you continue to have amazing adventures as i love to read about them!!

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