a walk in the rain and midnight moongazing

time flies and I'm getting busier and busier at work and seem to find less and less time to write stories for my blog. maybe it's also that I am simply getting used to everyday life here and am not seeing a story behind every packet of chewing gum I buy (in fact - I've only ever bought one pack of gum here... but that's not the point) life is almost reaching a slightly boring point; kigali does not have very much to offer and in general it's always the same pattern; it might be a different restaurant, a different person's house, a different bar or club; but it's generally the same people and the same activities - there is nowhere to go; you cannot be alone in this city, ever. there are people everywhere, all the time.

on saturday I really needed some time off from the world - but how to do that when there are always people around and the chances of you bumping into someone you know are very high too because there are only so many place people go to? I opted for a walk around the city centre with my ipod plugged in - for one I just fancied walking and for the other I still haven't seen all of the shops in the city centre and am still amazed to turn a corner in an area I know well and then find that it's totally connected with another area I know - so exploring with music it was. about 5 minutes after I left it started raining, another 3 minutes later it was bucketing. I do not remember the last time I walked in the rain deliberately and just enjoyed getting soaked - with my music on full blast it was a marvellous experience. especially since the streets emptied within seconds of the onsetting rain and I was (almost) alone - except for the people huddled in doorways and shops watching the umuzungu that was happily trudging along in the pouring rain, seemingly oblivious to it. some taxis stopped and offered me a ride but I just declined - that was the weirdest thing for them. As I turned into the street with all the food shops there were more people about, standing in shop doors and under the arcades just looking at me in wonder as I was hopping down the street, jumping to avoid the little waterfalls. it was great - I felt like part of a videoclip - my vision framed by the hood of my mac, high on my music walking through a world to which I do not have access - like a spectator seeing a foreign universe from within the bubble of their own universe.
the arrival at the german supermarket marked the return to reality and as I was walking out after having paid I bumped into a couple of friends of mine who were having coffee on the terrace - it was nice to sit down and have a chat before setting off home in the newly emerged sun, still soaked to the bone but happy.

at night we went out for dinner - with the usual crowd who is becoming more and more like the family away from home and this is a very nice thing. anyway - after dinner we went round to a friend's house where we had a couple of beers and chatted. the moon was almost full and so we decided - at 1am - to go for a drive to just beyond the borders of the city to go and watch the moon. we got in the car and drove out; we stopped near the brick factory and just stood on the bridge gazing at the sky. I wish I was a painter! it was an incredible sight: the road winding its way into the dark, deserted, flanked by trees; the sky dark except for the clouds which were illuminated by the moon and formed a kind of v around the moon - to either side of the road fields of reeds; if it hadn't been for the noise of the brick factory it would have been a perfectly peaceful place to be! or so we thought - because eventually a police pick up pulled up next to us and asked us what we were doing here - gazing at the moon of course (they must have thought we'd escaped a madhouse...) - the police kindly drew our attention to the fact that there were 'bandits' (what a great word!) in the area and that if something happened to us it would be the police's responsibility and so they would kindly ask us to get in the car and go home. we complied - but it was nice to just stand in the middle of a road in the middle of the night and watch the clouds moving along in the moonlight.