footballed out!

I have been wanting to go to a live football game here in Africa for ages and two weeks ago finally we did it. Everyone had been talking about the Rwanda-morocco game on Sunday for a while and suddenly on Friday it turned out that the game was the next day at 3pm – so we decided we would go. As Friday night turned into a bender Saturday saw a slow start and eventually by about 2pm I had made it to the bar where I was meeting the others. They had ordered fish which had not arrived yet and we also still needed to get the tickets.

Carlos and I set off on his motorbike to go to the stadium to get the tickets whilst the others carried on waiting for the fish. We were racing through nyamirambo on the motorbike trying to find the stadium; turns out we had gone in the wrong direction – so we raced back in the other direction and finally arrived at the stadium which was beginning to fill up with people. We got the tickets and went back to the restaurant; the fish still hadn’t arrived.

The good thing was that we found out that he game didn’t actually start until 3.30pm – incredible how all the information is very sketchy and changes all the time and that despite this game being a qualifying game for the world cup 2010 in south Africa! (which I only realised after watching the game for about half an hour)

Finally the fish arrived and we ate; suddenly there was commotion in the bar and all eyes turned to the television – the game was starting. So we tried to get the bill fast… an ambitious project – paid and ran off to the stadium. Someone said that they had closed the doors and weren’t letting anyone in anymore; again misinformation – we got in no problem; we were searched with a metaldetector and the dude inspected my camera really carefully – the president was at the game too it appears.

We had bought the middle class tickets (there’s tickets for 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 francs; 2, 5 and 10 quid accordingly) but we ended up in the cheap seats which were by far the most entertaining. We were right next to the drummers who were drumming all the way through the match without stopping once. It was an incredible experience – the vibe was great and people were just having a party.

What I didn’t realise was that the amavubi (that’s what the team is called and it means wasps) were behind by one goal by the time we got there so no wonder the stadium exploded with cheers and mad drumming, shouting and flag waving when they scored shortly after we joined the crowds. Of course I missed the actual goal because I was chatting to ana – and then I was waiting for the slow motion – which of course never came – doooh!

Anyway – the stadium is also quite an experience in itself – it looks more like the sports grounds of a school and there is a massive empty space between the spectators (at least the cheap tickets) and the actual pitch. The empty space was lined with police officers – two of which were from the riot control unit with shields and helmets and all; but the other were just normal police officers.

the riot control unit (1 of 2)

If there was an explosion after the first goal I do not really know how to explain the second one. By that time we were in the middle of the Rwandese crowd dancing to their drums, laughing and learning kinyarwanda chants ;-)) I think I pretty much missed it again because I was focusing on something else; not sure if it was the guy wearing some horror figure mask or the one wearing comedy glasses or whether I was talking to someone or just dancing away – anyway – cheers erupted, flags were waving, the drums accelerated and got louder, the movements of the drummers more extravagant sparkling with energy and joy, people hugging each other, shaking hands, shouting, screaming, jumping and running toward the pitch where they were caught up by the police and sent back to the where you are supposed to stand and watch.

Everytime the opponents got close to the Rwandese goal – or the Rwandese close to the Moroccan goal, the drummers started drumming more quietly but not less consistently – it was fascinating to have this soundtrack that accompanied the game and carried so much of the tension and emotion – it was like having a commentator but without words – wow wow wow!

Needless to say that the third and last goal saw the people jumping out of their skin, jumping yet higher, laughing louder, hugging more strongly, screaming more and more people running toward the pitch – again, held back by the police. I thought it must suck to be a police officer doing crowd control at such an important game: you stand with your back to the game, everyone is having a party and you just have to stand there with a serious face and without the right to participate in the volksfest that it was… I’m glad I’m only a project manager and have my free time to enjoy such events – I’m definitely going to see Rwanda-ethiopia game!!

Right after the end of the game we had to get in the car and drive to the car wash where we were going to watch the spain – someone game (I don’t even remember to be honest). Now you try and drive through the city right after the national football team that has never qualified for a world cup has won one of the qualification games… plus the road was leading through kigali’s liveliest neighbourhood – it was lined with people waiting for the team, cheering and just being happy.

There were five of us in the landrover and we had a Rwanda flag that we were waving out of the window – people were loving it! At one point one of us shouted one of the slogans from the game and suddenly we had 15 people on the car and hanging off the sides of it – just crazy!

Needless to say that the spain game was boring and dull compared to the experience we’d just lived ;-))

a friday night in kigali

well, yesterday was Friday and in Kigali this means that the weekend begins; for me at 1pm – bonus!

So I went to lunch with some of my colleagues and after that hung the hammock between the trees, grabbed my pillow and went for a little snooze under the avocado trees – heaven!

At night it was time for a dinner at the Indian restaurant which serves delicious food which I was really craving. The service in Kigali is generally not what we Europeans are used to; a friend says that here you don’t judge a restaurant by the quality of its food but by the speed of its service (and if you can get a smile, you’re really lucky!) – but the Indian actually has both – normally.

Last night was not normally. We had a table for eight with only six plates and when we ordered couple more we just got a question mark face. But the food came as quickly as ever and was as good as ever and I managed to successfully stuff my face ;-))

Full and happy I continued my journey to another one of kigali’s outstanding examples of quality and service – at least the gipsy kings had already been played by the time I arrived. So after an hour or so there, debating what to do next some more friends joined us and we finally decided that to go to kbc it was a bit early still and that instead we were going to check out a place called one love. I had been there on one of the first weekends here and it reminds me a lot of a hang out back home I used to go to – quite basic but with a good vibe and let’s face it – in terms of music you will pretty much always get the same here wherever you go.

in the end we ended up at the kbc and danced all night long - and this after having decided that tonight was going to be an early one because there was lots going on the next day - yeah right! the dj started putting on some wicked techno beats and we just couldn't stop dancing... but sometimes a night of boogie is just what you need!

jazzfestivals, manicures, pedicures and football

life in kigali never seizes to be full of surprises and funny moments and I often catch myself wondering wheter I am in fact in africa; it has nothing to do with the stereotypical africa that springs to a european mind. it is neither hot nor sticky - in fact for the last couple of weeks it has reminded me a lot of england; grey, cool and rainy... - nor are its streets filled with unknown smells that range from sharp, to sickly sweet, to musty to putrefied organic matter; its streets
are not filled with informal business, no women cooking stuff on the pavement, no blankets with random collections of watches, books, pens and other useful stuff; just the occasional boy going: 'sista, sista, map of rwanda' - no thank you - 'map of kigali' - no thank you - 'mabye tomorrow?' - yes, maybe tomorrow. that's it - no hassle, no getting angry to shouting point; politeness all along.

but I do realise that I'm in africa when it comes to things like getting a haircut or going to the beauty salon for a manicure but also when it comes to events such as the 'kigali jazzfestival'.

what they call the jazzfestival was in fact the performance of the one band in kigali that seems to room of the mille collines hotel; drinks were stupidly overprized and smoking is not allowed in closed rooms in kigali - so have their own intstruments and is therefore the one band that gets to perform live whenever there is an opportunity.

The 'festival took place in the big conference room at the mille collines hotel and because smoking is not allowed in closed rooms in kigali everyone ended up standing in the corridors by the open windows.

when we arrived they were going through the repertoire of congolese music - not much to do with jazz in my classification system - but hey, we have to be flexible! and as for flexibility - you also have to accept that by 11pm the festival was over... oh well - at least it was something different to do for once even though you always end up doing it with the same people; the community here is small and it's the same faces over and over again - but hey, I could be living in a place with no power and no jazzfestivals at all!

and because here I'm rich - which is not always for me; especially when it comes to throwing away food, or spending a couple of quid on something stupid when you know that this money can keep a family going for a couple of days; but it's part of this life too - I decided it was time to get the first manicure and pedicure of my life - just because I can!

so off to the 'trust salon' for the experience. had I known how long it was going to take I might not have opted for both cures at the same time - hindsight - a wonderful thing! and it's a bit like life - trial and error - next time I'll know ;-)) we got there on time, and my guy was ready and got down to business immediately. first he looked at the hands and started doing working on the nails - he didn't really have the intuition to do the right thing and I had to tell him what shape was best for my nails - he sort of got it in the end.

after he'd filed the nails he brought out the hand bath and I soaked my hands whilst he started sorting out the feet which then got stuck in one of the foot-massage bath tub things - he put way too much soap in the water and through the vibration the thing produced an incredible amount of bubbles continuously for the entire 2 hours I had my feet in it! what was interesting was that the bubbles kept overflowing from the tub and making their way towards the plug - which was the moment at which I would get a bit nervous; because for all the respect I have of the makeshift solutions that seem to work here - water and electricity don't mix anywhere in the world and I do not want to be in the middle of it... so the dude would regularly bend down and syphon off the bubbles and then get back to scrubbing my arms with body-scrub, followed by massaging my arms with bodylotion before doing the same to my feet; eventually, after about 2 hours of bubbles, scrubbing, massaging, answering phones and mumbling things in kinyarwanda he got to the varnishing part - yay! me being me I had managed to touch the nail varnish before it was totally dry and even before the guy had finished with my feet... it looked lovely but it will never last very long on me I'm afraid - 2 hours after the manicure I will probably decide it's time for some landscape gardening and lifting rocks around or digging things up with my hands... oh well - I don't want to be a lady and I don't think I could even if I tried ;-))

and now, 10 days later I've removed the varnish from my hands as best as I could with the sub-standard nail varnish remover that was available - I might have to get another manicure just to get rid of the old stuff ;-))

and finally, it's the euro 2008 in switzerland and austria - and because this is africa and everyone loves football they are screening all games on big screens at this bar called the 'car wash'. so I am spending evenings there, drinking the local brew and eating brochettes whilst waiting for the footballers to take off their shirts . unfortunately most of them only look good neck down... but it's fun all the same to discuss hideous hair-do's and unfortunate facial traits . still it's worth watching it just to see the legs and bums, especially in the slow motion shots ;-))
and then there is of course also the whole spending time with real football-aficionados who get really upset when their team loses and then go off on a whole tangent of explaining and justifying stuff - I still don't quite know how to handle a disappointed football fan... any tips most welcome!