Saturday 22 January 2011

What a Week!!

This time last week I left my lovely friends and family in the UK, not knowing what lay ahead. You will be pleased to know that I have already made new friends here and we have been working things through together. For the 10 days that I am in Kigali I have a great room mate - the danger is that we chat long into the night instead of getting much needed sleep!

There have been so many new experiences this week, it's hard to pick out just a few, but here goes:

'Mwaramutse' 'Amakuru?' 'Ni Mesa'

>>> it means Good morning, how are you, I'm very well

So, we've had Kinyarwanda lessons every morning and I have learnt quite a lot more than this! I'm enjoying the lessons and have tried out some phrases with the kind people around here. I've also learnt how to light a Kerosene stove, how to get on a bus, pay my fare and shop in the market - if you enjoy bartering you would love it here!

Yesterday we went to the Genocide Memorial Centre, as you can imagine it was very moving, but it is important to understand what happened and some of the reasons why it happened. We don't need to talk about it with our friends here but it helps me to understand how wonderful Rwandans are - they have survived this atrocity and are working together to build their country. Below is a photo of the Memorial Gardens and a beautiful peaceful walkway leading to the wall of names of victims.

I have started to notice the bird calls here and can't wait to get to my home and put up my National Trust bird clock on my kitchen wall!!(Thanks, Phil!)

Don't forget to keep in touch, but remember that the blog is a public space, so you can send an e-mail instead or write to me on Facebook. xx

7 comments:

  1. Good stuff, keep up the blogging! ;0)

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  2. The photos on Facebook are brill, too !

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  3. Am I still the only one who has managed to persuade the comments to get posted?... Hello Tricia!!

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  4. Hi Tricia just trying out this blog can,t seem to manage it great photo,s and you appear to be happy with things lul xx

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  5. yay...babs you managed to post a comment...cool..welldone..x.

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  6. Hi Tricia,Thank you for your email. It all sounds great. So new and exciting. Glad you like your room mate. I"m going to see if this works before I write more seeing as I can't get my mug on your friend bit. Love Tx

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  7. Ha ha! That worked so now I'll write more. I had my licensing on Thursday. 80-90% of staff showed up in a non-religious organization. I was so chuffed. Petey played "I heard the voice of Jesus say", "Will the Circle be Unbroken" and "Be Thou my Vision" on his guitar and mandolin. I wrote some blessings which they loved. So it went amazingly well. This Thursday I'm the witch in the postponed panto - it's about TV cooks and I'm Delia Smith. Tomorrow Eleanor has her first interview at Banbury Art College. She is just finishing her portfolio in front of Mad Men. Pete commented that he couldn't think where she got her last minute-itis from. Last week I had a free make over at the No7 counter. It was great fun and I changed my make up after 30 years! - takes me longer now but family all prefer it. Mind you we all HATED foundation. Yuk. I looked like something out of Madame Tussauds. I've also been saving up my Boots points and bought some Chanel perfume. So it's nice to feel posh and not spend any money at all!! Glad the book is helpful out there. Will burble on another time. Great to see you looking so well and getting your head round everything. Love Tx

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