Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I guess that this is what today should look like. It’s all in a lazy Sunday afternoon. A nap after a lunch aroused by a good Italian wine, the remnant of my first locally organized dinner for the friends, (for the insiders… ‘At Druy’s in Kigali’), some laptop fixing - this is what happens after ‘numériques’ donations - , a coffee with cookies… that you always accept … on my terrace with a view. Writing mails, sending messages, some Skype talking and more of this and that, all that will make me very tired at the end of the day.

I’m here less than three weeks now but it seems longer. It’s more routine than adventure but this is what I wanted. Rwanda was not unknown to me and I would even wish that things are going faster but I try to stay calm and one of the most important aspects is to get into the Rwandan way of thinking and acting, with composure and thoughtful. With some good guidance from the friends I get used to a polite way of interaction, something I missed the last twenty years. On the risk of being accused again of anti-Dutch feelings, I apologize to my Dutch- friends and (ex)-colleagues but I have to cure from the direct language use I have learned during all those years and you know what happens when the pupil gets more expertized than the master.

Last Friday I got shocking news about the health of my best friends’ daughter. It has been there as a shadow over the weekend and this is what a lot of people feel when relatives are sick or in danger in a faraway country, help- and powerlessness.

On Mondays and Thursdays I’m working with the dancers in Kanombe. Three hours with the two dancers who went to l’Ecole des Sables in Senegal. We are fine-tuning their solos and I think that in a few weeks they will be able to show something at least interesting. At the end of the afternoon we start to work with the other dancers from the Abatarutwa troupe and also there an interesting process is going on. Both ladies have added the typical Rwandan arm moves and head roles, even without gender distinction, in the warming ups they learned in Senegal …

It’s strange, in the background I hear increasing sounds as if the city is preparing for a new week. It was less hot today and no thunder or rain. We still wait for the short rainy season but as I told you before, climate change is also commonplace here.    

I will go for an evening walk. While I still feel the altitude difference I am less dying then the first days after arrival. But climbing the city center hill under a burning sun in the middle of the day is pure suicide.

Have a nice week.

Yours faithfully.