A Day in the Life

I'm pretty much settled in Kigali, and a daily routine is forming. A typical day looks like this:

I wake up and have a shower, in a corner of the bathroom where there is a drain and a tap with cold running water (but not too cold since it's the dry season and consistently around 25-30 degrees Celsius. I get dressed and go to the dining/living room, where breakfast is set out on the table by the girl hired to cook and clean. Breakfast is tea with powdered milk and suger (Loic is still disgusted that I only put half a teaspoon of sugar in my tea - he takes 3 heaping spoonfuls!) and white bread (either baguette or hot dog bun style) with margarine, sometimes cheese, sometimes egg and onion omelette, sometimes peanut butter, sometimes deli meat or sausages.

Then I go to meet with people to get information for my research, yesterday and today at OCIR Cafe. I either get dropped off near where I'm going by Yvette or Michel if they're driving that direction, or I walk up the hill from the house to the main road and get a taxi bus to the nearest bus station, where I get another taxi bus to wherever I'm going. Everyone I've met has been willing to help, and has taken time to make sure I get the information I want. Sometimes I have to make repeat trips to the same place however, to get the person with the right information.

After meetings I bus to downtown Kigali to the Union Trade Centre, the shopping centre where Bourbon Coffee is located with its wireless internet access. I order a local cafe au lait, and work on my computer for a few hours. I'm frantically trying to apply for scholarships before their deadlines as I may decide to do a PhD starting next year. So really it's not too much different than when I'm sitting at my desk at UBC staring at my computer screen. Sigh.

When I get hungry, I either grab a sandwich and fruit or yoghurt at the Nakumatt, a Kenyan chain supermarket that is open 24 hours in Union Trade Centre, or I walk down the street to Yvette's restaurant for a Rwandan buffet lunch. I try to avoid eating at the coffee shop because it is expensive. To give you an idea of how expensive, a simple meal at Bourbon Coffee is approx 3,500 frw (CAD $7) while the buffet is a heaped plate of local food for 1,000 frw (CAD $2). A sandwich and yoghurt at the store is about $2 as well. It's difficult to avoid meat and still eat all my nutrients, so I have been eating meat. I don't like is as much as I used to.. maybe it will just take some time for my palate to adjust.

I usually work on the internet at the coffee shop until 3pm, when Yvette leaves the restaurant and drives home, or until later when I take a taxi bus home. But I made the mistake of trying to taxi home the other day at 5pm during rush hour and it took me over an hour to get to the house. Part of the delay was due to my getting lost on my walk from the road home since it was already dark and the neighbourhood is unlit except for some houses with lighting, and I hadn't walked that way in 2 years - oops!

Once home, I hang out with the family in the living room watching tv, playing board or card games, and chatting. Yesterday we watched a whole bunch of episodes of some Mexican Soap Opera that's dubbed in French they rent from the local videoteque. Sometimes I work on my computer in the evening instead of watching tv. The good thing about the French tv is that it improves my French! We have tea at around 6 or 7pm, and then eat dinner around 9:30pm. Those who know me are wondering, how does she manage to wait until 9:30pm to eat?! Well, I have a secret stash of snacks. It's the only way. I just wish that I could find granola bars here. I am making do with cookies instead. After dinner, I am normally the first to bed, even before the 9-year-old! Granted, I have a cold and am stuffed up and achey so I have an excuse for going to bed early this week.

Perhaps not as exciting as some of you imagine my life to be here. I will keep you posted though!