Muraho (hello)

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Having shivered my way into the airport at Heathrow, not having brought a coat as i was pretty sure i wouldn't need one out here, i joined the 1000s of people waiting at the airport due to delayed or cancelled flights. Although we sat on the runway for a couple of hours, thanks to the french and their air traffic strikes, we did leave and made it to Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia and then on to Entebbe in Uganda to drop off some passengers and then eventually arrived in Kigali. On arrival all non-biodegradable plastic bags are confiscated and it shows, the streets are not littered with bags in the gutters and are generally clean. I'm liking this environmentally friendly attitude already.

I was collected from the airport and driven down Africa's crazy roads, people just mingle in and out of the traffic, and seemingly barely use the pavements, others selling stuff all along the roadside. The hotel where i'm staying in kigali is very nice and comfortable and the staff are lovely - i'm getting them to teach me bits of Kinyrwanda but i'm a long way from fluent!!!

Fortunately i didn't have porridge for breakfast - my one hate and fear coming out here 😊, instead i had bread and jam, tea (i tried! still only managed a bit even when cold) and passion fruits (i think). Apparently Rwanda has very good avocados and mangoes so i hope there will be a market near where i will be living.

Today i started skipping (you can laugh!) and read about accounting for NGOs! I came in to town with the girl who works at the hotel and will tempt the buses back on my own later! everyone has finished work and they are in the streets of Kigali - I'm told it's not this busy in the middle of the day.

It's funny - this continent is a million miles away from Europe in so many ways and then you walk down the street in the centre of town to find a shopping centre with a full blown supermarket and then mobile phone shops around EVERY corner.

Mwirirwe (bye)

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