The Sun Also Rises in Rwanda: Viva La Bunnies!

Update! The last few days Heike has been making a collar out of twine through this knotting mechanism that I think would make a really good rug if it were bigger. She said that she learned this as a young girl in Germany. Today she finished the collar, as it is the weekend and there is a lot more time. And today I made a rope and learned how to tie a bowline. Weird. So, after much design, redesign, discussion and an overall bonding experience between Heike and Martin and Keksy and between me and Heike and Martin, there is finally a long enough leash and a collar. We have just put the collar on Keksy and let out the bunnies for the first time in two days. They seem pretty stiff.

Keksy seems a bit stressed by the experience but is so far just lying down and ok. Dinah is very happy.

Two random things:

First, yesterday, I told you I ran errands. It was relevant at the time to say that it was raining lightly and very cloudy and that we were using umbrellas. Later that evening it became relevant as I realized that I had a sunburn on the parts of my skin that were exposed of clothing. That is just plain crazy. Have to be really careful about the sun at the equator! Really, really careful!

Second, another thing you should know about the place that I am living at. I have told you the names of all the people who are living here. But there is a night watchman whose name I don’t know and who coughs every night a lot around 2am or so. There are also other people coming and going all day long. People’s moms, or friends, or people’s mom’s friends, or people’s mom’s half cousin’s dog’s friends. And they are either taking something (like bandwidth) or giving something. Peoples mom’s always bring things to people here. Usually like food. Some people take their bucket baths here and others just stop in to say hi and sit on a porch and chat for a while.

Everyone should spend a holiday in Rwanda, I think, so far. When the wind blows through the banana leaves it makes the most relaxing sound. Most times of the day, including into the night, there is beautiful traditional singing to be heard from one direction or another. And the frequent rain makes everyone sleepy hitting the tin roof. If I go on about the singing forgive me because it is just so beautiful to me. The polyphonic melodies make me go all quixotic and if not then simply wistful.

Besides, spending a holiday in Rwanda would be cheap in money and priceless in world experience. Familiarity breeds small-mindedness.

So, to broaden your horizons, and, as promised, photos, if I can fit them all here. If you click on the photo you can see the bigger version:

The sitting room in the building I live in.

The weird middle room with the refrigerator leading to the back door.

The bathroom showing toilet, bucket used to fill toilet with water to "flush" it, and faux shower.

View from the back porch of the building where Dinah and Agnes live.

Back porch.

So pretty!

OMG They are so ORANGE!

The gate to the compound from the inside.

The front porch.

The front drive leading to the courtyard.

I want this plant to be my friend.

Seriously.

These are the avocados on the avocado tree. There are hundreds of them. But they won't be ready to eat until December or January Dinah says.

What are those little balls?

Martin with Keksy.

The sitting room in the building that Martin and Heike and the others live in.

This is my new friend. I have named her "Umuntu" or "person" in Kinyarwandan.

The patio in the courtyard where we all eat and congregate all day if we are here but particularly in the evenings. Also the place where Keksy lives.

One of the many, many compost heaps that surround the base of most of the plants.

The kitchen. There is a switch to turn on the water in the other building to use the sink.

A free bunny!

So pink! I want a shirt that looks like this. Or a big silly hat that would have been popular in the 1940s high fashion.

The platform in the garden behind the big building.

These plants look so angry. I like them.

Bananas at the top of a tree at the top of the platform. I want to see that flower open!

One view from the platform. Look at that humidity haze! It hasn't rained yet today but it will soon.

Another view from the platform. If you look at the larger picture you can see people working in the fields.

Yet another view but this one focusing more on houses.

Detail view of one of the houses next door.

Weird tree beans that are not meant to be eaten but yet were pushed upon Katie, the Peacecorp worker, when she was ill by a 5 year old who said they had healing powers.