Well I was feeling a right dunce today after adding up lots of exam scores, doing it wrong and having to do it again, told to apply a formula to the scores and then doing it wrong yet again and having to do it all a third time (its all still a mystery to me but I’ve handed the marks over to someone else). Then the electricity went off for five hours when I had lots of work to do on my laptop. Grrrrrr! As the frustration mounted I thought ‘what would I do at home?’ to dispel my irritation with the world and the answer was as always ‘go for a walk’. Now this is not as easy as it sounds because the idea of going for a stroll without a purpose is very alien in Rwanda but I thought sod it, I need to do what I need to do. So I donned my flipflops and cardigan and set off down the long and windy dirt track that leads to who knows where.
As I hoofed it down the track I soon found myself alone outside for the very first time in Rwanda. Or at least I couldn’t see or hear anyone else. This was the case for a good 5 minutes and it was totally magic. I can’t believe how beautiful it was down this little isolated track. Hills with cartoon points gave way to deep valleys with clusters of little mud houses at the bottom. Piebald goats greedily munched at tufts of luscious green grass and the earth was redder than in Australia ‘red centre.’ Alas my solitude was not to last for long. A young man pushing his bicycle met me in the opposite direction. I think he asked me where I was going in Kinyarwanda but I just couldn’t remember the reply, not that I could say where I was going anyhow as I didn’t know where the track led to. I tried the French ‘faire du promenade’ but to no avail. I’m looking forward to starting my Kinyarwanda lessons at the end of April as the people in the village don’t seem to speak much French outside of the TTC and I desperately want to talk to them and I can see they want to talk to me also. I’m sure if I do my best they will meet me more than half way.
It was just so liberating to go for stroll. It has inspired me to stay in the village for a few weekends next term. I’ll go to the market on Saturday and go for a walk. I am a lucky girl to be here in this beautiful land, I just need to learn how to cope with the attention I create and get over my shyness with trying to communicate in Kinyarwanda. ‘Buhoro buhoro’ as they say ‘slowly, slowly!’
Perhaps you could start a new industry - building footpaths. Because of its small size and varied scenery, eventually Rwanda might be a good place for long distance footpaths.
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