My biggest struggle in Kigali in the last week was my bed. Yes, my bed. Broken from the middle, it kept rolling me in even though I tried hard to sleep in all its corners. Jet lag with a broken back is not a great combination I realized and decided to buy a new mattress. Yes, mean land lord. Life has been so much better since the last two days. I missed a party to be on my new mattress.
Hmm. Mosquitoes. Inside my mosquito net. Buzzing in my ear and biting me here and there. Not cool. I'm not afraid of malaria, after having lived in a malaria prone zone all my life, but I HATE THESE HUGE MOSQUITOES. Their being huge also means that I have been able to catch them and kill them with my hands very easily. So here's my nightly routine:
1. Get bitten by the mosquitoes while I'm working on my table
2. Open the mosquito net
3. Search for mosquitoes inside it
4. Kill them / shoo them out
5. Tuck the net carefully
6. Sleep
7. Be afraid of letting in a mosquito whenever I get out of the net
8. Still get bitten and hummed
Ok, since this post is not sounding like I'm in a very appreciative mood, I'll pile on another thing that has tested my patience here. Africa time. My experience till now has not really been too different than Indian standard time, hence I must say America has spoilt me. I've stopped being used to preparing for long waiting times, like getting things to read, but I also don't want to be the person in the corner doing her own thing. Community courtesy says, wait and get bored with everyone else. Usually I have the energy to make conversations to pass the time, but on other days, it becomes just painful. For example when I had to leave home at 5am for a bus from office at 5:30, which did not arrive and then leave till 6:30. For an event which had to start at 10, which didn't start till 11:30. Not too bad, but I wasn't in the best of the moods to be patient.
That sort of summarizes my woes in this last week. More positivity to follow soon.
Hmm. Mosquitoes. Inside my mosquito net. Buzzing in my ear and biting me here and there. Not cool. I'm not afraid of malaria, after having lived in a malaria prone zone all my life, but I HATE THESE HUGE MOSQUITOES. Their being huge also means that I have been able to catch them and kill them with my hands very easily. So here's my nightly routine:
1. Get bitten by the mosquitoes while I'm working on my table
2. Open the mosquito net
3. Search for mosquitoes inside it
4. Kill them / shoo them out
5. Tuck the net carefully
6. Sleep
7. Be afraid of letting in a mosquito whenever I get out of the net
8. Still get bitten and hummed
Ok, since this post is not sounding like I'm in a very appreciative mood, I'll pile on another thing that has tested my patience here. Africa time. My experience till now has not really been too different than Indian standard time, hence I must say America has spoilt me. I've stopped being used to preparing for long waiting times, like getting things to read, but I also don't want to be the person in the corner doing her own thing. Community courtesy says, wait and get bored with everyone else. Usually I have the energy to make conversations to pass the time, but on other days, it becomes just painful. For example when I had to leave home at 5am for a bus from office at 5:30, which did not arrive and then leave till 6:30. For an event which had to start at 10, which didn't start till 11:30. Not too bad, but I wasn't in the best of the moods to be patient.
That sort of summarizes my woes in this last week. More positivity to follow soon.
Welcome to the real world with real bottlenecks!
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