When I arrived there I found that there where three King Faisal radiographers who were unable to come the other evening because of work. They are quite wistful about missing and so I invited them for next week (presumably at thenew house) on an evening when they would be free. It looks like next Thursday will work. We’ve been told that some time soon we’ll be moving to a different guest house but the communication has been mostly hearsay and rumors. A bit of my hesitancy about picking a date is that I’m not sure which house we’ll be in and when. I’ll confirm with them where next week.
I worked with Pascal and Said today. Of all the radiographers and students I’ve worked with, Said has put in the most effort and has made the most advancement. He’s been taking one of my books each evening and by comments he makes during the day, I can tell that he’s been reading and comprehending. For the past few days I’ve been concentrating on having the radiographers give the report and review the images with the Radiologist. I’m trying to get them used to the process and the level of detail that they should be using so that the Radiologist will have confidence that a full study has been completed.
When lunch time came I realized I hadn’t brought my billfold or any loose money today.
I caught a moto back to the house, handed the driver my cell phone (so he knew I’d come back), asked him to wait, ran into the house and got my money and paid him. My forgetfulness was fortuitous because Terry was having some computer issues that we were able to work through. I ate lunch at home and he got his Skype visit with his wife. Hearing a person’s voice is such a cool thing. Another cool thing is that I’ve received my birthday card from Shaloy. Even though we talk daily, getting the card was nice. Mailed May 13 Airmail delivery got to me June 3. It’s cute and I’ve got it on my desk in my room and I smile each time I spy the silly thing..When checking my Yahoo e-mail account I got ready to delete all the "spam mail" and somehow decided to check what was there before doing my normal "delete all without looking". I was glad that I did because there were a number of comments from the blog that had ended up there and would have been lost without going back
through every posting. A couple from Shaloy about the orphanage one from Tria and one anonymous. In response: I haven't asked about the countries willingness to allow outside adoptions but will ask. Also, Shaloy was concerned about the orphanage kitchen facilities and I'll re-investigate about what can be done to improve them. My friend Kelly Pratt asked if I could set the picture links to open in a new window. I can not, but , , f you don't want to lose your spot do this.. before going to the pictures (or whatever other link), click once on the adress bar for your search engine, click "CTRL and N" simultaneously (which should open a new Internet window). Then select one of teh two pages you now have open and when done just close it. Your original page should still be available.
There is a large black like bird who is black with a white chest - they look as though they are crows in tuxedos.. I’ve asked what they are and was told they are "Igikona". They are cool in that they have a very wide range of interesting vocalizations, from the typical crow "caw" to some that I’m unable to describe.Terry lent me a "Bradt travel guide" for Rwanda that had an interesting section regarding the Rwanda Flag: "The old flag contained red, symbolizing the blood shed for independence. But in today’s peaceful Rwanda this is seen as inappropriate.
The new flag is blue, yellow and green. Blue to signify peace and tranquility; yellow to signify wealth as the country strives for economic growth; green to symbolize agriculture, productivity and prosperity. There is a sun in the top right hand corner, against a blue background, representing new hope for the country and it’s people. The flag was designed by Alphonse Kirimobenecyo, a Rwandan artist and engineer"I’ve not been happy with my Rwandatel phone. I checked Tuesday and had over 3,600 FRw credit. I made one call Tuesday evening for less than a minute. Now I’m trying to call Terry it tells me I don’t have enough credit and gives an error message when trying to check the amount of credit. The phone wouldn’t work at all on Wednesday but Thursday morning I received a call
but couldn’t call out. So I decide to go to the place where I bought the phone after work on Thursday. It takes a ride across town into Mumenge and then a ½ mile walk. I decide to be just as sweet and helpless as I can and not to do the upset routine. The lady informs me that the entire Rwandatel system was down Wednesday but it’s up today. She says her computer is down and she is unable to check my account but she used my phone and now my phone acknowledges that I have time. She is able to use my phone to call her phone and shows me that her phone can call me. I walk out and try to call Terry "not enough credit" checked my credit "3,695 FRw". I’d seen another Rwandatel office on my way and decide to confirm what I’ve been told. I got an additional piece of information that made sense. "Rwandatel has had a problem and was down Wednesday. They are up now but can only call land lines and Rwandatel customers. We can receive calls from MTN network but are unable to call an MTN customer. The companies are trying to work out an arrangement" Hmmmm....While in town, I did some comparison shopping at a different set of craft shops and then went back to the bus area. I don’t think I’ve been here at this time because the crowd is probably twice as big as I’ve seen before. As a full bus comes in to drop people off , , , people who are waiting grab the windows and run along side trying to be the first in the scrum once the current passengers depart. Diogene had warned me about it but I hadn’t witnessed it. I did not feel like participating today and caught a moto back to the house.
Terry & I walked down to Afribite for supper. What a delightful place and a great couple of hours visiting, comparing experiences, discussing, enjoying the food and atmosphere. The prices are great and the food was outstanding again. We both had vegetable samboas for appetizer, fish brochettes (like a kebab) with chips and a salad and passion fruit juice. Afterwards I had some of the hot african tea with hot milk mixed in. The tea had a delightful amount of fresh ginger added. There was a strong smell of perfume that wafted periodically past our outside table and I had to get up and find the source. About 20 feet away was a gardenia type bush that smelled fantastic. Ohh, , , and it's inexpensive!!
A nice walk back to the house, using my headlamp to keep from twisting an ankle or knee on the intricately designed, cobblestone street that climbs the hill or the pot holed road in front of the house. In bed before 9 p.m.
1 comment:
Leif, thank you for your diligence in posting on the blog. I don't get to read it every day, but I do catch up a few times a week!
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