My last few posts may have mentioned the lack of water in my house, so I am pleased to announce its timely return! It has been a month of lack of water but all that is over now - hopefully. Still it only comes for a few hours each morning and if you sleep in late, or go to work early, you might miss it, but nevertheless, water is back and there is no fear of ahh we have no water anywhere in the house happening again.
The end of July was filled with SEN training, both in my TTC and another
one about 8 hours away from me. I assisted Jo and we made lots of
lovely resources with the teachers from local schools in the area. Then
it was time for holidays! Lisa arrived - a day late - having been
treated to an overnight stay in a swanky hotel in Istanbul courtesy of
Turkish Airlines error, all sprayed with deet and ready to experience
Rwanda and Uganda. So we went off to the closest lake and did a couple
of hours of bird watching and Lisa got to see the mob effect of a white
person in a rural village for the first time. Afterwards, we toured the
Tea plantation and got to go into all the rooms where they make it. The
orthodox fermenting room smelt amazing, like swimming in a tea cup
(minus the milk) whereas the chopping room reminded me of cut grass! I
loved the fact that they had a tea pot continuously pouring hot tea
outside with "our cup of tea" signage. 
Next day it was time to hit the memorials in Kigali, visiting churches in Nyamata and Ntarama where thousands of Tutsi's had gone to to seek refuge during the war here, only to be massacred in the pews. All of the victims clothes are arranged on the pews and a guuide showed us around and explained in detail, the bullet holes, grenade marks and impliments of torture that were used to punish and kill people in 1994. You can't take pictures instead any of the memorials here (unless you pay $20 in the main one in Kigali) - not that I would want to, but outside, it's ok to. One church even has an open mass grave where you go down amongst the coffins full of people. I declined that offer and said a quiet prayer for those lost instead. The first church we visited had a guide there immediately, however no.2 was silent with only a guard who sprinted off as soon as we arrived. We soon leanrt why, when another man (with very little English) told us to wait for the guide, however 30 minutes later, I asked Lisa if she wanted to stay as there was no-one in sight but a French Catholic Priest and a Belgian Tourist (riding his bike through Africa!) who were also waiting for the tour. Five minutes later we were made to feel really bad as a heavily pregnant lady waddled through the gate and slowly up the path to be our guide. I asked when she was due and was told, two days ago! Needless to say, we stayed for the tour and donated well. Our day was not over yet though as when we got to Nyabugogo bus station, all of the buses to Gicumbi was full until 7pm, so we got tickets and decided to be clever and eat food at a nearby restuarant whilst waiting.At 6.45, half of our food came (for those of you in Rwanda, you know two hours is not long to wait for food), so we packed it for take away and ran for the bus! We need not have bothered, as they were running three buses late and we didn't alight until 8.00pm. Normally, this would mean 1.5 hours journey to home, but the day was not yet over and we endured hours of road works until finally reaching my place at 11pm!
Next up was a visit to the western provence in hopes of seeing the chimpanzees in Nyungwe National Park - although I could not get hold of the person to book.We arrived in Kamembe and checked into the hotel after an 8 hour journey and Lisa could not believe she was sitting right next to the border of the DRC! We missed the chimpanzees due to full bookings so instead took a short walk to see some colobus monkeys. We couldn't find them, but we did find blue monkeys and grey-cheeked mangabeys before the colobus troop decided to show up close by. The kind guide lent me his lens so that I could take some close up and we stood for a long time watching them eat fruit from the trees, jump from tree to tree and the younger ones annoy their mothers!
After another long bus ride home, we relaxed in the bar with another volunteer and friend and Lisa ate the famous Rwandan brochette and chips yet again for dinner!
I
left Lisa at the bus station, in the capable hands to my volunteer
friend and her dad and prepared yet again for the 10hr bus journey home
to Rwanda.A great break, but back to the grindstone the following day - bring on the next holiday!
