Trivia Night

Sole Luna Restaurant

Today's classes were busy. The computers for the students all need some major repair, which is kind of stressful for me, being the IT teacher. But it must be done! I thought my laptop had bit the dust, and I panicked! Fortunately, it's been working alright since I started to coax it into functionality.

I had my first rain in Kigali. The school rooftops clambered with the rain, and the thunder in the distance echoed throughout the campus.

Just a note about males here: many of them are aggressive. My phone basically blew up today with random strangers that I met or talked to very briefly wanting to bring me out. I am pretty much feeling a big fat "NO!" to any of these invitations, since I'm not wanting anyone else but The Man. But they sure are persistant. I've been given advice to just let them buy me food, but don't give them anything in return - that way we all feel used. I don't know about that... I guess many men here think of Mzungus as temporary mistresses. Well, clearly they've never met me. No, thanks. I'm going to be wearing a "wedding" ring from now on while I'm here.



I got home to go out again. Our housemate Scovea turned 21 today! What an old lady, right? So they decided to go to a restaurant called SoleLuna. I tagged along to enjoy the company and celebrate with my housemates. Why not?

So we got into something called a squeeze bus. It's something like an off-brand bus system. And they call it a squeeze bus for a reason - you squeeze into it. We crammed our 20-some bodies into what's like a 15-passenger van. The smell of body odor is, of course, vagrant, but there is no escape from the aromatic claws of persperation. And we rode.

SoleLuna is like walking into a fairy land of some sort. Truly! We walked down a stone terrace staircase into what looked like a beautiful bungalow with flora covering the whole place. Looking out over the bungalow were the glowing, sparkly lights of Kigali. The decor is something you'd see in a movie and you'd think, "Yeah right, not in a developing country!" But it was there! Wonderful outdoor seating, and lots of white/foreign folk cramming artisinal pizzas into their hungry faces.

Tonight was Trivia Night. A night when Rwandans and expats can come together and stump each other on very curious trivial facts. Things including, "What country borders were created by going down the river and shooting cannons on either side of the ship?" (Gambia), or "Name the three most recent countries in the world" (Kosovo, Montenegro, & South Sudan). And other ridiculous things, like "What is the color orange named after?" (the fruit). Lots of expats laughed and scoffed together while we snarfed down tasty dinners and scraped our brains for reasonable answers. Apparently this happens every Monday night. I think I might have to do that again! It was so much fun.

And then the housemates and I all found it to be 10pm - and we have work in the morning! So we took motos. At night. Which was a thrill I probably could have lived without, but we did make it home all in our own individual pieces.

I am running late tonight, so it's definitely time for me to go to bed.