Illegal Freedom

I was supposed to fly back to Europe today, but very last minute 'things' came up: i.e. I got offered a massive promotion, PLUS my visa expired. As of today, I am therefore an illegal manager in Rwanda - a completely new status that will require some adjusting to.

As for the next few days the country is still in mourning (so office hours are very limited), I am not sure when and how I will get my papers back. Too bad, because I was planning an amazing vacation with my Italian friend Alberto (a loop from Rwanda-Kampala-Nairobi-Mombasa-Zanzibar-Serengeti-Rwanda). Instead - oh well, I just had to 'settle' today for the most amazing Sunday in Africa :-)

One of our American neighbors, Jock, a retired professional biker who participated five times in Tour de France and who now coaches the Rwandan team, has finally picked up on my suggestion and took me for a ride. A splendid motorbike on a splendid road (newly paved, going to Gitarama), through tea plantations and rolling hills. It had been my dream FOREVER to be on such a bike, but I never quite imagined I would have the ultimate thrills like I did today. I smirked for the whole two hours, not quite believing the amazing freedom (and yes, the taste of danger) that I was experiencing in such a forceful way. I have never felt more liberated in this country, where everything is so tightly controlled or so overcrowded.

To end my FANTASTIC day, I had the mother of all adventures at home. For the first time in 10 months I decided to have some people over for dinner and cook something myself. As I was approaching the stove, a can of fruit on the nearby shelf exploded and threw everything around in the air. The noise was deafening, and the kitchen (and myself) splattered everywhere with canned mango and pears. It was actually VERY scary. Go figure, of all the things that could kill or harm me in Africa, to get attacked by a can in my own house...