Sometimes, Kigali feels like Ramallah
I'm extracting myself from kigali's "social scene" - which has lately become overwhelming - for a week.
Ya tukkho yaksir mukho, as we say - I've gone from having absolutely nothing to do to too much, and I've also discovered that there is so much drama. He-said-she-said has reached a whole new level, and I thought Bethlehem was bad! That's what happens when you start meeting bored expats, I suppose.
Speaking of mzungus - you know how we say "expat" or "expat community" with a roll of the eyes, synonymous with "malaria medication taking, 4x4 driving, beer chugging and frequent user of the term "local" with a dismissive shrug of the shoulders"?
I'm trying really hard not to get sucked in. It's hard, when choosing between doing nothing or doing something. Saturday night I was at an all-expat table. Amidst the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol there were conversations about the "hired help", people exchanging horror stories about disobedient or stubborn house boys or house girls. And when the waiter brought their barely filled shot glasses of vodka, they protest: "T.I.A"
[For those of you who are uncool, that's Leo DiCaprio's line in Blood Diamond, another film about Africa where the white guy saves the day with his street smart, friendly, gentle but violent-if-angered, African side-kick. This Is (Hollywood's) Africa]
Life is really hard, you know. Why are they all so damn uppity, don't they know we're here to HELP them, with our $50,000 salaries and operational costs exceeding 55% of our total budgets?
Ya tukkho yaksir mukho, as we say - I've gone from having absolutely nothing to do to too much, and I've also discovered that there is so much drama. He-said-she-said has reached a whole new level, and I thought Bethlehem was bad! That's what happens when you start meeting bored expats, I suppose.
Speaking of mzungus - you know how we say "expat" or "expat community" with a roll of the eyes, synonymous with "malaria medication taking, 4x4 driving, beer chugging and frequent user of the term "local" with a dismissive shrug of the shoulders"?
I'm trying really hard not to get sucked in. It's hard, when choosing between doing nothing or doing something. Saturday night I was at an all-expat table. Amidst the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol there were conversations about the "hired help", people exchanging horror stories about disobedient or stubborn house boys or house girls. And when the waiter brought their barely filled shot glasses of vodka, they protest: "T.I.A"
[For those of you who are uncool, that's Leo DiCaprio's line in Blood Diamond, another film about Africa where the white guy saves the day with his street smart, friendly, gentle but violent-if-angered, African side-kick. This Is (Hollywood's) Africa]
Life is really hard, you know. Why are they all so damn uppity, don't they know we're here to HELP them, with our $50,000 salaries and operational costs exceeding 55% of our total budgets?
posted by Diala at 4:20 PM
1 Comments:
I know so well what you're saying. I spent last year in Rwanda... Well, it's true that some week ends can be boring in Kigali, but it's very true too that the more you spend time with boring people, the more you get bored. And from the little I've seen I think the worst ever boring people are working for the UNDP...
Post a Comment
<< Home