So last night I did fall asleep without hearing a mosquito, but it wasn’t because they were all gone. It was because they were pissed, and they were now organized. I still had my insomnia, so I stayed up watching movies all night again, but the mosquitoes didn’t bother me at all. They knew to wait until I was asleep, and then seek their revenge. When I woke up, I could immediately feel the damage they had done. They had attacked all my fingers, and so thoroughly that they were covered in huge bumps. My fingers were so swollen I couldn’t make a fist because my skin was so tight. My eye also felt funny. When I went to the bathroom, I saw in the mirror just how bad they had smoked me:
I don’t know if the picture does it justice, but my eye was severely swollen and red. I don’t even know if a mosquito can do that, it’s practically a bee sting. I wouldn’t be surprised if they called in bee back-up to exact more pain on me. Clearly the war is not over.
As soon as breakfast ended, Gatera showed up at the house to take me to pick up my microphone that he claimed was finally finished. When I arrived for the third time, three things were different: Soldeto was there, the mic was finished being repaired, and it worked! It was such a relief, not having my shotgun mic was actually causing me anxiety about audio issues. Gatera took me back to the house and I picked up my tripod so I could interview Antoinette, who also works in the same offices. I lugged all my stuff up the hill, and some little boys walked with me and talked, and wanted to see my tripod and carry it for me, I let them see it but I wouldn’t let them carry it because I am sure they were trying to make money and I had NOTHING to give them. I did enjoy their company though.
We had a series of short and productive meetings with people. We met with Josephine, the vice mayor, Julius, the vice mayor of finances and economics, with Antoinette who was too busy to be interviewed today and asked for Monday instead, and then with a friend of Lama’s named Raphael. After doing some walking around and window shopping, we walked home for lunch. After lunch we walked to UNATEK to do some web surfing. I had the most email I’ve ever had in Rwanda, and to top it off I was excited to read it all. Right as I was getting into it, the power went out and therefore the internet too. The worst part was I was emailing Darren to tell him to buy me a Sigur Ros ticket when they go on sale tomorrow morning, because I don’t even want to think about missing that show. As it was sending, the internet went down. We waited around talking to Clement and Sigfried about an hour and a half before giving up and heading home without the power ever having returned.
Sigfried came with us, and the 4 of us brought the chairs out and sat in the back yard. Later, Anita showed up and she brought Cynthia with her. It was awesome to see her again. This time, I showed her how to use my computer so she could see all the pictures she took last time she came over. All I had to do was show her each operation once and she understood. One finger on the pad dragged the mouse, two fingers would scroll, double click would open a picture to full screen, escape would take you out, and left and right arrows would navigate either way once in full screen mode. She’s so smart! It was neat to watch her too, because she would scroll through pictures at 100 mph, but then she would stop on certain images and stare at them for a really long time, so it was easy to tell which ones fascinated her more than others. Kara also brought out some markers and index cards, so once my laptop battery died she spent the rest of the time drawing pictures. She drew one for her mom, Regina, and one for Kara.
Once dinner was ready, Anita, Cynthia and Sigfried took off and the three of us ate. Once we finished, I pushed that we go back to the computer lab so I could make sure I sent that email about the concert. We ended up staying there really late and leaving around midnight. When we got home I went straight to bed, and again, I didn’t hear a single mosquito, but this time that brought me next to no comfort at all…..
