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Day 3 of my trip – today being Monday was my first working day on the Village, so unfortunately not much time to bird.
I helped Cricket take all 12 the little ones for a walk this morning while their Mammas were in a meeting. After their walk all the way down to the main gate and back, we sat and played until the meeting was finished! My name has become other Auntie Cricket now! As a mother, one always wishes you had more than 2 hands – and today was no different – I wished for 6 pairs of hands, because each of the little ones wanted to hold my hand while we walked. I learnt quite a few more words this morning. Words like Bahoro-Bahoro… slowly-slowly, ngwino…. Come here, witonde…. Be careful! As for knowing who was who in the zoo, well I gave up on that one! 
One of the many pretty views on the way into Kigali
There were many voluntary workers from the church here today busy cutting back the over grown vegetation along the road leading up to the cottages. This had to be done as extra security for the 1st Lady of the Country who will be arriving for the dedication and official opening of the village on Wednesday! These people are so friendly, with smiles on their faces as they worked. As we walked the kids down to the gate, all the workers shouted greetings to us! By now I have learnt to greet them back!
After playing with the kiddies, Crick and I hit the road to Kigali as there were things that she needed for the Kitchen! Oh dear me, WHAT an experience! Normal shopping in the town was easy – except to say that I felt like a right twit!! At the one store, which is relatively new in Kigal, probably the closest they come to a Pick n Pay, we were treated like celebraties, oh how embarrassing, the cashiers took out their cell phones to take photographs of the 2 Mazungos that looked sooo alike!! Even the store manager came to meet me. Eish!!!
Anyway, we then went off to the market to get the fresh veg that Crick needed to feed her kids. Now THIS was an experience of a life time!! We have to go back there tomorrow to get more stuff for the rest of the week for the kitchen so I will take some photos, but oh dear, dear me, you have never seen something like this in all your life! Try picture this…. A massive warehouse kinda building, well the only thing that really resembled the warehouse was that it had a roof!! The sides were all sort of open. Inside were rows and rows of fruit, veg, hardware, clothes, shoes – you name it and it was there! But the floor is a sand floor, the aisles, if you could call it that, very, very narrow, and the lights, well WHAT LIGHTS?? It was very dark and very, very full of Rwandan Nationals!!! As we drove up to the place we had about 6 – 10 Nationals running next to our car, all wanting to either help you shop or look after your car. Crick took it all in her stride and spoke to them when we had parked, choosing who she wanted to help with the shopping and who should look after the car!! The others then all said good bye with a smile and went off to find someone else to help!! Our chap that Crick had chosen to help with the shopping then took the bag for the shopping from Cricket and asked what it was that she wanted. She told him, and off he scurried, us following closely behind so that we didn’t loose him! He took us straight to what we wanted and then waited while Cricket haggled over the price she was going to pay! 9 out of 10 times Cricket won the battle of the price and off we went to find the next item on the list. We were not allowed to carry anything – our helper did it all! Back outside, our other chap stood patiently beside the car, waiting for us to come back!! Everyone then thanked us and waved us on our way!
Tomorrow the Head Office from America arrive for the dedication of Crickets village on Wednesday, so its gonna be quite a day again! And me, well, I’m going to have to be on my best behavior again!! Eish its soooo difficult!!
 - The main traffic circle in Kigali
 - A building in Kigali
 – Two of our little ones looking at the bicycles used as transport by the workers on the village!
 – some of the workers cutting back the vegetation
» 6 Comments
1Comment
at Tuesday, 24 February 2009 13:31
Wow - looks like far more of a life experience than I had imagined!
Can't wait to see more :-)
2Comment
at Tuesday, 24 February 2009 16:24
love the trip report!
what a brilliant experience you are having and what an adventure Cricket is living!
3Comment
at Wednesday, 25 February 2009 08:00
Sounds like if you enjoy yourself. Do you want to come back??? enjoy the few days left. Love to Cricket. Love Isabel
4Comment
at Thursday, 26 February 2009 17:36
Glad you all enjoying the trip report! And WELCOME Isabel - I will pass your message on to Cricket!
5Comment
at Thursday, 26 February 2009 18:35
am so envious, what an experiance! Meryl
6Comment
at Sunday, 01 March 2009 21:24
Hi Meryl - glad to see you reading my report!! WELCOME to GBT!!!
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