Movement Of Personnel

Tuesday 9 am

Well, I picked up my MOP from the UN office yesterday which means I'm definitely set to fly on Friday the 16th. I'll be back in Uganda for another 2-3 weeks and come back here to Goma on the 7th of July.

Having that all set somehow makes me more aware of the "end date" approaching -- I guess having marked events in my calendar that are in July at all are striking.

Goma seems so much different now than it did just 2-3 months ago. I'm constantly aware of the quantity of white people walking down the street, taking motos, eating at restaurants, watching the World Cup. I've compared it recently to rats emerging after a nuclear disaster -- I mean, Goma must be safer with all these bazungu running around, right?

To be honest, I liked it better before. It doesn't mean that I'm any less tired of the begging though. Having a street kid asking is one thing, but having a well-dressed clean schoolgirl utter "give me money" before even a Hello is just repugnant.

Having Carol back again has been great too. We went to the Nyira last night for dinner (spinach lasagna) and everyone was watching the World Cup on the tiniest, teeniest TV imaginable. It's such a cohesive activity in Africa -- I recall my time in Kenya when Senegal was doing well, and the Kenyans were going WILD!

I doubt half of them even knew where Senegal is, but it didn't matter. It's such a change to US football soccer, where the only people I know who really pay attention to it at all are kthrin and kawaiiryuko.

Willi is itching to watch a match with me in Kampala that features the US team, which I learned yesterday is actually a decent team, and none of the players are American female soccer players in disguise. That's so encouraging to hear!

If only Americans cared.

Another Demented Trip to the Market

I sort of envy the wonderment and optimism of cestovatela's last entry.

Mostly because I feel a bit tired, jaded and generally unwilling to see "the bright side" of some of the things I go through.

Today at the market, while in the car and waiting for Jungla, the windows rolled up and the music on, I got MOBBED by about 100 streetkids of various shapes, sizes & temperaments.

I wasn't going to give any of them money, but as some of them filtered in and filtered away, they of course didn't tell APPROACHING street kids that I wasn't paying out. And yea, after the first wave had left and the second wave came, I got tired of the knocking on my window, the entreaties for money/cookies/candy/chickens and started to ignore them.

Which led to a frantic game of charades with one kid.

(non verbal exchange through the car window)
Kid: *thumbs up*
Me: *thumbs up*
Kid: *thumbs up* (again)
Me: *nodding patronizingly*
Kid: *rubbing fingers together to indicate money*
Me: *finger waggle back and forth for "no"
Kid: *money sign again*
Me: (more emphatic) *no-finger-waggle*
Kid: *points to his own bicep*
Me: *puts kid on slash ignore*

I swear, I have NO idea what the bicep thing was all about. "I'm strong, I'll beat you up"? It made no sense, and I promptly gave up. After a certain amount of time, I was nearly tricked into teaching some of these kids the wonderment of the middle finger. There's nothing like being totally surrounded and having 20 kids all at once knocking on your window to try and get your attention.

---

We brought the food for the chimps back to the house and I stuck around while we fed the kids. What was funny was that the kids were scheduled to each get a third of Pineapple, and Gari got his portion and had NO idea what to do with it. Never before have I met a chimp who didn't dig the anana (French for "pineapple"), but honestly, Gari had never been exposed! We did manage to get him to eat some but it took a lot of doing.

And, of course, in the interim, Okeysha stole some of his other food and Etaito shrieked like a spoiled baby because he wanted Gari's pineapple. It was definitely funny to watch.

Etaito and Gari actually play quite a lot now. Etaito is definitely benefitting from having a boyfriend. Perhaps he had to act extra-macho before because he was surrounded by a sea of girls ;) Liz came back today too and got to meet Gari, who promptly bit her.

Hehe.