I was driven to the airport by my father and sister, Sarah, to catch the flight at 17.30 for Amsterdam. Despite the heavy snowfall and windy conditions we had no problems getting there and the flight left on time. There was however problems in Amsterdam, there were heavy winds I think. We had to circle the airport for half an hour before we were allowed to land and according to our pilot we were lucky they didn’t turn us away like they did with a lot of other flights. Since I only had one hour between my flights this was very alarming. It took a long time to get off the full plane and when I did I only had 5 minutes before my plane to Nairobi was to depart. My mind was already set on spending the night in Amsterdam, hanging out with Sara, but I had to make a run for it. I ran with my 12 kilos of luggage on my back through all of Schipol airport and was completely finished when I arrived at my gate, 10 minutes after departure time, only to discover that they had decided to wait for several other flights as well. We were about an hour late out of Amsterdam.
The night flight to Nairobi went very well. Time seemed to pass quickly even though I hardly slept at all. Don’t know why, just felt wide awake the whole night through… We arrived in Nairobi and I had 5 hours to spare before my connection to Kigali. These were hard hours to kill! If you’ve ever been to Nairobi airport you know why. There is nothing to do, no nice places to eat and very, very hot… Anyway, I passed my time doing crossword puzzles and sudokus and sleeping bent over table in the passenger’s lounge upstairs. I was the only white person there for most of the time and one of very few women and I felt like my every move was carefully watched. When I was finally allowed to board, the plane seemed new and was very comfortable. Not a small propeller plane like I had imagined, and we were maybe 10 people on it so there was plenty of room and good service. We arrived in Kigali on time.
This is where my troubles started. First, I was almost not allowed into the country since I did not have the address of my accommodation in Kigali. I only had phone numbers and the address to the Swedish Embassy (that’s what they call it here, even though it’s only a section office. I just heard though that it is going to be upgraded to an embassy sometime during the spring!). After grilling me for 15 minutes they finally just gave up and let me through. My next problem was my luggage. Of course one of my two big suitcases that I had checked in was missing. And of course it was the one where most of my clothes were packed. I had to wait in line to report it missing for maybe half an hour. There were two old German ladies in front of me who did not speak a word of English. I was sitting there knowing that Malin, my supervisor at Sida, was waiting for me in the arrivals hall and probably wondering where I was. While I’m waiting the phone rings and the lady tells me it’s for me! It turns out that it is Malin calling from the arrivals hall after figuring that this is where I must be. She manages to speed things along and we can finally leave the airport. And, did I mention that it was hot? The temperature was above
30˚C and I when I left Sweden it was below freezing so it will take me a while to adjust.
During my first day I only got settled in my accommodation. For the next month or so I will be staying at the vi-life guesthouse which is only a 2 minute walk from Sida’s office where I will do my internship. Just opposite the office there is a hotel where there is a gym, tennis courts, a pool and a bank. Very convenient! I was very tired after my eventful journey so I only managed to take some pictures of the guesthouse even though I had plans to go for a longer walk and take some of the surroundings as well. Here they are. Enjoy!
Vi-life guesthouse
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