New Year in KGL

The damp Kigali night swallowed up Doreen tonight. A big blue KLM airplane took her up and away and through the mist. She will ring in the New Year somewhere over Sudan.

It is terribly sad to see her go. We will see each other next in mid-March. Most likely we will meet in Europe somewhere. But I am glad that she will be home in our cold but cozy house, will be with our cats, and will cook good food in our nice kitchen. I am hoping that she will teach the cats to skype.

I took my time returning from the airport. I grabbed a bus from the airport. It made many stops and took a route I wasn't expecting, but I made it to the middle of town. I then did some shopping, explored a little, and walked home. It rained heavily earlier, but the night was quite nice.

I am now on my balcony. Usually the lights of the city twinkle in the distance, but it is misty tonight so it is dark and murky. My neighborhood is noisier than usual. Loud church music is dueling with a party or bar that is playing loud rock/reggae music of some sort. Neither music is particularly good, and in combination it may be even worse. I am grateful for headphones.

It doesn't feel at all like New Year's Eve, just like it didn't feel like Christmas. It doesn't feel like December. I'm not sure what it does feel like. I've been feeling somewhat spatially and temporally adrift the last month.

The academic year started in early December here, due to the shift in the academic calendar in Rwanda. And we have had only a one-day Christmas break. It is odd for me to start teaching in December, and it is also unusual to teach right through the holidays. It's not necessarily bad, but it is different. Of course it is also relatively warm here, and while there are a few (fake) Christmas trees around there are few visible markers of christmastime.

And although I of course am fully aware that I am really in Kigali, it also seems somehow unreal that I am here. After fall term ended back home I worked hard (and unsuccessfully) to finish up COA work. And I worked hard (and successfully) to submit my book for copy editing. And I packed and tried to get ready to leave home for seven months. Then, after a few days of little sleep, I took two short flights to Philadelphia and then two long flights, and I was deposited here in Kigali.

I like the city a lot, and I think I will grow to like it even more in the months ahead. But there are times when I am eating a delicious meal at an Indian restaurant, or walking the tree-lined streets in the evening, or sitting on a moto as the city zips past me, or sitting on my balcony while the city twinkles idly, that it is hard to believe I am here.

And so it is almost 2012 in Kigali. I have turned up the music in my headphones. The church singing stopped for a while, but it is now back with a vengeance. The party a few blocks away still rages. I can nevertheless hear crickets chirping. It is pleasantly cool. I have no deep new year's thoughts.