The Wootterses Have Landed

We arrived in Kigali last Thursday night safe, sound, and with all our baggage.  After a busy few days settling in, we are now taking our time to get to know Kigali.  The center of the city is about a mile down the road, and it's a very pleasant walk.  As with most large cities in developing countries, everyone wants to sell you something, and you take your life in your hands every time you cross a street in the city's center.

We have a room in a guest house at KIST.  It's a convenient 2-minute walk to the science building. Our room is small, but we have a veranda on which we spend most of our time, both working and free.  The picture you see above is sunrise seen from there.  The house itself is large and currently has four other residents.  Some are here for only a week, some will be here for another year.  They are very nice people and from all over the place.

There are so many sights and sounds I could share with you, but you'd go on the same sensory overload I have.  I will share one of my favorites, though.  Our guest house is at the south end of the rather extensive KIST campus.  On the southeast side, there is an Anglican church which has stuff going on all the time.  There has not been a night when music has not been pouring out of its windows.  On the southwest side there is a mosque which, every evening around 6:15 broadcasts a call to prayer.  The call is usually instrumental, and it is always haunting and beautiful.  On a few evenings, there has been simultaneous music from both church and mosque.  The two sounds blended to make a different creation that I found deeply moving.

Classes started today, and I had been told that my first class would be 8 a.m. this morning.  When I showed up, I found out that the class had been moved to tomorrow at 8 a.m.  Life is what happens while you were making other plans.