“Shit Towne”

August 31st 2005, 1940B

Well, I’m back in Bujumbura. I’m hopeful I’ll be able to escape before too long, though I’m hearing people say nasty things like I’ll be here for a month. I guess I should give it a few days though, & see what things are like once I’ve settled in.

The first signs have not been encouraging though, & I must confess to being in a somewhat “grumpy” mood right now.
As soon as I got here & spoke to my new boss she sort of moaned at me because I was two days late – apparently a message was radioed through that I should report here on Monday already, not that I heard a damn thing about it.
Actually it’s a bit unfair to say she moaned at me, more like in my general direction because I was handy & peripherally involved – it’s very hard for her to hold me responsible if I’m not told I need to be somewhere, but I reckon she needed to vent a little all the same. She seems pleasant enough otherwise though, & I don’t see me having much in the way of stress with her.
Something that did get right on my tits though was that as soon as I arrived in the capital I turned pretty much straight around & went back to Mwaro to fetch the ambulance. It turns out that not only was I two days late because I’d not been kept informed, but also that the vehicle I’d been using was due for scheduled repairs & I’d been supposed to drive it into town. Of course I’d decided to save an unnecessary trip with the vehicle this morning, & caught a lift with another vehicle that was coming here anyway instead of using the ambulance, so I had to go all the way back to fetch the bloody thing. I’ve spent something like 8 hours on the road today, but I got to take some photos on the trip though, so there was at least a small upside to this :P
Another thing that really pissed me off was the state of the tent that’s going to be my home for as long as I’m in town – “whores handbag” isn’t even a close description of what I found waiting for me. It looked as though the tent had been used as a general rubbish dump, & I’ve spent most of the last few hours cleaning it up. And I’m not even going to talk about the humidity or mosquitoes here. This town is not my idea of fun at all, I can tell you.

The day has had its good points though. I met up with that friend of mine from the office in Durban, Tiaan, & it’s good to see him again. I’ve also managed to make a few calls since I got back, & I finally got hold of my old bat. We didn’t have time for much catching up though, & she seemed more interested in telling me about hurricanes in the US than anything else, but at least we did get to speak. I also got to speak with Ash again, & she seemed quite a bit happier than last we spoke, which is good to know. Hopefully the phone will co-operate & I’ll manage to get hold of a few more people tomorrow. Shirley is someone I’m hoping to get hold of, as I never seem to be able to get through to her number from here, & it’s been a bloody age since I spoke to her. It’s the same story with Iain in ‘Maritzburg, but I should be able to get hold of a sim card for my phone easily enough while I’m in town which will sort out the patchy comms.
One thing I’m very happy about is that I got confirmation that I’ll be staying with the UN side of things here in Burundi. It really is a relief to know that I’m not going to be spending the rest of the deployment in this town, & also that there are a few people I won’t have to work with after all. That little thing on its own makes up for the rest of the crap today.
All I have to do now is confirm when I’ll be coming home & I’ll be sorted.

Anyway, that’s about it for the day. I’m for an early night tonight, & there’s still some cleaning up to be done in this tent. I’m going to try to get the blog updated tonight after roll call at 2100 before I crash though, but till then I’m going to bid you adieu.

Cheers for now ;)

2145B

Sometimes I’m a regular fucking boy-scout, wide awake & clued up. I managed to get onto the net after roll call, checked my mail, paid off my credit card, looked for prices on that 500mm lens, & even updated this blog. All my updates for the last two weeks - except for this bloody post which I forgot to copy across to the bloody flash drive lol
It’s hardly a train smash though I guess, but it’s probably going to be a day or two before I get chance to update this again. I’m glad that I got the chance though, & I have to say thanks to everyone that commented on the posts I’ve put up so far – it’s strangely gratifying to know that people actual read this :P
I had a quick look at The Pond while I was on the net - I was hoping to put an entry under the Blog section to let people know that I’ve updated but I see that it’s gone AWOL – but I didn’t have time to read much or post anything unfortunately as there was a queue forming behind me. There’s one bloody computer with a net connection, & 500 people who want to use it, so you tend to get a little rushed. Come to think of it, this is actually a chance to put my insomnia to good use & the next time I wake up at 0200 I’ll get my ass out of bed and use the time to catch up a little instead of tossing and turning.
I’m rather missing the online side of my life while I’m here, & I’m realising how reliant I’ve become on the net in terms of keeping in touch & up to date with the world around me. Things like checking the news – I don’t have a tv at home, & don’t buy the paper so News24 is a good friend to me - & following what people are up to by reading their posts on the forum.

Anyway, I’m going to sign off here before this turns into a full blown entry on its own instead of a foot note. This is probably a good thing actually, as the battery is running flat at the moment, & this body is in desperate need of a little beauty sleep :P
I’ll catch up again soon ;)