A Thousand Splendid Suns

I bought this novel because of the storyline was set on Afghanistan - among the “exotic” and “mysterious” countries on my wish-to-travel list, also partly convinced by the author – Khaled Hosseini’s previous success “The Kite Runner”.

I don’t like the story, too heavy and too dark… The fates of the 2 ladies were doomed in the feudal society, no hint of happiness till flipped to the last pages. The idea was not fresh, very much alike typical Bollywood’s movies. The storyline spanned from 1960’s to the present day, buffered in the continuous civil war, Soviet invasion, Taliban etc. The history was more interesting instead. I couldn’t help myself to curse the stupid act of destroying the Great Bamiyan Buddha Statues.

Somehow I must agree that the book was beautifully scripted.

Stray Dogs (This Article Is Not For The Fainthearted)

The government launched stray dogs elimination campaign after the 1994 genocide incidence. During this unpleasant period, the scattered dead bodies had become feast of stray dogs. They grew stronger and the wild nature of savoring raw meat recaptured their tamed characters. They had even started to attack people when getting hungry, posting high risk to the public. Psychologically people still couldn’t wipe off the memory of dogs eating the corpse. Therefore this campaign was launched.

Chicken

Eating chicken here was a great challenge to teeth strength, the meat was tougher than a tire, could probably be used as substitution to industrial anti earthquake material. Was told the chickens here are mostly raised in free range, plenty of marathon exercise daily, resulted fatless lean muscles and tough! One needed real strong teeth to shred it off the bones… I made it…

Attitude

I asked for a quotation yesterday, the Indian manager promised to send to me. An e-mailed was sent to confirm my requirement.

No feedback, we called his office this morning, left a message asking him to return call. Of course, no response. After lunch I called his mobile again, he denied receiving my e-mail and stated firmly he did send me the e-mail. He defended, “I sent to you yesterday, if you did not receive it what can I do?”

Heh… is this the attitude to do business? The market is small here, when a company monopolizes particular business, they could be arrogant…

Iran Post Election

It was rather unexpected to see the riot escalated in Tehran after the recent election. News shows lots of destruction to the public infrastructure and properties. Some opportunists were taking chance to loot the banks and shops. The opposition leader Mousavi has no intention to cease the political unrest, he is waiting for the chance to gain his own interest. Apparently this is the most efficient way to ask for concession from the incumbent party.

The latest news said votes may be recounted. Ok, let’s say the opposition succeeded to reshuffle the result, the supporters of Ahmedinejad would launch another massive protest again… then what?

Small Gift

I developed a few photos of the house cleaning lady and the watchman, and gave to them just now. “Thank you” swarmed my ears, smiles were beaming, joy was radiating… A small gift has the power to cheer up someone greatly. They are easily content… so simple…

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu

It was the portrait of Gurrumul by Guy Maestri who won the excellent 2009 Archibald Prize, and the massive reports of him on the Australian local media, I learned to know this name for the first time. An aborigine, a singer, but he was born blind. Unlike the ordinary traditional aboriginal music, his music and voice is truly enchanting. His CD is worth to be on your rack.

Night Club

Went out to a night club at KBC yesterday… it was not the kind of night club I thought, but just a place offering a disco dance floor, a bar and a billiard room. Decoration was bare, simple colourful laser beams were straying on the walls and dance floor, music was suck – combination of African music and the 80’s pops, and the service was cold.

At 10:45pm, it was too early for the night owls. We sat at the bar, chatting and spotting girls around… hmm… most of them were either too “round” or like villagers, a few were exceptionally gorgeous. Many came here to search for relationship, eye contact was all you need. Being a muzungu (white person) this would be much easier.

After midnight, crowds started pouring in. Music was still suck, and the alcohol after 2 draft beers gradually seized my consciousness.

Curiosity

Went to the site for the first time this afternoon. People were staring at us (1 white + 1 yellow) from a distance, like watching the caged animals. A short while later, alert faded, curious kids came close to us, shyly, surrounding us. Ruggedly dressed, but not dirty, they tried to discover the dissimilarity between us. They touched my skin, probably wondered why it was so delicate… I didn’t explain to them I was using L’Oreal Men’s Expert series Anti Aging cream…

Come To Work Happy

Haircut

Just went for a haircut. Hah… not bad… more professional then my expectation, somehow couldn’t compare with the saloon in Asia or Europe. It was fun to see how the hairdressers work, and the trend of fashion and preferred hairstyle of Africans. It was definitely much better than Khartoum, where they only know shaving head with razor.

I paid EUR6.50, this is the high end price in Kigali.

Night Life

This was the 3rd weekend in Rwanda, colleagues invited me to local pubs in town. This place was much different to Khartoum (Sudan), nightlife was much livelier. Though the facilities and decorations were not contemporary or “class” and partly need really improvement, the fusion of Africans presented unique ambience.

Plenty of foreigners and better off locals hang out and toasting drinks. Heard there is a place having Salsa dancing every Thursday, would try to find out in future.

Flamingo Chinese Restaurant

Had a dinner at the Chinese restaurant yesterday near to my place. The decoration was a mixture of different cultures. The pavilion designed restaurant was painted blood red, with typical lanterns hanging on it. The materials used were improvised and localized, duplicating Chinese architecture. Soft Chinese music was airing under the romantic French dim lighting atmosphere, served by the Rwandaise and Ugandaise waiters… no one spoke Chinese. The Rwandaise boss, who was also the chef, spent years in China.

The food was unexpectedly quite authentic. But I doubt if the GongBao chicken I had yesterday was really chicken… was too dark to examine…

Still Frustrated

Has been here for more than 2 weeks. If you ask me how my job is, I would tell you I don’t enjoy it. Too much restrictions, the system is bureaucratic, overall management was not well integrated, just caused by a bunch of people.