Earthquake day!

Feb 3rd

Lie in till gone eight o’clock and feel very debauched after 5.30 starts this week. Decide to go to the Presbyterian Church again with Tom. Just before we’re due to leave, at around 9.15, there’s an earthquake. We’re on the first floor in a metal framed building; the place shakes and rattles as if there’s a very heavy lorry going past, except that the road’s clear outside and the noise is far too loud for far too long. It’s not really frightening, just very noisy. The tremors last for about half a minute. We're not thrown off our feet, and it never occurs to either of us that we should get oudoors of squeeze under the table. It's just as if the building is being pummelled with a jackhammer. Nothing’s damaged; no cracks in the walls. Power's still on and the taps are working. Our day guard gets very excited but we act the cool muzungus even though it’s the first time I’ve been in a real earthquake. Makes you remember that you’re on a plate boundary, and that only around 80 miles from us the North end of Lake Kivu is very active with volcanoes and gas emissions.

Church is the same as last time – choirs, more choirs, personal testimony and a another tub-thumping sermon, this time on Jacob and Esau. They do like their old testament. There are several visitors in church today from the Congo, presumably relatives who have gone there as refugees and can’t or won’t come back permanently. A guy comes to sit next to me and translate; he offers to do either French or English and I choose French because I know it’ll be easier for him. English is everybody’s third language so it’s fairer if we all work in our second tongue! The congregation is getting used to me now, and the Pastor welcomes me at the end.

On the way home we buy a huge bag of rice; my budget is getting blown to smithereens but we must have at least 6 months supply of the stuff now. We’ve just got in the door when there are two more, lesser, earthquakes lasting about 10-15 seconds each. The house rattles and shakes, but people outside don’t notice; they barely break step as they walk. It’s really weird!

We cook lunch together and decide it’s time we went for a healthy option and more greens. So we do cabbage and French beans al dente (perfect) and veggie burgers with left over mashed potato, egg, cheese and Rwandan celery. By anybody’s standards it’s a good meal.

After lunch I gather up some empty plastic pots (margarine tub, honey jar, a cracked Tupperware box from the Chinese bazaar) and fill them with soil from the top of the garden. Spike some drainage holes, water them, and plant some of my sweet pea seeds. I’ll keep them on the balcony and I can train the stems through the railings. At very least they’ll cover up the dodgy-looking cables to the illuminated “M T N” mobile phone sign outside our living room. Hooray, I’ve got some gardening done at last!

Mooched indoors p.m.; Tom and I have bought a big bag of peanuts. We can’t eat them raw, apparently, so we’re experimenting with different ways of cooking them first. Fried in oil – O K but too greasy, even with salt. Dry fried – they burn before they soften. Steaming – difficult to do with our equipment but seems to get the best results.

High point today – got to be the earthquake!
Low point – none really; feel rested and refreshed. And Tiga and Soraya have texted that they’re off to Kibuye beside Lake Kivu next weekend and do I want to go with them. Try stopping me!

Postscript - we were lucky. We understand there's at least 32 killed in the earthquake, mostly around Cyangugu on the borders with DRC. A church collapsed during a service killing several - ironic, or what? I can't get either Tiga or Soraya to answer their mobile phones; they're much closer to the epicentre than we are. I don't know if they're hurt, or whether they're out there helping people who've lost their homes.

During the night we had more tremors at about 2.30 and (much feebler) 4.00. Sometimes life threatens to get just that bit TOO exciting!