I've been offline in the most wired country in the world, South Korea. I've had access but offline in terms of time to actually do a post. I've been busy trying to assemble a response to the disaster in Burma. Once I get to India I'll do a nice long recap of the last few days but for now please go to Architecture for Humanity and help us make a difference.
No one is in line to get a visa. Awesome! This never happens in Kenya. In less than 90 minutes I'm at my hotel and to boot I've been put up in the real hotel, the Fairview instead of what I paid for, the Country Lodge. The Fairview is opposite the Israeli Embassy which makes it like Fort Knox. As I drop my bags in the room the phone rings and it's a producer from CNN downstairs.
CNN is filming a profile on Architecture for Humanity and focusing some of the projects we are involved in around the world. They had come to film the final round selection of the Africa site of the AMD Open Architecture Challenge. This evening is b-roll day so we were driving around and walking through town. They had spent the morning with the client SIDAREC talking about their views on working with architects. A few hours later I'm back in my room watching footie and ended up seeing Purple Rain. It impossible to watch that film without thinking about Dave Chappelle.
Rwanda has banned plastic bags. It is a pretty noble achievement for any country but this country has done it with gusto. Last year you could still find bags in the streams and trees in Kigali. Today the city is almost spotless and it is thanks to some strange bed fellow.
Groups like Association des Jeunes Sportifs de Kigali - Esperance, one of our clients, are helping clean up the city by paying folks to make soccer ball out of bags they find. For around 50 cents you can get a 8" diameter ball bundled up with twine and much more longer lasting than the traditional banana leaf ball. I was a sucker for both of these so I ended up picking up one of each.
Below is a video on Esperance's incredible work to create peace through football. However I thought this side project was pretty awesome.
Having spend the evening thinking about all the issues facing this country I was reminded why I love being here. Sitting alone next to the hotel pool, there is wifi, I was approached by one of the guys from the bar and asked if I'd like a drink. then it got strange...
me 'I'd just like a coke please'
him 'would you like that hot or cold?'
me 'what?'
him 'hot or cold?'
me 'I'd like a coke, um, coca cola, you know, a coke'
him 'yes, yes, you like hot or cold?'
me 'what????'
him 'hot or cold?'
me 'a hot coke? what do you mean? hot? why would it be hot? seriously hot?'
him 'yes hot like a fire or you have it cold like the pool', pointing at the pool next to us.
me 'hot like fire does not sound good, can I have pool coke?'
Around 10 minutes later he arrives with a cold bottle of coke, with glass and a bill for 500 rwandan francs. While I enjoyed the coke I was left perplexed by the idea of fire-hot coke and why in a nation so close to the equator would you do this.
