Greetings from Honiara

Boy this place is wet! It has rained incessantly since I got here - not stopped once ... it just gets a little lighter! It is coming down in buckets right now. Everyone says it is unusual!

The King Solomon Hotel is very nice but they have loud music until late at night. It is full of Aistralians here with an organisation called RAMSI ... a regional aid mission. Solomon islands is known as a fragile state and RAMSI are here to help strengthen justice and government. These guys like to party and last night was very noisy again. I sleep until 1am, then awake a couple of hours and then sleep until 9am! Not sure what I am going to do tomorrow when I have to be a college by 8am. My room has a kitchen - big fridge, micro, stove etc so it's pretty good. Basic but fine. I went to the local market yesterday ... a bit scary places but I am used to them from Rwanda and it is the only place to buy fruit and veg so I had to do it. I managed really well ... except it was very wet so it was muddy and very crowded. But the people here are very friendly.

I had a drink with an ex-colleague from Rwanda last night - Mike McRory - it was fun to see him although he's a mad Irishman. But he's been here for 3 years and knows everything and everyone so he will help me if I need him. He took me to Honiara Hotel and they have a self contained unit available for me from Wednesday so I might move because it will be quieter.

I've got a little Rav hire car (like my one at home) and it seems fine (when the windows close!) The roads here are terrible - VERY big potholes everywhere so you can't go very fast. The driving here is a lot better than in Francistown - no-one is in a hurry. Honiara is like a very small town ... nothing is very far. the Solomon dollar is = Botswana pula so it makes it easy for me to know how much things cost ... which is a lot! Food is very,very expensive - in fact everything is substantially more than at home.

Mike wants me to go to the Hash House Harriers tomorrow. This is sometimes called a running club with a drinking problem but also known as a drinking club with a running problem. As a Hash 'virgin' I can expect some teasing and ribbing so that's something to look forward to! I'll only go if it's not raining too much. Mike also said he will take me snorkelling one weekend - so that is good.

I met the team I am going to work with on Friday - they are all really pleased I'm here and very enthusiastic about the project and very, very friendly. Two have already said they want to take me to their village - on the other islands. Not sure how I am going to fit all this in.

Tomorrow the hard works starts - meetings at the Ministry all day. Looking forward to it.