12/27/11

            Wow so it’s been almost exactly a month since I last wrote anything. Yikes! Things that have happened since discovering mini-pizzas. Let me think. The main thing was that our group, Education 3, finished training and became official volunteers. The process was arduous to say the least. In order to become an official volunteer you have to pass several tedious exams that are concerned with medical safety, general safety, integration into your site and for Rwanda, a small exam on school and Rwandan culture. Are these things important to know, yes. However, did that level of importance not make me want to run a cheese grater over my forehead? Unfortunately, no. In addition to these tests, we had to take the L.P.I. for Kinyarwanda. The L.P.I., for those of you who don’t know, let me tell ya. It’s the Language Profciency Interview. Passing the L.PI. tells Peace Corps officials that we can communicate basic needs in the target language. The label “basic needs” , I feel, is very misleading. Most people would think that “basic needs” are how to inquire about food, prices of items at a market, general questions and response to your health and the weather. These assumptions would be correct, but for the purposes of Peace Corps, I feel like they should also include the “basic needs” of how to say, “Please stop the bus, I’m going to shit my pants because I have food poisoning” or “Get that fucking chicken out of my face” or “If you keep feeding me rice and beans my stomach is going to revolt all over your floor”. Basic needs. In order to be recommended as a volunteer you have to receive a score of intermediate low. As you might have guessed, I was able to barely scrape by to get recommended.

            Before getting sworn in we had to say goodbye and thank you to our host families. We had a little ceremony where each trainee gave the family a group photo. It was nice. And in true Saara-style awkward. My family was the only one that didn’t show up. So my friends Zach and Chinelo pretended to be my parents. Pretty sweet. After saying all of our goodbyes we all packed our stuff into a giant truck and headed to Kigali for the swearing in ceremony. There is a hostel for volunteers in Kigali that is right near the offices. The only problem is that when our whole group is at the hostel, there are never enough beds and we get eaten alive by mosquitoes.

            For the swearing in ceremony, my friend Sarah and I were volun-told to give the speech for the French speakers in the audience. We first thanked the Peace Corps staff for helping us get to our own swear-in. After we talked about how we had, over the course of three months, became a family and were excited and ready to take on the next two years of service.  Oh, did I mention that our ceremony was at the house of the American Ambassador?! Oh I didn’t! Yeah, it was pretty freakin’ sweet. There was finger food, Fanta and most importantly, at least three different very posh, fully functioning toilets. Nothing compares to the feeling of completing a rigorous training program than in a culminating bowel movement on a government employees’ porcelain thrown. Don’t judge me. You would feel the same!

            After swearing-in we let loose upon the city as full-fledged volunteers. Naturally we all proceeded to partake in some well-earned liquid frivolity. Over the next couple of days, small groups of us were installed at our site. The PCV installation process is a bit depressing. After spending months with the same people, you are driven off to your site and then left in an empty house with your bags and a mattress, haha. We laugh to keep from crying. I was part of the last group to head to site, so I had three full days in Kigali. I was able to go to the market and buy some essentials and have fun.

            Once I got to my site, I was greeted by my headmaster and taken to my house. I have a very nice house and I’m really excited to furnish it over the next couple of years. During training, they keep telling us, you need to get out there in your community and interact and integrate as soon as possible. Here is where I would respectfully and only slightly disagree with Peace Corps’ integration ideology. If you are the kind of person who goes out every day just for the sake of going out and socializing with people, then that’s awesome and you’re a great extrovert. However, for most Americans we take it a little slower. In the states I wouldn’t run out of my house and rub my foreign fumbling self into the faces of my new community members. My plan is to take it slowly. I’ve got two years to meet my community. And honestly, if I met the majority of people and learned the lay of the land so quickly, where’s the sense of adventure and discovering the nooks and crannies of a place over time!?

            The first week at site went a lot better than I had thought it would. During training the idea of spending the Christmas holiday in a brand new part of the country without the group of friends I had made during training and alone was not too appealing. However, a few of us managed to get together and it went swimmingly. I had to unfortunately take a 45 minute moto ride on a dirt road, which if you were wondering makes your ass feel like someone took sandpaper to it for a whole day. I digress! Once I had safely arrived we cooked spaghetti with mashed potatoes. It was hysterical. All of us have no furniture or eating utensils and my friend had to host a party for ten. The moral of the story is that we ended up eating out of pots with our hands in the dark after cooking over coal burning stoves. It’s at moments like that when you think to yourself, “What is Rwanda doing to me!?”

            At the moment I’m trying to get furniture pieces for my house made. I’m thinking some tables, shelves and maybe a couch if I can manage the cash. It’s really nice to have a house to oneself that you can take time to make your own. For example, my wonderful friend Sarah DeMola J sent me crayons in a care package. Granted she had probably sent them for my future students but I was bored and I had hours to kill. With these crayons, I’ve been able to draw some pretty cool things on my walls. The walls are all white, which makes me feel like I’m in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I say this like explaining the oppressive nature of white walls explains coloring on the walls like a 2 year old haha.

            Some observations over the past month, now that we’ve done the general timeline of events. I know that in the past I ranted about how Rwandans were constantly on me to keep my shoes clean by washing them at least once a week. In my mind I thought, this is absolutely ridiculous, they’re just going to get dirty the same day I wash them. What is the point? It wasn’t until after talking to my training manager that I understood part of the reason why shoe cleanliness has such a major role in Rwandan culture. My training manager explained to me that shoes, in general, only came to certain places in Rwanda very recently and still haven’t made it to most small villages. As a result, Rwandans take a lot of pride in presenting a complete, immaculate ensemble- scrubbed shoes included.

            Another point of postulating (at this point I would like to mention that being in the Peace Corps affords you the time to actually sit and think about you as a person). I’m hoping that during these two years I’ll be able to witness that while on the surface, Rwandan and American culture are at the extremes of a spectrum, people are in fact similar in their desires, ambitions but are just manifested differently.

            Going to go cook something scrumptious now. Talk soon.  

12/27/11

            Wow so it’s been almost exactly a month since I last wrote anything. Yikes! Things that have happened since discovering mini-pizzas. Let me think. The main thing was that our group, Education 3, finished training and became official volunteers. The process was arduous to say the least. In order to become an official volunteer you have to pass several tedious exams that are concerned with medical safety, general safety, integration into your site and for Rwanda, a small exam on school and Rwandan culture. Are these things important to know, yes. However, did that level of importance not make me want to run a cheese grater over my forehead? Unfortunately, no. In addition to these tests, we had to take the L.P.I. for Kinyarwanda. The L.P.I., for those of you who don’t know, let me tell ya. It’s the Language Profciency Interview. Passing the L.PI. tells Peace Corps officials that we can communicate basic needs in the target language. The label “basic needs” , I feel, is very misleading. Most people would think that “basic needs” are how to inquire about food, prices of items at a market, general questions and response to your health and the weather. These assumptions would be correct, but for the purposes of Peace Corps, I feel like they should also include the “basic needs” of how to say, “Please stop the bus, I’m going to shit my pants because I have food poisoning” or “Get that fucking chicken out of my face” or “If you keep feeding me rice and beans my stomach is going to revolt all over your floor”. Basic needs. In order to be recommended as a volunteer you have to receive a score of intermediate low. As you might have guessed, I was able to barely scrape by to get recommended.

            Before getting sworn in we had to say goodbye and thank you to our host families. We had a little ceremony where each trainee gave the family a group photo. It was nice. And in true Saara-style awkward. My family was the only one that didn’t show up. So my friends Zach and Chinelo pretended to be my parents. Pretty sweet. After saying all of our goodbyes we all packed our stuff into a giant truck and headed to Kigali for the swearing in ceremony. There is a hostel for volunteers in Kigali that is right near the offices. The only problem is that when our whole group is at the hostel, there are never enough beds and we get eaten alive by mosquitoes.

            For the swearing in ceremony, my friend Sarah and I were volun-told to give the speech for the French speakers in the audience. We first thanked the Peace Corps staff for helping us get to our own swear-in. After we talked about how we had, over the course of three months, became a family and were excited and ready to take on the next two years of service.  Oh, did I mention that our ceremony was at the house of the American Ambassador?! Oh I didn’t! Yeah, it was pretty freakin’ sweet. There was finger food, Fanta and most importantly, at least three different very posh, fully functioning toilets. Nothing compares to the feeling of completing a rigorous training program than in a culminating bowel movement on a government employees’ porcelain thrown. Don’t judge me. You would feel the same!

            After swearing-in we let loose upon the city as full-fledged volunteers. Naturally we all proceeded to partake in some well-earned liquid frivolity. Over the next couple of days, small groups of us were installed at our site. The PCV installation process is a bit depressing. After spending months with the same people, you are driven off to your site and then left in an empty house with your bags and a mattress, haha. We laugh to keep from crying. I was part of the last group to head to site, so I had three full days in Kigali. I was able to go to the market and buy some essentials and have fun.

            Once I got to my site, I was greeted by my headmaster and taken to my house. I have a very nice house and I’m really excited to furnish it over the next couple of years. During training, they keep telling us, you need to get out there in your community and interact and integrate as soon as possible. Here is where I would respectfully and only slightly disagree with Peace Corps’ integration ideology. If you are the kind of person who goes out every day just for the sake of going out and socializing with people, then that’s awesome and you’re a great extrovert. However, for most Americans we take it a little slower. In the states I wouldn’t run out of my house and rub my foreign fumbling self into the faces of my new community members. My plan is to take it slowly. I’ve got two years to meet my community. And honestly, if I met the majority of people and learned the lay of the land so quickly, where’s the sense of adventure and discovering the nooks and crannies of a place over time!?

            The first week at site went a lot better than I had thought it would. During training the idea of spending the Christmas holiday in a brand new part of the country without the group of friends I had made during training and alone was not too appealing. However, a few of us managed to get together and it went swimmingly. I had to unfortunately take a 45 minute moto ride on a dirt road, which if you were wondering makes your ass feel like someone took sandpaper to it for a whole day. I digress! Once I had safely arrived we cooked spaghetti with mashed potatoes. It was hysterical. All of us have no furniture or eating utensils and my friend had to host a party for ten. The moral of the story is that we ended up eating out of pots with our hands in the dark after cooking over coal burning stoves. It’s at moments like that when you think to yourself, “What is Rwanda doing to me!?”

            At the moment I’m trying to get furniture pieces for my house made. I’m thinking some tables, shelves and maybe a couch if I can manage the cash. It’s really nice to have a house to oneself that you can take time to make your own. For example, my wonderful friend Sarah DeMola J sent me crayons in a care package. Granted she had probably sent them for my future students but I was bored and I had hours to kill. With these crayons, I’ve been able to draw some pretty cool things on my walls. The walls are all white, which makes me feel like I’m in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I say this like explaining the oppressive nature of white walls explains coloring on the walls like a 2 year old haha.

            Some observations over the past month, now that we’ve done the general timeline of events. I know that in the past I ranted about how Rwandans were constantly on me to keep my shoes clean by washing them at least once a week. In my mind I thought, this is absolutely ridiculous, they’re just going to get dirty the same day I wash them. What is the point? It wasn’t until after talking to my training manager that I understood part of the reason why shoe cleanliness has such a major role in Rwandan culture. My training manager explained to me that shoes, in general, only came to certain places in Rwanda very recently and still haven’t made it to most small villages. As a result, Rwandans take a lot of pride in presenting a complete, immaculate ensemble- scrubbed shoes included.

            Another point of postulating (at this point I would like to mention that being in the Peace Corps affords you the time to actually sit and think about you as a person). I’m hoping that during these two years I’ll be able to witness that while on the surface, Rwandan and American culture are at the extremes of a spectrum, people are in fact similar in their desires, ambitions but are just manifested differently.

            Going to go cook something scrumptious now. Talk soon.  

The last month or so...

10/28/11

            It’s been a little while since my last post. A few things have happened! I went on my site visit and met the volunteer I’m replacing and visited my new school where I’ll be teaching. The more important stuff though in my opinion is what happens after you visit your site. For me, I loved my site! I’m next to the water!!!!! I’m near a big town, there are volunteers close by and more importantly I get to teach content courses as opposed to plain old EFL!! I get to dabble in Fine Arts and Music!!! Super exciting!!! I’m thinking for my fine arts class we’ll try and introductory drawing and sketching for the first semester, painting second semester, and maybe! if we have the resources sculpting for third semester. In terms of music I hope that I’ll be able to teach my students the basics of music like key signatures and how to read music and in terms of application, do some a cappella work!! I think it would be so wonderful if at the end of each term we put on a concert of songs and maybe even some dances!!

            Next week we start “model school”. This part of training is basically student teaching, or practicum. For us the trainees, our program directors have solicited students to come and allow us to teach practice lessons on certain topics, usually with a grammatical focus. I’m excited and nervous. Yes I have taught before, my students were usually either adults or little munchkins and here I have students in the middle of that spectrum I’m familiar with, but isn’t that what Peace Corps is all about?! Giving yourself that challenge until it hurts haha.

            BUT! Before model school we have Halloween, one of my FAVORITE holidays state-side. I’m not sure what my costume this year will be but we are having a party amongst us American trainees. AND, we’re going to try and have an American style Thanksgiving. We heard through the grapevine that Peace Corps might pay for turkeys!! It’s ridiculous the things that I miss here in Rwanda. What do you mean Saara?, you might ask. Well I’ll tell you!

            For example, I never in my life thought I would become homicidal at the thought of having an apple. But, just now I ate a green apple(a wonderful friend brought me two from Kigali!!). It was my first apple in over a month and the satisfaction I had in hearing the crunch of fresh produce and tasting sweet juicy apple-NESS was enough to make any bad day here a vague memory. Another example!! Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich. The Quintessential American lunch item. I just have to say, it’s iconic for a reason. There is nothing more satisfying that eating a sandwich first of all, in a country that prefers most food to resemble some kind of slop haha, and second that sweet/savory blend of peanut butter and strawberry jelly on white bread. Pure perfection! All this talk of food is making me hungry so I’ll stop for now, but just remember, it’s true when they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder!

            In terms of being a trainee right now, I feel like I’ve hit some sort of wall. The shock of first arrival is gone and the once intriguing aspects of Rwandan culture aren’t as endearing anymore which in turn causes my motivation to really delve further into language learning and interacting with my host family and community that much harder. A friend of mine said it well today. He talked about how when he envisioned serving in the Peace Corps he had initially thought that it would be much more physically and logistically demanding, but now that we’re here, it’s more case of psychologically demanding. There are times when I’m a fly under a magnifying glass in the sun and sometimes it gets too hot to handle. Hopefully the small break from constant language, with model school, will be that next push we all need to get past this funk we’re all in.

            Right now though I’m going to watch a little American film called Kill Bill Vol. 2 and then crash.  More later.

XoXo

11/02/2011

            Today was our first day of model school. Wow! This experience was informative to say the least. I had no idea how different the Western approach to teaching is when put side-by-side with a developing countries. I had planned on spending the first class today with introductions and in particular the “Find someone who game”. Basically, students are given a list of things for example, “Someone who is left-handed” and are asked to go around the room and ask each other

11/03/2011

            I stopped writing yesterday because of a lovely conversation with my momma! Yesterday at model school was incredibly challenging. For that Find Someone who game, it crashed, crashed some more and then burned, sputtered a little bit and then blew up Michael Bay style. (I think he’s the guy who directed the Transformers movies?) After we saw our first idea fail, we transitioned into something more structured and in my opinion boring. We did a basic presentation of nouns, what they were, their functions etc. and they fucking loved it. It was BIZARRE! In America if you tried to teach 13 year olds a grammar lesson for an hour you would see mutiny and utter chaos.

            Today, we taught a lesson that incorporated a grammar focus but in a more actice way and it went over really well! The students were excited and laughing and seemed to be having a good time. One thing that was interesting however was the fact that while the students have a near-perfect recall of grammatical points they have no way of applying the knowledge to form contextually appropriate sentences. I got sentences today that were grammatically correct but made no sense! For example, I walked to pen. Conjugated for the simple past, correct subject-verb agreement but if someone said that in America you’d think they were batshit crazy. Tomorrow we’re going to try and encourage them to create original sentences but with a foundation of word banks. We shall see!

            I was informed today that a package has arrived! Based on this one package, I would estimate that a package from the states to Rwanda, and more specifically to ME haha takes about three weeks. I’m super excited to see what my mother has been able to fit inside one box!

            My friends and I were talking today about how after model school we have a couple more weeks of training and then we swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers. Once that happens we go to our site and start our experience here. When I go to bed at night here, under my mosquito net surrounded by bugs, I think how am I here? How did this happen? I had always thought about doing Peace Corps and now that the reality has happened, it’s so much more than I had ever anticipated and I’m not even officially a volunteer yet! It really is a 24/7 job. At any one time during the day, or night for that matter, you are under a constant gaze of inquiring onlookers. It’s the weirdest sensation. Everything we do, or as the case may be, no do is examined and analyzed for its degree of difference to Rwandan culture. Teaching is one thing; it’s the time outside of your actual job responsibilities in Peace Corps that make this experience completely unique. Enough postulating for now, it’s been a very long day and there’s more awkward socializing ahead!! XoXo

11/13/11

            It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and written anything. I want to say it’s because each day since I last wrote has been so epic and life changing that I’ve just been too engrossed in Rwandan life that I couldn’t tear myself away to type, but I can’t. Granted some things have happened this week that were unique, but mostly it seems like we’ve fallen into the very, sometimes painfully slow rhythm of Rwandan life.

            Interesting moment for this week though I think goes to the story of cow: one and Saara: zero! I was walking down my street talking to my friend Chinelo on the phone, and jerked because a giant cow ran past me, followed by a boy about the size of an emaciated Gary Coleman. I told Chinelo over the phone that a cow just ran past me and awkwardly laughed then told her that I’d see her in a couple minutes. Click. I hang up the phone and continue walking down the road. At this moment the cow turns around and looks at me, looks into my soul, and judges my moral fiber, and then decided to charge at me. I, being a normally responding human, had to run behind a pillar and then into a barbershop where a man was getting his hair cut in order to avoid losing my life to this damn cow.

The thing that was infuriating was that every Rwandan on the street banded together and laughed at me. This laughter someone else’s expense is something about Rwandan culture that I don’t understand. It is prevalent everywhere you go here. When a motorcycle zooms past within an inch of my body and I freak out, the natural Rwandan response is to laugh. In my own culture the normal reaction would be of concern for your wellbeing or sympathetic anger towards the asshole driving the motorcycle. It is incredibly puzzling to me that a county like Rwanda, which has so much recent horrible history, people would act in such a strange way. But, I may have just answered my own thought nugget. I’m assuming at this point that the whole country is going through some kind of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Syndrome that makes them act in a way that is so bizarre. Bizarre at least to my eyes. Because it of course could all be bullshit and people here just have a weird sense of humor. Maybe, hopefully after more time things make sense according to my perspective. 

One positive thing that came from this week. CUCUMBERS!!!! I found them at the market in the town down the hill and I was able to eat, with the help of Rachel providing mustard (J) a sandwich of the aforementioned mustard, avocado, tomato cucumber and a little bit of salt. It was so delicious! The experience just made me very excited to cook for myself once I get to site. The amount of oil that Rwandans cook their vegetables in destroys any nutritional value they might have had before drowning in fat. Top that off with ten thousand pounds of starch a day and it makes your digestive system feel like a crack whore, used and malnourished.

I gotta go. Little sister keeps knocking wondering what I’m doing in my room. More later hopefully! XoXo

11/14/11

            Going for two days in a row here! Kind of a big deal. Right now I’m waiting to see if two people I don’t like are going to be staying for dinner. The first one is super creep neighbor dude. The second is incredibly rude host aunt. Outlook doesn’t look good right now, so hopefully I’ll chill in my room till dinner then eat really quick and return to my little sanctuary.

            Yesterday I got a wonderful call from my ame! and wonderful cousins!! It was so nice to talk to them. Talking to them made me miss friends and family so much. Kept thinking of my life back in Monterey and what I would be doing if I hadn’t left. Going to class and hating the English language, heading to the bar for a burger, fries and a beer, hanging with friends. I feel like I left my own alternate reality for another one. Both are my life, but they are two totally different perspectives. It’s like I’m in my own Labyrinth but instead of David Bowie being the Goblin King, Kinyarwanda and Rwandan culture are a maze that I’m trying to get through. Gotta go. Host mom’s wondering where I am. More later! XoXo

11/15/11

            Today was a good day overall. Teaching went alright. We had the kids do a combination of active things and sit down activities and it seemed to go pretty well. Tomorrow I’m going to teach a lesson on prepositions and I’mleave  going to bring in my volleyball and we’ll see how they like that. I’m also going to try doing a dictation. Oh Oh Oh!

            Other cool things that happened today: Had half of a grilled cheese sandwich! YUM! Played an awesome game of 20 questions with some pals. I was Yogi Bear and Cher. It’s the simple things out here that keep us occupied!

            I want to reveal a secret about the Peace Corps experience. They kind of tell you before you during your interview and application process but don’t really describe it accurately. They tell you, “You’ll be a celebrity in your country.” This is a true statement. My friends and I were walking home from the brochettes places and there was a guy, who I hope was inebriated, break dancing in front of a bar. We stopped to watch because it was ridiculous and all the other people on the street stopped too. But, did they watch this drunk fool trying to break dance?? No! They stopped to watch us, watch the break dancer. It was completely mind-boggling to me. It’s like if Daniel Craig and his biggest fan in the world were to actually meet. It’s a TON of awkward staring and inappropriate whispering. Every minute action we do is analyzed and mentally processed first as foreign, strange, different then incorrect and foolish.

            Right now I’m listening to some Journey “Don’t Stop Believing” and it fucking rocks! Music makes the world make sense sometimes!

11/19/11

            Today’s entry is brought to you by: “Rwanda presents: Precious moments”. Today when some friends of mine and I were walking home from the hub, a little boy came up to me and said he wanted to speak English to us. He then went on to walk with us for about five minutes and told us that he was the top of his English, he was four years old, asked me what I like to do and why. It was so wonderful and astonishing because his English was better than some of the 12 year olds I was teaching this last week. He was so confident and pint-sized I just wanted to put him in my pocket and keep him for a rainy, shitty day of teaching. His stance was even better. He was walking down the street with three 20-something Americans, in the middle, holding his own. Walking with his hands in his pockets and responding to questions like a tiny Rwandan Yoda. Ugh, it was great! Tomorrow a big group of people are planning on going to Kigali, but I want to take a chill day and take my time doing my laundry, washing my floor, planning some awesome last three lessons that FORCE CREATIVITY upon these students. Being a teacher in Peace Corps is like a big punch to the ovary sometimes. You think, like my friend said, you’re going to inspire your students each and every day and it’s going to be like “Oh Captain my Captain” from fucking Dead Poets Society but when you get 45 blank stares your confidence as an educator fizzles and dies a little bit.

            This battle between my background in education and the reality of developing education is going to be hard to remedy these next two years. Not to say that the Rwandan education system is an enemy of any sort. It seems to be, however, far behind the ideals of the current government that is struggling to imitate the Western world and move beyond its very recent after-the-fact publicized tragedy. ..

            Our training is coming to a close. We have three more days of model school and then a few more weeks then we swear in as official volunteers. I think as time goes on, I realize more and more how it was probably good that I didn’t ever go to institutions such as summer camps as a child. Being with the same group of people for an extended period of time, which does give the opportunity to create incredible friendships, is exhausting. When I see the same people so often I can almost always tell just by looking at them what they’re going to talk about, and more specifically what they’re going to complain about. I’ve had repeat conversations with some people in my group and I’m definitely not a fan. One person complains about the lack of certain things to eat, one person complains about all the American food they miss, one person talks about the kind of people they miss and then there are some people who complain about all the complaining and it boggles the mind. I wonder how much different our time here would be if the art of complaining did not exist. I feel that complaining is like good chocolate, healthy in moderation but hard to accomplish on one’s own. To give my group credit, we do throw in the odd very inspiring and thought provoking discussions, but for the most part, not really, no. I guess I’m longing for the day when life here is more balanced. It seems now that the traveling between the extremes of frustration and exhilaration happen too frequently in one day. Looking for that mystical harmonious balance that comes from knowing what the fuck you’re supposed to be doing! Here’s hoping that with time in country the balance becomes a reality!

11/21/11

            Thought for the day: Rain on a hot tin roof is fucking loud. There was a short torrential downpour of rain and it always makes you think that the sky is falling.

            Today went well teaching. Knock on wood tomorrow goes well! I’m going to try and do a lyric song analysis. We shall see if this whole push for creativity works! XoXo

11/25/11

            Looking from where I left off, the push for creativity did not really succeed. They like the fact that I brought technology (IPOD and speakers) to class, but could not understand the concept of why people might write a song or the fact that creativity is an original creation, not copied! That was a difficult concept to get across.  The last day of model school, which was an awesomely planned lesson crashed and burned. My co-teacher, Sara, and I designed a whole three hour chuck of time dedicated to the idea of holidays, what activities you do for certain holidays, things you cook, and the history of both American holidays and Rwandan holidays. The kids were so unruly and just ready to be done with summer school sessions that no matter how enthusiastic we were, couldn’t get them to fully engage.

            After model school was over, we had our very own trainee Thanksgiving dinner. The preparation for this dinner took a good 24 hours. The preparation started with the massacre of eight Rwandan turkeys out behind HUB by both a trained Rwandan and American trainees. I can honestly say that I saw a turkey killed. It was a bizarre experience. First of all, I have to say that while few trainees wanted to kill a turkey there was a group of about 12 of us who wanted to see the process. We all gathered around to see someone kill another creature. Looking back on it, it seems we as humans have a pointed fascination with death. After watching the first turkey get butchered I was able to watch the second, but after I had to leave.

            I had a strange feeling when watching the turkey die. The, murderers for lack of a better term, cut the turkey heads off and then hung the turkey upside down to drain the blood. The strange thing though was that for each turkey they put fresh banana leaves down and each time a head came off the leaves got splattered with blood. I couldn’t help thinking that the whole country must have looked similar to those banana leaves in 1994. It was that more than anything that made it impossible to keep watching. As a way of distracting myself from thinking too long about blood spattered Rwanda during the Genocide, I went inside and watched Dirty Dancing with a bunch of girls from the group. Half-naked Patrick Swayze is a good distraction.

            Thanksgiving day we cooked a ton of food. We were cooking for around 60 people so think big. In the end the food was delicious! We were able to successfully make over outdoor fires: macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, vegetarian stuffing, pumpkin bread!!!, two different kinds of salad, garlic and rosemary mashed potatoes, and of course turkey. It was amazing! After the meal, every trainee had to lie down because we had eaten so much. Most of have had some form of food poisoning these past couple months so we don’t really eat that much and the sight of so much American food, we couldn’t help ourselves and just ate till it hurt.

            While having a proper Thanksgiving the in heart of Rwanda was a sight to behold, it still didn’t replace the feeling of being home for the holidays with family and friends. So, yesterday was bittersweet. It seemed that any time there was a lull in activity all of us would get this look in our eyes, and you could tell that everyone was thinking about someone or someones they were missing. Note to anyone traveling for a long period of time in a strange land, watching someone light their own fart on fire is one of the best ways to cure feelings of nostalgia you might have. I can confirm, because I saw it with my own eyes!, that farts can and certainly do catch on fire! And on that note I will leave you! Till later! XoXo

11/28/11

            This last weekend was pretty entertaining all around. For starters, we found a place that makes crepes! They are just oh so delicious! Second, I got to go to Kigali this past Sunday and just hang out. When I was in the city I accomplished many things. I bought Nutella! I found and purchased a Barak Obama tote bag. I’ve decided to start a collection of Barak Obama paraphernalia because for those who didn’t know, his face is EVERYWHERE. It’s awesome. In Kigali, I ate a delicious tuna fish sandwich and had a nice big cup of coffee. I also discovered with friends and really awesome Indian restaurant called saffron. Quite scrumptious!

            Today was great because we found out that the lady who makes crepes, while we eating them this morning, makes mini bagel-like pizzas during lunch. We ordered them and had them and holy hell! I was in heaven for a brief moment. Dough, tomato, cheese and some kind of meat. It was glorious! ** on a side note, if I was obsessed with food before I left America, I’m neurotic at this point. It insane how much satisfaction a person can get out of a tuna sandwich!

            Also today, I managed to have an epic jumping photo with my family taken with the help of my friend Sara. It is so awesome! If I can get an electronic copy of it somehow I’ll try and put in on zee blog. Right now though, gonna awkwardly socialize! Till later! 

In the house of Mary

I'm currently in the district of Karongi, specifically in Rubengera, a town which is about 30 minutes away from Lake Kivu. I'm going to visit Kibuye this afternoon, a rather large tourist town with the Volunteer I'm replacing, Kevin. Since Kevin is a dude, I'm actually staying with his neighbor Mary, a VSO from Ireland! Very sweet and welcoming and bonus, will be here for two years just like me and teaching at the same school! Just finished breakfast of oatmeal and tea and can't wait to live on my own when I can go the same thing. Took a hot "shower" this morning and it was heavenly.
 Last night I met a few other volunteers, both Health. One lives literally across the street and the other down the road about 30 minutes away by motorcycle. Yesterday when I arrived I was able to visit some parts of my school and it's very nice. I'm working in a boarding school, so the students live on the grounds throughout the academic year. I will be teaching Creative Performance, music, and Social Studies, which will be a fine arts class and Physical Education. Yup that's right! After receiving a BA and in the process of an MA, I'm going to be a gym teacher. At first  At first I was a little thrown by the idea because I had been under the impression that I would be teaching EFL but this just gives me a new challenge and allows me to have music in my life here in Rwanda!! I'm hoping that my trombone will play a big part of class!

Mary need her laptop, which she very sweetly let me borrow. More later!

XoXo

rwanda chronicles continued

10/14/11

            It’s been a few days since I last wrote. This week was pretty busy. First of all the museum trip to Butare was not what I had thought it would be. This particular museum did not in fact have a section that held bodies from the genocide. We ended up having to pay 3000 Rwandan franks to get it for a 2 hour tour that should have only taken 30 minutes max. It was kind of a let down museum-wise, but the city of Butare is pretty cool. We went to an ice cream store!!!!! It was fabulous! Their slogan was ice cream, cookies and dreams! What other place could you think of going to in Rwanda!?

            Some highlights for the week? First is the tale of Boraccio the spider. Boraccio was a spider that I named that lived in my room for about a week before tragedy struck. We had been co-habitating together for a while and everything seemed to be ok as long as he did not try to come anywhere near my bed. Unfortunately, a few days ago, Boraccio broke our agreement and tried to go for my bed. I had to. I threw my sandal at the wall, hit Boraccio and there he fell, and there on the floor he was dead.

            Second event of the week: Boobs; lost in translation. The other day some girl friends and I got some cokes during our break in language class. In Rwanda, when you take a coke, you have to return the bottle once you’re done. During my return visit, there was a group fo 4 middle-ages women in the boutique. One of them was eagesrly trying to communicate with us in child-Kinyarwanda and during this encounter decided to grab my boob. Not a gentle, accidental graze like when motioning to something far away, but a legit -- fully cupping boob-grab and then proceeded to make milking gestures. It was one of the more bizarre moments of my life; even beating being propositioned by two female prostitutes in France!

*** Just got a message from Sarah DeMola, in my inbox miss you girl!***

            Today was a big day. We got our site announcements today! Meaning that we were told where we’ll be stationed for the next two years! I’m going to be in the Western province about 30 minutes away from the gorgeous Lake Kivu!!! Pretty wonderful! Also, bonus! I’m going to be replacing a volunteer, which means I get an American tour guide and furtniture! We are going on site visits next week to check out our school, meet our headmaster and community and I’m extremely excited!!!! I also found out that I will be stationed in a Teacher Training Center. I’ll be teaching students who have completed 9 year basic education and want to become English teachers in Rwanda! The reality of what I and other volunteers are doing here is sinking in very quickly. In a little over a month we move to our sites for two years. In the grand scheme of life, two years doesn’t seem like a large portion, but being so far away from family, friends and familiarity of the American lifestyle makes it seem like an eternity.

            Hoping to get better internet tomorrow. While this modem with sim card “functions”, it doesn’t really do the job. Going to make awkward conversation. Talk soon.

Rwanda chronicles continued

9/18/2011

The past few days have been a blur! Holy crap. We arrived in Kigali, Rwanda a day late because our flight leaving JFK was late and we missed our connection in Brussels. When we got to Kigali, we went to the Peace Corps hostel and met with our supervisors and hung out as a group, and started to get to know each other better. Thirty-seven of us we packed into four rooms with bunk beds! It was ri-cock-ulous! So many people!! During time at the hostel we got a couple immunizations, joy of joys, and had preliminary interviews about our experience as teachers and what our goals are during our service.

This morning we left the hostel and went to our Pre-Service Training (PST) hub in a nearby city. There we met all of our language and culture facilitators and had an AWESOME lunch of Mecixan style rice with beef with a scrumptious sauce and fresh fallen avacados and bananas!! Rwandan coke? Pretty great! After our lunch we met up with language, Kinyarwanda, teachers and went over some basic sayings. Muraho hello! Ni toi ____ my name is. After we left the hub and went to our host families houses where I’m currently typing. Since my parents weren’t here to greet me, I went with my language teacher and the three other girls in my village on a tour, greeting every person we passed along the way. It is so hard to describe being a white person and walking down the streets of a rural village in Rwanda. The children shout white girl white girl and run up to you asking questions and then follow you wherever you go in town. I felt like Moses, it was strange! Once we met all the girls host families we walked around the town a little more and then came back to each of our respective houses. Getting used to being such a minority is going to be a big thing. The good thing is, when we walked in the streets and started speaking in Kinyarwanda, the people were much more friendly and super surprised. Seemed like they were thinking, check out these white people speaking our language.

Obstacle number two I think will be getting used to the latrine toilets! If I ever had a fear of falling before, now it’s doubled because if it happens here, ya’ fall into a hole full of poop and all sorts of bacterial disasters!! Hoping in time it won’t be so strange.

In terms of training, we have language and culture classes from 8-4 with a lunch break. After that, seems like we’ll be out in the village practicing our Kinyarwanda. Wish me luck. It’s pretty hard!

That’s all for now!

Maramutze Bye!

09/19/2011

            Today started with a 6:30am wake up to a breakfast with my host family. We had green tea with bread. Little known fact, in Rwanda, you put about 3 tablespoons of sugar in your tea for each cup! Going to get diabetes in a bit if I don’t watch out. After breakfast, I met up with the other girls in my village and we went to our first day of Kinyarwanda classes. Our classroom for right now is a front porch of a house. During our class we learned greetings and introductions in the language from 8am to 12pm. Something to get used to in Africa in general I think, is the sometimes overpowering smell of body odor. Yummy! After class we got a one hour lunch break.

09/20/2011

            Today started like yesterday with a 630am wake up. This morning I had tea with milk in it with a few pieces of bread. The staple breakfast around here! After breakfast we went to our hub-site. This is a building dedicated to Peace Corps trainees like myself. Once we got there we had a briefing on some of the PC protocols and after that we had a super depressing lecture on all the diseases that one can acquire in Africa and specifically in Rwanda. Awesome things like, malaria, Typhoid, Meningitis, Hepatitis and of course rabies! We got our first set of rabies shots today. After medical stuff we had lunch and then had a cross-cultural lecture on perceptions American have of Rwandan culture and vice versa. Then the walk home. The three other girls in my village walked together and turned the wrong way and ended up walking past a primary school that had just let out for the day. And no joke we had about 50 kids walking around us and behind us. Like a little Rwandan army of primary school kids. It’s still really hard to get used to how much of an oddity we as Americans, white people are.  Everywhere we go, there is constant staring and shouts of umuzungo which means white person. In Rwandan culture when you see people on the street you say hi to everyone. First as a way to integrate yourself into your community. Second it’s just a thing that everybody does. You stop way hello, how are you where are you from are you married. Complete strangers. Big difference from American background.

            It’s crazy how the littlest things are so different here. A handshake for example. In America there is one way to really shake hands with someone. But, in Rwanda, there are like 5 different kinds used on different occasions and with meeting different people and their professions etc.

That’s all for now!

9/22/11

            In class today we got a past the easy stuff like simple greetings and into the finer grammar points of the Kinyarwanda language. How certain prefixes change depending on the number of people and starting to learn simple negation for the verbs to be and to have. There are moments in just one class where I feel  like I’m really getting it, but then after 10 minutes my teacher Liliose will ask me a question in Kinyarwanda, and I’ll have absolutely no idea what to say!! It’s really frustrating. I feel like a two year old trying to talk. After class today we went up the a local restaurant for lunch and had pasta!!! It was wonderful!! Also, rice and beans (the staples in Rwanda) a meat stew and plantains. After lunch up the Hub for what they call tech training. Basically it’s a time when everyone, who come from different educational backgrounds learns the basics of teaching. Today we went over how to outline a curriculum for a secondary level class. My assignment should be teacher training so my job as I’m figuring it our will be to take the students who have passed the basic 9 year education requirements and who were placed into language schools to become English teachers. With these students, I’m supposed to teach them how to teach English. A current Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) came to our sector the past couple days and was really helpful in giving information about the types of things we can expect when teaching. Class size: anywhere between 40-80 students. School hierarchy. PCVs are near the bottom haha.

            Fun experience for the last 24 hours. Taking a bucket shower in a thunderstorm. Pretty sweet!! Under a tin roof thinking I was gonna die haha.

            Today though! After tech training we had a little more language practice and then walked home. There are a bunch of people in my house right now so I need to go and be awkwardly sociable. Tip for anyone who travels to Rwanda without speaking the language, if you can make them laugh/smile you’re on the right track. Good thing I like making an ass of myself!

9/23/11

Today was a “hub” day, meaning we spent the whole day at the hub site. First we had a talk with Gordy, a former PCV who is now some kind of director for Rwanda. He talked to us about the motivations we have for joining Peace Corps. Initially we all have big lofty grand ideas like helping the human race and stuff and he wanted to remind us I think that while those are the things we need to remember, the immediate in the moment is as important as well. Like right now for example, we’re here in Kamonyi, is Pre-Service training in order to learn Kinyarwanda and learn about Rwandan culture. It was a really good talk about keeping things in perspective and what development, a goal of Peace Corps really means.

After Gordy, we had a talk with our Peace Corps Medical Officers PCMOs about Mr. D! Known to everyone else as diarrhea!!! What causes diarrhea, the symptoms and how to go about fixing it! Super fun! Immediately after talking about loose stool we, of course had lunch. After lunch we had language classes for a little while and then talked about the umuganda tomorrow which is community service day. Everyone in the village gets together and cleans up the town, once a month I think? It depends on the village.

Once I got home I went on my first visit to get water. I went with one of the house servants Vernancie. Holy shit are jerrycans heavy!!! I don’t even have that far to walk, maybe 400 meters, but with 25 lbs of water it takes time! Gotta stop and talk to people and then start again! After the water experience, came home and helped the other servant, the title is one that I’ll never get used to I think, Francoise, and prepared beans, tomatoes, onions and parsley for our dinner. Now I think people are coming back to the house after work. Today is the end of our first week of classes and I am exhausted. After being on three continents in 2 days then getting to Rwanda and host families and starting school, sleep is something I LOVE and get when I can!! Each day up and ready to go by 7am, classes from 8am-4pm and then house chores like cooking and cleaning then dinner, all in KINYARWANDA!!! then awkward socializing then bed! Hurts my body and brain to think about it more! My host mom is here. Saara out!

9/24/11

            Today was an important day for our village. Today was umuganda, which is community service day. Once a month people in the village, and nearby ones, get together and help the community in some way. Today I took my families hoe and with around 100-150 other Rwandans helped build a road. In two hours we created a road about half a mile long. It was a wonderful thing to see and to participate in. At first it was a bit daunting because each time I tried to hoe, about 10 Rwandans laughed at my super American, inexperienced attempts. After a while though it was nice to greet more people in the community and show them our support. After building the road there was a meeting that was one dude talking for about an hour. He just kept going and going! I’ve been told that Rwandans like to talk and today that was proved correct!

            After the uumuganda I attempted to do laundry today. It’s embarrassing to realize how easy life can be in America regarding certain acts. Laundry doesn’t require fetching 4 jerrycans of water, 5 buckets, 2 things of bar-laundry soap, and tons of arms muscle to clean and wring out. The whole laundry process takes about 4 hours just to clean and hang up clothes to dry. In addition to clothes, we washed the shoes of everyone in the family, inside and out! Each time I tried to put my shoe in the “done” bucket Francoise would say Oya! Meaning No! Once the laundry is up to dry it’s time to start cooking dinner. I had thought there would be so much down time here, but I forgot that the simple things take the majority of the day and don’t leave any time to spare.

            For lunch today I had fish! Pretty sweet! So tired!! Had to wake up at 6:30am on a Saturday. Definitely not my style. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll get to sleep in a little bit and do less haha.

            Fun fact! Laundry is up hanging to dry in the rain. Love it.

Muramuke

10/1/11

            It’s been a few days since my last entry! I thought I had lost my adapter and my computer’s battery life died, but luckily it was in my bag at hub.

            Today we went to the big market about 15 minutes away by public transportation. I bought clothe to be made into a skirt, once I find a tailor, a bucket for doing laundry, bed sheets, and some fried bread, which I was told I can’t eat because it came from a public market and would probably get food poisoning! But all in all it was a good day. I would have made my papa proud today with my bartering skills. Got some things cut in half!

More later!

Trying to get on the internet here in the rain. It’s proving difficult to connect. We’ll see.

10/2/11

            Today was, to use a blanket term, interesting. I feel like I need to use interesting, because the range of emotions that happened today was in the sense of the word, interesting. Today, our group of volunteer trainees went to the genocide memorial in the capitol city, Kigali. I had no idea what to expect yesterday and even during the bus ride over. I think the not knowing what was waiting for me at the memorial was one of the hardest parts of going. When we got there, we go to this beautiful white stone building and staircases leading down to lower parts of the grounds. As we went down the stairs we saw big slabs of cement. Slabs as big as swimming pools. There were four of five I think in total. Our guide described to us that under the slabs were mass graves for over 200,000 Rwandans killed in the genocide. That number hit me like a brick to the face. I couldn’t mentally visualize what so many people looked like. Even more, I couldn’t imagine how so many bodies could be held in so small a place. We kept walking and reached a mass grave that had a sort of glass chamber above it that allowed you to see how the bodies were laid within the graves. Wooden boxes stacked upon each other like human jenga pieces. It took your breath away. After having a moment of silence at the mass graves, we went inside the memorial that was broken up into three parts. The first part of the memorial was dedicated to the history and events that led up to the genocide in April 1994, the occurrences in the genocide and what occurred in Rwanda and internationally after. During the history part we learned about the influence of the Dutch colonials and the French involvement in providing the machetes used throughout the genocide.   This part of the memorial was presented in pictures with text and videos from survivors.

            As we all moved along reading and finally understanding the extent to what happened here, people began to cry. People were silent. In the memorial, there was no talking. Of the things that I read about today there were a few things that stood out. First, the treatment of women and children in the genocide. As a means of ensuring that no Tutsis could survive, men infected with HIV raped, beat and killed women thinking that if somehow they survived the genocide, the disease would finish the job. Children were also a primary target. As a symbol of any future generation, “enemy” children were another primary focus.

            After leaving the first section, visitors are brought into a series of rooms that have pictures of the victims of the genocide donated by any surviving family members, but in my opinion that wasn’t the most powerful room. After viewing the pictures, visitors are directed into a room full of skulls and bones of a miniscule fraction of the people who were massacred. I was standing within a foot of someone who had been murdered for no reason. I couldn’t help but cry just standing there. I think what made it more powerful was the fact that I live with a Rwandan family. Seventeen years ago, those bones could have easily belonged to my little host sister. That knowledge was what frightened me the most.

            After the development of the genocide and how it was presented globally, the memorial had a second section dedicated to genocides around the world; Armenia, Herero, Nazis, Cambodia etc.

            The final, and most heartbreaking section of the memorial was dedicated to the children who were slaughtered. It was presented like a gallery of portraits of children, their names, their favorite foods, favorite hobbies, age they were killed, and how they were killed. When you look at a picture of a 6 year old, whose favorite hobby is playing soccer and eating fried potatoes, that was hacked to death by machetes you feel nothing but sadness and regret. For me, that was the hardest part of the memorial, knowing that within the community of children that were murdered, was the potential of a generation. 

            What made today interesting as I said, was not just visiting the memorial, but after. After our visit, we all got back on the bus and drove into a white-person friendly mall to have American style food. During lunch everybody was laughing and smiling. Thinking about it now, it’s exhausting to think about how extreme the two experiences were. First we learned how an entire nation was murdered and second we were reveling in the fact that we were eating cheese for the first time in weeks. Maybe the only way to experience something like that is to have a completely contrasting counterpart.

            I am completely in awe of this country. Right now, my host family has guests and are living their lives. Rwandans have made such gargantuan strides to move beyond and learn from their past. Where does that kind of strength, courage and humility come from?

10/3/11

            On our schedule for today: classroom observations. A small group of us were able to go to a local boarding school and observe one English class and a class in another subject. Today I saw a English and chemistry. Chemistry in any language, in my opinion, is fascinatingly boring. Positive take away from the chemistry class though was that the teacher conducted class entirely in English. We, the trainees, have been hearing that the majority of teachers in the country either still teach in French or in Kinyarwanda, so it was very encouraging to see our future colleagues promoting the goals of the Ministry of Education. After chemistry, we went to an English class. The teacher I observed today was AWESOME!! After just observing one class I could tell that the students fed off his own passion for English and as a result, almost every student was actively participating, raising their hands and were genuinely excited about the language.

            Tomorrow we’re going to have a formal “debriefing” about our experience at the genocide memorial. I feel like tomorrow there will be much more to say. Till then, hasta luego!  

10/4/11

            Today was the first really not so good day. To start off the day, we had our “debriefing” about going to the genocide memorial. In small groups we talked about our experience. It was weird at first because I was in a group of guys. I think it was good to have both perspectives. They learned that as a woman, the memorial was a different experience because women and children were the target of the genocide. From the guys I learned about how there were clothes that were saved from bodies, and one thing in particular was a Superman blanket and how in your mind Superman, or the idea of Superman, is supposed to protect you from these kinds of horrible horrible things. The discussion was also challenging because most of us felt that after visiting the memorial, some questions were answered, but it also created more and negotiating how to approach those curiosities respectfully will be a challenge for the next two years. We also tried to talk about how this topic will affect us teaching. How do we bring up this event? Hopefully any semblance of an answer will come before we go to site.

            After our debriefing, we had the second part of our sexual assault discussion. We had to listen to a recording of one woman’s story. We talked about what to do if you are a victim of sexual assault and how Peace Corps handles such an incidence. We had to talk about the psychological and physiological things that can happen. The main idea of the discussion was that Peace Corps has your back. They’ve taken a lot of flak but looking at my country director and the medical officers I feel more confident knowing that they’re here.

            Then we had lunch. I broke out the volleyball and played. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good past-time. It gets you moving and laughing and playing around with other people.

            Our day ended with more negativity. One of our trainees decided to terminate early. We had to say goodbye. I know I’m going to miss her, but after talking to her, I know she’s going to be better off than if she had tried to stick it out and been unhappy for two years. Honestly, I don’t know if I can last for two years, but I admire her for being able to decide for herself what’s best and then committing to her decision to leave. They can try all they want, but there is no way to describe how hard it is to be so far away from the life you’re accustomed too. On the walk home with some of the girls in our group, we were all laughing and I think it was a sort of release. I don’t know; it was comforting in a way to know that where someone else had to leave I’m still here. Is that so wrong? Peace Corps isn’t for everybody and I’m still hoping that as time moves on, those really lofty and idyllic goals I had in coming here become more tangible. It’s hard because right now I barely have time to sit by myself and think about my day, which is frustrating, but the alternative of being at site alone is still scary. I never thought of myself as someone who is scared by a lot of things, but here, you’re really forced to face your fears. Spiders, mice, isolation, inability to communicate, teaching. By the time I’m done here, no matter when that may be, cause I don’t know (I’m hoping the full two years!!) I want to be sure that I did the best I could.  Enough contemplating for now! Time for cold bucket shower!!!

10/7/11

            Today I heard a sound for the first time in my life. We had a guest speaker today who talked about his experiences before and during the genocide. During one part of his story he talked about the roadblocks that were used by those killing people and one of our LCFs let out a scream/sob that made my entire body cold. The “roadblocks” during the genocide were composed of human bodies. I have never heard someone who sounded like they were in so much pain. This particular LCF got up and left the room and didn’t come back. The fact that we are here, living with people who have been witness to mass murder and who have committed mass murder is a horrifying thought. I am again, dumbfounded at the ability of Rwanda to even exist. The country was murdered and they are still here. My little sister is playing outside and people laugh and make jokes. We learned today that the district that I live in right now, was host to one of the key players involved in the planning, preparation and implementation of actions during the genocide. How would you feel if you knew that the crops where you get your potatoes were also mass graves for people who were slaughtered 15 years ago? I gotta go right now but I’ll write more later, my mom is asking where I am.

10/8/2011

            It’s a quiet Saturday afternoon here in Kamonyi. It rained the entire night last night, kept waking me up. It doesn’t help that here, roofs are made of tin. As a result, that nice gentle pitter-patter of rain in the states that we find so comforting is a cacophony of what sounds like someone just continually dropping glass marbles on tuna fish cans. This morning, 8 am on a Saturday to be precise, we had our preliminary language placement tests. We had to go to different rooms with different language teachers and act out certain scenarios. The first, which was the most challenging in my opinion, was recreating the market and in the true Rwandan style, bargaining! I had to go and pretend to buy beans and onions and barter with the teacher on the price. Numbers in Kinyarwanda are ri-cock-ulously difficult. I had always though numbers in French were difficult but Kinyarwanda shits all over that misconception. The number 5,878 for example is ibihoombi bitanu na magana nani mirongo irwe na umunani. Give me a freaking break! After the market one, we had to simulate getting to our site for the first time and asking important questions of our neighbors, which was really helpful. I asked questions like where do you get water, who is the chief of the village, where does he live, family situation, where is the school? Next I went to talk about household objects and food and beverages which went alright. The last little scenario was me discussing my family both in America and in Rwanda. Not many people know this, but family in Kinyarwanda is extremely complicated. There are three different ways to say aunt, specifically the sister of your mother, because the sister of your brother has three ways as well! Each way corresponds to the person who is being discussed and changes between first, second and third person. FML!

            Once the test was over, a group of us decided to walk to the market which is in the next town. It’s about a 45 minute walk down the big “hill” our town is on. Once we got there, we bought chapatti, which are like think tortillas, avocados and bruchettes, which are pieces of shishkabob-ed goat meat and rolled them up into Rwandan style fajitas. They could have used some hot sauce and onions, they were delicious!!! Once we were done feasting we came back and a couple girlfriends and I went to the local tailor to get some skirts made. I bought the fabric last week at the market, for 2500 (Rwandan Franks) RWF and am getting a tailor made skirt for 3000 RWF which totals about 8 dollars. Pretty sweet deal. The tailor that we went to is the host dad of one of the guys in our group and is pretty well known throughout the village as being very good, so I’m really excited!!

            We’re going on our first month and it seems surreal. Time here is pretty tricky. During one day you want to punch yourself in the face because things are moving so slowly, but then you sit down for a second and realize that a month has gone by.

            Tomorrow our group is going to the museum in Butare. After that I feel I’ll be waning to write a bit so stay tuned. Each time we have a genocide discussion or excursion I get wiped out. Bye for now.