Winning and Rainbows

I thought things would slow down and I would be desperately bored once Model School ended, but that was definitely not the case this week! On Monday morning two trainees and I began a 4.5 hour trip east to visit some current volunteers in a town called Kibungo. We were all anxious to explore a new part of Rwanda and to see what life as a volunteer in Rwanda is really like.

First observation and favorite thing about Kibungo: LIGHTNING BUGS! There were so many. It reminded me of being a kid in central Texas, where we used to catch dozens of lightning bugs in a jar and just sit around watching them flash.

The volunteer I stayed with was really sweet and made me feel very comfortable in her cozy little apartment. She gave me some delicious tea and bagels for breakfast, and then she made zucchini, banana, and almond pancakes for supper one night! Besides the excitement of delicious food, one thing I was really encouraged by was her ability to communicate in Kinyarwanda. She didn’t seem to have any trouble at all talking with anybody. It was so motivating to see an American use the local language so effectively!

All three of us in my travel group were very excited to spend some time in Kigali on the way back. We hadn’t been to Kigali since our arrival in October, and we couldn’t wait to go shopping and eat at some of the restaurants we hear so much about from other volunteers. When we got to Kigali around 9:30 Wednesday morning, the first thing we did was get ice-cream! I’m sure my mom is cringing at the thought of me eating ice-cream for breakfast, but I have a legitimate argument: I got the mocha flavor! Therefore, it really wasn’t much different than having a cup of coffee at breakfast!

After our nutritious start to the day, we set out to explore the supermarkets. And supermarkets they were! They had everything from toothbrushes to refrigerators to barbeque sauce! You should all be proud, though, that I managed to walk away from our shopping trip with nothing more than a glue-stick. Who knew I had it in me?

For lunch we ate at an incredible pizza restaurant called Sun and Moon. They had white pizza! I didn’t think about missing spinach and cheese pizza much when I left, but my love for the treat was rekindled immediately upon finding it on the menu. (Note: I realize all of this food talk isn't really very exciting from your perspective, but it is a BIG DEAL here so just embrace it!)

Language and tech classes resumed as usual when we returned, and I quickly realized that Nyanza really is starting to feel like a home. We’re leaving soon so it won’t be home for long, but it was just so good to have something here feel familiar.

My great week quickly turned into a fantastic week this morning when I found out that Texas won the Big 12 Championship! I called my friend David Saturday morning (here) and told him to be ready to answer his phone with updates throughout the game, and my roommate had also asked her sister to call us during half-time.  Because of the time difference, the game was still happening in Texas when it was already early Sunday morning here. Around 4:30 a.m., my roommate’s sister called and told her Texas was ahead 7-6. At 6 a.m. I called David, and he told me it was 10-6, Texas, early in the fourth quarter. I was so nervous! I managed to fall back asleep for a bit, though, and when I called back at 6:45 David told me we won by ONE point with ONE second left! What an exciting game! I’m kind of glad I was asleep, though, because if I had been watching it I would have been a wreck!

Then, as if winning weren’t exciting enough, David was watching the game with my friends Shelby, Miles, and Patrick, and I got to talk to them for a few minutes! Quite an exciting morning I’ve had, indeed.

Two more weeks of training left, and then we swear in as volunteers! Love and miss you all.

One of the biggest, brightest, and most beautiful rainbows I've ever seen! That little building is a kitchen/outdoor latrine. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week marked both our last week of Model School and Thanksgiving! It was an exhausting week, but my last few days of teaching for a while were really enjoyable and I’m actually going to miss some of those classes! I did a 2-day unit on persuasion and advertising with my more advanced classes, and that was a lot of fun for all of us. Now I just need to learn enough English to teach them advanced grammar!

Thanksgiving here was absolutely wonderful. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I’ve never been outside of the United States during the holidays, and of course it felt nothing like Thanksgiving here all week. By the time it was all said and done, though, it only could have been better if I had been able to spend it at home. To begin with, the food was amazing! We had 5 or 6 turkeys of our own, but then the U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda came to visit and brought us another one. He also brought pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce! In addition, we had mashed potatoes, shells and cheese (!), corn, green bean casserole, stuffing, and about 10-15 desserts. A couple of trainees spent a few hours picking and decorating the dining room with beautiful flowers, and a big sign was posted right outside the dining-room door where we could all list what we’re thankful for. We also decided to make it formal, so everybody got really dressed up and looked amazing! 

After a spectacular Thanksgiving, I woke up Friday morning to find out that Texas beat A&M! Now we’re playing Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship, and my Nebraskan roommate and I are desperately trying to figure out how to make an event out of it all the way over here. I don’t know how much luck we’re going to have since we almost definitely won’t actually be able to watch the game, but we’re going to try!

I’m leaving on Monday to spend three days with a current health volunteer in the Eastern Province, and I’m looking forward to that. I haven’t been east at all, so I’m anxious to see more of Rwanda. Keep your fingers crossed that the roads are straight and I don’t get too car-sick!

Love and miss you all so much, especially around this time. Email me pictures of your Christmas trees!

My friend Penny and myself at Thanksgiving supper.

This week was my second week of Model School, and it was remarkably different from the first. Last week I taught around 70 students at a time, most of which were no older than about 12. We studied simple grammar points, played educational games, and they all desperately wanted a high-five in return for a correct answer.

This week the classes were only around 50 students, and any given classroom held students that ranged from ages 12 to about 30. Planning lessons that wouldn't bore half of the class and completely confuse the other half was an enormous challenge. Getting these individuals to participate was also a whole other ballgame. Nonetheless, it was very good practice and a couple of the lessons actually went decently well!

On Wednesday we had 'no chalk-board day,' a practice method intended to help us increase the amount of communicative activities our students are offered on any given class day. I, along with a few other trainees, decided to incorporate music into that lesson. I chose 'Three Little Birds' by Bob Marley and we had a great time with it! Most young Rwandans enjoy reggae music (bonus!) and that song in particular is pretty easy because it only has a few lines that are repeated multiple times. After working through the lyrics and the meaning of the song, we sang it together as a class and a couple of students came to the front to showcase their dance moves. It was a really fun session and it actually inspired a lesson on reggae music the next day with a more advanced class!

In general, training has developed into a pretty solid routine. We have one more week of Model School, and after that only three weeks of training left! I’m teaching six times in four days next week, though, so it will definitely be an exhausting close to a roller-coaster of a month! We’re all looking forward to Thanksgiving, and I've offered my expert stirring abilities to assist in the preparation of the meal on Thursday. I can’t make any guarantees in terms of the cooking, but these trainees can bet whatever we’re eating will be mixed well! Some things just don’t change, Africa or not. J

I haven't had as much time to play with the neighborhood kids since we started Model School, but spending time with them is still by far one of my favorite things to do. It's amazing how much their English has progressed in the few weeks we've been here. Probably one of my favorite moments in Rwanda so far occurred this week and can be attributed to one of those sweet little boys that shows up loyally every day: as we were discussing my American and Rwandan names, he proudly informed me that from now on, he is Jay-Z and I am Beyonce.  So sweet!

Last night a few of us got together to make supper, and it turned out pretty nicely. We have these little mini-charcoal grills to cook with, so most of the production was actually fire preparation and maintenance. We made a big pot of tomato soup (or boiled tomato chunks, tomato paste, and milk), and GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES! For the sandwiches, we toasted the infamous crescent-role bread pieces available at a handful of local shops, attempted to melt cheese by putting the cans in boiled water, and then topped the bread with the cheese chunks. Follow that meal with a chilly, 40-minute walk home under the most beautiful night sky I know, and you’ve got yourself a Saturday night in Rwanda.

 Tomato soup!

Amahoro n'ibiryo

Saturday was a teacher's birthday, so we had a party at one of our houses. There was a delicious (albeit shapeless) cake, guacamole, and even fondue! I also managed to score a decent bottle of sangria in a nearby town.

This week is my second week of model school, where I'm practicing teaching English to about 70 students at a time! So far, so good.



The aforementioned cake.


Myself and my two roommates at the birthday party on Saturday.

*Side note: if you're sending me packages,

1. Thank you!
2. Make sure to mark them AIR MAIL and PAR AVION.

“Peace and food! That's life in Rwanda.” -LCF

All across Rwanda, the last Saturday morning of every month is dedicated to umuganda, or community service. Last weekend our group worked to add new rooms to a local secondary school, and it was a blast. We shoveled dirt, hauled it in make-shift buckets, and had an amazing time working alongside Rwandans in our community.

After an exciting Halloween party and talent show that night, I finally began practice-teaching this week. The first week of practice is called Micro-Teaching, and it consists of volunteer students from the area coming to our school daily for English lessons. We taught different levels every day, which our director said was a measure to get us comfortable teaching to multiple different levels of English Language Learners. Some of my students were the kids I play with in my free time, so it was fun to have them in my classroom in a more formal setting. I will say, though, I think they were surprised at how strict I am in class! Next week we'll begin a three-week-long process called Model School at a local secondary school and teach one or two groups of students consistently.

Teaching this week really made me realize how much I learned from working at KIPP in Austin. Because of my experience there, I already know how to create lesson plans, I have a bag full of extremely useful classroom management techniques, and I've worked with English Language Learners almost exclusively! I feel so fortunate to be in Rwanda right now, but I'm realizing more every day how many amazing opportunities I had before I ever arrived here.

For a couple of our language classes this week our facilitators took us out into town to practice our Kinyarwanda. We all go into town pretty often, but it was fun to do it in lieu of being in the classroom. I finally paid a legitimate visit to the clothing area, and all I can say is that I should have gone there a long time ago! In the market they have tons of really nice used clothes from the United States and Europe, and most of them are so cheap! I got four shirts on Wednesday for the equivalent of about $1.50. You have to dig through heaping piles to find the good stuff and get it in your size, but it's fun to bargain with the sellers and move from pile to pile as they shout their prices in Kinyarwanda.

This Saturday we got to travel west to Nyungwe National Park to go hiking. The 3 hour bus ride winding through hills was enough to make me lose my appetite, but it was definitely worth it once we got there. We walked for about 30 minutes through a tea plantation to the actual park, and that in itself was absolutely beautiful! The plants were so green, and in contrast with the blue sky it was breathtaking. After slipping and sliding down muddy hills for about 15 more minutes, we finally reached our destination: monkeys! I don't know how to spell the names of the types of monkeys we saw so I'm not going to embarrass myself by trying, but I will tell you that they were really cute! At one point we were watching about 10-15 of them just hanging out in the trees, eating and playing. As the rain began to fall more steadily, we began the journey back home and stopped in the university town on the way. There's a supermarket there where we get lots of goodies, and a few of us decided to eat in the little restaurant in the store. I had a cheeseburger, and it was so good! Of course it wasn't what we're accustomed to at home, but it had PICKLES! I also bought some Nutella (bliss) and cheese.

In short, Saturday was the perfect complement to a very, very good week.

Happy Birthday (Nov 9) Charity!!!

This is the tea plantation we walked through to Nyungwe National Park.

This was one of the types of monkeys we saw!


These two hung out together most of the time we were there.

If you look closely you can see Lake Kivu. On the other side of the lake is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

My life looks like...

This classroom where I learn Kinyarwanda.

This sweet little frog in my clothesline.

These banana trees under the moonlight.


This sunset at the museum of modern art.


This amazing view on my way to visit my resource mom at work.

We had a Halloween party last night; I dressed up as a Rastafarian. I'll try to post pictures of that next time. I start practice teaching Monday, but I taught 6 adult English classes last week and it was amazing.

Love and miss you all.

This is a banana tree at my resource family's house.