"You are proof that there are people who will do something." -SS

I am officially a United States Peace Corps Volunteer! We swore in on Saturday in a beautiful ceremony at the Ambassador’s residence in Kigali, and even made it onto the news! We got to watch ourselves on TV from our hotel Saturday night.

Swearing in was surprisingly bittersweet.  Even though training was only 10 weeks long, it feels like I just graduated college again and am going to be thrown out into this world that (let’s be honest) I still don’t really know much about. I won’t have my new friends around, and what's even more frightening is that I won’t have the teachers and trainers around who have made Rwanda everything that it is to me. Training is the Rwanda that I know, and that’s all about to change.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I am definitely still excited about moving to site, especially since I got to go check it out on Friday! I was able to meet a few teachers that I will work with, as well as both the Director and Vice Director of my school. I also got to see the school itself and the house that (I think) I will be living in. I also have reason to believe that I was destined to be in Mukamira, because there is a TEXAS SALOON there! Now, before you get too impressed, I should clarify one thing: saloons here, though spelled with the double ‘o’, are actually salons. The Texas Saloon is, unfortunately, not a hang-out reminiscent of swinging doors and cowboys, but a place to get your hair done. Nonetheless, it’s named after Texas and that makes me happy! I’ll try to get a picture of it after I’ve been there a while.

So, back to being a volunteer. Now that training is behind me I thought I’d post a few thoughts I haven’t yet expressed about the whole thing, a few of which are in response to questions many of you have asked me in personal emails.

The genocide. We did visit genocide memorials during training, and they were, as I’m sure you can imagine, extremely difficult to see. In Kigali, the memorial has an extensive historical account of Rwanda up to, during, and after the genocide, as well as videos and pictures of victims and their families. There are a few rooms dedicated solely to children who were killed in the genocide, and I can’t think of many moments in my life that I felt more sorrow than when I was standing in those rooms. I was told that many people were killed at the site that I’m moving to, and I know I will be teaching and working with survivors, orphans, and people who have experienced tragedies I can’t even begin to fathom.

Poverty. My living conditions during training have been extremely comfortable, and a lot of that won’t change when I go to site. Peace Corps does a great job of making sure we are able to have everything we need to live here.  We wouldn’t be here, though, if everybody here had everything they need. When I went to the Eastern Province to visit a health volunteer a few weeks ago, one of the things we did was play with the kids in the local hospital. I was really nervous about doing this, because hours after I arrived at her site a doctor told her that a little boy she had been playing with that morning had just passed away. He died of malnourishment, and the doctors were struggling to keep his mother alive. Although the children I played with were very, very sick, they exuded a joy that penetrated my soul. Their faces lit up at the sight of bubbles, crayons, and toy cars, and being a part of their day was an invaluable experience to me.

Now cheer up because this post is not meant to bring you down! I just want to make sure that I offer a small dose of reality every once in a while, because it’s important to remember that there are real, crucial reasons for Peace Corps being here.  I’m sure you’ve been able to gather from my previous posts, though, that despite some of the low points, I absolutely love the experience I’ve had here so far. In ten weeks, I have seen some of the most beautiful sunrises, sunsets, and night skies that my eyes have ever met. I have begun to learn a language that will forever connect me with people and a place that will be my home for the next two years. I have seen hills so high and green that it seems like the entire rest of the earth is right in front of me, and valleys so low that driving past them feels more like flying over them. I have played with kids who greet me in four languages and climb so high into trees it's like they're just standing on top of them. I have met women who spend every day selling fruits and vegetables in the market, and women who do all of their farming with their babies tied to their backs. In ten weeks, I have met people I will know and love for the rest of my life. And, remember, this is only the beginning!

A couple of friends and myself at our swearing in ceremony! We all had our dresses made here (except, of course, that silly boy).

Some of the amazing traditional dancers that performed for us.

Those of us going to the Western Province, with our Governor! Sorry about the quality.

“They say where there are bananas, there are no secrets.” –JR, CD

This past week was essentially our last week of training as we know it!

Two other trainees and I worked last weekend to organize an all-day Tech workshop for Wednesday where we could tie up all the loose ends that were left after nine weeks of training. I’m happy to report that the workshop was a success! I think most of us left feeling much more confident about walking into a new school all alone and establishing ourselves with our co-workers and students. Most importantly, we drafted a 12-week curriculum to use for our first trimester. Whew!

On Thursday we had a small ceremony to bid farewell to our resource families, which also went really well. My resource mom gave me a huge bag of delicious avocadoes, mangoes, papaya, and pineapple! After nine weeks together everybody was much more comfortable than when we first met our families, and it was great to see the relaxed dynamic.

And the best news of all: we found out our sites Friday! I will be in Mukamira, Nyabihu district, which is in the Northwest. I know that doesn’t mean much to most of you, but I am so excited because I’m really close to the volcanoes! Our Country Director said you can definitely see them from my house on clear days. Now if that’s not enough reason for you to come visit I don’t know what is!

We’re tying up a few administrative loose ends this week and then on Thursday we’re off to Kigali to swear in on Saturday!

Love and miss you all. Thank you, Tanya, for sending me a picture of the Shaw Christmas tree!

My resource mom and I at the Farewell Party.

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.

“Well, I just told my host family that my sister is also my girlfriend.” -Kevin

We met our resource families Saturday! We don't have host families that we actually live with, so in an effort to give us more opportunities to experience genuine Rwandan culture and practice our Kinyarwanda, they paired each of us with what we call resource families. We'll spend a few hours a week with them at their homes and/or work places and hopefully by the end of PST will have a better idea of what life at our sites will be like.

My resource mom works at a museum here in the district, and her husband works in agriculture. We visited the museum as a group on Tuesday, and then I went back to visit her there on Wednesday. It's kind of a long walk, but the views are absolutely gorgeous. At the museum you can see what the traditional king's house looked like, as well as the modern palace that was built during colonization.

My Rwandan parents have three beautiful children: an 8-year-old girl, a 7-year-old boy, and another 5-year-old boy. They were very shy for our first meeting, but I was eventually able to get them to quiz me on my numbers. The middle boy would hold up some arrangement of fingers, I would blurt out a number, and they would giggle at my answer whether I was right or wrong. I also showed them some pictures I took from the plane, and later I found them outside drawing airplanes on the front porch with chalk. They talk to me a little more each time I see them and I can't wait to get to know them.

On Thursday my resource mom went with me to the market to get some fabric for an outfit. Her friends own the shop where I bought the material and they were very kind. She also took me to the tailor she uses, so hopefully I'll have a nice Rwandan outfit in about a week!

A couple of days ago we had a tech session about gender disparities in schools here in Rwanda. The number of girls that attend school is significantly lower than boys, and an even smaller number of girls actually take and pass their exams. We talked about ways we can increase attendance and motivate attending girls to stay in school, and it really started to feel like what my heart tells me I'm here for.

Monday we had a tech session on how to create engaging lessons with limited resources, and it was amazing! A VSO who has been here for three years came and showed us some of the things he's used to keep class interesting, and you wouldn't believe the things you can use as classroom materials. He showed us how to teach prepositions with clothes pins and toilet paper rolls, how to make dice out of mattress chunks, and how to draw maps, graphs, and charts on rice sacks! It was really exciting and motivating to see that it's still possible to keep students interested without copiers and Power Points.

There's a group of elementary and middle-school aged boys that hangs out outside of our school when they're not in class, and I absolutely love talking to and playing with them. They speak just enough English and I speak just enough Kinyarwanda that they can show me how to play the games they're playing and I can be the crazy teacher that actually wants to play children's games. I learned more numbers this week, so on Thursday they quizzed me on Kinyarwanda numbers and I quizzed them on English numbers. Sometimes when I'm with my friends they'll hide behind trees and say my name just loud enough so that I turn and look to find no one. I've started doing that to them now, too.

My roommates and I usually spend time at night lying on the driveway looking at the stars. I wish I could explain what the stars look like here. It's like they never begin and never end, and depending on where we are in the yard they sometimes come all the way down to our feet. The best part is that it feels like I can see every single one of them.

Overall, my experience so far has been everything and more that I thought it would be. I know I'll hit a wall eventually and it won't always feel this great, but for right now I'm completely enchanted. A couple of days ago as I was walking home, a teenage girl approached me with about 8-10 very large tree limbs tied together and balanced horizontally on her head. As we began a limited conversation in Kinyarwanda, I realized that she was also knitting as she was walking! My days right now are filled with perfect moments like that.

Nitwa Tressa. Ndi umukorerabusake wa Peace Corps.

We left Kigali on Sunday and are now in the town where we'll spend the next 2 months learning Kinyarwanda and how to teach English to Rwandans.

I love this area so far. We're split into four different houses, and they are so nice! We don't always have running water, but we can always go get water and we ALWAYS have electricity! The walk from my house to where I'm taking classes is about 20 minutes, and the second half of it smells deliciously like honeysuckle.

We only started formal classes yesterday, but of course most of us began asking our teachers how to say things far before. I spent Monday learning the parts of the body and how to count to five. My first full non-greeting Kinyarwanda sentence, then, was something to the effect of "I have one nose!" Star student here, people.

We're in classes from 8-5, with about half of that dedicated to language and the other half to learning how to teach here. The food is amazing so far, but I do have one request: please, please, please send me so much chocolate you think I could not possibly want that much chocolate, and the same with Hot Tamales.

This is one of the views from my house. You'll all be happy to know we're walled in. I wanted to post more pictures, but it takes forever.

Amahoro (peace).

I'm in Rwanda!

I'm here at the Peace Corps Headquarters in Kigali, Rwanda! There's wireless Internet here, and luckily I packed my handy little laptop in my bag and can update you all!

After over 24 hours of traveling we arrived in Kigali around 7pm Thursday. It was raining and the weather felt amazing. I think the man at the Immigration desk summed up my disheveled, exhausted state perfectly when he looked at my passport photo, hair and make-up done neatly, and asked, "This is you?"

Today is my second full day in the capital, and I am loving it so far. Kigali is absolutely beautiful! We spent the day yesterday getting shots, filling out paperwork, and touring this amazing city! I also got a phone; email me if you want my new number! The country director held a reception for all of us at his house last night, and it was a lot of fun. We got to meet some of the current volunteers and learned a little about what it will be like to live here full-time on our own!

We haven't officially started training yet, but I'm already learning some useful words and phrases in Kinyarwanda! I can say 'Good morning,' 'how are you?' 'I'm fine,' and 'Thank you!' We're leaving tomorrow to move to our actual training site and I think we officially start training on Monday. I have absolutely no idea what my electricity/Internet situation will be there, but I promise I'll try to update as often as I can!

This is one of the beautiful views from where we're staying during our first few days in Rwanda.

Staging

Today was what Peace Corps calls 'Staging.' It's basically a pre-departure briefing about what the in-country orientation will entail and how our first few days and the following weeks in Pre-Service Training will go.

There are just over 30 of us, and it seems like it's going to be a great group. Fourteen of the trainees are transfers from Peace Corps in Mauritania, which was recently discontinued. They have lots of words of wisdom for the upcoming days and are all really fun.

I DID in fact arrive about 3 hours late because of flight delays, and I'm starting to wonder if I willed that on myself by worrying about it so much! Nonetheless, I made it in time for most of staging, they DO have my passport, and we all went out and had one final delicious American meal!

Tomorrow we get up bright and early to get whatever shots we need to enter Rwanda, and then take a bus to the airport. I'll be departing for Rwanda tomorrow evening. Wish me luck!

Below is a picture from my first flight this morning. Although I am not a morning person AT ALL, it's always nice to watch the sun rise when you're already in the sky with it :)

FOUR days

So, basically, AAAAHHHH!!! If you know me well, you know the level of (sometimes obnoxious) intensity with which I approach everything in my life, and preparing to leave for Rwanda has been no exception.

To begin with, I only found out where I'm going and when I'm leaving FIVE weeks prior to my departure. Of course every approaching weekend was suddenly booked as soon as I found out, and I quickly dove into a schedule which could best be described now as a blur. I've come a long way in the last few days, though, and I definitely feel like if I can just get everything strung out across my bedroom floor into a nice, neat, 80 lb. luggage limit, I'll be fine!

In terms of leaving, I'm most nervous about two things: my flight to Philadelphia and my passport. I'm scheduled to arrive at orientation only an hour before it begins so I really don't have room for bad weather or any of the typical setbacks that tend to accompany travel. Additionally, we have to get separate passports for Peace Corps, and given the timing of everything I only gave the big people about 4 and a half weeks to process mine. Yikes!

Despite all of this, though, I remain absolutely thrilled with the ideas I have about what lies ahead of me. I have never felt more fortunate to receive anything than I do this privilege to serve, and I could not be happier that it's going to happen in Rwanda. Who knows how I'll feel two years from now, but tonight, I don't feel like I could have hand-picked this opportunity better myself.