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This is a banana tree at my resource family's house.Friday, October 23, 2009
“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.
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.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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 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).
Friday, October 9, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
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 :)
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 :)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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.
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