It’s been a long time since I’ve been online, too long. I haven’t
been to Kigali for several weeks now, and the Internet at the District
Office is consistently down whenever I’m around. I’ve felt pretty
disconnected. I’ve almost forgotten how to use the tubes!
I have had some successes with the computer lab! My first attempts
were frustrated by the fact that the wiring in the lab didn’t work and
by administration blowing it off by saying we didn’t have the money to
fix it. All it took though was one call from the District Education
Office telling us that if we weren’t going to use the computers,
they’d take them away, and miraculously we “found” the money to fix
it! (Turned out it wasn’t really broken, the wiring just didn’t
connect to anything). I immediately set up four of the new computers
and began testing all the old equipment to see what works. I’ve now
tested almost everything and we’ve got 9 working out of the 18 or so
that we had, and we’re a little short on mice. And power cords.
Everything here has a different set of plugs, so it’s hard to find
cords that fit in the right places. Anyway, students are now using
the computer lab in small groups, so I consider it a success! Sonya
(VSO) has also been a huge help and is making great visual aids on
rice sacks for the walls of the lab. My next big hurdle concerns
(surprise surprise) the administration again. I think they want to
only let students use the old computers, to which I asked “what about
the 18 brand new computers? What are we going to do with those?” The
reply was, of course, that the teachers can use them! I felt like
crying. What’s the point of having all those computers if they barely
get used? I’m going to have to put my foot down on this one.
I’ve also been busy with debate. We’ve got a lot of good students who
are interested in debate, and we set up two debates this term with
other schools. The first one is this Friday with Kayonza Modern,
another school in our program, and later in September we have a repeat
of our debate with our sister school in Tanzania. This time we are
going there, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to go as well! The only
problem is the expensive visa, but since I’m going in November anyway,
I might as well buy it now! Or, if possible, just get in for free…
Here’s one for you: have you ever gotten on the back of someone’s
moto, thinking that you knew who there were, and talked to them for
the entire 10 minute ride, only to discover that you don’t actually
know who they are? That’s my life! (Note: he seemed to know who I was,
so it was probably my fault that I didn’t recognize him. Nice guy,
though!)
Happy Birthday Aunt Carol!
Oh, and I’ve got less than two months of teaching left, plus less than
a month of traveling until I come home!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
2 terms down, 3rd term to go!
I’ve started my third and final term here in Rwanda. Hard to believe it. There’s still so much that I want to do and see. It’ll be hard to fit it into less than 4 months, but I’ll give it a shot!
The first week of the term is now over, although it was supposed to be the second. We had the usual confusion, with neither students nor teachers showing up on time, plus changing the timetable without telling anyone. About on par for most term beginnings I’d say. I’ve got big plans for this term. There are lots of things I want to cover in my classes, plus the Teachers’ English Club and the Debate Club. On top of that I think I’m about to take on another load of responsibility. Now that the library is up and running, and doing pretty well, if I do say so myself, I think I’m going to attempt to revive the computer lab. The solar panels are working again, so we have some power, and considering our students never get to touch a computer, I think I need to do something about that. Not sure how much I’ll get accomplished before I leave though. A lot of what needs to be done needs to be done by the administration, and all I can do is pester them until they do it. We’ll see though, it needs to be done.
I think I’m on my third generation of house lizards now. Possibly the fourth. I’ve just spotted a new tiny baby and will now have to try to protect him from the adults.
Oh, and I found a snake in my room the other day! Ok, after doing some research I figured out that it wasn’t technically a snake, but a different type of reptile called amphisbaenidae. Or something. It was about 4 inches long and it looked almost like a millipede except that it didn’t have any legs. They aren’t dangerous, and I doubt if this little guy could have bitten me if he tried! I did get a photo (not great) that I’ll attempt to post here at some point.
Random thought as I was listening to Tupac and reading War and Peace: I lead a very strange life.
The first week of the term is now over, although it was supposed to be the second. We had the usual confusion, with neither students nor teachers showing up on time, plus changing the timetable without telling anyone. About on par for most term beginnings I’d say. I’ve got big plans for this term. There are lots of things I want to cover in my classes, plus the Teachers’ English Club and the Debate Club. On top of that I think I’m about to take on another load of responsibility. Now that the library is up and running, and doing pretty well, if I do say so myself, I think I’m going to attempt to revive the computer lab. The solar panels are working again, so we have some power, and considering our students never get to touch a computer, I think I need to do something about that. Not sure how much I’ll get accomplished before I leave though. A lot of what needs to be done needs to be done by the administration, and all I can do is pester them until they do it. We’ll see though, it needs to be done.
I think I’m on my third generation of house lizards now. Possibly the fourth. I’ve just spotted a new tiny baby and will now have to try to protect him from the adults.
Oh, and I found a snake in my room the other day! Ok, after doing some research I figured out that it wasn’t technically a snake, but a different type of reptile called amphisbaenidae. Or something. It was about 4 inches long and it looked almost like a millipede except that it didn’t have any legs. They aren’t dangerous, and I doubt if this little guy could have bitten me if he tried! I did get a photo (not great) that I’ll attempt to post here at some point.
Random thought as I was listening to Tupac and reading War and Peace: I lead a very strange life.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The End is near (of the holidays)
The holidays are almost over, and we are all getting ready to head
back to school for the last term. Mixed feelings of course. The
holidays were great; with monkeys, dead car batteries, new friends, 2
kilos of pork, blisters, a king’s palace, numerous instances of being
ditched, walking until my feet bled, good food and surprisingly little
beer.
For the last couple of days of the break, I’m staying at a friend’s
house in Kigali. It’s kind of a strange situation; there are two
spare bedrooms but no spare beds. Plus the couple that lives there, 3
of us are crashing in the living room. There is a couch and a
loveseat, neither one is big enough to sleep on comfortably. I let
the girls sleep on them. The floor is concrete and horribly
uncomfortable, so I sleep on “chair-bed.” Chair-bed consists of 6
dinning room chairs pushed together, two by two. It is neither
comfortable nor stable, but it’s better than the floor. Oh, and last
night I couldn’t find two of the chairs, so it was just 4 chairs. I’m
quite sore today. The mosquitoes are pretty bad too. Oh, and they
haven’t had water since Sunday. Now, I don’t have running water so
some guy on a bike brings jerry cans full of it. They “have” running
water, so when it goes out, they have no idea where to find some. We
are in the middle of the dry season and water is getting scarce
everywhere in Rwanda except the Northwest, so lots of volunteers are
out of it. Thus we are all pretty grimy and smelly. I’ve showered
twice in the last week and a half.
Anyway, just a short post. I’ll maybe expand on some of the good
stories in later posts, and hopefully I’ll get back to my once a week
schedule once classes start up again. Murabeho!
back to school for the last term. Mixed feelings of course. The
holidays were great; with monkeys, dead car batteries, new friends, 2
kilos of pork, blisters, a king’s palace, numerous instances of being
ditched, walking until my feet bled, good food and surprisingly little
beer.
For the last couple of days of the break, I’m staying at a friend’s
house in Kigali. It’s kind of a strange situation; there are two
spare bedrooms but no spare beds. Plus the couple that lives there, 3
of us are crashing in the living room. There is a couch and a
loveseat, neither one is big enough to sleep on comfortably. I let
the girls sleep on them. The floor is concrete and horribly
uncomfortable, so I sleep on “chair-bed.” Chair-bed consists of 6
dinning room chairs pushed together, two by two. It is neither
comfortable nor stable, but it’s better than the floor. Oh, and last
night I couldn’t find two of the chairs, so it was just 4 chairs. I’m
quite sore today. The mosquitoes are pretty bad too. Oh, and they
haven’t had water since Sunday. Now, I don’t have running water so
some guy on a bike brings jerry cans full of it. They “have” running
water, so when it goes out, they have no idea where to find some. We
are in the middle of the dry season and water is getting scarce
everywhere in Rwanda except the Northwest, so lots of volunteers are
out of it. Thus we are all pretty grimy and smelly. I’ve showered
twice in the last week and a half.
Anyway, just a short post. I’ll maybe expand on some of the good
stories in later posts, and hopefully I’ll get back to my once a week
schedule once classes start up again. Murabeho!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Holidays
I’ve been enjoying a great holiday! We have a three week break between the first and second terms and I’m making the most of it.
The term ended well. The students did relatively well on their exams, and grading papers didn’t drive me completely insane. I finished up early and headed for Kigali for a couples days of relaxing before Dad and Sara came. Their plane arrived at 2:00 am, but I met them at the airport anyway (the coffee shop was still open!) and had a great week!
The gorillas were amazing! It was an hour hike up the mountain, which would have been fun in of itself, but to see those creatures, and to be in the middle of their family was fantastic. The guides told us we were close and I looked up and saw a small gorilla sitting in a tree watching us. We then entered a small clearing and found the second in command silverback. The guides spoke to it in grunts to let it know that we were not a threat and it allowed us to stay. You could see them staring at us and you could see their intelligence in their eyes. They evaluated our presence and decided we weren’t a threat. We had an hour with them and we got so close! There was a young one that was totally hamming it up for the cameras, climbing on the silverback’s back and running by us. We got some amazing photos, a few of which are up know, and hopefully more will follow. It was an experience that I’m so glad I was able to have. Unfortunately these majestic creatures might not be around much longer.
Later we went to Akagera National Park, which was also great, except for the tsetse flies. We got really close to some giraffes, monkeys and buffalo, and saw all sorts of other animals as well. Still didn’t see the elephant though.
Nyakarambi was next, where we went to the falls (my 5th time), toured my school, bought some cow dung art and chilled at home. Had some bad experiences with restaurants (like how the entire town of Rusumo was out of food on a Tuesday afternoon) but overall it was fun! Pretty sure Dad and Sara enjoyed it, but I was very glad to show off my town and school and give them a taste of my everyday life.
We returned to Kigali for the last couple of days, went to the memorial and the Natural History Museum (which was interesting as we had to interpret the exhibits which were in a mix of English, French, Kinyarwanda, Latin and German). It was sad to see them off at the airport, but I had a great week!
Now I’m truly on vacation. Shepherding a couple of tourists around is tiring (no offensive guys) so I’ve been taking it easy the last couple days. I went up to Musanze to visit a friend and went spelunking (which is almost as fun as saying the word spelunking) and narrowly avoided getting guanoed on. I had some delicious burritos to celebrate St Burrito Day, and have been spending a lot of time in coffee shops. Tomorrow I’m heading down south to do who knows what. Plans are for the weak…
The term ended well. The students did relatively well on their exams, and grading papers didn’t drive me completely insane. I finished up early and headed for Kigali for a couples days of relaxing before Dad and Sara came. Their plane arrived at 2:00 am, but I met them at the airport anyway (the coffee shop was still open!) and had a great week!
The gorillas were amazing! It was an hour hike up the mountain, which would have been fun in of itself, but to see those creatures, and to be in the middle of their family was fantastic. The guides told us we were close and I looked up and saw a small gorilla sitting in a tree watching us. We then entered a small clearing and found the second in command silverback. The guides spoke to it in grunts to let it know that we were not a threat and it allowed us to stay. You could see them staring at us and you could see their intelligence in their eyes. They evaluated our presence and decided we weren’t a threat. We had an hour with them and we got so close! There was a young one that was totally hamming it up for the cameras, climbing on the silverback’s back and running by us. We got some amazing photos, a few of which are up know, and hopefully more will follow. It was an experience that I’m so glad I was able to have. Unfortunately these majestic creatures might not be around much longer.
Later we went to Akagera National Park, which was also great, except for the tsetse flies. We got really close to some giraffes, monkeys and buffalo, and saw all sorts of other animals as well. Still didn’t see the elephant though.
Nyakarambi was next, where we went to the falls (my 5th time), toured my school, bought some cow dung art and chilled at home. Had some bad experiences with restaurants (like how the entire town of Rusumo was out of food on a Tuesday afternoon) but overall it was fun! Pretty sure Dad and Sara enjoyed it, but I was very glad to show off my town and school and give them a taste of my everyday life.
We returned to Kigali for the last couple of days, went to the memorial and the Natural History Museum (which was interesting as we had to interpret the exhibits which were in a mix of English, French, Kinyarwanda, Latin and German). It was sad to see them off at the airport, but I had a great week!
Now I’m truly on vacation. Shepherding a couple of tourists around is tiring (no offensive guys) so I’ve been taking it easy the last couple days. I went up to Musanze to visit a friend and went spelunking (which is almost as fun as saying the word spelunking) and narrowly avoided getting guanoed on. I had some delicious burritos to celebrate St Burrito Day, and have been spending a lot of time in coffee shops. Tomorrow I’m heading down south to do who knows what. Plans are for the weak…
Thursday, July 23, 2009
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