Happily, we have some extracurriculars.

For those of you concerned, don’t worry I have not been locked in a classroom for the entirety of the past two weeks! I do have some good friends in the group (not that I’m not friends with everyone) and we manage to enjoy ourselves in the few free hours. The usuals are: Claire, my roommate, a “reformed valley girl” (she recently moved to Oregon) who has worked a lot with refugees back in CA and so adamantly defends the possibility of friendships across language barriers; Shira (who will be living with Claire way up north on the border with Uganda) who’s lived in South Africa and was most recently working at an orphanage in Ethiopia – she’s the wise one, who stays on top of issues like opening bank accounts, passports, etc; and Dan, of the District, marked by his blunt, confrontational attitude in class and sharp sense of humor – I wouldn’t want to be his teacher, but he’s pretty entertaining from the back of the classroom! So the four of us band together for the few adventures our schedules afford us – checking internet, buying snacks to augment our daily lunch of PB&Js (we don’t have a kitchen at the mission), and the occasional run in with President Kagame’s motorcade (well, that was a one time thing – crossing the street just as the black landrovers going 80 mph with lights flashing, but no sirens, crested the hill – we survived just barely). They even got me to take my first moto! (Sorry M&D but I loved it!)

Orientation itself has gotten a little more exciting as well. This week we left the realm of the abstract (“Culture Shock,” “Personal Adjustment”) and spent some time in actual Rwandese classrooms. The first go-round we were the students of teacher trainers. This was pretty taxing, having not sat in a classroom for 8 straight hours since high school. But it was also informative – not only are we teaching the first year that the government has decreed the language of instruction must be English (particularly for our subjects – math and science), it’s also the beginning of a grand shift in pedagogical style, out of the “chalk and talk” days (where the teacher does most of the talking and the students take notes) and into “learner centric” classrooms (think the interactive, idyllic American model). Naturally, they see us as ideal ambassadors of both changes. (Here’s hoping…) Then, these past three days we got to finally play teacher – in pairs – in three different schools in Kigali. Yesterday’s (arguably the best experience) my partner Penny and I taught outside because our classroom was locked (oh the daily tricks and trials of life here – like our bus that came and hour and half late to pick us up). This kind of threw off our plan that greatly depended on a chalk board, but we managed by holding up a pad of paper, and even taping sheets to the trees for a math scavenger hunt!

And the best surprise (especially for me!) was our weekend trip to Butare. The two hour drive was indescribably beautiful – “green, rolling hills” sounds so ordinary, but the view was far from ordinary. The hills continue endlessly in every direction and are a combination of dark forest green trees, bright grasses and tropical banana trees. [At some point I will figure out this picture uploading and try to give some illustration.] About 10 min from Butare we passed the road to Save (a well packed dirt road with an impressive sign). Very exciting to almost see my future home! Over the weekend we got to know some med school students who will be there all year (and promise to be my friends when I come into the city) and two European volunteers who will also be around for a few months. They showed us around ‘town’ – one main street with two big hotels, some stores, cafes, an internet place or two and a huge market selling just about everything else – food (often from reused USAID sacks and cans), clothing, pirated DVDs, mix CDs of popular Rwandan music (R&B/ hip hop, more than tribal), converse sneakers, toiletries… And last but definitely not least, we all went to an orphanage center outside of town. Little Children Come to Me has about 100 AIDS orphans (some HIV+, and all orphaned by AIDS) that come every Saturday for a wholesome (and delicious!) meal of vegetables and rice and beans and some fun activities or lessons. We spent the morning singing songs and playing games. Some of the orphans, however, were most interested in our digital cameras. I let them take turns taking pictures with mine (pictures that I hope to post soon!) and had a group entertained for almost two hours! So now I’m really excited to be going to Save. And just in time – I’ll be picked up by my headmistress tomorrow!

17 hours on a plane is better than any icebreaker.

On the flight over, Ethiopian Airlines made up for lack of leg room with a relaxed attitude towards wandering the aisles, so we took advantage of the long flight to put faces to the names and introductions we got via our google group. Some people seemed surprised that I’m the Sudan girl, though by now they’re all probably tiring of my references to life in Khartoum and the endless words of wisdom from my father (already a mythical character here). On the flip side, however, we are at that stage where we’ve realized we need to benefit from everyone’s knowledge as much as possible – Ben’s years teaching high school math, Penny’s previous experiences in Rwanda, Gina’s all-around girl scout problem solving (from blisters to ending pointless debates)… and all of our collective travelling knowledge. (As a group we’re quite well traveled!) So, maybe for once my stories aren’t so irrelevant.

And as for that group, in total there are 18 of us, for now living together in a mission in the center of Kigali, but soon to be spread all around the country. While we range a lot – in age (22 to 70), marital status, life plan (or non-plan), teaching experience – we get along very well. And in a little more than a week, we’ve all found the two muzungu cafes with overpriced coffee and free wifi ; some people have found their bars of choice; I’ve begun my pastry survey of the city (thanks to Belgian influence I’ve found doughnuts, a raisin Danish, and even a challah chocolate croissant!) ; we can even navigate the public transportation pretty well (though I’ve yet to get up the courage to take a moto – or moped taxi). That said, 90% of our time is spent in training sessions, so I couldn’t really say that I’ve become familiar with most of Kigali, but from the mission this is what I see: (on second thought, pictures coming later... so here's a brief description.)

It is really beautiful. We're up on a high hill, and down below the city is all red rooftops and earthtone buildings against the green, superlush forest and fields. Then there are more hills (Rwanda is called the Land of a Thousand Hills) with the city buildings spilling up them, followed by fields and then forest just where its too steep for anything else. Its almost always misty so the farther hills are only partly visible most of the time - sometimes the whole city disappears! And there are flocks of crows that are forever zooming in and out of the distance, kind of reminiscent of Hitchcock, but more dramatic than menacing. Occasionally they land on our roof and sound like children running around! (They are pretty huge.) Also. it rains almost every day (this is the end of the rainy season), and you can see the rains rolling in across the city. The entire valley below us and the distant hills are covered by opaque purple storm clouds and then comes torrential rain- in the tropical sense, more of a constant stream than actual drops... Oh, and i almost forgot the singing! When the rain isn't drowning it out, there is always singing coming from somewhere in the mission. Its really a fitting soundtrack, and a good reminder that while we may be in class all day, we're still in the middle of Africa!

I hope that gives a little context. I hope to put up some pictures soon... This weekend we're going to Butare - the city near my school - so no email for a few days, but more stories (and pictures...?)to come.

Hi Folks.

Welcome to my blog. As I hope you’ve realized, I have left for Rwanda to teach for a year. This is my record and your best approximation to a regular fix of my rambling, non-sequitur stories. Please don’t judge me for being so cliché. The internet is already tricky in Kigali, so I think posting things here may be the easiest way to send out word regularly.

To briefly recap, I’m in Rwanda for a year, teaching Physics (and maybe other things) in a French speaking secondary school in the south of the country. I am here with an organization called World Teach, accompanied by 17 other volunteers who will be placed throughout the country. We got here on the 30th of December, and are spending our first three weeks in Kigali doing an intensive teaching and "Culture" training sessions. When I leave Kigali, I will be the only one in our group heading south, to a town called Save, right outside the city of Butare. There, I will be living and teaching at a boarding school called St. Bernadette de Save… and that’s all I know for now! As we are told (and discover) every day, living in Africa requires patience, and flexibility, and being ok with not getting anything done on time. And surprisingly - "slow by slow" - I’m getting used to it.