Rain Showers and Profane Wasps

Exam period. Worse for teachers than students, I swear.  Though, it may have something to do with my water being more or less off for almost a week now.  That means no laundry, sparing showers, frugal cooking, and absolutely no unnecessary cleaning (so much for my mop twice a week plan).  My first plan of action (because in my third month I am being proactive, no more moping, no more vegging out to Greys) was to abandon ship.  First, I went to Claire’s to see how she managed to get a cold in our 70 degree winter.  She didn’t have much water either, but we did make a delicious dinner, enjoy fast-paced English conversation and the next day it was off to Butare for a concert. (Who said avoidance doesn’t solve problems?)

The “concert” was in fact a four hour (and that’s just because we were an hour late – it was six for the people who got their early for seats) awards show, too crowded for us to sit (New Havenites, think Toads floor Saturday night, with intermittent music, no dancing and not a deodorant-user in sight – well except for me and Claire).  But we did get to see all the big names in Rwandan music: Rafiki (yes, like the baboon in the Lion King), Ryder Man (or Ride the Man? I haven’t gotten a straight answer from anyone on spelling), the Ben, Miss Jo Jo… Seeing them was pretty cool (esp when I thought about how impressed all my students would be).  Unfortunately, we didn’t really see them perform because, in Rwanda, a performance only amounts to lip syncing.  (One group did try to really sing, but the mikes weren’t set up properly so all we could hear were the instruments.)  Still, how many first time visitors to the States get to go to the Grammys?  Ok, this was more like the Teen Choice Awards, but still.

Day three of my No Water tour, brought me back home, hopeful and wanting a shower. No such luck.  Instead of being surprised by dependably running water, I met a kitchen full of fruit flies, with a pot full of rotten beans (the sisters insisted on giving me pre-cooked beans – an army’s supply – unable to believe I could manage on my own), red-brown beans gone green-gray with mold.  Delicious.  Once I cleaned out the beans and the flies followed, the buzzing in my kitchen continued.  And so we come to my newest tenant: a wasp, whose name is too profane to type in public text (a six letter word that springs to mind when faced with a confounding person… rhymes with sucker).  Before you roll your eyes and say I’m being melodramatic, this is an African wasp, at least two inches in diameter (both body length and wing span, each at least two inches), who knows what kind of venom it carries in its clearly-visible-from-afar stinger?  Also, I have already chased this wasp out of my kitchen once, tearing down its nest (still at the foundation stage, luckily) with my floor squeegee.  So, we have a history.  So there was some yelling involved (no water, bean rot and bugs would put anyone over the top), profanities which I seriously hope my good Christian neighbors next door didn’t hear or understand.  But the yelling and cursing didn’t help (while it did make me feel better), the wasp is still there, and we resentfully share the kitchen like divorced parents share kids – I get the sink area and the shelves, but if I head towards the back corner, well then I’m fair game and all (as in life, mobility, happiness) could be lost.  So, friends, pray for me. To have patience, and water, and fewer bugs.

[On the fourth day, water came. It was a brief respite, but enough to wash some dishes and take a shower.  The next day the torrents of rain finally fell, but thanks to my shower the day before, I kept my clothes on and stayed inside.  The bean-mold pot is still in the middle of my courtyard – I’m hoping a few days of equatorial sun will sterilize what didn’t scrape off so I can wash it without gagging.] 

Housekeeping

the entry/living room

my bedroom (above); the courtyard (below)

I should really title this "Independence Day" because that is what the ability to do my own housekeeping really is, a new found sense of independence.  Who would think so much satisfaction could come from mopping my floors with a giant squeegee? I never mopped before I moved here, and now I do it twice a week, and in between I sweep (with a 'broom' of twigs tied together - it works remarkably well!).  Though, in fairness to my former self, in America we lack the red dirt that stains your floors, your feet and brings many little critters who I'm sure carry fantastically dramatic disease (I'd rather not know which).  So, all this floor cleaning is necessary as much as it is theraputic. 

I am also doing all my own cooking.  So far I have learned: spoiled onions will make you sick, beans take FOREVER to cook (like 5 hours), garlic and salt are the secret to all tastiness, and electricity is really the best invention - until it cuts out for a whole day. Yes, cooking has been a little more touch and go.  I still subsist greatly on local peanut butter and rolls that strongly resemble hot dog buns (except these are not pre-cut) and tea. This is breakfast, and afterschool snack, and everything else if the power cuts (same if the water is off, which happened for a whole week - that was an issue).  So, you see, even with my modern kitchen, the gamble of Africa continues... (and don't even get me started on the cell phone network).  For example, exams are starting enxt week which means this week should be our review.  Except, I figured this all out yesterday and so have only begun to think of how I'm going to write the exams, much less prepare the students for them! But the students are used to this, so they're not really concerned that I dont know when their exam will be or what format I'm expected to give it in (practice or theory for computers - I'm going with practice since the computers are so unpredictable). 

The good news that comes with the advent of exams is that vacation is nearing! In a few weeks my parents and Teddy will be visiting me here, seeing the school, the sisters and the students. We will also go on a gorilla trek with Claire and her mother, finally seeing the famous Gorillas of the Mist.  I cant wait to see them - my family, though the gorillas too - (and to stay pkaces with hot showers)! My students are practically beside themselves with the approaching arrival of so many muzungus.  They ask every day about my family and if they are still coming...  

So if I don't get another chance, I may not be writing until after all that! I promise great stories and hopefully more picture too! Until then...

Paper Planes

Before you start imagining that all I do is lie around, unshowered, watching shows on my computer and pilfering tiny bites of chocolate – I do teach. 21 hours a week, thank you very much. Mostly, I teach computers (ICT we call it). Theory in the classroom, practice in the computer room that has about 1 working computer for every 5 students. And, as of February I am also teaching intro Physics to all the first years (about 90, split in two classes).

“What is physics?” was a baffling question to my students on their first day (I didn’t even get “a science” in response, then again blank stares can be the fault of my English as much as their conceptual confusion…) so we’re starting really, reeeeally, basic. We spent the first week and half making paper planes and flying them on the lawn in front of the classrooms (ensuring yet again, that I am seen as the crazy, undisciplined American who sings and dances and runs around like a kid and considers paper plane races a serious lesson plan). The idea was to teach the scientific method of observation, investigation and explanation through our design, testing and redesign of the planes. Was it successful? I have no idea. But you can judge from these pictures that at least the students enjoyed themselves.



After the planes we moved on to measurement – decidedly less exciting, though I’ve managed to incorporate markers and drawing as much as possible. The students love the markers and draw all over themselves (finger nails, hands, shirt collars) even when I try to explain that the markers are permanent! Making our curriculum fun and interactive is my biggest weekly challenge (ideas welcome!), especially since the lab only has materials for about one third of the students. For the past two weeks we’ve been doing mass, volume and density measuring my spare batteries with a tape measure from my emergency sewing kit. And now, just as I'm running out of ways to make measuring a battery seem worthy of 50 minutes - its exam time! Woohoo.

Little Luxuries

Living in a different country is kind of like traveling except when the newness and excitement wears off, you’re still there. So what can you do but settle into your old patterns from home, as well as you can in this new environment. When things seem unbearably different (cold showers at night when the power occasionally goes out) or just plain repetitive and boring you have to throw in a few luxuries – you can only forgo a shower so many days in a row. But here’s the catch – when I was getting ready to leave for Rwanda, I assumed I would just live without certain luxuries for a year, so now I have to figure out the best approximation. Let me give you some examples:

Manicure – after washing laundry by hand until your hands are raw, put on some moisturizing cream
Pedicure – exfoliation in the vain hope of removing (seemingly permanent) red dirt stains from feet and ankles
Hair cut – cutting split ends with swiss army knife scissors, using blank computer screen as mirror (benefit of no real mirror is no real idea if the quality of cut, though semi-serrated edges of blades seem to have added some nice texture)
Perfume – best used to help cover questionable smell that permeates clothes that sit in the closet too long (no cedar panels here!)
Dessert – one or two squares of a chocolate bar (and this is the one habit I’m trying to break since it’s – relatively – expensive!)or apples imported from South Africa
Vegging Out – watching an entire season of Grey’s Anatomy in a weekend (in fairness, it was pouring rain out) – ok that one’s not even that much of a change…
Roomies – Like to pop up unannounced in the evening just to see how the day went, give me an audience for venting, etc... And I mean literally, pop up – as they’re frogs. (Yup, raining season brings more than rain.) I’ve had more than a few little ones (only about an inch) show up in my house, just suddenly be there chilling in the corner. These can be ushered out with a stern word and a light prod from my foot (in a sneaker). But then there was the toad – about as big as my hand – that took cover from torrents in my bathroom (an understandable confusion of habitat since it’s pretty dark and damp there most of the time). He was quite comfortable and seemed to think we could share the space. So we did a little waltz around the room (me with a mop) until I had him back by the open door, at which point he happily relinquished the bathroom.