Answers for grandpa!

So after I posted my last blog Shira and I went home to get some dinner from Kado and he wasn't there. He quit! Before Amos could fire him! and he took ALL my stuff!!!.....just kidding but you totally believed me didn't you? Well he did quit but he didn't steal anything just that hat, but I want him to have it. So we went to dinner at Bismillah which is where I get my Chapati every morning which is like a torilla with a little more fluffiness to it. The croissant equivalent of a bagel, kind of. Anyway, in response to your questions Grandpa and Shirley I was served a plate of Mutoki(plantains), white rice, plain spaghetti, and french fries. A gourmet selection of starch! And this is what we get for every meal. I'm starting to regard the food situation as a form of torture. My stomach will no longer accept plantains, instant gag reflex I'm not even kidding. At school we get beans and maize bread which started out alright until I bit into pebbles three times in a row one day! So I am slowly trying to work back up to stomaching the food at school. Basically the food situation is poor, and I have been having intense Spaghetti bolognese cravings for some reason so Shira and I might go in to Kigali next weekend just to get some variety. And before anyone asks they do not have ground beef here so I can not make it myself. Currently the Rwandan government has decreed that all poorly built buildings must be torn down so in terms of the landscape I see there are a lot of torn down buildings that have not yet been rebuilt. Also the 'downtown' area is almost impossible to walk through because the ground is covered with building material but there is barely any building going on. If you want to find me on a map I am about an hour north of Kayonza on the road heading north to the Kagitumba border crossing with Uganda. The town is called Kabarore. We are very near Akagera National Park so the terrain is more resembling plains you would see on safari as opposed to the lush green vegetation around Kigali and south towards Butare. It is still very green here though and even though it is dry season it usually rains in the afternoon, which has swollen the wooden latrine door so thick that now it doesn't close. Very concerning. Many people here blame the rain during the dry season on the tree planting. The Clinton foundation pays for every tree you plant so many people have planted thick forests around their homes. I'm not really sure about the science behind that reasoning but its seems to be the predominant theory. Nature plays a much bigger part in everyone's life here. Instead of just taking medicine for a cold everyone told me that my flu was due to the rain and cold weather and that I needed to rest and stay warm. Same thing my mom would have said, but interesting how much more prevalent the weather is in everyday life. Also, when the sky is gray I will often say O I think it is going to rain and then without fail a Rwandan will say No not yet, probably not for about thirty minutes and will only last a few minutes. Or some variation of that, and also without fail it is always exactly correct. My teaching situation has changed YET AGAIN. So now I will be teaching history and helping Shira with English since they scheduled 320 Senior 4's all at the same time. Needless to say the Director of Studies is not the brightest bulb. Also we thought the Senior 4's would not get here until we moved to the new school but apparently they are all coming on Tuesday which is troubling considering we have three classrooms for over five hundred students and only two dormitories. Again, the planning skills are exemplary. So stay tuned to see how that works out! Last night our headmaster found out that our house boy had quit and offered to take us out to dinner. As we walked in to the restaurant and through to the garden in the back he picked out two chickens to roast and then sitting sipping our Fantas we heard them being killed. So appetizing. Thankfully it was pitch black by the time the chicken came to the table so I just felt around with my fingers and prayed I wasn't eating the head. Regardless, it was SO great to eat some protein. I literally dream of chicken but it is three times the price of beef here and the beef has to be cooked super well otherwise there is strong likelihood of worms so its just not that great to eat at all. Ok I think that's it. Still doing great and loving it here. I found out there is oxfam and care international in the nearby bigger town so I'm going to see about volunteering with all my free time. For anyone who offered charitable donations(in the form of entertainment) my address is TTC Matimba c/o Claire O'Connor P/O box 150 Nyagatare, Rwanda. And yes I believe it is very safe just as basically everything is here. O yes, the DRC situation. Really not a situation at all in respect to how it affects me. I am on the other side of the country even though it is only about 100 km across. No one is talking about it or up in arms or anything so I'm not that worried. Also something to note, most of the people who live where I live are returned refugees from the 1959 genocide. So they were mostly born in Uganda and didn't come back until after 1994 when the government campaigned for all Rwandans to return. Therefore, I am not sure there is as strong a divide, however any mention of either party to the genocide is VERY taboo. So that really is it, miss you all.

Awkward!

If I had to sum my life for the past week it would have to be…awkward. Walking through town and having everyone stare at you, awkward. Sitting on a minibus and having all the conversations surrounding you involve the word mzungu, awkward. Sitting in the staff room by yourself while all the teachers/coworkers speak Kinyarwanda, awkward. And the most awkward of all would have to be having a house boy. Shira and I had been trying to get food at the market and figure out how to use the charcoal stove with absolutely no help from our headmaster who is essentially supposed to be our guide in these beginning weeks. Eventually we figured out that regardless of whether or not we ever found the elusive market the cooking area in the backyard is definitely our neighbor Amos' houseboys' domain. So after rehearsing the conversation many times we went next door and talked to our neighbor about the possibility of giving him a little extra money so that his houseboy, Kado, would cook for us as well. After a long deliberation in Kinyarwanda between Amos and Kado it was decided that we would pay Kado 3000 francs a month for his services. That's six dollars! Before anyone starts to think we are evil and pathetic and should cook and clean for ourselves, you have to understand it is absolutely the culture here. Literally everyone has houseboys or girls even though houseboys and girls families and so on. Without being condescending I find it very interesting that the poorest continent has the strictest adherence to this service mentality. Who knows what we would do without Amos. He has brought us to the market, explained the cash power system(and I guess as payment we are now paying for his power?) gotten us clean water, and warned us of what restaurants to avoid(basically all of them). Then yesterday, he told us Kado had told him that it was too much work to work for both of us and that Kado wanted us to get a new houseboy. So Amos is going to fire him! And get a more 'efficient' houseboy that will work harder. AWKWARD. We love Kado, well at least we think we do but he doesn't speak a word of English. I gave him the hat I had brought to give to my headmaster and he wears it everyday! So now Shira and I are beside ourselves because we feel like it is our fault that Kado is getting fired. O the scandals of Kabarore. The rural life is very different than Kigali. Yes I know, obviously, but since we are only teaching eight hours a week the lack of activities is very apparent. I have already read three books since I have been here and Shira and I are quickly working our way through the movie selection she brought. So if anyone is feeling charitable movie donations are gratefully accepted! I will be teaching history instead of Math which is great but I hadn't really realized how pronounced the language barrier would be. When we were doing our teaching practicum's in Kigali we were teaching at the top schools with the top students(no district system here) but now we are at a teacher training college which for the most part is for students who couldn't quite cut it. Which is fine, although it does add an element of critique on the part of the students to the teaching process. Anyway, their English is not good. I imagine since Math is a "universal language" it would have been easier in the long run to teach, but History will be so much more interesting. I will be starting with World War One and working to present day so a more Modern History. If anyone has any teaching suggestions let me know especially for non-native speakers.

My New Temporary Home

So as I am writing this I am surrounded by about twenty onlookers. I'mnot sure if they are more fascinated with a mizungu or how fast I'mtyping or a combination of both. Either way they break out inspotaneous bursts of laughter and I have no idea who the joke is on!This has pretty much been the norm since I moved to Kaborore. We areabout one hour south of where we are eventually living but as for nowwe are at a temporary school about twenty minutes from here. Veryrural and my accomodation is extremely simple which at first scared meto death but I'm now looking at it as a prolonged camping trip.
We arrived to our room with our headmaster and his driver and walkedin to two large concrete rooms with one bed frame two wooden chairsand two tables. I almost lost it. But we got another bed and a couplemattresses and after moving ourselves in it's home. We have a latrineand wash room at the bottom of the garden but the wash room is not"smart yet" according to our neighbor so we've been doing bucketshowers in our rooms! The water we are using has snails and worms init so it has to be boiled and then we used my steri-pen on it forextra protection so the water is so pure my hair is the softest it hasever been! I should start an African hair care revolution!
The school is very bare bones and the entire Senior four is not thereyet. I am teaching all of history and geography and half of the math.That only adds up to 16 hours a week so I might take on computers aswell. Since the Senior fours are not there I only have eight hoursuntil they arrive at the beginning of March! So I am excited to do alot of weekend travel and see the other volunteers in their teachingenvironments.
We have a great neighbor named Amos but he hasn't really figured outthat we have no idea how to cook with the charcoal stove and hishouseboy does not speak a word of English so we are slowly working onthe eating/cooking situation. In the mean time we are eating at thelocal "restaurants" where rat sightings are a common occurence. blegh!Everything has settled nicely and this is exactly the situation Iimagined myself in. The neighbor kids come play every day and they areamazed at the multitude of light options I have with me. Thanks dad! Iunderstand what our field director was talking about with the stares.Everyone here scowls and stares and whispers but as soon as you saymuraho! they are all smiles so Rwandans really are a very nice lot.

I wrote out a big long blog post and now I am at an internet cafe and my flash drive isn't working grrr! I am leaving Kigali tomorrow so I need to get a post up but instead of trying to be intelligent and thoughtful I will just do a recap of the main ideas.

-Butare: Visited the main University town, stayed at a volunteer house made lots of cool friends and also my favorite person, Elizabeth, will be living down there so I will be happy to go down and see them a lot. Went to an orphanage to visit with the children who were AIDS orphans and many of them were infected as well. Similar to the orphanage I visited in India only, sadly, much bigger.

-Orientation: Orientation is finally over. I will be leavin to Matimba in the very north of Uganda tomorrow. My headmaster will pick me and my roommate Shira up and we will discuss curriculum. I am very excited to see my living accomodation, but not nearly as excited for the bathroom situation.

-Kagame's motorcade: Was crossing the street in the embassy district. Looked right and didn't see any cars so across I went. All of a sudden I heard frantic honking and looked right again to see a Land Cruiser barreling towards me upwards of 100 miles an hour. SO scary. I am skittish when crossing the street already I started screaming and flailing. A sight to see I'm sure. There were two more land cruisers and then Kagame's land rover which I'm told never stop as a security precaution. Can you imagine the Obama traveling around like that? Man I'm bummed I have to miss the inaugeration.

-U.S. ambassador: My meeting with the U.S. ambassador went about as awkward as the British incident. We were at a reception for U.S. nationals in Rwanda which was a great networking tool. I felt very mature hobnobbing with ex-pats. I think I might have a lead on a job with World Relief when this is over. Anyway. The ambassador was giving a speech which apparently I was not paying enough attention too. So he commented on this and then proceeded to the back row where I was sitting and did the rest of the speech sitting next to Elizabeth and I. I was mortified. Everyone turned around and laughed, but I introduced myself later and I figure if there is ever a problem I'll always be that girl he called out in the back row. Plus, I invited myself back over to the residence(colonial mansion) for a Worldteach/Peace Corp party and he seemed very receptive to the idea!

Sorry this is brief I have a lot more to tell. I will do a better post next time but for now my friends from Butare in town and we have some celebrating to do! Miss everyone!

American Embassy

Just had to add, went to the American Embassy yesterday and it's embarrassing. By far the nicest, most modern building in Kigali and definitely among the largest. On the top of a hill with a huge American flag waving over the Rwandan capital. Over the top to say the least. Just food for thought.

Typical day

When we got here one of the first things we were told is how hard it is to get things done in Africa. In the U.S. we are so used to moving from one thing to another and accomplishing everything we set out to do. Here, not so much. Yesterday after suffering through the most laborious nine hour math session the day before I decided to take a mental health day and get some things done since we do not have a single day off during orientation and barely any free time.

First my future roommate and I decided we would like to see what we were actually expected to teach so we took it upon ourselves to go to the National Curriculum Development Center and see if we could get our hands on the curriculum. We got on a minibus which are strange because everyone essentially sits on top of each other. We asked the driver to tell us when we were near the center after about two stops and he insisted we were going in the wrong direction. So off we got and walked along the road aimlessly until we confirmed with a very nice Rwandan doctor that yes we were headed in the right direction in the first place. Grr, so we decided to haggle for a taxi which went something like this, NCDC how much? 3000. 2000! no 3000. OK. So in we got very unimpressed with our complete lack of Rwandan transport savvy and bargaining skills.

Upon arriving at the center we found that all the doors within it were closed and there was no receptionist. Again, we found ourselves wandering aimlessly until a very nice man asked, "Who is coming?" Rwandese for what are you doing here? We explained our predicament and he said to follow him. So out we went to his car and he drove us about 200 yards to a random building in an even more random location where we met with a man named Joseph. Joseph looked at us blankly when we told him what we were there for and then gave us a number to call not that day but the next morning. Needless to say mission not accomplished after 3 solid hours of trying.

After this lesson in bureaucracy we decided to take moto's to the British embassy because my mom insisted I had to register. Apparently the British are the best at evacuating. ha! I forgot to mention that on the taxi ride earlier we had witnessed a moto accident with our own eyes! A very slow one but one of the drivers had a passenger and she looked shell shocked when she got up. A lesson in Rwandan community though, as soon as the crash happened every single person on the sidewalks rushed to the middle of the very busy street to help all parties.

So anyway after driving back and forth on the embassy road we finally spotted the itty bitty British embassy. We got inside only to find that the embassy is only open 9-12 and 2-4. tough job. We were there at 12:09 and s.o.l. So Shira knew about a place nearby where she had gotten samosas for 100 francs which we went to and instead found cars full of food being unloaded for a Rwandan lunch buffet. Jackpot! We piled our plates with rice and beans and even avocados and got a soda for the equivalent of two dollars.

After two hours passed we went back to the embassy and went through the obligatory security process which took about 20 minutes and then registered which took about five. While I was registering a very English looking man appeared behind the glass of the receptionists area. My friend Dan was looking at a West Midlands from above book and held it up to the man with a big cheesy grin and thumbs up sign mostly for our humor benefit. Well the man walked right ou,t gave us a weird look and a sheepish hello, and then hopped in the back of a Land Rover. (The only one I saw on the embassy grounds all the others were toyotas, I had a problem with that) When his assistant came back in we were told that sure enough that was not some embassy worker that was the ambassador himself and we had managed to make complete fools of ourselves.

Finally we hopped on a minibus home having accomplished only one of a multitude of things we had set out to do. I guess I'll just have to get used to it. At least we made it home on this minibus and didn't get kicked off! Stupid Mizungus.

Better Post

So my last entry might have been a little over the top but you will have to forgive me I'm just really excited to be here. Rwanda is dusty, loud, packed and very busy. That might be too general of a statement considering the only real experience I have with the country is the very center of the capital city. Nevertheless, my excitement continues in anticipation of my actual placement in a supposedly very rural area. Our Field Director has been slowly telling me more and more about our very amorphous placement. Amorphous is a word given to me by my super great roommate Elizabeth. She has referred to me as her west coast counterpart which I'll take considering she went to Yale. Ha! She has a lot to offer though considering her father does most of his business in East Africa and she spent the first five years of her life in Sudan. Anyway, enough about her more about me. Our placement has been given the very prestigious distinction of being the MOST rural. Should be interesting, we do have electricity though, which is a relief considering I'm working on my Zen with the bugs and lizards but only as long as I can see them!While in Kigali we are staying at a mission called St. Paul's. The accommodations are as simple as you would expect from a mission, and I just recently completed my first shower where I do not fix my eyes on the wasp's nest above me for the entire time. But I swear if that thing hatches while I am in there I will be permanently scarred. One of my favorite things about St. Paul's is the constant music. Every day, pretty much all day there are hymns echoing around the property. The mission also serves as a quasi orphanage for a few older children orphaned during the genocide. Elizabeth and I made friends with a guy named Bruno who showed us around the city while we bought cell phones, changed money and explored the super market. He was our first encounter with the not so free tour guide service that seems to be very common! Nevertheless he was a huge help on our first exploration of the city center. Another person I have met here is my future roommate Shira. She is a very calm spirit who often looks at me in complete confusion whenever I express concern over the lizards we share the bathroom with or the rat sized ants. Ok maybe not rat sized but big. She is also the one who told me snakes live in latrines so she certainly doesn't quell my fears! I'm excited to live with her though, we are a definite case of opposites attract. Well I feel like I've been a little more thorough and informative this go around! I was doing a treasure hunt around Kigali when we decided to stop for internet yesterday. The 70 year old in the group had yet to contact his wife and daughter so he was very concerned that he accomplish that . I can only hope I'm still going on adventures when I am that age! And I survived the Moto home even if it was the most terrifying/exhilarating experiences of my life! Love to everyone write me comments/emails!!!P.S. My friend Dan has taken some pics www.flikr.com/photos/bikedrool/

I'm Here

So I am finally here! After the longest flight of my life, I finally arrived in Kigali on the 30th after flying from Redmond to Salt Lake to D.C to Rome(to refuel) to Addis Ababa and finally here! I have to be brief because I am on the clock and the internet connection is SO slow but I'm writing to report that I absolutely love it here and have never been so convinced that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
Our first day of orientation our group leader, Jessi, told us that we would be stared at constantly and yelled Mizungu which means white person in Swahili. Naturally I went in to town on my first day a little apprehensive but was actually pleasantly surprised. The stares are no worse than I would expect in say Italy and the cat calls don't even begin to rival France! Mizungu is not meant as an insult but it is a little weird to think about considering I would never just start yealling someones race! The traffic is insane and our group leader keeps telling us how fun the moto's are so I guess we are going to take one in a few minutes with my small group that I am with. I guess I should explain we are on a treasure hunt to familiarize ourselves with the different parts of Kigali. Basically orientation so far has felt like adult summer camp. Sorry if my writing is all over the place I am frantically trying to write as quickly as possible!
The people I have met here are really great. I love the group I am with and the Rwandese are extremely friendly. There is that annoying habit of when you ask for directions they show you instead of tell you and the hand they are holding out once you arrive is not for you to shake! Either way great company and a nice way for me to practice my absolutely pathetic french. I can not believe how terrible it is! We learned some Kinyarwanda which the little kids around town seem to find absolutely hilarious.
Alright well I am starting to get really anxious about making sure this actually posts so here mom I finally wrote on my blog are you happy now? I miss everyone but I am so happy to be on this adventure ill write a proper entry on my laptop and do a better post soon!