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.
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4 comments:
Claire
Glad the lights have come in handy! Whats a senior four? It sounds very rural and I bet its pretty dark when the sun goes down. Nice stars though,huh?
Love
Dad
Did you consider cutting your hair short?
HI Claire,
I have been in conversation with Rachel !! I have news on the wedding.
But on the rats in restaurants and wasps nests in showers front, i remember so clearly eating in this 'apparently nicer' restaurant in Nairobi and there being this fan above out table completely covered in dead insects, and when i got up off the table i hit my head on it and OMG eewwwk.
I also remember the toilets being a drop hole in the kitchen literally so unhygenic !!
Showers out of a bucket with sterised water sounds Hilton style missis !!!
Talking of the Hilton, if you go near one in the bigger cities.. go in for a cup of tea or hot chocolate or just orange juice, as they treat you like royalty i swear !! I remember going into a Hilton in Nairobi in dirty shoes, smelly clothes and i was welcomed on a red carpet for a good old cuppa !!
So anyhow on the Rachel front... she doesn't even know where Matimba is... how small are we talking cuz !!
She is looking at the easiest routes to get between Kampala and Matimba, and i mentioned to her about my date for the wedding and looks like its going to be end of July/start of august, so we'll have to organise that into our travel plans in July.
Im still thinking arriving 3rd week of June and leaving end of August so lots of time to 'hang' !!
take care, love ya xx
Hey Claire!
Wow! reading all these blogs is fascinating. I can't believe all the stuff you've been getting into. You should be taking lots of notes for a future memoir :). So, I leave at the end of March. I'm driving to Ft. Sill Oklahoma for my 2nd Basic officer leadership course. Then on to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri at the end of May for my Engineer Officer Basic Course. After that, Ranger school at the beginning of October! I should get to my unit by Christmas and then maybe Afghanistan in the spring. So much is ahead of us!! miss you and our convos very much. Here's a little Army motivation for ya, "DRIVE ON!"
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