Missions Team to Rwanda

In 2 weeks, I will greet a missions team coming from Taylor University into Kigali.  I will brief them on major cultural issues and integration protocol for Rwanda.  I will help their choir adjust the pronunciation as they will be singing in Kinyarwanda, the local language.  They will visit my school as part of their tour to sing to the students and help paint a world map on the outside wall.
I am very excited to help host this team, and we are asking for your support.

 As you can imagine, a trip like this requires tremendous prayer and financial support, particularly during an economic downturn.  The team of 18 must raise $61,000.  This will cover all our transportation, food, housing, and materials.  If you can support us in a financial way, the entire team would be extremely grateful.   

If you support the Rwanda/Uganda team financially, you can either visit the following link (https://secure.touchnet.com/C21485_ustores/web/store_cat.jsp?STOREID=6&CATID=95&SINGLESTORE=true ), or make a check payable to Taylor University: SCGE, and send it to

Taylor University: SCGE
236W Reade Ave
Upland, IN 46989-1001

Contributions are tax deductible.

Their Story :
In 2009, Taylor took its first team to Rwanda.  On June 11-29, 2011, we are going back to Rwanda with fifteen nervous and energetic students and three faculty ready to share the redemptive love of Christ. We will be working in Kigali, Rwanda with ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries).  ALARM exists to empower the African church by developing and equipping leaders with the skills and tools needed to nurture and deepen the Christian faith for the transformation and reconciliation of African communities.  We will be presenting a conference to Rwandan youth on social justice, seminars to pastors and community leaders on God’s call for Biblical reconciliation, as well as providing training on microfinance, developing spiritual and educational programs at two schools run by ALARM, and volunteering at an AIDS hospital and orphanage.  In addition, we will be working with World Gospel Mission (WGM) in Kampala, Uganda.  We will be partnering with students from Kampala International University, working on a variety of mission projects throughout the city.

No mission trip, no matter how well conceived and planned, would be successful without prayer.  Please pray that our team will think, act, and feel more systematically about social justice, and mightily promote the redemption of Christ and the power of reconciliation to the people of Rwanda and Uganda.  Pray that we will be humble servants and an encouragement to all who work with ALARM and WGM.  Finally, please pray that we will be able to raise the financial support for this international justice mission trip.

In the midst of AIDS, poverty, and oppression, we earnestly anticipate seeing what God will do in the lives of our team and the people of Rwanda and Uganda.

back from the brink

   Thank you for your patience and forgiveness for my absence. I got lost. Being lost is why I came on this journey to begin with, but it took 9 months to really grasp how I was lost, and just how lost I was. Everything was gone. Everything I knew about myself.

   After I got dumped (very kindly, and all for the best, but dumped none the less), I felt like I lost a really important lifeline. Looking at why the relationship ended called into question who I was and where I would go from there. Both of these issues were what drew me to Peace Corps in the first place (and, to be honest, for the same reasons) but where PC started as a place to get away from these issues, it was now the place where I had to confront them. I needed to withdraw and face my own demons for a while.

   After I started to recover, I faced the quandary of re-entry into y’all’s lives. How do I explain myself? Not only the disappearance, but the 9 months beforehand of grand plans and (what felt like) disappointing reports. Nothing I was trying had any forward motion. I had no real job, no language skills, one family I integrated with to speak of, and now, three months of no news to try and explain away or catch up on.

   Those of you who have known me long enough know I had braces for 5 years. Those of you who didn’t, yes, that says Five. My teeth weren’t that bad. It certainly wasn’t Planned to take that long. I didn’t know how to handle it on my own after my parents moved away. Finding transportation, getting myself to the office, dealing with payment and insurance (potentially – as I recall, I didn’t actually have to deal with any of that until we took them off…) was all too much and, frankly, not as important as the immediate demands on my time. I was resistant to going, and then once I missed an appointment, I felt really foolish. I couldn’t bear to go back to the office and face my ortho who would inevitably look down at me in the chair, list how long between meetings it had been this time, hold up my failure to my face and remind me of just how much of a child I still was. I think he was hoping to inspire me to come on time, but this presentation scared me away for longer and longer periods.

   At this point, some of you will have seen the parallel. All of you have been so supportive and encouraging throughout this whole endeavor – I felt like I had failed you because I had certainly hadn’t accomplished anything of significance. And after such a long pause, I felt foolish in trying to explain it all.
Thank you – for not giving up on me, for praying for me, for sending packages and emails to check in even after I disappeared. Specifically; thank you to Union Church – I got your Christmas package and just seeing your address on the box warmed my heart. Thank you to Aunt April and Stephanie for writing updates with your life so I don’t feel left out or behind – you both claim they’re not worth much because it’s just day to day news, but being able to be a part of your lives especially after I disappeared out of them was a life preserver and a huge encouragement to return. Thank you to Josh who, although is as bad as me at keeping up with people (or maybe because of that similarity?), gave me a safe place to dive back in to socializing and told me that he would rather hear bad news than nothing at all.

   Which brings me to my third stumbling block. I was increasingly frustrated with the content of my posts – not only was I not living up to my own eagerness and promises, but I often struggled to find positive experiences to share at all. I still can’t post anything too critical of my host country or administration on here, but there was a stretch where I was searching for reasons to stay, and none of what I came up with had to do with my actual Peace Corps experience. I started writing this post on the plane on the way back to Rwanda (those who weren’t aware, I went back to the states for 3 weeks to see my family and regroup). I thought about what this blog should look like from here on out – no promises, no goals, reports of what was currently happening and at least 1 positive anecdote per post – and spent the next 2 weeks looking for a positive story to add. Losing some close friends certainly wasn’t going to make the list (I love you guys and I’m still very proud of you!); neither was the inanity of the beginning of school (we’ve been in session for 3 weeks and I Just finished making the schedule for classes and teachers – at least 50-60 hours working on it); I was exceedingly frustrated that my time at home was simultaneously way more than I wanted and way less than I needed; and just as I started to build my spiritual life and started praying that I would be a person slow to anger and quick to forgive, someone pissed me off to the point that I almost punched them – I’m going to need some of you to inform me on how in or out of character this is for me, I can’t tell anymore.

   Point being – I will probably always find reasons and excuses not to post, but I don’t want to. I can’t promise any kind of regularity in timing or content, but I Will continue to share my life with you as I can. I will probably be including more of how God is working in my life and where I see him in this whole experience, and I Will try to find positive anecdotes to share with each post.

   I’m glad to be back – in Rwanda, online, as me. I apologize for leaving you all hanging and am, again, extremely grateful for all your support.

if you don't teach, what Do you do?

After almost 6 months at site, we were all gathered together again for IST (In-Service Training). Peace Corps booked us our own hotel at the north border of Lake Kivu in Giterama. Those of you on Facebook have seen the beautiful pics of us chilling and swimming. Those of you who aren’t, check out my photobucket album ***HERE***
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab8/ctknighton/Rwanda/
In fact, everyone should check it out because it is pics of All my life here. Anyway, in honor of being with Americans again, I shaved my legs. There seem to be 2 paths of personal care for girls here – some are Way more girly here than they ever were in the states to compensate for the lack of other life delicacies. Some of us don’t really see a point in trying too hard. Because we’re in AFRICA.
This hotel was an architect’s manifestation of that MC Escher painting of discombobulated stairways. It was beautiful, but very tricky to get around. We were fed 3 meals and 2 tea times a day. Best part – there was so much cheese…

The training had good parts and useless parts. I am truly grateful for the transfers we have because they bring so much perspective to everything. Being a new program, everyone is eager to get things up and running – jump-start programs and get ‘Peace Corps Rwanda’ off the ground. This ends up putting a lot of pressure on us as we are all still fairly new volunteers. There’s no database of funding. There’s no contact list. Many of us are truly reinventing the wheel here. Heck, we’re Inventing the wheel. It was nice to hear that in most PC programs, volunteers aren’t expected to do anything for the first 6 months. We’re acclimating. We’re integrating and adapting to new environments and trying to stabilize emotions with wildly fluctuating digestive issues and stark living conditions. It’s ok if you haven’t changed the world yet. First 6 months is learning to live here, second 6 months is focusing on your primary goal (for us, that’s our teaching jobs and working at school). Second year is when you begin to push into extra projects and getting the ball rolling for the volunteer who will replace you.
It was nice to hear that I’m doing ok, instead of worrying that I’m not getting anything accomplished.

Returning to “the dark ages” (as Jenn calls it) was a bit trying. After so much food, amenities, and contact with culture we could understand, it was a little rough to get back into the groove. Especially because up North we had district exams and therefore we only had 2 days of school. Slowest week ever. Ever. I used the free time to adapt textbooks from our BFA shipment for ESL lessons and Rwanda appropriate content. (I’ll get to this more later) Ok, I used most of the time to hang out with Jenn. But I did get a surprising amount of work done. The more I think about it, it really was 2 weeks of nothing. I only had one day of class the following week, and then went to the middle of the lake for Mark’s birthday.

This celebration coincided with the beginning of the World Cup. My Rwandan counterparts are having a little trouble grasping the idea that I don’t actually care about soccer. I did manage to sit down and watch one game – US v UK. Somehow, there were 2 British girls at the hotel where we watched. When they didn’t seem to take any interest in their national anthem, many of us started singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” over it. When USA was presented, all 14 of us stood with our hands over our hearts (I did have to explain to a few that they couldn’t really salute if they weren’t in uniform) and belted the Star Spangled Banner at the top of our lungs complete with a cheering finale. I fell asleep during the second half of the game, but it was kinda fun to cheer for something for a while.
I also got 5 sips of ice cold Dr Pepper that weekend to wash down the pizza we made.
Please take a moment to consider all of the wonderful things in that sentence. Truly.
I was a happy camper.

On the way home, I met one of the most amazing people I think I will ever know. Rita is a Canadian ex-nun in her 70s who started working for the church because she wanted to be in service around the world, and left so she could have more freedom to do so. During her years working for the Church, she spent ~12 years as a tour guide in Israel – during the 60’s and 70’s (including both wars). She can tell you more about the Holy Land and make you care about it than any book on the area. She also worked for the government building relations in the Arab section. She has taught ESL in countries around the world and works with the indigenous tribes near her home in Saskatchewan. She is in Rwanda for 3 months helping with a small ESL class here, but travels around on the weekends looking for other NGOs she can support (even if just verbally, emotionally, and by making contacts with people around the world). We rode the bus back to Kigali together and she let me stay in her room at the guest house for the night. I felt so rejuvenated after talking to her – I wish I had written down some of her stories, but I think maybe she’s the kind of person that God gives as a small gift when you need her the most and is difficult to share without meeting her. About a week later, she came to visit me at my site so she could see a village and we walked all over (no, seriously – probably walked for about 8 hours with her).
We went into Byumba where she introduced me to a VSO volunteer who lives and teaches there until the end of the year. Another blessing – Shala has a keyboard. I have always maintained that playing a keyboard is not nearly as satisfactory as playing a Real piano, but it’s amazing what you can get excited over when you’ve been deprived long enough. Shala uses music to help teach English and composes little ditties to reinforce her lessons. I’m also excited to have another contact in the area to bounce ideas off of – and another native English speaker to have conversations with.
Shala lives at the Anglican guest house next to Florian. I met Florian in the middle of May when Michele and I saw 2 white boys walking around town and followed them until we could make fools of ourselves and get their attention. (it’s amazing how possessive we PCVs can get of our areas – other white people never come out this far, and when they do, they’re either passing through like the “End The Cycle – Bike Through Africa” chick, or the missionaries who come and perform services, drop money, and then bus back to Kigali) Florian is a German kid who is taking a working “vacation semester” and creating his own study abroad program here to supplement his studies in psychology. He is how Rwanda is using group therapy to help overcome the trauma of the Genocide. We’ve met up a few times in the last month and I really enjoy talking to him. Unfortunately, his program doesn’t last very long and he’s going home soon.

The only person I can remember meeting that Wasn’t enjoyable is recorded ***HERE*** http://twoformativeyears.blogspot.com/2010/06/jennifer-and-charissa-confront.html.
This is Jenn’s new blog, but this particular entry has a lot to do with me, and she tells the story better than I do, so go read it. =)

Current Projects
I was always a little annoyed with the amount of hype that “critical thinking skills” received in the American education world. It felt so natural and intrinsic to me that I didn’t understand why it had to be pushed so much.
Shameless plug – thank you SO MUCH mom and dad for teaching me how to think and instilling a value for education and thought in me. Thank you for doing everything you had to make sure I had the best education possible. Thanks for wearing out 2 dictionaries at the dinner table and for never Actually answering my questions but making me figure it out myself (correction – y’all pulled off a nice balance – mom answered, dad did the puzzle thing until we all groaned and threw our heads on the table).
I am now aware that my personal family culture made the public education push for critical thinking skills unnecessary. Rwanda education has had (historically) NO understanding of, education of, or use for critical thinking skills in schools. Now they are entering the global community, this includes being exposed to all sorts of crazy education philosophy. Some things like “there is no such thing as a stupid student” are not exceptionally helpful, but CTS are CRUCIAL. And still mostly non-existent.
This has become my number one goal in my minimal teaching hours.

S1 –
There was 1 student book and 1 teacher book of Scholastic’s “POWERFUL VOCABULARY FOR READING SUCCESS – Grade 4”. This is not only not enough to share with 2 classes, but the book is (naturally) designed for American students and very ethno-centric. Some vocabulary like “apartment” is really not urgent to teach out of a list of 15 words. Also, the lessons are written expecting that all the students will have the workbook sitting in front of them that they can write in. I am adapting the content and lesson styles to be appropriate and useful for Rwanda. When I am finished I will post all my work for the other PCVRWs to utilize, including an introductory explanatory page.
The following is excerpts from this intro and can give you an idea of what my work looks like.

These lessons are designed to build critical thinking skills and focus on learning vocabulary in and through context.

The structure is as follows:
• List of Vocabulary words and definitions
• Lesson Objective
• Introduction – including grammar rules and examples to prepare the students for what they will be focusing on.
• Detailed instruction including suggested teacher activities, modeling the critical thinking skill, and student activities.
• Practice using new vocabulary and employing test-taking skills. Also includes verbatim teacher modeling of these skills
• Application requiring students to produce language and involving graphic organizers and expanding into higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy.
• Alternative Learning Styles Activities employing art, physical interaction, and group interaction.
• Highlighted grammar application (like sentence structure), composition practice, and cross-curricular application that can be drawn out of the general lesson
• Assessment / review that focuses on test taking skills.


S2 –
We also received ~40 student textbooks on spelling and word parts.
Building lessons off a textbook requires creativity when you’re not changing the main purpose alongside it.
The fine Education program at NCC taught me that students learn better when they understand Why they are studying what they are. So my first lesson was simply based on explaining the pieces of the book, why I chose it, and how it would benefit the students. We talked about Critical Thinking Skills; Improving Vocabulary, Spelling, and Pronunciation; Writing Skills – form and punctuation; and Test-Taking Skills. I employed Total Physical Response to designate what we were doing with each activity. I had all the students point to the eyes, mouth, head, jazz hands, and spread arms to represent ‘look / speak / think / write / expand’.

But, studying the pieces of the words won’t do you any good when you don’t know how the words work. Our first step was to create a simple, clear table outlining the parts of speech and their functions.

Each unit has its own theme:
• Unit 1 – Silent / Sounded Consonants
• Unit 2 – Greek Roots pt 1
• Unit 3 – Number Prefixes
• Unit 4 – Words from Names
• Unit 5 – Homophones
• Unit 7 – Consonant Changes (verbs to nouns)
• Unit 8 – Greek Roots pt2
• Unit 9 – Noun Suffixes
• Unit 10 – Words from Spanish
• Unit 11 – Confusing Words

Each lesson uses the same pieces:
• Key vocabulary – words they need to understand instructions - ex. Have in common / similar / related / Match / Rhyming / Context / Compare / Contrast / Replace etc…
• Look – focus on the theme
• Speak – read the words aloud – 2 or 3 times
• Think – analyze the words by theme
• Write – give basic idea of the word without exact definition – copy into notebooks
• Practice – word clues / analogies / rhyming / context / classifying / synonyms / appositives / riddles / phonetics
• Expand – using and producing language in a more realistic setting
o use in curriculum – journalism / music / astronomy – mythology / biology / word capitals / geometry / deserts
o pictionary / hangman / code breakers / dictionary usage / thesaurus usage / analyzing a text / using dialogue in narrative / write a narrative / subject-verb agreement / paragraph analysis / punctuation proof reading


PC – There is a Content Based Curriculum project that I will write about in the next blog. I think y’all have enough technical info for now..


THANK YOU!!!! Gena and Ryan Camire – peanut butter is always useful and I’m excited to try and crochet with plastic bags!
John and Joy Hosier – the magazines have been a great breath of levity in my reading collection. I think I also fell in love with Mental Floss…
Brad and Kristen Ediger – another new favorite – Relevant will definitely be something I look up when I get home. And the treats were perfect.

Ok, we’re getting to that point of saturation again.
Happy July 4 everybody!! Enjoy some fireworks for me!

8 months, for super serial?

Shnazerfrazzle!

How am I supposed to keep up with all this? I have 15 topic points and I can’t even remember what one of them was about. I think it was when I had to plug my hard drive into African computers to print something and it came back with literally hundreds of copies of a virus. SO glad sean taught me about Microsoft Security Essentials.

I tried to write an entire post full with legit Africa observations (culture and daily life and things) and it turned out to be Way more of a rant than I intended, so I’m gonna try and clean it up a bit before I send it out.

Until then, you still get to hear about what’s going on to/around me.
The last weekend of April was a little crazy. 4 people went home including one of my roommates from training. The weather mourned their loss too as it Poured all week. We made luau-flavored kabobs and fun-fetti pancakes that weekend (check out the pictures on facebook). It was pretty classy. Made for a great May Day.

Despite my calorie gorging weekends, I have managed to drop down to a size 8 in my jeans. To make sure this was more muscle building than just slow starvation; I copied some P90x files from my friend and added abb work-outs to my morning schedule.
Yes, I know. Shush you. I am not on a perfectly consistent routine yet, but I’ve worked out 2 weeks of the last 3 and I fully intend to make this a permanent pattern.

My parents called the other day and asked about my ‘community’ English classes, and what was ‘keeping me’ from getting those going. My completely honest (and reasonable) answer was that I was too lazy and selfish. If I forced myself out of my comfort zone and gave up more of my weekends, I could probably set up a time for public classes and they would soon quickly be over-run by varying levels of adults who mostly don’t really need to learn the language since it’s not like they’re helping their children with their homework anything.
I have always worked better on a small scale – tutoring v teaching, organizing v cleaning, few friends v large parties. I figure my ‘community’ is my host family. After that large shipment of books, I spotted one that I had loved as a child and grabbed it to take home and use in my nightly English lessons with Bosco. 3 pages into “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble”, I knew it was the right idea. The flow of a language is much different in a textbook for ESL than what natural speakers would read, and honestly, much more enjoyable. Bosco loved the new vocabulary he could pick up, especially when I pointed out that often writers will repeat ideas in a sentence, or he could use the pictures to help him remember certain words. He also loved that All the characters were animals. He thought it was hilarious that the neighbors were chickens and the police were pigs. My favorite part was his automatic ‘critical thinking’ jumps. He made inferences, predictions, made the story personal (what would you wish for if you could have anything?), and was Really excited to see how everything was going to play out in the end. That my friends is when the joy of teaching really hits you.
In return, I was so happy I started singing more. The babies have colds because of the changing seasons - turns out, the “dry season” really means “cold season”, we’re all very chilly and wearing lots of layers. Anyway, they both climbed into my lap one night and I sang them to sleep – every soft sweet song I could think of. Best night in Africa.

Side-bar – CONGRATULATIONS!!! To Andy, Casey Megan, Kelsey, Elise, Matt, and all the other high school and college graduates. Also to PCV-RW/H2! All those letters mean the new class of health volunteers is officially sworn in and at site. We got 2 on the north with us, one living with Jen and one in the main town where we have our post box, cyber café, etc. American day that weekend was a blast – total of 6 girls on moto parade out to Scott’s for – check it – Mexican seasoned food (burritos). Avery and Devin fit in rather well and we’re excited to have our crew growing.

However, first day Michele and I went to visit Avery’s house, I lost my phone. That is, one minute I had it and the next it was gone. It’s very possible it was stolen, but I don’t really even remember where I had put it – pocket, bag, hand only? Who knows, but my number is now different and has been changed on facebook. If you have the inclination to call me and need my number, email me and I’ll get it to you.

Work:
I am officially working in all 4 secondary classes. My S1s are incredibly eager and willing to try and make mistakes. My S2s vary between stubborn and sullen. One class can be coaxed to participate sometimes, but other times they seem a little lost. My other S2 class is like teaching in opposite world. Quite a few of them are Really smart, so I know it’s not because they don’t understand what the program. But if I say ‘don’t talk’, they either read on top of each other or confer with their friends (standard, I know, but when combined with the rest of my list here…); if I say ‘discuss this question with your desk partner’, they stare mutely at the desk; if I say ‘read and discuss’, they copy everything into their notebooks; if I say ‘take notes’, they blink a lot. I can’t even get them to answer if they understand me or not. Last week, I was inclined to say “you’re killing me Smalls!” every minute or so, but I felt it would be tragically underappreciated. (to those of you who are a little lost right now, find someone between the ages of 23 and 33 and ask them about a baseball movie called “The Sandlot”.)
My co-English teachers are actually doing really well keeping up with our syllabus and taking time to plan lessons with me. The other secondary teachers are warming up more to asking me to help explain / translate things.
I have made an official schedule of when I will be at school so the teachers can find me for language questions etc. We’ve also started language classes for the teachers. We start with a short focus on phonetics and pronunciation, and then I walk through some vocabulary. The questions they come up with stemming from even simple topics like ‘family terms’ can leave me a little confused sometimes, but it’s nice that they’re really interested in learning. I’m working up to including current event articles and pushing for more language produced by the teachers than by me.

Bits and pieces:
I finally gired someone to help me with my laundry. Washing everything by hand is just becoming overwhelming and I do Not have the self motivation to do it. Most stuff isn’t too bad, but when you add in the jeans, sheets, and towels, it wears you out! And I’m getting scars on my knuckles… so she comes over once a week and washes my over-wear and sweeps up the paths and the yard. She’s very good at what she does, and she’s working to support her 3 kids as she is a widow.

I’m still working on keeping my budget and came very close to empty this quarter in my bank account. But I could NOT resist the Batman: Dark Knight UNO deck. #1 – it’s UNO. #2 – it’s Batman UNO. I’m very excited to incorporate UNO tournaments over our American weekends. =D

Picked up another package from the CA Fam a few weeks ago – awesome drink mixes and pics of my beautiful cousin. Thanks again guys!


Books:
Ok, last section. There is an NGO that supports sending books to Africa and only asks for money to pay for the transportation costs. Clever people that they are, it’s called Books for Africa. (I think they hired the guy who came up with Coke II to help them) They coordinated with USAID and there was a pallet of books (a little over 20,000 I think?) that needed homes and MINEDUC didn’t really know where to send them, so all the ED PCVs were asked if their schools could use some books. Most of us jumped all over this and we received our shipment of ~350 (+/- 50) books a few weeks ago. Some people have been enjoying helping their librarians stamp books and find room for them in the libraries. Some people have been looking for primary schools to share the books with. Some of us (myself included) have been trying to figure out how to get a library started at all. We don’t have rooms, we can’t afford shelves, and our teachers are really too busy to take on the extra responsibility of running a library such that the books don’t just get stolen. I’m excited as this represents the true first Secondary project I could be involved in. It will take a while, but there is some funding opening up at the end of the summer that I can apply for to get this started. In the mean time, I’ve contacted the other schools in the area to see if they would be interested in also receiving books. Now, as the first shipment was coordinated with USAID, our schools didn’t have to pay anything and the books were delivered to us. Standard procedure involves a group of schools so they can split the books and the 20% of the cost they have to raise. There are about 14 schools involved in this next round and we will all be contacting people from home to help donate for the rest of the cost. (again, standard procedure) if you want to help, I’ll provide the info as soon as I have it.
This was actually a big step for me to get other schools involved. I had to step out of my comfort zone and go to other schools and try and communicate with a new set of teachers who don’t speak English very well and pitch the idea while explaining all of their responsibilities if they participate. I don’t have to write the whole grant proposal, but all the volunteers who are involved have to help.
Anyway, it's my first official active project and i'm very excited.

next month:
- this week's training experiences
- cool people I've met here
- stuff that hasn't happened yet.

thanks for reading!

my friends like to torture me. but i love them anyway.

It’s been nice, jacking the school computer. Bosco charges it for me during the day at the World Vision office, and I pick it up in the afternoon and use it. This enables me to do things like; type up my favorite passages from the books I’m reading, fill out the survey for our mid-service training, watch almost every DVD that has been sent to me. ;D
One would think I might do something productive, like write more blogs, but I find myself in an odd position. I feel like I have been very busy, but I can’t really tell you with what. And I’m not entirely sure what I have to show for it. This must mean I’m adjusting – experiences no longer stand out, I’m caught in the day to day activities and feel like they’re important.

I had to re-read my last entry to see what I had shared with you; where I left off. Looks like it was right before exams. I enjoyed helping write the exam for the S2s, which they say was way to easy. You can tell because most of them passed it. I am endeavoring to push them harder this term – they just act like they don’t understand what I’m saying. During exam week, I also got to participate in one of my absolute all-time favorite activities – organizing books. I flipped on an upbeat music mix on the borrowed ipod and stayed in the library for hours. We received our new books in the last week of April, via a truck that was entirely too large for the transport. They are mostly children’s books donated from America and it’s nice to see some familiar characters – so far I’ve seen Sesame Street, Lamb Chops, Veggie Tales, and Barney. A lot of these books will be good to expose the younger students to more English early on. A lot of these books will be like alien literature. I was excited to see some ‘baby’s first word’ books as they are easily translatable (pictures), but the words are “telephone; traffic signal; car; stove; kitchen”; none of these things exist to my students.
We also received boxes of elementary textbooks for math, reading (literature), and science, complete with accompanying teacher’s guides. I hope I can help the teachers learn enough English by the time I leave to use them even minimally.

Some of my friends went to Kampala and had a great time river rafting and bungee jumping. I was anticipating taking off more time after break, so I opted to stay in town and see if I could get some work done. Also, I wanted to be available to my community to see how this memorial week would go down. My friend Penny went to her opening ceremony and stood for 4 hours as they went through speeches and lectures and dances. But, I think that her site, like mine, was too far north for much genocide activity. I checked with my host dad and he suggested that since I wouldn’t understand what was going on anyway, I might as well stay at home. I did a lot of laundry and picked up around my house for a few days. I hope y’all don’t mind, but I really don’t have a lot to say about memorial week and the 1994 genocide (as they all refer to it, date included). Some other PCVs have great blogs about it here:

http://jacinrwanda.blogspot.com/2010/04/never-again.html

http://amandarwanda.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-does-16-years-mean.html


I’ve been learning about genocides since 5th grade. I have done extensive research and taken semester classes on the Holocaust; I have studied the Rape of Nanking, the Killing fields of Cambodia, Stalin’s massacres; I have been involved in discussions of the definition of genocide that reach even to the slow eradication of culture and population of the Aborigines in Australia and the Native Americans of the US. All my reactions have been honed to see these things clinically and academically. I can’t force myself to shift now and take these things personally, even when I see people with scars and maiming injuries on a regular basis. The strongest emotion I can name is a reinforced desire for good education and the coming of the Kingdom. The world will be warring on every level and every scale because we are all filled with sin. People emotionally separate themselves from others across the world enough to invade their land for conquest; people use jealousy and desire as reasons to hate their neighbors and their brothers; people allow fear of the unknown to breed distrust and blind spots of new cultures they encounter whether tribes sharing a nation, ethnicities sharing a city, or students sharing a lunchroom. We can combat this on an individual level, and in a way, we all have that responsibility. But people will find reasons for their anger and their violence if they want one.

Wow, totally wasn’t expecting to write about that, but there you go. I guess I can’t avoid it forever…
ANYWAY, after a few days of hiding out in my house, I went to Kigali to hold a room for a friend returning from her vacation (at midnight) and work with electricity and interwebs at the PCV office. Actually, Penny and I had very clear objectives to accomplish – and then everybody else showed up too and we ended up being the social creatures we are. Not that I’m complaining – it was Great to see so many people and share in our own culture for a while. Oh yeah! And we met the sweetest girls from Norway who had just finished volunteering in Tanzania and were traveling through East Africa. Just in case you were wondering – the world really does want to know if American HS is like One Tree Hill and OC. We were also kinda celebrating being in Rwanda for over 6 months. That means 1/4th of my time here is already gone.
It’s the trimesters, I’m telling you, they make time fly.

But you know what Didn’t fly? Most of the planes in Europe. Because of a volcano in Iceland. Seeing as Sean was in London on business / convenient layover on the way to Rwanda, he was also stuck. We are both dealing with this by acknowledging that God had the timing to bring us together before I left for Africa, he must have a reason why Sean wasn’t supposed to visit me in April.
One that I can see would be to keep Sean from getting fleas, as they back en force. I don’t think I’ve mentioned them here yet because I didn’t want an audience of you going ‘ewwwwww’, but I’ve decided it’s time you knew. There are fleas everywhere in Rwanda, and they seem to gravitate towards me. None of my other friends have been plagued by them since training (and the only girl that I knew had them there slept in the bunk above me). Over last weekend I fumigated my bedroom with my sheets and all my clothes. Twice. While I am sitting here in bed writing this, I have just been bitten again. Twice. It’s getting to be quite a burden.
Also, I think I’m breeding crickets in the house. Not sure why or how. Not that they bite, but they are annoyingly loud. And there are a LOT of them.

When we established that Sean would Not be coming, I decided that I had already scheduled a bunch of free time, so I should take advantage of it. I went to spend a few days with Jen (who has electricity and internet and PANCAKE MIX and maple syrup) and we had a blast together over the weekend. We watched episodes of Avatar – the last Air Bender, Bones, and a variety of movies we now have on disc and hard drive. Monday I spent picking up the mail and bumming around the house. (more on what was In the mail will follow) On Tuesday I was already bored, so I went to school just to see what was going on. Turns out, there was a problem with the class schedule, so I decided to use my nifty-difty spreadsheet skills to make a new one (and fit myself in where I wanted while I was at it). I used Wednesday as an opportunity to day trip into Kigali (learned that if I want to do that, I have to start pretty early to get anything actually Done). Thursday was truly productive, as I showed the schedule to the teachers (who love that they didn’t have to remake it themselves) and planned out 2 weeks of lessons with both language teachers.
Friday I left in the morning and went up the mountain to see Michele. I have decided that when people start talking about something difficult or unlikely, I will now come back with “yeah, well try taking the good road to Bungwe”. Because there isn’t one. I was taking the alternate route she told me about, hoping it would be better than the straight vertical road up the mountain. Well, this was more horizontal, but it certainly wasn’t flatter. I was carrying stuff for my whole weekend (including things to leave with Michele) , so after this hour long moto ride, my back was sore. I have also debated whether or not it counts as a moto ride or a flight considering how much time my butt was on the bike and how much it was in the air. Consequently, my entire rear region is bruised, and my arms are sore from trying to hold on so tightly. To top it off, the helmet was so loose that it bounced around on my head, mostly succeeding in bruising the vertebrae on the back of my neck. But we enjoyed a chill afternoon and sang 2/3 of the hymnbook Saturday morning. After which I took the moto down the mountain the normal way, and headed over to Scott’s for American Saturday with Pad Thai and Tommy Boy. It was pretty classic. And since this was, again, the weekend, I went with Jen back to her place and we made more pancakes and watched more TV. Including the Christmas episode. Point of fact – not a good idea to let 2 girls in Africa watch the Christmas episodes of American TV. Unless you feel like you too need a good cry. Finally, I got word that Sean had made it safely back to the US. Which, all things considered, was still a good ending to his travelogue. Monday morning I went back to school to check in and discovered that the schedule I made still had some “problems” in it, but I had just enough battery in my computer left to fix it that evening.
This week I also started my official teaching schedule – S1s Tuesday morning, and S2s Wednesday morning. Both classes went fairly well, although we’re 3 textbooks short of a class set. Hoping to pick those up sometime soon. I think it will be good for the students to be reading more and will save me time from writing things on the board.


On an up note, in the mail I got a box which was half of my birthday present from my sister. Those of you who don’t know her are missing out. Those of you who have sisters you adore have an inkling of how much this has made my last week. Those of you who don’t know Me very well are about to learn a lot about me based on what makes me excited here. Those of you who are sick of my repetition can just deal. =)
First and foremost! Char sent me books. Not just any books, mind you, but some of the world’s best classic children’s literature. 2 sets of Reader’s Digest novel collections including Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Huckleberry Finn, Call of the Wild, Madame Curie, David Copperfield, The Prisoner of Zenda, and others. Also, she sent a beautiful copy of ‘The Wind in the Willows’ which has become my absolutely all-time favorite classic children’s book second only to ‘Peter Pan’ which is simply not allowed to be demoted. Coming soon on anotherpieceofmy.blogspot.com , extensive descriptions and exposition on why I love this book. For now, let me just say that I have never read such beautiful descriptions of the countryside, the seasons, friendship, and the emotions that tie them all together. ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ sounds like a tragic inversion of this book. The images portrayed here could Never be captured in a photograph or even an illustration.
My second favorite thing in the box has to be the cookies. Oreos, chips ahoy, and Nutter Butter. I’m very proud that they’ve lasted longer than a week, but they probably won’t last two. Nutter Butters – graham cracker cookies with sweet peanut butter. It doesn’t get much better!
I’m also excited about the seeds. It’s almost the end of the rainy season, so I will probably have to wait a few months on starting my garden, but that’s ok. It’ll probably take me that long to clear a patch of earth. I have determined – weeding the garden, actually pretty fun – de-rocking the garden, pain in the butt. Fortunately, most of the big rocks are on the surface, but all the dirt has a gravel-like quality to it.
Finally, to support my odd spurts of creativity, I now have a nice, large box of colored pencils. Not that I have much to color here, but it’s nice to have them available.
But the thing that made EVERYTHING adorable in this box was that my sister put post-it note memories on every item: remember when we used to eat peanut butter popsicles? remember when we used to color on every trip – planes, car rides, anything? remember when I wasn’t allowed to have 2 cookies unless I finished an entire sandwich? Yes. Yes, Charlynn, I do remember. And those memories make me very happy. =)

That actually rounds out my last month. Sorry if the blow-by-blow was tedious, that’s now life goes sometimes, isn’t it? And like I said at the beginning, everything is starting to run together. I’m hoping it will continue to as I have a solid schedule now. The only thing I’m becoming bored / annoyed with is doing my laundry by hand. It’s annoying, and I just don’t want to most days. But that means things pile up, and we all know that’s not good either.

Miss you guys. Miss TV. Miss washing machines. Miss eating meat more than once a week. Love that I’m in a place to miss these things and appreciate them all the more. Especially the people. =)

"I put my hands up, they're playing my song..."

Hey guys!
Just in case you didn’t notice on facebook, I have started another blog that has NOTHING to do with Rwanda. Well, mostly nothing. It’s everything I’ve been thinking and writing that I probably wouldn’t have thought or written if I weren’t in Africa, but it’s not About Africa.

http://anotherpieceofmy.blogspot.com/

Suffice to say, it has been engaging enough that I have been sitting here at the computer for the last 2 hours and completely forgot to turn on my borrowed ipod (yes, ipod #2 is being bratty – it’s also suicidal) and have only used the interwebs for minimal research (like who wrote that book I read about traveling the English coastline?).

Ps. Apparently this is the blog entry of the ‘ – ’. I’m in love with the dash today. And emphasizing words with capitals. =D

I have been to mass a few times here – the weekends I’m not visiting friends or bumming around in Kigali. Mass is a popular option here for PCVs because it’s usually only about 2 hours long as opposed to the 3-5 hour protestant services. You may think that 2 hours is a long mass, but you have to take into account the dancing and special gifts section. 80% of the prayers are sung, and transitions between pieces of the mass are all accompanied by traditional dancers. They also take 2 offerings because people who don’t have cash to give bring baskets of grain or beans or the like and these need to be collected carefully. I usually spend my time counting the panes of colored glass in the windows or trying to day dream without falling asleep. Helps that I’m sitting on a very short, narrow wooden bench with no back.

New PC Trainees are here! It’s the second batch of Health PCTs and WOAH are they different from my group. I was invited to go down for a session on gender roles and relationships and Michele and I stayed for the weekend. We were planning on hanging out with the newbies during their breaks, but they were all busy – studying. All of them. Apparently they do this all the time. They are all so eager to be here and many of them have very specific ideas of what they want to do with their time. We had a great time conversing with many of them and I made friends with the girls who are now in my room. They’re awesome. I’m excited that they’re here and we’ll see how they space out this many PCVs across such a small country.

I like trimesters here almost as much as I did in college. It always feels like school is almost over. Of course, this is annoying when you haven’t accomplished what you want to, but it also makes the year fly by. I have drafted a syllabus / curriculum for the S1s (Secondary, level 1 = grade 7), S2s, and even S3s next year that I’m hoping to teach. I have re-written S1 and S2 a few times because it took a while to make them understood. I have finally worked out a schedule with the S2 teacher for when I will teach and how we will plan it and what the lessons should focus on. It’s only based on this that I could plan next year already – the S2s that pass, I’ll know what they learned. The S1 teacher really Wants to work things out in detail, but he is in charge of pretty much everything at the Secondary level – registration, collecting funds, organizing the other teachers, being liaison with Head Teacher – there is an official title for this job, but it’s in French and I never really paid that close attention. I’m hoping that over the break we will be able to work out a plan.
During exams, I have my own plan – I have officially started my first ‘secondary’ project. I’m going to organize the book room behind the head teacher’s office. I suppose it could be called a library, but it’s more the resource room – all the textbooks are here and they’re all mixed up by subject and level and even language (some are in French and some in English and some in Kinyarwanda). I’m excited to be able to put my organization skills to use to help here.
Part of the reason I want to get this room organized before next term is my school is in line to receive some textbooks from the Books for Africa drive. It’s not going to do us any good for these books to sit in their boxes collecting dust like their predecessors. Also, my school was recommended for the official hand over with media coverage and everything. If the Rwandan news and MINEDUC and USAID people are going to be here, I want them to be able to hand the books over to a place where they will obviously be valued and used well.

After exams next week, school is on break for 2 weeks. In the middle of these 2 weeks is Memorial Week (April 7-14) where the entire country has community events and mourning periods. I may be invited to participate with my community, they may decide that I can’t really relate to what they are dealing with and I may be politely excluded for a week. Dunno yet.

On the last day of break SEAN ARRIVES. Unfortunately for him, the first ~4 days will be getting dragged around to meet everyone in my neighborhood and learning what it’s like to travel and eat Rwanda style. That’s what he gets for landing on a Saturday night. =) the next weekend (starting on a Thursday) will be more relaxing and chilling in Kigali.

After Sean leaves, I am embarking on a HUGE experiment. I am going to try and stay at my site for 1 month. People may come and visit me, and once a week I can go to Byumba since this is really just an extension of my town anyway. But I will not go to American Saturday or Kigali overnight or indulge in ‘escaping’ my life in Rwanda. I want to use this time to brush up on my language (which has dwindled terribly), focus on my spiritual journey here and seeking guidance, and possibly work on my creative expressions more. I will also be available to my school for meetings and trainings on the weekends, which will probably be good.
Pray for me! I will probably spend more money than normal on phone credit and may be calling some of you from time to time…

Ok, I’m sure there’s more, but I want to get this posted before they close tonight.

Love y’all!!

new address

ok folks, here it is

Charissa Knighton
Peace Corps
BP 50
Byumba
Rwanda

that's it!

anybody got a good title?

At site:

As I write this, I am 26 years old. That, in and of itself, is ridiculous.
I am 26 years old, sitting in a hostel in Kigali, Rwanda, Africa; planning on talking with my program director tomorrow about my official job description at my debt-ridden school; considering graduate school – that is, wondering what the heck I would do with grad school, but it seems to be a popular idea; flea bitten and back twisted, and surprised at how chilly my room feels (usually Kigali is pretty darn warm); in love with a man I didn’t expect and resisted at every possible turn of our providentially accelerated relationship; looking for reasons to stay and fighting the reasons to go; listening to a beautiful mix of music (currently New York State of Mind by Billy Joel).

School officially started across the nation at the beginning of February. Many of my PC abagense (co-workers) carefully negotiated lesson schedules accepting classes that they have no training in (economics, math, biology, etc) or English across all 6 grades (6-12). We all experienced the first week of registration and scheduling chaos. One of my friends suggested that teachers return to school early to settle the paperwork and details before the school year actually started and the Rwandan educator balked at the idea of giving up time in their vacation. Home time was home time. School time was school time.
Most of them also work at boarding schools or full-fledged Secondary schools. My school was a primary school that has added the secondary classes as part of the new national education plan. Naturally, they had to add an extra building to accommodate the extra classes. The established schools charge the same school fees they have for years because it’s part of the institution, even though first 3 years are supposed to be free now. Our school can’t charge the fees – because it’s supposed to be free now. Many places also have PTAs that kick in extra funds to supplement the teacher’s salary (which is, to be very American about it, peanuts). Our parents insist that these years of secondary school are Supposed To Be Free, so they don’t want to chip in. I don’t really blame them, they can’t really afford it anyway. However, the government is not supplementing these new schools either. So my school has a new building to pay for, and extra teachers to hire. My head teacher reasonably held some meetings during January and tried to pre-create a class schedule with hypothetical teachers, hoping they would be hired by the time school started. He suggested that it might be more beneficial to have me free to work with all the language classes and all the teachers than pinned down to one class – especially because the English level of the students is so low that they wouldn’t understand me enough to try and teach them anyway. This sounded very progressive and very suited to our situation, so I agreed.
When school started in February, I went to school bright and early (leave the house at 6:00, 45 minute walk there) to be there when classes started at 7. Even though I anticipated some sorting out of plans, I was emotionally and mentally misled by this wonderful sounding proposition from head teacher. Everyone at my school is really excited to have me there, but they’re not really sure what to do with me, and they’re definitely not prepared for me. We have looked for ways I can insert myself into the classroom, but for team teaching to really work there needs to be a plan both teachers can work from. So for the last few weeks, I have made a detailed syllabus (or “Scheme of Work” they call it here) for the S2 English class and an outline of a syllabus for S1. Most every day I walk to school in the morning and sit in the teacher’s room and work on this for a few hours. Some days I have stayed until the end of school at 2, but it’s rare that the other teachers talk to / utilize me that long and I usually leave around 12:30-1:00.

We just had our first teachers meeting and the head teacher addressed issues of discipline and finances and highly urged all the teachers to use me as a methodology and language resource. We are also looking for a way to get the teachers language classes, but scheduling is a HUGE issue. Primary schools run on half day schedules, so there is no structure for feeding the staff or students on a full day schedule. The Secondary teachers work from 7 am until 2 pm with a 15 minute break in the middle of the day. Even if we changed the schedule to allow time for lunch, there isn’t really such a thing as portable food here, and we don’t have the facilities or finances to hire someone to cook. How can I ask them to stay for any extra time for either methodology training or language classes when they haven’t eaten all day and some of them have to walk just as far as I do if not farther to get home after school?
My program director has discussed with me the importance of identifying a solid schedule so we can create a job description. I explained that we are working on creating a schedule as soon as possible, but this term is probably lost, and this year will be me helping the school get all their ducks in a row. I don’t really want to leave because I think they need me, and I know they want me there. And if I stick it out, I can teach the S2s that pass into S3 next year.

Ok, enough about my job. I think I’ve explained most of what you want / need to know. Mostly, I’m sick of talking about it. I would like to recognize the people who have been so supportive of me. (at least, the ones who packages came through…)
Thanks Tony Schwalm for the Economist and New Yorker magazines. Unfortunately, as you have noticed from the description of my work, they will not be particularly useful in My classes this year. However, Scott and Penny are doing economic classes, and Michele is working with higher level students and does not have adequate texts to challenge their language level. If Peace Corps has given me anything, it has given me a place where generosity and sharing are truly valued. I wrote my name on the magazines, so I will get them back and try and use them next year, but for now, I will make sure they will be appropriately appreciated. Personally, it was nice to have something new to read as well. =)
Thank you California Cousins for the 2 giant care packages. They are a pain to get home, but well worth the trouble. The peanut butter is my breakfast every day, and my lunch most days. On the other days, I make fancy Ramen by adding the spices I bought because I thought I might have to do real cooking… I can think of loads of lessons involving those maps – I’m just sad the world maps got a little wet coming across the continents. Only the oceans got messed up though, which is good.
Thank you Aunt April for keeping me updated with your life! I am still on the look out for your envelope, but none of us here have any idea why some mail comes through on time and some look like they routed through Mongolia.
Thanks Ross and Sandy (Sean’s parents)! I was beginning to miss all the beef jerky I had battled between saving and indulging in and have eventually polished off in fashion or the other. The Cliff bars will be great for traveling with as well. You never know when you’re going to get stuck somewhere… and even though it didn’t come in the care package, and I’ve mentioned it to sean to mention it to you (and I know he has) I would like to publicly say that the headlamp is by far my favorite piece of equipment I brought with me or bought here. That even beats out the ipod because on the occasions that the ipod is unavailable (ie. broken or out of battery) the lamp enables me to read in the evening hours between sunset and dinner time.
Thanks Stephanie for sharing all the college drama with me! You never bore me, and it feels like a lifeline to back home to be aware of the daily, dramatic, mundane details.
Thanks Charlynn, Genna, and the others who are planning packages for me. I love them even if they may be far from arriving. =)

I miss classics. I miss classic movies and classic music. I mean, I have most of the music I would be looking for, but it feels so out of place here. I guess I miss the environments that I feel comfortable in.

For my birthday celebration, I stayed with my friends in Kigali who lived in Colorado for a long time. They had to leave a little earlier than we expected, but I got to spend the whole day on a real couch watching movies and playing on the internet for as long as I could. I also roasted some corn over the gas flame and eat a mango. On Saturday night, a bunch of PCVs went out to the Indian restaurant in Kigali. Best present was that someone else handled looking over the bill.

Oh yeah! Michele and I have restructured the classic 3rd grade girly game of MASH. After we run the chances we construct people’s lives in elaborate stories. It’s great language practice for us, and we get some pretty awesome stories. I ended being a princess married to a rock star, and after our band was sabotaged by our drummer, we lived under a bridge in Paris and drove each other around in a rickshaw which was topped by our pet cat who doubled as the horn. I think the story of the Catshaw (as the native Parisians started to refer to it as) will definitely follow me home.

Most Saturdays I spend at either Jen’s site or Scott’s for American Saturday. Scott cooks us meat and I cook Kraft Mac&Cheese (again, CA cousins =D). Last weekend I went up early to see Michele at her site and we made some pretty awesome potatoes in peanut sauce, and potato soup with cabbage.

I’m also trying to journal more and read through this “releasing your creativity book” that I borrowed from Michele. It’s a little universally spiritual, but the concepts are legitimate. Who knows, when I get back, I may have finally reached my potential as a writer and be a truly effective communicator. And maybe I can draw more than hands.

Love you all!
Write me!

Song for the month – New Music, from Ragtime.
“just like that tune, simple and clear… I long to hear new music.
Breaking my heart, opening the door, changing the world – new music”
Find it! Listen to it! Love it!

things to send me

hey folks -

just got my box from the Howards and Watkins. AWESOME i was just looking for peanut butter. =) thanks so much!

also got my ipod from sean. also awesome. =)

for those of you still looking to send me things, when i say "things i can add to water" this also includes drinks, like powdered gatorade or crystal light. crosswords - my favorite. please, pick moderate to easy books b/c i don't have a thesaurus.

also, if you wait a few more weeks (genna) i will FINALLY have a mail box close to my site.


so, real news.
Tomorrow I will go to my first Rwandan wedding. It's kind of a PR move because this is the wedding for the Secratery of my Sector. (sector = 3rd largest political region, secretary = director of the region)
I have been keeping busy this week with data entry. my choice. =) I remembered on Monday that my Head Teacher has a laptop for the school and that he said I could use it. I am currently organizing the lessons in the English textbooks that appear to be at every school by Grammer piece, writing skill, topic, and grade level. When I finish, I will email it to all the other PCVs. I walk 40 minutes in the morning to the nearest town on the main road and then another 10 minutes up a hill to an elementary school that has electricity. A teacher unlocks a room for me and I sit inside while children huddle at the windows staring at me. I have perfected enough of my language to ask them what they want, explain that I have work to do and would they please leave. I have to say please in french because they don't have a word for it in KR.
Apparently this school is right next to the World Vision office where Bosco works, so that's pretty awesome. We took lunch together yesterday.

Jen posted some pictures for me. hopefully you all got the link. email me if you didn't...

thanks to those of you who write me emails and letters etc. they really brighten up my day and i promise i am NOT bored by your lives.

love you all!

at site

Ok, first chance to write / be on internet since getting to site. Which, oddly enough, I have been away from a decent bit. School doesn’t start until February 1st, so being at site is actually pretty boring.

When I first got there, I was greeted by my headmaster, Chaz and my landlord, Bosco. Bosco has been the biggest help at site, and an amazing friend and contact – but I’ll get to that. I’m putting it off because after less than 24 hours, I was on a bus back to Kigali to celebrate New Years with my mugense (coworkers). There were probably about half of us in Kigali, and the other half went west to celebrate and Matt and Mark’s lake house.
We learned, that in Rwanda, they really celebrate the New YEAR. Not, new year’s eve as we are all used to… so we were pumped for the count down and ready to party, and no one was there. Most of us were crashed by 1 or so, and returned back to the guest houses for the night (there were, 5 girls in my 2 bed room). The few that stayed said the party really picked up around 2:30 and by 3:30, it was packed. Most of the city was closed down the next day, but I managed to get some bread and water for breakfast for the room.

While I was in town, I checked at the office and I FINALLY got some boxes!! 2 from my parents and sean, and one from Union church. Thanks so much guys!! The brownies didn’t quite make it (too moist – got moldy) but the cookies are still going strong and the Tupperware is INDESPENSIBLE. I loved all my treats and I think my favorite was the card I got from the Sunday school kids. It said “Thanks so much for fighting for us. Keep it up.” Avery and I have decided it’s applicable because we’re fighting the PR fight. =)

I got back to site and slowly by slowly started settling in. my bed was installed the day after I got back, but the paint was still wet so I spent one more night with my mattress on the floor mat I was now uber thankful I had bought at the last minute before leaving nyanza. I got a peg board made to hang clothes from and bosco is helping me check prices on some shelves.

Turns out, I don’t have to cook very often because #1 - eating home-made peanut butter cookies (that counts as protein, right?), #2 – bosco feeds me Every night. Granted, it’s mostly potatoes and beans, or plantains and beans, or like last night we had grilled corn. With potatoes and plantains and beans. On Sundays we get meat. #3 – Scott is hosting weekend lunches on Saturday, also with meat, and beer. So right now, I’m cooking lunchish meals, but that will probably change when school starts. My food plan looks like this – something when I wake up. Probably bran cookies. (go to school) eat fresh veggies when I come home like green beans or bell peppers or carrots. Eat starchy foods at night with bosco followed by 2 glasses of warm milk with sugar.

Oh yeah, bosco is loaded by Rwandan village standards. He has 5 cows, 2 calfs, bunches of chickens, and 8 turkeys. In his yard. It’s pretty awesome. His daughters are 3 and 1 and terrified of me. I mean, they’re getting over it, but they still don’t like me. It’s ok, every night we’re busy teaching each other our respective languages, so they usually try and send the girls out of the room anyway.

So my cooking skills – pasta is easy, the sauces are not. Tomato sauce is ok, but often just tastes like tomato. And pretty acidic. I got some peanut flour to try and make a creamier sauce – like a gravy – but I didn’t listen that day of senior foods, and have somehow managed to not pick up on it for the years of watching dad. And I think it might have dirt in it. Or that could be because I dropped the spoon. But I wiped it off!! I dunno…

At my house, my cell phone has reception in the front of my house (where i never sit because people would bother me) in the back corner of my house (outside) or lying down in bed (sometimes). I have no electricity or water, but bosco is my superhero. He has a generator and every night it runs so we watch the news (in KR, Fr, and English) and charge my phone. He also recruited his cousin to bring me water every day. I leave the jerrycans outside the door, and he fills them around 5 am or so. I also have spiders. Big spiders. The fuzzy ones I can see the pincers on, the ones that look like dady long legs have bigger leg span. And their bodies are bigger than daddy long legs. My bathroom is infested, and I was smart enough to sweep out my room before the bed got put in it. Very discouraging for bathing though…

Ok, people are wanting to leave, so here’s a wrap up.

Have gone to visit Jen at her site and scott at his. Both have really nice schools and fun moto rides.
Bosco helped me go to the market, but I think from now on I will probably just give him a list when I want stuff and they will pick it up for me. Probably cheaper that way (they always overprice for white people)
Am proud to say I have mastered the bus system in Kigali and Rwanda on the whole.

Those of you who want to send me thigns still – go ahead and send them to my current PC address (see first or second blog posting). I want Shel silverstien books and poems, and nursery rhymes – even if you if you just print up a bunch on paper and send those. Or dr suess books – you could probably get some at goodwill.


happy new year!

Unearthly Bored

I have Finally caved and started listening to books on tape. Sean mentioned the other day that I had not mentioned my lack of music recently and was pleased with my growth that my loss was apparently just a blip on the radar. I had been trying to keep my verbal complaints to a minimum and keep track of my thoughts and media input on paper, but my innate laziness eventually won out and I stopped writing things down. Partially because I was willing to accept the 33 songs on Jen’s computer that I know / would be willing to listen to and have played them on repeat. I even started playing Donkey Kong with the sound on because that was enough melody to feed my ears with. Chris will also let me borrow her ipod when she’s not using it, as will Penny. And Katie has country, so I listened to it all weekend in Kigali. I had also been keeping track of my dreams for a while, but there were a few nights where either I didn’t remember them, or they were ultimately boring. Recently, they have started to be interesting again, so I’ll probably start writing again. It partially depends on the bedding situation at site – I’d forgotten just quite how small twin beds really are.
Right now, I am listening to “The BFG” because I’ve read it often enough that it’s almost like background music. I now have a whole collection of Roald Dahl books along with the Twilight series, the Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow sagas (YES!!!!!) Louis L’Amour short stories (??), Inkdeath series, Thief Lord, and Dragon Rider, and The Black Company Series by Glen Cook (again, ??). [Oh yuck – that’s a terrible voice for the giant.] not that I really have any way to listen to them once I go to site, but I’ll figure it out.

I suppose I ought to continue with last week’s saga. Monday night, Michele and I did not follow directions very carefully and instead of taking a cab to the designated neighborhood, we took a bus to the Peace Corps office which we heard was near the neighborhood. Good thing we tried to go early because we ended up walking for about 45 minutes through the nice Americanized neighborhood complete with tennis courts, golf course, and community hall. When we arrived at the Mbanda house, I felt like I was stepping into a Pleasanton home (Morgan clan will understand this). Huge, classy, beautiful, multiple stories, pool in the backyard, AND (exciting to see in Rwanda) refrigerator, microwave, pantry, island in the kitchen, and a beautiful Christmas tree in the corner adorned with lights, and ornaments – even the necessary 1st grade macaroni made and painted decorations. The Mbanda family was just delighting and delighted to meet Americans that could speak Kinyrwanda. Of course, it helps that I brought Michele with me. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and for dessert, African tea and home made tree-tomato (Japanese Plums) Italian ice.

All right, Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we had another talent show. Kevin and I opened with “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. One house recreated the last 15 minutes of the Charlie Brown Christmas movie from the Christmas speech through the dancing to the tree decorating and finally the Christmas carol at the end – all in about 5 minutes, of course. It was adorable. There were Christmas jokes and finally, Marta and Colleen read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” – Rwanda Style. After our very short talent show, we held a White Elephant gift exchange. I brought a blow up goose that squeaked, and won “A Day with the Frat Pack” which included dinner and a beer. The Frat Pack is Brandon, Austin, and Ryan, and they have quite the bro-mance going on, and they definitely earned their name.
So Christmas morning, people came over to our house way early and we started on our Christmas brunch (which we ate around 12:30). I helped cook initially, but as more people came, I just donated cooking supplies and found other things to do around the house. I cleaned some of the dishes that had started to collect from the week, and then I did my laundry. I finished just in time to wash up before eating. We had scrambled eggs with chicken and cheese and veggies in it, mac and cheese, fruit salad, and hash browns. Oh! And African tea (Hot Milk with Ginger), home made eggnog, and hot cocoa.
Morgan was my first call of the day, followed by Sean, and then my Parents. I did spend my day with the Frat Pack, but it was pretty mellow. Other people watched Love, Actually (which I watched 2 weeks ago) and Elf (which I also watched most of 2 weeks ago). I got to a point where I decided it was much easier Not to try and make December 25 feel like a holiday this year. There is no way to feel the same as when I’m at home, and it’s just too depressing to try. Plus, my time will go by much more quickly if I can just let everything run together.

Day after Christmas? I believe I posted the last blog =D. blimey, what did I do… (yes, still listening to Roald Dahl) yes! I sat at the interwebs for quite a while, trying to figure out how to load pictures – obviously didn’t work… but I think I have figured it out. When I post this tomorrow, I will try again. I went to lunch with Jen and Marta, and then came back and sat all day. Sunday was not much more exciting. I kept meaning to get to the market and buy buckets and cooking pots and things, but I’m sure you’re all aware of just how much self motivation I have with no real schedule to follow. Plus, it was still raining. Right – I haven’t mentioned that yet. As of now – at 8pm on Dec 28th, it has been raining for 5 days. I saw the sun for 3 hours on Christmas morning, 2 hours on the 26th in the afternoon, and another 2-3 yesterday around noon; because, even when it’s not raining, it is permanently cloudy.

Note – I have just discovered how to make this Word document read like a book.

This morning, our first third of PCVs were trucked off to their sites. Jen and I caught a ride into Kigali and I hit up one of the Indian markets for spices and basic foods. I now have 2 types of lentils, rice, noodles, tomato paste, some peanut butter and jelly, and mock Nutella. And Maggi cubes. As far as we understand, this is pretty much pure MSG, and it’s delicious. I’m hoping that Byumba has some stores for anything else I might need.

Ok, I swear I’m not trying to do this backwards, but I keep writing things and remembering other things I need to write about. Like my site! Ok, I don’t know a lot, but I’ll give you what I can. And I’ll try to stop saying OK so much… I am in the Gicumbi district in the north, just south of the capital, Byumba. I will live in a very small shopping strip area. Next to one of the stores, the owner has built a house. It’s pink. I do not have electricity, but I have purchased a gas tank with a thingy that sits on top and you can light like a stove. Yes, I know it has a name, no, I don’t remember what it is. I will also buy 2 small charcoal burners as well. My “kitchen”, toilet, and shower area are all in the backyard. Haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t exactly know what that means. I don’t know if there is a water spigot at the house, but if not, I can hire someone to deliver water to me.
Yesterday, I was delivered my bicycle, bike helmet, and motorcycle helmet to take to site with me. I know my school is only a few kilometers from my house, but I don’t know what the terrain is like, so I don’t know how often I will use the bike. There is a market town fairly nearby in the other direction. Apparently, this is where I will go if I need to charge things. I am hoping for very tiny things, like my phone, I will be able to charge at the school.
I am the closest Ed PCV to Kigali, but I expect I will go to Byumba more often.

Sidebar - I think the hair on my arms has bleached.

No, I don’t really have anything else to say about my site. I don’t know anything yet. I leave on Wednesday, and I don’t know when I will get back to internet again. I certainly won’t have Jen’s computer for any more of these novel sized blogs. Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 marks the first time I will ever truly live alone. I don’t really expect to sleep for at least the first week. And I don’t really know what I’m going to do about new years, but I might try and ignore it too.

- oh for the love of pete – british voice actors trying to sound like Iraqis – just tragic.

In any case, I will be procuring a PO box as soon as possible, and I will post my new address. For those of you who are interested, my phone number is posted on my facebook page. And again, if any of you are interested in the personal thoughts emails I send home, please either make a comment or message me on FB or email me and I will make sure to add you to the list.

Oh yeah – school starts on February 1. I am hoping that the teachers will be at school during January and I can help with their training. Otherwise, I will be writing a lot of letters, and practicing cooking a lot. I certainly will have time to settle in…

another 10 days - only talking about 5 of them

Another 10 days. Some of my peers here keep a diary of our daily activities. This would probably be a good idea so that I have some base when I sit down to write these blogs. I had been taking notes for a while, but am swiftly running out of paper. I bought some more notebooks in Kigali, but I really hope my boxes get here soon.
Ps. It’s 7:30 the morning after Christmas, so my verb tenses probably won’t agree in most of my sentences.
Sidebar – Christmas joke – what does the English teacher call Santa’s helpers? Subordinate Clauses.

And now – a day by day break down. Because you ALL need to know Every detail. ha. Who knows, maybe this will all just be a book some day. Then I’ll be glad I recorded everything…

Thursday night I got to eat pizza for the first time in 3 months. Not phenomenal, but close enough to American pizza to be pretty darn good. Friday we went over to PC office in the morning and listened to a genocide survivor give his testimony. I also talked to our coordinators to find out more about my site, so I’ll get to that in a bit. I bummed around the office all afternoon, and I think we tried some local passion fruit wine when we got back to the housing place. We were staying in a kind of a motel run by nuns next to their convent, church, school, and apparently winery – but it felt like dorms because the public bathrooms were at the end of the hallway/compound thing (all open air, with shaded sidewalks. Like the oakbrook mall, or Newsome HS. ) On the up side, they had showers. With a knob for Hot water. And the toilets flushed. Shazam.
So Saturday we spent all morning getting ready for swear in. For some of us, this meant straightening hair and hunting down jewelry. For others (me included) this meant lying flopped 6 to a bed watching everyone else get ready and finally get up (with plenty of time) to throw on my dress and twist my hair back.


Swear in:
We (all 35 trainees, our teachers, our coordinators, and staff) all bussed over to the ambassador’s house and signed in on the guest book. Then we sat. (because waiting for 50 some odd people to sign in takes a while) We opened up with the student speakers: Michele and Kevin co-read a speech in Kinyarwanda, Julie-Ann read a speech in French, and Katie Basketball (there are 2 katies, both from nebraska, so yes, that’s what we call her. The other Katie I might have ever referenced is the one who live in my house. Oh yeah, and we roomed together in Kigali over this weekend. ) anyway, Katie Basketball read a speech in English. Then we all stood and repeated the same oath all government employees do – except I think you’re supposed to pick either “swear” or “affirm” and actually say “I --- do swear or affirm to uphold the constitution…”. I kinda felt like we should have had caps to throw or something though. Oh well. This was all followed by a very nice buffet and we mingled with all the RPCVs (returned PCV) who came. Why are there a bunch of RPCVs in Kigali you ask? (ok, well maybe you don’t, but a bunch of us did) Because they all work for the State Dept. or USAID or NGOs now. I definitely picked up some business cards for people to contact when I come in to town. We had our cake while watching traditional Rwandan dancing. The dance troupe they invited is composed mostly of “children from disadvantaged families” in an effort to expose them to the arts and more of the world by performing.
We took one final picture with Everybody before we left. It is technically on facebook. I know it’s far away and hard to see us in any detail, but I’ve got a copy of it and when I post any kind of pictures, I’ll zoom in a little.

Sunday a bunch of us just lazed around – laid out in the sun in the courtyard, read and played music on our speakers. A few of us had an adventure and learned that you’re not supposed to fit 5 people in a cab, but managed to get to an Ethiopian restaurant. Food there was pretty good – I’m still not a big fan of the sponge like bread they use for plates, but they have great seasoning and it was a nice change from what we were used to. We capped off our adventure by learning the bus system. Busses in Rwanda always have the same 2 end destinations and certain stops along the way. I say always because the destinations are painted onto the bus, so there’s no switching around or taking another route one day. The Rwandans are Extremely helpful regarding busses as well. When you get close to the bus depot in the center of the city, just start asking around with the name of where you want to go, and someone will point you to the right bus. The drivers Always tell you if you are getting on the right one and won’t let you ride around for hours only to discover that the bus you’re on isn’t even going in the right direction. (presumptuous fear – I could see it happening in America) And if you’re anywhere else in the city, just ask the nearest store owner or person who looks like they know the area well where the nearest bus station is. Busses are pretty cheap too. The only frustrating thing is that it will cost you more to ride in a taxi across town than a bus for 2 hours out of town.
After this adventure, I went to the Rwandan version of BigLots which sells mostly Chinese products. I bought a lot of my kitchen supplies (pitcher, sponges, Tupperware, etc) and a wide bucket and checked prices on various other items. I was really glad to get a head start on my shopping because Monday was going to be hectic.
We had a meeting Sunday night about ordering mattresses and organizing groups for shopping on Monday. Right as we were about to start, we went over to turn off the TV in the dining room (staff was perpetually watching the TV) only to see ourselves on the Rwandan evening news! Apparently those cameras at our swear in were news cameras and they got some great shots of us looking ridiculous as we all try and be as serious as possible taking our oath. They also recorded Michele’s speech and interviewed her after. This broadcast has had some positive and negative effects: 1 - everyone knows who we are, and are excited to talk to us now. 2 – this, in turn, means we are getting hailed on the street a lot more. 3 – people think we can All speak as well as Michele and try to start conversations. 4 – especially men because the only thing better than a muzungu wife is one who already speaks his language.

So Monday was nerve-wracking. We split into 2 groups and put all our personal belongings onto the busses (that we would ride home on) and anything we bought into trunks that were labeled for us on the back of 2 large trucks. Group 1 would go to T2000 (the biglots store) and group 2 would park near the upper-scale grocery / malls that were across the street from each other. We start around 9 and at 11:30 everyone would switch sites. So you had to know exactly what you wanted to get from each site before you went, or settle for buying something that you could have possibly found cheaper or a better quality at the other store, or buying it twice. But before I could even be concerned with the shopping crunch, I had to figure out how to stay an extra day because I was supposed to meet Erika’s parents, Chantal and Mbanda, for dinner, and the reception desk had been closed on Sunday and I don’t speak enough French to make myself understood. (or KR, obviously) ok, I know you can all do this – picture me walking back and forth between the dining hall and my room (including a flight of stairs) about 8 times between breakfast and when the reception opened at 8 and checking with my teacher every stop that they would help me ask for a room and half packing up in case I didn’t get to stay, and half not packing up determined to stay and asking about a hundred questions about the truck/trunk situation because until it shows up, you don’t ever know exactly how things will work. Good grief, my pulse is rising just writing about it.
The room thing worked out and Michele stayed with me for the day. The shopping worked out and I got everything I planned on and some new books – Kidnapped by RL Stevenson and The Europeans by Henry James. I’ve decided I really like authors between 1850 and 1950. I feel more inspired to write after reading their prose.

Ok, I’ll finish my story of dinner and all the Christmas celebrations another time. Probably on Monday.
AND i'll tell you all about my site.
i promise. =)


Until then:
Things in America that I have learned about in Africa:
- Britney Murphy is dead. Who let that happen?
- New artist names Kei$ha (or something ridiculous like that). She’s hilarious. And gorgeous. Char, go look up her video on Youtube right now. First line of the song is “wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy”.
- It snowed EVERYWHERE. Except tampa. Still.

Final thoughts:
- I think Paul would have done well in the Peace Corps – Philipians 4:12-13 – I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content – whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or need. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

- but in your dreams, whatever they be, dream a little dream of me

attempt at wireless

We’re going to try and use the wireless interwebs. Maybe I can upload the blog and update Jen’s security at the same time.

Today is Wednesday, 16 December 2009. where has the time gone!! I’m a little happy that it doesn’t seem like 11 weeks. I mean, that’s an entire NCC trimester. Including finals. I have mailed 11 letters, 2 christmas letters, and 2 christmas cards. I have read close to 15 books (stopped counting), done 8 loads of laundry (by hand!), beaten Donkey Kong, drawn 3 real pictures and 2 crap ones. I have read 5 prophets and all the proverbs (and most of the psalms) twice. Tonight, Michelle and I will gather to pray for the third time. I know how to light a fire with charcoal and cook beans (I hope). At least I know I have rice down (thanks dad!).
On the flip side, due to the global postal system, I have only received one letter from home. I know the others are on their way, and I can’t WAIT to see them. =)

I am looking at a sheet of paper that says “congratulations! We recommend you to be a PC Rwanda volunteer”. Last Friday, we all trekked out to the basketball court on the field next door where our teachers had drawn a huge map of Rwanda and they placed us in our districts. I am in the north in Gicumbi with Jenn and Scott, and Michelle and Penny are just to the west. I’m working at a school with a very small population of secondary students.
Saturday, we took our final evaluation and Language proficiency exam. Passed. Exceptional on the Education and cross culture sections.
Monday we received more details about our housing. I know mine is pink. =) and it’s connected to a store front run by a man who works for World Vision. Hoping that means at least Some electricity. I know my bathroom, shower, and kitchen are all outside in the backyard. Ntakibazo – no problem. From Kigali, I take a bus to the nearest large town and then a motorcycle taxi to my house. I think my school is about 2.5 kilometers from my house, so I will either walk to ride my bike every day (depends on how hilly it is)

Tomorrow morning we go into Kigali and sort out bank accounts. Friday we walk around pre-pricing items and exploring Kigali. I might go with Michelle to meet some friends of hers. Saturday is swear in at the Ambassador’s house, and then Saturday night we are being thrown a party. By the USMC. Apparently, the PCVs hang out with the Marines all the time. Sunday and Monday are shopping days. PC have trunks ready for us and then they will truck all our stuff back to Nyanza with us on Tuesday. We will stay here through Christmas, and then PC will start driving us to sites on the 27th. Where we will sit for a month+ until school starts some time in February.
I fully intend to hire a language tutor (funded by PC) and re-learn French. And practice more drawing. Maybe start a garden? I might need some seeds for that… maybe write a book. Learn how to cook, and meet all my neighbors.

Tonight, we are having our Secret Santa gift exchange. PCVs and LCFs – should be fun. I think dinner might be something special too, since it’s our last night together. We also got our shirts today – black t-shirt, PC logo and flag on the sleeve, says Peace Corps Rwanda with a map on the front right chest with the colors of the Rwanda flag, and
I ♥ English
You ♥ English
He/She ♥ English
We ♥ English
You ♥ English
They ♥ English

On the back. Ps. ^ those are hearts if they don’t translate correctly.

Ok, I think I’m all caught up now. Going to sit outside the Cyber and see how long this takes to upload. Hopefully, this weekend will include pictures!! =)

Love you guys!

when you can see the finish line, you realize how much further you have to go.

Ok, first things first. Appendix to my gift list:

- Any kind of packet you can get from a restaurant – ketchup, seasonings, mayo, mustard (especially mustard!), hot sauce (yay taco bell!), salt, pepper, etc.
- nuts. Almonds, cashews, mixed nuts… for snacking (protein supplements)
- tuna packets – not cans, too heavy
- pretty much anything protein. Even just protein bars b/c that’s what I will be lacking here.
- NOTHING I HAVE TO PUT IN A MICROWAVE I know this sounds silly, but many people have gotten microwave popcorn or similar things. Not useful here.

As for the rest of life, sitting through the food and nutrition session today brought to mind a whole slough of issues I wish they would have addressed Way earlier, And given us more answers for.
For instance – even though we have a move in allowance, and can buy pretty much anything we need – where exactly does one find small charcoal stoves. Or gas cans. Or charcoal for that matter. And how are we going to transport all the things we get from Kigali to our sites. Further more, if we are going to Kigali for swearing in and only staying for 24 hours, how are we supposed to go shopping to Get all of our stuff (that we will then cart back to the training site for an other week).
We also talked about how to make gardens – and how to teach people to make gardens. And this included some kind of compost. Which made me realize, what the heck am I supposed to do with trash? I know some people burn theirs, but is someone going to show me how? Where do I dig the ditch? Do I burn it in my backyard, or do I take it somewhere? What about stuff that doesn’t burn, like tin cans? Who am I supposed to ask for things like this? Why don’t we cover This kind of stuff in language and cross culture class?

EVERYBODY GIVE YOU GARBAGE MAN A CHRISTMAS CARD! You are So lucky to have him!

Also, we have been given a booklet on “PCV roles” to present. There are 6 roles, and about 40-45 pages to explain each role. In groups, we have 10 minutes to present each role. Honest to pete. This was the one part of Peace Corps that I was worried about. I know how to teach, I can fend for myself with the food, even if it means eating a LOT of PBJ sandwiches. I kept asking the other PCVs how we were going to be expected to work on secondary projects and they promised me we would be trained. Well here it is – 10 minutes on 6 topics presented by amateurs.

Between the new food concerns, the shopping and transport issues, and now a highly disappointing training session – I’m actually reaching a ‘do I really want to do this?’ stage.
I know things will work out. They always do. And God has his hand on all the details of my life. But I’ve been concerned recently about how stuck in the moment I am – and seeing nothing but cliffs, moats, and metaphorical pitfalls does not encourage me to look up more often.

On an up note – family sent me Christmas pictures, which I leave open in a window the entire time I’m online. Yay snow. Yay lights and trees. Yay people I love. And some cadets I don’t know…

Language test on Sat. fortunately, we talked the coordinator into making us a study guide. Very helpful.
Running out of time and things to say.

Love you!
Write me!

Next on will be better, I promise. =)

good gifts

just in case you ever get the urge to send me a package, here are somethings i could probably use at any given point in time:

- anything you can put in water
ie. hot chocolate, apple cider, powdered gatorade, TANG, ramen noodles, insta-meals (lipton noodles, etc), flavored oatmeal packets, easy-mac, etc...
- anything to write with
black, blue, red pens, pencils, mechanical pencils
- paper
loose leaf, spiral notebooks, plain (cheap) printer paper
- gum
orbit is my fav, but i'll take anything
- beef jerkey
- granola bars
- art supplies
crayons, colored pencils, stickers
**LETTERS**
- old magazines or newspapers
these can be anything from national geographic to time/newsweek to InStyle. they're nice to read for me, and I can use them in class.


i'm sure anything you think of will be fine too, and if there is anything specific I need, i will probably coordinate it through my family and let all y'all know.

love you guys!

and then we slaughtered a goat.

technically, Ryan and Brandon killed the goats. maggie got pictures, and i took the video for ryan.
we were celebrating Tabaski (sp?) which is a Muslim tradition celebrating when Abraham didn't have to sacrifice Issac because God provided a lamb instead. there aren't many sheep in Rwanda, so we used a goat. some of the LCFs (and one of the drivers) helped direct how to go about skinning and cleaning, and most of the Mauritania girls were figuring out what to cook.
we had such a Great Time working together! talk about a bonding experience - making your own meal completely from start to finish. well, we didn't grow the vegetables, but we washed (twice), cut (only 1 finger!), and made stew (and frites / hashbrowns) with them. I helped hold one of the goats while it was being skinned, and found other jobs across the afternoon. I didn't see who hacked it to pieces, but I would assume the boys. Lindsay and Michelle then expertly carved out usable meat, and the Rwandans cleaned the intestines (which they are cooking up back at the house for lunch today). Marta and I helped cut small pieces for the brochettes - and someone had sent pulled pork barbecue sauce, which was delicious. Austin wrapped 2 of the legs in foil and let them slow roast, and they were amazingly tender (goat legs! tender! whoda thunk it). ribs and other large pieces were straight grilled with a garlic/butter sauce Austin made. finally, large chunks of meat (and stuff that was still on the bone) went into this stew (has an official name - don't remember it). Megan kept saying it looked like she had killed a small child for her witches brew - which is true. every time you took the lid off, it was so steamy inside, you couldn't see what was in the pan - except for the bones sticking out. and she kept stirring it with a large, long wooden paddle/spoon thing.
all of this was topped off with pineapple. delicious.

model school finished this week - i learned you can make spontaneous lesson plans out of any topic they don't know. especially animals. specifically - penguins. you write a paragraph on the board, you read it to them, you read it with them, you go over vocabulary, and you ask comprehension questions. awesome. ryan has one on camels which inspired the penguin lesson, but i was very excited to come up with one on my own.
so the next two weeks are back to language classes. who knows, i may learn to communicate yet...

read the Poisonwood Bible. SO DEPRESSING!!! maybe it's because i'm in africa. maybe it's because you want to smack half of the cast. beautifully written, intense truths that anyone who is trying to live on the dark continent can confirm, but depressing. i will probably read it again a few months in and start taking notes on quotes to share.
and i'm almost done with Fitzgerald. i like him a lot better in small doses. i don't mind his philosophy, and i can understand where he's coming from in short stories. still hate Gatsby (stupid symbolism)

finally, my exciting news of the week (and this is what I am truly thrilled with) I have made it all the way through world 1 on Donkey Kong Country. BY MY SELF!!! ok, i know this sounds totally irrelevant, but Casey and Kelly and CJ - who Always had to bail me out halfway through a level - will hopefully get this. I can't tell you how many vacations and how many summers I spent watching all my cousins progress through Nintendo games like they were watching television. and i always tried, and always died. or ruined their saved games because i ran out all their lives. but as i bounce through the jungle, i remembered EVERY extra banana spot, and where to jump, and that it was better to get the golden ostrich than the shark or the frog. and i'm in the middle of bouncing bonanza, and i am Psyched! all y'all better be smiling with me, because here, it's all about finding the small successes.

ok, i'm running up a bill here, and i'm not even taking the time to proofread or capitalize (obviously).

love you all!
write me!