ladies, are you seeing me?

“Ladies are you seeing me?

Are you seeing what I’m having?

Now comment.”

Much has happened since my last blogtown, including some pretty funny English lines. They include the conversation above that Tressa and I had with a street vendor and these other gems:

“Those ladies are saying that you are somehow beautiful.”

“Is it the rainy season right now?” “Not, not.”

“Hey haw are you to day? With me am ok. I look you in television news see you good night.” (that was a text)

“You are welcome!” (as a welcome greeting. We get this daily. Drives me nuts.)

“Oh, how did you find the Indian restaurant?” (This one I said when I meant to say ‘how was the Indian restaurant?’ but adopted the Rwandan expression.)

“Yes, somehow they are liking cheese in Mukamira.”

"There are no mostiquos." (this is what Rwandans called mosquitoes. It's a mix of english and french)

I don’t mean to pick fun at anyone, this is the kind of stuff that makes my day every day.

We were sworn-in as Peace Corps Volunteers last weekend at the embassy. It was a nice ceremony with speeches in English, Kinya and French. My favorite part was when the ambassador asked all the old PCVs to stand up and about 1/3 of the crowd stood. My second favorite part was the cake. My third favorite part was seeing my friends and I all choked-up after we gave the oath. My fourth favorite part was probably when the ambassador warned that our good, warm work in Rwanda was going to raise the average global temperature above global warming predictions. Oh Copenhagen.

Fifth favorite moment was being on national television. Ikanzu keza!

Tressa and I took the chance to visit her site last week. We saw four gigantic volcanoes. My first ever! I was so happy. The north is spectacular, high in elevation and cool. I’m just tickled about my site placement. We’re back at our training site, on our own now and cooking up a storm. After a holly, jolly Christmas (I’m making eggnog!) we’ll be shipped off to our sites with our trunks packed with household goodies from Kigali. Want to know what treasures I have in mine? Dried coconut milk, lentils and spices galore. Olive oil.  A gas stove. Life is comfy.

1. Tressa and the boyz

2. Lindsay and Penny. CO represent!

3. Award-winning Rwandan traditional dancers.

4. Alright, just check out Felicien's smile. And his short tie.

 

pictures

Burera District

Blogtown
It doesn’t get much better than…
1. Hanging out with my host mom
2. Fajitas and queso
3. A sleepover with Tressa
4. Phone call from LIZA, SAM AND ROWAN!
5. Language class with Valens
6. Learning the verb “to lie and your back (and look at the sky)”, kugarama
7. Fanta before lunch
8. Pasta and peas for lunch
9. LEARNING MY SITE!!!!!!!!

After language class, we stormed the basketball court outside the center and one by one, went to stand in our newly-announced site placements on a huge chalk map of Rwanda. I am going to the Burera district up north and could not be happier. I’m teaching at a secondary school in the district. Regional market, too.What’s more, I’m next to beautiful lakes, Mount Kabuye, volcanoes and gorillas. And I’m near Tressa, Nicole and other wonderfuls. I know, you wish you could be so lucky. We are so incredibly fortunate to have stunning sites along Lake Kivu, near the volcanoes, in the forests of the south… Everyday is a privilege in Posh Corps, Rwanda.

We’ll learn more about our sites on Monday (electricity, specific teaching requests, compound or house) and then will be sworn in next Saturday at the ambassador’s house. Just thrilled. I wish I could express my excitement in Kinya but the language is adjective-challenged, so all I can say is “ndishimye cyane PE!” I’m very happy.

Before I close, I want to try to vocalize some thoughts on happiness and solitude, my constant companions in Rwanda. I normally write emails, blogs and letters when I am either extreme but the reality is somewhere in the middle. Every day I have my struggles and some days they are much bigger than others. Irregardless, everyday they are much smaller than the struggles on my Rwandan neighbors. About once a week, I wake up committed to having an awful day. Days like today, I run everywhere because I’m too excited to walk. What makes me happy somedays, like speaking Kinya with my favorite tailor, is a chore the next. Teaching, which is the biggest and also most unexpected source of my happiness here, can be so draining. (And Zak, you ask about the 2 year commitment?) The openness of our two year commitment is daunting and motivating. Suffering keeps coming up in my readings (oh Shantaram) and conversations. I am not suffering, especially in comparison to some of my fellow Rwandans, but I learn, struggle and grow everyday from the intense guilt I feel about being a muzungu.
Thank you for reading. Love love. Come visit my new home and see my garden, rabbit, colleagues and neighboring gorillas.

I am thankful for my turkey

  Today was both the end of model school and Thanksgiving. A very emotional day in good and bad ways. Model school ended with a bang. My secondary students and I got serious with a dictation using “their, they’re and there” and then I dismantled any discipline I’d taught and we drew our thanksgiving turkeys on the board. It was a fun exercise for everyone because it is important to recognize what we are thankful for. And we had some great turkeys. The students were sad to see the abasitajeri (trainees) go and many of us got notes telling us how much they loved us. I am sad for model school to end but that is a great sign. I’m feeling ready to go to site, plan my curriculum and begin teaching. 

I’ve been hanging with some neighbors and female students recently. We have internet and food dates. They want me to invite my friends Tressa and Russell. Or as they’re known in Rwanda, Kayitesi and Brussell.

The US ambassador of Rwanda is visiting us today and bringing a turkey. It will be the first time we meet him. Scott and others have planned a huge thanksgiving feast for us and our center is decorated with hand turkeys. The Rwandans are beginning to realize that Americans will use the smallest excuse to have a huge shin dig. Dance party to come…

Thinking of everyone that I love on this special, misty Rwandan day.

PICTURES en fin

1. Bob and I on a hike. Picture by Nicole Gaunt.
2. Stephan, Elyse and I at their house. My neighbors.
3. A bunch of us "monkeying around" in Nyungwe.
4. Stephan 

Students in my S3b class

View from the walk to my host mom's house.

View from the center

Blogtown

I just told the neighborhood kids that I am unable to dance football. Whoops. Teaching has been so fantastic this week. I’m still riding a wave of elation from this morning. Walking through town this afternoon, I heard of chorus of “teacher!” and “penny!” Even the adult student whose cellphone I confiscated in class stopped on his moto taxi to tell me, “teacher, I am driving!” On Tuesday, I tried my first environmental education class. It went so well that I carried it over to Wednesday’s lesson. I need to work on being an educator, not an advocate but a part from that, the students were incredibly responsive and excited about the lesson. I began with, “class, I have a question. What is the environment.” I was inundated with answers so I was able to easily segway into our first think/write/pair/share. I asked them if the environment is important and why? My answers ranged from scientific arguments to “because it shows the Power of the Creator.” Nice. Next, I introduced a challenging text about the Ogiek people of Kenya. We explored issues of habitat loss, deforestation and relocation. I introduced so many new vocabulary words that the students commended me for being such a smart teacher. Aww. Wednesday was “no chalkboard” day but this wasn’t too large of an obstacle since I planned a vocab review and a nature walk. I can be such a hippie. Anyway, I tried a new technique during the vocabulary review component that increased comprehension and student participation. When I asked students, “what is ___?” I would have at least two students answer and then call on a quiet student to ask them what the other student had said. There was a lot of acting, synonyms and spelling dictation. After that, we went outside of the classroom (mind-blowing for these kids) and walked around the school. I asked about what they saw, observed, noticed, etc. and we talked about what environmental problems Rwanda has. This was the critical thinking component of the lesson and it was very beneficial for those that understood. Rwanda is very clean in terms of trash but when I asked them where their trash goes, they had clearly never thought about that before. Erosion is a big problem here because of the hills and inadequate amount of terracing and the students were able to introduce this topic during the walk. Tomorrow, I am visiting two of my female students at their houses. We will see how that goes. I have to be careful about accepting too many invitations. Tuesday was Lindsay’s birthday and we had guacamole, beans and rice for lunch. It was about as close to chipotle as you can get (she’s also from Denver). Thanksgiving preparations are in the works. Rwanda pictures on facebook if you have facebook. We should find out our site placements within a few weeks…!!!!!! Wednesday night ended with a bang. It was like Christmas but better. I got 9 letters in the mail, including pictures of my cousins and ginger candy! Thank you everyone! I can go to bed and expect the presence of all my wonderful friends and family back home in my malaria dreams. Letter writing is an expensive hobby in Rwanda but it sure pays off. Closing thoughts are from my mom: “Every time you move you get to reinvent yourself, start over and get better.” I sure am. Love.

Amanda in the Landa...

Thousand Hills

Today is hump day! Half way through training! An event to celebrate for sure. I celebrated the day by teaching the past simple to 60 6th graders and then learning how to cook Rwandan-style with my host Mama. Mama Kaliza is a wonderful teacher, patient with slow diction and hundreds of new words every day.

As I bent over the little metal firefood-stove and stirred our mélange of freshly deconstructed chicken, tomatoes, onions and thyme, chickens pecked at my feet and smoke clouded the mud and concrete kitchen. I thought, “I’m in (expletive) Africa.” In my comfortable compound and daily shuffles between Kinyarwanda school and English school, I forget about the beauty and toils our Rwandan friends live every day. As calming and fun as cooking was today, I cannot imagine spending two hours cooking every single meal every day. Yet this is what I hope to do at site.

Though Agathe and her children are very friendly and welcoming, the cooking lesson was very uncomfortable at times. To begin, I nearly started hyperventilating when Pascale was sharpening the knife and I thought I was about to witness my first slaughter. Luckily, Agathe brought me inside for some amata meza. Milk. When it came time to eat the cassava paste and sauce, we washed our hands at the table and my family began to show me how to roll the paste into small spoons to scoop the sauce. This went reasonably well but I had more sauce dripping down my arms than everyone else. I became really uncomfortable when I tried to pick a small chicken leg but they insisted I take the largest chunk of chicken meat. I eat meat two times a day every day but this family eats meat maybe once a week. And they insisted on sharing so much with me. So much, in fact, that I couldn’t finish my portion of meat and sauce and the children sat flabbergasted as my food went to waste. I was so embarrassed. And felt awful. Every day I try to live as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Rwanda I still buy sweets, eat well and complain about what is lacking. The guilt and embarrassment I felt at Mama Kaliza’s house is something I will continue to experience through my whole two-year stay so I will need to channel and transform that negative energy towards the positive things I will be doing. Of course, Mama Kaliza had no hard feelings towards me and was sad to see me leave after our 4 hour visit. I told her my mom may visit this summer and if so, we will visit her and she was TICKLED. Arashimye. Happy.

Thank you for reading. Love to you.

Amanda

Alternative Halloween

Nicole compared our service last Saturday to her alternative spring breaks spent in New Orleans. So it stuck. As we filled our rice sacks with dirt to bring to the classroom, we chimed "trick or treat!" Umuganda, or national community service, was the best way to start our Halloween. Community members including prisoners and the military all joined us to put in the dirt floor for a new school in Nyanza. As our safety and security coordinator Gloriose told us, most Rwandans have a role in their community and are expected to contribute in a highly decentralized system. Wearing anything from playboy t-shirts to classy Eurostyle shoes to cross-country ski boots, most of the town was out there. They were impressed by our hardwork us amazungu could do and the men in particular were stumped as to how to treat the American women. They would force a shovel in our hands but as we willingly shoveled dirt into bag after bag, they would quickly remove the shovel from our possession so as to maintain their masculine appearance. Mandy and Chris carried dirt in baskets on their head but I was not so lucky.

Following Umuganda were several speeches, singing and dancing. Rwandans have a propensity for giving looooong speeches. They also like American women and the mayor essentially auctioned us off at the end of the speeches. Luckily I was wearing my fake engagement ring. I have quite the fictious boyfriend!

I spent the middle part of Halloween with Mama Kaliza, my resource mom. She is a teacher and could spent hours patiently teaching me the months, days, hours, parts of the body and color. She is kind enough to constantly tell me "umuhanga"! You are clever! Her children are just as wonderful and patient with me. After an explanation of Halloween, I left to prepare my costume; however, it is very difficult to describe Halloween as a celebratory, fun day in a country with such a violent history. Just today, we had the most unsettling language class about calling for help. We learned graphic, gruesome verbs that the teachers were very casual about teaching.

Anyway, the costumes we came up with were out of this world, some of the best I've ever seen. I hope to post pictures soon. We had a talent show, which included skits about Day Man, Ethiopean dancing, jokes, singing, gymnastics... oh we are a talented bunch. I told my classic Halloween joke (why can't ghosts have sex?), did my headstand-to-handstand and participated in the Ehtiopean dancing. Crazy dance party afterwards. Oh good times but it didn't feel like we were in America. Which was important.

Uyu munsi nagiye kuri umukozi

(Today I went to the tailor. The bargaining was intense)

Dear blog,

I am attaching a first set of pictures from Rwanda if they will load. In order they are:

1. Most of the group at our country director’s house

2. Meeting our resource family’s for pre-service training

3. A stellar view at sunset

Things are on the upswing right now. All of us except our dear Elizabeth (we miss you!) made it through weeks 1-2, the hardest weeks of all. Already, language and technical classes are flying by. Kinyarwanda becomes more manageable as I use it more and more in the market, with my resource family and when greeting strangers. The signs and symptoms of culture shock that I was feeling so acutely at the beginning of the week, namely homesickness, lethargy, sickness, hostility towards my host country nation and the strong desire to be with other Americans, are simmering on the back burner for now. When they hit me and I feel inundated with pessimism, I just ride that emotional wave and indulge in those patterned behaviors. This helps them pass more quickly.

Yesterday, Nicole and I had a great adventure in the market. Thursday is market day and people come from all over because it is the cheapest market in the country. This brings the “amazungu” calls to an epidemic level but we were prepared. At one point, Nicole turned on the trail of children behind us and sternly stated in Kinyarwanda, “my name is not ‘white person’, my name is Nicole.” Floored ‘em. Another surprise we amazungus brought to the market was our newfound ability to bargain! We got our avocadoes down to 10 cents a piece. And our beautiful cloth to $8 for 4 yards. And our clothing down from 12,000 Rwandan francs to 6,000. Successful afternoon for the market goers.

My three roommates and I are getting along well and have started the nesting, teasing, etc. I flipped out at the unnecessary death of a praying mantis but besides that, all is well in the Kitchen House. Today I had an interview with the training director, who had some good feedback for me. He said the other language instructors had noticed that I do not pick favorites among them and I dress very well everyday. It is so important in Rwanda to do so. They also said the group needs me, which I appreciated. And lastly, I need to talk more. Heard that before… Tomorrow we go to Butare, a big university town, to visit a museum and memorial and to eat some different food. There are rumours of our site placements but we probably won’t go to our new sites until after Christmas.

Once again I have been drawn to a bike-loving country. I cannot wait to get a bike! So far, I have only seen men on bikes and they are often used as taxis. I’m going to plan a women’s bike trip across Rwanda sometime during our service. Lindsay, a fellow cyclist and Colorado native, suggested we do it as a fundraised for FAWE, an NGO that funds women’s education. Sounds great and many have expressed interest and support.

Thanks for reading.

Penny

Taboos

I think it's early enough to discuss cultural taboos. This is what I've learned so far from other PCVs and our language teachers.

Things Americans do that are inappropriate...
tipping
having men in your house after 6
eating and drinking in public
sitting on the ground, cross-legged, leg up on chair, etc.
eating and drinking anything in class
short greetings
having "naked" (barefoot) feet. ever.
short greetings
hanging your underwear to dry in the living room
singing
leaving the table before everyone is finished
wearing tight clothing
showing emotion in public

Norms In Rwanda...
hand holding and cuddling between men is common, staring is acceptable as are lots of questions, it is a compliment to be called a cow or fat, begging and bargaining, specifying whether you want your beer cold or warm, being late except for class and yawning when you're hungry, not tired.

I'm working on it.

Today was exhausting, draining, frustrating and long but I had it easy. Today we met our Rwandan resource family that we will spend many hours with each week over the next couple of months. Their names are Agatha, Pascal, Kariza, Bruce and Liock. My resource family spoke a little English and French so I was much better off than trainees who could only use broken Kinyarwanda. I learned more today than in any language class so far. Numbers, time, body parts, kitchen. The family and children were a delight.

I've started running in the mornings with another umusitajeri, Ashley, and it is the best way to wake up to and see Rwanda. So far, I've seen other men and a woman running as well as many umuzungus. It's cool, foggy, hilly and the smells are best in the am.

Love to all.

My phone number is country code 250 + 785387161. PLease call! We are 8 hours ahead of mountain time and I'm up early.

Petite a petite, le oiseau fait son nit

Bite! Nbwebe ndi umukorerabushake wa Peace Corps. I know, Kinyarwanda is pretty fantastic and intimidating. Today is our 7th day in country and our 2nd day of language class. All 36 of us are working hard, spirits are high and the placement feels perfect. We are in the Nyanza district for our Pre Service Training (PST) for the next 10 weeks. We are living in four separate houses with other volunteers and language teachers and have good walks between houses, the market and the kitchen/classrooms. I feel extremely priveleged right now as we have electricity, flushing toilets and cooks.

Rwanda is beautiful and the epitome of a perfect climate and location. Infinite hills in every direction, every shade of green, sweet smells as I walk to town, new and spectacular plants, red clay roads and clean streets. I was shocked to see how clean the country is but have come to understand why. Once a month, all Rwandans take a Saturday to clean their villages or do community service projects. This is one of the many ways in which President Kagame is helping to instill a sense of ownership in the citizens. This country and its rebirth astound me every day. The horrors of the war are very much hidden from day to day life.

Petite a Petite, or slowly by slowly, has come up again and again in conversations with locals, teachers, other PCVs and speakers. Just as us language learners must take it day by day, slowly by slowly, so has the country overcome the brutal jenoside that killed 1 million Rwandans in just a few months. The Rwandans feel very strongly about learning English as a way of advancing their country. ALready, I have had two adult Rwandans in town ask me for English lessons. The children that stand outside our house for a good part of the day love practicing their English. You wouldn't believe it but I met Barak OBama, CHris Brown and Kanye West last night!...

Oh, I almost forgot. (Jay...) I tried Banana beer for 350 rwandan francs (less than a dollar) but I really didn't like it. I'll have to give it another try. We've been eating some fresh fruit every day and some don't have English names as far a I know. Rwandan food is not spiced but I have enjoyed it thus far.

Very happy and positive right now. What I don't understand, I know I can still handle. PLease write as I would love to hear from you.

Amanda aka Penny

So it begins

Introductions on October 5th in Philly and a few plane rides land me in Kigali, Rwanda by October 8, 2009. So begins my posting as an education volunteer for the Peace Corps. I'm excited and not the least bit scared- although if people keep asking me if I'm scared, it's bound to happen soon. As my day of departure/arrival approaches, I feel more and less prepared than ever.

Training begins immediately in Rwanda with a week stay with a current health volunteer and then 9 or so weeks of intense language learning (Kinyarwanda) and training in Nyanza. I will be sworn in and officially posted December 17th of this year. I'm looking forward to the good, the bad and everything in between.

If there is anything I love more than letters, I have yet to find it. Please write and keep in touch. My address throughout training is:

PC/Rwanda
B.P. 5657
Kigali, Rwanda

Letters take 2-3 weeks to arrive. Please write "Airmail/Par Avion" on letters. Hope to hear from you. I thank you so much for your support.