For the last few weeks, I’ve been busy going on short field
work assignments with my neighbor and local community health worker, planning a
trip to Akagera for myself and 14 other PCVs, attending a workshop for the
primary education pilot program, and visiting some friends in the Southwest
part of the country. By “busy” I of course mean that any and all free time
alone in my house consists of cooking on the imbabura and binge watching Modern
Family or Big Bang Theory.
Stuff with the community health center is going well and
slowing down with school starting next week, so I’ll be shifting gears a bit
and teaching English to the health center staff every Thursday afternoon and
working on my grant proposal for a permagarden training that will, with any
luck at all, take place in the first two weeks of May 2016. With only a week
left before school starts, I am actually building my own permagarden this week.
No more procrastination for me.
Akagera was AWESOME! Even though I was sitting in the fetal
position crammed into an old van (twegerane literally translates to “close
together”) for about 8 hours, we had a great time! The night before the safari
we decided to camp in the park, and saw a stunning sunrise over the lakes and
the border of Tanzania. Some people brought ingredients for a fantastic
vegetarian stew to feed all of us, and in the morning I made coffee for those
of us who desperately need that morning cup of caffeine. We got to see a total
of 17 different species of animals, but unfortunately my middle seat in the van
only allowed for a few pictures to be taken (I’m hoping everyone else will
share their pictures when they get internet access again). Here’s a list with a
fun little Kinyarwanda lesson that I’ll be using during my first week of
school:
Giraffe = Agasumbashyamba
Bush Buck = Impongo
Water Buffalo = Imbogo
Antelope = Antelope
Baboon = Igitera
Vervet Monkey = Inkende
Kamandika = Isha
Topi = Inyemera
Zebra = Imparage
Reed Buck = Isasu
Water Buck = Indonyi
Hippo = Imvubu
Elephant = Inzovu
Warthog = Isatura
Annoying Biting Fly = Isazi
Moribi Antelope = Isirabo
Fishing Eagle = Kagoma
Two days later I travelled with two of the teachers that
I’ll be working with to the town of Muhanga in the Southern Province for a
training. We had a two day workshop discussing the primary school pilot
program, the new curriculum being implemented this year, and got to visit a
teacher training college (TTC) to see their materials development center. The
visit to the TTC was definitely the highlight for me; getting to see some
different learning materials made from various no cost/ low cost materials was
super helpful.
From Muhanga, I went down to Butare for a brief meeting for
Friends of Butare and a fantastic lunch with some friends who were in the area
for the football (soccer) games. Who would’ve thought one could be so excited
to eat overpriced Chinese food… With full bellies, Christina and I got on our
bus headed to the southwest. Through the forest, around the mountains, and into
Nyamasheke, I made it to Rachel’s after several hours in the most terrifying
vomit-filled bus ride of my life. But holy crap is it beautiful there! From
Rachel’s house you can see the lake and the sunset over a ridge of mountains.
After two nights, and a day of getting caught in the rain and “not” swimming in
Lake Kivu (Peace Corps says we can’t swim in the lakes…), it was time to get
back on a bus. I made it to Kigali in record time (about 4 ½ hours), had lunch
with a friend at the Rwandan version of a Chipotle, and ventured back to my
village.
Since I’ve been home, I’ve been thinking a lot about “what
is normal?” Normal for me now is waking up to see the sunrise, feeding the cat,
and putting the chicken outside before going for a run and making breakfast.
Normal is walking out of my living room and seeing that the chicken laid an egg
in my hallway. Normal is looking down and seeing my cat with a rat or lizard in
its mouth before he releases the critters to chase them through my house.
Normal is having large groups of children coming to my house to visit/ play
with the cat and take photos of themselves while I sew their clothes. Five
months ago I wouldn’t have guessed that I’d be doing all of these things as
part of a normal daily routine. A year ago, I still couldn’t believe that I
might be going to Peace Corps in Rwanda. So much has changed, and will continue
to change, as my perception of normal evolves. For now, I’m anxiously awaiting
for the start of school and to start integrating into my school community, and
once again my “normal” will gradually change.
