What does "normal" even mean?

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.