Yep, Still Here. I Think?

What have I to report? If you ask me, nothing really. Life continues, just as it did back at Duke for those four years, when Duke Tennis and classes were the norm instead of Kinyarwanda/Tech/X-Culture and Med sessions. Everyone tells you four years passes by quickly, and even though you know it’s true, and it’s true the entire time you are going through it, it still doesn’t feel like it, no matter how much you realize it. It seems like no matter what, you’re left thinking that you should have made some moments last longer, stretched them out a little bit more. Those hours, weeks, and months which I tried to hurry along as fast as possible, tried to fold over into one another to make them pass quicker, it seems like such a ridiculous way of looking at things, doesn’t it?

I guess I’m one of those people always look forward, towards the other side of things. I haven’t even begun my real service, but I find myself thinking all about afterwards, once I return back to the States. Is that weird? It isn’t because I want to fast forward my time here, or anything of that nature, let me not be misunderstood, I’m very excited about what lays ahead here for me. Rather, I think it just reflects some pattern whereby I’m always trying to get somewhere, some specific place, but I’ve absolutely no clue where that place is (probably because it doesn’t exist). When I get annoyed with people – especially those close to me, my sincere apologies, please interpret such behavior as a reflection of my affection, because only with such people do I usually get annoyed – it’s usually because I somehow have managed to imagine they are delaying my arrival to this non-existent place I’m trying to get to.

Okay, I’ll spare any further narration of this internal monologue which fails to make much sense in the first place. How about some concrete updates bullet point style...

• I will be moving in to my new home on January 4^th, less than a week. Where the hell did PST go? And ya, apparently preparations are still needed before I can move into the place I’m actually supposed to be living/staying, hopefully it’ll be ready when I get there?
• Language proficiency interview is tomorrow…Maybe I should be, but I’m not particularly concerned….
• The physical degeneration I’ve witnessed in the mirror since I’ve arrived is a little depressing…No, I haven’t lost 40 pounds, but I’ve probably shed a little and my body composition has definitely changed (and not for the better). I guess spending my entire life as a jock has permanently made me acutely sensitive to such things. A serious workout regime is in the works after I’m settled at site…If for no other reason than to avoid remarks like this when I get back “Damn man, a couple years in Rwanda (most people would probably just say “Africa” I’m sure, but I’m pretending that at least they would say the name of the country I spent 2 years in) really did a number on you”…
• Not pumped for the onset of the dry season soon…
• The new academic year here starts January 10^th…Damn that’s fast approaching.
• A few people from MinEduc (short for the Rwandan Ministry of Education) came by Nyanza yesterday and held a welcome session/info/Q&A about education in Rwanda. Interesting.
• I find the idea of eating raw red cabbage really enticing right now. With some balsamic vinegar and olive oil and salt/pepper. Is that odd? Nobody judge me.
• I witnessed a bird drop the innards of some poor dead animal straight out of the sky this morning. Not particularly special to being in Rwanda, just found it funny/weird.
• I have a medical session/quiz in about….NOW….That’ll have to be it for this entry…

Home Stretch

(Wrote this yesterday, just did not get around to posting it until today).

So the final stretch is here, only about 10 days left and I’ll be getting dropped off at site by the white Peace Corps vehicle, and then reality will finally hit…

But for the moment there’s a really busy week ahead, full of more Tech sessions and PST evaluations and of course, language proficiency interviews (LPIs). But even though this week may be packed with more things, I’m actually more at ease because Model School is finished. And although my Kinyarwanda is still quite crude and induces a lot of laughter from Rwandans, I’m confident that I’ll pass the language part of this week’s tests/exams. It’s just kind of surreal, actually going to my site and settling in. PST here in Nyanza with tons of other trainees is all I’ve known…Apparently that’s about to change in a big way.

And Christmas here is kind of weird, especially since the usual reminders that it is in fact Christmas are absent. It’s still celebrated, but only as a religious holiday, not the same mixture of cultural/commercial celebration like back in the States…People go to pray, and everyone says noheli nziza (Merry Xmas in Kinyarwanda), and there is one bank in town with a small fake tree in the lobby, but otherwise there isn’t much to signify this time of year. And oh, that’s right, did I forget to say Merry Christmas to everyone? But wait, is that obligatory in a blog entry not specifically addressed to anyone in particular?

That aside, those of you who know me are aware that I’m not one to get all that excited about holidays and things like that, at least not observably so. That being the case, for me it’s just a nice bit of relaxation and down time before this coming week of being busy and accomplishing all the necessary things to be allowed to swear in on January 3^rd. Did I say January 3^rd? Damn that’s fast approaching, but at the same time it’s hard to believe that I still haven’t even begun my two years of service here in Rwanda.

Today has mostly been relaxing and watching movies at the center, but last night did involve some rather amusing Xmas Eve festivities, including a white elephant gift exchange, a talent show (my apologies to Far Side for refusing to participate, I hope you all understand), some french fries and chicken, and of course, music and dancing. I haven’t exactly been a fixture in the evening social scene, largely because of the difficulty in commuting between the town area and where I live, and probably in part because as many of you know, I can be quite socially lazy (I think phrasing it that way sounds best, doesn’t it?).

Anyway, I hope everyone back in the States is having a nice Christmas and I wish you all the best!

Bought My First Article of Clothing

I know, the title of this blog post grabbed you immediately. The prospect of reading about my first purchase of clothing in Rwanda is quite enticing, so I don’t fault you for sitting on the edge of your seat as you read on…

Well, it’s true, I bought a shirt, a blue button down shirt (used of course). I checked for stains and tried to match the size, and after bargaining about the price we finally agreed. The reality is that I’m sure I still got ripped off relative to the price a local would have paid, but I can live with that fact.

In other news, I am officially finished with Model School. After a collective effort today by my group to teach “America Day”, in which we each taught about our state at different stations during the class, I am finally done with Model School. And I even learned a few things about Massachusetts in the process, though I mainly focused on talking about the Boston Tea Party. It’s weird, I never felt so much state pride while I was in the States, but now I really do take a lot of pride in Massachusetts. It’s where Basketball and Volleyball were invented (and arguably Ultimate), home of the first college, where the first computer was invented (MIT), home of the best sports teams in the nation, and of course, shout out to my home town where the great inventor of the graham cracker lived for much of his life and passed away, in good old Northampton. Thank you Mr. Graham, and may you rest in peace. As for the other amazing things that took place in Massachusetts, I suggest you set aside some time for some serious research if you hope to learn all the amazing facts about the history of the great state that is Massachusetts.

In other news, I need to figure out some worthwhile books to download on my Kindle before training ends and downloading books becomes much tougher once I’m at site. Any suggestions?

Okay, time to go learn more...

Counting Down to Swearing In....

Another day of Model School down, not many left to go…

So yesterday I taught about the American Flag in Model School. It didn’t go horribly, and I even learned a few things myself. For example, do you know what the colors on the American Flag stand for? Or, did you know that at one point there were 15 stripes and 15 stars, until it was changed to reflect the original 13 colonies with only 13 stripes? Well if you did, you knew more than I did before I looked all that up on the internet (though maybe I could have guessed that the white stood for “purity”).

But doing this lesson made me really aware of how big a resource the internet is, and how much easier it is to think of lesson ideas when you can access it. It is true that the millions of documents and ESL things online can be overwhelming and frustrating, and there is a lot of crap out there. But at the same time it’s an amazing resource, and I really hope I can access it regularly at my site. Especially during the first trimester, I’m sure I’ll be needing all the help I can get.

And so now I am standing near the end of Model School, and almost the end of training altogether. I’m not quite sure how to feel, because just as I’m starting to feel adjusted to life here in Nyanza, and to the very warm and friendly atmosphere of Muganda Muri – my “cell”/”neighborhood” here – I’m about to be uprooted again. But then I think about the prospect of living on my own, having my own space, and being able to dictate how I spend most of my time (outside of my teaching schedule of course). The whole idea sounds very attractive at this point, especially during those times when I’m just seeking some time to unwind. Those of you who know me pretty well know understand what I’m talking about, and I appreciate your tolerance. Every so often things build up and I just need some time apart to unwind. I may not be quite the “anti-social superhero” that I believe Caitlin once called a roommate of hers, but sometimes I sure as hell feel like one. Maybe I’d qualify as a sidekick, what do you think Caity?

But the grass is always greener on the other side, I know that, and I’m quite sure a few months of isolation at my site will change how I feel about such things. I’m sure I’ll look back and regret no longer having the cultural and linguistic familiarity that surrounds me here during training with nearly 70 other Americans (we are holding strong at 68 right now). However, training doesn’t spell the end of getting together with other PCVs, and in fact, visiting other PCVs and having them visit you is highly encouraged. Maintaining your sanity is important, and as much as the Peace Corps wants you to spend as much time at your site and in your community as possible, they do realize that having an emotionally healthy PCV is just as important to integration as is maintaining a consistent presence in his/her community.

In other news, there will be some events here this week to commemorate Christmas among us PCTs and PC Staff. Even though Christmas has no religious significance to me for obvious reasons, the familiarity of it as a cultural tradition in the States seems to mean something to me while I’m over here so far away. Or perhaps it’s because I love the cold and the snow, which is not something I’m going to find here. And I can’t forget wintertime comfort food and hot beverages (I drink plenty of tea and coffee, but the sweating afterwards isn’t quite as nice as the warming of the body from the inside out when it’s freezing outside). Did I mention that there is a talent show being held as well? I categorically refused to participate. Aside from what is a completely useless skill of swinging a racquet at a yellow fuzzy ball, or being able to make a snapping sound with my fingers as if I chew tobacco (which I obviously do not, but is something many people can do anyway), I’m a little short in the talent department. I know I know, you’re all thinking, what about my singing! Alas, I think it best to spare others the agony of such an endeavour…

Anyway, I’ll return to listening to the new Kanye album I nabbed from another PCT’s computer. I’m determined to only miss 95% of the pop cultural developments in the States during my two years here! If anyone has any suggestions of what should be included in the remaining 5%, or means of delivering such things to me, then by all means! Say, anybody planning to record and burn a DVD of the NFL Playoffs this year? If you get it to me before the end of next summer I’ll bet I can avoid learning of the results…Just a thought…

- Dylan

Update from Nyanza...

Long overdue update....

So I’ve struggled to write as consistently as I hoped over the past month or so. However, it hasn’t been from lack of internet access or computer power, but more because I question whether what I have to say is worth writing up here for people to read (though admittedly it has been quite a busy past few weeks). Anyway, I’m getting past that and I’ll try and throw up a few things that may be of interest to some.

So I’ve finished my my second week of Model School. It has been full of ups and downs, and it’s quite apparent to me that teaching is far more difficult than I could have ever imagined. If you have never taught before, you should probably try it before criticizing anyone who does. That being said, I’m over the main fears of standing in front of a class, the initial jitters that I felt for the first few days of teaching. I may be very far from actually being a good teacher at this point, but I know I’m at least somewhat competent (I HOPE!), and with lots of effort I think I can hack it as a teacher here.

As a result of such a busy schedule, I haven’t had a ton of time for other more interesting things. However, there has still been time to do some stuff, like going to Butare and then the Murambi Memorial last weekend. I’ll start by talking about Butare.

Okay, initially the trip to Butare was for banking, because we all have bank accounts set up for us by the Peace Corps with a bank whose closest branch is in Butare (which is like 40min by bus). Last Saturday was the day they were supposed to have deposited our money for the rest of training, so we all took buses there Saturday morning. Turns out that didn’t happen, and because of some glitch in the system nobody got money. But really it wasn’t a bad thing, because I got to spend part of the day in Butare, perusing some shops and the best part, eating ice cream. Now, it may have been the equivalent of cafeteria soft serve at a college cafeteria, but it tasted pretty damn good. I mean, it was cold, what more can I ask for?

The next day (last Sunday) I went to visit the Murambi Memorial, which is maybe another 20min further than Butare. It was optional for any trainees who wanted to go, because it’s a busy time right now, and it’s a pretty powerful/graphic memorial. A site where over 50,000 people were killed in 94’, it’s pretty overwhelming. The visit includes walking in and out of rooms where bodies have been preserved with limestone and are laid out on wooden benches. There were many mass graves discovered at Murambi, but all except one had been left uncovered. The one covered grave preserved the bodies enough that they were then preserved with limestone so as to be a poignant reminder about the events there…I won’t go into any further detail, but it was definitely much different than the memorial we visited in Kigali…

I’m beginning to get a little anxious to get to my site (or be “installed”, as they refer to our drop offs as “site installations”), especially with it only being a few weeks away. It has become difficult to realize, but the fact is that this training period will be but a blip in my long experience here. I’ve grown used to where I’m living, the training schedule which we must follow, and all the convenient amenities we enjoy here (like electricity and a nice house and being cooked for at the training center all the time). And I really like my neighborhood here – called Muganda Muri – and I’ll be quite sad to leave it in a few weeks. The other reality is that while all of us trainees have grown more accustomed to living in Rwanda, we’ve grown accustomed to living in Rwanda while surrounded/incubated by the presence of tons of other Americans. In a few weeks, that all ends, and I guess you could say that’s when things get real…Once that white Peace Corps truck pulls away after dropping you at your site…That’ll be an interesting day.

For now, I’m just trying to take it day by day, enjoying these last few weeks of training even though some of it really drags on. With Christmas coming up this week our group is only teaching through Thursday, and then Friday is a holiday for Christmas Eve. After the holiday we have basically one more week of training and that’s it. From what I understand it will mostly be devoted to intensive language training, because we must past achieve an intermediate level on a language proficiency interview (LPI) in order to be sworn in as volunteers. If you fail it once you get an extra week to study and try to take it again, but based on the mock LPI we did about a week ago it shouldn’t be an issue. Anyway, that’s what’s coming up. And then we have New Year’s and all that jazz after that, and then on January 3^rd we have our swearing in ceremonies in Kigali. As best I know, we go to Kigali on January 2^nd, stay there overnight, have swearing in the next day, spend another night, and then come back to Nyanza on the 4^th. Then, starting the 5^th they will begin taking us out to our sites for “installations”.

The rainy season is coming to an end here, which I’m quite down about. I enjoy the rain and it nicely cools things off when it pours. Starting in January until about March or so there will be very little rain (some parts of the country are much drier than others), which isn’t something I’m looking forward to. On the other hand the climate is still mild and not nearly as bad as plenty of other countries I could have been sent to. As has become a running joke amongst us PCTs (PC Trainees), “at least we’re not in Niger”. This isn’t a slight against Niger or the PCVs currently serving there, it’s merely a result of our medical sessions with one of the PC Medical Officers (PCMOs). You see, he recently transferred from Niger, and nearly every time we have talked about the risk of some disease or affliction, he would tell us how much higher the risk was for those serving in Niger. Anything from stomach illnesses from the food (much worse because it’s so hot there), to the risk of jiggers (a small bug that burrows into your skin) or bed bugs, malaria, or any other illness you can think of, it seems like the risk is higher in Niger. It’s almost like I was cheated out of the opportunity to experience some real hardcore PC survival stories (ha, haha?)…

Anyway, a small note on packages. So far, I’ve received 3 packages (from Ashley, thanks dear J), and they do take a very long time as I expected. Part of the problem during training is them transporting them down from Kigali, and the massive number of packages sent to PCTs has backed that process up a bit. Anyway, all packages/letters can still be sent to the same address, and that address will always be valid for the next 2 years. It goes to the PC headquarters office, and they will always notify me and either get me the package or let me know so I can come pick it up. That said, I may get a postal box at some point after a while at site, and they want us to get postal boxes eventually so they can reduce the amount of mail traffic that requires sorting by the HQ office staff. However, I’m not certain if/when I’ll get one, so unless you hear otherwise, the same address is still the correct one.

And for anyone who is really interested, I’m planning to post a “wish list” on this blog with some random items that if anyone was really bored and wanting to send me something (J), it will have a few suggestions…

Sorry for the gap in posting anything, I’ll try and work on that…

- Dylan

December?

Wednesday, December 1^st, 2010

So it has been nearly six weeks since I arrived in Rwanda. It’s weird to think about, and in many ways the passing of time here has mirrored the way time passed during college; it’s hard to believe I’ve been here such a short time, but then again, it feels like only yesterday I was riding along on a bus through Kigali at night, still a little stunned that I was actually in Rwanda. Even after a real Thanksgiving meal here (all of us trainees cooked a pretty baller meal, including turkeys which were roasted underground in a huge pit dug up and then recovered to roast them), I still feel like it's October.

I know everyone wants to know more about what things are like here, and I wish that I could provide an adequate overview of my life here. The truth is, sometimes the idea of trying to relate everything can be so overwhelming that it discourages one from even trying. I think a lot of fellow PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees…After we swear in we’ll be PCVs – Peace Corps Volunteers) feel this way, it’s difficult to explain.

I will continue to try and make an effort though, and hopefully I can offer some glimpses of what my life is like. However, the other truth is that this period of my experience in Rwanda is quite temporary, because my life will drastically change in January when I move to my site. But for now, I’ve pasted below a sample schedule (for anyone who actually cares ha) of my days right now. However, it’s worth noting that I will begin teaching in “Model School” starting next Monday. Half of the entire trainee group (there are 68 of us still here, 3 of the people on the plane from JFK are no longer with us) already started teaching this week, and the other half of us will start this coming Monday. What Model School refers to is a three week “practice teaching” simulation at a real school in Nyanza with real students from the community. How does this actually work you must be wondering? Well, right now all Rwandan students are on break from school, and they start back in January (which makes sense, since I’ll start teaching at my real school in January). In order to pull off giving us some practice teaching, the Peace Corps recruited students from the Nyanza community who are currently on break from school, but jumped at the chance for some free additional English/Science/Math classes. As PC (Peace Corps) Staff told us, these kids are thrilled to be in school and not at home helping with chores or something like that. That fact aside, here’s a sample schedule of my life up until kind of recently (though there is often variation and random other sessions or outings or whatever else).

- 7am: Breakfast at the center (my house is absurdly far away, so a van picks us up in the morning at 650am ish…it can vary a lot, time is elastic here as our training manager Mupembe likes to say).

- 8am-10am: Language Session (occasionally a Tech Session or something else, but usually always language).

- 10-1030am: Tea/coffee and snack break. Usually we get some sort of fried bread as our snack.

- 1030a-12p: Language session, or occasionally a Tech/Med/Safety and Sec. session

- 12p-2pm: Lunch. Usually I’m finished with lunch by 1230p and I do any number of things until 2pm. Sometimes I do homework often due for Tech class, sometimes I read, sometimes I go to the internet café, but now there is internet at the center so I usually just waste some time on the web, though it is absurdly slow for the most part…Gchat doesn’t even work, though sometimes Google Talk does.

- 2pm-330pm: Usually a Tech session.

- 345p-5p: Either another Tech session, or it could be Cross Culture or a Med session or a Safety and Security Session. But this week we are having language application sessions.

- 6p: Dinner at the center. Dinner used to be at 7p, but thankfully they just switched it to 6p starting this week.

- 7p or anytime thereafter: The bus picks us up and drops us back at our house. When this actually occurs can vary a lot, and in the beginning we were walking the full hour back to our house…

As I said, this will all change next week once I start teaching in Model School. For starters, every morning M-F I will be teaching until 12p. Now, I won’t actually be teaching the entire morning, I’ll be rotating between actually teaching, and observing other people teach. I’ll stop short of explaining the entire system of this practice teaching program, but suffice it to say that I’ll be teaching real students in a real classroom in a real school, but not in my actual school, or my actual students, or during an actual school year…

In terms of the rest of my daily schedule, it might be helpful to mention that I wake up rather early and go to sleep rather early. Jed (my roommate) and I have grown accustomed to our standard 5am wakeup call, which is a bird that starts chirping right outside our window at around 5am. In short, I usually rise with the sun, and depending on the day, I might get to sleep anytime between 830p and 11p. On the bright side, this will probably be a good schedule to keep since I won’t have electricity at my site in Musange. It makes the most sense to be conscious during all daylight hours. That brings me to something I mentioned before, which is that the sun rises and sets at nearly the same time all year round (I mean, we are basically on the equator). I wouldn’t mind this so much if there was more variety in the seasons here, but I’m just thankful it’s not incredibly hot here.

I suppose I don’t have any other mundane things to add right now, so I’ll end with a few observations in bullet points and bid everyone a fond farewell.

• Right now we use an electric kettle to boil water in the mornings, which we mix with cold water in buckets to make somewhat warm water for bathing. The bad news is that I’ve gotten used to this luxury, and at my site I’ll have no such luxury (since I won’t have electricity for an electric kettle ha).
• Dental floss has not been introduced here, but toothpicks are ubiquitous and are common to use after every meal.
• The weather changes here incredibly fast. One minute it’s hot and sunny, and then suddenly clouds start rolling through. However, I think it’s less variable in the dry season (as if you couldn’t have guessed that).
• 
  

That’s all for now...I'll try and throw up some more pictures soon

- Dylan