Tuesday, December 15, 2009

so far so good..

I am not sure on all the details of my house, but this is what I kinda know...

I am in Rutsiro District, in the Western Province of Rwanda. I will be teaching at Ecole Secondaire de BUMBA. The nearest town to me is Karongi. The school was founded in 1994. I am about 3 hours from Kigali. The area was affected by the genocide, became Zone Turquoise, and was later affected by the insurgency. Apparently, I am living on a mission compound. This is where I get lost...I at first thought the priest lived in the same complex, but he is 5 minutes away. I have 2 bedrooms, a sitting room and an INDOOR bathroom!! I have electricity and some sort of water...but, I am attached to a room used for knitting clubs and meetings or something...not really sure bout that part...

Also, school was supposed to start around my birthday, January 12 but since we are in Africa, that's not happening. Apparently, school isn't starting til FEBRUARY! so, I have a month off, and Jeff comes right when I start which might be a little messy. We shall see!

I passed my language test on Saturday morning which was wonderful because it marked the end of training! WOOOOHOOOO! I felt like I was in college again studying the night before and morning of. I was also up for 2 hours during the night because it sounded ilke the plague had come to the center of my room. For those who don't know my worst fear, it's the sound of mosquitoes. Not really the bites or possible malaria, just the buzzing. I can't handle it. Never have been able to. So I am trying to sleep before my test and seriously, there is the LOUDEST buzzing imaginable coming from every possible direction. I seriously thought there were bugs of some sort just having millions of babies on my floor and all over my net. It was that loud. I finally had to get up to pee, and in the bathroom the noise was louder. There were grasshoppers and a brown relative of sorts lining every window and door in our house. mayhem! Seriously, it was horrible. The next night it happened again, but i was better prepared and wasn't the only one who had a panic attack. Besides that, my weekend was fab! ha.



We go to Kigali in a few days and get to shop for our houses and swear in. We found out today we are getting a nice little lump of money to buy furniture and stuff to settle in. It seems like a lot, but I am sure it will go pretty fast. Yaya for money!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

drawing a blank

Wow I have been lagging hard on updating. My bad. Lots going on with training and have been so busy but as I sit and write this, I hardly have anything to report! Let’s see…Saturday we have our final language test so I am trying to prepare for that. Tomorrow we find out our sites and who we will be living closest too. The farthest site from the capital is about 8 hours away. I hope that isn’t me! If so, Jeff might have to find his own way from the airport. Last Friday night I got 2 wonderful care packages from Joe and Rainy and they have made my week very pleasant! Toiletries, hot cheetos, chocolate, and crystal light have been on the menu and all have been very enjoyable.

Today we had a goodbye party with our host families. Another awkward event to add to the books. We all got called up and how to do a weird hug in front of everyone and exchange gifts (we gave money, I got a basket) and then pose for a picture. OHHH! I almost forgot! Yesterday Zac and I were walking to town and this boy had a pair of high water swishy pants on that said TONKA going down the leg! They weren’t like Tonka truck pants so I have no idea what they represented. I didn’t care and pointed excitedly and was all giddy without a camera..AGAIN! UGH! Then Zac was like wow what an asshole that kid probably thinks you were making fun of him. So that was a bummer, but I was still excited. We had an all day teaching retreat yesterday at a nearby hotel. My Star magazine with “Lindsey Hits Rock Bottom” circulated most of the morning. Thank you for that Amie. Seriously I cant think of what else to write! We have had soooooo much language class that is consuming my days. We head to Kigali next Thursday, swear in on Saturday and shop for our houses and then return to Nyanza for Christmas, and I think move on the 27th. If I remember more, I’ll add it. Miss you all.