Many people have been complaining that I haven’t updated my blog in a while…apologies but remember, 1) I’m in Africa and 2) I don’t have electricity at my site. So, I will only update my blog when I leave my site. And I haven’t left my site in 3 weeks because, well, I like my site and I like to spend time in my village and hang out with them on the weekends. And honestly, that’s what I’m here for. To become part of my village, not just be a visitor for two years, but to be a resident. And my neighbors, they are convinced that after one year I will automatically be Rwandan and can then vote in the elections (it’s to difficult to explain that’s not quite how it works…).
But what has been going on since my last blog…so I gave my students their midterm. And when I told them about their midterm, a couple of my classes cheered. I’m still not sure why they cheered, but they were very excited to be taking a test. Then they took the test. And I got to grade it. Now, I wrote it knowing what parts should really give them difficulty and would challenge their little minds. But, I did not anticipate the train-wreck that actually happened. When I was grading and saw a grade of 5/6 out of 15…I was happy. Yes, it was a disaster. But, it was a learning experience, for them and me. They realized that I’m really going to work them hard and they need to know the material better than just memorizing a table. me, I learned that I really need to write tests earlier, reread them, edit them, fix the English and make sure that my students understand what to do. The problem came in that they didn’t understand what I wanted them to do, and then they didn’t ask a questions! Ahh, buhoro buhoro, bazimenya (slowly by slowly, they will learn it).
Another fun, and by fun not really, but not surprising even was the switching of my classes…halfway through the trimester. Now, instead of 5 S2 Biology classes, we’ve condensed them into 4 classes so that they could make another S1 level class because there were too many students. So I have 4, S2 level classes with about 40-45 students each and now my S1 level class…with over 50 students. That’s a LOT of kids, a lot of names, and a lot of patience. It wouldn’t be so bad, but it’s just a tad frustrating to do this in the middle of the trimester, switch teachers/classes and then I have to pick up where another teacher left off (and by pick up, I unfortunately mean start over). So, fun times in the Rwandan School System. But such is life, I just bit my tongue and smiled at my headmaster as he told me that ‘No, it’s really easy to make a new class and here’s how…” [mind you, that wasn’t my question]. So yeah.
This weekend, I went to Nyanza to visit my resource family, which was very nice. It was nice to get back and visit Mugandamore and stop by Nyanza to pick up some things that I needed. Then Saturday, another quick trip up to Gitarama because my headmaster was getting married! So, I made my appearance at the wedding. But, now back to reality and to umudugudu wanjye (my village) for another fun filled week of teaching. It’s crazy to believe that the 1st trimester ends at the end of March, then I have language training March 31/April 1 and then all of us Education Group 2 volunteers have another training for a week during the break before 2nd trimester. Time flies but stands still, it’s very strange.
That’s all for now, hope everyone back in the US is welcoming spring and that things are finally starting to thaw out!
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