And by beautiful disaster, I mean when it normally takes me 2.5 hours to get to Kigali from my site…this time it took 8 hours. At first it was entertaining and fun and spontaneous trying to figure things out…then it hit hour 5 and I was not a happy camper.
This past weekend we had a meeting for another secondary project which teaches English to the Rwandan Judiciary. It was a short orientation from Friday-Saturday, but was just a series of unfortunate events. First, because school is now on break, Friday was the mass exodus of boarding school students making the trek from school to home for the holiday. Which means…buses/taxis/etc are FULL and travel is really really hard. The boarding schools over in Birambo (where all the taxis which pass my village start) bought out all of the taxis…all of them…going to Kigali…where I needed to go. Long and short, I somehow got to Birambo, ended up in the wrong K-town (Kibuye), used the muzungu in me to force mine and Brittany’s butts onto an Express bus and finally at 6:45pm we arrived at Peace Corps in Kigali. Keep in mind, I started trying to get to town at like, 7:30am. Needless to say, long day. But, again, good food, good company made everything better and the orientation went well and then, lo and behold, there were no such shenanigans getting back to site on Saturday afternoon. Go figure, only in Rwanda.
On Wednesday I finished marking my students exams…and I have to say, this term was not pretty for a combination of reasons. First off, this term is long, way.too.long. It’s 14 weeks! 1st term was “12” and last term will be “9” (quotations because we all know classes won’t actually happen for the whole time, another joy of the Rwandan school system). So, by the end of this trimester, the kids were just exhausted, pooped out and ready for a break. Plus, they didn’t remember anything from the beginning of the trimester! Which did not bode well for their exams…even though they were given warnings about what topics the exam would cover. Also, some classes had a hard time because we had to deal with the cheating topic again this term…this time the solution to fix the problem was punish everyone. It worked, but also hurt some grades, which they also had ample opportunity to fix. Ohhhhhhh wellll….just another learning experience for me and them. But, like I said, I finished marking on Wednesdays, turned in those grades, came home and let out a big sigh of “ahhhhh.” You don’t realize how long the term really is until it’s over.
So now we’re on holiday, for about 3 weeks. Lots of other volunteers are going off on vacations. Me, I’m hanging around site (when I’m actually in site and not leaving for the silly amount of meetings I have), watching Brittany’s puppy Ishu for a couple nights and then we have an HIV/AIDs training at the end of the break. So it should be a busy, but relaxing break. Ideally, I would’ve liked to get up to the vet so Milo could get his vaccinations (and then get neutered) but I think that’ll have to wait until school starts up again, either way, that will get done! As for how Milo is doing, he’s an energetic ball of hyperactive kitten. Always sprinting around, pouncing on legs and feet every chance he gets and trying to catch lizards/bugs/anything that moves and could possibly taste good. I gave him his first bath on Thursday…he was not a fan, but I was because then afterwards he smelled nice and clean!
And that’s just a quick update on life, I know I’ve been slacking on the blog updates but sometimes I just don’t feel like what’s happening is all that interesting to blog about. So, I wait for something entertaining or important to happen and then share it with all of you!
And to close out this blog update…I just want to fill everyone in on a realization a bunch of us made Friday night:
-You know you’re close with a bunch of people when you have a long, entertaining, but continuous conversation about different gastro-intestinal issues you are having/have had/heard about. You know, things like amoebas, explosive diarrhea, usual bowel movements…and all the stories that go along with those fun things.
Only in Peace Corps…Dr. Laurent warned us this would happen! That’s all for now, take care!
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