I can't believe I've been in Rwanda for over a month. I've been so busy walking to the teacher training college (and back) every day and learning all the little routines here - like-
@ The water seems to only be on in the morning, so fill up every container before work if you want to wash/cook/clean in the evening!
@ The electricity likes to go on and off each night for a bit, so put on some tunes and make it a disco when the flashing/blackouts start!
@ I am the only European walking down the street in the morning, so better get used to the stares, good mornings, bonjours and sniggers!
@ Even though I'm in Africa, this is the mountains, so always take a raincoat and expect hailstones!
@ You can never get enough carbohydrates on a plate, so expect funny looks when you go for a 'melange' dinner and don't create a carbohydrate mountain!
TTC is good and the tutors and students are getting used to me being around. I'm working on a website for them (surprise, surprise), I'll drop the link when it's finished. Also I'm working on an English/French/Kiswahili/Kinyarwanda student teacher companion book for vocabulary which is tricky as I only speak one of those languages. We had a workshop last weekend on publication writing and I worked with six students on ideas for a school publication. Myself and another volunteer are working together to upskill literacy in English as well as the other three languages spoken here. I've been teaching classes of students to do the 'hokey cokey', play duck, duck, goose and making their lessons more interactive where I can. I still can't get used to the regimented 'stand-up to speak or don't speak at all' thing they have going on, but they are nice and friendly and try their best to be more open with me but I guess it's a hard routine to break when you have been in that system for 9 years. I'll be going out to visit some student teachers in schools on teaching practice for the next few weeks which should be interesting and I have a short safari planned for mid-April - can't wait to see the giraffes!
Views on my walk to school in the morning - I love these hills!
Byumba town on market day (Saturday) I just bought a 50l bucket to store water in the bathroom as I was fed up of running out during the night when I went to the loo! Unfortunately, I am not skilled enough to carry it on my head as many people do here. However, this may be something I develop the ability to do in the two years I'm here for!
