10,000 FRANCS

This last week we have been working with seventh graders and having small group conversations to help them with their English. One of the questions we asked is "What would you do with 10,000 francs?" For most of them, this is a huge amount of money. In American dollars it is about $20.00.  Some had no idea of what that amount of money would buy. Some said a house or car. But most said they would buy shoes and fruit. The shoes that most students wear are comparable to a really cheap pair of flip flops in the US. It is all they can afford. Since they walk almost everywhere they go and the roads they walk on are so bad I imagine a good pair of shoes would be really a great gift to have.

Then they said they would buy fruits. For most families fruit is a treat.  Pineapple here is about $1.00 and they can't afford to pay that much for one item. As I have said, their diets consist of mostly starches. They also eat a food that is affordable, but has no nutritional value. When they drink water with this food it swells in their stomach and makes them fill full.

This is one of my seventh grade group

PRECIOUS WATER

We have mostly stayed in the city of Kigali. In every classroom there were lots of these yellow jugs. We knew they were for water, but we weren't sure why they were there. Well, come to find out the children bring these jugs to school every day to fill them up for water to take to their homes. Most people still do not have running water in their homes. So every day the children have to get water from the school and take it home.

On our way to our Safari, we were in the country. We saw people carrying several yellow jugs.  They were going to the river to fill their jugs to have water at their homes. Can you imagine having this in your daily schedule? Think of all the water we use every day and in order to have that water you had to walk
2-3 miles each way and then the full jugs home. Of course they are very conservative in how they use the water.

As we drove and we looked down by the river, we saw lots of clothes lying on the ground. The driver said to me "It is Saturday, the people go to the river to wash their clothes so they can go to church on Sunday."  Since they have no other way to wash and dry their clothes they go to the river and wash and then lay them on the ground to dry. Of course, they have to stay and wait for the clothes to dry before going home.

Safari

What a great adventure the Safari was!!  We saw so many animals in their natural habitat. We saw zebras, giraffes, hogwarts, toppy, reebock, aligators, water buck, hippos, babboons, and others animals I can't remember.  It was a pretty rough ride but well worth it.  We traveled two and a half hours away to Akegera National Park for our adventure. The scenery along the way was very interesting. We traveled by large vans and had to pack our own lunch--no Mickey Dee's along the way.  We had lunch by the hippos.  By that time it had been two hours since a restroom break, and one girl asked the park ranger when we would have then next chance to use the restroom, he didn't bat an eye and said we go behind the bush!

My favorite animal to see was the giraffe. I have always liked them in the zoos, but to see them in nature was amazing. We see 10-12 in a group.  They are huge.  Each one has a unqiue pattern.  Their were adults and babies walking around together and the babies would run and play. I enjoyed the trip so much.

Our trip was not without its events!! One of the girls got car sick and had to throw up a few time. Then our car broke down at the park. So all 12 of us wanting to go home together piled into a car meant for 9.  Some were sitting on the floor and 4 squeezed into a bench for 3.  But we did make it back. This will probably be one of my greatest memories.

I actually was right there and took this picture!

I tried for more pictures but this was the only one I could load.

DEFINING MOMENT

          I so wanted to post the picture of my friend but it will not load. I will post it anyway.  We will be gone all day tomorrow on Safari. So I won't post again until Sunday.  Then we are near the end. There sre so many pictures I would have loved to share but it takes about 20 minutes to load a picture. I will be putting together a book for myself and my classroom later if any of you want to see my book.

         Today was the last day of our teaching.  This week has been different because we have been teaching older students in the morning and teachers in the afternoon.  Teacher Christine was my last teacher to help. She speaks very good English. But like most of us she is afraid to use her skills because she is afraid she will make a mistake. Yesterday I told her many things about myself and family. Today she came back and asked me many questions about things she had thought about over night. Then she asked me how I came here and how my family felt. When I told her I volunteered and paid my own money to be here she was so grateful. She kept saying what a kind heart I had to help others. She said God will bless me.  She also wanted my email to write to me. I don't know if she ever will but I felt a close bond with her in just a matter of spending 1 1/2 housrs with her. I teared up several times during our time together. Our time together has made my time here worthwhile. I will be changed forever!

USING YOUR HEAD

     It amazes me every time I am in a third world country to see how different things are. I have always loved seeing what the people will carry on their heads. Take a look at some pictures. 

Ladies carrying corn to sell

People are walking stores. These guys have material and shoes
for people to buy

MISSING RECESS TO LEARN MORE

         Remember when I told you about the faculty having a meeting and all the teachers were gone, well I want to tell you a story about something that happened in one of our classes.  The children were at recess and when it was time to end recess the children the whistle didn't blow. We went to our normal fourth grade classroom to teach. The room was full.  We normally have 40-50 students  in the room. As we started teaching we noticed that every bench was full to capacity-meaning four students on every bench at least 60 students in the room. We sang the Hello Song, and read through the ‘morning message’. This time the message was set up as a cloze procedure, so there were missing words and they invited students to fill in the blanks. Just as we were starting to review the emotions vocabulary from the previous day, someone rang the bell. Half the class stood up and walked out of the room…it turned out that those extra students were from other classes and just snuck in to get an extra English lesson during their recess. 

This is one of the third grade classes I teach

GENOCIDE

On Saturday, we headed to the Genocide Museum and Nyamata memorial site. In 1994, during the 100 day genocide, approximately 1,000,000 people were murdered (some say 800,000, but many estimate the number nearer to one million). The Museum tells the story of the genocide. It is very well done. Nyamata memorial site is where 10,000 men, women and children were murdered in a couple of days.  I am amazed that the world stood by and allowed this to happen without the UN or someone stepping in to help these inoccent people.

It is incredible how far this country has come in only sixteen short years. Many children were orphaned. When we talk to the children that are 16 or older many do not have living fathers because of the genocide. Many families are missing grandparents. Many families were completely wiped out.

Those who survivored have made a determined effort to forgive those who did horrible things to them and their families. Rwanda is a nation surviving because of forgiveness and reconciliation. They have a good Presdient now and the nation is a nation of unity.  I know I would be a better person if I would use these principles in my own life. So many thing to learn from others!

MISSIONARY DINNERS

            We have been so grateful for the missionary families that live here and have kind of been our sponsors. We are volunteers here helping the schools.  But these missionaries who live here full time are the ones who helped open the doors for our group.  Anyway they invite us to their houses once a week and feed us a meal. We are so grateful for a change of pace for the food they serve us. It is American type food with FLAVOR and nutrition.  What a treat!  On Thursday night we even had an oatmeal cookie. 

            This last week we have several dinners out planned because we nearly gag when we go to the table and find the same food meal after meal after meal. We have had pizza out twice, Indian food, Mediterranean food, and we are going for Chinese food, and another missionary dinner.  I am sure I will survive this but I am grateful for a husband who loves to eat out and love me the way I am.

              I am with a bunch of health nuts and although I am sure they are choosing the better life I am quite sick of hearing about eating vegetables, and not eating fat, sugar and even meat for several of them. They are all complaining about not getting enough exercise too. I am sure I will survive this but I am grateful for a husband who loves to eat out and loves me the way I am.

WELL DIGGING

For several days we have watched some workers digging a well here at the Guest House.  It is amazing to see how people in third world countries manage to get things done.  One man started digging a hole, while four men stood around and watched.

As he got farther and farther down in the hole he started putting the soil in a container and the three men would pull it up by a rope and dump it out on the ground.  Then they would shovel the dirt up and put it in a bag and carry the bag to the garden area. At first we felt bad they didn’t have a wheel barrow. Then we saw one by the garden and so we can’t figure why they don’t use it instead of carrying the dirt in bags to the garden. The one guy has dug about 25 feet down and still hasn’t found water. He is using a pick and shovel to do the digging.  Every morning they lower him in to the hole and watch him dig. While three stand around and wait for him to fill his bucket and send it up. 

THe guy is down there somewhere

It will be a great day when he strikes water! By the way, the workers earn about $1.50 a day. No one in America should complain about their paycheck!

HAVING TROUBLE WITH INTERNET

We are having trouble with internet so I haven't been able to post I will post some now and then I am not sure whenyou will hear from  me again.

EVERYONE LOOKS ALIKE

           Several people have asked if only boys can go to school because there is no long hair. The answer is no, boys and girls go to school. There is a rule though that every student has to shave their head for health reasons. There is the possibly of lice and then they get a fungus and it turns their hair a grey color for a while. Plus they can get ring worm because of all the dirt they are continually around.

            The only way you can tell what sex they are is to look to see if they have on shorts (boy) or skirt (girl).When we were teaching about the family we always had to look under the desk to check out what they were. We have made a few mistakes but have been able to correct them without embarrassing the students.

If you look closely at the signs they are holding you will see mother and daughter.

So at least two of these children are girls.  I can't tell what sex baby is, it could be a boy or girl.



COMMUNITY SERVICE

This morning started off with a service project for our group.  Every third Saturday, in Rwanda is a community service day. At least one representative from each family must join in a neighbor community service project or be fined. What a lesson for us to learn. Our group of teachers decided to help the school where we are teaching, so we washed the chalkboard in six classrooms and then painted them black. Since the teachers cover the boards in work every day for the students to copy their boards were in real need of some cleaning and new paint. You will notice I am not in any of the pictures. Someone had to document the work. Really I took my turn washing blacboards and picking up litter off the dirt playground. This nation needs a litter control campaign!

Mixing paint with gasoline to thin it out.  Yes, I said gasoline.



Veronica washing the blackboards.

Rolling on the the paint

ORANGE

Everything is turning orange!!  My feet, my bag I carry to school everyday, the papers the kids touch,  and my shoes.  The dirt from the roads is everywhere and is it stains everything.  Most of the kids wear the same clothes every day and they have an orange glow to them.  Their legs and feet are often crusted with the dirt. If you are a clean freak you would never survive here!!!!

FACULTY MEETING

Usually when we arrive at the classroom, the teacher and students are awaiting our arrival. Today it was different.  The students were sitting on their benches for the most part copying the work on the board. The teacher was not in the room. As we taught our lesson the noise from the classroom next door was so loud I had to go and ask them to be quiet a couple of times. On the first visit I discovered, there was no teacher in that classroom either. There is an air space at the top of each classroom that go into the next classroom so you can easily hear the students if they are being noisy. We taught our lesson and when it was time to go to a different classroom the teacher had not returned, but we are supposed to keep to our schedule. As we entered the next the classroom, we found the teacher was not there either.  She had not returned when it was time to leave.

We have a twenty minute break at this point while the students have recess. It was at this time we found out there was not a teacher in any of the classrooms in the entire school. The teachers were all in a faculty meeting receiving training on how to be better teachers.  I like this idea!! I think all faculty meetings should be held during class time! 

The next day when we arrived, again, we found the teachers in yet another meeting.  Come to find out this is not an unusual occurrence. The children are expected to behave whether the teacher is there or not. The teacher comes in every morning and writes all the assignments on the board. The students have little filmy notebooks in which they copy the assignments filling in the answers and working the problems. At the end of class the students turn in their work and it is graded. There is very little interaction between teacher and students.  That is part of the reason we are here to help the teachers learn to engage the students in learning.

I have to say I like this idea-- Faculty Meeting in the middle of the day!!

LET THERE BE LIGHT

The weather here has been delightful.  For a couple of days, the sun hasn’t been shining which of course makes it even cooler. That is good for us, but not good for the students at school. In the classroom there is a single light bulb in the middle of the room.  I have never seen it turned on in any of the rooms. They rely on the sun as their source of light for the room. Even on sunny days the rooms are quite dark, so when there is no sun the rooms are very dark.  This doesn’t seem to bother any of the students or teacher. The teachers usually stay in the room and grade papers while we teach, even in the dark.  The students write really small because paper is such a precious commodity here. On one such morning, in one class, I saw four different students fall asleep. Today the teacher fell asleep while we were teaching. The next time the students in my class ask if they can turn off the lights in my classroom, I will think twice about it!!

PEACE HOUSE BOYS

The Peace House boys all attend our school.

The Peace House boys came to dinner tonight.  This is kind of an orphanage run by the Church of Christ missionaries here.  They have chosen two local guys in their late 20’s to find boys on the streets. These boys come from broken homes, or when there are too many children in a family they may send the boys to fin for themselves on the streets. This Peace House just started in the fall.  The have chosen seven boys to feed, cloth, pay for their schooling, and to teach them life skills. They only want them to stay at the Peace House for a year and then hopefully they will be able to take care of themselves and return these boys to their homes or find a new one for them. Then they can go and find more boys to help.

The boys are around 9-14 years old and they go to the school where we are teaching. They are in our classes.  So we invited them to our Guest House for dinner tonight.  It was so interesting to watch them.  They piled their plates so high. I thought they could never eat all that, but they did and many went back for seconds.  They rarely get meat to eat.  Again their diet consists mainly of starches.

I was very impressed with the boys. They all sat and waited for everyone to fill the plates and sit down before eating. Then one of the men offered a prayer. They were one of the few clean children I have seen here. They had clean clothes, clean bodies, and nice shoes.  It is very rare to see children like this at our school. When one of the teachers asked the oldest boy what he would like to learn tomorrow in school, his answer was I want to learn to read! Again we take so much for granted!

One of the teachers from the first team sent some little poppers and stickers to them as a gift.  After dinner, we showed them how they worked and they had a great time with them. They were all sharing and very grateful for what they were given.

These boys have grown tremendously since being shown love. One of the boys was known as the biggest thief around before being rescued by this group. They love each other. They now have a family which is something everyone needs!!  This organization has given these boys a chance in life and again Rwandans helping other Rwandans.  What a blessing it is!

EATING TO LIVE

I think for the first time in my life I am eating to live, not living to eat.

Lunch yesterday--rice, boiled potatoes, fried potatoes, pasta, refried beans and green beans.

ODDS AND INS

Stacy wanted to see me on a moto.  When we lived in Venezuela
I always told your dad I wanted to ride one.  I have ridden one
several times now.  I am a pro! You see the guy with the bicycle
behind me.  I rode one of those the first.  I felt so sorry for him
having to pump me up the hill, I won't ride one of those again.
But I did it!!!

Here I am with some of my students. They love having their
picture taken and ham it up just like American kids.

This is the inside of a classroom.  We have 40-50 kids in each room
You can see the cement floors with pots holes all over them. 

You see the little benches they sit on. They push them closely
together so they have something to lean against.  They sit three
students per bench. They have a small shelf under the desk to put
their tablets in.  Some are broken, even some of the desk tops are
only half there.

This is just for fun.  This is a pot hole
in one of the classroom and I thought
it looks so much like a map of Africa
I had to show you!

TEACHER SICK DAY

After the first day of teaching here and it being so long and hard, I joking told my team I would be taking a Teacher Sick Day on Wednesday of next week.  Well maybe it was self-fulfilling prophesy but sure enough on Tuesday I was sick. I had a raspy voice and what felt like a sinus infection plus a dry cough.  So I stayed home from school in the morning. One of Shannon’s friends brought me some medicine like Sudafed and it put me to sleep.  Later that day I also went to the pharmacy and got some cough medicine. I slept like a baby last night.  Today I went to school but was so sleepy from taking more medicine this morning I had to come home and sleep it off.  I intend to go to school this afternoon, though.  They aren’t paying me big bucks to come over here and sleep.  Oh yea, I forget I am the one paying them big bucks to be able to come here.

RECESS

We think Central Park is large school. Try having 4,000. Yes I said 4,000 students.  Kicukiro is the largest public school in Kigali. The school is grades 1- 12. The day is set up from 7:30 to 11:30 and then another session from 1:00-5:00.  Students attend the morning session one day and then the next they attend the afternoon session. So really there are only 2,000 students at the school at a time. The entire school has recess at the same time for twenty minutes. The American teachers have to go and sit in the headmaster’s office during that time or we are mobbed by children wanting to talk to us or hold our hands. The students are let loose with NO supervision at all. They have no equipment to play on, or swings to swing in. A child might bring a ball made of banana leaves to kick around. Sometimes there is a jump rope to play with. They girls play a jumping, clapping, kicking heels together game that I find fascinating. I have recorded it on video a couple of times.  The girls usually get embarrassed when they see me recording them and stop so I don’t know if it will show a true representation of it. Older students often mess around with younger students, which seems weird since we don’t even mix grades together. I have seen kids sliding down the banister from the second floor, older kids hitting younger ones, and all kinds of things we wouldn’t allow, and yet I haven’t heard of anyone getting hurt. I think we should try this at Central Park and see how it works out. What do you think Stacee??

This is just one small area where kids are playing.

Paved Roads

Walking on the dirt roads to the local market.

The children from our school flock around us and want to hold our hands and ask us questions in English. It is rewarding to them try and use the English we have been teaching them.

I have such an appreciation for paved roads. There are very few paved roads around here.  The major roads are paved and fairly nice. Many of the roads are like cobble stone bricks and so the riding on the motos can really be bumpy.  Then all the side roads are not even paved.  And the pot holes on both the paved roads and the dirt roads are incredibly huge. 

The motos just swerve from one side of the roads to other to avoid the holes. And if you are on the back you better hold on. Then try to walk on all the dirt roads. I now know why they washed feet in the days of Jesus. Your feet and shoes are always dirty and dusty. I am constantly washing my feet and sandals.  So when you walk or drive to your next place be thankful for all the nice roads you have!

GUEST HOUSE

Okay so I went back and read some of my blogs and yes I noticed some mistakes and typos.  I am usually bloggin while talking and listening to the other teachers.  So sorry for the mistakes!!  I am sure there will be more.

Some of you have asked about out accommodations---Ken Stamatis had described the Guest House as beautiful with marble floors.  Well let me just say that may have been where they stayed last year, but where we are this year not the same!!!  They do have nice hotels here, but because we needed a place to stay for so long and we wanted to save on money, we went a step down to a Guest House. For one thing, there are no mable floors, only painted cement floors! We have to share a room with someone and the rooms are very much like a college dorm.  Then two rooms share a bathroom. The place is run by girls training to be Catholic nuns.  So it is a very safe place.  Rustic would be a good way to describe it. 

Our bed is a three inch foam mattress which is not very easy to get comfortable on. The bathroom has a 2 x 2 foot shower and a toilet with no seat so we sit on the bowl—no kidding! If you look closely at the picture of  the toilet, we think there is a calcified turd in it. Sometimes we have warm water, sometimes we don’t, and sometimes we don’t have any water!!

We lock the door to our room whenever we leave of course, but tonight the key wouldn’t work and they had no extra key.  The live-in guard had to work on it for over two hours just to get it unlocked. So now we have a door with no lock on it.

The nuns do fix every meal for us. By the way, our dinner on Sunday was spaghetti noodles so sauce, rice, beans with carrots, and potatoes.  I don’t think I can lose any weight eating all those starches! Sometimes they serve meat, but it is not recognizable. I have eaten small amounts of it and I haven’t died yet.

They sent our clothes out to be washed—where we don’t know, but they came back clean enough.  When they wash our sheets and towels they hang them over the bushes and lay them on the ground to dry.

Of course, there is no air conditioning so we mostly sit out on the patio and talk, read or plan our lessons. The temperature is really very comfortable We sleep with the windows open every night, and we have to use a blanket to stay warm. The temperature is really very comfortable.  It is only in the classrooms, that it gets almost unbearable for me.

Sitting on the patio

I am already looking forward to the comforts of home!!!  We take so much for granted in America!!

My bedroom, the white balls above the beds are mosquite netting
to drape over you at night.  I don't use it because it would bother me!

This is the bathroom.The toilet with no seat.

If you look closely you will see
the clacifed turd!

The Sfrican dancers teaching the Americans to dance.  They are very confused by Veronica becasue she is black and from America.  They tell her you are not black you are brown.  They do called her my sister.  When we were at the market the on way she could convince them that she was "one of them"  was to have them look closely at her hair and then feel it.  And Shannon told the African ladies to look at her back side (butt)  and see how it stuck out compare to Americans.  They were finally convinced!

Here I am watching the African dancers and these are the children that gather around Americans. They want to talk to every American they can and show that they can speak some English.

This little girl with with her sister and in the picture above they are sitting right next to me.  They both were very beatutiful girls.

It took 20 minutes per mintues to load so this is all for now.  I'm off to dinner with the Peace House boys.  I will tell you moare about them later.

Pictures

These are the street kids playing the drums for the dancers.

I am having a difficult time loading more than one picture at a time.  So I will be just posting one picture and making a new post.  That is all I know how to do.  Believe it or not I am the only one blogging from here.  And internet is crappy!! Yes, Central Park Fourth Grade Team I said CRAPPY!!

ART STUDIO

My Team for Africa Reads Now in front of the Art Studio

On Sunday afternoon, we had an amazing experience.  We went to a local art studio.  Now I know you are thinking a beautiful studio like you would find in America. But we are in Africa.  It was a very small three room house with paintings displayed.  The amazing experience was that these artists have taken local street children and taught them traditional dances and how to play the drums. There were several expats there, but as the children danced and sang for us many of the locals children came to watch as well. These artists want to expose these local kids to experiences they could not afford to have on their own. So they even give them art lessons.  The Rwandans try very hard to help their own people improve their lifestyle. There are many older orphans around and often Rwandan adopt them get them off the streets and give them a home. They are willing to give to others when they have so little themselves.  A lesson many American could learn.

Paved Roads

Walking on the dirt roads to the local market.

The children from our school flock around us and want to hold our hands and ask us questions in English.  It is rewarding to them try and use the English we have been teaching them.

I have such an appreciation for paved roads. There are very few paved roads around here.  The major roads are paved and fairly nice. Many of the roads are like cobble stone bricks and so the riding on the motos can really be bumpy.  Then all the side roads are not even paved.  And the pot holes on both the paved roads and the dirt roads are incredibly huge. 

The motos just swerve from one side of the roads to other to avoid the holes. And if you are on the back you better hold on. Then try to walk on all the dirt roads. I now know why they washed feet in the days of Jesus. Your feet and shoes are always dirty and dusty. I am constantly washing my feet and sandals.  So when you walk or drive to your next place be thankful for all the nice roads you have!

REPUBLICA

REPUBLICA  

I am with six other teachers who are really great women.  We have two 25 year olds, one is 31, then a principal who is 40, my friend Linda who is 50 and me.  This group likes to have a drink after dinner and not wanting to be left behind I always go with them.  I drink a lemon lime soda made by Fanta that you can’t get in the states.  Last night we went to a bar restaurant called Republica. We had drinks and brochettes – barbequed chicken on a stick.  It was an open air bar as most of them are. It was for the upper class locals and the ex-pats.  Nothing too special, but just something else to experience.  I guess the highlight of the evening was when the taxi driver backed up too far and landed the back tires in a ditch. We have to take two taxis everywhere we go because there are so many of us. The other driver stopped and came over to push us out. I hopped out fast because I knew that would lighten the load. So did the others girls. With a little burning rubber and a great deal of pushing the cab was out of the ditch and we were on our way again. These are experiences you just don’t have in America.

LOCAL MARKET

Yesterday after school she took us to a local market.  What an amazing place.  I could have taken a thousand pictures, but Shannon has told us that the people don’t like us to do that.  If you buy something from someone and then ask to have you picture taken with them that is okay.  Each person sets up a small little booth with their goods in it and then people walk by and buy from them.  There were flour piles in huge piles just waiting to be scooped up for the buyer.  There were colorful mounds of peas and beans.  It looked like and art display. Many women were dressed in the traditional clothing with babies strapped to their backs. It was killing me not to have my camera out and taking pictures.

My friend, Linda, is a quilter and has decided to make an African quilt when she gets home. It sounded like a great idea to me also, so we bought a piece of fabric from one of the booths. I was able to then take a couple of pictures with the lady we purchased the fabric from.  What a treasure to have my picture made with her!  The lady wanted me to make a copy and bring it back to her.  They don’t have cameras and rarely get to see themselves. Shannon said it is a difficult process so all I could do was show her the photos on the camera.

The lady I bought fabric from at the market.

BAGELS AND DOUGHNUTS

BAGELS AND DOUGHNUTS  

Saturday was a great morning. Some Americans have started a Bagel Shop here and on Saturday only they make donuts. The Americans hired African women who were unable to provide for their children and have taught them how to make the bagels and donuts. Now they have a skill and a whole new level of respect for themselves. 

I had a chocolate covered donut this morning for breakfast. I ride the motos to get around town.  They are little motorcylces driven by the locals. I hop on the back, put on a helmet and fly in between other cars, motos, and people. I love it!!  The bagel shop is run out of a house that they have converted to this shop. There is a huge Ex-pat community here in Kagali. This bagel shop has given the ex-pats a Saturday morning gathering place.  They enjoy the food and socializing with their friends. It was a fun experience.

Food

The food here is very bland.  The guest house that we are staying at fixes our meals every day.  Breakfast is very simple. First day omelets- eggs with onions and bread, no butter or jam.  Another morning, hard boiled eggs and a bread so hard no one could eat it.  With nearly every meal, they serve the little bananas that are sweet. Lunch and dinner are similar meals.  We nearly always have fried potatoes and rice, some kind of sauce for the rice which we don’t know what it is, beans that are dry with no juice, vegetables, like carrots, cauliflower and peas. I thought there would be lots of fruit. The other tropical places I have lived have had abundant fruits. Not so here. Our fruits are very limited. For dessert it is either the small bananas or pineapple.  So the meals are heavy on the starches and light on the protein.  Also they never serve drinks with ice. If you order a soda you get it in the bottle with a straw and it is served warm.  What I wouldn’t give for a Sonic drink!

Second Day of Teaching

I want to post pictures so badly so you can get the true feeling of what we are doing but I am having trouble with it.  So I will go ahead and post this and keep working on it until I get it  right.

( This is for my daughter in law Nicole, yes I do know how to load the picture becasue I did it on the first blog.)

Wow! What a difference a day can make.  Our teaching went great today.  We were teaching about families.  The students were interested in learning the words for members of the family. They love the songs and games we play with them.  They are used to coming into the classroom and copying off the board things written in English that they don’t really understand.  The teachers are not active in the classroom.   They mostly sit at their desk and watch the children do their copying. So the students love being able to participate in all the activities. We sing and dance and play games with them.  This is something they are not used to at all in their school day.  So of course they love us.

First Day of Teaching

Today was our first day of teaching.  We entered the classroom with such eager faces awaiting us. We were surprised at all the students have already learned. In order to reach all the students, we spent 45 minutes in each classroom. The students knew many fun songs and we sang often to keep both the teachers and students energized. None of us can get these tunes out of our head.  We will be singing them in our sleep. We taught four classes in the morning stating at 7:45 and ending at 11:15.  From 11:15 to 1:15 we went back to the Guest House to have lunch and rest up a bit before our afternoon classes started.  Then we headed back to the school to our new kids for the afternoon.  The day of teaching has just finished and we are sitting around already planning our lessons for tomorrow.  Some of us are wondering what in the heck we signed up for.  This is hard!  But most of us have already experienced several rewarding moments with a child and we know that this will be worth it in the end.  We know without pain there is no gain!! for both students and teachers.

Met Students

Today we went to the school to meet our students. They treated us like celebrities. They were so excited and so were we.  It was a touching moment!
We can't wait to get started tomorrow. 

We did a little bit of walking and seeing a few places. Then to get to the restuarant we wanted to go to for lunch we tried all three modes of transportation, I rode on the of a bicycle, on the back of a motor scooter, and then in a taxi.

Arrived

Leave Bentonville 6:30 Monday morning, drive 3 hours to Little Rock, wait 2 hours in airport, flight to Chicago 2 hours, wait 2 more hours in airport, flight to Brussels, Belgium 8 hours, wait 2 more hours, flight to Kagali, Rwanda 8 hours. Arrive in Kagali at 9:00 Tuesday night. It is 7 hours ahead here.

Night, night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite--- they say that saying has a whole new meaning here.

Africa

Some people think I'm crazy.  Some people think it's cool.  Me??  I think it's an opportunity of a lifetime and I'm really looking forward to it.........I'm heading to Africa this summer to teach English!