English Club

On my first morning in Gitarama, the Sunday after I arrived in Rwanda, I met Patrick and a few of the UCK students in the English Centre to head to an all girls secondary school for English conversation club. We walked from the uni to the secondary school, a distance that in Canada surely would have been driven, though it was far from impossible. The biggest difference is that people here walk very slowly - I think because it is so hot and because no one's ever really in a hurry.

The English club consists of about 40 students as well as one of the school's support staff. Three UCK students come along to help Patrick and to get some extra practice in. The girls are all very sweet and were very excited to see a new and exciting face. A few of them came up and introduced themselves to me before class started.

The class/club started with my introducing myself and then the students being given free range to ask me questions. They asked about why I came to Rwanda and how long I was planning to stay, about my schooling and my family and they asked two questions that I have learned are very popular here though they are largely socially unacceptable at home: how old are you? and are you single/married/engaged? After finding out I was single and receiving an unsatisfactory answer as to why it was so one of the girls asked if she could find me a Rwandan husband. While this caused the entire room to errupt into laughter (and I'm fairly certain me to turn bright red). Unfortunately, a good laugh was not enough for this girl to let me off the hook and I was forced to stumble through an explanation of how Canadians like to choose their own husbands and that I consider 23 young to get married (contrast to the unofficial weddings that often occur her for girls at the age of 18 or 19). Little did I know it but this would be the beginning of a pattern of the questions asked by people when I first meet them.

After grilling me class moved on to practice of the things they had learned in previous weeks and concluded a few minutes early, which prompted some of the students to give mini performances in front of the class. Each performance was met by not only applause but also woops and hollers. One of the girls sang what was apparently a very popular song is it sparked a whole class sing-a-long which I was too slow to catch with my camera.

After meeting some of the administrators of the girls' school Patrick and I went for lunch and I was given some time to rest etc before dinner with the rector of the university. I used my break time to visit an internet cafe and to give myself a sponge bath, which I haven't done in years but will have to get used to as it's fairly common for the water here to stop running.

On feelings and observations:

Writing home today was tough. It's kind of terrible to think that I didn't really miss home until I'd been gone almost a week but I'll blame it on being very nervous while travelling and then being so overwhelmed with meeting new people and taking in such new and different surroundings. Realizing just how much I miss my family while attempting to write an email had me working pretty hard to blink away tears. I suppose that's what they call homesickness. Listening to music from home on my computer helps but I'm very much looking forward to that first skype/phone call!

I get stared at a lot. More so in Gitarama than in Kigali. It gets old. When kids shout "muzungoo" it's kinda cute and funny but when I hear adults refer to me that way I get kinda annoyed - your grown, shouldn't you be able to see beyond the colour of my skin?

Also, I think I understand a little better now how interns feel upon first arriving in a new country (or in Saskatoon). I was completely dependent on Hannah/Tina/Bogee in Kigali as I never had any idea where I was and knew essentially none of the language. Now in Gitarama, I am all but completely dependent on Patrick. I am getting better, I've learned where a few things are in the city and understand some of the customs but I'm still fairly useless. It's being caught between a rock and a hard place - you'd rather not admit your dependence, not even to yourself, and you certainly don't want to repel or annoy or inconvenience the person helping you but you are uncertain of how to do just about everthing so you have to, but if you annoy them off and they ditch then you're totally screwed. (You hear that Stoon? - for the first couple weeks the intern probably needs you for everything but are scared to ask so just do it without asking and with a huge smile, k? Oh, and talk to them every day!)

Daily Smiles

- "Can I find you a Rwandan husband?"
- "Why aren't you engaged? But why?"
- Seeing goats tethered to the ground and grazing outside someone's house and thinking "only in Africa." Then remembering all the fuss about having a few chickens in your back yard in Toronto. Shortly thereafter seeing oxen tethered in a similar fashion.