The First Day of the Rest of My Life…Or At Least the Rest of the Month (September 14)

On the first day of “work” here at UCK I started by meeting with the Rector and Patrick and a few other staff members to discuss the objectives of my stay. I passed the remainer of my morning watching a video on TEFL, with one notable exception. A group of journalism and communication students at UCK who I had spotted eyeing me through the open door of the English Centre asked me to present my opinion on whether it is necessary to be a virgin before marriage. In French! On Camera! Since they were nice enough to ask me and since I wanted a break I decided to oblige them but wrote out what I wanted to say first and not trusting the French I hadn’t really practiced in about three years (Ben, I refuse to count your harassment) I asked one of the students to proofread it to make sure it at least made sense. Now I’m certain I blushed and mumbled and replaced every le with les and naturally they had to do a second take (which I’m pretty sure was worse, not better) as the first didn’t work but all the students clapped for me anyways.

After lunch with Patrick we went to the girls’ school where conversation club had been the day before. First we met with the school’s administration, the Director, Dean of Accounting and the Dean of Finance and Accounting, to finalize the way in which I would be of assistance to the staff at the school. Since the Rwandan government, in its effort to change the second official language of the country from French to English and garner itself a greater stake in the East African community, has mandated that at the start of the next school year in January all classes that would normally be taught in French must now be taught in English, it was to be my duty to observe the classes that are already taught in English (Senior 1 and Senior 4 classes) and do my best to come up with a few things I can share as a native English speaker that will ease the transition for the school. Thus I was sent to observe an English physics class where I became worried that I wouldn’t have much to contribute as the teacher’s English was already quite admirable.

After physics was a break between classes during which three girls from Senior 6 came up and introduced themselves and asked if I wanted to see their classroom. Before I knew it I was surrounded by girls asking questions, invading my bubble, touching my skin and hair and forcing me to test my memory of French. As their next class was English taught by Patrick I was placed at their mercy and became the centre of attention for yet another lecture.
When I returned to my room at UCK I met the housekeeper, though I didn’t realize it right away. That confusion was quickly resolved as she took me by the hand and excitedly introduced me to Jean Baptiste, the house boy, showed me the kitchen and all the produce she had just purchased and told me a bit about her 5 children. After clearing up the misunderstanding that I was the oldest of three children rather than a mother of three she sent me on my way with a plate of fruit, some toilet paper, a fresh bar of soap and a rechargeable lamp in case the power goes out. Little did she know when the power went out the day before I took that as a sign and went to bed!

That night, at a lovely late 9:45 pm, I shared my first meal with the visiting teachers who are staying in some of the other rooms here. For the most part I quite enjoyed myself and spent the meal practicing my French (all the teachers are fluent in French and much less comfortable with English though it turns out nearly all of them know at least a little). Unfortunately, most of the jokes were told in Kinyarwanda. All of the travelling staff members are very nice and friendly and seem to be making a conscious effort to make me feel welcome and a part of the group. I still miss the ease of hanging out with people who have a better grasp of English (it takes a lot of effort for me to focus on understanding a speaking French) and who are a little closer to my age. But nothing beats a crowded dinner table, regardless of whether or not I understand the conversation.

Daily Smiles

- All the people who look at me at say “good morning” but don’t say or possibly know any other English
- The students asking me to sing them a song in English. And then another one!
- All of the questions I get aked that in Canada ould be considered totally inappropriate, at least upon first meeting:
- How old are you?
- Are you married or single?
- At which church do you pray?
- The looks on the faces of the girls when I explained to them that in Canada girls generally don’t marry until 25 or even later
- The look on the face of the Director of the girls school as he tried to comprehend -40C and how all three school administrators were thoroughly convinced that going outside in such cold meant instant death
- Lamely attempting to explain winter sports to the night students. It’s kinda hard when snow and ice have no meaning.
- The excitement of the housekeeper to show me her workplace.