September 13- September 19: Getting started!

Peace Corps staging is a time for volunteers who will be training together to meet each other, get a debriefing on their project, and find out logistical details about the twenty-seven months they will be serving.  I was incredibly nervous in the days before training, thinking that the other thirty-six volunteers would know much more about Rwanda and English teaching than I did.  However, when I arrived at the conference center in Philadelphia, my nervousness disappeared.  I met a group of awesome, adventurous people, some of whom did know way more than me and others who knew even less than me!  Together we were able to discuss our expectations, anxieties, and fears, which made everyone realize that we were pretty much all in the same boat and made us very comfortable and relaxed with each other.  That night a group of us went out for the perfect last US meal: bacon cheeseburgers.

The next morning, we bussed to New York for our flight to Brussels.  After eight gate changes and an hour delay, we finally were able to board.  However, due to some problem, we had to stay put for another three hours!  Because of this, we missed our connecting flight, and the next one to Kigali wasn’t until the following day.  Being the flexible people that all Peace Corps volunteers must, we were ready to take full advantage of our European detour.  As soon as we checked into our hotel, we headed out to the Grand Plaza to have fries, chocolate, and waffles.  We had the chance to tour the beautiful basilica and to take pictures with the famous Mannekin Pis.  I was happy to now be able to say I’ve been to Europe!

On Friday we flew out of Brussels to Kigali, this time with no problems.  When we arrived, Peace Corps staff was waiting to take us to headquarters, where we would be staying in their hostel.  We enjoyed two more days of electricity and running water while we went through interviews with the doctors and training staff.  It is so beautiful in Rwanda; everything is so green and flowers are in bloom everywhere.  There are breathtaking views of rolling hills anywhere you look.  We really enjoyed our stay in Kigali, but had not yet gotten a taste of rural Africa.

On Sunday we loaded up the vans and headed to Kamonyi, where our training takes place.  As we travelled further from the city, the views became even more beautiful.  We climbed higher and higher into the hills until children began to stare and chase our vans because they so rarely see Americans. We arrived at our Hub site, where we met our Language and Culture Facilitators.  I was placed in a group with Janay and Charlie, with our awesome LCF Nonci.  She taught us key Kinyarwanda phrases, so that we would at the very least be able to greet our host families.   Groups of three volunteers were scattered throughout the district up to four kilometers away, but we were placed right down the street from the Hub site, about a five minute walk.

I met my amazing host parents, Francois and Benilde, and three of their nine children, Diane, Rosani, and Synthia.  The others were older and had moved away.  They greeted me with much enthusiasm, beginning with a prayer.  I felt bad that I could not communicate more effectively with them as they chatted away to me in Kinyarwanda.  Synthia, who is eleven, is at an intermediate English level, so she could translate some things and give me some instructions.  My family is so nice, but it is hard to get comfortable when you have no idea what is going on, so I got overwhelmed very quickly.  The family and I stayed together in the living room until dinner time at eight. They taught me numbers and body parts and kept trying to quiz me, and I continuously failed.  Dinner consisted of rice, beans, vegetables, and a tiny bit of goat meat.  I am proud to say I ate it all, despite only liking about ten percent of it.  The food will take some getting used to!  For dessert they gave me pineapple and boiled, sweetened milk from the cow that lives in the backyard.

Many of the families here are very poor and live in tiny houses, but mine is better off, as my father is chief of the village.  I have my own room which is only a little smaller than my room in the US.  The kitchen and latrine are in the backyard.  Most of the homes do not have their own water source, but mine does, which is nice, because I don’t have to leave to fetch my water.  The house is wired for electricity, put currently it is not running, so we use kerosene lanterns at night.  I also will be taking bucket showers for the first time in my life!

Today we began our intensive Kinyarwanda training, and I can already see why past volunteers have said these are going to be the most difficult three months of my life.  Charlie, Janay, and I met at Nonci’s house at eight to begin our studies and took a lunch break at noon.  From one to two thirty we went to the Hub site where we learned about what we will be doing for our technical English teaching training, and then we headed back to Nonci’s until five.  At the end of our language lesson, she had us go try to talk with some boys in the street, and they clearly thought the abazungu (foreigners) trying to speak their language were pretty ridiculous.  However it is very fun to greet everyone to greet everyone in the streets with a “Mirirwe!” or “Amakuru?”  They like to see us attempting to integrate.   I especially love the little children who run up and think it is the most amazing thing just to touch my hand.  It is pretty disconcerting to always have people staring at me like I’m a freak though!  Back at home the barrage of vocabulary continued but today it was not as overwhelming.  Mama and Synthia taught me a song in Kinyarwanda and I sang a song for them in English.  Their homestay daughter from a previous training class called and I was able to talk to her, and she was very encouraging.  Again after dinner I was exhausted and headed to my room to relax for the first time today.