Recently my father-in-law was speaking to my husband. Every so often he calls to say they need more sugar, which after enough calls results in him sending money to buy sugar or getting someone else to do it.
Well this past call was just too good not to share.
His father had called to say they still needed sugar. After discussing that for a bit the father than asked if she(as in me) was a little bit pregnant yet*. Of course Maxon said no. The father then asked if there was any problem, which Maxon responded with, “no, there is no problem.”(the dad referring to one of us not ‘working’)
Then Maxon said actually there is a problem, if I don’t have money for sugar how can I have money for a baby.
Now this next part is good-the father then said oh well if that’s it, then we don’t need the sugar, don’t worry about the sugar.
HAHAHAHAHA
This is the conversation that Maxon told me about when he woke up from a nap.
For some people who don’t understand a culture where producing children is what matters, and yes that’s how they see it as, producing. Here many people, certainly the older generations believe that the reason for marriage is to have children. Only. It’s just that one is doing a community service by having children. Children bring you status, not to mention little servants and/or workers. Many people only become married when one is already on the way. So you can imagine how strange they think it is to get married and not get pregnant right away.
This isn’t the first time we’ve been asked, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. See this is how conversations go here. Nice to meet you. How are you? Are you married? Do you have children? Why not? (is there something wrong with one of you? Is what they are really thinking, and some even say it)
*I don’t know how one can be a little bit pregnant. Either you are or you aren’t, right?
also note this is just one conversation I am sharing, there have been too many to count regarding this subject...
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Grasshopper/locusts, who knows what
There is a time of year here when these green things go crazy. I remember one night as my colleague and I were leaving the parliament there were SWARMS of these insects flying all over the place. The next morning when I returned to work the ground/walls/everywhere was covered. You couldn’t help but step on them. They even managed to get into the elevators.
Now what you might enjoy, like I did, was seeing all the workers catching them and putting them into used plastic bottles and just any old bag around. Even little children were climbing around the outside of the walls of the parliament to pick-them. (note I’m not sure why the parliament is the go-to spot for them, but I think it’s because of whatever bulbs they use in the lamp posts around the grounds)
After they are collected they sell them. If you go to the market you find huge sacks of them available, and they are quite expensive.
Well one day in class some of my lady students made a comment that as a good wife I need to bring some home and prepare them for my husband. I smiled of course and said ok yah. Well the next day these ladies were serious. At the end of class I had 3 members of parliament running around the room and catching them for me to put into 2 plastic water bottles. When the bottles were filled I thanked them and went on my way. Since I knew that I would never prepare them myself I decided to take them to my 4 nieces and nephews who had recently moved from Uganda to Kigali.
When I brought those water bottles out in front of the kids I have never seen such excitement. I said I didn’t know how to do it, but the 12 year old quickly said don’t worry he knew. I then watched these 4 little kids de-wing, de-leg them. We were left with maybe a half an inch to inch long body. Then they cut up some onions for extra flavor. They then told me you put them in the fry pan, but no oil is necessary because the bodies give off good oil. Then we cooked the little suckers up.
I didn’t give in and eat one, but I did love watching the kids eat some. We had used one water bottle and I wanted to make sure they left some for their mom, but they couldn’t contain themselves. In the end they ate them all. When their mom finally did come home she saw what they had and even she got super excited, so the kids prepared some more for her.
For sure this is something I won’t forget.
Oh and I should mention that the next day in class my students asked me about how it went and I told them and they were so excited.
This was just the beginning of the amazing relationship that I have been enjoying with my nieces and nephews.. more adventures with them to come, not to mention pictures.
Now what you might enjoy, like I did, was seeing all the workers catching them and putting them into used plastic bottles and just any old bag around. Even little children were climbing around the outside of the walls of the parliament to pick-them. (note I’m not sure why the parliament is the go-to spot for them, but I think it’s because of whatever bulbs they use in the lamp posts around the grounds)
After they are collected they sell them. If you go to the market you find huge sacks of them available, and they are quite expensive.
Well one day in class some of my lady students made a comment that as a good wife I need to bring some home and prepare them for my husband. I smiled of course and said ok yah. Well the next day these ladies were serious. At the end of class I had 3 members of parliament running around the room and catching them for me to put into 2 plastic water bottles. When the bottles were filled I thanked them and went on my way. Since I knew that I would never prepare them myself I decided to take them to my 4 nieces and nephews who had recently moved from Uganda to Kigali.
When I brought those water bottles out in front of the kids I have never seen such excitement. I said I didn’t know how to do it, but the 12 year old quickly said don’t worry he knew. I then watched these 4 little kids de-wing, de-leg them. We were left with maybe a half an inch to inch long body. Then they cut up some onions for extra flavor. They then told me you put them in the fry pan, but no oil is necessary because the bodies give off good oil. Then we cooked the little suckers up.
I didn’t give in and eat one, but I did love watching the kids eat some. We had used one water bottle and I wanted to make sure they left some for their mom, but they couldn’t contain themselves. In the end they ate them all. When their mom finally did come home she saw what they had and even she got super excited, so the kids prepared some more for her.
For sure this is something I won’t forget.
Oh and I should mention that the next day in class my students asked me about how it went and I told them and they were so excited.
This was just the beginning of the amazing relationship that I have been enjoying with my nieces and nephews.. more adventures with them to come, not to mention pictures.
Teaching English to Adults
My first year and a half I was teaching chemistry to 14-20-something year olds. Most of these students knew very little English, though I do have to admit that many of my students were much better than most other students in the country. With that said I battled teaching a subject to them in a language that they didn’t fully know. Not to mention dealing with normal teenage issues.
Teaching adults has been like a breath of fresh air. For one the class size is smaller, normally smaller than 20, average around 12-15 students. Although attendance tends to be an issue, I find teaching them much better than teaching the teenagers. Most of the adults actually want to be in the class and want to learn and understand why they need to learn. The only major problem is that outside of class most students don’t practice or have any chance to use the English that they are learning. Clearly that then creates a challenge for them to really get a handle on English, but I know they try their best and so do I.
I’ve taught a few classes and even been lucky enough to teach members of parliament including the speaker of parliament. What I liked most was how intelligent many of the adults are and once some level of English was grasped the discussions could really get good. It has also given me a chance to learn a lot more about Rwanda since I try to get the students to talk about what they know.
I did greatly enjoy my time teaching in secondary school, but for the time being I’m happy doing this adult education. The only thing I wish was different was the hours. For some time it was 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night, but now only at night, so during the day I’m free while at night I work. Not the most ideal situation, but its paying the bills and more, so I’ll continue for now.
Oh another great perk is that my first classes were students of Bank of Kigali, where I have my bank account, so whenever I go withdraw money I get great treatment..hehe:)
Teaching adults has been like a breath of fresh air. For one the class size is smaller, normally smaller than 20, average around 12-15 students. Although attendance tends to be an issue, I find teaching them much better than teaching the teenagers. Most of the adults actually want to be in the class and want to learn and understand why they need to learn. The only major problem is that outside of class most students don’t practice or have any chance to use the English that they are learning. Clearly that then creates a challenge for them to really get a handle on English, but I know they try their best and so do I.
I’ve taught a few classes and even been lucky enough to teach members of parliament including the speaker of parliament. What I liked most was how intelligent many of the adults are and once some level of English was grasped the discussions could really get good. It has also given me a chance to learn a lot more about Rwanda since I try to get the students to talk about what they know.
I did greatly enjoy my time teaching in secondary school, but for the time being I’m happy doing this adult education. The only thing I wish was different was the hours. For some time it was 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night, but now only at night, so during the day I’m free while at night I work. Not the most ideal situation, but its paying the bills and more, so I’ll continue for now.
Oh another great perk is that my first classes were students of Bank of Kigali, where I have my bank account, so whenever I go withdraw money I get great treatment..hehe:)
Getting Married in Kampala
In case you ever thought that getting married in a foreign country is difficult, well let me tell you, it is.
Well this is not entirely true. Although the process is laid out in front of you it is surprising how many things can come up along the way.
For us the biggest obstacle was obtaining a document that stated I have never been married and/or not currently married at this time, which many of you may or may not know, but this document doesn’t really exist in the United States. So like any good foreigner living abroad I went to my US embassy to find out what to do. They had this pre-fab document that I filled out and signed and the consular notarized it. This document is saying that I am swearing that I am not married (the US government cannot guarantee that this is true).
Along with all the other requested documents, we sent it on up to Kampala. A few days or weeks later when we had thought things were going well we found out from their state’s attorney that this document from the US embassy will not be accepted. They do not accept from any foreign US embassy, only from the United States. Now I tried to explain that since I had been residing in Rwanda, I can’t really get this document from the US, let alone that this doesn’t exist.
Well, where this is a will, there is a way.
With my mom’s help(BIG help) and frequent calls and trips to the local county registrar’s office we were able to get some letter saying that I have not been married in Bucks County. Now the hardest part was that earlier I had been mugged and lost my State ID, so proving that I was ‘from’ PA was not so easy. But somehow we found a photocopy of my ID that they were willing to accept. It should be noted that I even called from Rwanda to stress how I’m not in the country, hence my mom doing it for me. After the county issued this letter, my mom then drove to Harrisburg to get a certificate of something from the state’s attorney saying the county is allowed to issue the document, essentially it was a letter with a really nice stamp and seal, and we all know in Africa they love their stamps and seals.
In the end these letters were DHLed to me and then forwarded on to Kampala. After our photos had been posted and therefore formally announcing our intentions to get married(yes they do a downgraded form of reading the bans to see if anyone objects) we were allowed to get married.
Since both of us work we had to do it on a weekend, but wait they don’t work on weekends, so a Friday it was. We decided to go for October 1st. I kindof like it 10.1.10 pretty cool date if I might say so myself. We took a bus up to Kampala on Thursday. Friday mid-morning we went and waited and found out we were the only ones getting married at that time (sometimes they do multiple weddings at once). The lady who officiated even was like I’m sorry I forgot I have another meeting so we have to make this quick. Literally under 5 minutes. HA. gotta love it. Maxon’s best friend and one of his sisters were our witnesses.
On Saturday we went out to his village to see his parents and other sisters and nieces and nephews who were around to celebrate with them.
Then we rushed back on Saturday night on Kampala Coach to return to Rwanda.
Well Kampala Coach-great buses. Real good for sleeping, unless there is a preacher man who wants to stand in the isle and preach starting at like 11 pm(we boarded at 10pm). After much arguments, and I mean arguments that both of us were personally involved in, the man FINALLY ceased and sleep could happen.
Overall a quick little trip up to Uganda, but an important one.
My New World
I started this blog to follow my year volunteering for WorldTeach Rwanda in 2009. As many of you know after my first year I renewed my contract for a second year at the same secondary school.
What some of you might not know is how that second year went. Due to a series of events I had to resign because I could no longer work properly with the administration. So instead of working for a second year I only did 5 months. Now what stopped me from immediately returning to America was the fact that on my holiday in April when I went to Zanzibar my boyfriend proposed to me, to which I said yes. Luckily my school did not have anyone who would be moving into the house I where I was staying so they let me continue on until I found a new place and a new job.
Many people might think it’s easy to find a Rwanda and/or Africa being a white person, but this is not true. It is true that there are some big time jobs that make bank, but most of those jobs need specifically qualified people and normally recruit from abroad. Fortunately for me before I had come to Rwanda the first year I did a teaching English as a foreign language course, so I was able to get a job teaching English to adults. So far I have taught bank employees, members of parliament, lawyers, and many more.
In the meantime my fiancé and I had planned to get married. Something that we had hoped would not take long to organize stretched into many months. After a lot of paperwork and shuffling we were able to get married in Kampala on October 1, 2010.
Unlike 2 years ago when I went home for Christmas, this past Christmas and New Years we went to Uganda. We spent 11 days on a great vacation that really rested us up for the new school year that was about to start.
As of now I’m living in my husband’s school who provides their teachers rooms. Although this might not be ideal, it is free, and let me tell you free goes a LONG way. I normally work 4 days a week for 2 hours year day and this goes on 6 week cycles(if there is need for me, that is).
AND--2 weeks ago we submitted the VISA paperwork to the US embassy here in Kigali for him to come to America.
I have decided to start up this blog again to chronicle not only what we’re doing now, but also highlight some of the big events that happened in the recent past that I never wrote about.
Stay tuned for our adventures of getting married, moving-in together, and of course the trials and tribulations of doing paperwork for the US government..haha:)
What some of you might not know is how that second year went. Due to a series of events I had to resign because I could no longer work properly with the administration. So instead of working for a second year I only did 5 months. Now what stopped me from immediately returning to America was the fact that on my holiday in April when I went to Zanzibar my boyfriend proposed to me, to which I said yes. Luckily my school did not have anyone who would be moving into the house I where I was staying so they let me continue on until I found a new place and a new job.
Many people might think it’s easy to find a Rwanda and/or Africa being a white person, but this is not true. It is true that there are some big time jobs that make bank, but most of those jobs need specifically qualified people and normally recruit from abroad. Fortunately for me before I had come to Rwanda the first year I did a teaching English as a foreign language course, so I was able to get a job teaching English to adults. So far I have taught bank employees, members of parliament, lawyers, and many more.
In the meantime my fiancé and I had planned to get married. Something that we had hoped would not take long to organize stretched into many months. After a lot of paperwork and shuffling we were able to get married in Kampala on October 1, 2010.
Unlike 2 years ago when I went home for Christmas, this past Christmas and New Years we went to Uganda. We spent 11 days on a great vacation that really rested us up for the new school year that was about to start.
As of now I’m living in my husband’s school who provides their teachers rooms. Although this might not be ideal, it is free, and let me tell you free goes a LONG way. I normally work 4 days a week for 2 hours year day and this goes on 6 week cycles(if there is need for me, that is).
AND--2 weeks ago we submitted the VISA paperwork to the US embassy here in Kigali for him to come to America.
I have decided to start up this blog again to chronicle not only what we’re doing now, but also highlight some of the big events that happened in the recent past that I never wrote about.
Stay tuned for our adventures of getting married, moving-in together, and of course the trials and tribulations of doing paperwork for the US government..haha:)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Teacher Football-Take 1
I have been told that in previous years the teachers at my school were very active in sports, as in playing other schools or organizations in different sports. This year the men wanted to start that up again.
We decided that our first opponents should be the teachers of a nearby school. We wrote a letter to the school and the matches were approved and set.
On game day Friday we didn’t have classes after lunch because we teachers needed to prepare ourselves. For the last few days we had been practicing, you see this was not some friendly match, this was serious business.
Although I had been practicing with the teachers and I really wanted to play I decided on the day of that it was better if I didn’t play. To be honest I wasn’t sure how hard-core of a match this was going to be, so I figured it was better if I just went as a spectator.
After we had organized all the uniforms (note I lent 3 pairs of shoes to my fellow teachers, cause I have big feet and they can wear mine..haha) and such we loaded into our school bus and headed over to the other school.
Once we got there we met the other teachers, and in typical fashion we then waited around for a while since we didn’t know what and when things would start.
It ended up that we played a teacher match of volleyball first. I’m sad to say my teachers got creamed by this other school.
After the volleyball match it was time for the main purpose of the visit—the football match.
By this time the school day was over so most of the students of the other school were there to watch. They even had a PA system with students being announcers. Even these students took it seriously, they commented on the game in at least 4 languages, constantly switching, so everyone could have an idea of what was going on, not to mention it was just funny for them to keep switching languages.
Watching the game was a lot of fun because not only did I know all the teachers from my school, but I knew many of the teachers from the other school. It was a fierce competition because most of the men were friends so they wanted to show their friends up..
In the end my school won, which made us super excited. After the match we took pictures and then went for some food and drinks together.
Overall it was a great time and we agreed that in the next term we would have to do it again.
We decided that our first opponents should be the teachers of a nearby school. We wrote a letter to the school and the matches were approved and set.
On game day Friday we didn’t have classes after lunch because we teachers needed to prepare ourselves. For the last few days we had been practicing, you see this was not some friendly match, this was serious business.
Although I had been practicing with the teachers and I really wanted to play I decided on the day of that it was better if I didn’t play. To be honest I wasn’t sure how hard-core of a match this was going to be, so I figured it was better if I just went as a spectator.
After we had organized all the uniforms (note I lent 3 pairs of shoes to my fellow teachers, cause I have big feet and they can wear mine..haha) and such we loaded into our school bus and headed over to the other school.
Once we got there we met the other teachers, and in typical fashion we then waited around for a while since we didn’t know what and when things would start.
It ended up that we played a teacher match of volleyball first. I’m sad to say my teachers got creamed by this other school.
After the volleyball match it was time for the main purpose of the visit—the football match.
By this time the school day was over so most of the students of the other school were there to watch. They even had a PA system with students being announcers. Even these students took it seriously, they commented on the game in at least 4 languages, constantly switching, so everyone could have an idea of what was going on, not to mention it was just funny for them to keep switching languages.
Watching the game was a lot of fun because not only did I know all the teachers from my school, but I knew many of the teachers from the other school. It was a fierce competition because most of the men were friends so they wanted to show their friends up..
In the end my school won, which made us super excited. After the match we took pictures and then went for some food and drinks together.
Overall it was a great time and we agreed that in the next term we would have to do it again.
Term One 2010
Well it really has been too long since I last updated this blog. I am sorry for that. Things have been busy.
The last time I wrote anything it was just February and school was about to start. This school year in Rwanda was pushed back about 3 weeks because there had been teacher training sessions going on throughout the country. That meant that instead of a 12 or 13 week term, it would become a 9 week term, and although 9 weeks may seem like a long time, in this case it was not. By the time all the students arrived, classes and schedules were sorted, it was time for midterms, and before one knew it, it was also time for end of term exams.
Normally report cards for the exams are given the last day before the students are sent home for the break, but this term the teachers and administration of my school(like many schools in Rwanda) decided to give reports back in term two because we wanted to maximize the amount of teaching days that we could.
This year it was decided that I would be teaching only organic chemistry. I was given 3 senior 4 classes. One of the classes was a new combination for our school, PCB(physics, chemistry, biology).
I must say that after a year of teaching the same students I had not really realized how much my students had gotten used to my speaking, because my new students wow, what a reality check. I really had to grade my English much more than I had been doing by the end of last year.
I also decided that I was going to rework my notes from last year to try and improve on how and what I taught. I did decide that I would give my students my notebook at night so they could copy everything on their own, therefore leaving me to discuss the notes in class and not having to write them on the board, which saved me a lot of time.
Before I knew it the term was over. It felt as though we had just started to really find ourselves, me getting used to them, them to me, and then bam-term is over.
Overall I think the term went well, though it was a little strange for me to not have to do as much prep work as I did last year since I was teaching material I taught/prepared last year. This left me a lot of free time. I tried to use the time as much as possible, though most of the time I found myself with not much to do. Well, what I found myself doing was planning my vacation for the term break..haha..
The last time I wrote anything it was just February and school was about to start. This school year in Rwanda was pushed back about 3 weeks because there had been teacher training sessions going on throughout the country. That meant that instead of a 12 or 13 week term, it would become a 9 week term, and although 9 weeks may seem like a long time, in this case it was not. By the time all the students arrived, classes and schedules were sorted, it was time for midterms, and before one knew it, it was also time for end of term exams.
Normally report cards for the exams are given the last day before the students are sent home for the break, but this term the teachers and administration of my school(like many schools in Rwanda) decided to give reports back in term two because we wanted to maximize the amount of teaching days that we could.
This year it was decided that I would be teaching only organic chemistry. I was given 3 senior 4 classes. One of the classes was a new combination for our school, PCB(physics, chemistry, biology).
I must say that after a year of teaching the same students I had not really realized how much my students had gotten used to my speaking, because my new students wow, what a reality check. I really had to grade my English much more than I had been doing by the end of last year.
I also decided that I was going to rework my notes from last year to try and improve on how and what I taught. I did decide that I would give my students my notebook at night so they could copy everything on their own, therefore leaving me to discuss the notes in class and not having to write them on the board, which saved me a lot of time.
Before I knew it the term was over. It felt as though we had just started to really find ourselves, me getting used to them, them to me, and then bam-term is over.
Overall I think the term went well, though it was a little strange for me to not have to do as much prep work as I did last year since I was teaching material I taught/prepared last year. This left me a lot of free time. I tried to use the time as much as possible, though most of the time I found myself with not much to do. Well, what I found myself doing was planning my vacation for the term break..haha..
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