Who knew that teachers looked forward to vacation more than the students? Well, after twelve weeks of teaching, reviewing, testing, and grading, I am extremely happy to be on vacation for three weeks. I teach English to all of S1 and all of S2, which is the equivalent of teaching every student in grades 7 and 8, but with bigger classes. My S1 classes average about 65 students and S2 averages around 50, so in total I have nearly 500 students. Not only is grading homework compositions a pain, but grading a comprehensive term exam is the farthest thing from a cake-walk. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching, but I have found it very difficult to get to know the students and form a positive relationship with them since I just pop in and out of their class 2 hours every week. Anyways, after a week of proctoring exams (and catching 3 students cheating) and grading, there was a week to fill out report cards and then we were free to relax. On the last day of the term, there was a ceremony with the parents where all the teachers introduced themselves and we announced the top 5 students in each class. From there, the administration took us to a restaurant and we celebrated the end of the term and had a constructive conversation about challenges and possible solutions in both the primary and secondary school.
So now, the first week of vacation has just come to a close, during which I did a lot of nothing. I’ve really gotten sucked into The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo series, so after a week, I’m on the third book. I had a sleepover with the other girls from my group who live in Bugesera District, which was a nice break, but on Thursday, April 7th, Genocide Memorial Week, or icyunamo in Kinyarwanda, started and every day since then has been occupied by various events and discussions. I do not want to devote too much time to Memorial week because I plan to write a whole blog post on it when it ends Wednesday, but for now I’ll say that I have been very impressed by how Rwanda has chosen to celebrate such a horrific event and rather than looking at what happened, they focus on all the progress that has been made since ’94. Expect a full post Tuesday or Wednesday about my thoughts on Memorial Week.
Once Memorial Week ends, I will be venturing eastward for a couple of days to visit Akagera Park and go on a safari before heading all the way west to Kibuye, for one week of training with all the other PCVs from my group. I’m really looking forward to IST (in-service training) since I’ve only seen a handful of people since arriving at site. It’s also a time when we can all relax among Americans and just spend some time being “American” outside the microscopes that we live under at site. Though I love site and I’m slowly getting to know people in my new community, I am expected to abide by Rwandan cultural norms, which can sometimes pose a challenge for a young American girl. Unlike the guys, by 6:30 PM, when it gets dark, I have to be in my house for the night. I can’t be seen drinking alcohol. I’m a single girl living alone, which always leads to the “why don’t you take a Rwandan husband?” questions. So, after three months of being as Rwandan as I can, a week of training with 60-ish other Americans sounds like a good break.
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