On a daily basis I find myself questioning what is happening at school and in the community, so I thought I’d share some of these questions with you all.
So here you go…
Is it going to rain today? Please say yes because I really need to shower and filter some drinking water!
Is my hair that interesting? (there is much debate about whether my hair is natural or whether I have a weave)
Neighbors, can you please not blast the music and bass at 5 AM? Please and thank you!
Am I hearing a lizard, a mouse, cockroaches, or a bat in my ceiling? How about behind my trunk?
Why don’t chickens really cross the road in an efficient fashion like all the ’why’d the chicken cross the road’ jokes suggest? (this came after I almost hit a chicken while I was riding my bike to school)
Is there really a goat in my classroom right now?
Did my student just ask me if I knew how to do circumcisions?
Why does a woman have to look so miserable at her wedding? (it’s tradition for the woman to not look happy with what is happening and her future with her husband)
Shouldn’t all the teachers be here with me and the rest of the community helping to build new classrooms for umuganda?
Why aren’t secondary teachers as motivated to learn English as the Primary teachers?
Do some adults really think that if they have sex with a child they will be cured of HIV/AIDS? (this is supposedly something that traditional doctors tell people to do)
To wash my clothes or not to wash my clothes today?
WHERE IS MY PACKAGE??!!
Why is customer service so awful here? (if you go to a shop or restaurant they always seem utterly miserable to help or serve you)
Why can’t drinking one Primus (beer) be enough? Why is it considered rude if you don’t drink two?
What part of the goat am I eating right now? Intestine? Liver?
Remember the days when you could get food in under an hour and it would be hot when it came?
Why would a bus company let a bus run if it can’t switch into the correct gear to get up the big hills? Do I really have to walk up the hill while the driver tries to get an empty bus up the hill?
Is that blood in the shattered windshield on the bus? Shouldn’t that be replaced and not just covered with plastic?
How many boards on the bridge will be broken today?
How did my name go from Sarah to Sandrine?
Why can’t there be a warning that the power is going to go out so I can get my lantern and everything ready?! I’m tired of tripping and falling around whenever the power goes out!
Is that a flat rat? (dead of course)
Can you please say excuse me instead of shoving me out of the way? (manners don’t seem to come naturally here)
Do I really want to go out on market day when the population quadruples and I’m called muzungu every 2 seconds? Not so much…I’ll continue to read.
So that’s a little insight into my daily interactions and questions/thoughts about what’s going on around me. In general, things are going good. The third term has started off a little slow, but I’ve made myself busy starting up a GLOW (girls leading our world) club at school and organizing Camp GLOW with fellow PCVs, which will take place in December and teach 40 girls about life skills. This term is really short and soon it will be the long vacation, which means I need to find another project to work on during the three month vacation so I don’t go crazy.
I’ll be posting another blog soon, but for now, know that I am healthy and happy and really feel like I’m falling into a good rhythm with Rwandan life as the norm (I find myself comparing my life here to my life in the US a whole lot less, which I’d argue is keeping me sane).
