Friday 15th September 2009
This does seem to have been a most relaxing week! This morning I had a lie in and didn’t get up until 6am! Again I headed for the shower with a ray of hope that the water would have miraculously warmed up over night and it would be like a warm bath...as you can imagine I was bitterly disappointed...it was bloody freezing as per bloody usual! I spent the morning pottering around while Ruairi headed into Butare to go to the bank...then it was over to the local secondary school, where all the teachers from the Ndora sector of Gisagara would be congregating to take their English exam. This has been set up by the Ministry of Education and all teacher throughout the country...all 47,000 of them from primary and secondary schools (and the heads) took the test to see what their level of English is...then based on the results, they will be put into classes for English lessons...but what happened to all the children I hear you ask...well, primary school children had the day off...and the secondary school children (there is only one secondary school in Ndora and that was where the test was being held) they just sat quietly in their classrooms and waited for lunch time...after lunch lessons would resume as normal...but until then...they just sat and talked quietly...AMAZING!!!!! Anyway...there is a point to this story...than just explaining what is going on here...I was in the staffroom (and everyone seems so nice!) when I came across a book...it was just an ordinary notebook but it had been covered in what appeared to be a old English exam paper...now, the front was pretty boring...comprehension questions (but the actual text wasn’t available) but turn the book over and it is a whole other world of fun!!! Written on the back (still the exam paper) was this question...

In which of the following situations would you use the phrase, ‘Look before you leap’?
a) Meaning I am about to jump
b) When there is a lot of noise in the playground
c) When you want to warn someone of the dangers ahead
d) When talking to a blind person at the river

Obviously the answer is going to be D...I love it!!! Anyway...On the way home I was asked the one question I have been waiting for the entire time I have been here...going four weeks without this question is very unusual...’do you go to church?’ although the answer is no...it can be very difficult to say that to people...especially when you don’t know the person who is asking you very well...I just made up some guff about how I do believe in something but I don’t go to church...apart from sometimes at Christmas to sing Christmas carols...and that seemed to go down quite well!
We walked home via the market to see if we could pick up some fruit...we did manage to find Papaya...there was a crowd gathered by the time we got round to buying it...lunch was bread...and a cheese triangle (I really maybe shouldn’t eat them as I did read on the back of the pack the other day that they went out of date nearly 6 months ago...they are a little on the sharp side...but generally ok!) and then out to the district office...where I am now!...this weekend is going to be my first weekend in Gisagara on my own...

Thursday 24th September 2009
This morning was back to the usual routine...only now I should have been able to put the photos on the page so you can have a better idea of what I mean! Myself and Ruairi headed for the district office...all was quiet...then Francois (whos name I have apparently been mispronouncing and using the girls version of!!!) arrived and the window was opened...but everything still seem frightfully quiet...that was it...no generator...actually...of course the generator was still there....but there was no diesel....after a substantial wait it was finally started...Francois then announced that there were four mock tests for the students in P6 to be typed up on computers...usually they would pay someone to do it for them (most often a university student from Butare) but there was no money in the budget so myself and Ruairi got to work. The science paper I was working on had pictures on it so I needed the internet to finish...for this I would need to go to the district office...so off we went...during the course of the day Ruairi managed the maths paper...while did science, English and social studies...god I was pleased to be finished...we finally headed home at 5pm...once home we started cooking...but one of the teachers from Gisagara B school (the one I was at yesterday) came round...actually it was a good thing as he was able to explain to Alexandre in Kinyarwanda that although we don’t mind having a few bananas...we really don’t want too many!!! Oh also...I have had a breakthrough...today a lady came into the office and asked how old I am...and rather than laughing and saying that I am old...and in fact laughing even harder as I am considered FAR too old to be single AND childless...but she just said ‘yes...you look young’...my word...I think the lady is going to be my new best friend!

'the views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO'.
While I remember, I also forgot to mention that during the storm yesterday evening...while I was safely tucked up in the house...over in the district office...there was chaos...the lightening which I had missed as I had drawn the curtains...had hit very close to the district office buildings...sparks were apparently flying...but all was well...I guess there needs to be some sort of excitement once in a while!
Wednesday 23rd September 2009
Today was the day I was to make it out of the office and into the real world...This morning, unlike previous ones...was a little more relaxed...Ruairi had a meeting in the district office about the English exams which all teachers will be taking on Friday. I was therefore able to stay at home...I had a nit of a lie in...partly in the hope that the water would warm up a little before had to shower...unfortunately this was not to be the case and the water was as cold as ever! Having been here for 2 weeks I thought that it was time to start sorting out and settling in...particularly as I now have more than 2 pairs of pants to find a home for! The only clothes storage I have got is a bookcase which I am going to drape material over to hide the clothes...but before the bookcase could be used I needed to clean it...baby wipes are great, aren’t they! They can be literally used for everything...even cleaning bookcases! Anyway...I was scrubbing away with my baby wipes...everything which was still on the bookcase was falling on the floor around me...but it didn’t matter...because the bookcase WAS going to be clean...good lord it was filthy! Anyway...like any normal human I decided to check the underside of the shelves...and yes...you guessed it...there he was...sitting there...eight eyes...all looking in different directions...and of course...not forgetting the eight bloody legs...now...I have been very brave up until now...letting them stay in the bathroom...I make myself feel better by presuming that they are unable to see anything...I have trouble controlling and focussing with two eyes most of the time so what they do with eight...god only knows...its the same with the legs I guess but they do seem quite good at controlling them...maybe not such a good sign! Anyway...I thought that it was maybe time to call for backup...’ALEXANDRE!!!!!!’ (slight exaggeration as I was really very calm about it!) in he came...I tried to explain that there was a spider hiding out under one of the shelves on the bookcase...I made spider out of my hands and made it crawl a bit...now I knew what that meant...but apparently, Alexandre didn’t...he thought I was asking him to come in and pick up everything that had fallen from the bookcase and all the baby wipes which I had dropped on the floor following the ambush...I tried to explain several times and eventually he understood, found the beast and took it away...unfortunately, this was not where our communication difficulties ended...Wednesday is also market day...Alexandre went out shopping armed with a list written by myself and Ruairi...one of the reasons for Alexandre doing the shopping is because stall holders see a mzungu coming and up the prices...this does not happen when he shops...once again ‘fruit’ was written on the list...in the vain hope that one day there will be some there...but underneath this was written ‘Sinshacker umuneke’ (or at least something along those lines...I am taking no responsibility for any of this as it was Ruairi who wrote it)...but, maybe what we had written actually meant the complete opposite as we ended up with even more bananas than before...I am trying to eat them....but they go off so very quickly and fruit flies seem to swarm in from nowhere to hang out with the bananas! Bored of watching the fruit flis...I decided to see if I could spot any birds...I sat in the door to my room and left some bread on the stairs in the hope of enticing some beautiful tropical feathered friends to my doorstep...but 20 minutes later with nothing more than a picture of an ant, I gave up and headed back into the house. The afternoon was to be spent observing lessons at a local primary school, Gisagara B. Upon our arrival we were met but the head and all children and teachers from P3 – P6 (a bit like Years 3 – 6 in the UK, but some of the students are well over 11, in fact it is not unheard of to have students who are 18, in primary school) the children sang for us and did some dancing...then we headed into class...we started with P1...who greeted us with their best English and sang us a song...the same this happened in P2. Then it was to P3 where there was a maths lesson going on...fractions...taught in English...in fact all the lessons I saw were taught in English which is encouraging...I watched an Elementary Science and Technology lesson (EST) on the subject of the role of trees in our environment...and what would be the first thing to spring to mind...yep me too...unfortunately, burning, building houses and making furniture was to come before the fact that we actually need trees for oxygen...well they got there in the end! I spent about half an hour in each class, but I must admit that I did have a favourite lesson...it was a P6 English class...on collective nouns...now if one was going to talk to a group of students about collective nouns...what would be chosen...actually I cant think of any at the moment...as the example given was so good...I think it may have been the highlight of my day...actually...no, what came after the lesson was the highlight...anyway...the example...what is the collective noun for a group of Bishops? No, I didn’t know either...but all the children in the class did...it is bench of bishops...but what came next was without a doubt up there with listening to when a child is born in French in the car from Kigali to Gisagara when I first arrived here...anyway...the children started to sing...Mary’s Boy Child...do you know what...this country don’t need to celebrate Christmas at Christmas time...they just celebrate all year round! I loved it!!!!!!! After this we were met again by the head teacher and I thought she was going to show us her office...which was a mud hut in the middle of the playground...I couldn’t quite understand why it was full of rabbits in hutches though...but thankfully it turns out that that is not her office but the rabbit hutches, the school are breeding the rabbits to sell (for meat) to make money for the school...Ruairi told the lady that I had thought it was her office and she was quite amused...while I was just plain embarrassed! We then did go to her office...had a drink and headed back to the house...Ruairi went out for the evening while I stayed in...the days excitement was just too much for me!!!