'the views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO'.
Tuesday 15th September 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM!!! The day began with yet another trip to the cold water bucket shower...bread has not been delivered to the village for 3 days and we had run out so breakfast was 4 plain biscuits and a glass of squash...it is good to know that some things never change and I am about as good at keeping back up supplies in Rwanda as I was in the UK. There was a pineapple, which Alexandre had bought when there was no bread, but I didn’t have time to cut it as I was running late...some things will never change! We made our way to the Education office and were the first ones there. I settled myself behind the desk and decided that today WAS going to be a productive day. I used the template provided by VSO to write my letters to the directors of primary schools inviting them to participate in a project with myself, through which their school will become a ‘model school’ and teachers from other schools in the district can come and see. The letter and application form was written in both French and English and they were approved by Francois, the Director of Education. I tried to make out that I had written the letter in French myself (which obviously I hadn’t) but he didn’t seem to understand and the joke unfortunately was lost...boooo!! By half past ten the letters were written, approved, printed, signed and labelled...the only thing that was missing were the envelopes and they are kept by a lady in the District office...so off I went in search of the envelope lady. I knew which office she was in and that she was called Francois...which you would think would be enough information? Only the lady who was in the office didn’t speak any English...so it was time to try out my French...yep...I couldn’t even remember how to ask someones name...there were 2 other people in the office who find this very amusing and thankfully understood what I was trying to say! It was established that the lady in questions was in fact Francois and I proceeded to ask for the envelopes...again in French...only this time she seemed to understand completely!! As I came out of the office...I walked out of the office and straight into the Mayor of the district...who blurted in very rapid French..ooabdvkajblksadjbclkasjbdcliasbdclibdc....I don’t think that had I even spoken French I would have understood a word of it...I just stood and looked perplexed...while the man who was with him started to laugh...maybe as they then realised that if you are going to ask someone from the UK if they speak French...it might be an idea to do it in English...having realised this he then asked in English and was remarkably unsurprised when I said no I don’t speak much French...he shook my hand...turned and walked out of the building. I have also decided that the district office is my new favourite place...for the simple reason that it has a ‘proper’ toilet...I decided that it would be rude not to test out the facilities provided...(they even provide loo roll...now you don’t get that everywhere!) Anyway...to cut a long story short...I made the same mistake twice in a very short space of time...and ended up with wet feet for a second time...Basically, I went to wash my hands...scooped a nice big bucket of water...stood over the sink and poured it over my hands...only there is no pipe connected to the plughole...the water just poured straight onto the floor...thankfully I had my reasonably quick thinking head on and put the bucket under the plughole as a kind of damage limitation...I picked up my envelopes and RAN!!!!! I managed to find an office where I could camp out pretty quickly...but soon found that I was unable to use the internet. When it was repaired the previous day, a secured network was created so I headed to the IT office to get the code...2 hours later I was finally online...all it really would have taken was a little patience...but instead it was decided that there was something really wrong with my computer and I had a really bad virus...my computer was virus checked and needless to say...it was fine and very quickly connected to the internet...I headed home at 4 as the English lessons were being held and the generator and internet would be turned off...at home I set to washing pants/feet etc...and I then decided that it was time to sort out the water filter....I boiled a saucepan of water and decided to drain the water (because it is a new filter it is chalky to start with) wash out the bottom part and start a fresh...I stood there for a few minutes with a trickle dribbling into the saucepan...I took off the lid and had a look inside...put the lid back on and waited a little while longer...it was only when I took the lid off for a second time that I realised I could actually just pour the water out of the top...not my finest moment!!! Anyway...I cleaned it and put fresh water through...BUT IT STILL TASTES LIKE CHALK!!!!! I headed to bed at about 8.45 and once the light was out I managed to convince myself that there were GIANT SPIDERS in my room...when I turned my light on...turns out there was nothing there and I had imagined it all...ha ha ha...at about 10.30...I had a very nice surprise...a phone call from my grandparents...what a lovely treat...thanks guys!!!
Tuesday 15th September 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM!!! The day began with yet another trip to the cold water bucket shower...bread has not been delivered to the village for 3 days and we had run out so breakfast was 4 plain biscuits and a glass of squash...it is good to know that some things never change and I am about as good at keeping back up supplies in Rwanda as I was in the UK. There was a pineapple, which Alexandre had bought when there was no bread, but I didn’t have time to cut it as I was running late...some things will never change! We made our way to the Education office and were the first ones there. I settled myself behind the desk and decided that today WAS going to be a productive day. I used the template provided by VSO to write my letters to the directors of primary schools inviting them to participate in a project with myself, through which their school will become a ‘model school’ and teachers from other schools in the district can come and see. The letter and application form was written in both French and English and they were approved by Francois, the Director of Education. I tried to make out that I had written the letter in French myself (which obviously I hadn’t) but he didn’t seem to understand and the joke unfortunately was lost...boooo!! By half past ten the letters were written, approved, printed, signed and labelled...the only thing that was missing were the envelopes and they are kept by a lady in the District office...so off I went in search of the envelope lady. I knew which office she was in and that she was called Francois...which you would think would be enough information? Only the lady who was in the office didn’t speak any English...so it was time to try out my French...yep...I couldn’t even remember how to ask someones name...there were 2 other people in the office who find this very amusing and thankfully understood what I was trying to say! It was established that the lady in questions was in fact Francois and I proceeded to ask for the envelopes...again in French...only this time she seemed to understand completely!! As I came out of the office...I walked out of the office and straight into the Mayor of the district...who blurted in very rapid French..ooabdvkajblksadjbclkasjbdcliasbdclibdc....I don’t think that had I even spoken French I would have understood a word of it...I just stood and looked perplexed...while the man who was with him started to laugh...maybe as they then realised that if you are going to ask someone from the UK if they speak French...it might be an idea to do it in English...having realised this he then asked in English and was remarkably unsurprised when I said no I don’t speak much French...he shook my hand...turned and walked out of the building. I have also decided that the district office is my new favourite place...for the simple reason that it has a ‘proper’ toilet...I decided that it would be rude not to test out the facilities provided...(they even provide loo roll...now you don’t get that everywhere!) Anyway...to cut a long story short...I made the same mistake twice in a very short space of time...and ended up with wet feet for a second time...Basically, I went to wash my hands...scooped a nice big bucket of water...stood over the sink and poured it over my hands...only there is no pipe connected to the plughole...the water just poured straight onto the floor...thankfully I had my reasonably quick thinking head on and put the bucket under the plughole as a kind of damage limitation...I picked up my envelopes and RAN!!!!! I managed to find an office where I could camp out pretty quickly...but soon found that I was unable to use the internet. When it was repaired the previous day, a secured network was created so I headed to the IT office to get the code...2 hours later I was finally online...all it really would have taken was a little patience...but instead it was decided that there was something really wrong with my computer and I had a really bad virus...my computer was virus checked and needless to say...it was fine and very quickly connected to the internet...I headed home at 4 as the English lessons were being held and the generator and internet would be turned off...at home I set to washing pants/feet etc...and I then decided that it was time to sort out the water filter....I boiled a saucepan of water and decided to drain the water (because it is a new filter it is chalky to start with) wash out the bottom part and start a fresh...I stood there for a few minutes with a trickle dribbling into the saucepan...I took off the lid and had a look inside...put the lid back on and waited a little while longer...it was only when I took the lid off for a second time that I realised I could actually just pour the water out of the top...not my finest moment!!! Anyway...I cleaned it and put fresh water through...BUT IT STILL TASTES LIKE CHALK!!!!! I headed to bed at about 8.45 and once the light was out I managed to convince myself that there were GIANT SPIDERS in my room...when I turned my light on...turns out there was nothing there and I had imagined it all...ha ha ha...at about 10.30...I had a very nice surprise...a phone call from my grandparents...what a lovely treat...thanks guys!!!
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