Catching up

You may have noticed I've been terribly, terribly delinquent with my updates. I apologize! I have lots of excuses, but they're all pretty lame and predictable: busy, work, traveling, sick, etc. etc. (Nothing cool like burning my face off this time.) And the longer I wait, the more I want to tell you! Sigh... I don't like doing mega-long blog entries, so I will choose only the highlights and also try to break this up with a few sub-headings for you.

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Surprise!
Trimester 2 of school is winding to a close. The close-of-term date that the Ministry of Education originally gave us was July 23. It's assumed that this is the day kids get to leave (it's boarding school), so I guessed that exams would be the week leading up to that, putting the last day of classes around July 16. Then I found out that teachers demand an entire week for grading, so the last day of classes would be more like July 9.

I went to teach last Thursday, July 1. It was Rwandan Independence Day. I knew it was Independence Day. Several times now in the past weeks, I've had this conversation:

- Will we have class on July 1st?
- Why? What's July 1st?
- Well, it's your Independence Day. [I point to the red-inked date on the wall calendar.]
- Oh, is it? No, yeah, of course we'll have class. Independence Day isn't really a big deal.
- Really? Because it's important to me to plan. It's near the end of the term, and I want to know how many more class periods I'll see my kids.
- Yes yes yes, of course. No, we'll definitely have class.

So, clearly we had no class that day. I reeeeally should know better by now -- this happened frequently in Mauritania, too. It's like every time an ANNUAL holiday comes up, it seems to be the first time anyone has ever heard of it and they have no recollection of it until the day before. Or day of.

In addition to the surprise holiday, we had a surprise teachers' meeting that day, in which we discussed the proposed exam schedule. "OK," says the school director, "so the last day of classes is tomorrow. Right?" Everyone agrees. What?! Tomorrow? And you're telling me this now?? That's just great, because I don't even teach on Fridays, meaning I've unwittingly already taught my "last" class to each of my sections. I was not pleased. The final compromise was that this week will be a week of "revision" (review), but if teachers want to still teach last-minute things, they have that option. Fine. I figured I'd have two hours left with each of my classes, and I would be able to get them all on the same page before exam time. I planned accordingly.

Came to school this morning for my 8:00 class. I found only one person in the teachers' lounge, but that's not strange because teachers are often late (a fact my director pointed out to them during the staff meeting, saying that Julie Ann is the only teacher who is always on time -- not awkward at all, yes). But this teacher then informed me that it was a holiday today. Again? Surprise! Two surprise holidays in a row! Happy Liberation Day (which was really yesterday, the 4th, but why not take an extra day off school as well?).

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Live from Buyoga...
I saw an idea in one of my language teaching manuals about having kids prepare a "newscast" presentation in groups. They suggested you show an example clip first so that the students clearly understand what's expected. Well, that's great, I thought, but I don't have anything to show them... or do I? So, some PCV friends helped me out, and I had far too much fun making a 5-minute faux-newscast, complete with amazing transitions and news-y music. (Wish I could post it here for you, but my connection can't handle that!) I wasn't sure if the kids would "get" it, but they seemed pretty into it when I showed them in class on my laptop. Then I divided them in groups of 6 and set them free over the weekend to prepare.

I had a blast watching them present. Some of them really got into it! One boy fashioned a necktie out of notebook paper, looking very sharp. I had some real characters, trying on their best enthusiastic American accents (which more resemble a speech impediment) and using some of the same tag lines I'd had in my sample newscast -- they have great memories.

Maybe my favorite group set up a desk like a little panel, and the "host" stuck his compass in it, pointy-side down, with the pencil directed towards him like a microphone. He finished his bit and the next girl sat down, but she was nervous so she didn't notice the compass there and was not facing it. Her group was trying to whisper to her, but she didn't hear, so the host walked over and casually spun the "microphone" pencil so that it was pointed toward her. I was cracking up!


And then their stories... I told them the news didn't need to be true, since I was more concerned about their presentation abilities than actual content. One group reported on our school's football club in a match with Manchester United, and another had Beyoncé and Rihanna coming to perform a concert in our school refectory. One girl cast all her friends as Miss Rwanda, Miss East Africa, etc., and had them all in attendance at the BET Awards. A few other stories of interest, in their own words:

"In last day America told to Iran let to produce nuclear weapon. Iran refused and answer America we are continue to produce them. If you want to fight us come we are ready to fight with you."

"The new singer called Lady Gaga who likes to wear knickers in her clips now is going to stop wearing knickers in her clips."

"On Friday 51st Septdecember 2030, in Amazone forest the lion was collided with mosquiato, after that accident the lion was dead. But mosquiato had only problem on leg and on buttocks, after that accident two elephants quickly take a mosquiato to the hospital and doctors told us that tomorrow this mosquiato will be allright."

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Little Miss Sunshine
Up until now, I haven't really had a Kinyarwanda name in my village. During training, my teachers had given me the name Kamikazi, which I thought was hilarious and awesome. It means little queen. I tried to introduce myself with that name when I arrived to my village, but the few people I told just laughed and asked what my real name was, so I gave up.

Now that I've been here a while, I decided to let my students choose and vote on a name for me. Their suggestions were super sweet and touching. In the end, the winner far and away was Akazuba, which is a diminutive form of the word "sun." One group summed up their choice thus:

"We name you this name because it's that we love and you shine and you are white as sun. Many people like the sun in the morning and all students love our teacher as that sun. Before that you come here, our knowledge was low, we were like in darkness. But after that you get here we're in light. It means that you are like a sun in darkness. Thank you!!!"



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Umunyarwandakazi
I got my hair braided again, with extensions. This woman did a much more thorough job than I had last time, and everything's holding up well after about 19 days now. Even in Kigali people have been impressed that I got it done in the village. It took 7 hours and cost 5000 francs, about $10. Now, I'm told, I am a true umunyarwandakazi -- Rwandan woman.



P.S. My mom arrives on July 17, to stay for 3 weeks! Not sure that I'll get to update while she's here, so perhaps expect another short hiatus... =) I promise to take lots of pics!