End of Term 1

First off, I apologize for my relatively long absence. Things have been picking up speed here in Rwanda as the first school term comes to an end, and I haven't been able to make it out for internet in some time.

Speaking of school, first term classes officially ended on Thursday, March 17^th.  Students take exams in every subject they have classes in, which under Ordinary Level (grades 7, 8, and 9) is about 13 exams. Advanced Level (grades 10, 11,12) is a little different because they do not all have the same classes. After 9-year basic education, classes take on 'combinations' which are essentially specializations. There are dozens of combinations for A-level, but most schools only offer a few at most. My school offers HEG ( History – Economics – Geography), MEG (Mathematics – Economics – Geography), and MPG (Mathematics – Physics – Geography).

Exams are broken into two categories: out-series and in-series. Almost all classes are on-series and only a few (namely ICT, French, Spiritual Activity, and Creative Performance) are out-series. Exams officially started Friday the 18^th with all out-series exams, including my ICT classes. The grading system for each class in based around marks, like points. Students get 10 marks for each class-hour per week on homework and another 10 for their final exam. This means that my 2-hour ICT classes get 40 marks total while my Mathematics class gets 120 marks.

In-series exams took place the following week and wrapped up yesterday (Friday the 25^th), but we're not done with the semester yet. Next week (the 28th-1^st) is the final week of term and is set aside for grading exams. Holiday officially begins the 2^nd of April, although many teachers (and students) will travel home before then.

The exams themselves are also something of an oddity. Students usually have between 2 and 3 hours per exam, although it rarely takes them that long. As English is the official language of instruction, all exams are also given in English (except, of course, French and Kinyarwanda). This leads to a few relatively minor complications as many students (and, indeed, many of my fellow teachers) have difficulty with proper English grammar and syntax.

NOTE: I hardly claim to be an expert on Kinyarwanda. As such, you should neither 'risk your life' nor 'bet the house' on the following information about Kinyarwanda.

One of the major difficulties my students (and again, the teachers as well) have with written English is punctuation, more specifically with sentence length. However, there is a rather logical explanation for this. While Kinyarwanda has a general syntax, it is almost devoid of punctuation except the occasional period. For example, the have a specific word to add exclamation to a thought, 'pe', and as such rarely use the exclamation point in writing Kinyrwanda. For example:

Go quickly.   =   Genda vuba.

And

Go quickly!   =   Gende vuba pe.

In addition, the conjugation of Kinyrawanda verbs combines all parts into one single word, meaning that simple English sentences can be expressed as a single word in Kinyrawanda. For example:

 I am dancing.   =   Ndabyina (root verb 'kubyina' is 'to dance', remove 'ku-' and add prefix nda- (present continuous single))

And

You all crowd around and stare.    =  Bashungereye (root verb is 'gushengera', remove 'gu-' and add prefix 'ba-' (you all), suffix 'ra-' become 'reye-' (past tense))

Now you can begin to see the complexity of this language, although once you understand how to conjugate a root verb in the different forms, its' easy to pick out the objects of a verb, even if you have no idea what the verb is.

 Because Kinyarwanda verbs are consolidated into one word (sometime the objects of the verb can even be made into infixes), and a Kinyarwanda sentence of 10 words can contain many different thoughts. Here's an example of an English sentence I found on a student's history test:

"The water is very important part to Roman people because everybody need water for cooking, drinking, washing and this water need to be near people so they could have it easy and this is why I say they made city near water.

(I find it ironic that as I typed that, spellchecker didn't flag any part of it as grammatically incorrect)

Besides a few minor subject-verb agreements (a whole other can of worms), this sentence expresses about 19 different ideas at the same time and should probably be streamlined and broken into several distinct sentences based around complete thoughts. You could probably write this sentence in Kinyarwanda using far fewer words (I'm not even going to try to translate it correctly).

One of the major non-linguistic challenges here in Rwanda is the previous (and sometime still on-going) reliance on rot learning (learning my strict memorization). For instance, I can recite the squares of the number up to about 16 just because I used rot learning to memorize them. Past 16, I need to start doing actually calculation in my head to find them. It isn't uncommon for a teacher to simply give a student his notebook and tell them to write the notes on the board and have the other students copy it down. The first few weeks of my math classes, it nearly blew the students' minds that I would actually explain a concept to them and re-explain if they didn't yet understand. They are so used to having to copy everything down (remember: no textbooks/ very very few textbooks) and trying to make sense of it later.

One of the ways this manifests itself in my ICT classes is in the way they answer their exam questions. For instance I defined Information Communication Technology as 'any tool used to send, receive, or process news, data, or information of any kind.' I then proceeded to explain the definition I a way they could readily understand. Even though they were able to paraphrase my definition in class, all 200 of my ICT students answered the exam question using the exact same wording I had given them with almost no deviation in word choice. While they scored well because this is, in fact, the definition I expected, I have no idea if they actually know what ICT means or if they simply fell back on their rot learning and memorized the pattern of words to answer the question.

I think I've mentioned before that Cyahinda, my site, has no power. Well, I now I have proof that this is about to change. Last week a fleet of industrial trucks rolled into my backwater town and started dropping power poles and erecting carriage towers. Still, the actual date the electricity will come depends on who you ask. The local Rwandans say 'tomorrow', my school staff say 'by the end of second term', but my mind just prays 'before December of 2012' (because that's when I'm scheduled to finish my service, not because the Mayans say the world will end, although the actual date I am expected to close service is awfully close to December 21^st…)

Speaking of which, I led my Senior 4 ICT class on a tangent a week or two ago about the solar system. Just as class was ending, it started to downpour outside and, seeing how Rwandans believe they'll melt if they get wet, my students insisted I stay until it lets up. While waiting, I noticed they had a poster on the wall describing the 9 planets and I dutifully informed them that our solar system actually has only 8 planets as Pluto was ruled to not count a few years back due to its irregular orbit, among other things. This, of course, blew their minds. A student then promptly raised his hand and asked, and I quote exactly, "why do all Americans think the world will in in 2012?" After a good laugh and informing them that not all Americans believe this, I gave them a crash course on the mechanics of the cyclical Mayan Calendar and a little insight into why some people believe ion the '2012 doomsday prophecy'.

Semester break starts on April 2^nd and runs until the 25^th. While there won't be any classes, and thus not much structure to my days here at my site, Peace Corps still wishes me to stay here as much as possible. Thankfully, I'll have what Peace Corps calls IST (In-Service Training), a week-long additional training event held during the last week of break. All 65 or so of us in my training group will reunite for this one week in Kibuye (on Lake Kivu to the west). Sure, there will be technical training and workshops to attend, but if Peace Corps thinks that there won't be any shenanigans, they're sadly mistaken.

DFTBA
-Shawn

With school underway (well, mostly), I find myself becoming less and less bored at my site. I teach at a Catholic boarding school in the Nyaruguru District of Rwanda, which is on the Southern Province, just west of Huye/Butare, the self-claimed academic capital of Rwanda. I have to say Huye/Butare because the restructuring that Rwanda underwent around 2006. If you look at a map of Rwanda that is, say, 10 years old (like all the ones on my house), you’ll notice that Rwanda is broken up into 12 Prefectures. During the administrative shuffle, the 12 Prefectures were reassigned into 5 Provinces: North, East, South, West, and Kigali. In addition, each Providence is made up of several Districts, of which there are 30 total in Rwanda.

Butare was originally the seat of the Belgium Colonial Government that ruled over the northern part of the then Ruanda-Urundi Territory (there are a few different variations of this name, but it is essentially present-day Rwanda and Burundi). In the early 1930’s, Butare was renamed Astrida after the Swedish wife of a Belgium King, but eventually reverted back to the original name Butare after Rwanda gained full independence  and the first University (now the National University of Rwanda) was built there in 1963. Butare was both the name of the city proper and of the Prefecture surrounding it, and was thought to be the main contender as Capital of Rwanda after Independence, but Kigali won out because of its more central location. While both the size and population of Kigali had ballooned in the years since, Butare has remained a moderate-sized town, catering mostly to the educational sector. During the Genocide of 1994, many people fled to Butare for safety, and its academic status helped keep Butare relatively safe for several months while the Genocide raged around it. The leaders of Butare, to this day still majorly a product of the University and Butare’s academic background, did everything they could to keep the Genocide from beaching Butare before they were killed and replaced.  During the administrative reshuffling in the early 2000’s, Butare was thought once again to be elevated to higher standards with its proposed selection as the capital of the Southern Province. However, Nyanza (the old Seat of the Kings of Rwanda during colonial and pre-colonial times) was surprisingly chosen instead. Butare City was officially renamed Huye and became the capital of Huye District. Officially, Butare no longer exists as a City or a Prefecture; all references to the City or the District should say Huye.

However, the people of Butare are rather stubborn when it comes to the affairs of their academic oasis. While all buses to Butare from around Rwanda will be labeled as Huye, the operators will still ask you if you are going to Butare, most signs in the City itself still say Butare, and everybody in the City still calls it Butare. Sorry, that was a rather long tangent; the point being Butare/Huye is the closest large city to me.

My school is what’s called a Groupe Scholera (or a Group School) meaning it technically houses Primary and Senior students, although the Primary classrooms are further down the hill by several hundred meters than the Senior classrooms. I teach Mathematics to a Senior 2 class (about the equivalent of 8^th grade) which meets for 6 hours each week. In addition, I teach Senior 4 and Senior 5 Information Communication Technology/Computer Science. Technically, classes started 3 weeks ago (on the 10^th), but the Senior 1 and Senior 4 students are not yet attending school because of the Primary 6 and Senior 3 exams from last year. Because of this, I am only teaching 8 hours per week, with 6 hours at the S2 level and 2 hours at the S5 level until next week, when my S4 classes will start (about a full month after the start of Term).

I live by myself in a house large enough for three people with absolutely no furniture (although I’ve commissioned several pieces from the local carpenter, with whom I’m also arranging a deal where I help him with his labor needs and he teaches me hand-carpentry). It’s difficult to get most things in my village, so I have been slowly accumulating things for my house during my infrequent trips to Butare and Kigali. I do have a local market; unfortunately it is about 2 miles south of my house and only runs on Mondays and Fridays. I had been warned by Emma, a Peace Corps Health Volunteer who has been in my town for nearly 2 years to never go to the market. Last time she did (about 2 years ago) they threw food at her. Rather bored, what did I decide to do? Go to the market. While no-one threw food at me and I did get several things I need for my house, it was a little awkward being the only white person these people have seen in a very long time (probably since Emma went there two years ago).

Because I lack the time, desire, and skills necessary to cook for myself, I have arranged a deal where I eat with a few of the other Rwandan teachers of my school. For 15,000 Frw a month, I get lunch and dinner every day. For those of you keeping track at home, yes that means I eat for less than $1 a day. For those of you not: 15,000 / 30 = 500, 500 Rwandan Francs (Frw) = about $0.87. We usually have rice, beans, potatoes, and a mixture of random vegetables and greens I try not to think about as I swallow. We (there are 9 of us) eat these meals from a communal plate, although we do use utensils. Somedays (usually around market days) we have Pineapple and on Mondays we have meat.

My village has no running water or electricity. All of my water is either collected off the gutter behind my house (pictures on Picasa) or brought from the school, which also collects rain from their roofs. All the electricity I use for my phone (yes, I have a phone, provided by Peace Corps; feel free to call me at +250784103401, but remember that I am currently 8 hours in front of Central Timezone)and my computer either comes from my small solar panel, or from the school, which also uses exclusively solar power. This is sustainable and great, except I’m expected to teach Computer Science with no power. However, they are currently running power into my village (the lines are halfway here and there are small square holes appearing in the ground at the rate of about 3 per week). I have been assured that we will have power by March…or July, depending on who you ask. I’m not holding my breath.

DFTBA
-Shawn

At Site (the long version)

Understanding that the last blog I posted was rather short (ok, really short), I figured I'd elaborate a little.

During the last week of training, we had very few structured activities in order to give us time to prep for our Language Proficiency Interview, which as I've said before we were required to hit intermediate low. My LPI was on Thursday, so I spent most of the week prepping for it. On Wednesday, Jed and I got permission to travel to Kigali so he could sort out some banking things and I could help, aka buy a guitar. Finally, at long last, I had a guitar back in my hands. My brand new guitar, of which there should now be a picture posted of, is a wood-grained blue Janson. Although not of impeccable quality, it is pretty nice and cost me a pretty penny as well. While in Kigali, I was also on the hunt for some Champagne to ring in the New Year correctly. Unfortunately, real champagne in Kigali runs almost as much as my guitar (to the tune of about 95,000 FRW (or about $160), so I settled for 2 bottles of some South Africa import instead.

Thursday was filled with the LPI and my Recommendation Interview with the Senior Training Staff. In my interview, they informed me that I did make Intermediate-Low and that they were recommending me to swear in.

On Friday, we rented out a bar for a celebratory farewell to out LCF's, which devolved and morphed into the New Year's pub crawl. Since we started rather early (around 4 pm), some of us were concerned about our ability to make it all the way to midnight. In fact, I had to take a 2 hour nap around 8:30 in order to stay awake the whole night. At midnight, most of us found ourselves in the bottom half of the Nyanza Heritage Hotel, where there was much dancing and drinking. The night ended well for the soon-to-be volunteers in Nyanza.

The next day, the Farside Houses organized a farewell to our respective resource families at the girl's house. We cooked a mixture of American food and traditional Rwandan food and feed over 50 people, not including the Fence Kids we invited in to help finish it all off. After dinner we took many pictures with our families (once again, up on Picasa) and retired for the night. It was off to Kigali in the morning.

Feeling ambitious in the morning, and with certain people still needing to pack for Kigali, a few of us woke early and made the trek on our backcountry shortcut into Nyanza. The busses whisked us off to the Capital where we first took care of some administrative paperwork (Peace Corps code for any official thing that simply requires you to wait around a lot) and then it was off to downtown for some last minute shopping.

In the morning, we got dressed in our finest threads (and faux-hawk for yours truly) and made our way to the American Ambassador's Residence where our ceremony took place. Speeches were given by soon-to-be volunteers in English, French, and Kinyarwanda. Yes, I did tape Jed's speech. It's difficult to upload an 8 minute video in Africa, but it's going….

After the ceremony we had 'cocktails' (not the drinks) which turned out to be more like lunch given that there was lasagna involved. After leaving the Residence we headed over to the Peace Corps office for the real lunch and to take care of some more paperwork. After a brief time downtown, we loaded the busses back for Nyanza.

The installation process (Peace Corps' name for bringing us to our sites, was set to start on Tuesday, although some Volunteers wouldn't leave until Friday. Kim, the nearest Volunteer to me save the one in my town, and I were picked up by Mup, our Training Manager, early Tuesday morning and installed by midafternoon. It's quite a different feeling going from being constantly engaged in training for nearly 14 hours a day to having absolutely nothing to do for near a week.

The school year was set to start on Monday the 10^th. Of course, I arrive to school on Monday to find only a handful of the 700 some students have arrived. This past week has been almost exclusively retakes of the national exams so students can move up to the next level. I'm told that the teaching schedule will be hammered out and implemented by Monday, although many of the new Senior 4 students won't be here until near February because they just had to take their exams to move from Ordinary Level (S1-3) to Advanced Level (S4-6). I also found out that I will be teaching 1 S2 math class which will meet for 6 hours during a given week, and 2-3 S4 ICT/Computer Science classes, which meet for 2 or 3 hours per week. This means that until the Senior 4 students get here, I will not have much to do save for my 1 math class. No complaints here, I'm sure I can fill my time by making my unused ICT skills useful in the computer lab (although we only have power at night…)

Speaking of power. For the last week I have been watching work crew dig seemingly random holes in the group all over my village. They would dig this hole and drop a tall wooden box, maybe 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide, inside it and then cement it in place. After a few days they would come back and remove the wooden frame, leaving a nice square concrete hole in the ground. I watched them do this about 15 times before I asked Anatole, my counterpart, what they were doing. His response: power lines. Can you believe it? They are digging these holes in the ground so that when the power is ready to be run, all they need to do is drop the towers into the holes and then cement them in. Depending on whom you ask my village will have power either in March, July, or 2012. Not holding my breath.

For now I bid my time in my village. The good news is I'll have plenty of time to lesson plan and grade homework!

 

-DFTBA (Don't Forget To Be Awesome)
Shawn

Alive, Installed, and Well

Well, I made it to my site safe and sound. This one will be short
because I just happened to find an internet cafe a few towns over.

We had News Years, then Swear-In in Kigali that went pretty well. I am
now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. The Peace Corps installed me
at my school last Tuesday, and I am doing well. The school year
technically started Monday, but I have yet to actaully teach a class.
New photos from the past few weeks are up on Picasa, check 'em out.
For now, I have to catch the jeep back to my school with one fo the
priests so that I can eat dinner with my fellow teachers.

Also, I now have a cell phone and the time to use it. The number is
(+25)0784103401. Feel free to call me if you can find a cheap way to
do it, but remember that I am 8 hours ahead of central time... let's
avoid the 3 am wake-ups, shall we?

Talk to you all in a few more weeks, that is, unless you call me

-Don't Forget To Be Awesome

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This message was sent using the University of Minnesota Duluth Webmail

This is a conversation I had with a man on the street on Nyanza Sunday morning as I was walking back to Mugandamore.

'Mwaramutse" he says to me, dressed in his Sunday best, no doubt just off the bus on his way to Chruch. Good Morning.
'Mwaramutse' I reply. Good Morning.
'Amakuru?' he asks, tilting his jaw slightly to his right. How are you?
'Ni meza, wowe?" I am good, and you?
'Nanjye ni meza. Ugiye he?'I am also good. Where are you going?
'Ndatembeye gusa, ariko ubu ndagenda mu rugo i'Mugandamore.' I was only wandering, but now I am going to my home in Mugandamore.
'Ahh, ni byiza. Ufite Noheli Nziza?'Ahh, it is good. Did you have a good Christmas?
'Yego, niziza cyane. Yes, very good. He smiles a broad, nearly toothless smile as he extended his arms and nearly shouts his last words.
'N'amahoro!'
Peace.

Normally, it would be near blasphemous for me to celebrate Christmas without snow. However, for Rwanda I will make an exception. With only 1 week of training left, Christmas was descending on Nyanza and the Peace Corps Trainees.

To start the Holiday off right, Friday morning found most of us undergoing a Mock LPI (Language Proficiency interview), which we will take for real next Thursday and must achieve at least an Intermediate-Low level. The plan was to take over a bar we had rented for the occasion and have a White Elephant gift exchange, talent show, and dinner.

For the talent show, the Farside houses performed a rendition of 'Crayola Doesn't Make a Color' in which many instruments we played, including two guitars, a glass-fork combo, and some rice in a bottle. Other talents included spoken word for one of our visiting Fulbright Scholars, several house songs/raps, and a rather brilliant retelling of the 12 days of Christmas as the "The 12 days of Model School." Halfway through the Talent Show, our kitchen staff arrived with our dinner and a small feast of meat and potatoes commenced. Before we could resume the Talent Show, however, a typical Peace Corps Dance Party broke out. Tables we pushed out of the way and more than a few Primus bottles we broken before or Talent Show MC's were able to rein everybody in (after they had they own fill of dancing for the moment) and finish the last few acts of the talent show.

With nothing left on the Christmas Eve agenda and it only being 8:30, the Dance Party once again hit full swing. A Peace Corps vehicle arrived at 9:15 to bring those of us living in Farside home, but many of us had already received prior permission to stay at other Peace Corps houses closer to town. The party continued longer into the night and eventually had to be moved in respect of our curfew.

Breakfast was served on Christmas morning, although many of us at the house where I crashed slept through it. A few Trainees were kind enough to liberate some food from the Center and bring it back to us. The morning was bright, albeit cloudy, making it a rather nice day to go for a walk. Just south/southwest of Nyanza City Center is a small reservoir with a few walking paths around it and some places to sit and enjoy the day. By the time we returned to town and ordered a cold Sprite to offset the now hot sun, it was almost time to return to the Center for Lunch. A few of the Trainees (Aaron and Deanne, I believe) had come up with one of their award-winning chili recipe and a few other Trainees helped make it and some cornbread-ish muffins.

After lunch we had scheduled a Christmas Movie Marathon in one of our Tech Training classrooms. We covered the floor in borrowed mattresses and pillows form the Infirmary and covered the windows with blankets as best we could to darken the room. First up, out of tradition, was A Muppet's Christmas Carol, followed by Love Actually and then Elf. Last up at 8pm was set to be The Big Libowski. Not really a Christmas movie, but still none-the-less great. We also filled in some time gaps with clips from Top Gun. I have to say, it almost gets no better than watching two Peace Corps Trainees reenact 'She's Lost That Lovin' Feellin'' while it's also being projected on the wall.

On Sunday morning, Farside came together to make breakfast American style. AS I was the last straggler to return to Mugandamore from Nyanza around 11am that morning, it fell to me to pick up the last of the supplies needed for the banana bread and French toast. Unfortunately, I didn't get the text message until I was already halfway home and knew that it would be difficult to find vegetable spread on the way. Alas I finally tracked some down (in the last shop remaining shop no less) and made my way to the girls' house where I was handsomely rewarded for my efforts with a full plate of French toast and bananas.

After a rather productive afternoon of rewriting lesson plans for my portfolio and taking some 'me' time to work on a rather nerdy math project for another Trainee, I returned to the girl's house to make Macaroni and Cheese. I have to say, it wasn't Kraft, but it was still awesome. We bummed around for a few hours playing catchphrase and Kinyarwanda Balderdash with Cate's boyfriend Joe who was visiting from Kenya where he works with an educational-based NGO (I think). He also reintroduced a game to us called 'Chinchilla' in which essentially the point is either to receive the fewest burns on your hands or be the bravest, and stupidest, player. One person will start by removing a glowing coal from the charcoal stove and lobbing it in the general direction, or towards the face of, another player. The goal is then to keep the coal in the air using nothing but your hands. It is actually much preferable to use only your hands because the hot coal tends to do a number on hair and clothing. By far the hardest part by actually picking up the coal as it involved the most time of direct searing contact, although the spectators also had an interesting time dodging the rogue coals.

As this is being posted (9:20AM local time on Thursday), I am just getting ready to take my Language Proficiency Interview. After that, I have to jaunt into Butare for some last minute shopping (read: ice cream) and then I have an interview with my training staff to discuss their recommendation for my service. I received a few emails with some questions in the last few days: I promise I will answer them in a timely matter (within 1 week).

Don't Forget To Be Awesome,
-Shawn

The End of Model School

From now on, I will post a quote from the past few days at the beginning of these blogs. Some of them may be juvenile, immature, or just not right. Just a warning.

“Shawn, I’d just like to tell you that I was just sexually harassing Scott and said your name instead….”-Jed

Last week represented the final week of PST Model School in Nyanza. With the chalk finally off my hands and no more lessons to plan at 11:30 at night, we decided to throw a celebration (even though the other half of the Trainees still have a full week left). The gang gathered at Inzu Ubumwe, one of the larger houses in downtown Nyanza close to all the action, and was joined by Mary our Country Director and most of the senior training staff. A small band of amazing Trainees made tortilla chips to much success as well as some other smashing-good food. Toasts were made in honor of our APCD, Kassim, who coordinated all of model school and Allison, our main Tech Trainer. We also cheered to Charles for his newly-created role a faux-pseudo-interim Science Tech Trainer, probably the only Trainee to ever fill a vacant PC Staff position. Unfortunately, Charles likes to go to bed rather early and, although we held the party at 6pm, he had already made his way back to Farside (although he claimed to be lesson planning). I only feel comfortable poking fun at him because he’s my roommate and I have been informed that his grandmother reads these blogs. Yeah, that just happened. After the toasts, a typical Peace Corps dance party started, which was continued in spirit at the bar. I really should say plural ‘bars’ because there were many stops involved. And there was much rejoicing.

During PST, we occasionally catch a lucky break and are given a choice in what we do. Ok, that may be a little unfair to the Peace Corps Training Staff, who are all excellent at their job. Sunday was one such day when we were given the opportunity to visit Nyungwe National Forest for some hiking. Nyungwe is a standing protected rainforest in southern Rwanda and contains one of the believed sources of the Nile River. Even though it is rather close to my school, I decided to go along with the group and visit the park so I could stretch my legs for once in 2 months.

From Nyanza, where we are housed for Training, we loaded onto buses and headed for Butare, the next city over. There, we met up with our Training Manager, Mup, for a short breakfast. By some random chance, I ended up in the back of the Peace Corps Landcruiser with the driver, Mup, and Chelsea (a fellow Trainee) when we left Butare to continue south to the Forest. The two hour ride down poorly-maintained roads would not have been so bad (and really wasn’t) save for the fact that the seats in the back of the PC Landcruisers face sideways instead of forward. For the first hour, it was pretty awesome to watch the landscape roll past in front of me. After that, it became a little nauseating to endure and Chelsea and I ended up attempting to not look out any windows while occupying our minds with German punk rock and Blue October.

At the park, we took a 3 hour canopy walk that circled around the main trailhead and info center. On the far edge of the trail, a suspended metal bridge had been erected that jutted out from the hillside. By the time we had arrived at the Canopy (as they call it) it had started to rain. Imagine that. Rain in a rainforest. Only 8 of us were allowed to accompany the guide at one time out onto the walkway for safety reasons, so the rest of us huddled under umbrellas and behind raincoats while the rain grew heavier. The first section of the Canopy takes you 45 meters away from the hillside to the first metal tower. From there, it is a 90 meter stroll on a steel gangplank about 10 inches wide, holding on to the side-ropes with both hands. We stopped about halfway along this section to enjoy the view while suspended about 200 foot or so above the forest floor. By the time we made it to the final tower and over the last short section to the hillside, it had begun to hail and lightning. It was then a quick strut back along a short trail to where the Canopy began followed by the return trip to the trailhead. About halfway back, the rain stopped and the clouds lifted enough for us to be able to see Lake Kivu to the West, a short but surprising distance away.

On the ride back to Burtare from Nyungwe Forest, we cracked the windows of the buses in a futile attempt at drying our clothes. After a further futile attempt at obtaining hamburgers in Butare for lunch, we settled for more traditional Rwandan food (‘pizza’ and brochettes) before zipping back to Nyanza at last.

This one is for Jed’s family. Yeah, I know you read this, too. For all of you who are scratching your heads right now, Jed is one of the Farsiders who lives in Inzu Amahirwe with me in Mugandamore, 3 miles from Nyanza City Centre. Charles ( yet another Farsider) and I were discussing codependency in the context of the Peace Corps Experience when Jed bursts into the room and begins to sing “No Air” by Jordan Sparks and Chris Brown (I’m told). Charles turns to me and says something to the extent of “Do we really need to be codependent with him too?” My response: “I keep Jed around for times just like this. See, Jed does his normal thing like bursting into a crappy song at the top of his lungs, which is in no way normal. But as long as Jed still seems insane, I know my own sanity is intact. It’s the moments that Jed starts making sense that we need to start getting concerned.”

-Don't Forget To Be Awesome
Shawn