February 14, 2011
Hello everyone and happy Valentine’s Day from Africa! Today was yet another full day in the village. Beginning at 7:30, I taught Enrichment Year (equivalent to freshman year in America) math with Francoise for two hours. The class is still working on simplifying complex fractions with square root expressions in the denominator. Unlike last week, Brigitte volunteered to do problems in front of the class, without my help and without hesitation, and got them all right! I didn’t have to translate for her and she was completely confident in front of her peers and Francoise. On her way back to her seat, she came over to the front corner where I sit (so I can see the entire class if someone raises their hand if they need help) and high-fived me.
Next, in English, Aimable kept asking me how long I can stay in Rwanda. As I’ve explained to him several times, I have two more weeks here because we are only in the village for a month. He continues to ask, however, if I can stay longer. He told me, and I quote, “I will be feeling very sad when you leave. Please stay here forever? You are such a good teacher to my students.” I wanted to hug him but since we were in the middle of class and the kids were working on writing exercises that I was supposed to be walking around and correcting, I figured I should wait until another time. He really is an amazing person, and teacher. At the end of class, Aimable, being his usual friendly self, asked me what I thought of the museum in Murambi yesterday. I told him it was difficult to see, but important. His response has stayed with me throughout the day: "It makes you realize you're in Rwanda, doesn't it?" This made me think of what a crazy place this world can be, and made me aware, perhaps for the first time, of where I am and what I'm doing here.
In keeping with the theme of Valentine's Day, one of my students came up to me and asked me what I was doing to celebrate. They all know I have a boyfriend who lives in Israel; I’ve been asked this about thirty separate times by the same group of students. Instead of explaining to them that Israel doesn’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day, I assured them that I would talk to Roi and my Valentine’s Day would not be a total disappointment. However, this student wasn’t taking my answer and instead, he asked me flat out if he could celebrate Valentine’s Day with me. Well, as much as I wanted to say, “Absolutely not” and turn away in embarrassment, I explained to him that I have a boyfriend (yes, still, same as last time he asked) and that he should really celebrate Valentine’s Day with one of his friends in class; there are lots of smart, pretty girls in Enrichment Class D. I don’t know if he liked my response, but he gave me a hug regardless, wished me a happy Valentine’s Day and went along. Crisis averted.
French today was probably the highlight. Vincent is teaching them the very famous French poem by Jean de la Fontaine “Le Corbeau et le Renard” (The Crow and the Fox), which I memorized senior year in AP French and performed with puppets (I was really wishing I had my puppets with me… too bad they would have gotten crushed in my suitcase between my tuna cans and my sneakers). To illustrate the poem – it is very complex and employs very advanced structures – Vincent decided to act it out, crouching down and wagging his hand behind his back to be the fox and then switching to (attempting to) balance on one foot and flap his arms to be the crow. Well, Vincent is not exactly a young man, so balancing on one leg and flapping his arms to be a bird is not the best idea. This was made clear when he fell into the blackboard and nearly took a tumble; luckily, the wall and his arm in mid-flap caught him. He whispered to me, in French, “I am too old for this.” He’s not wrong; clearly, his acting days have come to an end. He told the class that their assignment for the next week is to memorize the poem. At this, they all groaned and began getting rather unruly, which is unusual for them. To show them that it’s not an impossible feat, memorizing this poem, I recited it for them (I’m still surprised I remembered it; I haven’t exactly been practicing the past few months) and they kept asking me how long it took to memorize, is it difficult, etc. I told them that anyone who wants help can come find me after school the next few days and I will work with them on their memorization. I reassured them that they are all very smart, hard-working students and they can certainly do it.
This afternoon was cooking and kitchen class with Momma Florida (Flor-eeda). This week, we made omelettes and home fries; the kids were shocked that a Muzungu could a) chop vegetables and b) actually cook. I showed them that I’m not totally incompetent and I got a round of applause after finishing the potatoes. Usually, we cook outside on the coals, but about twenty minutes into class, the skies turned black and a thunder and lightning storm ruined our al-fresco cooking setup, so we had to move “indoors.” Indoors means under a covered mud shed where there is one light that flickers on and off and beans are all over the floor (it’s where the kitchen staff sifts through beans for lunch and dinner). Cramming twenty people, plus Momma Florida, into this little shed was interesting, but fun. Toward the end of class (which always runs at least half an hour late), Momma Florida, who has only ever spoken French to me, asked me in English, “Where is your camera?” She remembered me taking pictures last week during our meatball class and wanted me to take some of our omelettes. Well, as soon as my camera was out of its case, the kids were all smiling, wanting me to take their picture with our food. It turned into quite the photo shoot. After dividing up and devouring our creations, we helped clean up (despite Momma Florida urging us to put the pots down) and literally ran back to the guesthouse in the pouring rain. Every time lightning strikes here, because we are so high up in the mountains, the entire village lights up. This was scary but convenient for finding where we were walking; none of the paths are well-lit, so walking at night, especially without a flashlight, becomes somewhat dangerous. We booked it from the dining hall to our side of the village (the two buildings couldn’t be further apart, naturally), and I am now recovering from being soaked through my clothes.
In other news, I did my laundry for the first time today. By hand. I have a whole new appreciation for washing machines and dryers. I scrubbed two articles of clothing together, as if I were trying to build a fire (I must have looked ridiculous), just to get them some semblance of clean. Luckily, I saw the lightning and heard the thunder before it reached the side of the village where the guesthouse is located, so I called people still in the guesthouse while I was in the kitchen, asking them to clear my newly cleaned clothes off the lines. Thank goodness for MTN cell phones (sometimes, when they work) and buckets for my clothes. I think I’m going to hang them in my room to dry, and perhaps to redecorate the place, if only temporarily.
Off to our nightly meeting now, and then tomorrow I’m back to schlepping bricks and cement at the work site!
Lots of hugs and kisses from Rwanda,
Elana
No comments:
Post a Comment