Hand sanitiser in a Waragi bottle and other packing tips from the spatially challenged

Tomorrow I’m departing for Kigali en route to Uganda for a couple of weeks. Its the TTC holidays and genocide memorial week back here in Rwanda so it seemed like a good time to see another part of East Africa. However packing for a holiday has never been such a challenge.  Anything I take with me has got to fit into quite a small rucksack and be taken on the back of a moto along a long and bumpy dirt track, then squashed between my knees on countless bus journeys and finally lugged on my back around many towns. The pressure is on to pack light, or else suffer from restricted circulation between the knees on the bus and risk overbalancing on the back of a moto. So here are my top tips for a lighter rucksack...

1) Decant big bottles into small bottles.

This is easier said than done. My industrial sized bottle of Tres Semme shampoo probably weighs more than I do at the moment so it has to be decanted into a smaller bottle. The only smaller bottles I had were Waragi (dodgy Ugandan gin) bottles and hand sanitiser. The Waragi bottle was made of glass so it had to be the hand sanitiser. So I put hand sanitiser into the Waragi bottle to leave at home and shampoo into the hand sanitiser bottle. Voila! Lets just hope I remember its hand sanitiser before my next swig of Waragi...

2) Rock and roll

Those air roll vacuum bags are genius. Just squish your bulky towels and jumpers in it, seal it up and roll all the air out of it. But don’t sit on them as they pop! It does make your clothes look a bit like you’ve slept in them all night but I probably will have done that anyway so I won’t look any different.

3) Take a sarong

Definitely the most useful item you can take. Forget sleeping bag liners, pashminas, head scarves and beach dresses, the sarong does it all.

4) Travel wash

Ok so I do hate washing my knickers on the road, it can be very embarrassing hanging up the Bridget Jones knickers to dry on a hostel window but sometimes you just have to because it leaves more room in your bag for shopping.

5) My big fat Thailand trekking hairband

It makes me look like an old Babushka but it covers a multitude of hair sins and enables you to take less shampoo, see point number 1.

6) Leggings

Can be thermal underwear on a cold mountain, pyjama bottoms, or worn underneath an otherwise culturally indecent dress.

7) Flip flops

The essential footwear for hot days which take up very little space. They also stop you from getting electric shocks through your feet in the shower, as mentioned in a previous blog post.  

8) The cloth bag

Rolls up really small but allows you to put lots of things in it as and when needed. It can be a shopping bag or it can also have dirty clothes put in it, muddy flipflops or a wet bikini.

Well those are all my packing tips for now. I will be reliant on using internet cafes as and when I can to access the internet for the next few weeks so there may not be many postings on my blog for a while. Needless to say I’m sure I’ll have endless adventures to share with you later xxx.

Je faire du promenade

Well I was feeling a right dunce today after adding up lots of exam scores, doing it wrong and having to do it again, told to apply a formula to the scores and then doing it wrong yet again and having to do it all a third time (its all still a mystery to me but I’ve handed the marks over to someone else). Then the electricity went off for five hours when I had lots of work to do on my laptop. Grrrrrr! As the frustration mounted I thought ‘what would I do at home?’ to dispel my irritation with the world and the answer was as always ‘go for a walk’. Now this is not as easy as it sounds because the idea of going for a stroll without a purpose is very alien in Rwanda but I thought sod it, I need to do what I need to do. So I donned my flipflops and cardigan and set off down the long and windy dirt track that leads to who knows where.

As I hoofed it down the track I soon found myself alone outside for the very first time in Rwanda.  Or at least I couldn’t see or hear anyone else. This was the case for a good 5 minutes and it was totally magic. I can’t believe how beautiful it was down this little isolated track. Hills with cartoon points gave way to deep valleys with clusters of little mud houses at the bottom. Piebald goats greedily munched at tufts of luscious green grass and the earth was redder than in Australia ‘red centre.’ Alas my solitude was not to last for long. A young man pushing his bicycle met me in the opposite direction. I think he asked me where I was going in Kinyarwanda but I just couldn’t remember the reply, not that I could say where I was going anyhow as I didn’t know where the track led to. I tried the French ‘faire du promenade’ but to no avail. I’m looking forward to starting my Kinyarwanda lessons at the end of April as the people in the village don’t seem to speak much French outside of the TTC and I desperately want to talk to them and I can see they want to talk to me also. I’m sure if I do my best they will meet me more than half way.

It was just so liberating to go for stroll. It has inspired me to stay in the village for a few weekends next term. I’ll go to the market on Saturday and go for a walk. I am a lucky girl to be here in this beautiful land, I just need to learn how to cope with the attention I create and get over my shyness with trying to communicate in Kinyarwanda. ‘Buhoro buhoro’ as they say ‘slowly, slowly!’

The wonders of language

This week I have been treated to some truly brilliant answers for ‘why do you want to become a teacher?’ on the S4 exam. They all tried so hard to understand my questions and write in English (although sometimes it was definitely French!). They ranged from the very inspiring ‘Teachers are foundations of life’ to the rather more direct ‘Gives me money’, but actually most of them were way more society minded than I expected. Just goes to show that trainee teachers are a lovely egalitarian bunch the world over.

But it was a response to ‘why do teachers do teaching practice?’ that really made me smile. One

student wrote ‘to stop them from trembling’. If only it had worked for me! No amount of teaching practice would have kept the shake out of my knees on my first day of my NQT year or indeed from my first day standing up in front of a class of 60 African teenagers....However the response that gave me the most pause for thought was for the question ‘name a quality of a good teacher’ one student wrote ‘to stop children from having sugar mummies and daddies’. In my innocence I had to look up the meaning of such words, jeez I am innocent no longer...!

Well to put myself in their shoes I have been going at it some with learning French. I am officially temporarily banned from looking at the Guardian’s website however much I want to, it has to be Le Monde international and I have to translate. Deary me there certainly wasn’t much to translate for the UK news this week. I may have translated wrong but it seems that

Le train de vie du duc d'York embarrasse les autorités britanniques

The lifestyle of the Duke of York embarrasses the British Authorities

Again was all they had to say. Yawn. So I found a French textbook in the library and translated a lovely poem about Rwanda. I hope you enjoy it. It has made me very excited to see the volcanoes.

Les Birunga du Rwanda

Gashinga, Sabyinyo et Bushokoro,

Muhabura, tour majestueuse,

Karisimbi, le plus haut de tous,

Ils ont vraiment fière allure !

Ils ne dorment point,

Ils sont seulement assoupis,

Oh ! Les Birunga du Rwanda,

Ils ont vraiment fière allure !

Ils règnent, ils s’élancent

Aux confins du firmament,

Demeures immortelles des ancêtres,

Ils ont vraiment fière allure !

Bonjour, gorille des montagnes,

N’aie plus peur désormais,

On te protégera, toi et ton environnement.

Tu as vraiment fière allure !

Viens voir digne enfant de ce pays,

Réjouis-toi également, frère touriste,

Les Birunga du Rwanda,

Ils ont vraiment fière allure !  

The Volcanoes of Rwanda

Gashinga, Sabyinyo and Bushokoro,

Muhabura towers majestically,

Karisimbi, the highest of them all,

The look really proud !

They are not dormant,

They are only dozing,

Oh! The volcanoes of Rwanda,

They look really proud !

They reign, they soar

On the edge of heaven,

Dwellings of our immortal ancestors,

They look really proud !

Hello, gorilla of the mountains,

Be afraid no longer,

We will protect you and your environment,

You look really proud !

Dignified child of our country, come and see,

Enjoy them also, tourist brother,

The volcanoes of Rwanda,

They look really proud !  

Eat, pray and read hello magazine

This weekend was all about repairing my soul. It was like a mini version of the book ‘eat pray love’ but sadly without the love story at the end. It was Louise’s birthday and so we went to a place called ‘The Manor hotel’ to eat and lounge about by the pool. I have finally found the posh part of Kigali – the district where the Manor hotel is located, Nyarutarama, is home to the city’s rich. There are 4x4s everywhere and lovely massive whitewashed houses with big gates. As part of the hotel complex there was a shop selling expensive cakes and one selling nice new looking clothes. The streets were cobbled, the gardens were manicured and the view was stunning. However the thing that impressed us vsos the most was the hot showers and hairdryers in the changing rooms. That was it. One by one people disappeared for an hour at a time and came back with nice soft, shiny blow dried hair and a grin from ear to ear.  

Down at the pool I had a freezing dip and looked at ancient copies of Hello and Cosmo magazines. Seeing Eammon Holmes dressed up as a Christmas king made me choke on my gigantic wedge of cake and reminded me once more why I chose to be in Rwanda. As I sipped my fanta citron and watched the reflection of the sun going down across Kigali’s skyline I thought ‘I do not miss you, plastic celebrities, with your ticky tacky showroom houses, bratty spoiled children and orange tans’, but yet I carried on reading about them, disgusted but fascinated at the same time in much the same way that Jim Carey’s face in ‘The mask’ brings about similar feelings of dual interest and revulsion.

Moving on from cake by the poolside, I have discovered my favourite restaurant in Kigali so far. Its called Lalibela and its an Ethiopian restaurant with great spicy food, lovely owners and a real lit fire you can sit around in the garden. Ethiopian food is very different from Rwandan food. For starters there were no carbs! Not one! Whereas the typical Rwandan ‘melange’ or mixed plate, has loads: rice, chips, spaghetti, plantain, spicy boiled potatoes, all on the same plate, Ethiopian food is all about different kinds of meat in different kinds of spicy sauces and delicately flavoured vegetables. Don’t get me wrong, I like carbs but it was really lovely to have a change. And to top it all off the owner was going in our direction to go home and he gave us a free lift back to our guest house in his sparkling big 4x4, how is that for hospitality!

 The next day I woke up to a new cultural experience, going to a Rwandan Church. I have always been fascinated by the idea from a curiosity point of view, but wanted to go with other people that I knew so I took the chance when I was invited on Sunday. We went to the Anglican church of Rwanda’s English service by Kigali Institute of Technology. I was surprised by how similar it was to a church service in England. It was a very nice church with a very international flavour and I loved the singing. We were invited to share some tea with some people from the Church which was lovely. We had a conversation about tea with a Sri Lankan, a Kenyan, a Canadian and some Brits so it was very international! One day I think I will have to get brave and actually go to the Catholic Church on the hill where I live to compare, mind you I don’t think they will have an English service there!

A few more photos

So here is the outside of the TTC

And the entrance. There are no students lounging about because they are all doing exams, poor things.

And this is what my resource centre looks like from the outside

And this is a rice sack map I made of the TTC

And last but not least this is my hero Elmer, he is multicoloured and proud. I am very proud of him. He is definitely the best rice sack I've made so far.

Well thats it for now! If I have time after marking hundreds of exam scripts I'm going to try and make a ludo board game on a rice sack....never been done before!

Out and about

By popular request I've decided to put a few more photos up of my surroundings. Soon I will psyche myself up to go for a proper walk around with my camera as it is really beautiful here. I want to get some cute kiddie picutres too, but you have to be a bit careful as many adults here do not appear very keen on having their photo taken, unlike in China where people posed literally anywhere! But for now here are a few more.

I'll start with some more shots of my house. My house in a nice brick dwelling which is lovely and cool in the heat.

It has the most beatiful garden

And a nice view out the back

Lets be honest the toilet can be creepy in the dark and I won't tell you about my losing things down it nightmares

 
And showering facilities are basic!

But its my home and I'm learning to love it more each day. Heres a picture of my new improved bedroom. Its still got some way to go but I think the African fabrics brighten it up. The white things everywhere are French flashcards.

This is what I see every morning out my front gate.

And this is what I see on my walk to work

The road is never this quiet when I actually am walking to work! I went at an unusually quiet time of day.

Now the computers being a bit weird so I will try and post these then I might do some more.

Culinary Inspiration from the most unlikely of places...

When I was searching for no bake no fridge few ingredients recipes I came across a recipe for Prison brownies. A bloke named Ricky who lives in prison in the US is my saviour. I don’t know how he managed it but he has found a way of making pretty authentic brownies using chocolate cream biscuits, chocolate syrup and 1 chocolate bar. I’m glad that some people spend their time inside being productive and helping others. Thank you Ricky. Making them is all in the method. First your separate the cream filling from the biscuits. You bash the biscuits until they are just crumbs. You break the chocolate bar into tiny pieces and mix with the crumbs. You add the chocolate syrup until the mixture sticks together. Form brownies. Then you blend the cream filling with a little water and spread over the top of the brownies. Leave them for an hour or so and enjoy. Not bad, not bad at all. They are a bit stickier than ordinary brownies so you will get messy hands.

Exams

I know the exams are for the students but I couldn’t resist having a go at the Senior 6 French exam when I found a spare paper lying around. Wherever in the world I happen to be and however old I am it seems my swotish, bookish, teacher’s pet tendencies are never that far away. I’ll never forget that date I went on at the bookbarn in Bristol. The poor unfortunate guy endured hours of watching someone stare at a psychology textbook on visual illusions and then trailed me around as I discussed the relative merits of different books on making displays in the early years.   

I do actually enjoy exams. I know its not normal. It certainly helps to pass the time. The senior 6 French exam has helped me to fill two periods of exam invigilation already. I have been slowly translating a page and a half of dense French text, first without a dictionary and then with for the words I couldn’t work out, and you know what, I think I’m getting better. I think its roughly equivalent to A level French so I’m feeling quite proud of myself that I managed to do it. I’m determined not to forget all of my French this time. I’ll be making a nuisance of myself across the channel by insisting on speaking my bad French at Callais buying copious amounts of vin rouge...ah vin rouge, how I miss you.