Man of many hats

Say "cheese!"

Of the many hats I am wearing, I now find myself wearing one as an English teacher. Think a lot of people here assume I am a teacher as they shout out in the morning, as I walk to work, “Good morning teacher”. The staff in the guesthouse were very keen to learn to speak English, or improve the skills they have, so I have started to give them lessons each week.  At first, there were just a few who wanted to come along but now I have almost all of the 23 staff who want to learn, plus a few from outside, so having to do a few classes.

As is the rote learning culture here, the moment you write something on a blackboard, or in my case on a wonky flipchart, everyone frantically copies everything down. At the same time, I’m getting them to teach me Kinyarwandan which is slowly coming along – I told them that all English tourists always want to know where the toilet is so now I have the staff going around saying “Good morning, where is the toilet?” or in my case “Maramutse, umusarane urihe?” – ‘umusarane’ is the word for toilet, you never know it may come in useful one day.

Flipchart paper showing the workings of a Rwandese mind - and I wonder why I struggle!
(Apologies to the author but I love this)

The heavy rains are now becoming more frequent. As I sit here, writing this on the terrace, I can see the clouds building up over the DRC, on the other side of Lake Kivu, knowing the thunder and rain will be here this evening.  This is usually accompanied by power cuts – not easy when you are in the middle of a Skype video call or the rain on the tin roof is so loud I cannot hear what the person 4,000 miles away is saying.

The change of weather has also brought out many more insects.  The challenge for me now is getting into the house, in the evening, before the mosquitoes do and I now regularly check out around the house to see what insects are around and remembering to check inside the bed and also the inside of my shoes before I put them on.  Often in the evening I will be sitting there and see something, out of the corner of my eye, scurrying across the floor.

Useful parcel from home - thanks Charlotte!

And with the rain comes the mud and now getting sense of how hard it becomes when this thick, red mud just gets everywhere.  I still can’t work out how the Rwandans manage to keep their clothes looking so clean whilst my trousers get covered.

Have decided to spend a few nights each week at the guesthouse and use the house just for the weekends.  The journey back in the evening, now the rains are here, is getting increasingly difficult and I still struggle with the long dark nights on my own in the house so having some evenings at the guesthouse will give me some company and opportunity to watch some TV in the restaurant even if it only football – can see I will have to commandeer the remote!

Looking forward to the company of some muzungu visitors during the months of October and November - people I know from England so it will be good to share some conversations over dinner.  I’m finding now that as I am out here for longer communication from home becomes less. I know we all have busy lives and even here I am finding time is going quickly, October soon and then Christmas just around the corner.  Will be my first ever Christmas (can't believe I am taking about Christmas) away from England but looking forward to experiencing a Rwandan one – have volunteered myself to help them organise an English carol service with a nativity – what do they say about never work with children or animals?!  Anyway, watch this space.

Wash day

Modeste, one of the guards, is busy doing one of his mega cleans inside the house. Most of the furniture is outside on the terrace, my washing all over the grass and hanging up to dry getting ready to be ironed.

Can now hear the distant rumble of thunder so rain may be here earlier than expected – Modeste get that washing in!