Appreciation for everything will turn your life around.

Can you believe I've been in Rwanda almost 2 years?!?! I still can't wrap my head around it...time sure does fly. As my time winds down (only 3 months left...eek!), I thought I would list a couple of things I am going to miss:

~waking up to the sounds of my students singing
~my co-workers at FAWE Girls' School
~TEA BREAK!!
~hanging out in the staff room at FAWE
~laughing with my students
~my host family in Butare
~East African music
~bucket baths
~being in such close proximity to my Peace Corps family
~random kids on the street saying "Gooda morning teacher!" at any time of the day
~being called Uwineza
~the beautiful landscape of Rwanda
~the amazing moments when I realize the things I have been teaching are actually being learned and put into practice by my students
~all of the awesome friends I have made since being here
~my supervisor at FAWE (I have learned SO much from her)
~the warm welcome and feeling of inclusion that I received from the teachers I shared a compound with
~the feeling of pride and humility I get when my students get in front of their peers to teach the lessons we practiced together
~when my students can create a skit, song, poem, monologue to illustrate their thoughts/feelings on HIV/AIDS, decision making, goal setting, genocide, unity, women's empowerment, etc (in short...my students are ALL STARS!!)
~speaking Kinyarfranglish
~being late in American standards, but still being hours early by Rwandan standards
~Mama Goretti
~teaching new words to my Rwandan friends, and the look on their face when they see I am pleased that they are now using the word
~being mistaken for my Asian-American friend's mother or sister

~coming out of Nakumatt and all of the taxi drivers yelling my name and offering me rides home (kind of creepy, but still...)

~going over to my headmistress's house to watch Spanish soap operas dubbed into English, and laughing over a cup of tea
~isauci wa'umunowbwa (peanut sauce), ibitoki (plaintains, but not the sweet ones), urusenda (hot sauce & lots of it!), pilau (Muslim rice), dodo (when it's made just right), ibishyimbo (beans...the mushier the better), imineke (small little delicious bananas), and Muslim spiced tea
~Rwandan invitations (when they invite you out, they have to pay...haha!)

The simple joys, the little things that put a smile on my face, those are the things I'm truly going to miss.

A Day in My Shoes

It's been some time since my last post, and I just realized that I have never given a break down of my daily routine. Nothing is ever really consistent here, but here's some insight into a typical day for me.

5:45am: I wake up to the sound of the radio blaring and the yelling of the abakozi (they work with the cows at my school), promptly turn over and go back to sleep
6:15am: wake up to hear some of my students singing, I smile to myself...and then go back to sleep
6:30 am: my alarm goes off...I hit snooze
6:45am: my alarm goes off again...I contemplate getting up
6:50am: I finally get out of bed, fill up a bucket, and start boiling water to bathe (the water is freezing here in the morning)
7-7:30am: take a bucket bath, get dressed, eat breakfast
7:30am: leave the house, greet some of the students, teachers, and staff, make plans for after school activities, head to work
7:30-8:30: travel to work. My job isn't that far if you were driving, but public transport by my house takes for..e...ver.
8:30-9am: greet everyone at the office, chat with my direct line supervisor about any updates
9am-11am: staff meeting
11am: TEA BREAK!!
11-12: work...of some sort
12:30-1:30: lunch
2-5: work...of some sort
5-6pm: Depending on what day of the week it is, I usually rush back home to work with the GLOW Club or the Create a Smile Club
6-7pm: Prepare and eat dinner
7:15pm: brush teeth, wash face, prep for bed
7:30-9pm: listen to music, read a book, watch something on my laptop (depending on if I have electricity) until I fall asleep