This week’s top fourteen:
1. We rode home from Ngara on Sunday in a coaster bus built for 12 with 25 people. Typical.
2. I bought 3 freshly picked parachichi (avocados) from a local shamba (farm) at our town center for 200 shillings. Some quick math and that converts to 4 cents each. I’m going to hate American grocery stores when I get back.
3. Guacamole and leftover rice makes a really delicious dinner. No joke. (And we can avoid the strenuous process of lighting our charcoal jiko. Although, we have finally been able to successfully light it by ourselves this week. The key is to gather the right sticks, go figure.)
4. We have a new addition to our house…a second table! It literally was the best day ever when we could move our food off the floor. We put a beautiful kitenge on it for some decoration and this place feels homier everyday! We’ve also hung a large shower curtain on the wall that Marisa brought from America. It has a huge map of the world on it. It’s awesome. (And it covers up most of the dirt on the wall.) Next to the map we’ve hung my favorite picture from the local papers thus far…none other than the Wisconsin Badgers beating Utah 16-14. Random? Certainly. Why this is news worthy here I have no idea, but it was a nice little touch of home!
5. In order to protect my eyes on my piki piki ride to and from school, I wear sunglasses everyday. Thankfully I brought two pair, because my first pair inevitably broke in my over-packed bags at some point. However, when I was leaving school on Tuesday, I was bouncing down the intense dirt path to school and my sunglass flew out of my hand. My driver speaks no English, and we were going much to fast to stop, so I said good-bye to them. Now, I haven’t seen any sunglasses here, so it was actually really sad that both pairs I brought have already seen better days. When I got to school Wednesday morning though, one of my form 4 students came to my office and handed me my sunglasses! They found them on the side of the road and knew they were mine. How wonderful! Students here are awesome.
6. Thursday evening we had dinner with the Member of Parliament and other volunteers in our region in Rulenge. He is travelling to Dar es Salaam for the next few months, so he wanted to see us all before he left. His house is so nice; it was a good change of pace to have some electricity! It was nice to see the other volunteers as well and the food was delicious!
7. The French and English teacher at our school left this week to go to the university in Arusha. Which means we no longer have an English teacher? I’m actually unsure, but it’s possible no one is teaching English. Sad day! But then two new teachers are beginning on Monday, but one is teaching biology and the other chemistry. So we have five science teachers and no English teachers? Ah. I don’t even know….
8. We have two lizards and at least one frog that live in our toilet. Literally. It’s an unfortunate reality…for all parties involved.
9. We visited the Muyenzi girls and Mama Kabibi at the hostel two nights this week. Our social schedule was booming, obviously. It’s a good time though, with a mix of Swahili and English conversations, some bui bui visiters (giant spiders), and too many “chizi sana’s” to count. Everything is chizi sana here. That’s Swahili for “very crazy.” Oh Mama Kabibi! Also, the girls taught us one of the songs they sing at church, “Asante Shukuru.” We sing it before bed every night to make sure we remember it, because at any moment someone might ask us to sing for them. But really, it happens.
10. Some of my form one girls taught me the Bukiriro school song on Friday afternoon. The students were cleaning the environment, and the girls were cleaning my office while teaching me the song. They had written out the lyrics the day before, (because naturally they had asked me to sing them a song…so I sang Asante Shukuru and then asked them to write the words ofr the school song.) So together they helped me learn the whole song, which was hilarious. Especially when I turned around to notice all the form one boys peering into the windows behind me, laughing of course. I made them all sing with me then. Such good times, but I have learned it! Not by heart, there are way too many words for that…but at least I’ll be able to sing along when they sing it on Monday mornings. Although I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I was asked to sing it by myself at some point for the school…which would be ridiculous. I’ll let you know when it happens….
11. We want to buy a chicken. And name her Chizi. Apparently for 4,000 shillings this could be a reality. Only $3. I’ll keep you posted.
12. We want to host a sherehe at our house as well. Party time, Chizi included! This could be so insane, but so great at the same time. Perhaps we’ll just invite our fellow teachers, or perhaps we’ll include the form four students once they’ve finished exams. This is a work in progress, but we’ll go all out with soda and American music and everything. Oh I cannot wait!
13. Also, the population of our village: 200. Wait what?! Yes, we live in a village of 200 people. No water. No electricity. One solar panel in the village center. One church. One school…which has over 300 students, most of whom walk 7km from Rulenge every day. One soccer field behind our house. A handful of herds of cattle and goats. And that’s all. For miles. It’s declared as “the bush” by locals, so we embrace it. We’re the 1% diversity. Literally. And every single person here knows us, and way too many things about us. My dream of teaching math in a little African village is the reality of my life. Love it!
14. And last for this week, I’ll let you know that my Swahili is improving! So many people are trying to help me learn, including my students, fellow teachers, headmaster, Mama Kabibi, and everyone else I meet. However, they are also trying to teach us Kishubi, the local language…and boy does that get confusing! Sometimes I don’t actually know what language I’m speaking. But it happens. For anyone curious, here are a some words of the week that I’ve learned:
Uraho/Ndaho: How are you/I’m fine. (kishubi greeting)
Ulakoze: Thank you (Kishubi)
Mgomba: banana tree
Bui bui: spider
Kuimba: to sing
Nimeweza kuimba wimbo wa shule ya Bukiriro: I can sing the Bukiriro school song…
Lakini, siwezi kuelewa wimbo wa shule ya Bukiriro: But, I can’t understand the Bukiriro school song…siku moja. One day…
Wimbo wa shule ya Bukiriro
Ndio wakati na mda umefika
Amukeni wote twendeni shuleni
Ni jambo jema humushukuru Mungu
Kuona tumeamka salama
(Chorus)
Shule yetu hii ya Bukiriro tunaipenda sana.
Twawapongeza wazazi wetu
twawa shukuru walimu wetu
Asante sana walimu kutufundisha
Shule yetu hii ya Bukiriro
Inaonyesha ufunguo mpya
Na ngao yake inapendeza sana
Elimu ni ufunguo wa maisha
Jukumu letu kwa sisi wanafunzi
Ni kuimidi masoma zaidi
Vipindi vyote yapasa tujifunze
Sasa walimu kazi twawapeni
Tupate mwanga ndani ya shule yetu
Na change moto kwa walimu wetu
Taaluma nyingi yapasa tujifunze
Tupate nefsi kakote tuendako
Shule izae matunda ya Baraka
Madakitari walimu makarani
Maofisini kokote tuendako
Chimbuko liwe sec. Bukiriro
Tamati hapa na mwisho temefika
Tunaroomba kwa walimu wetu
Yakosoeni makasa tufanyayo
Tusipoteze hazina ya maisha.
One day, I will successfully translate this to English.
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