Ain't No Mountain High Enough

So, I have been living in Africa for a month now. Wow, I still have a difficult time buying that sentence. Even though I can scarcely remember a time before I was here in Rwanda, it just isn't possible that it's already been a month! Even though I constantly feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants, school and teaching is racing by. I need to start writing more stuff down, because it all happens so quickly and instantaneously, I can hardly remember it to share with you fine people.

Where we last left off, our amazing African adventurer was amidst her 1^st week of teaching at Kigali International Community School, and somewhere between pulling her own hair out and doing cartwheels down the dusty, yet endearing, Rwandan streets. Life in Africa is quite the emotional roller coaster full of both intense frustrations and exhilarating escapades. After our first week of teaching, my fellow teachers and I were all doubting whether or not we made the correct career choices. Now, I realize the Freedom-Writing-Stand-and-Deliver-Dead-Poet's-Mr. Holland teacher would never doubt their calling, and rise to the challenge and send every student to Harvard within a month, but I am simply being honest with you (we're just that close, I know you won't tell). All of us had such little time to plan and scarcely any of the resources we've become accustomed to, and had such grand visions of the perfect first week of school that we simply could not pull off to the extent we so desired. And without much direction (in the way of textbooks, which are still non-existent) it becomes quite difficult and exhausting to plan meaningful, interesting, non-time wasting,and FUN lessons for those pesky (yet so wonderful) students :) We stayed at school working every evening, well past dark, and would leave our house at quarter to six each morning, determined to be the amazing life changing teachers we know we are.

Now, I don't mean to sound whiny, or that this particular post is a “complaint post”, but just a glimpse into my head as I went through the first week of teaching here in Rwanda. And even though teaching here is ENTIRELY different than teaching back in the states, I know my first week of being a teacher would be just as difficult anywhere. It has been almost 3 full weeks of teaching now, and to be honest, each day has become so much less stressful than the last. I've found my “niche” again, and am really having a ball. My kids are SO much fun, and really keep me on my toes :) I got two new students this week, a boy from Kazakhstan and a girl from Finland (who scarcely speaks a lick of English – good times). The boy, Alexander, was moved up from 3^rd grade into our class this week, and today at lunch I asked him how he is liking 4^th grade. He answered “Oh, I love it. I really, really love it. More than 3^rd grade, I think. You know, because in 4^th grade we work very, very hard. But this makes it more interesting for me.” Well said, Alex, well said. Just what I needed to hear :)

So all in all, it has been an amazing month. This past weekend, we had a 3-day weekend, and my roommates and I were invited to join one of the missionary families, the Jenkins, on a one day trip to Lake Kivu, on the border of Rwanda and Congo. We were a bit hesitant to go, because there is always so much to do, but we ended up all going, and it was AMAZING. I can't even begin to describe to you the beauty of the lake, as well as the Rwandan countryside as we drove up there. Luckily, I don't have to describe it, because you can look at some pictures! I set up a Picasa web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/cmtolon/MyLifeAsAMuzungu#. I recommend you check it out.

Well, I'd love to tell you more about absolutely everything that's been going on here, but I doubt anybody actually reads to the end of these posts, so I won't. Plus, it's 10 pm, and I have to plan what some 4^th graders are going to be doing tomorrow :) Our books still haven't arrived, but I'm having fun with it for now. It's nice not to be bound by silly standards and texts and actually teach applicable and relevant content...

OH, one more quick story – Here in Kigali, one of the quickest (and more importantly, cheapest) ways to get around is by “moto”, which is simply a motorcycle taxi that takes you all over town. The process is simple – you flag one down, tell them where you want to go, haggle over the price and laugh at each other's ridiculous offers (yours are always too low, theirs – too high), slip on the helmet, jump on, and off you go. Well, we had been using these to get to and from school for a couple weeks, against the advice of several veteran Rwandan expatriates, who said they were too dangerous. But being the adventurous (and by adventurous, I mean cheapskate) gal I am, I continued with the moto. And of course, I now bear the mark of the average Rwandan moto rider – a nasty burn scar on my inner calf from where my leg touched the muffler. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And on top of it, after my trip to Lake Kivu where we were on the beach all day with a large band aid covering my deformation, I know have a large square shaped tan line around the wound, making it all the more noticeable. It looks like some sort of mutant target on my leg. Oh well, you live, you learn.

Love you all and hope to hear from you soon!!

Who Needs Sleep?

I've only got a few short minutes to write this, as the school day starts in about 10 minutes, and I have to be a teacher :)

First, I've been getting a tremendous amount of requests for my address here (that is lie - mainly from my mom and Abby), so here it is!

Cady Tolon

B.P. 6558

Kigali, Rwanda

That is actually the P.O. box for the school, since they don't really have a mail system here like we're used to in the US.  They don't really have streets here, hence no street addresses... Makes getting directions here a pain in the tuckus.

Second, a little bit about my first week of teaching here at KICS.  To save time, I'll just make a list for you of some of my favorite and/or unique events from the past week:

1. Floris from Holland, fainted on Day 1

2. Ishyaka from Rwanda, spewed his lunch all over his desk and Word of the Day book on Day 5

3. Louise from Uganda, completely obvlious to the class going on around her, will randomly burst into song AND dance (seriously, during group work, instruction time, and silent reading, I will look over and see her mouthing words to herself and doing the cabbage patch)

4. Arnold from Rwanda, on his 4th grade interview sheet, listed "my new teacher" for the thing he liked most :) (Clearly, he's my little brown-noser, but I still love it!)

5. We made a "dream quilt" of our yearly goals, and Pazi from Italy wrote: 

"I would like to build a brand new creation.  It will be a floating boat.  A small one of wood." and drew an accompanying picture.  

I'm not quite sure why this tickled me so much.  It was just so cute, and I really hate to break it to him that this isn't quite a "new" creation.  It's been done before...

6.  Mrs. Tarja, the secretary from Finland who basically runs the school, told me her favorite movie is Finding Nemo.  I was ecstatic and we are best friends forever now.

All this, plus more has happened in the past week, including my computer cord basically blowing up, a behemoth gecko lurking in the pantry, and me unknowingly mooning the city of Kigali for about 10 minutes while walking home (apparently my skirt was tucked in the bottom of my backpack and I had no clue, so a lot of people walking behind me got a bit of a show... luckily, ever since elementary school and those monkey bars, I've worn bike shorts under skirts/dresses if I know I'll be doing stuff, or wearing the skirt/dress for an extended period of time... but still, how embarassing).

And of course, being a first year teacher who doesn't have internet (or consistent hot water and electricty) at her house, I have yet to leave the school before dark each day, and with still no textbooks, lesson planning is really running my life (hence the title of this blog).  

But, of course, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

PS - Don't be impressed by my artistic endeavors from looking at that awesome signs up there.  One of the middle school students here did it for me...

Be True To Your School

Well, it's official! I'm a teacher.  

Monday was our first day of school here in Kigali at Kigali International Community School (KICS). I was calm, cool and collected as the moment approached when those little young minds would enter my classroom and we would embark on a year of learning, love, and laughter together.

HA.

Lies, all lies... Well, at least the part about “calm, cool and collected”. But doesn't it sound like something that would be in Chicken Soup for the Teacher's Soul or something like that?

I was not calm, cool, or collected in the least bit while awaiting my first day as a teacher. The entire weekend before, I would randomly break into a panic-y sweat, and start thinking about how terrible a teacher I might be, and how my kids would hate learning and grow up to be criminals or hoodlums of some sort because their 4^th grade teacher turned them off from learning forever. And on top of that stress, we moved into our new house on Sunday afternoon and were confronted with quite the number of repairs/fixin's that needed to be taken care of. Needless to say, I did not get that much sleep the night before my first day (partly because it was the night before my first day of teaching, and partly because right before I went to bed a cockroach the size of a water buffalo scurried across my floor).

The next morning, I was anxiously waiting in my class and arranging and re-arranging the supplies on my desk as 8:00 approached. When it was finally time to let the kiddos in and start our day and year together, I was a ball of pure nerves. As soon as they entered the classroom though, an incredible peace fell over me. I thought “Of course. This is what I do, this is my niche. What was I really worried about? I'm where I'm supposed to be.” The first day went very well, and my kids are amazing. It was fun to be back in the classroom again, and by golly, they sure are cute!

I have 11 kids right now in my class, with another who will be arriving in a few weeks. The kids are from 10 different countries, and actually, since most of them have already moved around quite a bit, there are even more countries represented than that! I have America, Rwanda, Uganda, Eritrea, Kenya, England, Bolivia, Holland, Italy and Russia all in my little 4^th grade community! I love it!

We still don't have our textbooks in (yikes), so I'm having to kind of play it by ear and make it up as I go along this week. To be honest, I kind of like it like that, although I'm sure I will want a bit of direction soon... It is nice, though, to be able to get creative and make up my own Cady Curriculum for the time being. The school uses Texas state standards for the classrooms, so as long as I follow those, I'm good to go.

Although I'm enjoying my time here, and LOVING my class, it still is difficult to live in Africa, especially after being so used to, and fond of, the conveniences American life offers. Yesterday afternoon there were some electrical problems at the school, and a surge in electricity caused the power cord to my computer to blow. Up side is, my computer seems to be fine. Down side, I don't know when or where or how much it will be to get a new power cord. This is a bit frustrating as the blessed internet is one of my only ways with keeping in touch with you fine people, and I'm not sure when I will be able to use it or my computer. It also makes lesson planning and other school-related stuff quite a bit more challenging. There is one really good thing though – one of my roommates/colleague at school has the same computer as I do, so she is graciously allowing me to use her power cord when she isn't. I still won't have consistent use of a computer, most likely, but it sure does help! (I could still use some prayers though!)

So, all in all, it has been a good first week. Yesterday was fun, because we finally started getting our daily routine down, and instead of going over rules and procedures, we got into some of the content and started playing some fun games and getting work done. I know it's gonna be a good year, and God has really blessed this place. This will sound incredibly cheezy, but I really can't wait to see what He's got in store.

(Up at the top is me and el clase, and below are pictures of my room, before and after)