Back at Step One

Here we go again.  Back at step one and saying goodbye.  I have grown a great fondness for my host family over the past two months and although I knew it was coming, this is still really tough.  Me and a few other volunteers who also got attached to their host families have agreed that this feels almost as bad as leaving our families back in America.  Last night my family and I sat together after dinner and exchanged our gifts to one another.  I wasn't expecting to receive anything from my family, but when I went into my room and brought out the gift that I had for my family, my host mother went into her room and came out with one for me. 

For the family gift, I wrote a really nice letter to everyone telling them how much I appreciate and love them for welcoming me into their home with open arms.  My host mother read the letter aloud, and when she got to the part where I said that even though I will be gone they will always be family to me, my sister shed a few tears and my mama just beamed with tears in her eyes.  After the letter, my mother took a good look at her gift, which was a hanging shadow box with the words, "Thank you" inside and a traditional pot with sticks inside.  They all absolutely loved it!  My host mama grabbed me tight and hugged me for what seemed like an eternity.  The gift from my host mom to me was a framed picture of Jesus on the cross.  She is very religious and she knows that I am too so this was a very suiting gift.  She gave me my first picture to hang in my new house!  Woot woot!

This morning was tough when the Peace Corps car came to pick me up with all of my stuff, but things went smoothly.  We all said our goodbyes, gave our last hugs, and then my host mama told me that

My Mama Writes My Mama a Letter

About a week ago, my host mother asked me if I write home to my mama in America and I told her yes.  She asked me this out of the blue and after I said yes, she didn't say anything else on the matter.  I was wondering why she wanted to know, but I didn't ask; I just left the situation alone.  Well, a couple of days ago, I found out why she wanted to know.  She knocked on my room door one afternoon and when I opened the door she handed me a half sheet of paper with neatly written words in a letter format.  In Kinyarwanda she said, "This is to your mama in America." (She wanted me to send the letter with the next letter that I write to my mom).  I smiled when she handed it to me and unintentionally began reading it.  She slid her hands over the top when she saw me and said, "No, this isn't for you."  I cracked up at that!  I didn't mean to start reading it, but I was curious as to what she was saying.  It was a really sweet letter, but I'm not going to tell what was in it because my mom reads these blogs and I don't want to ruin the surprise.  I will say, though, that my host mother had a lot of nice things to say.  I'm sure my mom will love it!

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

P.S.  I don't know who did it or when, but the letter was written in perfect English.  I think my host mother wrote it out in Kinyarwanda then had someone translate it for her.  Regardless, the fact that she went through so much trouble to write my mother a letter in a language that she cannot even speak goes to show just how thoughtful she is!

Farewell Ceremony

Just two hours ago, we had a Farewell Ceremony which was held for all of the volunteers and our host families.  It was soo much fun!  Myself and another volunteer did a 7 or 8 minute speech in Kinyarwanda which had just about everyone in tears from laughing so hard...and then a few of us volunteers performed the traditional Rwandan dance for our families.  The families absolutely loved the entire ceremony.  They laughed with us, danced with us, and you already know they ate with us.  The entire ceremony was in Kinyarwanda and was put together and led solely by the volunteers.  We were all a little apprehensive about it since we have only been speaking this language for 10 weeks, but once the program began, everything flowed rather smoothly.  There was one hiccup though...

The volunteer who I blogged about yesterday was able to attend the ceremony with her family, but shortly after it was over, she had to leave us...in front of everyone...to go back to Kigali so that she could fly back to America.  This really rubbed me the wrong way, as the timing couldn't have been any worse.  Today was the girl's birthday, so for them to make her leave today was kind of cruel.  She has to spend her birthday alone in Kigali and deal with the fact that she has to go home.  It's really upsetting that they would do her like that, however, all of the volunteers sang her happy birthday and made sure to send her on her way with some comforting words of encouragement.  By the time the car pulled away with her in it, the girl, her host mother, myself,  and some other volunteers were in tears.  It just doesn't seem fair, but then again, life isn't fair.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

Written 7/15/12 at 7:35p

Final Language Exam

I had my final language exam on Friday!  And guess who did an amazingly super wonderful genius job....yep, yours truly!!  At least I think I did great.  I was able to answer every question with minimal stumbling and I was even able to put together a few questions to ask my tester in Kinyarwanda!

As I was taking the test, I couldn't help but to think about how the students at UA must have felt when I would sit in on their language interviews.  Those students were a nervous reck and I am definitely now able to relate.  When your whole destiny depends on your language score (at least that's what it feels like), the testing room becomes a dungeon of life and death.  Either you will conquer and be able to stay and serve in the PC, or you will fail terribly and be sent back home to the US.  (And they don't say that to scare us, the latter really does happen).

At any rate, I'm pretty sure I am at the required language level (if not past it) and I thank God that I am a quick learner.  While almost everyone else was stressed and on study overload, I was taking naps and reading books to save me from this thing called boredom.  It could be because I kind of knew what the testers were looking for since I have helped to proctor a language exam before, or maybe not...Whatever it is, I rocked, and I have my previous supervisors to thank for that!  Thanks guys!! 

:-)

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

Written 7/15/12

The day in Kigali

PC allowed the volunteers to travel into Kigali last Sunday so we all jumped at the opportunity and went on our merry little way.  We had tons of fun!! Did some fun (and much needed) shopping, ate YUMMY food, and just relaxed, taking in all of the beautiful sights within the big city.  For breakfast we ate at Bourbon Cafe, which has everything from omelets to apple pie.  I wasn't feeling too hot since I was still suffering from my treacherous cold, so I just had tea and a chocolate croissant; yumm!! I have been craving one of those things for weeks and I finally got my hands on one! Go mee!!  For lunch we went to a Mexican restaurant called Mezze Fresh...and yes, it was definitely something to write about.  The set-up of it was just like Chipotle and it tasted just as good!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!  I had two steak  tacos with the works...every sauce they had, cheese, guac, sour creme, and even some special mango salsa they had...if you can name it...it was on my taco!

We did our shopping at Kimirongo Market (it was much like an indoor swap meet) and did some serious bargaining!  I must say, I am rather proud of myself because back in the states, bargaining was certainly not my thing.  But here, it's so easy because the vendors are so eager to make a sale.  Of course when they first see that muzungus (or foreigners) are at the market, they hike all of the prices waaaaaay up, so we have to fight to get them to take the prices allllll the way back down.  They think we're just tourists who don't know anything so when we start to speak the language and tell them that we know they are over charging us, they make the funniest "you caught me" face and proceed to say, "Well how much money do you have?"  After quite a bit of back and forth, I was able to get a scarf to go from 3000 RWF to 1500 RWF and I got a good deal on some postcards!  They were originally 300 each, but I ended up with 6 of them for just 700 RWF (yes I know, I'm the bomb!).  The trick is to give the price you want to pay and when they say no, catch a slight attitude, put the item down on the table, and pretend to walk away (this last step is key in getting what you want).  As soon as you turn your back, the vendor comes running and says,