My first update!

Good news! I am coming up on my third week as a Peace Corps trainee. Everything has been really wonderful so far. I am currently located in Nyanza while I go through my training. There are 37 total trainees in my group. We live in 4 houses in the community. I live in the most beautiful home with 14 other volunteers and 4 of my language instructors. My house has the most incredible view. It is located on top of a hill and looks down onto a valley full of trees and plots of land used for farming. How perfect for me, right?

The locals are slowly getting used to having us around. It was obvious from the beginning that Nyanza has not had many outsiders come and stay for long periods of time. People have been very curious about whom we are and what were are doing here. They seem to enjoy our attempts at speaking Kinyarwanda. Many of the children and university students seem to enjoy practicing their English on us as well. It is nice to walk down the road and always have someone to talk to. My social skills are definitely being put to the test.

I have been given a resource family in the community. Having a resource family is a way to help me practice my Kinyarwanda and learn about Rwandan culture. I have a mama and a papa. My mama is a farmer and my papa is a business man. My sister works in a bar along with my 21 year old nephew. I meet up with my sister every Sunday at her work. She lives about 5 kilometers away so I get to good walk in. It usually takes me an hour to get there, but I have been giving myself about 30 minutes extra so I have enough time to chat with the locals. This coming Sunday my mama promised she would teach me how to milk a cow and my sister promised to take me to a restaurant to eat animal organ brochette. I can’t wait!

I am beginning to understand just how important language is when you are building relationships with people. It has been very frustrating not being able to say everything I want to people with the locals I meet and whom I see on a regular basis. Though my language ability is extremely limited I can still have a connection with people. For instance, last week we celebrated International Women’s Day in our village at the soccer stadium. We were invited to come to the celebration by local officials. When we arrived there, we were greeted by a large group of secondary school students (high school) who were singing and dancing. The students came into the stands and guided each one of us onto the field to sing and dance with them. The laughter, smiles, and embraces that were shared connected us all in a way that no words could. It was something I will never forget. Language, however, is going to be my main tool for integrating into my community and therefore, I am working hard to try and gain as much Kinyarwanda as possible. It is an extremely difficult language to grasp but I am hanging in there with it.

Thank you all for keeping up with me. I will try to keep up with this blog as much as I can. It is difficult right now because the training is so time consuming. Hopefully after my training is over and when I am placed at my site I will have more time to get online. I want everyone to know that I am happy and really enjoying this experience so far. Best wishes to all.