My students are back! Hooray! As I’m writing this blog post, it is Wednesday, the third day of our first week of school for 2012. Our students (or half of them, anyway) arrived on Monday, and since then my life has been pretty hectic. I’m teaching a total of 15 hours each week- 10 hours to our KCCEM students, and another 5 or so in the evenings to staff members of the school and Nyungwe Park. I’m doing a lot of work to prepare lessons as well as working on a long-term curriculum for the semester. When I get a chance, I’m also helping to develop the catalog of our library, especially by registering for online databases and downloading digital copies of relevant journals.
It’s nice to be busy again. For those of you who don’t know me well, I’m something of a workaholic. I’m also glad that campus is more lively now that the students are back. A number of the my coworkers leave the school every weekend to visit their families, so weekends have been especially quiet. Most of our students will remain on campus, though, meaning weekends won’t be as lonely as they used to be.
The downside to having more to do on campus is that I am spending much less time out in the community. As I’ve noted in previous blog entries, I was spending 3-5 hours a day out playing cards, walking around, and chatting with people for most of the last two months. This week, however, I have been so busy either teaching, cooking, or preparing lessons, that I haven’t really been able to leave school at all. I’m going to have to make a real effort to continue spending time with the people I made friends with over my first months at site.
The pull away from the community and towards my school isn’t only because of my work schedule, though. It’s also just easier to stay on campus. In general, I feel like I relate better to the students and staff here than I do to many people in my community. Part of this is obviously that many people here speak relatively good English, so it is easier to be myself on campus. But I worry that part of it is socioeconomic, too. Out in the community, there is the perception that because I am a foreigner, a muzungu, that I must be rich. This means people treat me differently than they would a Rwandan, and although this is to be expected, I don’t much like it. On campus, I don’t have to deal with any of that. I feel like I am perceived as just another person, which is refreshing. Nonetheless, it makes me uncomfortable to think that I may get along better with KCCEMers than villagers just because we come from more similar socioeconomic backgrounds. There’s something faintly elitist and distasteful about the thought.
Anyway, the point of all that is: I like my coworkers and students, and I like my community, and I don’t like having to choose between them. So I will just have to work harder to make time for both groups.
Meanwhile, my other major activity is Project FatNick. The Peace Corps Docs tell us that something like 99% of men lose weight during their Peace Corps service, and I am no exception. In an effort to keep on what little weight I had, I have initiated Project FatNick. The project goes as follows: buy and cook more carbs than I actually want to eat. Then eat them. Start buying eggs, lots of them. Eat those too. See an avocado? Buy it. Eat it. Add an extra tablespoon of oil to everything. Start eating breakfast. So far I haven’t noticed any difference, but from what I hear these things take time.
Oh! I almost forgot, I got a package from Dad and Grammie this week. It was sent around Christmas, and there was worry that the homemade peanut butter chocolate fudge inside wouldn’t be good when it arrived. I am happy to report that my Grandma’s fudge is indestructable, and remains delicious despite long periods of nonrefrigeration. The fudge, along with the rest of the goodies that were in the package, will soon be a tasty part of Project FatNick.
Rwandan Nights 