I usually wake up around 6:30am and take a bucket bath (when the electricity is on, I use an electric kettle to heat some water to mix in with my bucket of cold water… 1 kettle boiling water + 1 bucket cold water = 1 pleasant bucket bath) and brush my teeth with filtered water from my water bottle. Around 7:15, we head over to the training center for breakfast, which consists of bread with peanut butter (!) or butter with honey or jam, coffee or tea, usually either eggs or fruit, and, every once in awhile, cheese!
Our sessions begin at 8:00, and from 8:00-10:00, we typically have a Kinyarwanda class. Our classes only have three people, so we have lots of opportunities to practice and ask questions. The 12 teachers rotate among classes, so we have different teachers everyday, which is really nice. From 10:00-10:30, we have a break and are served coffee and tea with samosas (meat and/or veggies fried in a crust), chapati (fried flat bread), or amandazi (beignets – fried balls of dough). None of us are too happy that we’ve been conditioned to want fried food at 10 in the morning! One time, we had cheese instead, and it was glorious!
After break, we have another session from 10:30-12:00. That one’s normally either language or technical (training on health issues and community development projects). Our nice long lunch break goes from 12:00-2:30, and lunch is normally some type of starch (potatoes, fries, or plantains), fried fish or meat (goat or chicken) of variable quality, hard-boiled eggs, vegetables (usually pureed greens) and either passion fruit or tree tomatoes. The break after lunch is a good time for studying Kinyarwanda or heading into town to buy fabric, yogurt, cold beverages, or chocolate. The walk into town also entails greeting about 50 people (in a combination in French, English, and Kinyarwanda – hello, how are you?, where are you going?, what is your name?), being watched, and avoiding the reckless moto taxi drivers who fly through the traffic circles.
Our afternoon sessions run from 2:30-5:00 and usually focus on cross-cultural training (Rwandan history, gender roles, norms in the workplace) or personal health & safety issues (how to treat water & food, self-treat illnesses, reduce the risk of assault and theft, etc).
After the last session ends at 5:00, I usually go into town or visit my host family. I’m usually served tea at their house – I consider myself fortunate, because some of the other Trainees have faced chucky milk! We have dinner at 6:30 or 7:00, which usually consists of a starch (potatoes, rice, or noodles), meat or beans, vegetables (often cabbage and carrots), and passion fruit or tree tomatoes. Every once in awhile, we have guacamole, and it’s amazing!
After dinner, my housemates and I hang out, study, read, or watch movies until about 10:30, which has become my new bedtime!
On Saturdays, we usually have an excursion to another town, a park, or a memorial. Sundays are our free day, and I normally spend mine studying Kinyarwanda, doing laundry (in a bucket in the backyard), and visiting the Internet café (where the Internet is very slow, but fairly reliable, as long as the electricity is on).
And that's the very busy but very enjoyable day of a Peace Corps Trainee!
Outskirts of Nyanza:
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