It’s going on almost a month since I swore in as an official
Peace Corps Volunteer… Crazy! Since then I’ve been hanging mostly at site which
I’ve said some about, but I thought maybe I’d dedicate this blog to specifics
of it. Sorry it’s so long :P
Firstly, site is the village I am living and working in for the remainder of my service (two years).
Secondly, in case you weren’t aware, I am a Literacy
Specialist meaning I will be working with Primary school pupils on their reading
and writing in English. Now I am teaching English in the P4 class. They are
super cute and it’s only the 3rd week of school, but I’m already in
love! Even though sometimes they can be very talkative, but kids will be kids
;) P4 is the same as 4th grade. This is the first year of school for
them where they are taught in only English. Before this, they learn English in
class, but they are taught in the local language. So they have a difficult time
picking my accent and I have to talk very slow and clearly and repeat myself a
lot. One of my pupils drew me a picture of me teaching and gave it to me :) On
Valentine ’s Day, my lesson was teaching them how to make Valentine’s day
cards. Some of them gave them to me when they had finished :D
Has for my actual home, I have a room located in a nun convent. Maybe that doesn’t sound like too much fun, but in all actuality, it’s really been a blast so far! The sisters I live with are SO funny! They have a great sense of humor and we are always laughing together. It’s nice to have them here because I quickly felt welcomed into a family and they are willing to answer any question I have and help me out in so many ways! They are so nice and I love them!
My room is big enough for my twin size bed, a nightstand, desk, wardrobe, and even a sink in the corner! I have enough space for all my things to fit nicely and a big window to look outside. I have my walls totally filled with pictures, cards, notes, quotes, maps, and postcards so it feels homey :) I have a “pet” gecko as well who shows up every couple of days. I’ll see him hanging out on a wall. Geckos are everywhere in this country! I don’t try to remove him cuz I know he’ll just come back :P but also because he eats other bugs who enter.
Has for my actual home, I have a room located in a nun convent. Maybe that doesn’t sound like too much fun, but in all actuality, it’s really been a blast so far! The sisters I live with are SO funny! They have a great sense of humor and we are always laughing together. It’s nice to have them here because I quickly felt welcomed into a family and they are willing to answer any question I have and help me out in so many ways! They are so nice and I love them!
My room is big enough for my twin size bed, a nightstand, desk, wardrobe, and even a sink in the corner! I have enough space for all my things to fit nicely and a big window to look outside. I have my walls totally filled with pictures, cards, notes, quotes, maps, and postcards so it feels homey :) I have a “pet” gecko as well who shows up every couple of days. I’ll see him hanging out on a wall. Geckos are everywhere in this country! I don’t try to remove him cuz I know he’ll just come back :P but also because he eats other bugs who enter.
But of course I’m not confined to my room only. The convent
has a big kitchen, a dining area, a living room, a sitting room next to my
room, storage rooms, and a nice grassy area in the center. The convent itself
is set somewhat far away from the road, is gated, has a fence on one side, and
a banana plantation on the other so I feel very safe and have privacy! Which is
something very hard to come by in this country so I’m very grateful haha!
A typical day for me goes something like this during a week day:
I wake up between 7-8am. I’ve resorted to only washing my hair twice a week (unless it really needs it) so I’ll do this in the morning so it can air dry throughout the day. I eat some breakfast and head to school. It’s a 5 minute walk down the road. I greet my friend who owns a small shop along the way and anyone else I pass (pupils going to school, boda (motorcycle) guys, or other random villagers). I get to school at 8:30 when the morning assembly is ending. I spend the first part of the day talking to other teachers/lesson planning, then we have break where we eat maize porridge. I usually teach my lesson after that then it’s time for lunch. I sometimes go home to eat with the sisters and other times I’ll stay and eat with the other staff members. We eat matooke (like plantains) and then after that I pull individual pupils to do a quick reading assessment with them to see where their reading level is. That or talk to the teachers some more :P haha! Then I head home. I’m starting to get a routine for how I spend my evenings. I arrive home, get on the computer for a bit, do a small exercise session, shower, cook/eat, watch a terribly awful Spanish soap opera with the sisters, call some other PCVs to chat, read or mess with my guitar, listen to some music, write in my journal, and go to sleep.
A typical day for me goes something like this during a week day:
I wake up between 7-8am. I’ve resorted to only washing my hair twice a week (unless it really needs it) so I’ll do this in the morning so it can air dry throughout the day. I eat some breakfast and head to school. It’s a 5 minute walk down the road. I greet my friend who owns a small shop along the way and anyone else I pass (pupils going to school, boda (motorcycle) guys, or other random villagers). I get to school at 8:30 when the morning assembly is ending. I spend the first part of the day talking to other teachers/lesson planning, then we have break where we eat maize porridge. I usually teach my lesson after that then it’s time for lunch. I sometimes go home to eat with the sisters and other times I’ll stay and eat with the other staff members. We eat matooke (like plantains) and then after that I pull individual pupils to do a quick reading assessment with them to see where their reading level is. That or talk to the teachers some more :P haha! Then I head home. I’m starting to get a routine for how I spend my evenings. I arrive home, get on the computer for a bit, do a small exercise session, shower, cook/eat, watch a terribly awful Spanish soap opera with the sisters, call some other PCVs to chat, read or mess with my guitar, listen to some music, write in my journal, and go to sleep.
Not all days are like this though, just most. On the
weekends I go visit some other nearby PCVs to hang out and maybe eat some
Mzungu (white/foreigner) food. I don’t have a site mate (another PCV who is
living in the same village as me), but there are TWO other Mzungus here! One is
a British VSO and the other is a French girl. They are both super cool and
we’ll hang out sometimes. We had dinner last week. The electricity randomly
goes out, so we cooked/ate by candle light. We went to the nearby town to buy
the food. There’s a big outdoors produce market and some small “super”markets
where we can buy other food stuffs and even some refrigerated “cold” things!
The town also has shops where you can buy clothing and other things you may
need. Nothing too exotic though. If you need something like that, you have to
travel to another district that has a bigger town (this is usually where I go
on the weekends).
Speaking of travel: Bodas (motorcycles) are prominent in my village, but PC does not allow us to take them. I don’t really want to anyway though cuz they are so dangerous! So I’ve been walking everywhere unless there happens to be a car passing, then I hitch hike a ride. It’s an hour walk to town vs a 5 minute car ride. I think I’m going to get a bike though so that’ll help shorten the journey. If I need to leave my district though, I first need to get to town then get a “taxi”. There are cars that go back and forth between the different major towns every day so I walk along the road going the direction I need to go until a driver stops and says he’s going to where I need to go. When the car is full (and I mean OVERLY FULL) of passengers, then we go.
I am really liking my village and district. It’s very beautiful and has a lot of nice looking hills everywhere. The climate is also very nice. I am just south of the equator so the sun can be very intense during midday, but if you stay inside or the shade, it’s really not that bad. And it gets pretty cool at night! When I wake up early to do laundry (by hand outside) I’m sometimes cold! There also aren’t that many mosquitoes here! I think I’ve only seen like 2 this whole time so far! Unlike most other districts, the electricity doesn’t go off on the weekends. But it still does go off sometimes randomly and you’ll never know when it’ll come back on, but it’s usually not off for very long. The people are also very nice and easy to talk to!
So yeah, that basically sums up how the last month has been for me. I’m settling in, making friends, and getting a routine developed! All is going very well so far :) but internet is still somewhat of an issue so sadly I don’t know if skype will happen (definitely won’t be often), but I still want to keep in touch with all of you! Please send me a letter or message via facebook. I’d love to hear from you and all about your life too :D
Speaking of travel: Bodas (motorcycles) are prominent in my village, but PC does not allow us to take them. I don’t really want to anyway though cuz they are so dangerous! So I’ve been walking everywhere unless there happens to be a car passing, then I hitch hike a ride. It’s an hour walk to town vs a 5 minute car ride. I think I’m going to get a bike though so that’ll help shorten the journey. If I need to leave my district though, I first need to get to town then get a “taxi”. There are cars that go back and forth between the different major towns every day so I walk along the road going the direction I need to go until a driver stops and says he’s going to where I need to go. When the car is full (and I mean OVERLY FULL) of passengers, then we go.
I am really liking my village and district. It’s very beautiful and has a lot of nice looking hills everywhere. The climate is also very nice. I am just south of the equator so the sun can be very intense during midday, but if you stay inside or the shade, it’s really not that bad. And it gets pretty cool at night! When I wake up early to do laundry (by hand outside) I’m sometimes cold! There also aren’t that many mosquitoes here! I think I’ve only seen like 2 this whole time so far! Unlike most other districts, the electricity doesn’t go off on the weekends. But it still does go off sometimes randomly and you’ll never know when it’ll come back on, but it’s usually not off for very long. The people are also very nice and easy to talk to!
So yeah, that basically sums up how the last month has been for me. I’m settling in, making friends, and getting a routine developed! All is going very well so far :) but internet is still somewhat of an issue so sadly I don’t know if skype will happen (definitely won’t be often), but I still want to keep in touch with all of you! Please send me a letter or message via facebook. I’d love to hear from you and all about your life too :D
<3 Hannah
 |
| Looking out the window of my school at our pitch during break time |
 |
| My P4 class working on an assignment |
No comments:
Post a Comment