Going to the Park and More

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Model School is over and I have spent 10 hours teaching in a Rwandan classroom and another 45 hours observing the other Peace Corps volunteers trying to interest 7^th through 9^th graders on vacation.  During the last week of school the dwindling classes were combined, so on Monday morning I showed up to find not the expected 15.  Instead I found about 65 kids packed into the room sitting 3 or 4 to a desk.  The approach is a lot different for 60 than for 15.  I’m hoping I can perfect that.  Yesterday, one of the chemistry volunteers held a lab experience using bottle caps.  She had the kids test using acids and bases.   Yesterday, I also saw 62 kids attempting to understand and play telephone. 

 

The weekend before we visited Nyombwe National Park.   It’s a rainforest full of monkeys and flowers.  For some reason the national parks are very expensive.  It cost Nelson and I $100 to take a two-hour hike with about 25 other volunteers.  This hike included a very long trek over the canopy of the rain forest…about 200 feet up…..on a thin aluminum walkway suspended out and across.  The added challenge is that we did it in the rain and an accompanying thunderstorm.  I was so scared that I couldn’t look out at the view unless the guide stopped because when he stopped I didn’t have to think about my feet.  The beauty of the forest brought tears to my eyes I saw the green trees below stretching to the mountains covered in mist.  The sound of tree frogs was intense and as the rain got closer, they got much louder.  Everyone got soaked, but we stopped in Butare for dinner at the Ibis Hotel.  They have a big veranda and great food.  I had a vegetarian pizza, and I ran across the dirt street, dodging bikes, cars, buses and motos, into a store that sells handicrafts from around Africa.  I bought three things in under 5 minutes…a batik picture, a carved gourd and a basket.  If I go back, I’ll probably do the same again.