Following my adventures frolicking through the land of plenty, Amurika, I returned back to Rwanda in time to ring in the New Year with some of my best friends here. After New Years I found myself living at the transit house for volunteers in Kigali. My previous housing situation was less than ideal, and I was left in a large compound, remotely located, with poor lighting, by myself. Peace Corps and I agreed it wasn’t the safest situation and until an alternative solution could be reached, I would be living in Kigali. I spent most of the month of January in this predicament. Luckily during this time my training cohort had our Mid-Service Conference, which was a perfect time to re-group and re-charge with the majority of the people who I had become the closest to while serving in Rwanda.
(I won our cohort ridiculous challenge award, the Karama Kup! for the second time--- the most out of anyone in our training group! 2013: I ate a whole Pumpkin Pie. 2014: I drank the most coffee (12 cups in 3 hours). LIFE ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!!)
At the end of January I was able to move back to my site, and my previous housing, because (insert triumphant horns blasting and lights shining down from above) my wonderful, lovely, glorious, always keeping me grounded best friend & site mate Laura, moved into my compound!!!!!
(My boyfriend and best friend Junior, also clearly my Valentine this past year)
For the past month of February, school started back up so I’ve been teaching solely my students for now. It’s a slight adjustment because I’m teaching Senior 2 English (about 8th graders in the States) where last year I taught Senior 4, 5 & 6 English Language Communication Skills (10th, 11th & 12th grade). These students seem to have a pretty decent grasp of the English language and are eager to learn. After breaking them into my routine and teaching style (ain’t no students messing with me, let me tell you…) we seem to be seeing eye to eye and making progress. I have an entire scheme of work for the term, which will end in April, and I’m excited to see what we can accomplish in this time. In my spare time I’ve been hanging out with Laura, pretty much all day, every day. We cook together, eat together, watch TV shows & movies together, exercise together, and just so happen to end up traveling together often. Currently we’re the only ones who live in our compound, which is a drastic change from last year when it was 14 other people and myself all living together in the shared space. But to be honest, it’s amazing to have all that space to ourselves and to really make it feel like home.
(Some Afternoon Adventures that Laura and I went on, discovering local schools and places)
I’ve really been valuing my time at site, re-committing myself to my service with the short amount of time I have left. I’ve been trying to be more active at my school. I’m in the process of completing a grant for a library/resource center at my school. I’m trying to schedule more teachers training. I’ve been traveling a decent amount for my committees that I serve on for Peace Corps, in and out of Kigali and some other regional towns in the East. I’ve been eating really healthy, fasting a few days a week, and working out daily.
And thennnn of course things can’t be that good for that long. I’ve been stuck at the transit house, AGAIN, but this time for medical concerns. I’ve been having gastrointestinal issues for about a week and a half. It started out as cramping and dull pain in my stomach area and progressed to constant cramping, nausea, intermittent pain and headaches, and general dizziness and lightheadedness while standing or moving. Eventually it got bad enough that my favorite Doctor in the world had me come into Kigali to get treated (actually he lovingly sent a Peace Corps car to my house to rescue me and bring me here). I’ve been on some medicines for a potential stomach ulcer/gastritis but unfortunately the medicine hasn’t made me feel constantly better on a daily basis. I got here this past Thursday at a 9 on a pain scale, felt better on Friday at about a 4, felt much worse on Saturday closer to 6, and now on Sunday I’m hovering on 5. Pain comes and goes, and I keep holding out that the next day will have me feeling better than the previous. I’m not certain what’s happening, and I know some options have been thrown around in terms of my treatment. (I’ll be able to update you more in a few days…) Regardless I have faith that I’ll feel fine soon enough and it will resolve itself so that I can carry on the work I have to do and finish out my service strong.
**Update. I’ve been on some pretty heavy medicine to help the lining of my stomach. It’s been getting much better, SLOWLY. I had to do a barrage of tests here and even got to visit the hospital in Kigali! Next Wednesday I’m headed off to South Africa to get an endoscopy to double-check my diagnosis of (more than acute, less than severe) gastritis and to look for the presence of h.pyloli bacteria. Basically my Doctor here described what I had an the entire lining of my stomach was an open sore, to the point that it had started bleeding… woof. But on the positive, I am SO MUCH BETTER than I was last week.
(Some of my best friends at site, the kids who live near me, right before I got sick and had to come to Kigali.)
ALSO!!! I'm raising money for my school in order to help my AMAZING students be able to play sports on REAL courts with REAL equipment.
Please consider donating, ANYTHING, to make a difference!!
www.crowdrise.com/kidsjustwannahavefun