this book is a movie

So things are finally settling down around here. I am currently in love with my soft-spoken, incredibly focused secondary students, the constant 75 degree weather, ginger and milk in my tea, honey on my chappatti, bargaining a pair of shoes down to half price, and the general Rwandese attitude of 'it'll get done when it gets done, sit down, enjoy life, and be patient'.

In the past two months, I've learned that despite growing up connected to news and people halfway around the world through the internet and television and technology, despite finishing my formal education, I can honestly say I know exactly nothing about this world that I live in.

I'm also pretty much okay with that.

I feel comfortable here now. I have a routine. My students, my colleagues, the market ladies, they know who I am, where I'm from, why I'm here. But I'm still an outsider here-- and it's not something I'll ever be able to change. I'm reminded constantly of this, not only through the obvious things-- my native tongue being English, the color of my skin, the way I dress & how much money it is assumed I have because of the things mentioned above, but also through what I do not understand, the things that are unfamiliar, the things I must observe or ask about. The culture, the family structures, economic statuses, the mentality and values of these people. They are all so different from what I'm used to. Different is not bad though. I am learning. I am watching and asking questions and figuring all of this out and I can already feel the way it is changing me.

I am the outsider, but I am being welcomed here anyway. It is a beginning.


The mountainside between Kigali and Musanze, terraced for farming.


The volcano in the background is called the Kinyarwanda word for 'with teeth'. This is a view right outside of my school. It's very green here. :)


These are some of the teachers I work with. This is our tea break room/teacher's lounge.