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on Sarah's Blog (Rwanda), 09/Oct/2009 07:23, 34 days ago
'the views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO'.Thursday 8th October 2009So...yesterday I should have stayed in bed...oh my word...I have had one of the most tedious days in the whole entire world...although I had a bit of a lie in and didn’t make it to the office (following all the excitement of yesterday!) until 8.30am...I then sat, in the same bloody chair, from 8.30am until 4.45pm inputting the teachers results from the English test...I have never done anything quite so boring in my whole entire life! EXCEL IS NOT MY FRIEND! Itwas absolute hell on earth! And the hand writing...oh the handwriting...I thought I had met some teachers with bad handwriting...and even some children...but clearly I had never seen these lovely samples...they were sooooo bad...I am sure that half of the names are wrong! Anyway...I did absolutely nothing else today so there is really nothing else to say...apart from a few people have said that although they are reading my blog...they are unsure as to whether I am enjoying myself...it is really tough...but yes I am enjoying it! And please could the person who I don’t know who they are...letme know who they are...does that make sense...I think so...???'the views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO'.Wednesday 7th October 2009Ruairi spent the night in Butare last night as there are two new volunteers coming out in January. They are two head teachers from the UK here for 6 months to work with 2 schools. Although they will be working in the disctict of Gisagara they will be living in Butare as there are no unoccupied houses in the central area, which is where I live. One of the volunteers will be working in Ndora at Cyamakuza and Naraninya schools, while the other will be in the sector of Kibirizi working in another two schools, but the bus route to the area needed to be checked first so Ruairi was doing that, and also visiting the schools. I on the other hand...headed for the Education office...that was probably my first mistake (apart from actually getting out of bed this morning...now that was really the rooky mistake...you would have thought I had learnt by now!) But I headed out all the same...I arrived to find Francois there and sat in his chair...a man who I didn’t know, just sat on a chair near the door and it wasn’t until I had walked in properly that I saw Alexis sat where I usually do...he was most apologetic and moved to another chair in the middle of the office...but surprisingly...not to his desk...now the alarm bells should have started ringingwhen I realised that I couldn’t hear the racket coming from the generator and Alexis wasn’t working at his computer...A few minute later we were asked to leave so that the floor could be cleaned...and it was then that I was told that the generator wasn’t working...back in office a little whilelater I just sat in the chair...now this time there was literally NOTHING to do, as the battery on my laptop was so low it wouldn’t even turn on...I lasted an hour and 15 minutes...I think that that is pretty good going! I finally said that I was going to over to the district office as they havegot a generator that is on...now, there is no problem with the generator in the education office...but the man who is paid to come in and turn it on has not been in for 2 days! Anyway...I spent the morning at the district...but by 12pm I needed to go for lunch, just for something to do...Ruairi arrived back and we headed back to the district together...By the time it was time to go home...I was so very angry! I had written a very long email...(not in word and not saved) and my computer crashed...meaning that the whole thing was lost! Back at the house we realised that the lock on the back doorwas broken...it apparently takes nearly a million Rwandans to fix a lock...ok maybe not a million but there were enough of them all hanging out in the kitchen...thankfully Enock had arrived and was able to translate, and we were also able to talk with Alexandre (once the lock had been replaced)It turns out that yes the roof in his new house does leak...right over his bed...while the rain is also coming under the door...we also asked what he was doing for a toilet...as we had thought that there was one in the old house for him...turns out he has been using the same one as us the entire time...he is just very careful and goes to the loo before we get up, after we go to bed or while we are at work...he must hate it when I am at home for the whole weekend...I NEVER go out...and I have never known him to use the loo! I don’t mind but I do think that the landlord should have made that clearfrom the start!! Anyway...it was one of those days when you should have just stayed in bed!