Money money money
on Rose Hardman (Rwanda), 07/Sep/2010 13:37, 34 days ago
Our first Kinyarwanda lesson and I wasn’t as bad as I feared. Luckily we had a very patient teacher in Emmanuel. We focused on greetings and telling the time- although they don’t have time in Rwanda apparently. They use Swahili words to tell the time. One o clock is what the English call seven o clock as it is the first hour after the sun rises (6am). I think this may get a little confusing!We then went to the VSO Programme Office and did a‘treasure hunt’ to find out more about all the staff and different departments. The treasure at the end turned out to be a snack of pizza, cake and samosas that we should have been helping ourselves to. So we ate it half an hour before lunch! It was great to meet all the VSO staff and to understand more about their roles. The National Volunteering Programme Manager told me that my employer had been in contact and wanted to meet with me this week, so I will be meeting with her on Thursday. A current National Volunteering volunteer was at the Programme Office and she kindly asked me to dinner at her house. There are only three National Volunteering volunteers in country so I guess we have to stick together!Cramming into the pick-up truck got us back to the accommodation in time for lunch. I was so worried we would miss it that I even text Louise. She was walking though so we passed her on the way back! Luckily there was plenty of food as everyone had filled up on snacks!The finance session after lunch was probably not most people’s favourite session but I do love financial information! I was in the lion team and I must admit that I may have over-roared! It did mean we won the chocolate, though luckily there was enough for the group to share. There was a choice of bounty and snickers. The cultural session was also very interesting. We learnt about lengthy handshakes, head taps and hugs. We also learnt that to call someone fat is a compliment and to answer your phone mid-meeting is not considered rude- even if you are the chair! (We have since experienced this on a number of occasions!)A quick fanta limon in the bar with some more current volunteers and then a nice leisurely dinner. Writing the blog has been exciting as we have experienced our first power cut. I have felt exhausted today and I am not sure if the adrenaline is finally wearing off or if it was just a very busy day. I think an early night is in order.