Arrival!

We have finally arrived! After months and months of planning we have finally made it. Our travel was long but worth it and we were lucky enough to arrive with all of our bags!
Life is good here. We are staying with Erika and Glenn Hawkes in their nice compound. Our room is small but comfortable and we have our own bathroom and shower. The food is good, lots of potatoes, greens, beans, peanut butter and tea. Erika loves American peanut butter, like Skippy, so we brought a large container of it and it's already been opened.
The weather is very nice, warm but not too hott, and there is often a nice breeze. It is the rainy season, but haven't had rain, yet. At night it gets dark quickly and cools off to a point where one wants to put on a long sleeve shirt or something of that nature. It's a nice change from the cold Vermont weather.
So far we have met with the principal of Kabuga High School, Vincent Karake. He was very warm and welcoming and said he would make up a schedule for us right away. We are going back tomorrow to meet with him again and go over our schedule! We also have visited Girimpuwhey and sat in on the beginner English class we will be taking over. It was great to see all the students of different ages and abilities excited to learn and eager to try, even if they get it wrong. It was a good feeling to know that they are so receptive! We will also go back there tomorrow as the classes are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
So far we have been trying to figure out the public transportation, mainly minibus taxis. They are extremely cheap, but always jam-packed full. There are also tons of them driving everywhere and it is confusing to figure out which one will take you where you want to go. There is a lot of walking involved, which is nice to stretch your legs after the cramped ride.
The internet is cheap, also, we're paying maybe 10cents or less a minute, and it's not too slow if you come at the right time.
But all is well here, we are in good spirits and finally getting into the groove of life here. Murabeyho! (goodbye!)

One week and counting...

Less than a week to go! Anna and I just had a fun surprise going away dinner, we have finally finished schoolwork at Harwood and our now getting our last minute packing and planning done. Its getting close and excitement is kicking in.

TEFL Certification Course

This past weekend Sophia and I headed up to Boston, MA to participate in a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certifcation Course which was taking place at Eastern Nazerene College. The course was 20 hours packed into the one weekend, but it was worth the time, to only have a one weekend committment. Both Sophia and I agreed that the course was very helpful, thought-provoking and fun! We were two students of nine, and one instructor and to our surprise, were the only females in the class. Throughout the weekend we would participate in small activities to put in our "Bag of Tricks" (little games, activities to pull out when you have 5-10minutes left at the end of a lesson) that all can modified for all levels of learners, ages, and english proficiency. Each day we were given complete freedom to create our own 10-20 minute lesson plan. We could choose any topic, any age level, and any english proficiency level, as long as our lesson was coordinated with these choices.
Over the weekend Sophia and I stayed with her gracious Aunt and Uncle who lived about a half hour away from the college. We were both so grateful not to have to pay for much but lunch and gas, since we are saving every penny we can for our approaching trip! Everyone in the class was open and excited to learn from the instructor as well as eachother, let alone excited to get teaching! It was interesting to see the different types of teachers each person was obviously going to become.
We definetly gained many many good ideas about lessons, activities, and other resources that we wouldn't have thought of. It also pumped us up for our trip even more and motivated us to start planning our lessons!

One month and counting...

Sophia and I are counting down the days, and the one month mark has come and gone. Our official departure date is January 28, 2008. The days, months have flown by this fall.
Last week we went to Fletcher Allen in Burlington to get our shots and malaria pills. Lucky for us, our shots are still good from last year, so all we needed to get was 140 malaria pills...Visiting the doctor definetly put the trip into reality.

We are still working on our fundraising efforts, and they are coming along, slowly but surely. Our wreath sale was successful, and we raised about $700 for ourselves! Thank you to everyone who bought a wreath!
Money has been coming in from the Mad River Valley Rotary which we are very grateful for as well.
We are also still selling the Rwanda Calendars which Sophia and I will be splitting the profits with the Scholarship Fund for students traveling on the 3 week trip in April. Email rwandaeducationalpartnership@gmail.com if you would like more information!

As we continue to count down the days we move from excitement to nervousness, and appreciate the support from everyone around us!
Well, that's all I have for our first blog post! Sophia and I will continue to update and answer any questions!

NEW BLOG

We decided to change blog sites as the other site was proving to be hard to use and navigate. This site, blogspot, is much more streamlined.
Our blog site is:
http://rep2008.blogspot.com

I will post our other posts from the original website as well...
Thanks!