This post was written on July 15, 2012:
Me and my host family, Mutoni (9), Fabreze (4), and Prence (eight months)
Another week has gone by in the blink of an eye here in Rwanda, Africa. It is the eve of week ten tonight, and tomorrow I find out whether or not I am sworn in. They dropped a bomb on us this Saturday. After our final LPI (language exam), we were informed that if we weren’t at the intermediate language level we would be doing another two weeks of PST (pre-service training). This was news to all of us. While I am okay with doing another two weeks, I am not okay with missing swear in. Missing swear in means you don’t get to swear in with your group at all. Swear in is a huge deal, we go to the ambassador’s house and have this really cool official ceremony. It would honestly break my heart not to be there. Good news is: tonight, Justin and me were talking with the Training Manager and he said two people were being held back. He looked me square in the eye and said “you are not one of the two.” I responded with “do you know my legal name is Caitlin but everyone here calls me Caitie” (this causes a lot of confusion), he said “I am aware.” So things look good? Tomorrow we have one on one interviews with a bunch of the official head honchos of Peace Corps. I am still very nervous about all of this.
Last Saturday I had a
progress check LPI. On Monday the Language Coordinator, Esperance, came to
visit us to tell us how we did. She informed me that in one week I had jumped
an entire language level to intermediate low. She was super impressed by this,
and didn’t know it was possible for someone to do that in six days. I honestly
think I am just getting a lot better at testing under pressure, and
understanding how to control my own LPI (you can control it a lot, once you
understand how to). This news was completely rejuvenating, and motivated me
even more to jump another level to intermediate mid by Saturday for our final
LPI.
So with that news I was studying every moment of every day I
could, and speaking to everyone in the entire village, in order to get more
practice in. I think jumping to intermediate mid might have been a bit of a
stretch. But I did the best I could in the amount of time I was given. Ever
since Saturday I have been replaying my LPI back in my head and remembering all
the mistakes I made during it. This is a tricky, and not fun game to play.
Last week I also discovered a new, and very excellent
umwarimu (um-mwar-e-mu)/teacher. My nine year old host sister Mutoni. Mutoni is
not a loud child, she doesn’t seem to be overly outgoing, but she is not shy
either. When it comes to Kinyarwanda, she turns into a drill sergeant. I had
made hundreds (legit) of flash cards and would go over them every night with
her. I’d say “Umukorepesho” (mop). Mutoni: “oya Caitie” (oya is no). The sound
of disappointment in her voice was unreal. Then she’d get all up in my face,
loudly, and say: “umu-korre-paaay-sho”. And make me repeat it till I got it
right. This would go on until dinner was ready, or she’d get bored or tired,
which is rare because Rwandan’s seem to never get bored or tired of anything.
This week everyone commented on how my accent seemed to change and improve over
night. I fully blame Mutoni for that, and told Esperance that Peace Corps
should hire her.
I studied, studied, studied, and studied some more. Then on
Saturday morning I woke up and had my LPI. As I said above, I think I did the
best I could have done. Unfortunately when I woke up the day before my throat
was on fire. I called the doctor, he told me to take this and that (they give
us a med kit with everything you could ever want), and drink lots of fluids. My
throat did not improve by Saturday, and so for my LPI, I sounded more like a
dying frog, and less like a Rwanda then I would have liked. But that is just
the way it goes sometimes.
After my LPI I rewarded myself with my dress. For swear most
of the people in our group had traditional style African cloths made out of
igitenge (African fabric). Last Saturday I took a forty-minute walk, up and
down hill, to the neighboring village to see my friend’s host mom. Rachel’s Mom
makes beautiful dresses, and I wanted her to make me one for swear in. After
waiting around for three hours, her Aunt finally showed up at the shop ready to
take my measurements. This is very typical in Rwandan culture, and I
anticipated this happening on my way there. I explained, and drew out what I
wanted, then crossed my fingers and hoped she understood.
The dress is exactly what I wanted! This woman completely
read my mind, and I love it. It could not have been better. I got to meet her
today for the first time, and thanked her tremendously for doing such an
amazing job. Hopefully I will be at swear in and able to wear it. So as a
reward for finishing nine weeks of language class, and doing the best I could I
saw my dress. And was unbelievably happy with the results.
****
Today we had a host family farewell party. It was awesome. Yesterday
I did laundry and washed a dress I bought at a market in Kigali. I had known
about this party for a while, and had nothing nice to wear. So while in Kigali
I made it one of my main goals to find a nice dress for this event. I found a
great dress, and was so excited to wear it.
When I hung it on the line, my host Mama and Mutoni fawned
over it. I explained to them that I am wearing it tomorrow. Mama responded with
an, “oh no you are not” and whispered “I have a gift for you.”
At dinner I was presented with another dress, which my Mama
had bought for me. This was extremely sweet, and completely unexpected. The
dress also fit me like a glove, which is particularly unusual. I have a very
abnormal body type, and things don’t normally work out this way. The dress is
not something I would ever wear in America, but it was perfect for this
occasion. It had a pink, black, read, yellow and white striped and flowered pattern
on it, and went to my ankles. I got many many compliments at the Host Family
Farwell Party today.
That about sums up this week! Keep your fingers crossed for
me please!
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