Friday August 28th: Londong

I’ve just arrived at London Heathrow and have completed 1/ 3 of my flights before arriving at Kigali. I will fully admit that with the amount of travelling I have done this year, I have yet to acknowledge this is IT. This is THE ONE that I’ve been planning for all year (this is my sixth journey and who knows how many flights that includes!) It just hasn’t hit me yet that it’s real. Saying good bye to Aimey and my parents was hard. Made harder by a photo album my mom gave me at the airport. I told her “I can’t look at this right now” as tears welled up in my eyes. The situation was not made better when she said, “It’s not for now. It’s for….you know…Christmas.” As if that helped!! We did have one last Tim Horton’s and I don’t even like Tim Horton’s coffee. I went through security and there I waited. My flight was at 10pm so I did sleep some before arriving here. After having travelled with Aimey in South America, it was sad to sit next to an empty seat. My travel buddy should have been there. And then I got all panicky remembering that I was sick in Peru. What if I get sick here? Who’s going to help me? What about Africa? Who’s going to take care of me? The panicked subsided and I did ask myself “Am I crazy?” (I’ve heard the jokes…save it!)

Now I sit, reading through the Rwandan “Primary Methodology How to Guide” that was developed for VSO volunteers. I have realized, lately, that by the questions some of you aren’t exactly sure what I’ll be doing in Rwanda. Truth be told, either am I!! Well, my title is Basic Methodology Trainer for teachers. The goal of Rwandan schools is to develop child centred schools in the country. That is, schools where students participate in their own learning, take an active role and draw from their own experiences. In short, move away from traditional teaching where the teacher stands at the front, talks and writes on the board hoping students have learned something. As I read through the 55 page document, I’m starting to get excited about the job I have to (get to!) do. This is what I love. If I forget for a moment that I’m ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET, I’m more excited than I am terrified. When I first started teaching my principal, M.R, hired me to teach math. I know, folks, math. Me! A social studies teacher! I accepted the job on the spot and when I hung up the phone said to myself “Uh oh. What have gotten myself into?” I’ve been teaching math since (as well as social studies, thank God) but I was talking to M.R. one day about a month into my first year and he said “Your learning curve must be very steep, so steep that you must be flipping backwards by now.” He was right and now, as I wait to board my next plane to Nairobi, I feel like I’m starting the steep climb of a learning curve and pretty soon I’ll be all Mary Lou Reton – except without the leotard.