JB at the Bank of Kigali

Rwandan ATM’s do not take foreign visa cards. Thus spending cash for the year plan was thwarted early on. So, Tuesday our field director Kelly Jo took the whole group to the bank to open accounts.

This is not as easy as you might think. There are many steps involved

1.  Wait in line for 20 minutes to exchange money so you have Rwandan Francs.

2. Sit down and wait for 30 minutes to speak with a bank representative. Get bank booklet and account number.

4. Go back to line and wait for a teller again to deposit money.

5. Come back 2 or 7 days letter to get checkbook. You will wait 3 months before you are eligible for an atm card (but you probably wont get it). to access your cash, you must write yourself a check and cash it.

Except… I decided to prolong the process and my experience went horribly awry. I had successfully completed steps 1-4 when I decided to listen to my new friend Mitesh. He is a former private equity guy from BofA and insisted the exchange rate at the forex bureaus was far superior to the banks. So after the bank, we went to forex and I exchanged all my spending money for the year. She handed me 80 bills!! (the highest denomination is RWF is 5000). So, with Mitesh as my bodyguard (A word on women-we walked back to the bank my sack full of money burning a hole in bag. I was sure everyone could see right through my bag  and right at the pile of cash.  So I walked down the street with a bullseye on my back and a big red arrow over my head.

by the time we got to teller, I was sweating with nervousness. Then, we got everything wrong. I didn’t fill out the deposit slip right, I didn’t count the number of each denomination bill… so We are standing at the counter, counting stacks of money and now I am hysterically giggling from embarrassment, The more nervous and foolish I felt, the redder my face got and the more I giggled. But now it is done. I also have a Rwandan cell phone now! its 250-078-551-9361. (not sure about the second 0) Call me everyone! You can also text me but I can’t text out yet.

Pictures tomorrow.

In Kigali

I am safely in Kigali! I will be here for the next 2 weeks for WorldTeach orientation. We are staying at a Catholic mission called Saint Pauls. My roomate is Jo and our roommate name is "Jokaw." After 2 weeks of orientation in Kigali we will be going as a group to Nyanza for teaching praticum. Nyanza is actually the town where I will be living after orientation is over. It is 2 hours from Kigali and apparently my house there is huge. I was (and still am) a bit nervous about being alone but I think I can handle it. We shall see. I am thinking I will get a little travel wifi modem to keep me company so be prepared to see a lot of me on the internet!

I am too tired and my brain is too fried from 24 hours of traveling and a full day of exploring to write a very eloqouent  blog but here are a few tidbits...I promise after this I will make an effort to string my thoughts together into a cohesive and readable story.

• Our field director Kelly Jo is very nice. She is the bubbliest person ever!
• The first sign we saw as we pulled out airport was
  RWANDA. INVESTMENT- YES

                             CORRUPTION-NO

• I can't use my swahlii! I am dying to say Asante Sana and Shikamoo. It's is killing me, but I am using a bit of french. Bonjour, Bonsoir, Pardon, Merci.
• Our first night, WorldTeach took us to a bar called Ivy and we saw a native dance and drum performance. It was great and very different from the native dances in Tanzania.
• The Rwandan Ministry of Education has decided they want us at the best schools. So all our placements are the top performing schools in the country. Not sure how I feel about that but it is what it is.
• On Jan 1 we are going as a group to an East African music concert. I will have pictures!
• The country is beautiful. Rolling green hills and red dirt. The vegatation is quite lush.
• We did yoga tonight! Kelly Jo lead the class and I think I might do one at some point. There was no empty room so we did outside in the mission courtyard. We had quite an audience of nuns giggling at us.

My assignment-Nyanza

I found out my placement in Rwanda. I will be living alone and the only American at my school. Below is the info I got from my program director.

 

Hi Jane,

I hope you're dong well and getting excited to leave for Kigali so soon :)

I am very excited to tell you about your placement at E.S. St. Louis de Monfort de Nyanza.  Your Headmaster's name is Jean and he is one of the warmest men we've met here..  His English is good, but your French will come in handy :)   He is requesting you to teach English and Computers. It is a boarding school of about 600 students and is about 2 hours south of Kigali.

Nyanza is the 8th biggest town in Rwanda and where the king's palace is located.  It is about 40 minutes from Butare and there are lots of young English speakers nearby.  We will be doing our teaching practicum there, so you will get a nice preview of your school then :)

As for your accommodation, it was a nice (huge) house with running water and electricity. (30% of the time!!!)

Goodbye Party