Second Class

I am preparing for my second marathon teaching session beginning tomorrow afternoon. I've had a hard time trying to decide what to have the students do for the lab on Saturday.  I want to get them outside and looking at animals and birds, yet I hardly feel like an authority on any of the local wildlife since I'm still so new to Rwanda. I decided to take a chance and put out some sherman (small mammal) traps this morning in the arboretum to see what small mammals I might capture. If I am able to capture anything I think I will have the students practice handling/processing animals for their lab.  My back up plan is the internet based lab I planned for last week.

I've been feeling a little lonely as of late- missing my friends from home. I've met lots of people so far at the University, but I'm still very new and feeling a bit like an outsider (I guess it's only been a week and a half!).  Okan and I are also constantly stared at whenever we walk around. I'm fairly used to just zoning out and being in my own head when I walk (as I do in NYC). But the staring does get old after a while.  We're probably 2 of 20 white people in all of Butare.

The workload of teaching these back to back classes on Friday and Saturday also is challenging. I haven't had much time to give any thought to my field work, which I hope to start next month. We're also still looking for a car (which we would need to do the field work!). We've found one we like, but the owner wants cash.  This presents two challenges- first, there is an ATM limit to what we can withdraw and the only alternative is taking out larger amounts within the bank which means hefty bank fees.  Second, and more amusingly, the largest bill in Rwanda is the equivalent of a $10 bill. So paying for a car means having absurb amounts of Rwandan francs on hand. Something on the order of a briefcase full of cash! We figure we can probably use the ATM's to get enough out in another 10 days or so given the daily withdrawal limit.

On the bright side- the electricity is back on! Yay! Which is good because it has been quite cool this week (so no more cold baths). I'm off to check my traps this afternoon- hoping some small creature will be drawn to the peanut butter and oat bait!