Tuesday 10th February 2009

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

(Alfred here: I know the guy drives me crazy at times but I kinda had to feel a bit sorry for him tonight. You see, he had invited his friend Enoch round for dinner – the first time he has had anyone around for dinner since he moved in. So stir-fry it was and he stopped off on the way home and got a crate of beer as well. All seemed to be going fine – Enoch reading through past copies of the Guardian Weekly and a copy of ‘In Dublin’ (goodness knows what he made of that, especially when Ruairí saw him reading the ‘interview’ with Ross O’Carrroll Kelly!) and drinking his beer, while Ruairí chopped the vegetables, put on the rice, made up the garlic chilli sauce and soy sauce mixture and so on. Large quantities of food to make sure there was enough, of course. Eventually all was ready and laid out on the table. Then Ruairí says: ‘ready to eat’? Enoch looks at him and says: ‘You want me to join you at your table? Oh no. I am not hungry. I will eat later.’

What do you do? Was it that he had smelled the food and decided that it wasn’t something he wanted? Did he feel awkward eating in someone else’s home? Or was it an Irish-type thing where you are supposed to politely refuse at first and only give in under pressure? Or was it just a matter-of-fact statement? Discretion being the better part of valour, our friend decides to take the statement at face value and bolted down the food as fast as he could (well, some of it – he is going to be eating leftover stir-fry for ages!!) because there is nothing as embarrassing as eating away while your guest sits on the other side of the room reading ... and NOT eating! )

Yes, it was rather awkward but it’s another of these cultural things you get used to, I suppose. And the bloody sauce was too salty so maybe it’s just as well he didn’t eat the food!! Don’t know what it is with that soy sauce.

Today was a bit of a waste of a day – hung around the office and then went for an English class for which virtually no-one turned up. However, I do now have a plan of action worked out: I figure that – however desirable it may be to have Francois accompany me on the inspections, his present workload means waiting for him means never getting started, so I am going to head off on my own. Bruce has been writing some really interesting things in his blog about how schools are coping (or not) with all the changes in the education system and I want to head out and see if the same is true here in my district. Tiga has also asked if I am interested in working with her on some training courses so that’s a good chance to get a bit of experience in an area I have not really done anything in before (Alfred: I’m not sure Tiga was thinking of you as someone to be trained as much as someone who would train!!)

Anyway, I have finished all the statistical work with the Primary and O-Level results (Leaving Certificate equivalent should be out any day now) so it’s time to move on to something else!! And some of the stories I have been hearing are pretty alarming! School starts earlier now but the kids don’t come because they are still doing chores at home. Teachers have found their workload massively increased and with only half an hour for lunch cannot go home to eat any more. Most schools are short teachers (and will probably shed even more with the less favourable working conditions) and there are a huge number with no principals. And that’s before we get into the whole ‘teaching through English even though the textbooks (if we are lucky enough to have any) are in French’ issue.

Otherwise life is fairly quiet and ordinary – nothing very special happening. Big party in Kigali this weekend – Mike, Charlotte and Sonya are all celebrating their birthdays together (grand total of 100 years between them!) Looking forward to that.

(Alfred: Quiet and ordinary???? What about the mice/bats? All bloody night long, this infernal squeaking from the attic just over the bedroom. It’s like some acid-laden version of Narnia – you keep on expecting Reepicheep to launch himself as your face brandishing a sword and riding a speaking bat. I mean, WHAT are they up to up there every night? The mind boggles.)

A big special thank you to all my pupils and ex-pupils who have been keeping in touch with me. A special 'hello' to Fiona Pilsworth (now Spargo) who has been fighting forest fires north of her home in Melbourne as a member of the local volunteer firefighting unit and managed to stop the flames 10km from her house!! Check out her photos on her Facebook page if you want to scare the bejaysus out of yourself!