You know? The rice here really isn't that bad, just so long as you don't close your teeth all the way.Evan Davies
Somewhere in Rwanda
Sometime in early 2010
My friend Evan said this during one of the countless buffets that we all shared during our first few months in Rwanda, and while I'm pretty sure he doesn't know it, this quote has become my mantra for the year, and hopefully a concept that will stick with me for a long time.
You see, the rice here in Rwanda consists of two main ingredients: first rice, and then detritus. Sometimes the detritus is straw or crushed up leaves or grass or some other veggie matter; that stuff usually just cooks right down to rice consistency and presents no problem. Other times, the extra oomph in your rice is bugs; again, these are just as chewable as rice and have the added benefit of infusing your meal with rare protein, so no problem there either. But most often, rocks are your rice's plus one. If you've cooked the meal yourself, chances are you've done a brief pick-through of the dry rice beforehand and removed the larger offenders, but it's almost inevitable that some tiny pebbles have been left behind. And if your rice comes from a local restaurant, where they're cooking up giant batches for a dinner rush? You're dreaming if you think you're getting pure grain. If you've ever chomped down onto a rock right in the middle of a tasty curry, you know that this wince-inducing, spine-shuddery feeling is not at all fun.
So what's the solution? Spend the entire meal ignoring your dining buddies, separating each grain and slicing it in half to ensure that it's rice, not rock? Only eat at the most expensive, elite establishments, where they can afford to pay a whole army of lesser kitchen staff to vet the rice before it reaches your plate? Just avoid rice altogether? None of the above. What Evan discovered, and what I've been rediscovering in situations ranging from rice to exercise to international travel to human relationships this year, is that you just don't close your teeth all the way. You know there will be rocks. You don't fight the rocks. You give them some space, you let them slide down with the rest of the mouthful, you enjoy your meal and you get on with your life.
How many times, here in Rwanda, have there been things to complain about? I wasn't told about a teachers' meeting until five minutes before it was set to start. Somebody's chicken bit me on the bus. The school maintenance crew dug up my vegetable garden. I waited two hours for my meal and then the waiter came to tell me that they don't have the main ingredient. The guy at the post office is holding my parcels hostage. It's 3am and the useless guard dog is literally screaming. My smart, capable students directly disobey me and then look at me with sad, pitiful eyes when they get punished for it. The village kids still lose it when I so much as leave my house, even though they've known me for months. My laundry was just about dry when a freak rainstorm took it all the way back to square one...
Rocks! They're all just rocks in my rice. All of these situations are annoying, but none of them really present anything more than minor irritations. I've certainly done more than my fair share of whingeing here in Rwanda, but during this last term, Evan's quote has been popping into my head almost daily. How about, instead of moving through my life here with a heavy-handed insistence that everything be pure, correct, perfect, thoroughly investigated and shaken down and beaten into faultlessness, how about instead of all that, I just take all the annoyances and inconveniences and perceived injustices and just swallow them down, let them go, don't chomp down on them too hard and ruin my teeth and my meal, but instead just enjoy the larger picture, the delicious curried life in Rwanda, even as I leave room for the rocks?
If I touch my teeth together every time, if I pick through this life I'm living in this developing country on this paltry salary, then I see that there are rocks everywhere. But something about this third term, perhaps my proximity to the end of my time here, the knowledge that soon I won't have this life anymore, or maybe, hopefully, a more fundamental gear shift in my brain, is allowing me to zoom out, and to see that this place, this year, and this life are incredible. I wake up each morning knowing that I'll see beautiful scenery, talk to familiar, friendly people in my village, laugh with my friends, eat good food, and sleep well at the end of it all. On the weekends, I get to travel all over Rwanda, and outside of the routine, I've had the chance to explore chunks of the rest of Africa, and even have one more awesome trip lined up before I come home. I successfully completed a year as a secondary school teacher, even though the thought of getting up in front of a classroom of students used to make me vomit. I stumbled into an incredible group of friends and future travel buddies who could commiserate with me if things got rough, and I had incredible support from my family and friends back home as well. When I look at things like this, when I take big generous bites and don't chomp down too hard, I realize that I'm one lucky slug in a ditch to have had this year that's far more rice than rocks.
--
I handed in my final marks today, which officially ends my duties as a teacher at Stella. For the rest of today and tomorrow, I'll be packing up and cleaning my house, doing laundry, and saying my goodbyes to students and staff here. On Thursday, I head into Kigali for a few more days with my WorldTeach group, and on Sunday, the Copleys arrive in Rwanda! We'll be traveling around East Africa for about three and a half weeks, and on November 23, I leave here for the States. It feels surreal, and insane, and delightful, that I'll be in the USA in less than a month. I can't wait to perfect my home brew of Africa tea and share it with friends, family, and random passersby. I can't wait to use my old typewriters and to go for runs in the daylight. So much to look forward to, and so many good memories from this year to look back on. Murakoze cyane mu amashuti anje, na mu Rwanda!
You see, the rice here in Rwanda consists of two main ingredients: first rice, and then detritus. Sometimes the detritus is straw or crushed up leaves or grass or some other veggie matter; that stuff usually just cooks right down to rice consistency and presents no problem. Other times, the extra oomph in your rice is bugs; again, these are just as chewable as rice and have the added benefit of infusing your meal with rare protein, so no problem there either. But most often, rocks are your rice's plus one. If you've cooked the meal yourself, chances are you've done a brief pick-through of the dry rice beforehand and removed the larger offenders, but it's almost inevitable that some tiny pebbles have been left behind. And if your rice comes from a local restaurant, where they're cooking up giant batches for a dinner rush? You're dreaming if you think you're getting pure grain. If you've ever chomped down onto a rock right in the middle of a tasty curry, you know that this wince-inducing, spine-shuddery feeling is not at all fun.
So what's the solution? Spend the entire meal ignoring your dining buddies, separating each grain and slicing it in half to ensure that it's rice, not rock? Only eat at the most expensive, elite establishments, where they can afford to pay a whole army of lesser kitchen staff to vet the rice before it reaches your plate? Just avoid rice altogether? None of the above. What Evan discovered, and what I've been rediscovering in situations ranging from rice to exercise to international travel to human relationships this year, is that you just don't close your teeth all the way. You know there will be rocks. You don't fight the rocks. You give them some space, you let them slide down with the rest of the mouthful, you enjoy your meal and you get on with your life.
How many times, here in Rwanda, have there been things to complain about? I wasn't told about a teachers' meeting until five minutes before it was set to start. Somebody's chicken bit me on the bus. The school maintenance crew dug up my vegetable garden. I waited two hours for my meal and then the waiter came to tell me that they don't have the main ingredient. The guy at the post office is holding my parcels hostage. It's 3am and the useless guard dog is literally screaming. My smart, capable students directly disobey me and then look at me with sad, pitiful eyes when they get punished for it. The village kids still lose it when I so much as leave my house, even though they've known me for months. My laundry was just about dry when a freak rainstorm took it all the way back to square one...
Rocks! They're all just rocks in my rice. All of these situations are annoying, but none of them really present anything more than minor irritations. I've certainly done more than my fair share of whingeing here in Rwanda, but during this last term, Evan's quote has been popping into my head almost daily. How about, instead of moving through my life here with a heavy-handed insistence that everything be pure, correct, perfect, thoroughly investigated and shaken down and beaten into faultlessness, how about instead of all that, I just take all the annoyances and inconveniences and perceived injustices and just swallow them down, let them go, don't chomp down on them too hard and ruin my teeth and my meal, but instead just enjoy the larger picture, the delicious curried life in Rwanda, even as I leave room for the rocks?
If I touch my teeth together every time, if I pick through this life I'm living in this developing country on this paltry salary, then I see that there are rocks everywhere. But something about this third term, perhaps my proximity to the end of my time here, the knowledge that soon I won't have this life anymore, or maybe, hopefully, a more fundamental gear shift in my brain, is allowing me to zoom out, and to see that this place, this year, and this life are incredible. I wake up each morning knowing that I'll see beautiful scenery, talk to familiar, friendly people in my village, laugh with my friends, eat good food, and sleep well at the end of it all. On the weekends, I get to travel all over Rwanda, and outside of the routine, I've had the chance to explore chunks of the rest of Africa, and even have one more awesome trip lined up before I come home. I successfully completed a year as a secondary school teacher, even though the thought of getting up in front of a classroom of students used to make me vomit. I stumbled into an incredible group of friends and future travel buddies who could commiserate with me if things got rough, and I had incredible support from my family and friends back home as well. When I look at things like this, when I take big generous bites and don't chomp down too hard, I realize that I'm one lucky slug in a ditch to have had this year that's far more rice than rocks.
--
I handed in my final marks today, which officially ends my duties as a teacher at Stella. For the rest of today and tomorrow, I'll be packing up and cleaning my house, doing laundry, and saying my goodbyes to students and staff here. On Thursday, I head into Kigali for a few more days with my WorldTeach group, and on Sunday, the Copleys arrive in Rwanda! We'll be traveling around East Africa for about three and a half weeks, and on November 23, I leave here for the States. It feels surreal, and insane, and delightful, that I'll be in the USA in less than a month. I can't wait to perfect my home brew of Africa tea and share it with friends, family, and random passersby. I can't wait to use my old typewriters and to go for runs in the daylight. So much to look forward to, and so many good memories from this year to look back on. Murakoze cyane mu amashuti anje, na mu Rwanda!
Hey! I've been following your blog for a few months, since I was originally accepted to the WorldTeach: Rwanda program. Now, I'm getting ready to leave for Namibia with WorldTeach and am so grateful for this post! Hoping that I'll learn what it means to deal with all the rocks in my rice :) Thanks for all the posts and stories from Rwanda - have a great last month in East Africa!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Karen! How exciting that you're going to Namibia - it was really tough for me to choose between Namibia and Rwanda, and I still really wish I could have made it down there. Your Field Director, Kelly Jo, is the same FD we had in Rwanda this year, and you're in for a treat because she is AMAZING! I'm sure you'll have an awesome year.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any questions or anything that I could help you with before you take off, let me know! Enjoy the fundraising and all those other preparations for leaving!
You might like Book Drum’s illustrated profile of Tess, which incorporates maps, music, video, pictures and background information to bring the book alive for modern readers:
ReplyDeleteTess of the D’Urbervilles on Book Drum
Good luck in Rwanda!