Believe it or not, I finally got my ass in gear and fixed all the pictures. Sorry it's taken so long, Kevin has been helping me and he's been really busy, and such a trooper through all my darn requests! I ask too much of him! Thanks babe so much for all your help!!!
Anyway, so the pictures are no longer on THIS webpage, but every description is linked to the appropriate picture in an online album, so you should be able to click on the link, a new window will open, and the picture will be there for you to look at, save to your computer if you so desire, etc. Please let me know what you think!
There will be more pictures coming soon. I bought a crappy camera I don't mind flashing around town so I will be running around on my bike and stopping to take pictures of the area so you can all get a better sense of where I live. So there are two more rolls that are almost finished in two separate cameras - so I will let you know when they are all up! :)
Enjoy these and please if you notice any discrepancy between description and photo, feel free to email me! We both worked very hard to make sure they are correct (again, thank you so much Kevin!!!) but ya just never know!
All the pictures (and a few that didn't get put on this website) can be found at http://photobucket.com/albums/v634/ErinInPeaceCorps/.
1-16-2005
Happy New Year!!! May the coming year bring you all everything you hope for and may you stick with your resolutions and accomplish great things! I have been thinking of all of you very much over the "festive season" and miss you all very much! Please keep writing! The letters and emails from you have been fantastic!!!
Also thanks for your patience with my updating. I've only gotten a couple nasty emails about how terribly overdue I am in getting them up! :) Just kidding!
12-18-2004
PACKAGES!
First of all THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGES EVERYBODY! I can't explain to you how awesome it is to know that so many of you are thinking of me!
Please please please remember to write that the contents are (this is VERY important!!!!!) �gifts or donations not intended for resale� so they don�t charge me a HUGE fee that I can't afford to get it out of the post box. The not intended for resale part is EXTREMELY important!
Thanks again for all the love!!!!! I really really really do appreciate them!!!!
11-26-04
PICTURE LINKS
Sorry the picture links are broken at the moment. No its not your computers fault, I couldn't get the pictures to load onto the file manager and/or send over email to anyone so I had to send the whole cd of pictures to Kevin so he could upload them for me! Sorry for the delay!
11-20-2004
CARE PACKAGES!
For all of you fantastic people that have inquired about care packages, I have compiled a list of some of the things I could come up with that would be awesome to receive. It won�t take much to make me happy honestly so don�t spend a lot of money!!!!! Really anything will be appreciated- except peanut butter � I am SO sick of peanut butter! I lived off of it for 7 weeks!!!
� Pictures
� Minty type gum
� Mix cds - Surprise me with your fun selections
� Magazines � anything but Newsweek
� Small cat toys � I got a kitten!!!
� Suggested reading lists � I have a lot of free time and a library across the street!
� Stickers to make my letters more fun
� Candy, cookies, any sweet/salty treats
� Inspirational quotes to get me through the lonely times
� Recipes that you love!
� VCDs of fun tv shows or music videos or whatever you can find that entertains you (simpsons, adult swim, whatever :) )
� Packets of dry drink mixes, soups, hot chocolate!
� Crosstitch kits from AC Moore or other craft stores
� Ideas on how to amuse myself with many free hours alone :)
� Tips on running a marathon � or marathon running supplies (I�m trying to train for one - but I'm having motivation issues. Surprise! haha)
Just make sure when you send it that on the slip they make you fill out you write that the contents are �gifts or donations not intended for resale� so they don�t charge me a HUGE fee to get it out of the post box.
11-17-2004
A CALL FOR VISITORS!
Come January 17 I am allowed to start having visitors. I hear flights are cheapest if you can get a ticket to Amsterdam or London and go from there to South Africa so start looking! If you are planning to come, make sure it�s more than a long weekend! This is a beautiful country and I would LOVE to have many visitors throughout my stay! How can you get a better tour guide then someone who knows a native language?!!!
10-25-2004
ASSIGNMENT UPDATE!
I found out today that I will be stationed in Klerksdorp in the Northwest province and will be working with an organization that does pre and post HIV test counseling, trauma counseling, and is helping with anti-retroviral treatment roll out. They operate a crisis center for people who have been the victims of rape or gender violence and do the counseling aspect of that. It appears that I will be living in a back room of my office which should be interesting!
10-16-2004
CELL PHONE!
I now have a cell phone, imagine that! If you want to contact me dial 011 + 27 + 72 048 3491. If you need a calling card, www.callingcard.com is a good site to get one from. Hope to hear from you soon!
9/26/04 - General Overview
I will arrive in South Africa in Johannesburg which is in the Gauteng province, right near Northwest province where I will be stationed (disregard the star - its wrong now!). My plane should touch down on Thursday at 5:05p. I will go through 10 weeks of language, technical skills and safety and health skills training and for most of that time, I will be staying with a host family. Once training is over (Swear in is Nov. 17) I will be sent on to my site, somewhere in the Northwest province. Here I will be working with a nongovernmental organization (what a nonprofit organization is here in the US) that works with HIV/AIDS populations. My official job title will be "capacity builder," meaning that I will be helping the organization create programs, systems, guidelines, etc. to increase their capacity now and in the future.
The drive to Philadelphia seemed extremely long and I was really sad about it, though excited as well. Looking back, it seems like such a surreal experience. Driving someone else�s car through �my� city, trying to have people follow me � poor Ryan getting lost right near 30th street station! Saying goodbye to the family, and Kevin in that hotel lobby was probably one of the hardest things I�ve ever done and will ever do. Once I started crying it was really hard to stop and I had to try hard to keep it together the rest of the morning. Once the sessions started, I got to meet some people and everyone seems really neat!
My roommate turned out to be an amazing woman named Diana, who just retired from her work as a social worker. She has worked in a prison, supervised 10 social workers (or more, I can�t remember) and is leaving her anthropologist husband behind!!
Being a tour guide and showing people around South Street was a great time and I got to have Lorenzo�s Pizza one last time!!! I also got to show a Texan what a REAL cheesesteak is at Jim's Steaks...
Those 2 days of �staging� were an emotional roller coaster, and when they started talking about the flight I got really overwhelmed and almost hyperventilated! Phew.
Wednesday Sept. 29, 2004
What a long plane ride! 16 hours on a plane is definitely not a walk in the park. Plane seats are too small and it�s just impossible to sleep! This was another surreal day, looking back! To start things off in a non-normal way, we had to get 3 shots and have blood drawn at 8am before our flight.
Back at the hotel, I went to mail a letter really quick at the front desk before we left and was stopped by a woman who asked me what I was doing in Philadelphia, so I told her that I was in the Peace Corps and would be getting on a bus shortly to head to the airport to leave for South Africa! This woman, Karen, proceeded to exclaim! about how proud she was of me and ask me to write a letter to her granddaughter � keep in mind I have never met this woman before in my life! She gave me a huge hug and her address before walking out the hotel doors without her luggage. I had to yell to her to come back and get it which must have proved to her what am awesome person I was because she hugged me again! Strange strange strange but fun!
The bus ride to JFK was rather uneventful, other than the random singing of the Fresh Prince theme song and talking about the size of those massive NKOTB buttons :) I�m glad I�m �stuck� with these people for 2 years! :)
When we finally got to the airport we were standing in line waiting to check our bags and who do I see checking in for his flight but PAUL HAMM. Yeah, that�s right, Mr. Gold Medalist himself. Sean (another NGO volunteer) even got him on videotape � oh so discreetly! We didn�t bother him, which I guess was nice, but an autograph might have been fun too!
The flight consisted of me watching oh�Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Day after Tomorrow, an episode of Friends, and Will and Grace, oh the list goes on, but I don�t remember what they were. If I wrote you about it and you feel it important, let me know and I�ll edit! :)
Friday Oct. 1, 2004
Showers aren�t working here at Temba College so I got to take my first �bucket bath.� It really means I got to stand in a shower stall and wash myself with a washcloth with only the bucket full of water. Boy was that a good time. Seems like something I could get used to (or have to�)! :)
Today Rich (NGO volunteer) looked at the sunset as we were walking from classes with the trees in front of it and said something about it being the perfect backdrop for a postcard with giraffes in it and I nearly had a heart attack because I thought he saw giraffes! Upon closer inspection, I noticed only roads underneath that sunset. Boy did we all have a good laugh at that one!
Saturday Oct. 2, 2004
Got to talk to mom today � it was definitely 1:30am in the states (oops sorry!!). We had language training today and I definitely nearly cried because I am TERRIBLE. They singled me out to help me on pronunciation of this one word and I felt like such an ass. By the end of the class though I got my bearings and had calmed myself down and things got going a little better. Just need to remember to laugh at myself! Definitely had people saying �O roberto jang?� instead of �O robetse jang?� which definitely made me feel better and gave me the giggles for most of the next few hours!
Today I also made the discovery that my MP3 player wasn�t working and I nearly had a heart attack about that too! Silly me � all I had to do was hit the reset button and all was well. Phew!!! That was a drama averted�my emotional stability was definitely an issue today! All of the younger volunteers spent much of tonight outside singing goofy songs at the top of lungs � songs from top gun, �build me up buttercup,� �don�t go chasing waterfalls�� It was too funny.
Sunday Oct. 3, 2004
We played football (soccer) with some locals today. Girls in South Africa are relegated to the Netball court (which is basketball without the net on the hoop), and not allowed to play soccer really. At one point during the game another volunteer tried to teach me the finer points of the game � such as �you shouldn�t use your hands or arms to play because it�s against the rules.� I put him in his place pretty quickly. Playing soccer for most of my junior high and high school life allows me to be direct to someone when it isn�t necessary to be culturally sensitive! :) Sara (education volunteer) definitely laughed her ass off when I did that! :)
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click here to see a signature South African tree - the Jacaranda. |
Monday Oct. 4, 2004
Today is the last day at Temba College and probably the last time I will have access to a phone. Thankfully I finally got to talk to Kevin today!!! I called his cell phone and lo and behold, he was at work and took a few minutes to tell me about his harrowing plane experience. It was so nice to hear his voice but it was so damn hard to hear it too. I was crying on the phone and absolutely sobbed when I got back to my room. Going shopping in Temba helped me out later � yay retail therapy (even if I did only buy a damn washcloth and soap holder! :) )
I spoke with one of the caterer�s tonight about his life � he helped me with my language homework - and he told me a sad tale about how he is 24, has a girlfriend and a daughter and can�t support them with the job he has. I have a feeling this story is going to become all too familiar and all too common to me over the next two years. Unemployment here is upwards of 80% in some of the more rural areas and with the HIV rate close to 25% I�m sure the stories I will hear will be sad�
Tuesday Oct. 5, 2004
Homestay started today in the tiny little village of Swartdam. It is about an hour outside of Pretoria, South Africa�s capital, in the Northwest Province. When we arrived in Swartdam from Temba College we headed over to the primary school, where we were to meet our families, and were immediately swarmed by tons of little children. Well some of us were swarmed, I felt like they were avoiding Joanna (another NGO volunteer) and I like the plague. We were eventually shown to a tiny HOT classroom and put on display in front of 18 or 20 grown women who were to be our host mothers. We greeted them in Setswana at the prompting of one of the trainers with a big DUMELANG and they just laughed! I was the first one called and ended up being paired with the woman who had coordinated all the homestays in Swartdam. She had a huge grin and a yellow, black and green floppy ANC hat on. We ended up heading home after everyone else because Mma Khunou is so important :) Kyle (NGO volunteer) came home with us cause his family were all still at work.
We were asked by two relatives, Thato and Michael (16 year old boys) if we wanted �cold drink� (what they call soda here) or water to drink. Kyle and I made the mistake of telling them we wanted something �African� so off we all headed to the local �tuck shop� named Moloko�s to get something �African.� They come out with a bottle of Lemon Twist in hand, which Kyle and I had turned down at the house. Turns out the boys thought that we meant that we wanted African beer! We were so eager to please each other we didn�t really make ourselves too clear! :)
I live in Swartdam with my �mma� (mother) Violet, my �ausi� (sister) Nnaniki who is 25 years old, her daughter Nunu, who is 4 years old, and my �aubuti� (brother) Christopher who is 10 years old just like Molly. :) My �rre� (father) lives in Johannesburg for work and only comes home once every other week for the weekend. My mma is a woman who is heavily involved in the community and hopes to run for political office next year and she does a ton of volunteer work in the community, as well as teaching adult numeracy classes. Nnaniki is studying to be a nurse and thinks she will be engaged by the time I leave in November (though that remains to be seen)! Christopher speaks very little English, so we play games so I can practice my language and he can practice his English. They have given me the Setswana name Lethabo, which means happiness (and is pronounced Lay-Tah-Boh). Its how I introduce myself to everyone � especially other Setswana speakers (it�s much easier for them to pronounce than Erin!).
We do have electricity here but no running water. Some people have boreholes (very deep wells) that people all over the village pay to get water from and keep in really large buckets in their back yard. At one point apparently, the village did have running water, but the government didn�t make the reservoir big enough for the population it had to serve so the lines to Swartdam have since been shut off. Not having water isn�t too much of a hassle, which is surprising though I would hate to use the pit latrine in the extreme heat of summer. I can�t imagine it smells terribly nice.
Before going to my room I was presented with a �911 Emergency Bucket� in case I had to pee in the middle of the night. I guess going out to the pit latrine at 3am isn�t too much fun! That first night I drifted to sleep at about 10:30p. The room was very hot because we are not allowed to sleep with our windows open. They say it�s dangerous because people will come by and steal your possessions but I tend to disagree with that and think it�s so huge spiders don�t come in and eat me. I didn�t sleep so well that night cause there was a damn rooster outside my window that woke me up several times between 3 and 6am. Those things definitely do not ONLY crow at dawn.
Before going to my room I was presented with a �911 Emergency Bucket� in case I had to pee in the middle of the night. I guess going out to the pit latrine at 3am isn�t too much fun!
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click here to see my homestay family's front yard including the darn rooster that woke me up at all hours of the night! |
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click here to see my homestay family's living room |
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click here to see my homestay family's dining room |
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click here to see my homestay family's kitchen |
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click here to see Swartdam's post office on our main road |
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click here to see Michael (left), Thato (front right) and Christopher, my aubuti (back right) showing me their ancestral spot |
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click here to see my ausi, Nnaniki, and her daughter Nunu |
Wednesday Oct. 6, 2004
We had our first training session here in Swartdam today. We had a �homestay debriefing� first thing and Gaylon and I made our appearance late � awesome! :) Diana, my roomie from Philadelphia, went home and was a part of a Tsonga/Shagaan welcoming ceremony last night. Her host father is a traditional healer and had to perform a traditional ceremony to let the ancestors know that Diana is now a part of the family and they shouldn�t get upset when they see her around the house. He spit in her face during the ceremony which caught us all by surprise. Bion had the consummate �western� experience last night. It was his host sister�s birthday, so they ordered pizza for dinner! Crazy!
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click here to see Diana with some of the neighborhood girls |
Friday Oct. 8, 2004
Today I had my first experience with Jungle Oats. It�s supposed to be like oatmeal, but the way they make it, it has the consistency of, oh, mucous! It�s disgusting! No taste, slimy and to top it off, they put HOT milk on top of it. Needless to say, I�m pretty sure that won�t be a staple in my diet.
I got my first letter today too! Sara Wray-you are amazing! We learned how to purify our water today � though if you ask me they are teaching us a few days later than they should have � since I�ve been drinking without purifying it thus far. We also got MORE shots today and the woman KILLED my arm. Ugh. The shot hurt to begin with and then the woman STUCK her finger into the injection site � why in the world would you do that!
Today was the beginning of my power walk tradition with the �girls,� Courtney, Candice and Joanna. We got lost on the way to Courtney�s house and ended up taking a tiny foot path through thorn bushes with cows on either side of us!
Rre Khunou came home from Jo�burg tonight for the weekend. Boy, can that man talk! He also is a big fan of liters of beer�I got to watch Generations tonight for the first time � a fun and cheesy South African soap opera (aren't all soap opera's cheesy!?) :)
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click here to see "The girls" (Courtney, Candice and Joanna) enjoying some fun discussions |
Saturday Oct. 9, 2004
Today was our Welcome Ceremony by the community for us! It was held in Magapanstad, the larger village near us where the education volunteers are being hosted. We all piled into a coombi and headed over there from Swartdam. I�m pretty sure we crammed 16 people into that 15 person van, no easy feat! There were tons of speeches, traditional dances by a group of similarly dressed women and very beautiful singing. The dancers wore really neat noisemakers around their ankles made out of milk carton plastic sewn into a triangle with gravel inside. Neato!
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click here to see Sara, Kyle, Mma and I |
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click here to see Annah, unknown woman, Mama Helen and Tseofatso (Gaylon's Mma & ausi) and Candice |
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click here to see opulent decorations in the hall |
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click here to see our language trainers dancing and singing |
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click here to see traditional instruments |
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click here to see women performing a traditional dance and shaking their ankle noisemakers |
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click here to see women dancing and singing |
Our very talented trainers performed fun songs and dances for us and we got to sing the US and South African national anthem as well � we have been learning it during our cross culture sessions so we were all able to sing the whole first verse in Zulu!
Nkosi sikileli�- Afrika (en-koh-see see-kill-lay-lee Africa)
Maluphakanyisw�uphondo lwa yo (mall-oo-pock-an-ee-swoo-pond-oh luwah yo)
Yiswa imithandazo yethu (yiz-wah imee-ton-dah-zoh yay-too)
Nkosi sikelela (en-koh-see see-kill-lay-lah)
Thina lusapho lwa yo (tee-nah loo-sah-poh luwah yo)
Now you can pronounce all the words too!!!
After the ceremony I was able to go to Mabopane, the nearest �big� town with Nnaniki to get my cell phone! Her boyfriend Lucas took us over there. On the way back from getting my phone we stopped at the taxi rank so Nnaniki could use the latrine. This was where I had my first blatant confrontation with racism. I was holding the door closed to Nnaniki and this man walks past me just saying hi � I figured he wanted something from me other than just a hello so I ignored him. Everyone who has ever lived in a city knows it�s usually better to ignore stuff like that� So I ignored him until he said �oh, you are white so you can�t talk to a black man.� That caught me a little off guard so I told him I hadn�t realized he had been talking to me. He said hi 4 or 5 more times as he walked past and finally we were ready to walk back to the car to head home.
Got back home and tried to call home to get my number out. It took a long time before it finally connected to Kevin and after only 2 minutes, it cut off. Apparently it costs 10 rand a minute to call the states (which is almost about $2 a minute which is LUDICROUS!)
The Volunteers:
All 15 of the NGO Development volunteers live in this Swartdam and we have gotten very close. There is one married couple among us who are in there 70s, and a bunch of older folks in the group who have SO much life experience. Median age of the group is probably 30 or 33 years old.
Most of us have left significant others behind to pursue this wild adventure :( and one woman even left behind her husband to do this!! It�s apparently very strange to have a group with so many of us having significant others. I am one of the youngest people here and definitely have a lot less international experience than mostly everyone. One of my best friends here is pretty much fluent in Chinese (and lived there for a year right after college � and he�s 23! Damn him!) All of the younger girls have gotten pretty close, and we go for daily walks after class everyday before sunset to chat, get some exercise and de-stress a little bit. We found �Paradise� on one of these walks � a place where the trail ends and we are in the bush, and there are no houses, and no people and it�s just peaceful and gorgeous! All of us volunteers live with host families � we all took a room in their house and have become a part of their family now! We are spread out over three provinces of South Africa � Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Northwest (where I am).
Sunday Oct. 10, 2004
Sundays are traditionally the day to get up really early and make a huge meal that will be both lunch and dinner before church. Today I got to help by making a green salad � I even made a salad dressing using every possible spice I could find and some vinegar, oil and lemon juice. Good if I do say so myself!!!
We all went to church once lunch was done. My family belongs to a Methodist church, it�s held in a tiny tin shack across the tar road behind someone�s house. It was smaller than a typical dorm room. Inside there were old car seats and wooden benches for seats. The readings were in Setswana and he all the white folks in the room to read a passage at one point to make sure we were following. He talked of the miracle that Jesus performed when he fed a thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish and said that the volunteers that were here was God�s way of giving enough bread and fish to the South African people through us. Pretty high expectations! Yikes :)
After church I headed over to another volunteer�s house where a wedding was taking place! When a traditional wedding happens here EVERYONE is invited. It�s a HUGE affair. This wedding followed Xitsonga tradition, as the father of the household is a Xitsonga traditional healer. His son was the person getting married. Another interesting fact about weddings here is that there is a traditional ceremony at both the brides� and the groom�s house. The ceremony at the bride�s house is typically on Saturday and then it�s at the groom�s house on Sunday.
When we arrived we stood at the front gate at the beginning of the driveway and sang and danced. The song we sang was asking the groom�s uncle for permission to enter the wedding ceremony; we were asking him for a �password� to enter. When the uncle admitted us we danced right into the yard and all the way around the house. It�s a neat little two step dance and really easy to learn! :) People drank traditional African beer � a LOT of it, and many people asked me to dance. Some women wore these traditional skirts made with very brightly colored yarn that made their hips and butt VERY wide. They were quite good at shaking what their mama�s gave them :)
Monday Oct. 11, 2004
Happy 29th Wedding Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!
So today we had an interesting discussion in language class about prostitution. We were learning foods and somehow it came up that women here sometimes to eat have to sell their body for just 5Rand, which is only enough to buy a loaf of bread � or a can of soda� It�s very little money � less than a US $1. It is such a sad reality here that poverty is just so high :( It is very hard for many people to find jobs because during apartheid black Africans were intentionally undereducated, meaning that now, they have very few skills. Many women here take adult education classes to learn new skills; some classes are as basic as counting and basic literacy.
On a much brighter note, I was teaching my family some fun Spanish words today. I broke out the UNO deck which was a HUGE hit. We played probably only 2 hands in the span of 3.5 hours! We had a lot of good laughs. I will have to tell my mom to send an extra deck that I can leave with them so that they can remember the good ole �American� game. :)
It rained very hard tonight (Pula, the Setswana word for rain, is something to be celebrated here. It rains so infrequently!) and the electricity went out so we had to play by candlelight, which is not easy. It�s really tough to tell the difference between blue and green cards!
South African Wildlife
You will all be disappointed to know that wild animals do not roam free here in South Africa, they have all been rounded up and placed in wildlife reserves which I have yet to visit, so I haven�t seen any of the Big 5, or even anything exotic really. The birds here are beautiful, some with tails as long as my arm. This does of course mean, that no, I can�t ride a giraffe to work, but it also means I can�t get eaten by a pissed off hippo! I guess there are plusses and minuses :) The biggest wildlife park in all of Africa is in South Africa. It is in the Mpumalanga province and also the Limpopo province and spans almost 350 km along the Mozambique border. There are beautiful hiking trails, campsites, and an added bonus is that I have a few volunteer friends right near entrances to the park so lodging could be free unless you all come visit and we want to stay in the park overnight!!
In Swartdam, I have chickens in my backyard (and roosters that do NOT only crow at dawn! They wake me up at 2am, 3am, 5am, or whenever the hell they feel like it), and goats roam free around the village so that�s fun! There is even a goat that sounds like a little child screaming in the neighborhood to other kids (no pun intended). It is absolutely hilarious. I wish I could have caught the sound on tape! Every evening around 6pm a huge herd of bulls and cows are herded right down the main street in the village to their pen which I guess is across the village from where they stay all day. Many older women in the village raise baby chicks to sell for food and egg production to the residents of the village.
Wednesday Oct. 13, 2004
The puddles from the rain are just enormous. Since our roads are all dirt here in the village it makes for some tough walking conditions. Some of the puddles cover almost the entire road and walking in them is just not an option for me because of the entire animal poop that is in the roads.
We visited a sangoma or traditional healer today to learn more about what they do and how they do it. We went into the man�s hut with a straw roof behind his house, took off our shoes and stepped into the hut and all sat on the floor with our legs crossed. He "threw the bones" for one of the volunteers, which means that he used his set of bones to tell the volunteer�s fortune. He told him that he would experience kidney problems and probably wouldn't last here 6 months because he would miss his girlfriend too much.
At one point the traditional healer that lived at the house brought a traditional stomach remedy for us to look at and taste if we wanted it. A bunch of people ate some and from the look on their faces, it seemed very bitter.
Tonight was WWE Smackdown night! It�s the favorite TV show to watch on Wednesday nights. I�m ashamed to say that after a few times of watching it I�ve become interested in it too :) �You can�t see me.� John Cena � too funny! He looks a lot like Vanilla Ice � yeah but he wrestles. The story lines are really hilarious and the boys in Swartdam, and apparently all over the country are really into the damn show. A lot of them don�t realize that it�s fake.
Transportation Note:
As most of you probably know, we drive on the other side of the road here. People here drive like maniacs � most roads do not have double yellow lines � instead they are hashed single lines so you can pass the cars in front of you if you want to drive faster.
In general the tar roads are in good repair, South Africa probably has one of the better road infrastructures in Africa.
Public transport here in South Africa is pretty good. You can get anywhere you want to go on these things called coombis (or taxis). They are basically 15 passenger vans and tons of people cram into them (probably 1 to 3 more people over that 15) and they basically go from town to town, or village to village. They are relatively cheap, for me to get to the local shopping center probably 40 minutes from my house only costs me 9 Rand � which is about $1.50 with the exchange rate right now. The passengers don�t really bother one another, and you can usually start a fun conversation with someone if you feel so inclined. Also if you start getting harassed by a guy, a gogo (an older woman � usually grandma age) will butt in and yell at him for you, which is great! :)
Friday Oct. 15, 2004
For lunch today we went to this tuck shop because I was so sick of peanut butter I just couldn�t eat it today. I got this sandwich that was made up of a HUGE piece of bread, a neon pink piece of bologna, French fries (or chips here!), mango chutney and ketchup and mustard. It was good � but HUGE.
I got two letters today from Kevin which was phenomenal. Mail really does make my whole day!
I showed the boys in my house my mp3 player today and they had a great time listening to my music, especially the hip hop. They did have this habit of asking me what everything I owned cost though which got a little old after a while.
Saturday Oct. 16, 2004
I learned how to hand wash my laundry today, which didn�t really go so well. I wasn�t �doing it right� so my host mom took over doing it to show me how. She really didn�t let me do too much. She�s just trying to help I know, but I really wanted to learn how to do it myself. I felt incompetent! Nunu tried to help me wash my socks and she kept getting soap suds all over her face and in her eyes. A 4 year old trying to wash laundry is something to watch!
After the wash the day got much better. We have come to call this the day of empowerment! Courtney, Joanna and I ventured out on our own to try to figure out the taxi system on our own. We dealt with a lot of gawking while we waited for the taxi � the novelty of having white folks in the village hasn�t worn off yet. A lot of people were yelling lekgua (white person) which is common to hear from little kids around here. We finally flagged down a taxi after waiting around for 45 minutes and we headed over to the taxi rank in Magapanstad. When we got there the taxi we needed to get into was empty and typically you have to wait for a taxi to become full before it will leave. We all figured we would be there forever�luckily; we only had to wait for two folks to climb in!
Once we got to Temba we walked past a bakery with cakes and we go pizza at Pie City which wasn�t great but it hit the spot. I felt like I was with the girls at the LV mall in the states! We got to access internet which was good and I got to write just a few emails before my time was up. I unfortunately didn�t get to read any emails because for some reason gmail wouldn�t come up on that computer. BOoo.
When we were all done with the internet we made our way back to Swartdam. While we were sitting in the taxi waiting for it to leave a man had the gall to open up my window to tell me he loved me. Ugh. When we got back Gaylon broke out his guitar and we all sat around and chatted while he played. Candice got her hair braided by Tseofatso and I helped out which was fun!
My family taught me how to play a game called Ludo tonight as well. It�s a dice game and you move pawns around the board. It�s interesting and fun though I don�t know that I�ll ever be able to play it again!
Sunday Oct. 17, 2004
I got to teach my family how to make cornflake chicken today! They loved it!!
We worked with women in the community today over the age of 50 to identify what they find important in their community. It�s apparently a standard PACA community development assessment that we might have to use during our service. We�ll see. The women were interesting to talk with because much of what they identified in the community as important to them was important because they were important to people that they relied on, not necessarily because they themselves used them. Intriguing!
Monday Oct. 18, 2004
We had a program on internalized oppression today which really made a lot of us think about how South Africans think. After living in a society for so long where oppression, racism and lack of opportunity were institutionalized for so many, it�s really interesting to learn how it manifests itself in a person�s psyche. It was hard to know how you are going to respond in situations that you have never been placed in before � like dealing with the stigma of AIDS, the powerlessness that many people in this country feel, the constant role of many as the victim, because they don�t know how else to be. Really fascinating stuff.
Got to borrow a book today by Joseph Campbell called �Reflections on the Art of Living.� It seems really interesting. He has some really amazing quotes.
Tuesday Oct. 19, 2004
I was feeling sick today. I�m not really sure what caused it, but it forced me to spend my whole night in my room trying to not feel terrible.
I killed a spider in my room today that was half the size of my darn palm. It totally grossed me out! Those suckers have no fear either. The thing definitely ran toward me when it saw me, not away from me like most spiders would! I think it wanted to kill me!
Wednesday Oct. 20, 2004
We got out of training early today (at 3p instead of 5p) so a whole group of us went on a huge walk. Two of the boys brought a liter and a quarter of coke with them and drank it the whole way which cracked me up.
My language teacher showed up at my house tonight to talk to my family about how I was doing. She also told them that they aren�t allowed to speak English with me anymore, only Setswana which is probably good but definitely frustrating too since I can�t form complete damn thoughts in Setswana. I spent the whole damn night with my Setswana dictionary in my hands! Ugh.
Got to hear a little bit of the news today on my shortwave and heard about the Red Sox beating the Yankees in game 7 of the NL championships after being behind 3 games. Good come back! This shortwave radio is a lifesaver for me. It�s the only way I know what�s going on in the world.
Thursday Oct. 21, 2004
We went on a walk today again after class and discovered �paradise.� It�s where the road ends, there are no houses and there is just uninterrupted bush. It�s very still and quiet and beautiful. You can see for what feels like miles and can easily imagine wild animals roaming free there. We watched the sunset there, which was really beautiful and then headed back. The girls all walk way too much faster than me so I ended up walking with Gaylon and we chatted about his girlfriend back home. She�s an opera singer � isn�t that neat?
Tonight I cooked pap. Pap is a staple food here. It is a thick paste like food � it looks a lot like mashed potatoes but has no taste really. It�s made out of mealie meals - maize meal. It�s not complicated to make but takes a lot of time.
I showed my family yoga poses tonight which was great fun. Watching them try to do the plow, where your feet are up and behind your head and your stomach is right over your face was really priceless. They are all in the middle of exams now so they are very stressed out so I also showed them how to do the cat, to relax there muscles and they got a real kick out of that one.
Friday Oct. 22, 2004
We discovered these fantastic �breakfasts� called �fat cakes� today. It�s like an elephant ear without the powdered sugar. Totally heavy and absolutely terrible for you, but when they are still warm, holy cow are they good.
We did a great activity this afternoon in technical training where we were given a group of people and told to make up lives for them � and we were supposed to make it a little outlandish (Generations-esque.) We ended up having a family with a mom, dad, daughter who has a baby, mom�s sister�s daughter, paternal grandparents and an adopted street kid who was really the dad�s mistress�s kid and a son who was sick and had visions of being a sangoma. Oh and did I mention that the grandfather is also a sangoma? It was such a twisted story! So then our facilitator came around after we told all our stories and told us that one of the people in our family had AIDS. Turned out to the be street kid in our house because he got it while he was living out on the street and he was having an illicit love affair with the mom�s sister�s daughter so she ended up with AIDS as well. The family ended up splitting up because the father wouldn�t let the mom kick the street kid out and he had to admit that it was his and his mistress� son. Oh the drama!
Last night I had the strangest dream. I was still at home, just about to leave for the Peace Corps and I drove down to a beach house. Celeste and Tiff Kelly met me there and then Kevin showed up. We ended up hugging for a long time and when I woke up I had a death grip on my Stitch doll.
Saturday Oct. 23, 2004
Today I made it my mission to help Candice with her Setswana. She switched into the group after having her site assignment changed for a �better match,� so now she is behind in her language. Gaylon came over with his breakfast to distract us and we ended up just chatting and he told us how he had been talking to his mom and she had told him that only black people get HIV. There is so much misinformation about this disease and such a stigma attached to it here, it�s really quite amazing. It�s sad to think that the only way that the stigma went away in Uganda was because everyone knew someone who died � the sad reality might be that it could happen like that here too�I hope that�s not the case.
I hand washed my laundry today and got made fun of the whole time by my family. They even told me I wasn�t hanging my underwear up correctly on the clothesline. Why there is a correct way I will never be able to fathom! I was so frustrated by the time I was done that I had to go sit in my room and collect myself.
Once I felt a little better I went outside and read a book in the backyard. When I was out there my brother Christopher and 10 of his closest friends were outside playing the silliest little games. It�s really amazing how people here can use their imaginations so much better than I feel kids in the States can anymore. They were leap frogging and racing with people on their backs and hopping on one foot and singing songs�it was fantastic to watch. When that got old I headed over to Gaylon�s to play with the 5 month old baby in his house � Helen � whom I absolutely adore. Hopefully he will send me a picture that I can put up soon..
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click here to see the boys playing a game that involved running around in circles. |
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click here to see a game that involved some singing and running around. |
A friend of my mma�s came over while I was making dinner and he started asking about America�s local government and how it all worked. He asked me where the blacks live in America. It was an interesting conversation.
I had really strange dreams again tonight all night long. I dreamed I was in a hospital and taking the steps down to the exit. I went out a stairwell door and ended up on a floor where all the people I worked with in Merck R&D were sitting. My boss was in a room with some friends and he was being very clingy. I told him it was time for him to cut the mullet he was sporting and he got all sad but he thanked me. Seriously weird dream!
Sunday Oct. 24, 2004
Got all my tons of homework done today at Gaylon�s. After finishing it all up I went back to my house for lunch and made a copy of the �Women of Strength� quote that I think applies to all the women volunteers here.
A strong woman isn't afraid of anything ... but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear.
A strong woman won't let anyone get the best of her� but a woman of strength gives the best of herself to everyone.
A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future ... a woman of strength realizes life's mistakes can also be unexpected blessings and capitalizes on them.
A strong woman wears a look of confidence on her face but a woman of strength wears grace.
A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey.... but a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong.
Pass this on to a GREAT WOMAN...I just did. �Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.�
All the ladies loved it! :)
Monday Oct. 25, 2004
Today we found out our assignments for the next two years! To give us our assignments they gave us each a number and the name of the organization along with its location. We were called one by one up to a huge map of South Africa and told to place on numbers on the map near the location we were staying in. I found out that Jennifer is about an hour from me in Potchefstroom and Candice is probably about 4 hours from me in Taung. I will be working with Lifeline in Klerksdorp and Courtney, Gerrit and Bion will all also be working with Lifeline but in different cities (Mafikeng and Rustenberg). I�m not sure about my living situation yet, I won�t know till I go to site orientation on Thursday. I did find out a little about Lifeline though from some papers I was given by my APCD Leah.
After learning about our orgs we went back to Swartdam we watched some serious lightning forks from Candice�s backyard. I hear the storms here are good! Can�t wait to see more of them!
LifeLine Klerksdorp:
Just some background on the organization I am working with. It is an international organization started in Australia called LifeLine and my branch is in Klerksdorp. They run a �Crisis Center� which is attached to a government run hospital next to the black township of Joburton right outside of Klerksdorp. Girls and women who have been raped or been the victims of gender violence are brought here by the police for a physical exam and counseling (which is the part that LifeLine takes care of). There is a counselor there 24 hours a day. I�m not really totally sure yet what I will be doing with LifeLine while I�m here, but it seems like I will be going out into the community a lot and working with the home based caregivers to develop support groups, and it also sounds like I will be the purpose responsible for setting up a peer counseling group in a local all-black technical high school. The school has had problems with students going through emotional crises, most have very dysfunctional family backgrounds (or so I�m told) and the school things that students will be more willing to speak with their peers than administrators.
The organization itself does all types of counseling and training and education, and just opened up the crisis center a month ago. They have about 25 home based caregivers who visit homebound HIV/AIDS affected people and bathe them, help them around the house, and simply offer some companionship. They also have a large network of community counselors that they are working on training though I know very little about this program thus far.
They are also helping get anti retroviral drugs (ARVs) out to people with CD4 counts that are lower than 200 or have developed opportunistic infections characteristic of full blown AIDS. Their role is to help get food parcels out to the people taking the ARVs (cause you can�t physically handle taking the meds if you haven�t eaten nutritionally!) I�m excited to be a part of an organization that has an impact on people every day! It�s really exhilarating! The people I will be working with are all super super nice (I guess they would have to be as counselors right!), and seem impressed with my really poor Setswana skills :)
Found some literature with their website on it - check it out if you want to learn more! http://www.lifeline.org.za/factsheet.htm.
Tuesday Oct. 26, 2004
Current volunteers came to talk to us today and told us a LOT about needing to kill some serious free time once we get out to site. I�ve never been one to sit idle and twiddle my thumbs so I�m sure Ill find stuff to do. :)
After we got out of class Gaylon and Kyle and I stopped outside of Moloko�s tuck shop and shared a 1.25 liter of coke while we stopped to notice just how surreal our lives in the village are. A donkey cart drove past us while we sat there, a woman came up to us and greeted us in 4 different languages and we all talked about our sites and how I was not going to the most beautiful parts of South Africa like they are! Damn Kyle is right next to the Blyde River Canyon! Lucky duck. Gaylon is going to be living in the Valley of the Olifants which is a wildlife hub and apparently there are fruit plantations everywhere. Damn the luck!
We all hung out at Gaylons this afternoon and at one point I noticed my host sister in the back of a pickup truck heading to the house right behind Gaylon�s. Turns out their family from Mobopane was stopping to get a goat to take home to sacrifice for the ancestors. They hog tied the poor screaming goat and carried it by the ankles and the head was at a really unnatural angle. I was scared to death that they were going to kill it at my house that night. Thank goodness I was wrong!
Wednesday Oct. 27, 2004
We were done with lessons today at 3pm, we had to prepare for a presentation we have tomorrow but that was no sweat! Because we were done so early, all us girls headed to the grocery store on the tar road and grabbed a bag of popcorn kernels and headed to Courtney�s house to watch a movie on her laptop and have some cold drink and popcorn with it! We tried to make popcorn and failed miserably on our first attempt�we ended up just burning the crap out of some popcorn kernels. Eventually we figured it out and then we got to watch the Princess Bride which was a very good and much needed escape from reality! We looked at her pictures of her boyfriends Peace Corps service in Honduras- it was absolutely gorgeous where he was! Beautiful beaches, waterfalls...you name it.
When Courtney�s mom arrived home she brought us back to the chicken coop and we got to hold 3 day old chicks! AWWWW�They were so cute and so easy to catch :)
On the way home we got stuck behind a huge group of cattle being herded down the road. Their owner was kicking a soccer ball at their feet and they would kick it back (unintentionally of course) it was funny. I just wish I had my camera!
Thursday Oct. 28, 2004
Today began site orientation so I am here in Klerksdorp learning about Lifeline. We left the village at 830a after hugs and well wishes from our host families. We had to do a cheesy icebreaker in order for us to meet our new bosses (I know the RAs/RDs out there will love this!) � we had to act like animals and find the other person acted like the same animal :) I got to be a snake so I hissed myself over to the woman who was also acting like a snake. Her name is Lettie and I came to find out the icebreaker was her doing! :) We�ll get on just fine I think if that was her idea. I am notorious for my cheesy icebreakers :) We got to hear presentations from all the organizations in our province, there are 2 other Lifeline offices and a Childline office here that other volunteers are working with.
We got to eat a good lunch- and talked about politics since that�s all anyone can do with the elections coming up State side � and then started our long drive to Klerksdorp (4.5 hours from Temba College where we were). I found out that I would be staying in the Crisis Center for the week so that I would have company and start to get to know the counselors that work there!
So I ate at McDonald�s for dinner (which oddly enough at this point was a good thing!). My diet has seriously been lacking fat since I got here, meaning I�ve lost considerable weight too.. So the McDonald�s did serious damage to my stomach � surprise there...
Anyway, the women that work here at the Crisis Center are all absolutely wonderful people. They all have a great sense of humor, and LOVE that I am trying to learn Setswana.
Thobeka was the woman on duty tonight; we ended up watching the �soapies� (i.e. Generations and Isidingo) and just chatting. She used to be a home based caregiver for Lifeline and has been promoted to counselor cause she rocks! She is Xhosa, which is the ethnic group that Mandela is as well. The Xhosa language has WAY too many clicks in it for me. The Xh in Xhosa actually sounds like a C but it�s a click as well...its not easy! She is married and wants to start a family in a year or so. She has a younger sister with HIV and is afraid to know her status and won�t find out until she is ready to have kids� which unfortunately is all too common here.
Friday Oct. 29, 2004
I got to start my day with a SHOWER today! It was amazing! Oh the simple things in life. You have no idea how nice a shower is until you don�t have one for 4 weeks! There is no hot water here yet, so I had a COLD shower but it was well worth being a little cold, let me tell you!
Got to head over to the Lifeline office around 10:30 and I got to poke my head into the home based caregivers (HBC) meeting and be introduced. Two of the HBCs (oddly enough both named Emily though their Setswana names are Segametsa and Nomvulo) volunteered to show me around town. They showed me two different malls, the taxi ranks where I will be able to get public transport around the area and far away, the post office, my bank, where I can get my phone minutes to send you all short emails!, an Internet caf�, and the grocery store! They also showed me the library which is RIGHT across the street from my office and the park that is next to it � it reminded me of Rittenhouse Square, oh how I miss Philly! We even saw an ice cream truck!!! This is gonna rock!
I took a taxi back to the crisis center with Lorraine so I�m beginning to get my bearings a LITTLE bit. I was back at the crisis center for the night at 230p so I did a lot of tv watching, magazine reading and needleworking (I�m SUCH a dork!) and waited around for Kevin to call me! I heard a rumor that Bob Libutti is going to be Captain Murphy for Halloween! Bob you�ll have to let me know if this is true!
Saturday Oct. 30, 2004
This morning I headed out to an Afrikaans Church Basaar with my boss and her 20 year old son, Natius. I spent the day following him around because everyone just assumes I know Afrikaans and tries to talk to me in that. Its kind of unfortunate, haha. Only think I can understand is dankie, which means thank you. :) When we got there my boss handed me 50Rand because I hadn�t budgeted for the event but I couldn�t use any of it�I felt bad for taking it�
Anyway somehow I ended up registering people for the 1k and 5k fun runs. I got a shirt out of the deal and free juice so that was cool!
I got to try pancakes (which are spelled different here but I don�t know how) which are basically crepes filled with brown sugar and cinnamon. They are so good! I also got to try these things called kooksister (totally NOT spelled right) which is nothing but fried dough that has soaked up serious amounts of sugar �its so sweet it hurt my teeth!!
Lettie�s other son showed up after a while, he�s super cool. He is a paramedic so we discussed medical stuff which of course I can�t shut up about so that was a lot of fun! I helped breakdown and cleanup and then it was time to head back to the crisis center and sit on my butt :) I got to hop on a computer and type up an email that I think Kevin sent out to everyone and then I got to catch the tail end of the Runaway Bride, that movie totally rocks!
Sunday Oct. 31, 2004
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!
Well its Halloween. Hope everyone had a great time and dressed up in something fun! I had the most boring Halloween of my life. I sat around, chatted with everyone and wrote letters all afternoon.
We had a rape victim come in this afternoon who told us the whole story of what happened. He beat her up pretty bad; some of the blood vessels in her eyes were broken. I felt so bad for her, all I could do was listen. She is from a different town, and the inspector that showed up to pick her up gave us a serious hassle about bringing her back to where she lived. She said she was going to have to take a taxi. How absurd! Do you realize what this woman has just been through, you soulless woman! Ugh. That made me angry for the rest of the afternoon!
Its been chilly here � I�m glad I brought my jacket with me�
Monday Nov. 1, 2004
So I�m quickly realizing that living in a village has TOTALLY screwed up my sleeping habits. I can stay up really late when I have the chance (like right now) but I can�t sleep past 6am or even 5:30am really. That makes me a little cranky :)
I spent most of the morning being interrogated by a VERY curious counselor that works in our office. He kept asking me about politics, how things are in the states, etc, so I tried to be real and not just give him this just the nice stuff about the States because I want him to realize that the reality is that South Africa and the US have some of the same problems, just in different degrees. People here think that everyone in the states has a place to stay, and that everyone has enough to eat so I�m really trying to give them a real version of what the US is without making it sound terrible, because we all know it�s not terrible!! The office is SO quiet, I don�t know if I�ll be able to take that! I need at least conversation! :)
Anyway, I found out today that I will indeed be staying in the office. I�m excited because it has a huge kitchen and running water and it�s in the center of town! Who could ask for more!
Tonight at the Crisis Center I helped my boss� older son mount a TV stand on the wall which was fun, and the two counselors that were on duty, Stephanie and Veronica were just absolute laugh riots! I laughed my ass off all night long!
Tuesday Nov. 2, 2004
ELECTION DAY! Get out to vote or else!!!
So today I woke up to find an inspector in the main room of the crisis center with a woman and her 9 month old daughter. Turns out the 9 month old had been raped! I was appalled! That started one of the toughest days I�ve had here�
Counselor training this morning started late because Lynda (a coworker of mine) had to get money for the counselors who haven�t been paid in TWO months! Once training was over I headed to Potchefstroom (which is a town an hour away and has the closest volunteer to me in it!) with Lettie so I could spend the night there, since Jennifer and I (the volunteer over there) had to catch a bus back to Pretoria at 6am. Ugh.
When we got to Potch I headed out with Jennifer, Alice (ChildLine�s director) and Joseph (the admin) to set up a �food station� in one of the townships around Potch. We ended up in �Extension 7� of the township in an empty lot and just set a tabletop up on two bar stools and pulled out tons of donated bread and soup. We ended up feeding A LOT of very poor, very hungry children ranging in age from probably 2 to 16 or so. Most of the kids didn�t have bowls with t hem so we had to use the plastic bags that the bread came in to hold the soup for them to eat, or we hollowed out larger pieces of bread to use as a bowl. We gave the kids food until it was all gone. This country really is a country of contrasts. There are some big and gorgeous houses here, but there are just so many tiny tin shacks in these townships. The roofs are held on with cinderblocks and during the day they get SO hot inside that people have to sit outside to stay cool. Kids walk around with threadbare clothing on full of holes, and many of them don�t wear shoes at all.
After all the food was gone we headed to Georgies� house. Alice had him as a foster child when he was an infant. He was born HIV positive and is on treatment for TB at the moment. He stayed with Alice until the government decided that he should be with his great grandmother to learn the Setswana culture and he is really doing well there even though there are 5 other kids living there, plus a woman who has an infant. He is about 9 months old now, he is on ARVs and he looks miraculously better than he did just 3 months ago (I saw pictures).
After the visit with Georgie we headed over to the government hospital in Potch to visit the pediatric ward to check on Joseph, a boy with AIDS who is dying. It took us a while to find him. I was told he looked much worse than he had on Saturday, the poor thing was barely conscious, breathing really rapidly and shallowly and it hurt him to be touched. We put up a poster for him to look at when he opened up his eyes of some really cute dogs.
We walked across the hall to a big room that had 8 beds in it, children were roaming the halls and this room barefoot, no nurses were around watching them. There was one little girl sitting under a table in the middle of the room and a tiny baby in traction. One of the children in the room was crying for metsi (water) so we gave him one of our water bottles and that made him much happier. We left after a little while and they showed me the scenery of Potch, the University, and we got KFC for dinner. Alice�s daughter Megan has two hamsters which helped to cheer me up. I also got tot take a HOT shower tonight which helped immensely!
I just wanted to sit in a corner and cry after today, the problems in this country just seem so enormous it�s overwhelming. Hopefully I can make a TINY dent.
Wednesday Nov. 3, 2004
I had to get up at 4:45a today so we could catch our 6am bus back to the village. I fell asleep on the way to Jo�burg on our �luxury� bus. I finally found out the election results from Kevin � he texted my phone to let me know that it looked like Bush has won another term. I don�t get it, but that�s a rant ya�ll don�t need to hear. Needless to say, I can�t say I�m too excited to hear the news.
We had to switch busses in Jo�burg to take the hour journey to Pretoria where we would catch a taxi back to Swartdam. When we got to Pretoria we had to get on a taxi to Prinsloo station (a bigger taxi rank) and then found a taxi directly to Swartdam � who would�ve thought! The village is pretty tiny! We had to sit for 1.5 hours until the taxi was full before we could make the hour journey out to Swartdam. I had a nice conversation with a woman who does all the catering for our training for the Peace Corps. Her sister is getting married this weekend in Magapanstad, and coincidently enough, I have been invited to a wedding in Magapanstad this weekend. I wonder if it�s the same one!
We passed the Pretoria zoo on the way out of the city and also a waterfall just coming off a mountain that surrounded the city. It was beautiful. The taxi ride was hot and stuffy but it got us back to Swartdam in one piece, and early, so I didn�t mind too much! We got back around 12:30pm and though I was anxious to search out other volunteers I knew they weren�t back yet. My site was probably one of closest ones to the village and I was sure that we left the earliest by far!
My mma met me at the gate to our yard and hugged me and we just sat around for a while until I decided it was time to unpack and take a nap! Joanna came up to see me when she got back and interrupted my nap, which was fine! :) She told me that her boyfriend had decided that he couldn�t live without her while she has been away and proposed to her over the phone! How cute!!! He is thinking about coming down here to live with her until they can return to the states in 2006 when she COS' (close of service).
We ventured out to get ice pops at Gaylon�s house (his sister sells them and we have all become addicted!) and we just sat outside Candice�s house on the ledge and chatted :) It was great to hear about her site and be able to talk to friends again! After Joanna left I headed up and not too long afterward Gaylon showed up and we walked down to Bryan�s to hear about his site. They both live in GORGEOUS areas and I�m totally jealous. Bryan is in Mpumalanga between Blyde River Canyon and a gate to Kruger Park. That�s luck!
When I went to my room tonight to go to bed I had to kill a HUMONGOUS cockroach! God I HATE those things!!!! UGH. I had the crappiest night of sleep EVER because of it!
Thursday Nov. 4, 2004
During training today we all told about our different sites. The education volunteers are all very rural, live with host families and overall will have a VERY different experience then all us NGO volunteers. None of the education volunteers will have running water and Sara won�t even have electricity!
Two of the education volunteers had pretty bad experiences! One of the girls didn�t get to eat anything until Saturday morning, was drinking water that she later found out was also where the cows drank and little kids swam, and had to sleep on boards on top of paint cans only to wake up with a COW standing next to her bed! I felt so bad for her, I don�t think I would have stayed here after being through that, but she is sticking with it.
After training we all decided to go on a walk (the girls, and Gaylon) to get some exercise and blow off some steam. We ended up stopping at Courtney�s and just sitting there and talking all afternoon. We listened to music off her laptop and just chatted. Courtney and Candice made popcorn and came to fetch me when it wasn�t �working� because I�ve been deemed the �good cook� of the group :) When I got back to my house I helped Nnaniki study for her one pharmacology exam tomorrow and had chicken necks for dinner-that was a little scary.
Friday Nov. 5, 2004
I�m in a bit of a funk lately. I think its knowing how much freedom I�m going to have in less than 2 weeks and how little freedom I feel I have right now. My schedule is set by someone else, I have to eat when they tell me to, I have to eat what they tell me to eat. I�m not good at following orders like this :) I think I�m also getting sick too, it is so hot here and the food is so different I think it�s all taking its toll. I think I need a letter or two to tide me over! Please write letters!!!!!!!!
We heard all about everyone�s organizations today and got out really early because its so hot. Its probably close to 100 degrees today with no clouds in sight! Anyway after training I got to see all Gaylon�s pictures from his millions of travels with Courtney and Candice. They all started telling traveling stories which were fun to hear. We were bad and stayed out way after dark which is just NOT allowed :) We watched a Robin Williams comedy hour and I didn�t get back to my house (2 houses away) until 10p. oops! I needed to be a �rebel� (even if my family did know where I was the whole time!) It was nice to feel in control, darnit!
I had to kill another HUGE cockroach tonight, god they are sooo gross!!!!
Saturday Nov. 6, 2004
Today was the wedding in Magapanstad! It was so much fun! We left for Courtney�s at 11 because her mma told us we were going to leave around 11:30, which apparently in �African time� means 12 or 12:30! We sat around until her place until around noon and then walked over to a neighbor�s to get into our �charted� coombi! All of the women were �arriba-inng� at the top of their lungs and screaming with excitement and celebration. :) it was quite the experience. We all crammed into the coombi (I got stuck in the 4 person back seat) next to Candice and Courtney, who had somehow become responsible for a little girl named Schmomy. The women sang crazy fun songs all the way there, like �ba bolela ka telefouno� which means �they talk on the telephone� and �bolela chilite� which means �money talks.� It was great! They sing in rounds and its absolutely fabulous. I wish I had had my tape recorder. Someday I�ll get together with the girls and we�ll all sing it so I can send it home or post it on here :) It was so hot in the coombi, sweat was DRIPPING off of us- grossosity!
When we arrived at the wedding all of the women started arriba-ing and screaming again and the driver honked incessantly! All we could do was laugh. We got out and stood at the gate and did that two-step dance I learned at the other wedding and everyone sang asking for permission, this time from the aunt (we were part of the aunt�s family today!) to enter the wedding party. We danced into the backyard and danced in a circle around the presents while one of the aunts wrote down what was being given to the family.
We were all herded to the front porch there and we just sat there, got harassed by very drunk men and were asked to be in pictures � just because we are white and quite the novelty in a black village! We ate a yummy meal and then it started POURING right as the wedding party arrived! The bride�s mother came and got us at that point and told us to come and sit under the tent. We watched the wedding party (in white wedding fare like the weddings in the States) dance down the walkway toward the big white tent set up in the front yard and then we all went and had a seat in the tent (which is reserved for VIPs, and we were put under again, just because we were white/American). We ended up sitting at a table with all the bride�s friends which was fun, and when it was time for the champagne toast, it exploded all over this one poor girl and Candice. Someone must have shaken them all up before they put them on the tables! :) big joker! While we were under the tent we had a brilliant lightning storm.
We ate AGAIN under the tent (it would have been considered rude NOT to eat) and then went outside to join the dancing. After eating, the bride and groom left the tent to change out of their white wedding clothes and into their traditional African wedding attire. Personally, I thought that the traditional outfits were much more beautiful then the white wedding clothing. I have a picture of the outfits courtesy of Joanna but unfortunately I do not have a scanner so I can�t put it up. Our taxi finally came back to get us around 7:30 or so and before we knew it they were putting all sorts of things in the front seat for the family to take home with them, including a real, honest to God side of beef. It was literally half of a cow! Scariest thing EVER! Just before we left all the electricity went out in Magapanstad. We sang all the way home again, the bomma (many mma�s :) ) taught us all the words! It was pitch black out and driving was very scary. Today marked the beginning of electricity problems that plagued us for over a week in good ole Swartdam!
Sunday Nov. 7, 2004
Today all the girls went for a walk to �Paradise!� We saw a man lying on the side of the road while we were walking and we stopped to try to figure out if he were alive before we actually walked over there to see if he was. While we were trying to decide if we could see him breathing from afar two guys walked over to us and said �He�s not dad man, he�s just drunk.� They walked over to check him out, and then walked away and left him there on the side of the road! Too weird!!!
Monday Nov. 8, 2004
Electricity is still out� Can�t charge my phone so I hope no one tried to call :) The highlight of my day was getting the cutest little letter from Molly today! She told me about the mice my family has gotten named Cinamon, Marshmellow and Peaches (all her spelling, not mine:) ). Apparently one of them has red eyes and its �oooh, creepy, hehe.� And they fit in the palm of her hand �but you don�t really wanna keep them in your palm without your other hand around them � they�re escape artists.� Too cute!!!! She really made my day!!!
We got a brilliant thunderstorm and I took my customary seat on the front porch to watch the lightning, Gaylon soon joined me. I have never seen anything like the lightning here! It�s really amazing! I wish you could take pictures of it, but unfortunately that just never works.
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click here to see the porch that I will always lovingly remember for the brilliant lightning storm viewing it afforded us! |
Tuesday Nov. 9, 2004
The electricity is still out. I am having serious stomach issues. I�m blaming it on the electricity and lack of food refrigeration but who knows what it is!
Today was 'the' infamous dinner night. We had CHICKEN FEET, known as maotwana in Setswana. They really are just chicken feet, cut off right where the skin starts boiled to perfection. Toenails and all. The toenails are what threw me for a loop. That and the way you have to eat them. There is very little anything on them, so you literally have to pull the toes off. I get chills just thinking about it! Since we had no electricity we ate outside in the pitch black so that made it a little more bearable then it would have been. The feet serioiusly looked like they could still just get up and walk around. BUT I did eat them! I triumphed over the chicken feet! I asked my host family at one point what the chickens were doing now that they had no feet, however do they walk around and they just cracked up! :)
I was looking up at the stars later that night and my host sister told me that parents in South Africa tell their children that if they look up at the stars for too long you will wet the bed! For what reason, she didn�t know but interesting nonetheless. Somehow we also started talking about the Tooth Fairy. I told them about the Tooth Fairy in the States, how you put the lost tooth under your pillow and the Tooth Fairy comes and gets it and leaves you some money. Apparently here in South Africa, they put their lost tooth in one of their shoes and put it under their bed! During the night the Tooth RAT comes and takes your tooth and leaves you money! How great is that?!!
Thursday Nov. 11, 2004
We had another beautiful thunderstorm today. We watched it from the porch again. There were huge lightning forks everywhere! At one point the gate to the porch (which is metal) sounded like it was sizzling. Needless to say we got the hell away from it. That was a little scary! Nunu and her tiny and absolutely adorable friend Lucas joined us out on the porch and were climbing all over me! Woohoo!
Friday Nov. 12, 2004
I am still sick! Ugh.
But today was the last day of training, so we are all TOTALLY excited! We got together as a bigger group than normal today at Bryan�s for some beers. I brought my sprite and had some lemon twist. The girls all snuck a Castle Lager which is just not allowed in the village. It�s frowned upon for women to drink, so they just sneak it and show up drunk places. Haha. Joanna and I played with 2 absolutely adorable kittens while we were there and then Sean broke out his video camera. He has been video taping things since Philadelphia, we all want to get a copy, its really great fun! It really seems like that was FOREVER ago. I had a great time snapping pictures and just hanging out�It was nice to have a little final hurrah in the village. :)
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click here to see the last hurrah at the Mokola house |
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click here to see the Joanna playing with the adorable cats at Bryan's house
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click here to see the crew watching Sean's video from Philadelphia to the end of training L-R Gaylon, Bryan, Sean (with camera), Gerrit, Candice, Courtney |
Gaylon and I walked Courtney home and on the way back to our houses their were frogs ALL over the road hopping in front of us, letting us almost step on them, it was ridiculous. (remind you of that night on that back road to your house Kevin?)
Electricity was back on so we decided to watch a movie. I watched Generations with Tseofatso and Mathepelo and then Gaylon and I threw �Underworld� into his laptop. It had a very interesting plot about a war between vampires and werewolves. I�d never heard of it but it was good.
Saturday Nov. 13, 2004
I�m still feeling sick so I called the Peace Corps Medical Officer this morning. She is making me go into Pretoria today after the farewell ceremony to see a doctor at a clinic. I had to pack a bag because they are putting me up in a hotel for the night to �watch me.�
The farewell ceremony was a lot of fun. We all took tons of pictures and all that jazz beforehand so those came out really great. We did a skit thanking our families. One person was the body and a person behind them acted as the hands and feet to act out what we were thanking the families for. We sang and danced a traditional song called Shosholoza, which is a song in Zulu that used to be sung by mineworkers to pass the time. It has a fun 2-step and choo choo train arm motion dance and it�s a really beautiful song. We thanked our host families for teaching us how to cook pap, for teaching us how to bathe in a bucket, for greeting us while we exercised in the village, and especially for the love. Awww! The education group also did a skit, they told a �traditional� story about a rabbit, a lion and an elephant. It was a lot of fun too. Shaila, Mark and Jeff sang Lean On Me which the families LOVED and they even translated one of the verses into Setswana which was great! Courtney and Emily did speeches in Setswana thanking the families and Janis made a great MC for the event. My mma gave a speech thanking the parents as did the coordinator from Magapanstad.
These are parts of the entertainment that we planned for the families!
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click here to see Bion reveal why the shaving cream got ALL over his face after the NGO skit ends! |
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click here to see the Mark, Shaila and Jeff as they sang Lean On Me for our families at the farewell. |
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click here to see Bob the Olifant and Deb the Rabbit during the education skit
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click here to see my host mma address the masses :) |
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click here to see the trainers at the farewell looking beautiful as always! |
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click here to see Candice posing for a picture with her host brother Oarobile. |
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click here to see Joanna, Candice, Courtney and I |
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click here to see Mma Khunou, Christopher, my little brother,and I |
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click here to see Gerrit getting down with Mma Makoka after the ceremony! |
The ceremony ended, more pictures were taken and everyone ate lunch. I left for Pretoria then and was taken to a clinic. She gave me 2 different antibiotics and then I headed off to the hotel with �my� driver. Haha. The hotel was super nice, I had a great room all to myself with a shower! And a tv in the room. It only got one channel really well but that�s fine!
I had to order out for dinner because they had nothing for me to eat there and I had no idea where I was so I ordered a pizza! I know, bad idea with a bad stomach but man did I ever crave a pizza! It turned out to have too many mushrooms on it so it wasn�t as good as I would have liked but I did have a coke Light as well (that�s diet coke down here!) and that made my night. They don�t sell diet anything in the village!
I ended up reading a whole book while I was there that night (called The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, it was pretty good!) and I got to watch a movie.
Oh and scary discovery! So at 11pm apparently everyone on South African TV gets naked�I don�t know what that�s about but it certainly was strange to see! Who would have thought!
Sunday Nov. 14, 2004
Well fantastic. So I don�t feel too much better and it turns out that when I take the drugs I get TERRIBLE hives and get very itchy. It happened after I took them last night but I thought maybe it was the detergent on the bed sheets or something so I ignored it. This morning it was UNBEARABLE. Note to parents, I am allergic to drugs with sulfur in them. Mark that one down � it�s important! :) I have never been so damn itchy IN MY LIFE!
Mary came and checked up on me to make sure I wasn�t going to scratch my skin off (which I pretty much was!) and took me out to get some food since I hadn�t eaten all day long. We stopped at a Woolworth�s which is a very gourmet food store here, not a general store like it used to be in the States. She also told me to stop taking the antibiotics � I�m not sure how I�m supposed to get better but whatever�
I finally left Pretoria around 430p. The drive back w as interesting because where I stayed was right near the soccer stadium where a game had just let out. A Jo�burg team had won (the Pirates!) so people were celebrating like MAD. Cheering all over, horns honking everywhere, full taxis everywhere and Pirates paraphernalia all over the place!
Monday Nov. 15, 2004
Most of the training day today was actually free time. We sat around, chatted, complained about how it was stupid that we had to be there and just hung out. I worked on my crosstitch most of the day.
After classes we came back to Swartdam and hung out at Candice�s for one of the last times. Sniffle. I taught them all how to make peanut butter chews � remember those glorious things from the high school caf days! Yummy! Her little brother and his friends LOVED them and Candice and Courtney and Joanna were delighted with how easy they were to make!!!
We had another great thunderstorm today but iit wasn�t as much fun to stand on the porch cause there was terrible wind with it that made dust fly EVERYWHERE. It was really gross. I was totally coated in a thin layer of dirt. Yucky. We sat on the porch and watched the lightning which was again, amazing and I ate my Mexican chili flavored potato chips (called Simbas or crisps here � chips are French fries :) )
For the rest of the night, the electricity was off again so I sat around the dining room table with my family and we just chatted. It was nice to be able to just sit there with them and talk.
Tuesday Nov. 16, 2004
Today was the big �shopping in Pretoria� day. We got out to the road at 650a like they told us to but they didn�t end up showing up until 745a � boy was that irritating. We spent the time complaining, electric sliding, taking pictures and trying to avoid being downwind of Joanna. Her mom had sprayed her with a massive amount of perfume before she walked out the door because we were going into town today! We had a FANTASTIC breakfast once we arrived there, a tomato, spinach and feta omelet never tasted so good! And neither has caf� mocha. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.
The mall we went to was just ridiculous! Besides having tons of nice clothing stores, sports stores, etc., there was an internet caf� and an ICE SKATING RINK! We all had pizza for lunch � together but it wasn�t really that good. Oh well.
After spending the WHOLE day shopping we went to the Peace Corps office to check it out and got a whole bunch of mail that people just �didn�t feel like bringing over to us.� ARGH! And we got to check email too! It was great!!!
When we got back to Swartdam I hung out with my family for part of the night � giving them presents. I showed them all the pictures I got developed and gave them the ones of the family. I will have to get them redeveloped back in the States so I have them. I gave them a frame to put one of the pictures in, a card and a copy of my crosstitch cause I ended up not finishing it. Ooops. Mma read the card out loud that I gave to them because she liked it so much. Aww.. They got SUCH a huge kick out of the pictures it was unbelievable!
After giving the gifts I had to excuse myself to go pack up all of my stuff. Mma and Christopher came and talked to me while I packed and told me how lonely it was going to be without me. Got time to myself tonight to write some letters home which was nice � it was a good night to do it since I was all emotional and reflective :) I even got to send pictures home which was fun!
Wednesday Nov. 17, 2004
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click here to see a final picture before leaving the house |
Well today I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. Today was Swear In at the US Ambassadors house in Pretoria. I got up this morning and took my last �bucket bath� and had to pack up the last of my things. I had to squish into the backseat of the coombi with three other people and all our bags. It was really hot and totally smushy. It was an hour drive to the Peace Corps office we took some of our last group pictures and checked our email, etc.
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click here to see an NGO group picture. |
We also got our SA XIII shirts today which weren�t as neat as Joy�s drawing and what it should have looked like. I�m thinking about sending it home so that if anyone wants to get a fun Peace Corps shirt made up you can all get a bulk rate on getting copies made at some t-shirt silk screener. Let me know if you are interested!
After our last ride all together in the coombi as a full group :( we arrived at this HUGE walled in house that the ambassador calls home. It has a huge meeting room outside, a swimming pool, a playground, volleyball and tennis courts. Its massive! The ceremony was very nice. Our country director told us a great Sierra Leonian proverb during her speech that says �you can count the seeds in an apple but you can�t count the apples in a seed.� It was very fitting! We all took our oaths and then there were more speeches. Gaylon did a speech in Xitsonga that was great and got a good response and then Deb did her speech in Setswana. The trainers performed a great song wishing us luck and then it was all over.
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click here to see a really crappy picture of the Ambassador's house/yard |
We all mingled around, took more fun pictures and then had our �last supper� together. Finally it was time to say goodbye and lots of hugs were exchanged but we didn�t cry!!! Phew! We are all going to try to get together for Thanksgiving (at least the people in the Northwest cause we are too damn far from Jane Furse.
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click here to see my language group. |
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click here to see Sara and I. |
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click here to see the Xitsonga language group |
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click here to see me and some of the boys |
The drive to Klerksdorp took about 4 hours. My boss, Lettie and Lynda, the Admin manager, helped me bring my bags upstairs and then I got started settling myself into my new �flat,� which yes, is my office. I have a back room for a bedroom and have the run of the place when no one is around which is fun. I got to have KFC for dinner which was quite the treat and got a letter from Kevin that arrived a few days before I did! I worked my butt off to get everything all situated in my room and when I finally sat down to relax, my family called!!!! Right after their phone card ran out and hung up on me, Kevin called! It was such an exciting night! We talked for a long time which was very very nice. I was so excited after all the phone calls that I had trouble falling asleep! It was crazy!
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click here to see half of my bedroom |
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click here to see the other side of my room |
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click here to see my desk |
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click here to see everything i 'own' stuffed in a stationary closet. |
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click here to see the view from my bedroom window |
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click here to see more of the view from my bedroom window |
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click here to see even more of the view from my bedroom window |
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click here to see the office across the hall from me. |
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click here to see my bathroom. |
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click here to see the main office |
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click here to see my my big sitting/living room |
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click here to see the other half of my big sitting/living room |
Thursday Nov. 18, 2004
Well today was the first day on the job! Before I could go out to the �office� at 9am, Lynda showed up with a KITTEN for me!!! It took me all day but I have decided to name him Setshego (Set-say-ho) which means laughter in Setswana. He is 1 month old, a light and dark grey striped tiger cat and terribly cute!!!
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click here to see Setshego. |
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click here to see more of Setshego. |
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click here to see Setshego as he meows over his food bowl :) |
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click here to see Setshego drinking. |
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click here to see Setshego hugging my Stitch doll. |
I didn�t actually DO any work today, I think they are easing me into the place and I think right before the holidays is a slow time�so I got to go food shopping at the mall that�s about a 10 minute walk from me (it even has a movie theater in it!!)
Just to let you all know just how good I have it here, Klerksdorp isn�t much different from the states, aside from the language and racial differences. The mall that is only 10 minutes away from me boasts a grocery store, movie theater there, tons of clothing stores, a book store and a cd store! The public pool that is right outside my window makes for some interesting scenery (its Olympic sized and has a HUGE high dive platform!) and the library across the street is going to be GREAT for my reading habit! There is a nightclub called Goodfella�s down near the other mall, and in that mall there is an amazing store called �Fruit and Veg City� where you can get just about any fruit or veg you want for really cheap! There is a public park near the library that is a lot like Rittenhouse Square so I�m looking forward to maybe hanging out there a little bit!
I have yet to explore too much of the town, I hope to do that this weekend. It�s a pretty big �small� town and I haven�t really taken my time to walk around properly and inspect stuff. I did see an ice cream truck the when I was here for my sight orientation and exploring the town! Now if you know me at all, you know that that MADE my day!!
I�m about an hour from the next closest volunteer and VERY far (about 11 hours) from my closest volunteer friend. The town is very pretty, and really looks like any smaller town in the US except that I don�t understand a word people are saying until I break out the English and they respond with that instead of Afrikaans.
After everyone left for the day at 1pm I headed over to the library to check out how the English section is. Seems like they have a pretty good selection which I�m very excited about! When I got there I made a beeline for the children�s floor so I could check out if they had any very elementary Setswana books and again I was pleasantly surprised! I ended up getting my library card and making a new friend :) He�s in standard 9 this year and wants to study to be a priest after he finishes his matrics (high school exams).
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click here to see the library from out one of the windows |
Setshego is definitely occupying my time. I was trying to write letters tonight and write in my journal and he kept trying to eat my stationary and my journal and my hand. He keeps me company it�s really nice! :)
Friday Nov. 19, 2004
Tonight my boss took me and her 20 year old son, Natius, out for dinner to a restaurant called �Nebraska Spur� which was decorated with stereotypical pictures of �Indians� and totem poles and kids could get their faces painted like Indians too. The walls were painted with landscapes of deserts complete with tin cacti so I had to tell them both that the place had their geography a little messed up. It looked more like they were trying to set the scene in Arizona than Nebraska. It was funny.
I got to eat nachos con pollo though they don�t say it the �Spanish� way, they say polo. And that�s the correct way to say it because Natius used to work there so he knows! :) The nachos weren�t great, they used these oddly seasoned tortilla chips but it really helped solve my tex mex craving! I thought I was going to have to do without all that for two years! They even had wings on the menu but I passed on those because I knew I wouldn�t be able to eat that much!
Who knew when I signed up for the Peace Corps that this is how it would all work out! Strange!
Saturday Nov. 20, 2004
I got to explore Klerksdorp a little bit today. I found a strange pet shop that was like a small indoor zoo in the back, a Game which is a giant discount store like Walmart (which thankfully hasn�t made it down here yet!), and this FANTASTIC store called �Fruit and Veg City.� I bought tomatoes, potatoes, butternut squash, onions and green peppers and paid less than 10 Rand (less than $2)!!!! Its right next to a huge shoe store and this great store called Game which is a giant discount store like Walmart (which thankfully hasn�t made it down here yet!). I also found a pet shop that had like a small indoor zoo in the back, there is a paint store called oddly enough, Playboy (haha). There is also a pizza shop where you can get take-aways (instead of take-out), buy one pizza get one free! Jeez o whiz! They have wings there too! Yay!!! There is a nightclub right near the fruit and veg city �strip mall� called Goodfella�s that kids my age hang out at all the time. There is a public park near the library that is a lot like Rittenhouse Square so I�m looking forward to maybe hanging out there a little bit! It�s really pretty! Did I tell you that there is a KFC right down the street from my house too? There is also an outdoor store right down the street too � if I go camping that�s where I�m going. I can buy a sleeping back and a 2 person tent for less than $100. What a deal!!!
The City Mall which is where my grocery store is has tons of clothing stores, a cd store, a book store (books here are WAY too expensive though so I won�t be buying them � just looking at them there :) ) It also has a movie theater but I was told that its really pretty expensive to see a movie except iif you go on Tuesdays when its half price�Princess Diaries 2 just came out here � I might go see that with one of my coworkers this Tuesday. I�m sure if I get bored enough I will go there on the weekend and just spend the money on it to cure my boredom a little bit :) So far I�ve been ok entertaining myself but we�ll see how long that lasts :) There is also an ice cream store there- they are going to know me by name soon.
Not too much happened today, I wrote letters basically all day long. I did learn that 10 minutes in a 220V microwave is too much for a baked potato! (I know, common sense should have told me that one!) There was SERIOUS black smoke coming from that damn potato! It was terrible!
Sunday Nov. 21, 2004
I got to do my laundry in a real washer and dryer today, and for free. No more hand washing for me! All it takes is a 40 minute taxi ride to the Crisis Center and a 40 minute taxi ride back (cause you have to wait for the taxi to fill up, which takes a while on Sundays!) I can�t wait until the PC gives me my bike allowance, then I won�t have to spend ANY money on the whole process. The crisis center is only about 3 k away, definitely doable on a bike with just a bookbag of laundry on :)! I got to watch �Bring It On� while my laundry washed and dried which was great fun.
The taxi ride back was funny because a man sitting in front of me on the taxi turned around at one point and said something in Setswana about a lekgoa (white person) being on the taxi. I really wanted to tell him I speak a little Setswana so I knew he was talking about me but I kept my mouth shut! It made me smile to myself! In case you are confused about the big deal, taxis here are not typically taken by white folks (or at all really) and the white folks I speak with here are convinced they are dangerous because white people don�t use them, but it�s just not true. I usually meet pretty fun people on my taxi rides, plus its just so darn convenient!
Monday Nov. 22, 2004
I spent all night sending text messages to other volunteers to try to figure out where we could all get together to spend Thanksgiving weekend together since this is such a family oriented time. I decided I would make it out to Taung to visit Candice, I could leave early on Friday to make the 4 hour journey to get there before dark.
Tuesday Nov. 23, 2004
Today was the first time I forgot to set my alarm while I�ve been here, oops. Headed over to the crisis center today for a training about preparing rape complainants for testifying in court. When we got there initially I was getting discouraged because everyone was speaking swana and I couldn�t understand what was going on and couldn�t contribute at all. :(
I met a woman named Sharon today who is the nicest person. She is a good friend of Lynda�s and worked as a Lifeline counselor when it first opened in 1987. She and Lynda�s daughter Sharlyn and I talked about her nursing career and how things work in theatre (which is the same as the OR in the States). She invited me to call her up when I was interesting in coming over to have tea at her house which is super nice. I can see that turning into a fun friendship!
When I got back to the office I was trying to help Frans, the counselor that works in our office, with his CV. He has his health status, marital status, birthday, hobbies etc., all listed on it. I showed him my resume and tried to convince him that employers don�t need to see that kind of stuff on a CV. He said I brought up good points, but he thought it might be different here than in the US. Somehow, on this front I doubt it. I said he should look for a book on CVs in the library to verify what I said; who knows what will happen now.
I found out today that the trip to Taung costs 55R each way, which I just can�t afford right now :( so I decided not to go.
I spent the night in a terrible mood. I can�t seem to shake it. I think its lack of sleep combined with loneliness and frustration with how slow work is going so far. I watched a bunch of The Brak Show while I ate my chicken stir-fry dinner which helped a little bit. That show is such a goofy cartoon you can�t help but laugh!
I was told tonight that Ryan has the poofiest hair ever :) Ryan, why aren�t you cutting your hair? :)
Wednesday Nov. 24, 2004
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOCH!!!
One week down already! How did that happen so fast?!
I had my first �real� job at work today. I helped Lorraine, the woman in charge of our food parcel program, hand out food parcels in the township of Khuma. It�s a really cute little area, and I met some really nice people. The HBCs that work there are really nice and I get to actually work on something worthwhile! It�s pretty exciting! Lorraine has even agreed to let me help her streamline her whole process � there is information in so many different places, a database would make things MUCH easier for her.
Today I spent way too much money to post a cd of pictures to the States so the picture links on here should be working soon� I also got to go to the grocery store (Pick �n� Pay) and I made an amazing discovery! They DO sell lunch meat other than that nuclear pink bologna � I got ham!!! And I also found mozzarella cheese that didn�t cost a mint! Oh life is good!!! Again it�s the simple things in life that seem so essential here :)
Oh and I found a book in the CNA (it�s a bookstore chain here) about CVs it had a chart that told you what you should and shouldn�t put in there and everything I said was correct! Woot! I�ll have to bring Frans to take a look at it.
Thursday Nov. 25, 2004
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!
And a Thanksgiving feast was had in South Africa today!
The day started out normally enough with more food parcel deliveries. We went to Jouberton which is a ridiculously HUGE township right next to the hospital that the crisis center is in. We stopped at two different locations to hand out food parcels to people waiting for their delivery. I met more HBCs and other fantastic people! I ended up being out in the sun all day long (from around 9:30a until 2p) and got myself a nice little sunburn. It was really hot outside, about 33 degrees (which is about 92 degrees) and the sun was really intense. There is very rarely a cloud in the sky here to give you any shade. We drove around Jouberton delivering the rest of the parcels to people that couldn�t for some reason make it to the drop off. One of the houses we stopped at made me realize just how valuable knowing just a little bit of setswana is. I said 'go a fisa' to a woman (which means its hot) as I was carrying a box of eggs into her house. She started just jabbering on in setswana, the only word I caught was hospital but I knew she was talking about her daughter who has AIDS and was just admitted to the hospital the day before. This woman trusted me enough to talk just because I said it was hot in her language. That really says something!
Delivering the rest of the food parcels was time consuming and tiring. Because Jouberton is such a big place it was really hard to find people�s houses! By the end of the day both Lorraine and I were just exhausted. Those food parcels are really heavy and this heat is so draining!
We worked until 3p and then I had the rest of the afternoon to myself. Lynda picked me up at 6:30p to bring me, her daughter Jolene and her friend over to her church for our Thanksgiving celebration. They had a meditation labyrinth out in the church yard which we walked � you are supposed to start a prayer or meditation when you start at the very outside of the circular pathway and then keep praying/meditating while you walk until you reach the center. It is supposed to force you to your �center� by the time you get to the center of the labyrinth. Then you walk the whole thing backwards until you end up at the outside again. It�s a pretty neat concept!
Anyway we went into the church and all sat in the youth centre with a table full of food outside of our circle of chairs and Lynda gave an introduction about how Jolene had just come back from the States after being an au pare for a year and had told her what a great idea this holiday was. I mentioned it the other day as well and Lynda and Sharon had thought it was a great time of year to give thanks for all that we had been fortunate to be a part of for the year before the hecticness of year end and Christmas came. We then listened to a song called �Grateful� that is sung by Art Garfunkel and goes along with a beautifully illustrated book. There is a line about being thankful for strangers who have become family and I nearly lost it - it really is how it has had to be for me. I hope to get a copy of the song at some point. Someday I�ll share � or heck, see if you can�t get a copy for yourself! :)
After the song we went around in a circle and told what we were thankful for. I spoke about how I am so grateful that the people here in South Africa are so welcoming and generous and hospitable and I also mentioned how absolutely fantastic family, friends and especially Kevin have been through my decision and my stay here so far! Without all the love and support I have from all of you, I really don�t know how I would be doing this! Especially thanks to my fantastic family, and most especially Kevin. He does such a great job of writing and emailing and calling, I don�t know what I would do without you babe! I definitely got choked up when I was giving my little speech�Being away from home for the holidays is so hard :(
Alright sappiness aside�after all stating why we are grateful for the past year, we all stood up and held hands while the minister said grace, which was also very beautifully said and then they asked me for the history of the holiday so I gave them the Disney version. :) We got our food � pizza, chicken nuggets, salad, fish, chicken and CHOCOLATE bars � and had some dairy mix, a fantastic fruit juice that also has dairy in it so its nice and creamy! I didn�t really get a chance to eat for a good 45 minutes because people kept coming up to me and asking me questions and telling me about their experiences in the States. It was quite fun!
Once we were all done eating, a woman named Jenny came over to me and showed me pictures of her family who live in the US. She seemed very proud of them and we had a nice chat about life in the States � and baseball :) Turns out her niece is an RA at some school in CA � I thought that was neat! Such a small world!
Who would have thought I would get to spend Thanksgiving in Africa actually doing Thanksgiving type activities with Africans!!
I got to check my email once I got back � had a very cute card from Kevin (thanks!!) but also found out from some PRMH people that Dolores, the wonderful bookkeeper there, passed away. She was such a nice caring person, I�m really glad I got the chance to have her in my life. I�m sad she had to go so soon. My heart goes out to everyone at PRMH. I�m so sad to hear the news :(
I hope everyone had a fantastic day with family and friends. Know that I was thinking about you all and missing you especially today! I hope you all took the time to appreciate what you have, I know I certainly did.
Friday Nov. 26, 2004
Today was another food parcel delivery day. This time we set off to Kanana, a township much smaller than Jouberton and very clean and well maintained! My buddy Thobeka, a counselor from the crisis center was there helping out with the food parcels to we got to chat a little and I also met some of the HBCs that serve that area. One HBC, Palesa, was extremely helpful and speaking to me in Setswana the whole time � and slowly so that I could actually understand her! It was great!
Once we had given all the parcels out at the clinic we were at we drove around to deliver the rest again. Much easier time of it this time and I ended up doing one of the unsafe things that I�ll probably end up doing more in the next two years � sitting in the back of a delivery truck with two of the HBCs� there was no room in the cab.
I finished up another book today � Barrel Fever by David Sedaris. I highly recommend his short story called Santaland Diaries. I was laughing out loud while I read it :)
I had a little scare tonight too while I was on the phone with Kevin. I was sitting at the desk and saw a big grey animal coming out from behind it and for some reason I assumed it was a HUGE RAT � but it was just my silly cat. I jumped 7 miles in the air! haha
Saturday Nov. 27, 2004
Today was quite the contemplative day for me. I sat around a read a book called the �Last American Man� which is very good, I ended up finishing it up by the end of the evening (I am going to include a fantastic quote from it at the end of this passage). I was enjoying the sun on my back and reading this book with all these great philosophical passages and just enjoying time to relax and be on my own and having some time alone. I never thought I would enjoy that � I usually HATE being by myself! I guess a byproduct of doing it all the time is growing to enjoy it � or I guess it better be :)
I got more pictures developed today too � so there are pictures up (that you won�t be able to see for quite a while) They came out great � and showcase a little of what my living situation is like � plus pictures of Setshego :) There will be more to come of both of those � there is another roll in my camera waiting to be finished up :)
I got a phone call from Gaylon tonight. Turns out a lot of my PCV pals are up in Jane Furse (the �Peace Corps party location� in Mpumalanga). It�s probably a good 14 hour taxi ride from me so for just a weekend that�s just not feasible for me. Got more texts from PCVs to wish me a �we miss you.� Apparently Candice was my �loser in crime� this weekend and didn�t end up doing anything either because she is farther away from Jane Furse � and most of civilation � than I am. I was initially sad that I was sitting around by myself but after the phone call and text messages (and then emails from all of you guys!) I felt a lot better knowing so many people are thinking about me.. I�m beginning to realize how lucky I am to have this opportunity to challenge myself and become truly independent (with tons of support of course!) and take the time to get to figure out what I want to do with my life, who I am now, and how lucky I am to have the chance to grow intellectually, emotionally and creatively (all the ladies on my email list at least have seen the products of my creative labor :) )
Here is the quote from �The Last American Man� by Elizabeth Gilbert (bear with me � its long but worth it! It really �spoke� to me):
�There is no way, Eustace said, that you can have a decent life as a man if you aren�t awake and aware every moment. Show up for your own life, he said. Don�t pass your days in a stupor, content to swallow whatever watery ideas modern society may bottle feed you through the media, satisfied to slumber through life in an instant-gratification sugar coma. The most extraordinary gift you�ve been given is your own humanity, which is about consciousness, so honor that consciousness.
�Revere your senses; don�t degrade them with drugs, with depression, with willful oblivion. Try to notice something new every day, Eustace said. Pay attention to even the most modest of daily details. Even if you�re not in the woods, be aware at all times. Notice what food tastes like; notice what the detergent aisle in the supermarket smells like and recognize what those hard chemical smells do to your senses; notice what bare feet feel like; pay attention every day to the vital insights that mindfulness can bring. And take care of all things, of every single thing there is � your body, your intellect, your spirit, your neighbors, and this planet. Don�t pollute your soul with apathy or spoil your health with junk food any more thank you would deliberately contaminate a clean river with industrial sludge. You can never become a real man if you have a careless and destructive attitude, Eustace said, but maturity will follow mindfulness even as day follows night.�
Sunday Nov. 28, 2004
I did a whole lot of letter writing today � I wrote 6 in total. I ended up listening to James Taylor all day long and watching the episodes of the Brak Show that I have on my laptop (god that show is spectacular!) I also got 3 different sms� (what they call a text message down here � I think it stands for �short message service�) from that standard 9 boy I met at the library which he signed �Chris from the library� every time he sent one. :)
I have never been so good at keeping in touch with people. I feel like it�s my life�s mission while I�m here to keep ya�ll informed (of course coupled with the selfish reason of NEEDING news from home or I will go crazy!). I also never realized how important getting real honest to goodness mail is when you are so far away. Letters just always seem such much more personal than emails � probably because they are written long hand for the most part and usually have little pictures drawn on them and whatnot :)
Monday Nov. 29, 2004
Delivered the last bunch of food parcels to the tiny township of Tigane outside of Hartbeesfontein today. I also found myself quite the project today. I began trying to organize all of the records of people that have received food parcels from us in the last 3 years since the program started. Man is there information missing everywhere! So besides coming up with an easy way to have all the information in one place instead of 7 different spreadsheets I will have to do a crazy amount of sorting and data entry � which is ok because for some reason I love tedious stuff like that! :)
Went food shopping today and got a chicken tikka pizza to eat for dinner tonight! MMMMM so good!!!
Tuesday Nov. 30, 2004
Today I worked more on consolidating all that data and those spreadsheets. Until, that is, my boss came out to where I was working and told me we were going to a little conference about the �16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence.� She was speaking at it (turned out to be the keynote as a matter of fact:) ) We got to City Hall (which is just 2 blocks away from the office and consequently, my flat) and no one was there � they were all still down at the magistrate�s office with placards conducting their rally for better service for victims of gender violence. I spent the better part of an hour just speaking with Lettie about her experiences before Lifeline, how she got involved with Lifeline and counseling. She had a great scenario she presents to date rapists who �expect� something after treating the woman to a date, to make them see what they have done a little differently. She tells them that by expecting something from paying for a date, they are essentially turning the woman into a prostitute against their will. I thought that was a great way to go about describing it to someone. I never thought about it like that either I guess. After talking for a while they were all still at the Magistrate�s so Lettie and I went to pick up her son who needed to go fix a computer network and she showed me one of the gyms in the area, some other things in one of the suburbs of Klerksdorp.
When we got back to City Hall the ceremony was in progress. We got to watch a group of primary school boys do some traditional dancing. There was one boy who was SO much tinier than everyone else and looked so confused and lost up on stage � until that little thing started dancing. He was a dancing MACHINE! It was really impressive!
I found out when we got back to the office that we don�t have Access on any of the computers � or any of the office disks � which means I have to get fancy with Visual Basic. Mom send my VBA book ASAP! :)
Checked my mail again like I do everyday at the City Mall. Still nothing there. I�m starting to get really disappointed. Is someone eating my letters :( after checking my mail I walked past the mall, which I have never done before and discovered another little shopping center with the most amazing �hypermarket.� They have everything � clothes, food, dishes, and electronics. Woo! I saw some totally awesome skirts there � maybe someday I�ll grab one or two of them :)
I also stopped at the library today and took out two new books; Brave New World and Schindler�s List. I�m pretty excited for them :)
Wednesday Dec. 1, 2004
It's World AIDS Day!
Today was supposed to be awesome. I was told that I should be going with the HBCs to the Lifeline World AIDS Day events up in Mafikeng. I thought I was going to get the chance to see a few fellow volunteers and get myself out of this emotional slump I�ve been in the last few days. It was going to be the pickup I needed.
I woke up at 4am to be ready to get on a bus around 5:30. A coworker was supposed to call and let me know what was going and of course I never heard from the person. So I stayed awake until about 6:30 waiting to get an sms or a phone call and then just went back to sleep. I worked more on that data organization/entry all day long and once work was over I went to the post office and still had no mail. Finished Brave New World tonight and was terribly homesick and upset tonight. I really didn�t want to be here anymore today. I read through the letters I�ve received and that helped a little. Sleep was the best solution though � usually is.
Thursday Dec. 2, 2004
Molly saved my sanity today! I got a letter from her and the amazing part of it is that the silly girl seems to think I can remember the questions that I asked her in the letter she received from me. She answered the questions with things like �no you didn�t tell me that� and nothing else! I was laughing all night long thinking about it! I am disappointed though that she wasn�t Gene Simmons for Halloween! :)
Today at work someone came in to pick up a food parcel and Lorraine was off so I had to figure it all out with one of my coworkers. My Setswana skills helped out a lot � I only asked her her name, but that was enough for me to figure everything out :)
Friday Dec. 3, 2004
I had some really strange dreams last night! I dreamt that I got off a plane and was visiting home for a DAY and when I got off the plane I stopped at Parkland High School�s band room � what the heck � and Kevin and Tooch and Bob Trego and Brian and Brian Schmoyer (what is that about!) were all there. I said hello to everyone and had individual conversations with them all and then went and sat with Kevin and talked to him for a while. Then I went to breakfast with Mona, Cori, Heather and Ilana at the Chili�s in Philly (but it was at home) and talked to Ilana about her possible visit to Botswana this summer. I went home after breakfast and spent the whole time discussing with my family if I should leave that night or in the morning to catch my plane back so that I could be back by Monday morning for work � taking into account that there is a 16 hour flight and a 7 hour time difference in there (that was very prominent in the dream haha). I don�t know what I ended up doing � but it was �nice to be home� and hugging everyone :)
I got a lot done at work today toward the organization of all these files � at least we got some of it into binders and out of the way so we can focus on the more important stuff. We got the whole filing cabinet cleaned out and organized and had a good time doing it! I have a really great working relationship with Lorraine, the woman in charge of this project, and a budding friendship which I really think is going to help me get in good with the HBCs since I don�t know many of them very well. We worked really hard until 3pm and then headed off in different directions. I headed to the post office and had an AMAZING surprise waiting for me!!!! Not only did I have TWO letters, but I also had a package notice! I headed immediately to the post office and stood in a huge line. I was so excited to find out that it was a huge box full of fun and cute and awesome little things!!!! THANK YOU RACHAEL!!!!!! She put a mix cd in that is FABULOUS, I was missing George Michael and Harry Nilsson in my life! Just lots of fun!!! I waited until I was outside and halfway down the street (and probably 6 blocks from home) before I ripped it the hell open and read the cute letter I found on top! I spent the most of the next hour and a half listening to the cd, finding places for things, sticking things on the wall and basking in the awesomeness of all the love I got in the mail today!!!
Lynda showed up at 6 to pick me up to go Christmas caroling with a bunch of people from her church to the area hospitals and retirement homes. I got hugged and kissed by tons of ladies and even two clowns :) (Sharon that I met last week was dressed as a clown to put smiles on people�s faces). We all piled into the back of a lorry (a big truck) which was probably the unsafest thing I�ve done here � sitting on the floor of an open bed truck, I�m so dumb! We sang Christmas carols while we drove and waved and wished everyone a Merry Christmas as we went. It�s so strange being hot during the Christmas season! I can�t even tell you!!! I met a woman named Goren, who was almost 18 and quite the talker :) I also met a couple who reminded me of Aunt Em and Uncle Dave for some reason :) and ended up singing arm in arm with them while we swayed singing silent night at the retirement home we visited :) We sang for more than 3 hours � my throat HURT and my voice was gone! when we were done. I got dropped off at the crisis center once we were all through so I could stay overnight to get my laundry done and save a little on taxi fare. We were asleep by 10pm.
Saturday Dec. 4, 2004
This morning was spent doing dumb things like laundry � but I did get to hang out with Stephanie and Thobeka � two of my favorite people � at the Crisis Center for a better part of the morning. A phone call came in at 3:50am also from one of the police stations saying they would be bringing over a rape victim who had been stabbed but she h had to obviously go to the Casualty (the ER) first. So that woke us all up and definitely made it tough to get back to sleep. And since I went to bed so early last night I was up for good at 6am like old times in the village :) I was back at my place by noon, having been offered a ride back by Lettie and her older son.
I went to the City Mall to go Christmas shopping � so family and Kevin � expect a package �soon.� There is quite a good amount of fun in there � but not too much (haha sorry!) since I can�t afford so much and there aren�t so many �souvenir� things here, plus packages are SUPER expensive to send from here. The 'african' stuff will come when I travel I guess. Also Jenn (and any other lady for that matter, as long as you can wire me the money :) ), make sure you measure your waist � I can get some really rad rad rad South African skirts. I�m going to come home with quite a few � they are GORGEOUS!!! I also got to hit Fruit and Veg and score tons of great fruits and veggie! Yay! All by 2:30pm! I love being in a town!
I noticed a strange phenomenon today! So we are in the middle of a thunderstorm with HUGE claps of thunder � and people are not only swimming but jumping off the hugely high high dive at the pool! That just doesn�t seem like a good idea to me! Who does things like that? :)
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click here and here to see a pretty Klerksdorp sunset |
Also found out today that Setshego can crawl up my pants when i am standing up! He was good enough to do it when I had my camera out to take a picture of the sunset!
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click here to see Setshego crawling up my jeans :) |
Monday Dec. 6, 2004
We made 22 loaves worth of sandwiches today at work for a training we are attending tomorrow! We used that nuclear pink pologna stuff, this great mayonnaise veggie spread called �sandwich spread� (it�s a lot like veggie cream cheeses � only not as thick), and this other stuff called marmite � which is just like Vegamite ICK!
Today I got to enjoy a great rainstorm while I was walking to the post office! It smelled great outside, kicked up a really nice breeze and really cooled it off outside and the puddles and the clouds and the lightning were all really beautiful. Rain here is viewed so differently than it is at home because it�s so infrequent and so valued (since there are tons of farmers here). I guess if I spoke with farmers back home on a regular basis I would probably get the same view of it, it�s refreshing to see that difference though and change my viewpoint. We don�t really have days here that are misty and depressing and gross like in good ole PA. When it rains it storms and the lightning (as I�ve mentioned numerous times) is spectacular :)
I watched TV for the first time today and caught �That 70�s Show� before the news came on. It was great to laugh at the silly jokes and I enjoyed getting caught up in it for even just that half hour! That show is so great! The big news today was that the Jo�burg police chief is being prosecuted for drunken driving charges but wasn�t relieved of duty, even though the government has a zero tolerance policy for drunk driving. Everyone is really up in arms about it�
Tuesday Dec. 7, 2004
Today we drove all of our 22 loaves of sandwiches, a huge amount of cheese curls and ourselves out to Venterdorp (the V sounds like an F) for a training being given by a woman from the Lifeline national office. The scenery on the way was beautiful, mountains in the distant, flat veld next to the road and tons of farmland. It rained a lot yesterday and all last night so everything was very green.
That rain also created a few problems for us though because we had to take dirt roads to get out to the township that the training was in. Both cars definitely got stuck in the mud!!! We spent a good 40 minutes trying to get the cars unstuck and the guys that were pushing the woman from national out were SO full of mud by the time they were done. Those tires just kept spinning! It was quite an adventure!
The event of course did not start on time (nothing here does) so we spent the downtime talking about the importance of getting out into the community to do development work because its important to actually see the issues for yourself. Apparently one of the trends that people are beginning to see is that the caregivers of the 20 and 30 something people living with AIDS are developing HIV because they don�t want to take the necessary precautions necessary to prevent themselves from getting it. They think its wrong to wear gloves to care for their own child. Education to this population hasn�t yet started, and I don�t know when/how it will begin.
A youth group from t he township did a really powerful skit on the effects of physical and sexual abuse on a child and spoke about the need for people to avoid drugs and alcohol in order for the gender violence and abuse of children to stop. It was really good. The whole training was conducted in Setswana but the woman from national office and the youths spoke slow enough and loudly enough for me to pick up most of what was being said which was really great!!!!
The sandwiches and cheese curls ALL went! It was crazy to see how fast it was all devoured or stashed away for later.
Thursday Dec. 9, 2004
There was a gala going on outside our office windows all day today! (A gala is a swim meet here). Apparently the kids are competing for spots to head to South African nationals! It was great to hear the buzzer all day and see the swimming and smell all the great stands they set up around the pool�s yard. Outside my bedroom window is a chips and dip stand which smells fabulous! MMMM French fries :) There was also a doughnut stand set up - boy were they yummy. Like the mini hostess donuts, but with less grease :) and less chocolate!
Brought Setshego to the vet today because he is losing patches of fur and Lynda and I both think its ringworm. Ugh. Turns out we were right � so now I have to shove pills down the cats throat twice a day and rub ointment on all the spots. Ick. I�m SO glad that ringworm is contagious between animals and people. UGH! If I end up with ringworm I am NOT going to be happy!!! Sure is a good thing Setshego sleeps on my pillow every night and is CONSTANTLY rubbing himself on me or sitting his head on my arm or rubbing his face all over mine. *sarcasm* I can�t complain too much because it�s my fault for using sand from outside as cat litter to try to save money, I�m an ass! It cost me way too much at the vets � by the end of January I�m probably going to end up living off cat food cause its all I�ll be able to afford! Ugh.
Friday Dec. 10, 2004
I told my boss about my Christmas plans today. I will be heading up to Rustenberg for the weekend of Christmas to hang out with the girls I hung out with in Swartdam. It�s the first time I will be seeing volunteers since Swear In so I�m super excited! There is a place in Pilanesburg near the game reserve that has 2 bedroom cabins still available. It has hiking, a pool, its own bar, and besides being close to the game park it�s also close to Sun City a big resort town! We are all super super excited just to have the chance to hang out and chat and eat a good meal we aren�t cooking for ourselves :).
I made myself baked chicken, peas and CHEESE FRIES tonight for dinner! I fried up my own potatoes and everything. It was GREAT!
I heard from Kevin that someone shot a guy in Pantera right in the face on stage at their concert and then started randomly shooting into the crowd! How terrible!!!
Saturday Dec. 11, 2004
Today I got the cutest Christmas cards from my host family back in Swartdam! My host sister wrote �To: Ausi (sister) Lethabo Erin We love you so much. Happy Christmas and New Year From Nunu, Tsabeng Khunou.�
My little brother Christopher who knows NO English looks like he spent a very long time writing out his separate card. �To Eriu Letllhabo We Love Yoy from Christopher� TOO CUTE!!!!
My mma wrote one that says �To Erin Lethabo, Lethabo I wish you a lucky in this coming year. Let your presens in South Africa change the life of South African people. Enjoy all your festive, and I always remember you my dear. I miss you very much my dear. Happy Christmas!!! And New Year. Your mom Violet Khunou (Swartdam).
What a great bunch of mail to get!!! :)
Monday Dec. 13, 2004
I�m starting to worry that Lorraine resents me for what I�m doing with the food parcel program information organization project I took on. She is always �joking� about me losing something she needs when in reality she really just isn�t looking for it�. So I don�t know if I made a mistake by jumping into this project so fast after getting here�I guess I�ll find out as time goes on..
I made this mince stuff for dinner today � it was totally gross because (and I found this out later) I forgot to buy/add the mince! So I was just eating a whole lot of spices from this mince mate package! Stupidity strikes again! :)
Tuesday Dec. 14, 2004
I woke up this morning to rustling papers, and thought I was going to have to beat Setshego up for knocking stuff off desks in the office � turns out my coworkers were here because they found out yesterday that they had to go somewhere far away by 9a to sign some financial paperwork for the coming year!
The work day was a work day�did a lot of it! The letters still keep rolling in � I got two from Kevin. I was walking home reading them and managed to fall flat on my face!!! I twisted my ankle pretty bad, cut up my hands and bruised my right hip pretty nicely. Ugh! :) I felt silly � some man was walking toward me when it happened and he goes �oh what happened. Pity, pity�� hahahhaa. Its one of those moments I�ll never forget. Aaaah stupidity :) That�ll teach me to read while I walk hey?
I got invited out today to Sharon�s house (the woman that dressed up like a clown for Christmas caroling :) ) It was fabulous. She has three kids, one daughter who is 14 and rides horses competitively, one daughter who is 20 and studying theology, and a son who is 23 who I haven�t met. The 20 year old, Ainsley, likes punk rock and told me about a good club in Pretoria I can check out with live music � thank the lord!
We had a braai tonight (a South African bbq :) ) and I also tried biltong � which is like beef jerky � its quite nice. We sat around and chatted over coffee and chocolate after the braai until 9:30. The 14 year old, Kendall was telling us hilarious jokes all night :) When they drove me home we took a driving tour of Klerksdorp to see the Christmas lights. It was really a great night!
Wednesday Dec. 15, 2004
Today was our end of the year thank you reception for our counselors. They gave badges to everyone that has completed counselor training (and me for some reason :) ) and I got to be the official photographer � which meant running around the room with my ace bandaged ankle. haha. My boss introduced me and gave a really nice speech thanking me for jumping right into the fray and finding myself a project :) She also brought up the fact that I am having a good time here and like the thunderstorms here :)
Sharon came and got me again after work to spend the night at her house because tomorrow is a public holiday. We had great conversations tonight about the HUGE spiders here (ugh!), religion and prayer counseling that Sharon does with people. She basically asks God to take the persons burdens or ask him for advice or whatever. She�s very passionate about it. Sharon also believes that the ghosts that people might see are really their personal demons, which is intriguing, but a little creepy if you ask me. You have guardian angels and personal demons. Hmmm� I had steak for dinner � which is a first in YEARS and it really effed with me!
We headed to bed after watching Full House :) and Law and Order (YAY), and I stayed up an extra long time and wrote letters :)
Thursday Dec. 16, 2004
Happy Freedom Day!
I got to take a SHOWER this morning when I woke up. How fantastic :) I helped Kendall bake a cake and washed all the dishes to thank Sharon for the hospitality :) We did a lot of sitting around today, we had another braai for lunch (which included pork neck � which is surprisingly good! � and WATERMELON!) Yummy! The watermelon was too big for the fridge so we threw it in the pool to keep it cool and we had to fish it out at lunch :) That was a new one on me :) We watched Ice Age after lunch which is terribly cute! And then some family movies which was fun. I came home around 5 and boy was Setshego rambunctious since I hadn�t been home overnight! Phew.
Thanks for sending the cookie recipes mom! They will be put to good use this weekend :)
Friday Dec. 17, 2004
Thank you so much for the packages Mom and Aunt Nancy & Uncle Tom!!!! Got them today!!!
Saturday Dec. 18, 2004
Happy Birthday Kevin!!!
Today was cooking baking day! I got up at 6a but refused wake up and get out of bed until 8 (why the heck can�t I sleep past 6!!!!?) I cleaned up the place a little bit and then headed out shopping for the next week and for all the ingredients! God were all the groceries heavy on the way back! I got started right away making chocolate chip cookies, then cream cheese cookies (mmmm) and I made thumbprint cookies with mixed fruit jam. It took me 4 hours but I have tons of cookies made and sometime this week I will be making apples pies with crusts made from scratch because they don�t sell pie crust here! The girls are in for a yummy getaway :)
I took a different way then I normally do to check my mail during a rainstorm this afternoon. On the wall in graffiti behind the pick n pay was �Bomb the US.�
Sunday Dec. 19, 2004
I spent the day today at Sharon�s house again. We ate a fantastic lunch of chicken susottis, chicken and veggies right on from the braai. MMM. Sitting by the pool eating bbq seems so strange for what I thought this was going to be! We sat around after lunch watching cricket, and Sharon�s son Brad tried VERY hard to explain the rules to me � which are ridiculously confusing! They play 3, 5 or 7 (I think) �overs� to make a �match� which means they are playing the same team for like a week or more and then someone can be declared a winner� He kept trying to convince me it was just like baseball � uhh, not so much Brad :)
I went to church with Sharon tonight, I got to see a lot of people I haven�t seen in a while which was really nice and even got to sit next to Jenny � my older lady friend with family in the States. She�s so absolutely adorable! We sang Christmas carols with candles in hand and listened to a really pretty sermon (? Is that what it�s called in a Methodist church? I have no idea!) We definitely sang a version of Silent Night that I have NEVER heard and Away in a Manger is sung totally differently here as well. It has a different tune with the same words. I can�t even remember the �American� way to sing it now :) haha.
After church Kendall pulled out her photo albums to show me and in true �little kid� fashion described what was supposed to be in the pictures � which you couldn�t really see. �That�s a picture of an elephant but this kid was pointing to it and I didn�t realize his finger was in the way so the elephant is under his finger.� I was cracking up.
Sharon and I discussed getting into a running routine after the holidays too since Jennie sent me a marathon �schedule.�
I came home to a HUGE spider on my bedroom wall! Setshego was all puffy tailed with his back arched, he was totally pissed and with his ears back he looked like the devil! I sprayed it with some bug spray and THINK I killed it � I haven�t seen it since I saw it crawling on my jacket EWWWW. These spiders here are so huge and lay really flat against the wall but flippin run like hell when they get frightened. Its really scary! I got a terrible night of sleep because of the stupid thing. Ick.
Monday Dec. 20, 2004
Happy Birthday Tiff Kelly!!!
Today we delivered our food parcels to Jouberton which Lorraine and I both dread because so many people don�t pick them up� Its obvious that some of them are just too proud, or don�t care enough to come get them, and darnit, if that�s the case, there are plenty of people that could use our help instead of them! We drove around trying to deliver some of them and was told by quite a few neighbors that the person had gone into town, or gone out for the day instead of coming to get their food parcel. How disheartening.
I sat in the back of the lorry while we were driving around Jouberton so the caregivers could lead the driver to where we needed to make our delivery and it got to a point where I felt like I was a caged animal in a zoo. I was being stared at by a huge group of men when we stopped at the one house. They kept asking me questions and when they didn�t understand English enough to understand my answers I just gave up� They were drunk anyway. I know it�s a novelty for a white girl to be in the black township but boy did it frustrate me today�
Tonight I had an atypical Peace Corps Volunteer night to be sure. My adopted family took me out to the MOVIES! Of course Sharon wouldn�t let me pay, and then on top of that, she bought me candy that I said I didn�t want (but that I of course, happily ate :) ) We saw �The Incredibles� which was �incredibly� cute! The ending was absolutely fantastic! I highly recommend renting it when it comes out (because I�m SURE it�s not still in the movies up there!) :) They also said they are taking me to the movies again on Wednesday. Haha.
Tuesday Dec. 21, 2004
I got woken up this morning by some VERY loud thunderclaps. We were having a terrific storm and my ceiling leak sounded like a darn waterfall!
It was chilly today on top of the fact that it was raining. I was thankful I brought my rain jacket out to Tigane with me. We had four parcels left once everyone had come to collect them so we had to go make deliveries around the township. The area is really cute, and the people really have their yards landscaped nicely! I got a good glimpse of the entire township and got to wave to tons of little kids yelling �lekgoa� (white person) at the top of their lungs as we drove by. The last house we stopped at had this absolutely adorable little girl living there. She hid behind her mom the whole time and kept sneaking smiles at me. I tried to get her to talk to me in Setswana but she just kept smiling and wouldn�t respond. She was terribly cute!
I worked late today, bopping to Justin Timberlake with my headphones in! I thought tonight was going to be uneventful and I would be sitting in my room all night so I didn�t rush to start getting anything done, I ended up taking a nap after work. Oops! It turned out that my night was NOT going to be spent in my room after all. Sharon called at 7:30 and said that they were coming to get me in 5 minutes so I should be ready. I asked why and she said we were going to see Christmas lights!!!
The first house we stopped at is owned by this woman that started decorating her house when she found out that she had cancer and only had 6 months to live, and she�s lived for like 5 or 6 YEARS! She is happy as pie apparently, and lives in a GORGEOUS house with beautiful gardens! She had her whole side and backyard glittering with all types of lights and designs. Some of them even play music! There are fountains, trellises, and statues everywhere; along with the in-ground pool and two covered sitting areas. The lawn looked like it had been cut with a pair of scissors it was so short and exact.
This is, unfortunately, the last year she is doing it though because she feels like her time is coming to a close and she�s selling the house. She doesn�t charge anything to get in to see the whole thing, just asks for donations. She serves free coffee and tea so you can sit in the garden amongst the lights and listen to the Christmas music. She had a sign in book so I wrote that her display reminded me of home back in the States and thanked her for the Christmas cheer. It was truly beautiful and got me into the Christmas spirit for at least a little bit (its too darn warm for it to be Christmas though I hear the weather in PA is pretty warm too�weird! :) )
We also drove past a few other place with lights � its not a big deal like it is in the States to put lights up, so the people that do have them up constantly have people driving by oohing and aahing. There was even this one place (some kind of business) that had a huge fake chimney with Father Christmas climbing up it. It was very cute!
Wednesday Dec. 22, 2004
I was supposed to go back to the movies with Sharon and her family today to see Bridget Jones 2 but it was only playing late so we settled for Alexander the Great. It was interesting, I guess, the battle scenes were really bloody and intense. It was way too long though and really drawn out. Parts of it were really confusing with way too much going on and well, I just don�t really like Colin Farrell. Haha. There was a point where they attacked people who were on armored elephants (!) and we just kept talking about how we all would have seen them and said �oh hell no� and run away!
I spent the rest of the night packing and cleaning up in anticipation of all the girls arriving tomorrow to begin our holiday! YAY!
Thursday Dec. 23, 2004
Today was my last day of work until Jan. 3! We had our last food parcel delivery today, to Alabama, which is the �coloured� township. During apartheid people with mixed black and white lineage were placed here, or if their skin was lighter in some cases, they were placed here, which sometimes tore families apart! Now however, it looks like a middle class neighborhood in the States because of some of the opportunities they were given toward the end of apartheid that black South Africans weren�t given, namely decent education and access to jobs.
When we came back to the office we got ready for the end of year meeting and holiday party with the home based caregivers. They all arrived, were thanked for their work throughout the year, and then given lots of chips, cookies, candy and soda. It was all gone in no time!
Around 1p my friends all started arriving, Candice first, then Courtney and finally Joanna. I showed them around town a little bit and Candice bought a duvet cover after hours and of deliberation which lasted through to the next morning! :) She is a very deliberate decision maker and has some serious buyers� remorse. :)
We sat around and chatted all night and got attacked by Setshego who was just not used to all the attention and having so many people around! It was great fun just to be together to talk about what we�ve all been going through.
Friday Dec. 24, 2004
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!
We all got up super early today � we just can�t sleep past 6am I guess :) We had a great chat about how Courtney is not so good at texting us all and Joanna just pictures her with casts on her thumbs! :) We went out in Klerksdorp before heading out on our taxi ride to our holiday. Courtney told us about a store called �Afrofist� (meaning African empowerment). The guy had been at an expo up in Mafikeng where she lives and she said he makes great jewelry and apparently designs and hand paints clothing so we set out to look for it! TK, the owner and designer is a really cool guy and his clothes are absolutely gorgeous! We spent a long time there and then finally headed back to pack up and head out.
We walked over to the taxi rank and ended up getting a taxi BUS which was roomy, and comfortable and airy�it was a great and so different from a normal taxi ride! We were the last ones in so we left right away! I got to sit next to Joanna so we chatted the whole ride which was really great :) On the way out of Klerksdorp at the beginning of our trip I discovered the Klerksdorp dam, which I didn�t know existed!!! The ride only took about 2 hours, the scenery changed so dramatically on the way up there and was absolutely gorgeous with mountains covered with palm trees, cacti and other indigenous trees. It looked like the Poconos if you didn�t look real close or I guess small mountains covered with trees anywhere haha :)
The Rustenberg taxi rank was huge and teeming with people and a little overwhelming because of just how crowded and crazy it was. We eventually found our ride out to the backpackers but not before being harassed by a guy named Patrick who just wouldn�t go away. Candice and Courtney spent the ride singing Christmas carols, my favorite was Blue Christmas � there version was outstanding :) I think the driver thought we were a little crazy :)
Once we got there, we met the owner and got ourselves set up in our little thatched roof hut called the Lizard Lounge. It was made entirely of stone and had a set of bunk beds and a double bed built right into the stone. It was awesome! The entrance to the bathroom was a short walk out the front door and around the side of the hut which intrigued me but didn�t cause any problems though at 2am that�s a little nerve wracking :) Especially with all the huge spiders around! Haha.
We had quite a time dealing with the owner�s 4 year old daughter who seemed to think we were her new playmates and didn�t really want to leave us alone. She walked right into our hut with us and started jumping on the beds and not listening to us (or not understanding because she spoke Afrikaans primarily, but I think she knew we were telling her to leave. Haha) Courtney finally coaxed her outside and then ran back in. We had to hold the door closed with all of our weight until we found the key, which struck us all as a bit ridiculous � barricading the door to keep a 4 year old out. Sigh�:)
We went swimming straight away which was a lot of fun. We acted like little kids and did flips and handstands and made a whirlpool and even did aerobics while we made our whirpool :) I�m sure we were quite a sight! We eventually went to check out the �treehouses� which are wooden structures set right out in the woods. We sang Christmas carols as we walked down the road and had the big German Shepard that lived there following us the whole time. We affectionately named him �Rin Tin� because well, he looked like rin tin tin. :) There was no ladder for treehouse we picked so we had to climb in, which was easy for Candice because she�s a rock climber; they had to do a lot of convincing to get me to take a boost up but once I was up there, I was glad they did convince me. The view was spectacular, it looked on the valley and mountain below the backpackers and with the sun setting it was really beautiful! I wished I had my camera because I had the perfect picture idea with the wooden window frame and the sunset over the mountains, but I didn�t bring it for some reason. Ugh.
We hiked back and ended up meeting this guy named Michael who is a fire dancer! He told us about the metal sculpture that he is making for the �Burning Man Festival� that is taking place there over New Years. We told us all about how he got started with fire dancing and promised to give us a show after we ate!
With our stomach�s rumbling, we headed into the main dining room and had a really yummy pork chop dinner cooked by the owner and listened to some Zepplin and the Beatles while we ate :) We had pudding (which apparently doesn�t mean pudding, but means dessert in South African English) and then headed outside to sit and chat. Michael left at that point to go get ready for his performance for us. He came out with wonderful masks that he made (!) and jumped around with an on fire jump rope, played with flaming nunchucks (I have no idea how to spell that!) and dazzled us with his fire show!
We went to bed in the Lizard Lounge shortly afterward and sang Christmas and South African songs by candlelight. Shosholoza baby :)
Shosholoza, shosholoza
Kulez�untaba stimela si�ye South Africa
Shosholoza, shosholoza
Wenuya baleka stimela si�ye South Africa
Its in Zulu and has a neat little choo-choo looking dance that goes along with it :) I�ll demonstrate upon request once I get home (but only in small groups :) )
Rin Tin slept outside our door all night long! Very cute!!!
Saturday Dec. 25, 2004
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
It definitely didn�t feel like Christmas today so it was much easier to cope with being away from everyone than I thought it would be. We got woken up by my cell phone ringing at 7am � Gaylon called to wish us a Merry Christmas which was sweet� He wanted to be the first to wish us all a Merry Christmas, he sure did succeed. Haha. He told me how he had spent Christmas eve at his boss� house set amongst mango groves and tea plantations�UGH! Still totally jealous that I�m not over on that end of the country.
Anyway, since we were up, we had a light breakfast of granola and yogurt and then heading on a hike up the mountain! Rin Tin followed us on the hike. It was tough, a lot of steep climbs but the scenery was lekker (that�s Afrikaans for great :) ). It was very hot and very sunny. We took a lot of pictures, Courtney said she would send me copies so pictures will be up eventually�
On the way back down the mountain Courtney got a call from her host mom from training. She told Courtney that one male volunteer visited the female volunteer that�s living in Swartdam, which means that they are certainly in love. :) haha.
Once our hike was complete we piled into the pool and made another great whirlpool :) We did a lot of relaxing today and then during our long attempt to make popcorn for dinner, we got to chatting with a girl from Germany and a guy from France who live together in Jo�burg and work for the tourism industry. Pretty neat stuff.
Sunday Dec. 26, 2004
HAPPY BOXING DAY!!!
The girls decided to take a dip before we left and made this fantastic synchronized swimming routine up that had us all in stitches and that is captured on video! YAY! :) After the swim we all piled into the owner�s bakki and headed back out to the taxi rank and away from our beloved round, thatched roof hut.
We all hugged Joanna, who was heading home because she lives up in Polokwane far from the rest of us and Courtney, Candice and I climbed onto a mini bus back to Klerksdorp. Our taxi ride was uneventful but Joanna certainly had an interesting ride. Apparently her driver was driving way fast and had taken a turn too quick or hit a bump or something and she let out an �involuntary scream� AND 3 of the 4 hubcaps came off the taxi�so the driver stopped the taxi and asked the riders to look for them! Only in South Africa!
Courtney and Candice and I had decided we were going to splurge on dinner at a nice restaurant since Christmas dinner hadn�t been exactly what we had in mind so in the middle of a rainstorm we headed out in search of something that was open. We passed a pub that smelled like good onion rings so we decided to try there after passing one of our three possibilities that wasn�t open. We ended up getting just onion rings at the Ranch Pub because they were out of a lot of things, and heading out to the mall hoping for another open restaurant.
Found Panarotti�s open, and sat down to a nice �italian� meal, though it�s not quite the same Italian food as home. I don�t really know why I thought it would be. Haha. Dinner ended up being pretty good and once we were through, it was time to sit around my place for the night.
We got the back room all set up to sit around and watch some tv when Candice notices a tick on her leg from our hike, so I ran to get my PC tweezers and we scrambled to find matches. Candice touched it with a match and Courtney pulled the thing out of her leg. Courtney looks at it, Candice remarks that she did a good job and that it didn�t hurt, and then they look at it a little closer � and it�s not a tick but a tomato seed that had somehow gotten stuck to her leg! :)
Monday Dec. 27, 2004
Today we found a music store in Klerksdorp! Candice bought a guitar and I saw a violin on display. I didn�t realize how much I missed playing a stringed instrument until they took it out for me and I ran the bow across the strings. Needless to say I bought it a few days later :) The owners also told me about a music centre run out of the Klerksdorp High School and gave me a contact person. I�m hoping they need some help and will let me come in a day or two a week to help out.
We decided that we needed some McDonald�s fries before we headed out to Taung, so I told them about the one I knew about at Flamwood Walk, which has to be a good 2.5 km walk from my flat. We walked down there in extreme heat and sun and were greeted with fresh French fries and cold ice cream :) It was great!
By the time we got back I had a pretty bad sunburn and we were all really really hot so we decided to stay an extra night here in town so that we could hit the pool! We changed into our �swimming costumes� and headed on over to the pool. Candice and Courtney both decided that they were going to jump off the 10 meter platform dive before they even felt the water, I begged out on a count of my contacts coming out�what a bad cop out! Haha. I�m too afraid of heights for that.
We got followed around the pool by a creepy little man who eventually asked us mostly in Afrikaans where our boyfriends were, to which Courtney replied, �they are at home cooking dinner for us but they�ll be here soon.� Did the guy expect us to ask him to be our boyfriend? I mean come on! We got out and made it back to my flat right before it started raining, and right after we all ran up the ladder to the 5 meter platform and jumped off. Very scary! I�m going to have to take cliff diving off of my �things to do before I die� list because that was way scary!
We came back, took warm baths, and then somebody said that they felt like they were at home and that the only thing that would make it perfect was a movie to watch tonight. I suggested we rent one, since I have a VCR and a Mr. Video a few blocks away! We headed out right away and ended up getting Master and Commander, and Love Actually, which Candice had never seen. The woman behind the counter wouldn�t let me sign up for a card because I�m not an SA resident (dumb!) so Courtney asked some guy if we could rent them on his card and he agreed! I know, crazy�We all agreed afterward that if we had been approached to do that in the US we never would have. What a brave, nice man! :)
Tuesday Dec. 28, 2004
We headed out pretty early today so that we could get on a taxi to Taung by noon. We went over to Afrofist so that Candice could pick up her handmade skirt and Courtney could pick up her handmade earrings. We ran some other errands and that decided that we should eat lunch before we got on the taxi so we headed to Captain Dorego�s, a seafood fast food chain here. The girl working behind the counter gave me her phone number and said we should hang out, she goes to a different club every night of the week it sounds like. I�ll give her a call when we get back I guess.
The taxi ride was relatively uneventful except for the terrible rattling the taxi was making and the fact that it looked like it was falling apart. There was a guy in the seat in front of me that was drinking bottles of beer like they were bottles of water and when we stopped so he could pee on the side of the road, the driver told us that he wasn�t going to take us all the way to Taung like he said he would, he was only going to take us as far as Hartswater (which, mind you is maybe a 10 minute drive to Taung!). When we were getting into Hartswater it became painfully apparent that he was taking advantage of the little foreign girls because everyone else had gotten off prior to or in Hartswater.
He said he had to get his taxi fixed � didn�t we hear the horrible sound it was making, never mind that it had been like that far before we got into it. Candice and Courtney fought with him about it and told him he owed us each 20 rand, and not just to pay for the ride from Hartswater to Taung. Candice fought with him and fought with him because he had promised to bring us to Taung until finally looking for an escape, he asked Candice if she wanted a mango, and if that would suffice as payment. She said she would like one, so he bought Candice a mango to get us to shut up so he could make his escape.
At the Hartswater taxi rank we saw a bunch of other volunteers who were obviously on their way somewhere together. We chatted for a little before heading out to Candice�s because Sara Jones was waiting for us at her flat.
We spent the rest of the night chatting and Sara, who is an education volunteer told us what it is like to live with no electricity, how she is super brave with cockroaches now and how if she were in our position she would feel cheated � because we really do pretty much live in very American circumstances. We told her how we all feel kind of cheated out of a certain cultural aspect of this experience; I definitely do not have some of the experiences that the education volunteers have living in the villages like they do. I am staying positive about it all though, and trying to see the cultural experience I am getting as a cultural experience nonetheless. It�s just not what we all �knew� the Peace Corps was when we all signed up.
We spent the rest of the afternoon singing songs to Candice�s guitar playing and enjoying each other�s company.
Wednesday Dec. 29, 2004
Candice had to work today so Courtney and I just sat around reading and whatnot all morning. Candice showed up around 11 very upset and frustrated because she was told she had to move across the compound, only they hadn�t told her when. When your flat is the only thing you really have control over in your life, its hard to be told you have to uproot yourself and move it all � because it shows you just how little control you really have. I really felt for her.
When she had calmed down a little there was a knock on the door, people had come to move her fridge and stove over to the other flat � meaning that she was moving today! So we all changed and went over to the new place to start cleaning it up. The place had obvious water damage and we found out later in the day that the toilet didn�t work. In spite of that we cleaned it all up and then started moving her stuff after she had packed it all up.
We spent the evening in the new flat; we made homemade tortillas and put rice, cheese, tomatoes and chakalaka, which is like a salsa that has curry in it instead of the tex mex style salsa, inside them. I made a cappuccino chocolate chunk cake out of a mix I had brought with me and we had a great dinner!
Thursday Dec. 30, 2004
People came by Candice�s new flat today to fix her window and toilet and they said that the plumbing problem was a big pipe problem and something that really couldn�t be fixed. Candice was told that she should move back to her old apartment so while she waited around for the heat of the day to pass and pack up a little, Courtney and I to the 5km walk to Taung station to get some exercise and look around a little bit. The walk there was hot and very sunny, but nice. We each bought 2 Coke Lights, walked around the shops once and then decided to head back, again walking instead of taking the 3 minute taxi ride. Big mistake! It was crazy hot walking into the sun and we were both already tired from the walk there. I ended getting a little sunburned despite having spf 60 sunscreen on my face (but not my legs � oops). We got back and helped Candice move and then sat around while we tried to cool off a little and she unpacked.
Once she was done we headed over to the other flat where her stove and fridge still were which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We had had beans soaking all day and turned the stove on to let them cook now. Well those beans cooking for 2 hours certainly made that room 3000 degrees! Once they were done cooking we mashed them up to the consistency of refried beans (without being refried) and then made tortillas. The room was so hot that we were literally dripping sweat into the tortilla dough. Eventually you could see through all our shirts and poor Courtney had khaki linen pants on�you get the drift.
Tonight I finally got a phone call from home as well which was just the thing to make the holiday perfect! Now remember, to call you have to dial 011 + 27 + my number! You can�t leave any of those parts out or you will be calling some other country, not here :) I talked to molly for a little and found out that her class thought that eating chicken feet was totally gross and that the tooth rat is �weird.� Haha. So much for teaching them to be tolerant of other cultures :)
Friday Dec. 31, 2004
I can't believe today is the last day of the year, or that I've been in country for 3 months! Phew. Time flies when your keeping yourself busy with nonsense, or right, and when you are having fun :)It feels like a lifetime and like I left yesterday all at the same time...How is that possible?
We headed over to Losasaneng today to meet up with a ton of other volunteers to ring in the new year at Ross and Emily�s house. Losasaneng is a village about an hour southwest of Taung by public transport. We had to take two taxis and a bus to get there :) The bus that we took out there was great, it had 3 seats on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other. Very roomy and comfy :) We started on the road from Pampierstad, another village outside of Hartswater and picked some guy up on the side of the road. He asked to see everyone�s tickets, then the bus stopped again iand let him off. It was the strangest thing! The ride there was gorgeous, Candice told us to watch for wild baboons, because you can apparently see them on the side of the road here. Of course we saw none! We had to turn off the main road and take a gravel road that was terribly bumpy out to the village until it eventually turned into a dirt road.. This village is really in the bush!
I spoke with all of the different education volunteers � it was really nice to catch up and find out what they have all been doing during their 6 week break from school (interesting timing the Peace Corps has in placing us here haha). We listened to Hobo Jim, a great �country� singer from Alaska who sings about liking to go ice fishing and the Iditarod trail!
Mark had a great story about how he went out with a friend of his on a 15 mile hike into the bush looking for baboons and wild honey � neither of which they found. Apparently the guy that took him out though is quite the naturalist and Mark learned a lot about indigenous plants and they found wild mushrooms. Close enough to honey right? He also has friends who are shepherds and plans to go out with him/them (?) sometime overnight to see what its all about. He sounds like he is having an awesome experience.
Jake came out and threw a Nerf football with one of Ross and Emily�s host brothers. He was hysterical to watch! Once he figured out we were all watching him catch the ball he started moonwalking and dancing around in all his yellow bikini underwear glory!
Deb told us a story about how she went to the pit latrine at night, thinking, as we all did, that not using the pit latrine at night was silly because where we lived was safe. She found out there are other reasons for that warning! So she was sitting there and felt something crawl on her so she swatted it away. She felt it again and got fed up, looked at it and realized she had a cockroach in her hand that she had just pulled off her ass! She threw it down on the ground and then just got out of there. If that had been me I definitely would have been screaming and been on the next flight home. No joke! I just don�t do well with the bugs as you all well know!. I�ve been called a �city girl� because of it :)
Dinner was fantastic, all homemade by some of the education volunteers. It was enchiladas, homemade tortillas and all and homemade vegetarian chili. A plate of it ended up strewn all over the living room when Megan got hot wax poured on her foot. She kept her foot in a bucket of cold water for the rest of the night.
Courtney and Candice and I got to watch the Nativity Play that the education volunteers had created, scripted and put on once they all got together for the holiday. It was great. Very lucky that Shaila has it on videotape for posterity sake :)
Close to midnight we all ventured outside, listening to some music from an mp3 player, it was mostly country. I danced with Ryan to �Friends in Low Places,� he knew all the words :) and then it was midnight! We counted down on our own, and then a few minutes after midnight counted down with the radio that Ross� family had brought out and then got to listen to my new favorite song, Destiny by Malaika. It�s a Motswana band and very fun! They are all the rave down here right now!
We all stood in a huge circle and danced with some of the neighbors when a huge pickup came roaring up into the yard and didn�t look like it was going to slow down as it came toward us so we all scattered and Courtney and Sara and I ran behind the huge tree in the middle of the yard. It was a good thing we did because then the guys in the back of the truck starting shooting fireworks into the crowd that was still there before roaring off out of the yard.
Ross brought out sparklers and did a �fire dance� for us and shot off a few little fireworks. When the party calmed down a bunch of us sat outside to talk until 2am and I got to lie down and look at the stars. I have NEVER seen so many stars in my life � I even got to see a shooting star. That�s gotta be a good omen for the New Year :)
Saturday Jan. 1, 2005
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
We all got up really early today � early enough for me to call Kevin when it turned midnight on the east coast of the US! We had a nice 1 minute conversation! :)
We sat around all morning waiting for Mark�s family to come pick us up with their bakki and when he finally showed up around noon 11 of us crammed into the back with all our bags to get to the taxi rank in Pampierstad to get back to Candice�s. To say that ride was uncomfortable woulud be the understatement of the New Year but it was fun because it was such an experience. We took that terribly bumpy gravel road back (its the only way back) Deb led us all in some camp songs until we made it to Pampierstad.
We had to wait a long time in Hartswater for a taxi back to Taung and when one finally showed up we sat around waiting for it to fill up and then the driver made us all get out and refunded our money � or most of it. He tried to jip us out of R7. He wouldn�t give it back until we got another driver involved and someone drove off in the first driver�s taxi, which was strange but oddly satisfying to watch happen :)
We went for a walk around the hospital compound close to dark when it was much cooler outside to get some exercise. When we got between these two buildings we heard a terrible racket and Candice and Courtney yelled and took off running! I looked up and realized it was pigeons taking off from the tin roof which did make quite a racket. It was a little nerve wracking :) Courtney said she knows it�s a bad situation when Candice grabs her arm really tight. She also said it reminded her of the movie �The Birds� and after that movie she could never look at birds the same way again. Haha.
Sunday Jan. 2, 2005
Today I set out for Klerksdorp on my own. Boohoo holiday is over! The ride was uneventful but getting back to my flat and having Setshego follow me around the rest of the night and sit outside the bathroom door while I bathed and MEOW was really cute. He got noticeably bigger while I was gone. Sniff sniff � he�s just growing up too fast. :)
I had some fun Christmas and New Years pictures waiting for me in my email which was fantastic! Keep �em coming guys!
Monday Jan. 3, 2005
First day back to work and wouldn�t ya know it, it was just Lorraine and I. She left pretty early so I went to collect my three packages at the post office!! They all turned out to be huge, terribly heavy and really awkwardly shaped all together. That 6 block walk back to my flat was possibly the longest 6 blocks I have ever walked in my LIFE. My arms ached so bad but I was super excited to rip them open. Lynda was there when I finally made it up the stairs with them all, I spent a good 2 hours unwrapping everything from my family, Ryan and his girlfriend, and Kevin and his family. It was a fantastic late Christmas!
Ryan and Gibby sent me a sheep dressed as a super hero from Pawsenclaws, that place where you stuff your own animals. The super hero outfit said �My Hero.� It�s possibly the cutest thing EVER! I�ll put a picture up soon :) Everything from everyone was individually wrapped, even the tiny toiletries so it was absolutely fantastic opening everything! I even had a stocking that was MY HEIGHT full of stuff in the package!
Fritzie, Setshego really loves the catnip mice you sent him. Thanks a lot :)
I finally got the cable to my laptop modem so I can download all my email to my computer, which is amusing that it took till christmas to be able to do it because now they are networking our computers in the office so I will have to use my Ethernet card instead of the modem to connect to the dialup. Haha.
Tuesday Jan. 4, 2005
This morning I woke up to see one of those huge flat spiders that runs really fast scamper underneath my couch. AHHH!
I got Molly�s Christmas package today � she got me a little Spongebob doll who now sits next to �my hero� on the couch and looks cute :) And on top of getting a great package, I headed back to the music store and bought a VIOLIN! I can�t wait to learn to play! My music teacher from school has agreed to send me some beginner music so I�m totally psyched. Now if I could only use a pitch pipe correctly and tune the darn thing we�d be in business. So exciting!!!
Wednesday Jan. 5, 2005
So that flat spider was back this morning, and sitting outside my door waiting for me! Well he got his. I ran back to my bed, pulled my sneaker out and SMUSHED it. Jerk � that�ll teach you to scamper around my room!
Thursday Jan. 6, 2005
Today was spent talking a lot about religion with Lynda. She is highly involved in her church, and is giving talks for their Chrysalis and Emmaus retreats so we were talking about her powerpoint presentation which I�m going to help her with. She has focused her talks on discipleship and faith.
Religion is such a huge thing here, it�s a part of most NGOs daily activities and every hospital or clinic I have ever been in starts the day off with a prayer and a song or two. They all seem very accepting of others and other religions which is really fantastic.
I really feel like talking to everyone who is so devoutly religious here is helping me figure out what my beliefs are, where they differ from theirs, etc. They are so open to talking about their views and why they believe what they believe and just sharing their faith. It is truly amazing to see such belief and faith. It really helps a lot of people get through the day. Its good to hear that going to church isn�t what is most important to people here. As long as you are willing to listen and tolerate what they have to say, they are willing to explain their views without trying to recruit/convert you.
Friday Jan. 7, 2005
Today I spent the whole afternoon reading the Ig Nobel Prizes book that Kevin sent for Christmas! What a fun book. Some of the experiments these scientists have done are absolutely ludicrous and some relevant but funny!
Saturday Jan. 8, 2005
I picked up the Christmas Train by David Baldacci today and didn�t put it down until I was done 7 hours later. When I was done I picked up another book and just kept on reading!
Monday Jan. 10, 2005
I got a phone call today from someone from Lynda�s church. He asked me to speak at his rotary club meeting to tell them about the Peace Corps, what I am doing in Klerksdorp, how I find the country, etc. He asked when I was free and I told him I really didn�t have a life and I don�t do too much after dark so he asked if I wouldn�t mind speaking TOMORROW! I told him I had to prepare something but he shook that off and said it was informal and that I shouldn�t worry about it too much so I accepted. Public speaking � ahhh! Haha.
I went to the pool today and swam laps for a little in one of the smaller side pools. There were 3 little boys in the pool and at first they were cute and nice and telling me I was a good swimmer and would I teach them how to swim. So I stopped every two laps or so to chat with them until finally one of them asks me for R4. UGH. It�s so hard to convince people that just because I am white does not mean that I have money!
We had a serious thunderstorm tonight with some pretty big hail. Apparently this is normal for this time of year. Hail is a pretty frequent occurrence. My ceiling was leaking pretty badly during the storm but what can you do. The call is in to city council to come fix it, has been for days. We�ll see when they actually make it out.
Tuesday Jan. 11, 2005
Today I had to roll out an evaluation project to the home based caregivers which meant public speaking and then sitting like a darn test proctor for two and a half hours waiting for questions that were very few and far between. While I was sitting there, the pastor from Lynda�s church showed up to talk to me. He told me he had a food parcel from his church for me! We had to go out to his car to get it and when he opened the boot I was so surprised at the size of this thing, I can�t explain what a feeling it was. It took both of us carrying one handle to carry it up the steps to the kitchen! I am not going to have to buy non perishables for months!
The people of the Methodist church have worked so hard to make me feel welcome here in Klerksdorp, it�s a little overwhelming to at the center of the generosity! Everyone is so concerned that I have enough to live on. The pastor made it a point to say that the church wanted to help me out because they know I probably don�t have enough and just this morning my boss asked me if the money that the Peace Corps supplies me is sufficient. I definitely can�t complain � so many people have FAR less than I do. Heck, I traveled for a week and a half, just bought swimming goggles and I�m thinking about taking scuba diving lessons all on my PC budget. I�d say I have plenty. The person I work closest with makes a third of what I make� It�s a little disconcerting actually to think how good I have it compared to so many people living here.
The guy that stopped by to pick me up for the rotary meeting was named Bruce. I highlighted the �cultural exchange� aspect of the Peace Corps mission and how I communicate with Molly�s 5th grade class. I told them about my experiences in the village and how I have related them to people I know, and about how completely surprised everyone is to hear that I live somewhere within walking distance to a mall. This is on what one thinks of when they think of the Peace Corps, but it�s really not what most people picture when they hear Africa, or even South Africa.
So yeah, the people were all super nice and I got invited to quite a few more braais, and was told by various people about other organizations they work with out in the townships. One guy's wife works with an orphanage for AIDS orphans in Jouberton, and he told me his wife would call me and have me out to see it! exciting stuff!
Thursday Jan. 13, 2005
I got two cds in the mail today YAY! Plus a cute little magnet from Melanie! Thanks guys!!!! I highly recommend the new Isis or Breather Resist if anyone has the inclination to pick up some hardcore :)
I got the bill for the internet today and figured out that its FAR cheaper to use than I thought so I will be checking email more frequently then I probably was before. I�ve been making the habit of checking it every day � it only takes me about 3 minutes to copy all of it into a word document, sign off, write my replies, and another 3 minutes to sign back on and then copy them all into emails.
I had a very exciting food night! I tried a recipe that Sharon gave me, its simple, I definitely think you should make it!
You need:
Chicken, cut up into eating friendly pieces
Cabbage
Curry
Sprite zero
All you have to do is brown the chicken, cut up some cabbage to put in the pot or pan after the chicken is browned. Add curry to your liking and then wet it all down with the sprite zero. I had about 3/4 of the cabbage and chicken submerged with the sprite zero. Then just let it boil down, covered. It tastes fabulous and it's not terrible for you!!! If you try it let me know what you think!
I also called the contact guy for the scuba certification at the pool. It costs R1300 which is close to a full month�s stipend but if I spread it out over a couple months its not too bad and its so convenient cause its right next door. The guy agreed to have the class on the weekends so that everyone can travel from their respective sights to get here to take it all together :) woohoo!
Friday Jan. 14, 2005
So work is going really well! The data entry I�ve been working on for our food parcel program, and finding out where all the missing people�s files are, why there is missing information, if and when we actually paid people, etc., is finally all coming together! Lorraine made quite a discovery today and we got a lot of the �mystery names� taken care of.
On top of that, one of the board members and counselors, Annemarie was in today and we somehow got talking about yoga. She knows someone who does classes but has never wanted to do it because she didn�t want to do it alone so it looks like I�ll be taking yoga classes soon! :)
I also called up that music center at Klerksdorp High School (KHS) to find out if they needed any volunteer help there. The woman turned me down � I�m not sure she understood that I wanted to volunteer and NOT get paid. She told me to send my CV to her, so if I ever get around to making one up I might fax it to her.
The rain finally stopped this afternoon. Its been raining hard for a good 3 days now, which is good, we do need it, but terribly irritating in reality.
I made tacos tonight with my own homemade tortillas. They didn�t come out right though because I used baking soda instead of baking powder. So they ended up more like flatbread than tortillas so I had taco �pizzas� instead of tacos! :) Still totally yummy!
Saturday Jan. 15, 2005
I went over to Happy Cycles in the �Indian Center� (the SA abbreviation � not mine) to buy my bike today! I met the owner, Bucs, who was really helpful getting me everything I needed. I got a really nice mountain bike, a helmet, a lock and a basket. I told him what I had to spend and when it was a little bit over, I gave him the �well I just don�t know what to do now� look and he said �oh ok, but you know youre getting a discount on discount.� Wooohooo!
Having a bike offers me some new freedoms. It now takes me just 5 minutes to get to the mall instead of 15 minutes walking, I can get to the crisis center for free to do my laundry and I can stop out and see Sharon for coffee whenever :) Exciting stuff! It feels really nice to have my own transportation other than my feet of course.
I decided it was too nice out today after all this rain to sit inside so I put on my swimming costume and headed out to lay in the sun for a little bit. It felt nice to let my poor white legs see the light of day and I actually felt like I looked good in my bathing suit after having lost all this weight.
I made a movie today with my webcam of Setshego playing with his little mouse. It was a lot of fun and the program is really great fun to work with. :) I have way too much free time on my hands!
Monday Jan. 17, 2005
I got the chance to go out with a CBO (community based organization) that one of our counselors works with in Khuma today! Lettie and Lynda picked me up at 8am so I could be out at Brenda�s at 8:30 in Stillfontein. Stillfontein is a tiny old mining community near a mine that is now pretty much dead so the town has turned into a little retirement village. It also means that unemployment is very high in Khuma, where many of the black south African mine workers live.
When we got to her house, I viewed Brenda as this frail little old woman, but boy did my view change as the day went on. The CBO runs a smaller food parcel program than LifeLine does, completely on funding out of their own pockets and the pockets of private donors from two churches, one in the States, and one in England. Brenda is the person in charge of putting the food parcels together every month, and her car was loaded down with them. They are only a supplementary food parcel and work about R50 compared to our food parcel that is supposed supply about a month�s worth of food and is worth R300.
Brenda spent the next half hour and the car ride over to Khuma telling me stories about some of her experiences. Apparently they help a family that has 6 orphans in it, is headed by an 80 year old woman who is the great grandmother to all the kids, and her son lives with her. The only income they have is her pension check of R700 a month. The son is active TB and everyone at the CBO suspects he, as well as one of the children are HIV+. Once the great grandmother dies, who knows what will happen to all the little ones. :(
When I went back to the office and told my boss about this family, she said we should be helping them as well, so one of our caregivers will be going out to see them and get them set up in our food parcel program thank goodness :)
So the CBO got started because concerned citizens of Stillfontein who all belonged to the same Anglican Church got together, pooled some money and approached their sister Anglican Church in Khuma and starting working with the pastor, Father Tom, who is a spectacular man with a lot of vision and drive to help his community. The program has been going strong for 3 years.
In addition to giving out the food parcels to 30 people in need, they provide school uniforms to school aged kids whose families are too poor so they can fit in better with their peers and feel more able to succeed. They also give these kids school supplies, tablets, pencils, rulers, etc. on top of all that, they also provide nutrient enriched porridge to creche�s so that preschool aged children who are malnourished and probably don�t eat for the remainder of the day get a decent amount of nutrients. They weigh the children every month and note their progress to make sure that the children are indeed getting the supplements. They also provide people with seeds so that they can start their own food gardens to help themselves out a little more with food. One of the women involved with the group is a naturopath and provides herbal medicines to people that want it. She gives everyone a physical examination, checking blood pressure, lung sounds, etc. She works very closely with the clinic in the area and with her help, as well as all the other things that this organization does, does Khuma quite a service.
When we got there Father Tom started the day off with a prayer and a song and then spoke to the people there to get food parcels about anti-retroviral treatments (ARVs) and handed out information for them to read over. We called names to give out food parcels, gave them seeds if they wanted them, gave the little kids sweeties and then they got on line to see the naturopath/herbalist.
Brenda expressed some worry about not having seen a man that is never late to pick up his parcel when we were getting to the end of the food parcel list. He finally did show up, looking healthy and grinning from ear to ear. He told everyone he had gotten a job, we all congratulated him and told him that it was truly a good new year and then he was off and back to work :)
After all the food parcels were given out, Brenda went with one of their clients to her brother�s house, because he had stolen her ID book and consequently her disability grant money because at 33 �she wasn�t able to handle her own money.� Even if that is the case � it is hers, so Brenda went to see if she couldn�t yell and scream and get the ID book and grant money for the woman. I spoke with Father Tom and got a better idea of how the program works, how it all started, what his role was, and what other needs he saw in the community. He has apparently gotten the Archdiocese pretty heavily involved and now there program is a best practices model, or at least a model for what the archdiocese wants to happen at every township church in the country!
A very old feisty old woman who was about 5 feet tall, with no teeth, the kindest eyes and a little sweater on over her house coat came in and started talking to everyone, dancing for us and asking me about the US. Man could this woman shake it :)
Once Brenda returned after unsuccessful ranting, we headed out to the mine hostel to check on someone there. She warned me before we headed over there that the mine hostels were truly hell on Earth, so I was prepared for the worst. She certainly wasn�t exaggerating. It�s filthy, cramped, unsanitary and on top of that, HIV & AIDS are rampant because of the history of the hostels. During apartheid, black South African men were moved to these hostels by the mines and away from their families. The men had to be away from their families, wives, children for months at a time. Needless to say much of the money that was supposed to be sent home to keep the families from starving was spent on alcohol and prostitutes and many of the men had �mine girlfriends.� It really helped to create the AIDS crisis we have down here now. Now the hostels have been converted into �family units� so little kids are running around this terrible place. Poverty is really bad and unemployment is high because the mines have dried up. Women and children are raped here often and the SPCA did a study on hostels and found that animals that live around or at the hostels have an average life span of 6 months! That just goes to show how terrible a place it is. The CBO works with one family whose daughter works in one of the shebeens (local bars run out of tents or rooms in homes, etc. really informal), she hands out drinks and turns tricks. It gives her money but she is in SUCH a high risk group for HIV and there is nothing to convince her to stop doing it. She�s very bright, does well in school, but the money helps her and her family out�It�s such a sad situation.
The hostel was our final stop before we headed to Brenda�s house for lunch for a cheerier afternoon. We picked grapes off her grape vines, tomatoes, fresh parsley and peppers out of her garden which she sent me home with. We had a great lunch and talked about how little it would take from individuals around the world to wipe out absolute poverty in Africa, the politics of apartheid, how she was involved in ending it and all of the work she does now to help those who were hurt by so many years of institutional racism.
We retired to her library and talked about different book series while we had pudding and she finally took me home around 3. She told me the history of the area we live in. Apparently the area used to be ocean, and ocean waters and then glaciers moving through are what created all the gold and diamond mines in the area. Also Klerksdorp was a big deal during the first Boer War. I�ll have to read up on that and find out why. Something to do with surrounding British troops from Potchefstroom�I wasn�t fully grasping it, I don�t know enough about the time period.
I spent two hours listening to the scuba guy talk about the course, what all is entailed, what we would need before we start, and what they do in their �scuba fraternity.� It sounds like a lot of fun, and the two instructors seem really nice :)
Tuesday Jan. 18, 2005
Today we had our first board meeting of the year and I got to learn a little bit more about how the organization works and the visions for the future. It was interesting to hear that they have no fundraiser and that the treasurer thinks there is no office budget � which I know isn�t true.
I spent the afternoon and night at Sharon�s tonight. Sharon is going to Yellow Knife in Canada for the month of February to visit her sister so I won�t see her that whole time. They invited me to live with them tonight because they are worried about the extra attention I�ve been getting from one of the local car attendants and the part of town I live in, which is really far better than West Philly was :) haha. If they only knew what that was like :) We watched some really crappy movie on the Hallmark channel. It was so strange to hear American accents, it�s been so long since I�ve heard them�they sounded weird. How funny is that!
Wednesday Jan. 19, 2005
Lorraine and I found a whole bunch more �missing� data today for the food parcel database! I showed her how the database is going to look and how functional it will be. It got her really excited and she kept talking about how she was going to show it to the auditors when they came at the end of the fiscal year and impress them with how well organized we are :) It also got her more excited about getting data into the spreadsheet I have everything in because she got a glimpse of the end result and how much easier it will make her job! :)
I told Lynda and Lettie about the American accents sounding weird. They had a good laugh about that one. They commented on how I had lost a good portion of my �thick� American accent which I totally haven�t noticed. Kinda funny :) I�ve definitely picked up some of the South African English words�
I wasn�t feeling well today, I didn�t sleep so well last night so I came and took a nap after work. Setshego curled up in my arms and was �caressing� my face with his paws, it was so cute! He has this great new habit now of licking me to when I make smoochie noises at him or when I�m petting him in a spot he likes :)
Saturday Jan. 22, 2005
I had such a huge issue with the lock on my bike today. I wanted to go for a ride after cleaning up the apartment but the combination wouldn�t unlock! I KNEW I should have gotten a key lock! I tried for 20 minutes, gave myself a blister and gave up before I freaked out. I better be able to unlock it tomorrow so I can ride over to the crisis center to do my laundry!
Sunday Jan. 23, 2005
Yeah, no luck with the bike like today either. I sent a message to Sharon asking her to bring over a pair of bolt cutters, I�m angry! I ended up hand washing my clothes in the bathtub. When I was mostly done washing them, Kendall, Sharon�s daughter, called to ask if I wanted to come over for lunch. I told her to give me 45 minutes to finish my wash and hang it outside so we hung up. She called back a few minutes later and said to put it all in a garbage bag wet and bring it over to put in their washer while we ate.
Sharon showed up a short time later with her neighbor Betty who is a VERY tiny, skinny old lady. When she couldn�t get me to come answer the door, my doorbell is hard to hear in my bedroom, she cut my electricity to get my attention. I didn�t have anything on, so I didn�t notice. Oops! Haha.
Before lunch, Kendall came in complaining that she hurt her arm while she was playing with her dog Allie, so we ate lunch and then ended up spending the afternoon at the �Quick Care� or the emergency room. X-rays were taken, they didn�t see anything so they gave her a prescription for pain pills and sent us away.
We went to the Methodist Church for the night service after a while. It was a great service. The pastor�s sermon was really thought provoking and as always, I had a lot of fun with the people there. :)
Monday Jan. 24, 2005
Today was the start of our food parcel delivery week out to the townships. We showed up at the grocery store at 9am like normal to get in the truck to head out (the OK grocery store packs everything for us and donates a truck and driver for us to deliver the parcels!) For some reason though, they didn�t have any food parcels made up so the manager told us to give them a few hours to get everything together.
When we got back to the office, it was bustling with people! The treasurer, a counselor, and my boss� son who was in upgrading and networking all the computers, plus all the normal office staff were all around for the day, its never been so full of people!
I got to work revising some of the forms that our caregivers use to make them easier to use, which entailed rephrasing some of the questions, taking the irrelevant stuff out and adding in new items that we want to track. Lorraine helped a lot and I showed her how I was redoing the form so that maybe in the future if she needed to make a new form, or redo an old one, she would know how to make it easier to look at.
We headed back to the OK Grocer aand then out to Khuma around noon. We gave a food parcel to that woman I wrote about from last Monday, the great grandmother with 6 grandchildren in the house all living off her pension. It was good to know that I played a part in getting her some help. :)
After work I headed over to the library and hung out there reading for a few hours. It was hard to concentrate there though. Now that school is back in session tons of kids hang out there and just chat and well, hang out. At one point there was a group of 3 boys playing on the elevator who were SO loud and obnoxious�looking back it was funny but I was not amused at the time.
Setshego stuck his tongue out at me tonight! What a meanie!
Tuesday Jan. 25, 2005
Today I had to go the crisis center to explain the evaluation to them and get them all started on it. It went very well and they all seemed to be interested in knowing things about lifeline that they don�t know about now which is good. The counselors at that center, just like everyone else at this organization, have such a capacity to learn tons of new things and get so much more involved in how this organization works. It will be interesting to see how their answers mesh with others here.
Sharon and Kendall came over tonight for tea, and to help me cut the darn lock off my bike. Kendall played with Setshego and got him really riled up, it was hysterical. I have never seen a cat pant like a dog like Setshego was!
Wednesday Jan. 26, 2005
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DREW!!!
I was really excited today because I was working with Lorraine again on changing more forms (her idea to clarify this other form that the caregivers use! It is really great to see her taking initiative to recognize where positive changes can be made!!!) She was talking about the caregiver�s work and I told her that I think it would be really great for us both to go out with each caregiver, maybe take a township a month, just to see how they do things, where we can maybe offer additional training for them, etc. and Lorraine LOVED the idea and really ran with it. She wants to create a questionnaire to bring with to ask the families how Lifeline can better serve them, what they think of Lifeline, what other areas we might be able to help them in, etc., which will be great for possibly creating new programs or initiatives, or like I said, different avenues of training for the home based caregivers.
After work I went for a bike ride to explore a little bit. I noticed a road on our way to Jouberton today and figured I would find out what was there. The street was beautiful; it had tons of huge houses, thatched roofs, a guest house, a massage therapists �retreat�, a hospice and a �kaffee.� It ended up on the road next to the mall pretty far down, but it led me right to the street that I live on, so I made a huge round the block. I also found out that right past the mall there is the Klerksdorp Golf Club, which I didn�t know existed, and there was a high rise apartment building that I never noticed before as well!
Thursday Jan. 27, 2005
I didn�t actually do any work today really. We made food deliveries to Alabama this morning, delivering it to the five people we are helping there right now.
When we got back, I sat at the computer in the back counseling room to work on one of the forms I�m reworking. The one counselor that we have that works with that CBO out in Khuma was in today so she got to asking me questions and I got to talking with her. Lettie came in and we started talking about traditions of some of the cultures here, namely the burial traditions. Traditional funerals for black south Africans are astronomically expensive, it involves putting a tent up with tons of chairs for people for the service, feeding everyone that comes to the service, slaughtering a cow, buying and then unveiling the gravestone and I�m sure there are more costs.
I ended up talking to Lettie and Lynda about one of the forms I was working on, but it somehow degenerated into talking about how we HAD to take my work pants in because they were falling off of me, and everyone in my office sews really well (they all make their own clothing!!!!) so looks like I�ll have a free tailoring service for my three pairs of black pants. :)
After work I spent time at an embroidery store picking thread out for a needlework project that another volunteer, Kyle, asked me to make for him. It was all surprisingly cheap and the range of colors that they have is great! Mom, get me the stuff about that bell pull and we are in business with this place!
I got an email tonight from Molly�s teacher. I write to her class to give them an idea of how life in South Africa is. She told me that I �should see Molly�s face when I read the letters � she beams!� How awesome!!!! That makes me so happy :)
Friday Jan. 28, 2005
More food parcel deliveries, this time to Kanana. We did have a little stress because we somehow ended up were short one food parcel for the number of people we were there to serve�we were supposed to have 26 and we had to send one woman away without one and we couldn�t for the life of us figure out why. We got back to the office and one of caregivers called and told us that one of the guys who had been helping us unload them had STOLEN one!!! So she got it back from him and delivered it to the right woman. Thank goodness!
Everyone left work pretty early today, around 2 and I decided to go out again and explore a little further on my bike. I headed out and biked around town, more east then I typically go to the borders of the town proper. I figured I would cross the N12 to see if I could find anything fun and exciting in the suburbs, there are tons of strip malls and I figured if I could find the Chinese place, or maybe a gym I would stop in and see what they had to offer :) Well I didn�t find any, but I did end up finding more gorgeous tree lined streets, and the Methodist church that I attend pretty frequently. I was going to head over to the Pick n� Pay hypermarket but got halfway there and my legs decided it was just too far so I decided to head back home.
I was about to cross the highway when I hear a car horn, look over and there are Sharon and Kendall waving to me! What a coincidence :) We chat a little till the light turns green and they drive off. I get across the street and my phone rings, its Kendall who says I should go back to the robot because they are going to pick me up. Turns out they are on their way to Kendall�s riding lesson (yes even with a broken wrist) and they want me to come along :) So I ended up seeing the stable, staring at gorgeous horses, meeting some new people, and watching Kendall�s private jumping lesson while talking to Sharon. Kendall has a competition this weekend where she will be jumping to help her school in an interschool meet. She�s a brave girl doing that with a cast on her arm.
After we headed back to Sharon�s house to drop Kendall off so she could elevate her arm and Sharon and I headed to do some shopping at the Pick n� Pay that I never made it to :) She leaves for Canada tomorrow and wanted to make sure her family would eat I suppose. She invited me to dinner and for the rest of the night we just chatted and told funny stories. I told them both how I thought it was funny that car horns are called hooters here considering what that means in the States, apparently it means the same here! Kendall and I also made plans to head to the circus that is coming to town this coming week � should be fun :)
Saturday Jan. 29, 2005
As if last night wasn't 'un-Peace Corps' enough hanging out at a stable, today just proved to me how ridiculously different my experience is from what I thought it would be.
I woke up today and got myself ready to head over to Potchefstroom to visit. I walked down to the taxi rank and found my taxi. I ended up sitting next to this terribly cute old gogo (that�s Setswana for grandmother :) ). When she found out I spoke a little bit of Setswana it was great. I was getting harassed by a bunch of guys who were standing outside the taxi at one point and she told them to go away after I told her I didn�t speak Afrikaans. I told them several times that I didn�t speak Afrikaans but they just wouldn�t get the hint� She asked me why I was heading to Potch so I told her that I had a friend Jennifer staying there, and she just cracked up�I know my Setswana accent is really bad and I guess she thought it was cute that I was trying. It was funny :)
Once we got there we said goodbye, she asked me for a piece of bubblegum and then we headed in our separate directions. Haha. Jen was still about 15 or 20 minutes away so I headed into what I thought was a Shoprite to grab something to eat, and it ended up being this huge and really nice mall! Potch is a big �university� town so there were tons of college kids walking around and the stores were really nice. I had a chicken pie and a coke light and when Jen showed up we worked back to her flat.
She has a room in �student housing� where about 15 college kids live. It�s a lot of fun to be around. I met a bunch of her roommates; a bunch of them had just woken up and were sitting at the kitchen table playing Magic, which is still huge here.
We ended up just talking and talking and then we played Scrabble. We ended up tying! How is that possible! We both had 212 points when we were done. Ridiculous. After scrabble we decided to walk the 5km to the Potch Dam. The walk was gorgeous, lots of pretty houses, tree lined streets, a field full of grazing horses and then the dam.
The dam had a swimming pool, there was a gala going on there, mini-golf, which was translated from the Afrikaans �mini-golf� to the English �putt-putt,� there was also a trampoline and go cart course and a WATER SLIDE!!! So we paid the R5 for 4 rides down the slide :) (that�s less than $1!!!!) It was a little crazy the first ride down, ended up with lots of water in my eyes and LOTS of water up my nose. The end really tossed me around, and then I ended up in this extremely chlorinated pool where the water was swirling from the velocity of the water coming off the slide! I went down again and then sat a few out while Jennifer went down, watching other people�s techniques so I could avoid getting more water up my nose and losing my contacts. I took my last ride down the slide, sitting up this time and it worked out MUCH better for me :)
Once we were done with the slide and cooled off we headed over to the bar to get some ice cream and find out where you were allowed to swim (because apparently most people swim in the pool and not the dam, so no one was swimming). We found out, found a spot and laid out our towels on the grass. Jen went for a swim; I stayed out reading People magazine and enjoying the sun and the breeze :) People went by on motorboats, on water skis, there were people braaiing and playing rugby out on the grass, it was a really fun time!
When we left we headed to find some dinner, we ended up at the Irish Pub. I was excited because they had wings, I got them and they were only bbq wings�not hot wings. BOOO! They were still good, just not what I was hoping for. They had �bangers and mash� on the menu too!
We spent the night watching 6 of her roommates play Tekken 4 on playstation 2, all of whom spoke in Afrikaans the whole time and chain smoked but were nice and fun when they did speak English with us :) We spent the rest of the night having a politics discussion with her new roommate who turned out be someone who says terribly racist things. I was so fired up, I was ready to get up several times, walk out of the room and stop talking to the guy, but Jen was really diplomatic and willing to listen and debate and it was actually really good, I think we at least gave them something to think about, though I�m sure they won�t change their thinking�It has to be tough being a white 20 something or older in this country. They grew up with apartheid, and were taught during a period of institutional racism. Unemployment is so high and now that black South Africans have the opportunity to get jobs, white South Africans say it�s impossible to get a job, and it must be �their� fault. I can understand why they are upset and I know its so much easier for me to be objective because I�m an outsider �
Sunday Jan. 30, 2005
It is absolutely ridiculous to me that January is ending already! Didn�t it just start??!!! I�ve been so busy I can�t believe how fast time is passing!
This marks the beginning of my 5th month in country already! Man it seems like I�ve been here forever and for no time at all�
Today Jen and I woke up pretty �late� around 9 and just sat around chatting until around 10;30 when I decided I should probably catch a taxi back since I don�t know how easy it is to catch taxis on Sundays. The walk back was nice, we passed a lot of boys enrolled at �The Potchefstroom Boys School� who were out strolling. They have this great uniform, a pinstriped blue blazer with yellow stripes and this little flat top hat with a blue and yellow ribbon on it�They have to walk around town in them.
When we got to the taxi rank, I was lucky enough to get in a taxi that was mostly full so I didn�t have to wait too long before it was full. This was this hysterical couple sitting in front of me that got on right after I did. The man was quite obviously drunk, he decided to get out of the taxi at one point and tripped over the chair and fell out the door. His wife just started LAUGHING at him. Everyone in the taxi was cracking up. It was so funny. When he got back in he started harassing some guy that was selling fruit about wanting a banana but not the rest of the fruit in the bag. He finally bought the whole bag but would just NOT stop talking about how he only wanted the banana. I was dying. It really made my morning :) I�m even laughing just thinking about it! Oh old folks on taxis. They are always such a good time!
Monday Jan. 31, 2005
Today I got a package from Jess and Jim! YAY!! Setshego loved the mice they sent so much that he�s playing so hard that he�s panting like a dog! Thanks for the sweets, soup and drink mix!!! I love iced tea and it�s been SO long! YAY!
Tuesday Feb. 1, 2005
I got a phone call from the wife of the doctor I spoke with pretty extensively at the Rotary Club meeting I spoke at. They have invited me over tomorrow night after yoga and we�ll have a �snack� and talk about the organization she works with. It should be pretty fun.
I finished the HUGE journal that I brought with me today � this is not a good sign because it means I�m going to come home with TONS of huge, bulky notebooks. Haha. Oh well!
Wednesday Feb. 2, 2005
HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!! It's it 6 more weeks of winter, or only 6 weeks till spring? :)
It was Frans 31st birthday today so we had a little �celebration� at work, which really just involved sitting on the couches and chatting about nonsense. The gift that �the office� got him had Axe in it, cookies and soap in it.
I had my mp3 player out today and Frans and Lorraine just fell in love with it. Lorraine has this habit of saying that she wants me to leave things with her when I leave for home, it was my jacket at first, then my laptop and water bottle, and now she doesn�t want any of those, just my mp3 player. Riiiiiight.
Yoga started tonight which I was really excited about. Annemarie and I got to the Purple Moon Wellness Center a little late, with only a couple minutes to go before the beginning of class, we were the last ones to arrive. The center is absolutely beautiful. The left wall is almost all windows and glass doors which open out to a garden with a fountain in it that provides great background noise for the class. The room itself has purple walls with red accents around door archways and windows and the ceiling is grey and there are ceiling fans that run throughout the whole class as well.
The teacher, who is a Reiki master, showed us how cell phones really disrupt our energy fields and handed out energy gateways to help correct it and channel their damaging energy. So now I have an energy gateway on my phone battery to help keep my aura steady! :)
We did an hour of poses, which included head stands and other things I don�t remember the names for. It was all really challenging but doable and really enjoyable! After the hour of poses, we did a half hour of meditation and relaxation which felt great! I was actually able to shut my brain off and focus on my breathing and relaxing my body.
Once the class was over, we paid our R120 for the month and got to know the teacher a little bit. She told Annemarie and I that we had the �perfect� bodies for yoga which was neat.
Judy came and picked me up in the family�s coombi type van with her 3 young kids in the 2nd seat and told me there were two older kids at home. Phew. We had boiled eggs, tomatoes and toast for our snack and spoke about the Peace Corps, the HIV problem in the KOSH area (where I live and work), and the work that they do with a privately funded NGO they helped to start 3 years ago.
Judy and Saul (the doctor) both work with an orphanage for children that need a place to go in Jouberton, a food scheme in Jouberton, and they also help with food gardens and an �upliftment house� that works like a halfway house for people that have fallen on hard times and lost their jobs and housing. They hope to help people with life/job skills which seemed like a perfect fit for some of the courses we offer at Lifeline, so it looks like we might be networking with different organizations which is one of the things I really want to have us work on!
Thursday Feb. 3, 2005
Man am I sore from yoga last night! Phew. I got news about a half marathon happening on April 9 and have been contemplating training for it and doing it. I did some research on it and it just doesn�t look too promising or doable for me. All the training programs are 18-29 weeks long and I only have 10 � definitely not enough time considering how much I DON�T run!
I started reading a book that Sharon gave me that gives a �Christian viewpoint� on yoga and martial arts. I don�t know that I�m going to be able to read it � it just makes me angry. I don�t agree with the point of view that if you aren�t a Christian, you are evil and that�s how this book is written. It says yoga allows demonic spirits to enter your body because meditation opens you up to evil �eastern religion� ideas. I don�t buy it but its interesting to know that people actually believe this stuff.
Annemarie and I headed to yoga again tonight and got there much earlier so we could sit and meditate for a little before class started. We tried head stands again and toward the end of the hour we did shoulder stands, went into the plow pose and then I ended up with my knees next to my ears! That�s not easy when you have a chest as big as mine � it was pretty tough to breathe! Haha.
During the relaxation time I got bit by a mozzie AGAIN toward the end of it (it happened last night as well!!! Ugh!) It�s pretty uncool to have that happen � I was so relaxed and then had to deal with that! BOO!
Friday Feb. 4, 2005
It has been so hot this week, I haven�t felt well all week and I know that isn�t help too much. Not feeling well is also KILLING my positive attitude about this whole thing. I�m bored at work because I�ve been playing with the same thing at work for the last 3 months and I�m not feeling like my life is that exciting outside of work this week, even though I have been busy.. I�m sure it will all get better.
This morning Lorraine told me that her priest expects me to speak in front of the congregation about how youth here and youth in the US are different. I was in such a terrible mood and felt gross so I didn�t take that so well. Ends up that I�m not going to go on Sunday because of it and Lorraine will blame it on my being ill. I�ll do it another week, but today was NOT a good day to drop that on me. Plus a day is just not enough time to prepare for something like that, especially with how I am today. I�ll go sometime soon. I feel bad, but I would not be positive and I know it.
Saturday Feb. 5, 2005
I decided today even though I still wasn�t feeling so hot that I was going to ride the 11 kilometres from my flat to the Crisis Centre to do my laundry because the alternative was going to work naked. :) Not a pleasant thought.
So I woke up really early, got my laundry all packed into my bookbag and a canvas bag I could put into my basket and set out while it was still relatively cool out. It wouldn�t have been such a bad ride if a) my laundry had been a little lighter and NOT made my back tyre flat and b) if the whole trip there wasn�t a really low grade hill. That was killer � it�s so slight you can�t tell in a car unless you really try to notice. But I did it! :)
I got there, locked up my bike and was pleasantly surprised to find two great counsellors on duty for the day. They were super busy though, so I ended up writing letters, reading the 3 Newsweek magazines that I get from PC and laying down to make my churning stomach stop. Thank goodness I thought to bring that stuff with me. When all my laundry was done I folded it up, stuffed it all back in my bags and headed back on the road. The ride home was SO much easier. Phew. I took some pictures on the way home of some of the landmarks on the main road, notably a sign for the plumbing business �Explosive Plumbing.� Would you call a company with that name to fix your pipes? I�m pretty sure I wouldn�t.
So there is this little �alley� behind these huge cement planters next to my door, its hidden from the street and the sidewalk, the only you can really see into it is from my door. Anyway, I always look over there when I get close to my door to make sure no one is hanging out back there staring at me, and today when I got home and saw two people having sex in that little alley next to my front door! What the heck! In hindsight I probably should have called the cops but it was so weird I just quick got inside and unloaded all my laundry and cleaned myself up.
Sunday Feb. 6, 2005
E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES Go Birds win that SUPERBOWL!!!!
Monday Feb. 7, 2005
Boo about the Eagles loss. I thought this was finally the year�oh well. I heard the game was good though � wish I could have seen it.
So this morning started out good and bad. One of our counselors was in complaining about how the counselors are under used and are wasting time when the crisis line isn�t ringing. I got thinking about solutions to that, I�m sure it�s probably one of the reasons our volunteer base has gotten so small over the past few years. Easy enough to do a �counselors skill assessment� and find out what projects they can all get involved with!
So our discussion about how the counselors are under utilized somehow turned into a discussion about the �differences between blacks and white here in South Africa,� how this person believes that the standard of living of the blacks can�t possibly rise without lowering the standard of living of all the whites. He even tried to justify the beginnings of apartheid to me and how the people who�s idea it was had such admirable intentions, wanting to give �the natives� their own land and their own equal places to live and work (where have I heard that argument before � ugh). He was also telling me that Afrikaners are innovative and resourceful and they create all these jobs for people by starting their own businesses but that the blacks here aren�t like that and just take what they can get. I tried so hard to dispute things, but he wasn�t going to listen to me so I tried to steer the conversation back to the counseling issue.
I found out he was good with computers and databases and gave him something to work on that I was going to work on myself, but he will do a far better job than I could. He stayed busy with that for the rest of the day and I got out of talking to him about race relations for the remainder of the day. Thank goodness.
This afternoon I got back from running around town right as the thunder and lightning started up from the ominous looking clouds that had been hovering over town all day. I was lucky I got back when I did because we had this terrific hailstorm. I took some pictures and will have them up as soon as I get the CD sent out to Kevin. The ground was covered with ice � it looked like a mini snowstorm :) I even tape recorded part of the storm so that I could remember what hail on a tin roof sounds like, its quite a sound. The thunder was crazy, some of the pops were so loud that car alarms were set off and Setshego was so scared that he crawled into my lap like a little kid and stayed there until the end of the storm :) The lightning was pretty scary at points as well; I heard the air �sizzle� at one point and thought about getting the heck away from the window! Yikes! My ceiling was leaking really badly during the whole thing too�
My family called tonight which was GREAT!!! Yay!! Call more often :)
Tuesday Feb. 8, 2005
Today was the big home based caregivers meeting. Lorraine and I were the only ones in the office today (Lettie and Lynda are away at the National Conference in East London until next week) so Lorraine led the whole meeting and I had to take minutes (which was interesting since the WHOLE meeting was in Tswana.) I don�t think I did too bad a job, I actually understood most of what was going on, I could pick out a word here and there and put it all together. :)
Lorraine and I had so much to tell them because of all the forms we�ve redesigned and had to explain to them. There was also a dispute between the caregivers in one of the places we work that we discussed which brought up some great discussions about respect and working together better. In the middle of the discussion we had a call on the crisis line and since I was the only one who could take it, I ran in there (even though I usually refuse to pick that phone up because I�m not a trained counselor!) I got some guy on the line who gave me some story about how he is going through a divorce and trying to get custody of his kids but is really lonely and then he started talking about masturbation and asking if it was childish to do as an older man. It got to a point where I had to hang up because it was obvious that the guy was using our crisis line as a free sex line. UGH! I found out later that this guy has been calling all the Lifelines in South Africa for several years using the same story and pulling the same crap. Lorraine said if she gets that guy on the line again she is going to �yell at him and then drop the phone� (meaning hang up on him). Made me laugh so hard.
Wednesday Feb. 9, 2005
I spoke with Annemarie today for most of the day. She was telling me about what she thinks the difference between religion and faith. She also told me about how she belonged to this church when her husband died where the priest wouldn�t allow her husbands black friends to come to the church for his funeral. How terrible!!! Needless to say, she doesn�t belong to that church anymore. And this crap is still happening here! It�s gotten a lot better of course, its so hard to listen to all the blatant racism that still exists here though.
Yoga tonight went pretty bad. We did this one exercise where I must not have been breathing right and I had to stop and sit down so I didn�t black out. I�m still feeling really �off� though I�m beginning to think its more mental/homesickness than physical�I have always been one of those people that is affected physically when I am having a tough time emotionally. My mom likes to tell the story about when I was in kindergarten and had stomachaches for a couple weeks and didn�t want to go to school. She finally went in to talk to my teacher and they figured out that there was this kid that sat across from me that was rolling his pencil on the table constantly and it was bothering me so much that I was physically ill! Haha.
I spent the afternoon before yoga reading a book and after yoga finished it up. I get through fiction books so fast...
Kevin helped me a lot on the phone tonight telling me to remember how much the Lehigh valley �sucks� and that if I went home I would kick myself and really regret it. He�s right � just need to figure out how to get out of this funk.
Thursday Feb. 10, 2005
�Hey Napoleon, give me some of your tots.�
Talking about being homesick with Kevin and Annemarie yesterday must have helped. Today was a fantastic day. One of our board members was in this morning, we had great discussions about all sorts of stuff, literature, religion (can you tell it�s a huge big deal down here?), econometrics!, differences in schools here and in the US, etc. It was great to have discussions about stuff other than race.
Everyone left work pretty early today so I wrote some letters and then headed over to post them. I had a package from Kevin with Napoleon Dynamite in it, which is TOTALLY my new favorite movie, and some great Valentine�s Day candy in it :) Thanks babe! I also had a package from my Aunt Em and Uncle Dave that had some great great fun in it! Tons of snacks � I swear you are all trying to make me fat (but I don�t mind :) ) It also had this really cute sheep doll in it! Just what I needed this week! Thanks Aunt Em and Uncle Dave!
Annemarie picked me up at the post office and we got some ice cream before we had to head over to the crisis center to drop off some papers that I had to make copies of for them. I gave her the grand tour of the center and got to chat with Veronica a little bit and have a few laughs :)
We headed back to my flat to get changed into our yoga clothes and I got to show off my scrapbook and brag about how great my friends and family and Kevin all are to her. It was a lot of fun.
Yoga tonight was mostly the same exercises as yesterday but today I felt much better and was able to do everything. During the relaxation I relaxed so much that I almost fell asleep. Because of all the phone calls this week (!!!!) I haven�t been getting enough sleep so I guess that was my bodies way of saying I needed to get more! :)
We picked up Chinese food after yoga for dinner so I got to watch Napoleon Dynamite while I ate Chinese food, drank coke and ate M&Ms. I felt like I was in college again :) It was a fabulous day and really really made me feel a lot better. Just what I needed!
Friday Feb. 11, 2005
That counselor was in again today that was trying to justify apartheid to me. He talked to me ALL day long again, he asked me if I was ok because �there was a spark missing.� I wanted to tell him SO badly that the spark was missing because I was not interesting in getting into more discussion about race here in South Africa. He did tell me he was very excited to come in to the office today because of the database project I got him started on! That was a good feeling � we�re doing something right here :)
I bought a copy of this week�s Economist today and spent the whole afternoon and evening catching up on world events. I think I�m going to have to splurge on a subscription�I feel so out of the loop and I don�t like it at all!
Saturday Feb. 12, 2005
I filled out my leave form for my trips for after our training in March which was exciting! I can�t wait to see everyone again AND see some animals AND see one of the most beautiful spots in south Africa (or so I�ve heard!) by hiking through Blyde River Canyon!!! I promise to take some great pictures!!!
The weather the last few days has been so gorgeous, like mid spring with the great cool breeze, really sunny bright blue skies and temps in the low 80s (or high 70s � I�m guessing here :) )
Tonight I went to the circus!!!! :) Annemarie picked me up at 7p and we headed over near Flamwood Walk where the circus tent was set up, there were tons of animals around the tent chilling before the excitement started :) We were seated by a clown in a bright yellow felt-looking outfit. His face was white but for some reason his ears were painted red! Haha. The bandstands were really rickety and scary to sit on in our little plastic chairs but the tent was so much smaller inside than I thought by seeing it from the outside, we were right near the action!
When we got in the tent, there was a cage set up in the middle with two tigers in it. They were really cute and were just running around playing with each other. The acts overall were really great � very �cirque du soleil�-ish with the crazy acrobatics and balancing acts. Very small scale, no trapeze and the tightrope was impressive despite the fact that it was only 5 feet off the ground. There was a �horse dance� with these three beautiful white horses and this tiny little black pony (it seriously must have been a foot and a half high with tiniest little stubby legs!). They had elephants, a camel, llamas, tons of little ponies and horses and a cute little chimpanzee show :) They had little kids jeans on and little solid colored red, or blue or green button down shirts with little suspenders :) It was SO cute!
I have a ton of pictures of the whole thing, hopefully they came out well and be up soon!
Apparently, when the circus isn�t traveling they have this farm out near Pietermaritzburg where you can go and see the animals and learn how to be a trapeze artist and learn tumbling and all this other really fun �circus� stuff. Hopefully I�ll get out there before I leave the country :)
Sunday Feb. 13, 2005
The singer of Coheed and Cambria - I can't believe this guy has such a high voice!
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