Not too much going on here since I live in a town where the livestock outnumber the people, but the weather is nice and the people are great so I can't complain. Week two of training has been focused on SA history and culture as well as instruction on starting our field work. I am also learning SiSwati, one of the 11 official languages of SA, and yes it is a clicking language.

At home, with my host family, my other host sister has moved back with her new baby boy. She and the baby will be in seclusion for the first few weeks of his life, but I get to go see him at night.

I am trying lots of new foods, including chicken feet, and doing a lot of cooking with my host sister. I have also mastered preparing drinking water, drawing water for baths, and wandering to the pit latrine in the dark. We will be going on some cultural trips in the next few days so I should have more to write soon!

First week in SA

I have been in South Africa for almost one week and have just moved in with my

host family. For my first week in SA I lived with the other 25 PCVs on a

training college campus a few hours from Pretoria. The first week was mostly

training to prepare us to stay with our host families and to get to know each

other and the staff. The campus, where I will continue to traine for the next

few months, is great and I was excited to have running water dispite the fact

that it was always cold ;)

I am now living with my host family on a small comound of 3 houses. I live in a

house with my host sister Nozingozl, her son Poeleno and her daughter Bontle. In

the house next door to me are my gogo and papa (grandmother and grandfather)

Martha and Theophilus. The house it great but I had to say goodbye to running

water and hello to wandering packs of cows. The area where I am is pretty rual,

but beautiful! It is a wide open green plain and I can see mountain ranges in

the distance. It is the end of summer here and the moon has been low and

full...ill try to get some pictures up soon since I doubt my words can describe

the scene. I will try to post again soon but my internet is a bit unreliable.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you know, I will be moving to South Africa, February 2nd to join the U,S. Peace Corps. I hope you will keep in touch while, I am gone. My blog like is http://endlesscommentary.blogspot.com

My mailing address is

Jessyca Dudley, PCT

U.S. Peace Corps

PO Box9536

Pretoria 0001

South Africa

Thank you for your support, as I make this move, I look forwaed to sharing my experience with you, while I am gone.

Best

Jesssyca

Thanks for stopping by my blog! As you all know I'm getting ready to leave for two years of Peace Corps Service. I'll be leaving February 2, 2009 for South Africa! While I'm in SA I'll be working as an HIV Outreach Worker and exactly what that means will depends on where I am and what my community needs (so more on that in the upcoming months). I know that many of you want to know more about where I'll be, but that is also a little up in the air. What I can tell you is that I'll be in training for my first three months and then will be placed with a host family at a site located anywhere from one hour to nine hours from Pretoria, the capital. I'll try to post as often as possible and keep you all updated with my South African adventures!! In the meantime, you all know how I love to get mail so here is my address:

Jessyca Dudley, PCT

U.S. Peace Corps

PO Box 9536

Pretoria 0001

South Africa