Ciao everyone! In case you havent figured out (because i have sucked at updating this blog); I officially finished my Peace Corps Service!!! On March 17th myself and three friends finished the last of our paperwork, and then took a vacation to Sani Pass SOuth Africa, with a stop in Lesotho, at Africa’s highest pub! [...]
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I have left my village for the last time. Leaving involved a lot of tears, and I think I am honestly still in denial. I have a feeling that in about 2 weeks when I finish up our Sani Pass and Sodwana Bay adventures (plans have changed yet again, haha) I will feel ready to [...]
Friday the 25th my org hosted a wonderful goodbye party for me. Every one from my organisation came, plus the clinic staff, and my host parents. Plus, 3 of the new volunteers near me also came! Samu, my baba and Mrs. Makhathini all made speeches, and i was crying the whole time! When it came [...]
I have officially 3 full weeks left in the village! I can hardly believe that very soon I will be leaving. That may surprise some of you, based on some of the difficulties I have had in adjusting to life here etc, but certain aspects of my life here have really grown on me.
On Thursday, I passed my two months in the village mark. I will be leaving my village on Sunday March 13th, and will spend Sunday thru Thursday in Pretoria filing paper work before officially ending my Peace Corps service on March 17th. On the 18th a few friends and i will fly to Namibia for [...]
Thanksgiving This past thanksgiving I was the proud host of about 15 people. There were 9 volunteers from around Mpumlanga Province, and 6 South Africans (my host parents, 3 co-workers, and a volunteers host brother). Everyone brought a dish to pass, and the menu included turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, fried rice, stuffed mushrooms, brussel sprouts, [...]
Two blogs in one week! Wow! So the last one I talked a lot about me me me, but I wanted to focus a little on what’s been happening around my village and my organization. I was reflecting on my service this past week, and I feel overwhelmed by the changes that have occurred around [...]
Once again, I have been terrible at keeping my blog updated. Eish. After taking my LSAT and receiving our “best in the province” award, I chilled around the village for a week. I was really focused on finishing up my personal statement and finessing my plan of action for submitting my applications. Late October saw [...]
I know, I know. I promised a flood of blog posts, and its been almost a month since my last one. I am terrible. But, in my defense, I have been studying for the LSAT, which I took Saturday the 9th. I think I did well, and will receive the scores hopefully by month end. [...]
A few weeks ago all the teachers and nurses belonging to South Africa’s largest union, COSATU, went on strike. They were demanding an 8.1% wage increase, and teachers wanted a R1000 housing allowance. I firmly, FIRMLY believe that educators and social workers the world over are not paid according to their worth in society. But [...]
Most of you know that I have adopted a dog. His name is Thnuzi (pronounced Two/n/zee), and it means “shadow” in Zulu. I named him that because he is constantly following me every where, and generally makes me look ridiculous when I walk around the village. He also answers to Mr. Inja (Inja meaning dog), [...]
Any volunteer you talk to will tell you that the second year is very different, and much more productive, than the first. I always listened to these volunteers and believed them, but until I lived through that transition, I could not understand how different one year is from the next! I feel like my first [...]
Hello everyone! I have great news! I am writing this blog from my very own computer! 8 months after handing it over, and I finally have it back! I feel like so much has happened in the last 8 months, I am not even really sure where to begin. But keep checking back here, cause [...]
On April 2nd, I finally passed my one year mark! Already, it is past July, and I only have 9 months left! Every volunteer will tell you this, but it is truly amazing how fast and how different the second year of service goes. Already I am thinking about the things here I will miss, [...]
I know that this is a wee bit late, what with the final game tomorrow, but the World Cup has arrived in South Africa!! It has been impossible not to catch World Cup fever with the whole country going crazy!! Well before I arrived there were countdown’s in every McDonalds/ KFC/ airport etc for the [...]
Hello all! I just got back from a lovely 5 day excursion along the Wild Coast. I spent the 5 days hiking with a Peace Corps buddy (Anne)and her friends from home who came to visit. I took a bus from Pretoria to Umthatha (might be Mathatha on a map. Located in the Eastern Cape.). [...]
Hello! Just a note to say hello. I just finished a wonderful visit from Kari and her mother. it was a wonderful visit, and I am sad that they have left me.
Hello all!
I am sorry for the excessively long delay in between posts. My computer has been broken since mid-December, and I just haven’t had access to a computer for a long enough amount of time since then to really write a post. Ava, now that I am back on, I expect an email from you. [...]
Because I had been traveling a lot with Kelly and due to a training that Peace Corps had for us at the beginning of December, I was very hesitant to leave my village for Christmas. On the other hand, I didn’t want to be alone for the holidays either. So at training I got two [...]
I know, I know…I have grown rather neglectful of this blog as of late. Sorry!!
So…after Botswana, Kelly came to visit me at site for a bit. She got to experience some extremely cold weather (it dropped down to single digits C). By the end of her stay though, there was some sun, and even an [...]
At the end of October a friend of mine (Kelly) from University finished up 3 years of Peace Corps service in Benin and came to visit!
I had to go pick her up at the airport in Johannesburg. It was my first time to the city; Peace Corps strictly limits travel there. So I arrived [...]
So, I have a dog here at site. Thunzi’s an outside dog who more or less adopted me (as if it was against my will). Just before I left on vacation, I had a very stressful week. It involved the cow having a baby, and another dog (Spinach) had two stillborn puppies. Then, only [...]
So an update to my girls club: I finally have one!! I have met with them twice (tomorrow will be our third meeting!) It has been going really well. We do some singing, and play games and such. I am really trying to focus on building trust both with me and within the group. I [...]
I had a fun/ really busy today!
I went to my shopping town, and got new glasses (thanks Peace Corps!), then i went and mailed a package to my family. I didnt go to the normal post office, i went through a private company, which was more expensive, but since the 1st package i sent with [...]
Some recent and not so recent happenings: I think the day after I posted that blog, I had just a terrible day…Technically it wasn’t terrible for me, it was terrible for a young boy in my village. I was sitting around drinking tea and eating a gwinya/ fat cake (think doughnut without the sugary [...]
Sorry that I always leave off on a rather negative note on my blog here…Sometimes it takes me a few days or weeks to bounce back from a “bad spell.”
Cows
So recently my host dad bought a cow. And, as this is my first time sharing the same general space with a cow, I find it [...]
So I have been having kind of a rough time the past two weeks. I hope it is just a passing “phase,” but wanted to mention it here. Mostly my feelings stem from sheer boredom. I just passed the 6 month mark (4 months at site), and have nothing to show for it, except [...]
Lately, I haven’t been too busy (not shocking). I provided another informative lesson at the clinic, this time to the pregnant women. I essentially covered the same info; healthy eating habits and the importance of exercise. This time the patients were not as excited, nor did they ask as many questions. I did not leave [...]
I just happened to glance at my post from January 9th, where I wondered if I would really need “sweater sweaters.” Oh! The irony! I laughed for about 10 minutes.
So Thursday was a glorious day! Then Friday happened…
The day wasn’t bad per se. I sat in a meeting for roughly 5 hours where I [...]
So Thursday I actually did something!!! On Wednesday a matron at the clinic to asked me to present some information to the “chronics” the next morning. After overcoming my initial annoyances (What are chronics? What info? Why does everyone ask me to this kinda stuff the day before they want it?) I determined that the [...]
So if you cannot afford a microscope, I would really like the book “Self Esteem Games” (Barbara Sher). I technically don’t have to have this specific book…but a book about empowering youth, specifically girls is what my general aim is here.I have decided to start a girls group for 10-12 graders, with some amazing programming [...]
Soo…I have decided that a major flaw in programming in South Africa is not what people don’t know about HIV…it is what they dont know about themselves. As I have previously mentioned, there is A LOT of HIV messaging here. On TV. The Radio. Condoms are prevalent (but there is no way to discreetly access [...]
Sooo…I had originally thought this weas going to be a pretty intersting blog. But now that I have settled into my daily humdrum life, I can see that it simply will not be so! Everyone is always asking what my daily life looks like now, so I will tell you:
I wake up at about 7. [...]
Just in case anyone was wondering if I had gone off the deep end after those last few (horribly depressing) posts, I’M STILL HERE!!! and no, I have not gone insane (it was close though).
The past two weeks were, in general, miserable; I guess they were my SA culture shock. They involved a lot of [...]
I found out that, despite the fact that “beating” learners in SA is a crime, that it is happening often around my village. General policy throughout SA is that if a learner is late to school, they are locked out and are forced to go home and cannot attend classes that day. I think [...]
I have been spending more time in the community, and have been getting more invites to go places. Last week I went to a community forum regarding the budget, which was given by our village mayor. A woman was pointed out to me; it appears that she is “not right in the head,” and has [...]
Here is an update of the HIV and AIDS summit I went to today:
It wasn’t in english but they mixed zulu and english, so I generally understood what was going on. Unless someone got excited and forgot English.
I met some very nice people who were so excited to meet me and tell me about their [...]
I realize that I haven’t given a substantial update in a few weeks, so here it goes!
I haven’t been very busy. I’m on Africa time, after all. A lot of the time I just sit around wishing I knew more Zulu. I thought I had found a Zulu tutor, but I think she is far [...]
It is in no way required that anyone actually send me stuff…but a lot of people have asked what i want/ need, so here it is. Its mostly books (no shocker).
Some tips for mailing me:
Dont declare a value. If you say that the stuff inside is worth anything the post office wants me to pay [...]
I have a link here so that you folks not on facebook can see pictures of my house:
Click here!
I have other pictures on FB, but because i named my village in those pictures, and i am not allowed to name my village on my blog, I will figure out some other way to post them. [...]
Here is the beauty of doing Peace Corps in South Africa…I have daily access to the internet.
I purchased a phone that has internet capabilities. I can just go on from my phone and check my email and facebook etc. But i cant do things like update this blog from my phone. SO…I connect my phone [...]
A few Thursday’s ago (before a 4 day weekend), we had a dance party in the garage where I work. The care givers (tried) to teach me how to dance some traditional Zulu dances. I wasnt toooo bad, but there was a lot of laughing for sure
My friend really wanted to go to town to [...]
There are so many things that I want to write, and I have only been at site for about a week. I want to write about AIDS…and what that means here, but it is tied to so many aspects of culture that I dont know where to begin.
Here’s my shot at it:
As I have mentioned, [...]
Me and my homestay sister at an Ndbele gala event!
Me and my host mom at th Ndbele kings house in our regalia!!
I should win for the most blog posts in one day!
I havent been able to update this blog since I left…so here it is!! Now i am going to try and post some pictures!
I have received information regarding my site, and have even visited for a week!
I will be staying in a small town in the mountains (very close to Swaziland), at roughly 4-5,000 feet. The village is one of a few in close proximity totaling several thousand people. The interesting thing/ legacy of apartheid is that despite [...]
So here is what a typical day looks like for me:
My alarm goes off around 6:30. I look at it for a bit and curse my wristwatch (what I use as an alarm) because it doesn’t have a snooze. Depending on what time class starts, I roll out of bed between 6:40 and 7 AM.
I [...]
OK!
So, I am finally in South Africa! In fact, I have been here about three weeks. The first several days we stayed in dorms on a campus facility in Mpumalanga province. I often refer to Mpumalanga as oompa loompa in my head, but that’s an entirely different story. On sunday the 8th I moved [...]
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