So I went to the eye doctor today and the following conversation took place with the RN after we chatted about Peace Corps for a bit: RN: If you could go to any of the countries I’m going to list which one would you go to: Russia, Alaska, Dominican Republic, Peru, or Thailand. Me: Um, [...]
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I think my timeline for being relatively calm, cool and collected about being home and unemployed has expired. I’m now in full-on existential crisis mode…what am I going to do with my life? What do I want to be when I grow up? Where do I want to live? Too many never-ending questions with no [...]
My life right now basically consists of going to the gym, writing cover letters and unhealthily obsessing over tv shows geared towards teenagers who like to sing through their tumultuous high school years. I got pretty good at having lots of free time in South Africa and actually making something of it instead of staring [...]
It’s a little hard to believe that just a month ago I was getting ready to get on a plane to America. I’m still getting used to high-speed internet. Like, I’ll click on a link to gmail and then while I’m in the middle of thinking “okay, what else do I need to do while [...]
Let’s be honest here- in the Peace Corps I came nowhere close to bathing every day. In a normal week I probably bathed twice, a good week three, maybe even four times. And yeah, in the summer I was probably a little smelly. But everyone sweats constantly in the summer in South Africa and body [...]
One of the things I was excited to be reunited with upon my return was good customer service. Customer service in South Africa is generally ridiculously, hilariously bad. Most of the times I went out to eat with friends in cities or towns we had to repeatedly ask for tap water with our meals before [...]
Well, I’m home. Home being Ames, IA USA. It’s been nearly a month since my return to the country and as far as I can tell the world is more or less the same. For that matter, I am more or less the same as I was when I left South Africa on the 18th [...]
I can’t ignore the most recent news in the Peace Corps South Africa sphere, but I also can’t talk about. It makes me feel sick. I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about it. It taints the reputation of Peace Corps South Africa and the rest of the honest, hard-working Peace Corps Volunteers in this country. [...]
I’m now left with just under three weeks in country, and just over two weeks in my village. It feels at once surreal and normal, inducing feelings of excitement to go home and stress over all I have left to do in the time remaining. The last few months feel almost like they never happened- [...]
I got the results of my endoscopy back last Friday and it turns out I have a hiatial hernia. In essence, this means that the opening of my diaphragm between my chest and abdominal cavities is too big, thus allowing part of my stomach to protrude into my esophagus. With this condition then the acid [...]
An educator at my school recently set her ringtone to the sound of a sheep baaa-ing. The first time I heard it I didn’t realize it was a cell phone ringing but rather thought to myself “someone must have left the gate open and a goat got in”. This would, of course, be a perfectly [...]
As per usual- it’s been awhile, huh? I have to say life/time in this country is absolutely flying by lately. It seems that time in our service is upon us when everyone is talking about their plans for their return to the United States and applying for dates to leave the country and finish Peace [...]
If I had the power to change one thing about South Africa, I would change the way people drive. Anytime I cross the road in this country, be it in the village, in town, or in the city, I am in fear of my life. I take my first step with trepidation, moving first one [...]
Little Kamano recently came back from a short stay in the hospital for bronchial pneumonia. He’s fine now, but has passed his virus on to his mother and me. This is the 10th time I’ve been sick in 20 months. It’s more than a little ridiculous and since I feel like I live a super [...]
It’s funny how a person can go through life not really thinking about how many daily tasks one depends on clean water for, until that clean water is no longer accessible. The residents of Ames, IA had this realization last summer, I’m sure, when the floods temporarily corrupted the water sanitation system in the city. [...]
Peace Corps medical really surprised me on this one- they got the word from Washington that I could get a new pair of running shoes and a bike, and they FOLLOWED THROUGH without me prodding at all. I haven’t been the most pleased with the medical care I have received here in South Africa, well, [...]
Check out my friend Jenneffer’s blog post on why Peace Corps Volunteers dress like they’re homeless! I couldn’t have described it better myself. I’m not sure if this applies to guys as well, but for females it’s spot on. http://jennefferinafrica.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-do-peace-corps-volunteers-dress.html?spref=fb
I can’t believe it’s been 3 months since I last wrote something on here. Well, I guess I can but I’ll pretend to be shocked at myself anyway. So where have I been/what have I been doing during this lengthy hiatus? I’m sure whoever is still reading this blog has been well kept up to [...]
Well, it’s that time of year again in which holidays are celebrated. Given the scorching hot summer rolling in here in South Africa, the holidays don’t really feel like holidays. But we managed to pull off a pretty thankful Thanksgiving this year all the same. I celebrated very similarly to last year, with a group [...]
I already knew that South Africa and my body don’t get along. This was a fact of life I grudgingly accepted and found solutions to- rough times with food poisoning were solved by a no-egg vegetarian diet, the all-too-frequent cold was fought off by a daily multivitamin, mysterious GI discomfort was held at bay with [...]
I’m a big fan of things that grow. But when it comes to making those things grow myself, I lack the necessary skills and talent. It’s never really worked out for me. I even managed to kill Norbert (my dragon-like succulent I mentioned several months back), a plant that only needed to be watered like [...]
I recently returned from another Peace Corps training- this time our Mid Service Training. This was an opportunity for us to come together as an entire group, for the first time since January. Most of the training involved reflecting upon our first year of Peace Corps service. And reflect we did. In the midst of [...]
Hello! Once again it would seem I’ve been very inattentive to my blog. One reason for this being that during the recent teachers’ strike I spent a lot of time visiting friends in different places, sans computer. The other reason is that usually when I come home from school I’m a lot more apt to [...]
Fire! Well, we set the neighborhood on fire today. And no, that’s not a metaphor. I wasn’t technically involved in the starting of the fire but I still feel partially responsible. Julia and Shady were burning the trash in the trash pit, but as it was a windy day, the fire spread. Since it’s winter, [...]
I did it. I killed an innocent animal. The mouse who had been lurking in different corners of my room for the past three weeks foolishly decided to take up residence in my left running shoe this morning. He was probably huddling for warmth, the poor thing. But this was my opportunity. The handfuls of [...]
My dear friend Laura, who knows my tastes all too well, recently sent me a magnificent package containing enough chocolate to cause me to regain any weight I may have lost in my many cases of near-dysentery experienced since coming to South Africa. In addition to the chocolate were several books, including Sleeping Naked is [...]
The Cast: PCV’s Justin, Kelsey, Jenneffer and yours truly, plus an import from the States, Kyle. Part I: In which we freeze our bums off Ok, so all I knew going into this trip was that I would be in Port Elizabeth during the dates of the 18th-21st of June and that I would see [...]
I’ll make this one quick. The World Cup is here!!! Ke nako! Can you feel it? The whole country is full of excitement and vuvuzelas and I’m headed to join in the fun! On Tuesday a few friends and I are driving down to the Eastern Cape where we have tickets to two games, Germany [...]
My mother sent me an Easter care package awhile back that included a bag of jellybeans. I put the jelly beans in an empty peanut butter jar and put the jar on top of my cupboard thingy. At some point I thought I’d be nice and give Kamano, the now 1.5 year-old a jelly bean. [...]
One of the great things about Peace Corps is that when it comes to work, we have a lot of flexibility and independence in what we choose to focus on. While there are many goals for each sector, what we do daily is really up to us as volunteers (and our communities of course). And [...]
Clearly I’ve been seriously slacking on the blog-writing as of late. I have no excuse for my long hiatus. I wish I could say I’ve been busy being an awesome Peace Corps volunteer but that would be a lie. But let me regale you with what I have been up to these last two months… [...]
I’m sitting in school today grading papers and thinking about how my life is beginning to feel a bit mundane. I’m trying to think of ways to spice up my life while my grade 7B’s are doing oral practice of present continuous, but my thoughts are interrupted as a head teacher strolls into my classroom. [...]
We do the usual weekend jig: hastily scarf down some early lunch, pack up baby Kamano’s daily essentials, grab some water, lights out, lock up, pile in the car. Today, we’re off to a wedding in mountainously beautiful Rustenburg. Julia drives and narrates to me in the back seat along the way. I let her [...]
Hey Family and Friends!
I don’t believe I’ve mentioned this yet, but at the end of March I’ll be participating in the Longtom half-marathon in the mountains of Sabie, Mpumalanga. The main purpose of this event is to serve as a fundraiser for the KLM Foundation. The KLM foundation is an organization started by two [...]
I remembered the other day that one of the volunteers who spoke to us during PST suggested that we write down a list of things we’ve learned each month to keep us motivated and whatnot. Well it’s not quite the end of the month but I figure now is as good a time as any [...]
The reminder that the stars are simply amazing in Africa.
When the lights go out every evening around 7pm the family gets very upset that they can’t watch their soapies or cook on the electric stove. But I secretly enjoy the romanticism of living by candlelight and feeling like I’m in the Victorian era. Yeah, I [...]
Monday-Tuesday: The teachers make the trek back to school to tie up administrative loose ends and to register students whose parents are way on top of things. I observe, make some photocopies, do some stapling, wonder when the principal is going to tell me which class I’m teaching. End of day Tuesday: 7A and B [...]
So I’m back from vacation and surprisingly happy to be back in my village, despite being reminded that I am a filthy, smelly creature when at home in the heat and dust. After a luxurious three weeks of hot showers every morning, I’m back to the rather inefficient practice of bucket-bathing…every, erm, two days? yeah, [...]
Wowzers- how did it get to be the 13th of December already?! I’m just a few short days away from the end of our “community integration” period. The last three months have certainly been bumpy and I’m thinking that my upcoming 17-day vacation will do me good. After five months in South Africa though, I [...]
Disclaimer: I really like to talk about feelings and emotions and get all self-psychoanalytical and sappy. If you’re not into that, well, take your emotional stalwartedness somewhere else.
“What a Difference a Day Makes”*
I like alone time. I need alone time to recharge, and especially here to take a break from being the lekgowa. I’ve [...]
Thanksgiving was beautiful. I was so looking forward to it and I’ve got to say it exceeded my expectations. 11 of us gathered at the Catholic Mission where PCV friends Sally and David live and put together a pretty magnificent feast together. I was pretty darned impressed with us as a matter of fact. We [...]
Today has been such a fun-filled day I simply have to write about it. I am in love with my gogo. She is an amazing and inspiring woman and today I got to know her quite a bit better. I went to school in the morning and held a very successful meeting with the educators [...]
Bright and early Friday morning two of the educators from the middle school showed up at my gate to help me haul my things away from the evil, creepy family, right in front of an unaware gogo. The principal was supposed to tell the family and of course she didn’t and I certainly wasn’t going [...]
So there are a ton of upds and downs in Peace Corps for most of us volunteers and I just had probably the biggest up I’ve had since coming to my village. The gogo called me into the house for apologizing because the grandfather smacked the six year-old, which was awkward, and then as I’m [...]
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
This time, I’m starting with the bad, and ending with the good
Sooo…today was, admittedly, a crappy day. I’m not sure I really should go through it all because I’m not sure if I’ll be breaching any Peace Corps blogging policies. But to recap it, as I said, I was slated to move [...]
Alrighty, so as you all have probably surmised from my previous posts, Peace Corps, at least in my experience thus far, certainly ain’t no walk in the park. But I knew that coming in and I’m rolling with the punches, and am grateful that I was wise enough to buy a 9-pack of toilet paper [...]
First of all, I just want to say thanks to everyone for your encouraging comments! As silly as it sounds, I really do appreciate the support and they very much brighten my day!! So keep on commenting away!
There is currently a small child screaming like crazy outside my window but I’ve resolved not to [...]
I kind of sort of have internet! I bought an internet phone before we all moved and usually the signal strength isn’t good enough for it to work, but some days it miraculously does! And yeah, I’m a Peace Corps volunteer, living in a remote village and I have an internet phone. It’s what all [...]
There is a small brown river at the end of my village with thorn brush banks and a broken tree branch situated perfectly to be a bench. This is going to be my little refuge in my teeny tiny village in the Northwest Province of South Africa.
We spent last week at our sites to get [...]
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