Peace Corps Journals

New York City books bleg

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

2012-02-10 03:29:00

Some time ago I finished The Power Broker, on the recommendation of Kevin Drum, and I think I agree that it's the best nonfiction book I've ever read. So good that I'm still mulling over the lessons therein, and trying to think up a good post on it.

But it left me wondering. At the end of the book New York is nearly a smoking ruin. Yet I lived there for a time in 2008-2009 and it was actually quite pleasant. Well governed, at least by US standards.
So does anyone know of a good book that could bring me up to present day, and tell me how on Earth they manage to salvage the place? I would be most grateful.

Cluster Sports Day

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Jen's Peace Corps Experience in South Africa

2012-02-09 19:19:56

A big wind storm blowing through Last week I posted about our “Interhouse” Sport Day at KPS, when we had races that determined which learners would move on to the cluster competition. I was told earlier in the week that the area races would be held in Tlakgameng today, and I wanted to go check [...]

KLM Foundation Fundraising Video

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Worlds Collide

2012-02-09 16:22:21

To go along with my LongTom post a little bit ago, here is the video that was made when the we visited Uplands College: Here is the direct link to the youtube video

COS Conference – December 2011

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa how far to the horizon

2012-02-09 15:34:33

Since I cannot seem to help that I use lots of Peace Corps lingo and initialisms, I’ll give a few definitions so you can follow along with this post. PC Peace Corps PCV Peace Corps Volunteer RPCV Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (a PCV who has completed his/her service) COS Close of Service SA# The Cohort [...]

Life as a PCV mo Afrika Borwa!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Jen's Peace Corps Experience in South Africa

2012-02-09 15:46:37

Many people think that being a PCV is a crazy-brave-exciting-rewarding-energetic life, and while many days contain bits of each of those characteristics, life is really a lot more normal here than most of y’all realize. Here’s a normal day in my PCV life. At the cruel hour of 3:30 in the morning, I am usually [...]

Merienda de la tarde: Guacamole!! AND missing manners.

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Letters home from Afrika Borwa

2012-02-09 13:43:00

All to myself and no one to bombard me and asking for a taste...I'm really into claiming my food these days. Giving out all the free samples daily of fruit, peanut butter, and my expensive Nescafe Classic "smooth & rich" coffee is really starting to take a dent in my wallet.

It's odd how an act of kindness and sharing becomes an expectation, even demand on the part of some, that I give them my food. I do appreciate how America is a culture of "PLEASE" and "THANK YOUs." Courtesy and manners have been so ingrained in me so sometimes it's a shock to never hear it here...but when I do, it quite a delight:)

Thanks mom for the training, I do value all the persistent nags of the past (and present at times)!

Long long week

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa This Adventure Called Life

2012-02-09 08:04:00

Last week was incredibly long for me. I think it was a lack of sleep and a lot of new things going on. Monday the Grade 9 English Educator asked me to help him, so Tuesday we passed out notebooks to all his Learners, explaining that this is a personal journal or diary, to be written in every day. I wanted them to practice English and see that writing can be fun and therapeutic. I said I’d read them once or twice a week, leave notes, and ask for more information from them. Most kids just rolled their eyes at the extra homework and put their books away. A few asked me questions; journaling is a totally new concept here.

Tuesday was also the first Boys and Girls Club meeting. I hosted the first meeting of the village’s new Boys and Girls Club. Percy is going to help me with the Boys part, and sometimes we’ll meet together and sometimes we’ll meet separately. I’d announced Monday morning at Assembly that all the Middle School students were invited. Out of 870+ students, 5 came to the library with me.

It was definitely a smaller group than I’d hoped for, but we had fun. We made name tags and told a little about ourselves, I explained how I want this club to be a safe and fun place to talk about anything, and then we played cards. I amazed these girls with my shuffling skills. One girl showed us a card “trick” (she had us pick a car from a grid pattern on a table and asked us which row and column it was in, and then she magically chose our card) and so I decided it would be safe for me to show one too. Mine was a bit more complicated and left the kids speechless.

I’m planning on a Boys and Girls Club meeting every Tuesday at the local library. The women who work there seemed excited about it, I think they are supposed to be reaching out to members of the community but they don’t know how. They asked me lots of questions, got an attendance list of our meeting, and offered to help in any way they could. I’m excited about all this.

Wednesday marked five years since my dad died. I went to bed thinking Tuesday night about it and woke up Wednesday morning feeling really sick. I went to school and sat cross legged in a chair in the office reception area with my head in my hands. The deputy Principal sent a teacher to buy me some antacids and decided that I’m too white to handle this heat. Right. I was supposed to go to Vryburg with some of the SBG members, but the only guy who had a car is this really sleazy man who no one really likes. When the Principal saw my face he pulled me into an office to tell me how they were going to stall the trip and I should please go home and rest. He even called the Middle School Principal to tell her I was unwell. I gladly went home, changed into shorts, turned the fan directly on me and slept the day away. Maybe it was all in my head, but I’m glad I got to relax that day and my supervisors understood. I ate a special dinner in memory of my dad that night.

Thursday I went back to school to find that it was Sport’s Day, and that all 4 schools from my village would gather in a field behind my Primary School to race and determine the team of Learners who would go on to compete at a Cluster Competition this Saturday. So I walked around a little and then sat under the tent the teachers had put up in the middle of the field. The men were all out organizing races and the women were all under the tent recording runners and statistics. I just sat, watched the 2000+ kids, and got stared at a lot by the kids from the schools I don’t work at. The kids crack me up, they don’t care, no modesty, I saw boys and girls just strip and change their clothes in the middle of the field. No big deal.

Friday deserves its very own post.

Frustrating Friday

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa This Adventure Called Life

2012-02-09 08:06:00

Friday I was going home after school Grace, the Middle School Principal. I dropped my bag off at her office and told some Grade 9 Learners that I’d be by later to read their journals. I went to the Primary School and discovered I was being sent to Vryburg with the SGB to make up for them not going on Wednesday. So 5 of us crowded into a small car and hit the road.

I was under the impression that we just had to drop off our book at the auditors, I would buy a couple of power cords for the computers in the staff room, and I’d be back with plenty of time to read journals. Alas, it was not to be. We spent an hour organizing the books at the auditors, the computer store didn’t have everything I needed, and then we had to go to the chemist, the butchers, the grocery store and two different banks. South Africans walk slowly and are never in any kind of hurry, and everyone in the car also wanted to run their own errands. I tried to tell the driver that Grace woouldn’t wait on me, she’s always in a hurry to get home Friday afternoons, but no one seemed to take me seriously. I spent over an hour at the big bulk grocery store watching a cart as a couple men went back and forth across the store collecting food. It was the first of the month, payday, and so many people were out it was nearly impossible to actually push the buggy through the store. Did I mention I really don’t like crowds?

We finally finished all our errands, but a trip to town means a treat for lunch, and everyone was excited to eat at a restaurant. I tried to push for KFC or something fast, but we had to go and sit down at this chicken place inside a gas station. Classy, I know. I just pointed to the first thing on the menu; everyone else poured over their 4 options for 20 minutes, and finally ordered. Then we waited, cooks and cashiers are in no hurry here either, and it felt like forever. By this time it’s after noon, it’s over an hour drive back to the village, and I believe Grace has left me. I sent her AA a text complaining, and dug into my meal.

Some friend of the driver’s joined us for lunch, he’s a lawyer and was excited to be talking to an American. He lives nearish my village and says he’ll take me out for lunch sometime. I was just like “sure, come by the school and I’ll see you there.” Not holding my breath for that one.

When South Africans eat, it’s the food first, and then the drink. So you have to enjoy your meal, then sit back and slowly sip your cool drink (pop) before you can even think about moving on. It was after 2 before we left Vryburg. At 3:30 we arrived back in the village at the Primary School. I tried not to be rude as I grabbed my computer cables and said my goodbyes. I wanted to rush next door to the Middle School and see if there was anyone still around.

At the school gate I saw a girl walking with the bag I’d left that morning at the Principal’s office. Walking closer, I see she’s with my mom. Mom is walking back from the clinic with Resego tied around her back and an umbrella protecting them both. A couple of middle school girls have been recruited to carry her purse and my bag. She tells me that the middle school is empty and locked up, and that a teacher saw her walking by and handed over my bag when he left school. So I’ve definitely be left behind in my village.

We walk home, Resego has an eye infection so he’s really subdued, and Lebo has friends over so I have the evening to sulk. I watched a couple TV shows on my computer and tried to relax after my frustrating day. Later that evening I talked to Grace and we decided that I should accompany the Middle School Learners who will compete at the Sports Day tomorrow, where the Principal will meet me and I can go home with her afterwards. At least the whole weekend wouldn’t be wasted.

A weekend with the Principal

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa This Adventure Called Life

2012-02-09 08:08:00

Just like we planned, Saturday morning I went to the Middle School to go with the learners to Sports Day. I arrived at 7am, the appointed time and the bus was (shockingly) already there. We waited for the Principal and a few members of the SGB, and finally left school at 8:15. I went with the Principal instead of on the bus. We had to stop in the next village to help a teacher get ready for the day, waited while she ironed her clothes and ate breakfast. We dropped her off at the stadium, drove on the track looking for a back gate, and finally parked. I saw Mpho and his schools, we climbed to the top of the stadium seats to talk with him a while.

Grace had to go back to Delarey for a first aid kit and I went along thinking I could speed her up. The first thing we do in town is drop off her truck at the car wash. We walk to the grocery store for snacks, and to the chemists for a first aid kit. She explains what she wants to the pharmacist, and he gets out a plastic box and starts to fill it with gauze, band aids, disinfectant, and everything else we might need today. I don’t let Grace stop and admire the new purses or anything, we’re in a rush to get back and support our learners. We walk down to get bottles of water and go to pick up the car.

At this point, I’m proud that we’ve quickly moved around town and have everything we need. The car wash people are another matter, they are painfully slow at wiping down the truck, and go over every section 5 or 6 times. Grace even told them “Oh, I wish you would be finished” and they looked at her like she was crazy. We spent as much time waiting on a clean car as we spent shopping.

When we can finally get back in the truck and go, Grace tells me that we must first stop by her house to check on her girls. Her husband is gone to a funeral today and the 7^th grader is going with friends, so the 3^rd grader will come with us. We also collect her cooler and her tent so we can have a shade - if only we can figure out how to put it together.

When we finally get back to the stadium, we park and start to assemble the tent. Grace kinda knows how it works, and with the help of half a dozed learners we get it up in less than 20 minutes. The time, noon; the temperature 35°C or 95°F. Then Grace remembers that she didn’t buy any ice for the cooler. So off we go again, to buy ice at a local gas station. She also realizes that now would be a good time to pick up lunch for all the learners who are competing from our school and all the educators who are supporting them. She’s called the restaurant in a nearby village, and miracle of miracles, the food is all ready and packed up for us to take when we arrive!! We load it into the truck and head back to the stadium.

Even though the food is in the truck and the learners have come over to the tent to relax, it’s an hour later before Grace decides it’s time to eat. She passes out boxed lunches and cool drinks and we all dig in. Afterwards, we all piled our empty lunchboxes and leftovers in the corner, and some local kids can and had their own feast. Our tent was set up in the parking area, so we really don’t see any of the races or competitions, but we can hear the crowds. Everyone who walks from the seating area to get a snack or drink passes our tent, and everyone stared at me like I was an alien or something. When Grace asked why they were staring I used one of my mom’s favorite reasons “they’ve never seen this much beauty in one place before” and she laughed until she cried.

The 3^rd grader with us played with my hair all afternoon, and a 9^th grade girl joined in. The Sports Day lasted until after 5pm, and then we had to wait over an hour for the bus driver to show up. We finally were able to leave the stadium and made it back to Grace’s house exhausted. I continued to let the little one play with my hair, we ate a light dinner and started to drift off to bed. The little one and I were lying on my bed watching a movie when she fell asleep, I carried her to her bed, went back to my room and fell immediately into a deep sleep on top of the covers.

Sunday is Church day, the whole family goes to another town to Church. I don’t know what denomination it was, but the men sat on one side, the women on the other and children in the middle. I sat in the middle with Grace’s kids. We were about 20 minutes late, they were already singing, and 2 hours later the singing stopped so the preaching could begin. I didn’t understand anything, but it was a very passionate delivery. The preacher read a little card with my bio on it that Grace had written, and he asked me to stand up to be welcomed. Then he asked me “couldn’t you just call home and have them send us a little something?” while making money hand gestures. After church outside I heard some woman saying that “now Obama would send them money to live better.” Unless President Obama reads my blog, I highly doubt that happen.

We went to Grace’s in-laws after Church. I greeted everybody and that was the last anyone said to me for 3 hours. We sat in the hot living room, watched My Sister’s Keeper (I did get asked if I was “getting flu?” when I sniffled at that movie) and ate a nice lunch. It was 40°C or 102°F inside the house. I’d asked about doing some grocery shopping while I was with Grace in town, and she had to call her husband to leave early so I could go by the store. Back at her house we opened all the doors and windows for the breeze that a storm was blowing in and relaxed with the Disney Channel.

Side note: I’m amazed at how the kids and the adults love Disney Channel and other “kids programming,” it’s like the adults get more satisfaction from a Disney show than the kids do. I’ve seen my host mom watching Cartoon Network when there were no kids in the house, she likes that stuff. Adults seem to rather watch it then anything else.

I tried to show the girls how to make friendship bracelets with embroidery thread a friend had sent me, but they gave up too soon and said they couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even convince them to try, to keep going. The parents grilled out and dinner was amazing. The little one fell asleep on my bed again and had to be carried to hers. I went to bed early knowing that I’d have to get up earlier than usual to get to the village for school.

All in all it was not a bad weekend, just a little more stressful than if I would have stayed in the village or went to town on my own. I appreciate getting away sometimes so it’s nice to have a supervisor willing to host me for a weekend.

Day #112 — Seed Pod

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-09 08:10:27

The thorn tree (see Day #52)continues to be my least favorite tree here in South Africa. Although it does provide some dense shade, the thorns are super strong and sharp. However, in just the past few days I’ve noticed something new growing on the trees. These new little curly things are young seed pods. They [...]

Collected links

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa The Orbital

2012-02-09 00:59:00

1. Part 2 of Balko's series on the galloping moral panic around prescription painkillers.

2. In defense of blood doping.

3. Please God, no more wars in the Middle East.

4. Some preliminary science on how massage helps heal sore muscles. It has nothing to do with lactic acid.

5. The last WWI veteran has died. RIP Ms. Florence Green.

6. Watch President Obama help shoot a marshmallow cannon. In the name of Science! Gotta say, for as much as I bitch about the guy, sometimes I just can't help but like him.

INVITATION! (again)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa A Ginger Goes to Peace Corps

2012-02-08 21:49:00

As per usual, just when I think I am going to be waiting forever and a butt to hear from Peace Corps, they surprise me and contact me within a few days. My new invitation is in the mail and should be here within 7-10 business days!!! The assignment is for Sub-Saharan Africa leaving in early April, and unlike last time I will not be looking it up on peacecorpswiki. I think it will be fun to open the packet this time around and be completely surprised. I will still be working with HIV/AIDS issues and I could not be more thrilled :)

Thank you all for your support, will let you know when the packet gets here!

~Claire

Litchi REHAB!!!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Letters home from Afrika Borwa

2012-02-08 14:50:00

It's official I need to go to Litchi rehab!! I must consume at least 1 kilo's worth per week. The fact that I just happened to be in Town and then made a detour to the Pick 'N Pay just so I could buy a big bag of litchies and run home and lock myself in my room so I could secretly eat in peace without any neighbor or family member come and ask me to share...SAYSss A LOT! Haha it's a habit that will be broken when the fruit's season ends.

Day #111 — Litter

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-08 07:39:55

Just to the right of main entrance into grounds for secondary school At the secondary school, about where I stand each morning for assembly Burn pile on secondary school grounds Before leaving the States last summer, our PC group met in Washington, DC, for orientation and quick introductions within the group. One ice breaker had [...]

Today I was called: LEKGOA ?

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Letters home from Afrika Borwa

2012-02-07 21:09:00

Today I ran out of school instantly over to the tuck shop, just down the street, and bought my fav soda, Stoney. It’s this ginger beer with a lot of kick made by Coca Cola and the village people (and I) love it here! “Cold drink” so they say. When it’s summer here, it’s all about The Cold Drink, that could be any Fanta, Coke, Sprite, Twizza, i.e. any cold liquid carbonated drink you can get your hands on that is not alcoholic.

With my Stoney in hand and umbrella open to cover me up from the hot African sun, I headed down the dirt road to my Barbie pink house. I came across a small group of neighborhood kids playing on one of the public taps and I waved and smiled and said, “hello!”

Their response: “LEKGOA! LEKGOA!”

My response, I said jokingly: “Lekgoa?? Do I look white to you??” as I held out my arm from under my umbrella.

I laughed and smiled and just walked on….AND then thought, hey that is the FIRST time I was called that. All the other Peace Corps volunteers (the majority of them being what I would call "white" – but is “Caucasian” more PC these day? ) always complain of this ongoing pestering from locals - it being most likely the first time in their life to be pointed out for the color of their skin. Our training manager Victor talked to us about this during pre-service saying he's had past volunteers come up to him and say, some of self discovery to their actual skin color having come out of such a color-blind society never having to deal with their own race before. I think I this before how race is huge here in South Africa, given the history of Apartheid. Either way that’s their own inner challenge dealing with that, but I just thought water off a duck’s back, but wow….how long have I been in South Afrika anyways? AND when was the last time I really wrote on my blog, apparently too long!

So here’s a small description of why the “white” people can take offense to this word Lekgoa and will hear it perpetually throughout their 2 years of service (talk about annoying):

“In Southern Africa, Lekgoa is often considered a contemporary racial slur for people of European descent. However, usage of the term actually derives from historical racial power relationships and is not a stereotype, but rather a description of disrespectful behaviour patterns associated with whites.

Many expatriates in Southern Africa report that they are called 'lekgoa' - spelling 'lekgoa' (Tswana) 'lekgowa' (Northern Sotho), 'lekhoa' (Southern Sotho) - by the approximately 15-million indigenous black inhabitants of certain countries, namely Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho.”

Get the full story on LEKGOA at http://www.enotes.com/topic/Lekgoa

I guess I should feel blessed that I fall somewhere in between where people do not know what I am and assuming I’m just “coloured” (i.e. mixed race, which is basically true, a little indigenous mountain and jungle native, and then some Spanish blood, and hey throw in some true Indian blood there given my grandfather on my birth mom’s side is a “Gringo de La India” = light-skinned one from India). There’s no Tswana term or slur I’ve heard yelled out to me yelling “Coloured! Coloured!” so looks like I might be in luck and will not have any derogatory slurs yelled at me for the next 2 years (NOW less than 2 years, look at how time flies, it’s now only 20 months or so left).

I’m already thinking of ways that I could maybe stay in South Africa for another year but in one of the major cities (given out release date is at such an awkward time, being September 2013 - after grad schools have started). This is a pretty amazing country in terms of what it has to offer and I just feel like after 2 years, which are already flying by, how can I even have time to see the rest of the country. My dream is to befriend the ambassador’s wife who works at USAID in Pretoria, and have her offer me a job. We did have a really nice long chat at my swearing in ceremony back in September and I do go into Pretoria enough to maybe weasel my way into getting an informative interview. I’d be really curious to see what it’d be like to work at one of the American governmental offices abroad. But maybe I should hit up the Peruvian embassy while I’m at it haha.

Mma Susana doing what she does best: playing hand games with the kiddies

Bottom line, I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned over these last several months is that time flies! Just look at my past month at site since school started up in the beginning of January.

Today I left school at about 4 PM, an ungodly hour for staying at school to do work; however, I had been asked by my principal to help out with the data entry for our learners’ registration for some regional test. I don’t think it was for all 700 learners but we (me and the 2 other admin assistants) stayed in school from 9 AM to 4 PM doing 7 solid hours of data entry. My eyes kill from looking at all the small lettering and numbers all day. I was told that it was due today at the district office, so I forfeited my 2 Life Orientation classes to pitch in and help, yet by the end of day all the information wasn’t even finish. Apparently it’s ok to hand things in late. Our school’s Improvement Plan (SIP) and Development Plan (SDP) which I helped pull together before I left on vacation in the first week of December was due sometime then, yet the first week I got to school in January my principal was asking me what I ever did with all the SIP and SDP information. I thought, “Are you kidding me? Was it not passed into the Department already?”

Since I’ve been working at school I’ve come across so many moments where deadlines are not even paid attention to, and the learner classes are compromised for teachers to go to workshops or finish busy work, like grading papers or filing Department of Education stuff. It irritates me. I think of myself as being very on top of things, however, when information is not properly communicated and deadlines are not even held, I often feel like it’s hard to do my job. So in the midst of all this chaos I have been assigned to work with two 7th grade classes in English (which they call “First Addition Language”) and Life Orientation, so 4 classes in total. On top of that I’ve begun working with one of the community’s home based care groups and already helped them write and submit a PEPFAR grant application. I’ve been told at the school that I am a track coach and sports team manager, but I have done thus far is hold a stopwatch and take all the top 3 times for all age groups at the school and then root on all the kids as they run in their track competition for which they did not even really trained. But can't complain...I love being their cheerleader!

My little track cadets age group 7+ years at their first track meet!

But I always try to keep a big smile on my face and when in doubt ALWAYS ALWAYS stay positive and keep my energy high, which at time has been really hard. Speaking of energy, I have never felt sooooooo tired in my entire life. Always feeling like I needed a nap or a cup of coffee, but then realized that I think it’s the heat here, NOT a sign of depression haha. IT IS HOT HERE. REALLLLLY HOT. I don't even want to know was the real temperature is outside so try to not pay attention to the degree but it will be in the 30s Celcius regularly. I will come home to my concrete little room with its tin roof and I unlock my door and out pours the heat as if it was its own Easy Bake Oven. I then run to open all the windows that “have to remain shut” while I’m away and open up my curtains and door to let the breeze roll through, which is quite effective but come nighttime when the temperature will have plummeted and it’s cool outside the walls will still be warm and retain the heat. And then my room will be rampant with mosquitos, and of course I still have yet to put up my mosquitero, principally because there are no good beams to hang it to. So I will spend the majority of the night swatting the mosquitos and itching in my sleep.

Then, of course there are the animal sounds, donkeys screaming and doing their odd mating ritual, which sound like someone getting jumped (but that is what is going on anyway). Also, there are my newest neighbors, the herd of I’d say of about 50 cows and there little baby calves. I awoke the other night to what I thought was some little boy getting attacked outside my house. I jumped out of bed and threw open my curtains and looked out to the sandy, barely lit street and saw a small cow having what looked like a temper tantrum or what my host mom describe as “the baby cow crying for its mother” the next morning. Ugh…I just rolled back into my bed, I should have known better to think it was anything really important, just another animal assault by noise.

So my goal is to get a fan finally this week and beat the heat and then start sleeping with ear phones in, since this lack of sleep is messing up my half-marathon training (21.1 km)! I will be running my 1st marathon in Mpumalanga in the end of March. I’ll be joining a huge group of PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) who will all be running and raising money for a local charity to fund college education for some very lucky students. It’s actually for an NGO started by a few PCVs called the KLM Foundation and the biggest fundraiser for them is the Longtom Marathon where every PCV who runs is required to raise $100.

Check out the KLM website for more detailed information on what exactly I am raising money for: www.klm-foundation.org for the general organization site, and to meet the learners currently being funded through KLM and the Longtom fundraiser:

I will leave you all with a short video of what my life is like here in my biggish village in Northern Cape: Beauty and the Beast, “This little town.”

Belle’s life just reminds me so much in this first part of what my mornings are like, walking through the village not on my way to a bookstore but to the school. It’s so me to be stopping to say to everyone who passes, “Dumela…..Dumela…Dumela!” which is “good morning” in Tswana. I’ve had even a friend say to me, “why do you say hi to everyone? You know you don’t have to do that.” And there her dress is just like mine, completely covered from head to toe as to try to not get too much attention. Though I was called out the other day for wearing a “mini dress” to school. The dress came to my knees and I made sure I came into school with my arms and shoulders covered. Sometimes you can’t please everyone, plus these days its crazy hot – so as little clothing that you can wear and get away with is necessary!

And then spot on me is this lines: “That girl is so strange! No question!” said a few time and then this is said as well, “Behind that fair façade, I’m afraid she’s rather odd…very different from the rest of us! ” Because I run through the village like a true Peruvian hooligan.

“I want much more than this provincial life” is me and trying to build the dreams of these kids in my school to expand their world view to beyond their rural life – we are ALL global citizens, Tufts taught me that one. But also encouraging them to believe in their community and to make it shine…that would be great if I can just get that into my 83 minds of my 7th graders.

My little village buddies here riding a bike with no chain.

Photos from down the road

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Elsewhere on the Pale Blue Dot

2012-02-07 20:35:52

One of these photos is an outhouse on the top of a hill. I have no idea if it works (in the sense that any of them work) because it’s not enclosed on anyone’s property and I never paid much attention to it until this photo. Many pit latrines were subsidized by the government in [...]

Saturdays are my favorite!!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa This Adventure Called Life

2012-02-07 06:22:00

I know I've mentioned the Middle School AA, Percy, a 20-year-old guy here in the village who would be my best friend if men and women were allowed to be friends in this culture. (If you are “friends” with the opposite sex it means you're sleeping with them.) Anyway, he has older sisters, girls close to my age. I've been missing just hanging out with friends, I miss going to hang out at someone's house for movies and games. So I've been bugging Percy to introduce me to his sisters so I can have friends my own age; Lebo is great, but conversations with 10 year olds leave a lot to be desired. This Saturday Percy finally agreed that I could come over. He gave me vague directions to his place, but a pink house isn't too hard to find around here. There were some middle-school-aged cousins in the yard who only giggled at me, and 2 sisters inside. One woman has a 2 year old boy, and he ran around like mad, humming as he pretended to drive a car. He found his mom's phone and tried to take a picture of me, so she took a picture of us together for him.
The little one's mom seemed shy, or unsure of her English maybe, so she didn't have much to say to me. The other sister, Vinnette, talked with me some, and Percy joined us to watch a couple movies. We had Coke and cookies, since guests must always be given some food and drink, and enjoyed a James Bond movie and a chick flick. The little boy fell asleep on Percy and didn't wake up until I was leaving, even then he was still too bleary to care if I stayed or went. Percy walked me halfway home, with a short cut to my house that allowed him to stop by a shop before he went home. It was a casual day, really laid back, but it was so nice to have a reason to walk around a new part of the village and have somewhere else to be. I like my family, my house and my room, but there's nothing like getting out and having plans with friends.

Walking home I passed a wedding and was called over by some of the guests. By that time of the day, the only guests left were old men and young couples, drinking away. A few people talked with me, the level of English skills and drunkenness was really amusing. I only stood outside the compound gates and let people come to me, I probably really offended the family by not coming inside, but since I was trying to get home before dark I never made it inside. A man who's somehow related to my family came out and offered me a ride home. He was only slightly drunk, and our ride was uneventful. He stayed to visit a few minutes to visit my parents and I went outside to play Uno with my brothers and one of their friends. It was a great day.

Wasting Time #4

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Worlds Collide

2012-02-07 07:03:05

Not really a waste of time because this is Peace Corps related. Here is a really good article that was sent to me by a fellow South African Peace Corps Volunteer a few months ago. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maya-lau/what-the-peace-corp-taugh_b_1099202.html At one year in, I can definitely relate. There have also been a few people that have asked me [...]

2012 School Year Week 1

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa This Adventure Called Life

2012-02-07 06:18:00

Teachers and staff came back on Monday, but naturally I was one of the first people at the Primary School. I made sure the new fingerprint hardware was working so we could all sign in with our prints instead of waiting so long for our turn at a book, eliminating problems caused by sneaky teachers and getting them into the classroom sooner. So far it's been working okay, I had to re-register 1 or 2 people and show a couple others how not to break the scanning screen, but it's not been as bad a transition as I feared. I was doing lots of little things in the office and waiting for a staff meeting so I could go over my Classroom Management notes again, but those happen in the afternoon and I'm usually at the Middle School by then. I tried talking to a couple of the educators about co-teaching with them this year, since I hardly did any of that last year, but they wanted me to completely take over their classes. I played the money card, “No way, you're getting paid to be in class, I'm just volunteering to help” and got out of that quick.

I'd been telling the Principal, David, that I wouldn't be doing all the computer software stuff again this year. Last year my life was dominated by SA-SAMS, the software the DoE requires schools to use but doesn't offer much support or training for. I entered all of the assignments and grades for all 870+ students for the last 2 terms of the year. I refuse to do it again this year for 2 reasons: first, I'm not being utilized as a Resource Specialist and not in the classrooms where I want to be, and second, if I continue then they would never find someone else to do the work and when I leave the school would be up a creek. So I've said I'll help train a new Administrative Assistant and the teachers on how to enter their own grades, but that's all. By Thursday we had a new Admin Assistant.

Learners came back to school on Wednesday, and it's been mass chaos pretty much ever since. The educators surprised me with their enthusiasm to be back at work, but no one seemed to have any lesson plans prepared or even knew what subjects they'd be teaching this year. Plus we spent until Friday afternoon finalizing the schedule of classes, so teachers either went to random classes at random times of the day, or not at all. What a great start to the new year, huh? Friday an educator/assistant manager of the school asked me where she could put me in the schedule, what classes could I teach (because surely I could take over some of hers, right?) and I said I'd love to co-teach with her, but she always had to be in the room with me. She agreed, checked the schedule and saw that her first class of the day is supposed to end in 10 minutes, so we'd better go introduce ourselves. That class happens to be Lebo's and he seemed excited when I walked in. Teacher says “Hello students, I'm Mrs. B and this is Gina and we will be teaching you maths this year. Sometimes it will be me and sometimes it will be Gina. Gina, just say a few words.” I started to tell her and the class I prefer my African name, Itumeleng, or Tumi (like tomb-ee) for short, but she walked out and left me hanging. So I asked the kids a few questions about what they remembered from last year and called out multiplication table questions until the class ended. I tried to explain the concept of co-teaching to Mrs. B but she looked at me blankly and then ran off to do something else. It's already frustrating.

The Middle School also didn't have a schedule, so the first period of the day every teacher took a class and tried to assign them enough busywork to keep them quiet all day. Of course that didn't happen, the learners took to running around the yard with the Principal chasing them with her whip when they got too loud. I hate that whip, but I haven't actually seen her strike a kid with it and I know she uses it to break up the knife fights at school, so I don't say too much. Anyway, that's how the first week of school went, and the first 3 out of 50 teaching days this term were wasted.

Hanging out with Americans

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa This Adventure Called Life

2012-02-07 06:19:00

Technically Vryburg is my Shopping Town, but for Mpho and I, it's easier to get to Mafikeng, the capital of the North West Province. Last week was only the second time I'd ever been there, but we met up for a very nice day. We walked across the city, for me it was a reminder of where the Game Mall and other shopping centers are. Mafikeng is phenomenally better than Vryburg, it's ashame that not more PCVs can get there with us. We ate sushi and decided to go explore another mall that Mpho's former PCV told us about. The walk was at least a three kilometers, partly across this narrow bridge that didn't leave much room for pedestrians. We passed a stadium that hosted a couple of games from the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup and ended up in Mmabatho, another city. The mall there was big, but obviously had seen better days. Still, there was lots to see and several grocery stores. We stocked up and prepared for a cookout at his place later, caught a local taxi to the rank in Mafikeng and waited. It was the last taxi towards our villages and we were only harassed for money 4 or 5 times in the hour it took the taxi to fill. The ride was eventful, lots of people talked to us, the taxi hit a bird, almost hit a schoolgirl, and avoided oncoming traffic in construction zones by weaving through cones and ditches. I'd been BBMing with Dineo, Mpho's girlfriend, as she was trying to surprise him when he got back from shopping. There was a slight misunderstanding and the taxi ended up blowing right by her as she was waiting outside Mpho's village, and she had to walk the 2k to his house. Sorry, Dinny.

It's a hassle getting in and out of my village, but I love going to Mpho's place to hang out. It's so amazing to be with other Americans, to speak at a normal pace and not have to explain everything all the time. Mpho, Dineo and I played cards and had a good time together. Mpho's a professional chef compared to me, and he made great tuna melts for lunch. Tshiamo came in the afternoon and brought us snacks, fruit and cheese and crackers. We had an amazing time, food and friends is really all it takes to make PCVs happy. We played Balderdash for a couple of hours before I had to go. The car back to my village had a little trouble, we never got above 40 kph and had to stop twice to pop the hood and let the men poke around. But I made it home before dark.

A calm Sunday followed, with me doing some laundry and teaching Lebo how to play Uno. He understands it well, but gets easily distracted and has to be reminded that it's hit turn to play. I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to more Uno filled evenings.

Week 2

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa This Adventure Called Life

2012-02-07 06:20:00

Week 2 began this way:

At the Primary School I showed the new AA all the computer systems I've been working with and definitely overwhelmed her. The Principal, like most South Africans, cares too much about looks, he wants everything to be pretty (First World gleam over Third World reality) so he had the two of them spend all morning making the perfect cover pages and pasting wrapping paper on the jackets of notebooks. Seriously used ToysRus Christmas wrapping paper to cover the books the department sent. I've seen almost every kid's notebook similarly covered, so I know they get taught this young. When I pointed out that they were wasting valuable time, making the school's Log Book look unprofessional and giving this toy store free advertisement, David looked sheepish and held off covering the rest until I'd left.

Mrs. B wants me to teach her class, so I asked to look at her lesson plans. Luckily for her, the DOE sends out lesson plans now for all Primary Maths classes. Sad but true, she hadn't even opened the binder yet. Four days into the school year and she was surprised to learn that her students were supposed to be practicing multiplication tables with flash cards. Once I explained what flash cards are and how we could have the students make them, she decided I should go alone to class and do that. Again, I explained Co-Teaching, and she decided I was gonna be too much trouble to work with. Too late, I'm asking her everyday now what classes she has and if she's ready for them. This was our last conversation of the day:

Me: Mrs. B, why aren't you in 5A maths right now?

B: The period is over.

Me: No it isn't, not until 10:50.

B: I think the period is over.

Me: You had me type up the schedule 5 times last week, I know this period isn't over until 10:50.

David started laughing and she got embarrassed.

B: I have to go to a meeting.

At the Middle School, the Principal was already gone to a meeting, and when the cat's away the mice will play, so most of the teachers were goofing off in the copy room. I helped the AA register a few new learners for school and then sat in the staff room to be sociable with the most calm teachers. Sitting near me was one of my favorite teachers there because of his fun attitude and personality, but he still seems to get work out of the learners. We started talking about the Bible and moral issues and I'm sure he thinks I'm a terrible person. What I said conflicted with everything he's grown up believing in and he didn't know how how to handle it. I said people should honor their own sexuality and respect their bodies by limiting their partners (few black South Africans are monogamous and some of the middle school teachers here brag about their own adultery). Also I defended gay rights. I will probably be stoned when I walk into that school yard tomorrow. Not really, but I am for sure the only person in this village who'd say such shocking things.

Speaking of adultery, another of the (married) male teachers came in and asked me to help him with Grade 9 English this year, since that teacher up and transferred schools last week. I said I'd help, I'd Co-Teach with him. So he bent down until we were eye-to-eye, put his hand on my shoulder, and said he could bring me the Grade 9 English book to my place tonight. No words can adequately capture my horror and disgust, but I kept it professional with something like “I'll look at it here tomorrow. What class are you supposed to be in right now?”

Since there was no work for me to do and I felt like I needed a hot shower, I went home about an hour before normal where I continued the massive re-organization of my room and put the finishing touches on my mosquito-net-turned-window-screening I'd started yesterday. Resego came to play catch with me, we didn't have a ball so we used his hat. I was left home alone for a while and somehow the gate opened and our sheep and the neighbors cows came into the yard. I'm an expert shepherdess now, so that was no big deal to me. After dark, 2 boys came for homework help. They brought their classwork assignment, but no pen or paper to write on. We borrowed supplies from Lebo and mom had to translate, because even by Grade 8 most kids here don't have the English skills to communicate effectively. Which really sucks come test time, since all the exams are written in English. Anyway, they had been given questions but no lecture, no answers, and no book. I ended up telling them to come for help during daylight hours next time, to talk to the teacher in the morning and if they still needed help to meet me after school and we'd go to the encyclopedias at the local library tomorrow. Another Monday, another fine start to the week.

Day #110 — Fan Club

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-07 04:55:12

A fun and happy group of girls! They enjoy looking at the globe, but if asked most cannot locate South Africa. Tlosletsa and Baleseng are two of the ring-leaders. There is a lot of down time at school, both for John and me as well as for the learners. With regard to the learners, we [...]

Information Gathering

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa A Ginger Goes to Peace Corps

2012-02-06 22:00:00

I decided last week that I would call the Placement Office every day this week until I got some answers...damnit! I was all pumped up and being assertive and whatnot. Turns out my week long battle for information was more a a one day surge, since I spoke to someone right away and she gave me all the info I wanted.

My placement officer will be contacting me within the next two weeks about getting reassigned since my file has already been "under consideration." They are currently looking at assignments for me leaving within the 3rd or 4th quarter (3rd quarter being April-June, 4th being July-September.) This time around I am not going to be cross checking with peacecorpswiki, because I kinda think it would be more of a fun surprise to not know. I looked at the site once more today and am going to attempt to avoid it until I get a new invitation packet.

Things are looking up!
~Claire

Hole in One!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Worlds Collide

2012-02-06 17:42:21

I’m not going to stop with these cheesy/boring blog post titles so just get used to them. As mentioned before, I was able to get a bunch of cool sports equipment donated from Let’s Play – Super Sport for my organization. The equipment was definitely a hodgepodge of things but it was also more than [...]

A table for the ages

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa The Orbital

2012-02-06 17:05:00

Pops says this is maybe his greatest creation yet. I'm inclined to believe him, and that's saying a lot. I won't tell you exactly how it started, but in brief, about 25 years ago my dad bought a slab of sandstone about the size of a sheet of plywood. He put it up on a wood frame, and there it sat, including a move from Utah to Colorado, until a couple months ago when my mom threatened to finally buy a new table or else. The story of how he got it polished is itself quite the yarn—I'll see if I can get him to write it up for you sometime. (In case you don't know, cutting and polishing sandstone is incredibly hard, more difficult than granite.)

But here's how it looked after the polisher got through with it:

While I was home for Christmas, I helped him move it around with the tractor so we could get the bottom set up to attach the legs and frame, which my dad welded up himself:

Unfortunately the bottom of the rock wasn't terribly flat, so we had to grind off some high spots to get the steel to lie flush (or close to flush):

Here are the legs, ready to be welded together:

Here's my dad taking the sharp edge off with some sandpaper:

Then we put about a gazillion coats of finish on the sucker:

Unfortunately I left before it was finished, but here's the boys helping my dad move the slab down to the house (from my dad's shop, where he was working on it):

Here you can see my dad's custom legs and frame:

The finished product:

Beautiful.

Eurodoom update

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa The Orbital

2012-02-06 15:19:00

I've said this before, but things look to be coming to a head in Greece. Felix Salmon explains:

This isn’t good; the Greece talks have now moved past their clear deadline and have reached the finger-pointing stage. The broad outline of the dynamics here is now very clear: you need three different parties to agree on a deal for the whole thing to have a chance of success. Private-sector bondholders need to agree to a very deep cut in the value of their bonds; the Greek government needs to agree to enormous spending cuts over and above the 1.5% of GDP that they’ve already offered; and the Troika of the EU, ECB, and IMF needs to agree to pony up extra bailout money to cover the larger-than-expected deficits that Greece is running.

His conclusion:

If the Troika fails to save Greece, the past 66 years of ever-increasing European unity will come to a sudden and drastic halt, and all eyes will turn to Portugal, asking if it will be next. (The Europeans will say no, and indeed already the ECB seems to be pre-emptively shoring up Portuguese bond prices; the bond markets will say yes.) There will also be a second sovereign default, sooner rather than later, in Cyprus, and at that point the European and international communities will have essentially no credibility in terms of its ability to prevent dominoes from falling.

But I’ve never seen less appetite, at the European level, for a policy of continuing to kick the can down the road. Which means that there’s a very good chance that the long-awaited and long-feared crunch might soon be upon us. Greece and the Troika might not be able to agree on whether the latest deadline has been missed, but there’s one deadline no one can move: March 20, when Greece’s big €14 billion bond issue comes due. Either there’s an exchange offer in place by that point — or else the European project will have failed.

Paul Krugman brings the pessimism:

And here’s the thing: when this started, Greece was running a large primary deficit — which meant that even if it repudiated all its debt, it would still have been forced to make a major fiscal contraction. This is no longer true. So we’re now looking at a scenario in which Greece is forced into killing levels of austerity to pay its foreign creditors, with no real light at the end of the tunnel.

This is just not going to work.

Matt Yglesias explains the political calculus underlying the insanity:

Bild, the super-high-selling right-of-center German tabloid is out with a new poll which shows that fifty-three percent of Germans want Greece out of the euro, and just 34 percent want it to stay in.

On the merits, I think a "Greece out, everyone else stays in" solution was perfectly possible 24 or 18 or 12 months ago. Today, however, it's not going to work. The exit of Greece from the system would likely lead to a run on Portugal. And while "Greece out, everyone else in" in a psychologically and politically plausible stopping point "Greece and Portugal out, everyone else stays in" isn't. If Portugal is out then Spain is out and if Spain is out then Italy's out, and if Italy's out then France is out, and if France is out there's no point. So you're left with either a big bailout of Greece or a big bailout of Portugal, and the basic technical logic of just doing it for Greece rather than mucking around is very sound. The political case is much weaker, however, as the poll illustrates. So what's happening right now is that European officials are trying to get Greek politicians to agree to vicious austerity measures not so much because the austerity per se will actually solve anything, but because the politics of Northern Europe demands that Greece pay a pound of flesh in exchange for its bailout.

Ezra Klein, meanwhile, is still convinced that this will determine the 2012 election:

So the question as we look towards Greece's troubles today and the Eurozone over the next year is whether the rules governing the macro question -- whether the Eurozone will survive -- trump the rules governing the everyday panics and political decisions that imperil its survival. Or perhaps there's some theory that can bring them both together. The answer to this question, perhaps more than any other, will decide whether Obama's momentum continues, or fizzles out amidst a new economic crisis.

Krugman parries, noting European exports only account for 2% of GDP, while Yglesias adds that the slow grind of crisis has given US elites a long time to prepare themselves:

What's interesting is that a few months ago I was incredibly alarmed about Europe dealing a hammer-blow to the American financial system. We turned out to be much more intertwined with the European banking system than one would have thought. But these various deals that European leaders have worked out over the past several months have been a boon to the United States from this perspective. For one thing, they've bought time. European banks haven't collapsed, and American officials, American banks, and American non-financial firms have all had time to start thinking through the implications and insulating themselves. That's been an extra source of problems for Europe but it's good for us. The other factor is that while Europe's leaders haven't hit upon a way to forestall a years-long span of catastrophically high unemployment and falling living standards, they do appear to be really really really really committed to saving banks. This kind of "bankers and and rich people first" approach to coping with an emergency is terrible for the average European, but it does take care of our main concern from Europe which was that we might get hit with a sudden credit crunch.

I sure hope he's right about that, but I'm still skeptical.

Week in Photos (Jan 29-Feb 5)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Jen's Peace Corps Experience in South Africa

2012-02-06 10:08:22

As I was picking peaches, a whole swarm of turkeys and chickens decided to chase me around. Another shot of Sports Day at KPS Due to it actually raining, the bush I walk through to school is actually green and lush! From this I understand that Ben + Pat the Elf are friends, and the [...]

Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Jen's Peace Corps Experience in South Africa

2012-02-06 09:26:02

I was sitting on a kombi this weekend when a version of the song “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” came on, and it got me thinking. If you have heard anything about SA, you probably know about Cape Town, Apartheid, and Nelson Mandela. These three things are some of the most famous and widely known “parts” of [...]

Day #109 — Afrikaans

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-06 09:39:53

Three of the many Afrikaans language books on the shelves at the primary school. Stacks and stacks of Afrikaans textbooks culled from the textbook library. The Afrikaners and the British make up most of the white population in South Africa. Afrikaans, the language spoken by the Afrikaners, was largely the language of instruction in schools [...]

Collected links

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa The Orbital

2012-02-05 17:52:00

1. Welcome to Cancerland. The Komen idiocy has a lot of people looking hard at what they actually do, and some of it isn't great.

2. Really good article on the rise of Pitchfork.

3. Potheads in DC.

4. A theory of consulting. This sounds very convincing to me.

5. Seven lessons from the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

Sports Day!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Jen's Peace Corps Experience in South Africa

2012-02-05 17:03:02

Kids running in the HOT African sun. (Written Wed Feb 1st) Today when I got to school, I was headed to the staffroom when a teacher told me there was a meeting happening NOW (now now, fyi) in the admin staffroom. So I head over to there right as the meeting starts, of course during [...]

No More Miss Nice PCV

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Jen's Peace Corps Experience in South Africa

2012-02-05 17:26:42

The past week…well, things they have been a-changin’. I’ve started stirring people up and making some enemies, probably. But all for VERY good reasons! During lockdown, when I was in the schools to mainly observe and figure this crazy school system out, I intentionally did not try to start teaching, working on projects, or changing [...]

Day #108 — Electricity Units

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-05 06:13:11

This is probably one of the most boring of all photos, but the topic is one of the most important to my day-to-day living. That is, the availability (or lack) of electricity. When I was assigned to South Africa, I was pleased to know that most PC accommodations are supplied with electricity. Not all rural [...]

Catch Up

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa A Ginger Goes to Peace Corps

2012-02-04 17:36:00

ALRIGHTY! So a ton has happened since the last time I posted and I have an open bit of time so I am going to properly catch everyone up on all my comings and goings.

As you may be able to tell by the fact that I am posting at all, I am not in South Africa with the rest of SA25 right now. After finding the blood clot in my leg and alerting Peace Corps to the fact that I was going to have to continue treatment via medication after my first "check up" scan, they gave me a few weeks to have it cleared and then when it wasn't, they took me out of the training group. I totally understand this decision on their part seeing as a clot (DVT) can lead to some pretty serious medical repercussions and that getting weekly blood tests would not be possible while in the field. It was a really hard day when I woke up to the email from my nurse letting me know that I was being removed, but I tried to stay positive about it and the people in my training group (whom I connected with through facebook) were all really supportive.

So fast forward to a few weeks ago, I went to see a specialist who said he was going to take me off medication to perform the proper tests to see if I am genetically predisposed to clots or if this was just a weird mixture of birth control and a long train ride. If it was genetic I would be done with my Peace Corps journey since the medication that would be required to treat me FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE is on the "no go" list. If it was just a combination of my settings then I could come off medication and be good to go. :)

Turns out I am NOT genetically predisposed!!!! I flipped out, because other than having to wear old person compression socks for the next year and a half, I can be off medication and I have no life restrictions. Shortly after faxing the results to PC medical I was put back into active consideration (I had been on medical hold so long they took me out of the process completely) and cleared once again for Placement!

So that gets us back to right now. I am waiting to hear from Placement at all since I have no idea if I have to re-interview or if they are just going to send me another assignment. I have decided that I will be calling the offices on Monday to figure out what is going on to some degree since I haven't heard anything from them. I'm crossing my fingers to be out of here in the next four months but knowing PC there is going to be some sort of monkey wrench that will keep me here longer. At the end of the day I'm giving them till November 1st to get me out of the country. At that point I will have been in the application process just shy of 2yrs, and as much as I am dedicated to being a volunteer, I will not keep my life in limbo forever.

Much love to everyone, as usual comments are appreciated, and I will try and be more consistent with posting!

~Claire

Half Marathon

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Two Hens in the Bush

2012-02-04 17:00:00

Well, we are running a half marathon on March 31, and we need your help. It's actually to support a really great cause (info below). We only need to raise $100 each, so even a $5 donation would help a ton. We're also probably going to send out an email about this, b/c we don't know who reads this. If you could send a small donation, we'd really appreciate it (and we promise we'll start training!).

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, we've now been in South Africa for over a year! With the holidays now over, we are looking forward to upcoming events.
One of these is the Longtom marathon. It's actually a half- and an ultra-marathon, and we plan to participate in the half, which is 21.1 Km. It's happening on March 31 in Sabie, Mpumalanga Province, not too far from Kruger Park. It starts at the top of the Longtom Pass and goes into Lydenburg. Many Peace Corps volunteers will be taking part, probably over 70 of us, so it's going to be a lot of fun to get together with them for the weekend and run in this beautiful part of the country, which we haven't yet seen.

In addition to having a good time though, the main reason for taking part is to support the KLM foundation. Their website is: www.klm-foundation.org; please check it out. We won't go into all the details of what they do since you can read that on the site, but we’ll just say that the organization was founded by two PCVs (Peace Corps volunteers) who served here in South Africa a few years ago. They decided to use the Longtom marathon as a fundraiser; they fund a worthy, needy child to attend an excellent independent high school in Mpumalanga called Uplands College. That's why we are so excited about helping them to raise funds; what better way to help this country than to educate a future leader? And the child they choose is very carefully selected, going through a four-tier application process. The seven children who have been chosen so far are excelling in all respects. We hope after reading about KLM you will find yourself as supportive as we are of their work.
There may be other projects we encounter along our way here, but this is very worthy indeed, and one for which we are asking your support. Please give what you can; any amount is appreciated. Even if you can only give $10 or $20, it is much needed. And it is tax-deductible. So please go to the KLM website to make a donation, just click on the 'donate' photo. Make sure to put one of our names in the white box where it asks for the Longtom runner you want to sponsor.

The online donation is preferable, but if you need to mail in a check, please make it payable to "Kgwale Le Mollo (US)" and send it to:
KLM Foundation (US)
c/o Bowen Hsu
461 So. Bonita Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91107
Please make sure to include a note that your donation is on behalf of one of us.

Thanks so much for your support, and especially for supporting the child who is chosen next year to attend Uplands College. We let you know how the weekend goes, and how many funds we, Peace Corps volunteers, collected.

9:29 pace

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Joyce Goes for a Run

2012-02-04 06:44:00

I know exactly what makes me a slow runner - it's the belief that I'm a slow runner. I find the idea of pushing myself to go faster than is comfortable so much more difficult than the idea of plodding on for more and more miles. You know - slow & steady, etc. I just never thought I could be faster, so I wasn't.

That seems to be changing. Part of my marathon training involves tempo runs, which are supposed to be between 9:47 and 10:04 pace (my easy runs are supposed to be paced between 10:47 and 11:16). I say "supposed to be," because I had the most AMAZING run on Wednesday where I ran at 9:29 pace for SEVEN MILES! SEVEN MILES!

It was awesome. I looked at my watch after the first mile and thought to myself: "OMG, I can't hold this! There's no way I can hold this." And then I had to push those thoughts aside and thought: "I wonder if I could hold this - why don't I try and see!" So, you know what, I could hold the pace and I did! Not saying that I didn't have a few thoughts about whether I'd made sensible lunch choices along the way, but I did it. I ran fast.

The best part was that I went through 10K (6.2 miles) in 58:46! I can't even express how huge that is to me - for YEARS, the one hour 10K has been my nemesis. My current "official" PB is 1:00:42 and, yes, I hate it. I finally ~~broke through~~ smashed through the 30 minute 5K last spring and I've been gunning for the 10K ever since - other than the part where I haven't run a 10K race since December 2010. Oops. BUT STILL - my TRAINING run was two minutes faster than my PB. I can't even....

I think the pace run really exemplified some of the best things about marathon training:

Consistent training really pays off.
I can be faster than I think I can be, if I just push myself to do it.
The hardest workouts are the ones that are the most rewarding.

And with that, I'm going to bed: I have a Six Nations rugby game (Come on England; Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; etc.) to watch in the morning & a 16 mile run to do! Oh, and possible exciting race plans involving a very special 10 Miler in the fall to make (watch out 10M: I've got a goal for you, too, my pretty!).

Day #107 — High Grass

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-04 05:56:37

This picture was taken in late October before much grass had satarted to grow. This is the same view (with one green water tank added) but taken after the holiday break. The kids have created their own path to the water tanks. When I first arrived in the village last September, winter was just ending [...]

One damn thing after another

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa The Orbital

2012-02-03 19:21:00

On the heels of Koman's shamefaced backpedaling from its decision to defund Planned Parenthood:

...here comes the latest culture war awfulness, from some chowderheaded bigots in Louisiana:

Three Girl Scout troops in Louisiana won't be hawking Thin Mints this year. They've disbanded in protest after the Girl Scouts of Colorado accepted seven-year-old transgender child Bobby Montoya as a member. Montoya was born a boy but has considered herself a girl since she was two years old, says her mom Felisha Archuleta. In October, Archuleta took her daughter to speak with a Denver troop leader about signing up, and took her daughter away crying after the Scout leader referred to the child as "it" and said "Everyone will know he's a boy." Three weeks later, the statewide Girl Scouts body issued a statement saying, "If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout." When they heard about this reversal, three moms and troop leaders in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana decided to dissolve their troops and leave Girl Scouts.

It only gets worse from there.

Day #106 — Backpacks

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-03 07:14:23

Dora the Explorer (left) is alive and well in South Africa. Hands down, pink if the favored color. Barbie and Tinkerbell in pink Children wearing backpacks returning from lunch break Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more. (Dorothy, Wizard of Oz) That may be the case, but one would never know it [...]

Susan G. Komen For the Cure sucks

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa The Orbital

2012-02-02 17:51:00

Jeff Goldberg has the goods:

But three sources with direct knowledge of the Komen decision-making process told me that the rule was adopted in order to create an excuse to cut-off Planned Parenthood. (Komen gives out grants to roughly 2,000 organizations, and the new "no-investigations" rule applies to only one so far.) The decision to create a rule that would cut funding to Planned Parenthood, according to these sources, was driven by the organization's new senior vice-president for public policy, Karen Handel, a former gubernatorial candidate from Georgia who is staunchly anti-abortion and who has said that since she is "pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood."

...The decision, made in December, caused an uproar inside Komen. Three sources told me that the organization's top public health official, Mollie Williams, resigned in protest immediately following the Komen board's decision to cut off Planned Parenthood. Williams, who served as the managing director of community health programs, was responsible for directing the distribution of $93 million in annual grants.

Not that I have any money to give away, but when I do, these chumps won't be getting any of it until they reinstate Planned Parenthood on their hands and knees. As Atrios wrote, now it's okay to say they suck.

This Onion piece seems appropriate: 6,000 Runners Fail To Discover Cure For Breast Cancer.

UPDATE: Here are some ways to help.

Easy green stimulus

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa The Orbital

2012-02-02 16:29:00

Sorry to keep banging on this particular patch of dirt, but this previous post is a textbook example of what Yglesias is talking about here:

The photo above is of a building under construction at 2400 14th Street NW here in the District. It's a pretty big multifamily dwelling and the energy cost of heating the units will, due to the efficiencies inherent in multi-family construction, be substantially less than one a single family detached structure would run you. It's also near a Metro line, near the city's most frequent bus service, and walkable to a wide variety of amenities on the 14th Street and U Street corridors. But like basically all DC real estate projects, it won't be built out to the profit-maximizing height because regulations prohibit the construction of tall buildings. This is precisely the same kind of "jobs" scenario as is at issue with Keystone XL—the private sector wants to finance more building trades employment, but government rules won't let it—except instead of a fossil fuel pipeline it's an energy efficient building. And these stories play out all across America.

Obviously my example (at right) is not quite as great as right in downtown DC, but the point still holds. Bigger buildings would mean more and longer construction jobs while getting a significant efficiency boost compared to all those single-family homes. Besides, if one is thinking only slightly more long term, the benefits are even more apparent. More density means more people means more businesses, jobs, and less need for cars. This vacant lot here could be the start of a walkable corridor centered around the metro station, but instead it's just a tiny patch of lame suburbs.

Day #105 — Crowded Classrooms

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-02 08:53:37

Can you name all the things “wrong” in this picture?! This boy must not only sit on the floor, but he’s also in a space too cramped for his long legs. The two girls are lucky enough to have a chair but not a table/desk There are about 440 learners at the primary school where [...]

Tzaneen

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Secor like Peace Corps

2012-02-02 07:48:00

Some pictures of Tzaneen, my shopping town (PC talk for the nearest town that has things for purchase beyond the minimal selection of the village). As I mentioned before, Tza is about 55+ km from my village and the trip via koombie (12-14 person van that serves as public transport here) takes from between 1-3 hours. The two hour difference is caused by having to wait for a taxi to pass on the main road (somewhere between one minute and 1.5 hours) and then wait for it to fill (same bag).

All in all, Tzaneen is a pretty amazing shopping town. There is a lot of money there due to the large farms nearby. According to a nearby PCV it has the largest collection of millionaires in South Africa outside of major cities. As a result there are many expensive stores outside of which I can be found, nosed pressed on the window in a Dickensian fashion. But it also means that we have access to a wide variety of goods and services, some of which is occasionally affordable on my rather petite stipend. Like cheese. And amazing Indian food.

Go here for some boring, impersonal, and, as it is a Wiki page, probably questionable facts on Tzaneen.

Some photos:

For a while during the spring Tzaneen was covered in these flowers.

Ethan at the pond/standing marsh near our friend's apartment.

Satvik, the backpackers just outside Tzaneen we stayed at over Halloween weekend.

Sup Dudes

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Maggie's South African Adventure

2012-02-01 18:50:00

Things have been pretty crazy these past couple months. Went home for the holidays, which I'm sure most of you were aware of. I had a great time seeing family and friends. It was an awesome trip. Considering how completely opposite my rural South African life is from my American life, I thought it was going to be really weird going back, but it really wasn't all that weird. The first day or two were definitely a bit surreal, but I think that was mostly because I barely slept on the 26 hour journey (or on the two nights prior to departure), making me slightly more zombie-like than normal. But after my brain returned to its normal functionality, it just felt right being back.

Returning to South Africa wasn't terrible either. Walking to the hostel in Pretoria right after arriving there was definitely an "Oh yeah, this place again," moment as I passed houses with intense gates and/or walls topped with razor wire. But I got right back into South Africa mode.

School has been a bit disappointing so far, for several reasons. The government gave the Department of Education a bunch of money a while back, but almost none of it actually made it to the schools. The corruption here is more easily seen than in other places, and is quite disgusting. Government employees drive around in fancy cars and probably have nicer houses than most, while the kids often don't get textbooks or food. For these first three weeks of the school year there has not been school lunch available at my two schools, as the department did not give them money to buy food. Another reason school is disappointing is that at the higher primary school a teacher retired at the end of the school year last year. The school had known for a long time that this was the teacher's plan. In fact, he mentioned to me in our first conversation (Sept 2010) that he was planning to retire in Dec 2011. So when did the principal start to look for the guy's replacement? In January, two days before the students returned, of course. He posted a flyer at the district office and a week later 10 people turned up for interviews. Somebody has been hired, but only in a temporary position because "It takes months for the person to be certified and approved by the district." So why didn't they start looking for the replacement in September of last year? Because that would have been the efficient way to do things, and that is definitely not South Africa's strong suit. My contract is up in August, and I can't wait. I enjoy being here, working with the kids and whatnot, but the incompetence and corruption of the country is definitely getting to me.

But on a lighter note, I'd like to examine the naming practices of this country. In South Africa when it comes to naming your child, anything goes. Seriously, anything. For the past year or so I've been keeping track of my favorite names that I have come across. The list is now up to 35 so I thought it was time to share. These all come from the black South African population. Afrikaaners have some weird ones too, but they're weird in a different, European way, like Yolandi, Dirk, and Jakes. Of course the majority of black South Africans have names from their native language and most of them have cool meanings, like Thabang (means "happiness,") Karabo (means "answer,") Tau (means "lion,") and Paballo (means "cared for.") All four of those names are Sepedi, which in case you forgot is the language spoken in my area. But when it comes to English names that's when things get really interesting. Besides the strange ones I'm going to list there are also a few "old fashioned" names that are prevalent in the younger population, like Rosemary, Sharon, and Edith. But anyway, here are my favorite South African names:

1. Welldone

2. Silence

3. Voice

4. Wonderboy

5. Kleinboy

6. Bigboy (Yes, this one's a nickname, but a lot of kids go by it at school, and yes, they're all slightly larger boys.)

7. Prince

8. Princess

9. Queen (Lots of royalty in this country.)

10. Excellent (How could kids with this name not go far in life? Haha.)

11. Jankie (I have no idea where it comes from or what it means, but I love this one.)

12. Blessing

13. Gratitude

14. Given

15. Computer (His nickname is laptop. Seriously.)

16. Pretty

17. Dankie (Means "thank you" in Afrikaans, but sounds like "donkey.")

18. Offense

19. Brown Bread (This one comes from an old drunk in Mike's village, I'm guessing his parents were big fans of bread.)

20. Witness

21. Siyabonga (means "thank you" in Zulu.)

22. Bright

23. Golden

24. Hercules

25. Knowledge

26. Justice

27. Active

28. Reason

29. Nice

30. Emagnetious (Another one that I have no idea about, but like a lot. I feel like that kid should be a wizard with that name or something.)

31. Nurse (She's a teacher.)

32. Remember

33. Saturday (Awesome.)

34. Lucky

35. Confidence

It's always awesome when someone introduces their self to me with one of these names. Can't you just imagine Hercules and Knowledge meeting for the first time? One's a God and the other is, well, knowledge. BA. Welldone and Voice both work at the same restaurant. I hope they're friends.

Ok, peace out for now.

Later,

Maggie

Day #104 — School Food

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-02-01 06:58:34

The big boxes usually contain apples. Big bags full of butternut squash. Food storage area Once or twice a week a large white truck pulls up to the school and unloads bags and boxes of food for school lunches. Always included are rice, mealie meal (for making pap), onions, butternut squash (which they call pumpkin), [...]

Collected links

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa The Orbital

2012-02-01 03:24:00

It's my last crunch time at the Monthly, so here are some links to keep you busy:

1. A critical look at ADHD drugs.

2. Mitt Romney's Massachusetts heath care plan is a galloping success.

3. Radley Balko takes on the developing moral panic over prescription painkillers. For my money Balko is one of the ten best reporters in America, up there with Jane Mayer and Charlie Savage. I know where he's coming from, and disagree with a lot of it, but he's honest about his biases, focused on the right sorts of stuff, and does his homework. Great man.

4. Why we get the drunk-spins.

5. An old piece from Sports Illustrated on Mitt Romney and the Olympics.

6. How do states behave when they get nuclear weapons?

7. How Swedes and Norwegians broke the power of the one percent.

Day #103 — School Supplies

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Susanpcv's Blog

2012-01-31 10:21:22

Impressive bundle of school goodies I have not yet seen kids using colored pencils or paint, but it’s a nice gesture. Some math supplies South Africa spends a larger percent of its GDP on education than any other country. Besides some of the obvious expenditures such as support for facilities, textbooks, and faculty and administrative [...]

It's Finished. Finally.

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Wherever you go, there you are.

2012-01-31 05:07:00

A year ago I helped to write a grant proposal which funded a new building for one of the centres I support. It’s been a year of ups and downs as this building has been constructed. From getting the land donated from the induna (who is like the chief of the village) to working with the local municipality to get the building plans approved and then finding all of the materials and supplies. Buildings and construction (especially in a rural South African village) was not something I had a lot of prior experience doing?! It’s been a long year. But the staff and volunteers did an amazing job of putting in the time and work needed to get the building completed. They were able to move in to the new centre last week which will provide 85 orphans and vulnerable children with meals and after school activities. The children that come to the center have little means for food or enrichment and are put at a disadvantage in pursuing future goals which is the purpose of having the center...and I’m so happy and excited it is ready for use!

We still have many cosmetic features that need to be completed (curtains, more office furniture, shelves, more toys and books would be nice along with much needed burglar bars for security) but I am really proud of the work and time everyone put in to get the building completed.

A Sad Day

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

South Africa Two Hens in the Bush

2012-01-30 16:36:00

Well, we went to the wedding on Saturday, and it was a really amazing experience. Today, however, was a sad day for the community where we live, so we’ll blog about the wedding later this week. Last Friday, a young man whom we work with and are friendly with, was driving with his 16 year old cousin when they had a car accident. Our friend is okay, but his cousin was thrown from the car and sustained a severe head injury. He passed away this morning.

Since he previously attended the primary school where we teach, the teachers went to the boy’s family’s house this afternoon to pay their respects and asked us to come along. As we walked up to the rondeval (round traditional dwelling) where the family was mourning, the teachers began singing. We took off our shoes and entered the rondeval, which was empty except for the straw mats on which we sat and six women. The boy’s mother was weeping the entire time we were there. It was terrible to witness such suffering. In keeping with tradition, after about 10 minutes Matt and the two male teachers left and walked outside to where the boy’s father and two other family members were sitting. It is customary for Zulu community members to pay respect at the family’s house, and the men and women of the deceased’s family stay in separate areas of the home.

On the one hand, we felt a little awkward being in the presence of such pain since we did not know the boy. But visiting a mourning family or attending a funeral is considered a form of respect, so ultimately we are glad we were able to attend.