23 March 2006

23 March 2006

Hello all,

Well, we had quite the exciting weekend this past week – meaning we didn’t just go to town and do laundry! The excitement began on Friday, when there was an emergency evacuation drill for Peace Corps. There is a whole long procedure in place just in case we would have to flee the country for some reason, and since they hadn’t tested it in quite some time, we got to have a drill. We got the call Friday morning, so skipped school and went to our evacuation point – a nice hotel and game park outside Kuruman. We got to hang out there all day with our friends who live in the area, and even spend the night, compliments of Peace Corps. I went for a run in the morning on the trails through the bush and had the pleasure of coming across a huge herd (at least 50) of impala. I also saw some hartebeest and two zebra! I tell you, the possibility of seeing African wildlife while out jogging just makes it so much better! And thank God they don’t have any lions. In the afternoon, some of the owners of the hotel took us out on a game drive through their land. Basically this involves standing in the back of a pickup truck that has bars around the outside and driving around. We saw all of the above mentioned animals and some other types of antelope as well. The only problem is that most of the trees and bushes in this area tend to have thorns. Large thorns. And while driving in an open pickup on narrow trails, you tend to get hit by a branch every once in a while. Lets just say we all came out with scars. We also got to climb up this huge windmill that sits on top of a hill and you can just see for miles. Another great thing about this place is that they have a small troop of vervet monkeys that run around terrorizing the guests. Really, if you leave the window or door to your room open even a little, they’ll come in and steal your tea and sugar packets. One came to visit us Saturday morning – check out the photo below. They add a bit of fun to a hotel stay, that’s for sure.
The next morning, Adam and I headed northwest about 6 hours by car, to go see a waterfall in the middle of the desert. Augrabies falls is just north of Upington (look it up on the map…) and is in the middle of the Kalahari. Because of all the rain we have been getting, the river is quite a bit larger than normal. According to the national park, about 10 times more water than normal is flowing over the falls. It was quite an impressive sight. The name means ‘place of thunder’ and according to a friend it is the 7th loudest waterfall in the world, although it didn’t really seem that loud. We went to take a quick peek at the falls on Saturday before heading to the backpacker’s where we were going to stay. When we got to the backpackers, we found a film crew from a South African TV show called ‘You’re Hired!’ which pits two people against each other for a job. The backpackers where we stayed is also a place that does rafting and hiking trips and they were hiring a new rafting guide through the TV show. So we got to hang out with the host and crew and contestants a little that night, which was interesting.
On Sunday morning, we hiked around the Augrabies Falls National Park and saw all kinds of wildlife. A klipspringer (a small antelope), tons of rock dassies (a furry, marmot like creature that is somewhere along the way related to elephants), two black eagles, and a large water monitor lizard. It was an excellent hike, as we didn’t see anyone else for the entire time. In the afternoon we went on a rafting trip. Due to the swollen river, the rapids weren’t as exciting as they could have been, but it was fun to just paddle around for a few hours. We saw lots of birdlife, and that’s about it. It was a holiday weekend, so we traveled back on Monday and just took a much needed day to relax on Tuesday.
Tuesday was Human Rights Day here in South Africa. Under the Apartheid government, all blacks were forced to carry a passbook at all times which contained their personal information, as well as any work permits and travel permits they may have had. I’m not sure of the year, but at some point people got fed up with this and decided to get together and burn their passbooks in a city called Sharpeville. Well, the police, as you can assume, didn’t like this and ended up firing into the crowd, killing some 60 people – most shot in the back. So they celebrate Human Rights Day as a remembrance to those who lost their lives in the fight for freedom, and to ensure that all South Africans retain their human rights from now on.
So that’s about all that’s going on around here. The school’s first term will come to an end next Thursday, and so we are busy planning our first real South African vacation. You might not hear from us for a few weeks while we are out gallivanting around the country, but I’m sure we’ll have some good stories to tell when we get back. Just a reminder to all of you that we are running in the LongTom half marathon on April 8th. Just contact us if you are interested in sponsoring either or both of us on the run. And keep us in your thoughts that day. It’s going to be a rough one!!

Monkey at the window

The falls

Lizard...duh

More falls

Cheers,
Andrea

16 March 2006

16 March 2006

Well, another day another dollar (literally!) All is well here. The first term ends at the end of the month, and you know what that means…traveling! We are in the mist of planning a trip to Swaziland before we head to the race on April 8. Last week we got home from our in-service training and spent the weekend relaxing. Then we headed off to the only local resort, Red Sands (the only resort in the area) for another workshop (this is the standard form of getting anything done here…) on peer education with two of the educators from the local high school. The workshop was three days so that means we had three nights at the resort…and running water. It is still amazing to me. The workshop was good and I hope that it gets some implementation because the kids in the village need people to talk to with all of the problems here. The program hoped to help with such topics as: HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, violence, drugs and alcohol…just to name a few of the major ones. Let’s hope for the best!
The resort was nice and it had animals roaming around. When we would head out for our dawn run or head back to our room after dark, impala and hartebeest would be out roaming. Monkeys would also be seen at dusk and dawn too! Great place and only 40 km away. We will be back tomorrow for our first emergency evacuation practice. We are practicing for if we ever have to leave South Africa in a hurry for any number of reasons: political unrest, crazy bird flu cases etc. So we will be celebrating St. Patty’s Day with our friends in the area. And this weekend is a long weekend (YEAH, traveling) because Tuesday is Human Rights Day. We are heading out to a place called Augrebies Falls to see (I guess) one of the world’s loudest waterfalls….who knew that is how they categorize them!? But everyone who has been to the place has loved it…so hope it awesome because there isn’t much living in the middle of the desert!

Monkey See Monkey Do

10 March 2006

10 March 2006

I guess I have to put a disclaimer on this to cover my butt...
These are our thoughts and may not be the same as the Peace Corps


Hello All,

Wondering why you haven’t heard from us in a while? On Wednesday we returned from almost two weeks of training in Polokwane – the same town where we spent the first two months of our South African stay. It was a chance to come back together after being in the country for 6 months, and share ideas and stories with the 40 other education volunteers that we swore in with. We got a few more vaccinations, some good information on getting funding for community projects and all kinds of other things. Aside from Polokwane being VERY, VERY far away, we had a really great trip. It was fun to hang out with a lot of other Americans again and hear everyone’s success and horror stories. We had a lot of laughs. It took us two days of traveling to reach Polokwane, but we got to stop off in Pretoria (capitol of SA) for two nights on the way there. Pretoria feels a lot like any American city. We got to go out to dinner, to a coffee shop, to a craft market, and even heard some live music one night.

Training was long, but like I said, just fun to see old friends again. For the last three days of our training, we were allowed to bring a ‘counterpart’ from our village for Life Skills training, so we invited our host mother. Life Skills training in general is an HIV/AIDS awareness program directed at teenagers, but it also teaches other things like self confidence and how to make a good decision, and about gender roles and self-esteem. It seems like a pretty good program, and I think we will try to get a group of middle and high school aged kids together to teach after school at some point in the future.

Also during training, we made a pretty rash decision. Adam and I both signed up to run the LongTom half marathon on April 8th – a short month away. The race is a benefit for a foundation started by two Peace Corps volunteers about two years ago. They raise money to send an underprivileged child from a rural village to a top-of-the-line high school. The first child started school in January, and I guess is doing quite well. We both try to raise $1000, so you’ll probably be hearing from us soon with fundraising details for those interested. I am a tad intimidated by the thought of running 21K (about 13 miles!), but I have a training program in the works and I’m trying to think positively. So far, I have only been training for about 5 days, so there’s not much progress to report yet. The race is somewhat famous, I guess, among ultra marathoners. There is a half marathon and an ultra marathon on the same day – no, neither of us are attempting the 56K ultra marathon. That would be insane. It’s held in a small town called Sabie in Mpumalanga Province. The marathon falls over our first school break, so it will also provide us with a reason to travel around and see another part of the country. Before the race, we are planning a trip to Swaziland to maybe do some white water rafting in a crocodile infested river and some caving as well. We also hope to visit a few game reserves and see some of those big African animals. Can’t wait!! It will be our first real South African vacation.

Andrea

The IST fun...

Where you eat?!

Me and Shamus

Dan in a shocking surprise

The Ladies

Don't Ask

I think he is just constipated

20 February 2006

20 February 2006

Sunday the 12th Lerato and I went to the best church service! It was a dreary Sunday morning with the rain continuing from the night before. Everything was very wet and the rain didn’t seem to be letting up. Our host father, and brother and us got into the combi and head off to the next village over to go to church. To our surprise (not really, because they say church starts at 8 but no one shows up until 9:30) no one was there and the church was locked. Papa got on the phone to see what the matter was. As he was phoning the preacher for the day (the Father of the church alternates between different churches so some Sundays he is elsewhere) pulls up and unlocks the gate. We proceed inside and wait for a few minutes and then the church service starts….yes, with the four of us. A prayer, a reading from the bible, another reading done by Lerato, another reading, prayer, offering and the end. We were in and out in 20 minutes in my very first personal church service!

This last weekend was somewhat exciting. We meet two of our friends in Vryburg on Friday afternoon. Hung out for a while and did a little shopping. Cool thing happened while shopping….we are walking out of the mall and this lady comes out of Wimpy’s Restaurant (kind of like a Steak and Shake) carrying a cat in her arms. In front of her was a man carrying a baby bottle. After a double take, I said out loud, ‘Is that a cheetah?’ In which the man turned around and said, ‘No, it’s a lion, where are you from?’ Which began a short conversion of where we are from and why these people are carrying around a 3 week old lion that we were able to pet!? They knew of Chicago and had visited there…I am assuming to the outdoor show because this couple along with their parents run a safari on a lot of acres on the border of Botswana. Supposedly, the mama lion had abandoned the baby and they hadn’t taken it in. We chatted for a while and the lady was telling us how the baby still can’t see but they have two older babies that are 3 months old that are becoming naughty?! I guess they chase the dogs and cats around the yard…just think in another couple of months they will be eating the dogs and cats in the yard. So this is my first fond experience in a mall. Baby lions…crazy!? At the bed and breakfast we stayed at Friday night, the owner was taking care of a barn owl that was hit by a car. So we got to pet that too although it was still in shock with a mangled wing. The owner said he was going to keep it as a pet. On the way home, it was rhinos running in the bush along side the road…seeing deer on the roadside will never be the same.

The reason we were in Vryburg was to see three of our learners compete in the next level track meet. We had 1 take 1st place, one take 3rd place, and one take 4th place. So everyone was happy…and I think 2 will proceed to the next level!

6 months in South Africa on the 18th…crazy we have been gone for that long!

Peace & Love from South Africa
Go Siame le Sala Sentle (Be alright and Stay Well!)

Thabo