26 August 2006

23 August, 2006

It’s springtime here in South Africa, and you know what that means. Flowers! And not just any flowers, desert flowers. Last weekend we grabbed two friends, took a taxi to Upington, rented a car, and drove west to Namaqualand. The spring flowers of Namaqualand are legendary here. We were near a town called Springbok – about 3-4 hours west of Upington, and let me tell you there’s not much between the two. We drove through some of the emptiest land I have ever seen, and yes, I have driven through Nevada. We barely even saw other cars, and maybe 4 farmhouses. It was beautiful though, in a rustic way. We camped out in Springbok – some of the only people in the campground in an actual tent, not the giant RV complete with TV, fridge, stove and toilet that most Afrikaaners call ‘camping’. They were the smart ones that night though because it was COLD! There was frost outside our tent door in the morning. But never fear, the outrageous South African temperature swing had us in shorts and t-shirts by noon. We set out early for the nearby national park. We were too early – the flowers hadn’t woken up yet. So we headed out for a hike and watched the flowers open along the way. They were everywhere! Every color and variety you can imagine and even some you can’t. Flowers were blooming on every patch of dirt in sight and some even right out of cracks in the rocks. It was quite amazing. After the hike we went on a little drive. The most spectacular displays are in the open fields, which are just awash in orange and purple, yellow and white. It was really incredible and I have never seen anything like it. I really can’t find the words to describe it, so I’m going to include some pictures too.
Back in the village, life is busy. We have started the World Map Project, the calling card of any Peace Corps education volunteer. It involves - you guessed it - painting large maps of the world on an exterior wall of the school, as a resource and decoration. This week we started painting the first of our world maps. We have only had one minor problem so far – the realization that overhead projectors don’t work really well in the middle of the day. So Tuesday evening we hopped on our bikes and rode the half-hour to school to trace the projected map after the sun had gone down. That attracted some attention! But we got it drawn, and then had a wonderful half-hour ride back home in the pitch-black African night. I mean we could hardly even see the lines on the road, much less those cows and donkeys that wander around all the time. But it was a cool experience, alone on our bikes in the dark, quiet, veld, and we made it home safely. A friend is coming next week to help us paint at the rest of our schools, in return for us helping him paint his schools too. We’ll include some photos soon.

Take care,
Lerato

18 August 2006

18 August 2006

One year down…
It is one year today that the plane touched down on African soil. Since then, we HAVE looked back, forward, and all around. And we have even looked at the same wall for hours on end. Life has changed, sure, but that is why you live life, no? All is well here. We are healthy (a few more bowel movements than anyone should expect) and happy (there are good and then the not so good times)! Culture shock has been quite the experience with a lot of head shaking and disbelief. But learning to live with it and enjoying it is half the fun. Learning to laugh at yourself, even more than normal, is essential. The thing that we have always been the most worried about is not going from home to the third world, but after the next year…coming back to the hustle and bustle of home and a job! That is the scariest thought. If I actually do three hours of solid work in a WEEK, it has been a VERY productive week. I have worked until 16:00 three days this week…very uncharacteristic!?(Yes, I put my good three hours in this week!) Just imagine having to work 8 or 9 hours in a day…NOOOOOOOoooooo! Life here has taught me how easy a life I have had growing up. Never having to worry about where the next meal will come from (it is hard thinking about how some of these kids sleep with hunger), always having the love when I get home (it’s usually tough love here…), and things to do (kids just don’t have a lot to do in the village). And I have learned that education probably is the most important thing in a kids’ life (thanks mom and dad for giving me a good one!) and that is one of the only ways to lift these kids up.

On the South African road of life, there are many potholes, bumps and bad shoulders, but with all of that…the scenery is beautiful and that is a real lion roaring at night.

“Life is a journey, not a destination” -Aerosmith

Things we miss from home
Hot showers everyday
Central heating
Fresh Bagels with cream cheese
Not crapping in a hole with flies on my ass
Brown sugar
Chocolate chips
Mama Lib’s famous chocolate chip cookies (please send some…)
My bikes
Family
Friends
Beating Les in racquetball
Meyer’s Dairy and all of its wonderful goodness
Recycling
Variety of restaurant
Barnes & Noble
Sports
Water coming out of a faucet IN your home

Things we don’t miss from home
9 to 5 work day
Only 10 days of vacation a YEAR (not every 3 months?)
Driving and traffic
Abercrombie & Fitch and the like

Things that we won’t miss after two years here
Eating liver
The village walk a.k.a. walking so incredibly slow that you are more tired than if you would have sprinted to the same location
Being lied to regularly.
Garbage blowing in the wind
Eating liver
Being offered feet, head or intestines of an animal
Having no clue what is going on
The WIND
The extreme temperatures…either it is WAY TOO hot or WAY TOO cold!
Watching where you step…you don’t know which animal walked here before you
GOATS (My archenemy here!)
Afrikaaner ‘rock’ music
Cramming 15 people into a van

Things that we will miss after two years here
Working maybe 3 hours a day (a good day)
Donkeys everywhere
Traffic jams consisting of goats, sheep, cows and donkeys
Baby chickens
Our host family
Look on the children’s faces
Being offered feet, head or intestines of an animal
Lending a much needed hand
Slaughtering dinner
Steam bread, stew, fat cakes custard and other favorites that our African mom makes!
Being the minority
Being able to say hello to everyone you walk by in the village
Having no clue what is going on
Slaughtering Thanksgiving dinner
The sunsets, sunrises, and stars
Asking what I’m eating and why
Cramming 15 people into a van


Cheers to 1 year in Africa!
Sharp,
Thabo

12 August 2006

Another day, another dollar (literally).

Last weekend was taken up by my attendance of our host grandmother’s 90th birthday party. She is alive and kicking quite well. She still has many of her teeth which is more impressive than one would think considering half the population over 50 are missing most of theirs. She is still quite sharp and would give her say of things without even thinking about it! Being 90 means she was born in 1916, which is crazy. But the funny thing is she speaks English pretty well.
It was a two-day party…and one goat did lose its life! It started Saturday, which was her official birthday. Although here, people tend to not really know when they were born, both day and year! Saturday was a family bbq with a giant cake. They really like really big cakes here, not a bad thing for a sweet tooth. It was a small gathering with a lot of family and a few friends. Nothing over adventurous…she is 90 after all.
Sunday consisted of an at home church service (perks of when you are 90, church comes to you!?) to celebrate 90 years and then eating an entire goat with samp(boiled corn stuff). Yes about 30 people were able to eat an entire goat…quite impressive. I helped but I can’t do anything compared to the big mommas here!
School was a normal (at least South African normal) this week. The highlight was when one educator asked me “How long is a meter stick?”…welcome to my world.
I have been helping my African parents with wedding invitation for the oldest brothers wedding in September. They think that I am a magician with the computer. And at one point (as everyone already knows….!) during the week, my host mother called me “perfect”. It made Lerato roll her eyes and gag. She said it went to my head, but I just like hearing it every once in a while!!!


The Birthday Grandmother (yes it’s a wig) and some (I lost track at 10 or so) grandkids

Sister’s Brother’s Aunt’s Mother-In-Laws Cousin’s Daughter…or something like that. The Family trees here are crazy…anyways, the kid is cute

Host mother wearing a wig! Funny


Grandma with cake smeared on here face…its some sort of weird tradition!?

04 August 2006

04 August 2006

As I now have younger brothers (Paseka is 8 and Tlalefo is 1 in August), I can now see what it is like to be a big brother. And as I slowly grow up (let me emphasize the slowly) and become an adult I am beginning to see things in a different light. It cracks me up…

Paseka is 8 and in Grade 2. He has more than a vast majority of the children in the village and most of the time he deals with that gracefully! He is what I would consider tall and skinny. Actually I would consider him a twig, and I am guessing this was how I was built when I was that young. I can’t really remember back then, though. I do remember high school as time of eating…and lots of it. I assuming when I was younger I has a big appetite as well. BUT Paseka would eat all day. His biological mother visited this past weekend. What that usually involves is a trip to town (that is a big deal for the kids in the village and doesn’t happen very often at all) and some new stuff. She usually brings clothes for him so he can look sharp. He usually gets to pick out a toy while in town. Along with the most important thing…going grocery shopping. What this usually involves is A LOT of sweets. And when I say a lot, I mean I couldn’t consumer them in a week a lot. But starting Saturday afternoon, he has been consuming cookies, candy, chocolate at an alarming rate. Saturday and Sunday he was living any kids dream. No one cared what he was eating. He didn’t eat his dinner because he had and was eating sweets ALL day. Yesterday was the best though. After eating about half of his actual dinner. He ate a piece of cake, some biscuits, and custard. I had made authentic (now that my mother brought real brown sugar from home) chocolate chip cookies, He had two of those and then hit the half. He could really talk or eat any more (yes, it goes back to that one time in high school when I ate so much food at Patty’s restaurant that I went to the bathroom and puked because I literally couldn’t fit anymore food in me!)! He was distraught and defeated…all he could do was lick his wounds and go straight to bed. Hoping tomorrow he will feel better and attack the sweets one more time.

Pretty crazy when you think that it is already August. 18th of this month we will have been in South Africa!?!

Things are going well except for the weather. This week started with such promise. Saturday was nice and Sunday was summer like. Things change quick on the weather front in the middle of nowhere. By Wednesday the terrible chill was in the air with cold rain and STRONG wind. Friday it is finally starting to get nice again but they are once again predicting nights below freeze…I like my sleeping bag even more now!

Thabo