Post Invitation South Africa (super belated and quick update)

Hello readers! I last left you with the one and only post of this sad little blog, but here I am now with updates and even some pictures! I accepted my invitation and left for staging in Atlanta, Georgia on July 10^th, 2012. Staging is a short 2 day orientation where you are given the overview of what your Peace Corps service will be like. Basically it was two days of flip chart presentations, icebreakers, and just getting to know your cohort (ours is aptly named SA26). Our group is a great mix of recent college grads, mid careers (like me), and retirees. Out of the 41 of us, I would say 10 are 50+, 20 are 22-23, and 11 of us are 25-45. It’s a great range of experiences and a lot of energy, and I’m glad to call all of these people my friends.

My flight to South Africa was about 16 hours, but I got to sit next to a fellow PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) named Diana and we got to know each other. I also watched a lot of movies and slept for a couple of hours. We landed in Johannesburg around 5pm, then drove 3 hours to our training site at Ndebele Teacher Training College in the Siyabuswa municipality of the Mpumalanga province. Our dorms were basic by American standards and I roomed with Ted, a super cool Korean-American volunteer who is also from southern California. We laughed that they put the only two Asian people out of 44 in the same room. We stayed for about a week at the college and had daily language, cross cultural, health, safety, and other orientation type sessions. Finally, we were announced a language to be learning (I got isiNdebele), and we moved out of the dorms to our first host families.

I lived with Jon and Ana Mashika, and their 9 year old granddaughter Nonkolo in a village called Waterval. They are incredibly kind people, and welcomed me with open arms. My host father and mother both speak and understand a good amount of English, so between their English and my broken isiNdebele we get along just fine. My first night at homestay I was frighteningly homesick and I called home nearly in tears, but since then I have gotten more acclimated to my life here, I have even learned how to herd sheep! Well, mostly I just chase them around with a stick, but I think that’s how herding originally started.

My days in Waterval and Ndebele College during Pre Service Training were very regimented and scheduled with every half an hour accounted for. I would leave home between 6 and 7 to meet my friend Carolyn who lived just a few houses down the block. We would take a taxi to the college campus and then start our teacher training, cross cultural, and language classes for the day. We would end around 5pm, and get home around 6 or 6:30 depending on the swiftness of the taxis. Carolyn and I would walk home, usually stopping at a tuck shop (think bodega) to grab some amazimba (chips), umborotho (bread), or cold drinks. I would get home about an hour before sunset, play with my host sister and her friends (usually a game called stones, very similar to jacks) and greet my parents. Every day after dinner (which usually consisted of chicken, corn meal porridge, rice, and some kind of vegetable or another starch) Nonkolo and I would play cards. Funny story regarding cards with Nonkolo: There was one week where she was consistently beating me, and I couldn’t figure out why. Then I noticed that she was always looking behind me, and was looking at my cards’ reflection in the cabinet behind! I scolded her for cheating and then refused to play for a couple days, but inside the competitive jerk inside of me was actually really proud of her for being so clever (hey a W is a W). Anyway, I stayed with the Mashika family for 2 months before recently being moved to my permanent site in a large village about an hour from Waterval (I’m not allowed to state the name of the village on this blog due to security reasons). It was difficult to leave Waterval as I had just left my family in the United States, really bonded with another family, then had to leave yet again. Peace Corps definitely tugs on one’s emotional heartstrings, but you stay strong and persevere.

Ah yes, as of 3 weeks ago I am also an official PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) as before I was merely a Peace Corps Trainee (see pics). I will update this blog soon with some pictures of my new village and family. In the meantime, thanks for reading and apologies for being so slow. Also, special thanks to Lanelle for getting on my case to update the blog.