Why am I still here?

As I am sitting here writing this, it is one in the morning, I am listening to the evening melody of the frogs and insects. An electrical storm has moved in, knocking out the power, leaving little hope of relief from this summer heat. My fan sits silently as the air in my room becomes stagnant and the mosquitoes swoop in from every direction in hopes of a meal. My sandals are wedged under the door to keep the frogs out, while the fattened lizards call my walls home. I have been living in Africa for a year now. I am torn between think that this past year has flown by while at the same time being the longest year of my life.

It was a year ago this week that I was anxiously packing my bags, soaking up the last conveniences that America has to offer and saying goodbye. As I reflect on my first weeks in South Africa, I can’t help but think of how naive I was at that time. I knew there would be the highs and the lows, the rough patches and some bumps along the way but had I known what I was in for I think I would had turned right around and bid Africa a farewell. But what an incredible journey this first year has been.

Someone recently asked me why I am still here, why haven’t I just thrown in the shovel and gone right home. After all, I have been sick more often than not, the work is less than ideal, and I have slept in a bed full of maggots. There have been times when I was about to pack my bags and go but there are many reasons why I am still here.

1. The first reason I am still here is because of all the support and encouragement from my family and friends back home, as well as, from people I don’t even know.

2. I also wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for a few good Peace Corps friends. We may live hours apart and see each other only every couple of months but they are only a SMS away.

3. There is the typical answer that I am here to make an impact and do incredible work, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon. I feel that my life, knowledge, and understanding of the world has changed far more than I would ever be able to impact the lives of those around me.

4. My purely selfish reason is to prove to myself that if I can live in rural South Africa and all that that entails for two years, it will give me the confidence to know that I can handle whatever curve balls life throws my way.

My date with the Ambassador

With the bad comes the good. Last weekend I got called into the Peace Corps office in Pretoria due to medical issues. When I arrived on Monday I was a mess, not just due to medical issues but due to the fact that I had taken the night bus from Durban to Pretoria. I was running on very little sleep; I am one of those people who NEEDS my sleep or I just don’t function. Between exhaustion, illness, and the emotional roller coaster that is the Peace Corps, I was at my breaking point.

Long story short, I got sick at just the right time. Since I was in already in Pretoria, I got invited over to the Ambassador’s house for Thanksgiving dinner! Late Wednesday afternoon I got a call from the Peace Corps office asking me if I would like to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Ambassador and his family. You don’t have to ask me twice! So, Thursday morning I went out and bought a new dress for the occasion. I splurged a little but justified it with the fact that I had not purchased a single item of clothing in the ten months I have been in country. I even put on mascara for the grand occasion. That afternoon four other Peace Corps volunteers and I showed up at the Ambassadors house.

We were among 40 people dinning with the Ambassador and his family that night. As we sat around the grand table that evening, we enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving feast and great company. I experience reverse culture shock being surrounded by so many Americans in such an American setting. I wasn’t sure how to interact with the American children, I found myself stepping back and observing the children, amazed by their interactions and the fact that they spoke English. As the night came to a close, we said our goodbyes, took many pictures and headed our separate ways. Some people flew back to the states (they were here on holiday), the others headed back to their large houses in the city and as for us PCVs, we are on our way back to our pit toilets, bucket baths and huts in rural Africa. What an incredible experience. It was amazing to feel like I was back home, if only for an evening, even if it meant going through all the medical issues.

Tid Bits

I have compiled a list of experiences, observations, fact, and differences to share with you all in order to give you a better understanding of my life here in rural South Africa. This list could go on much longer but I don’t want to bore you to death, so for now I limited the list to fifteen.

*The longer I am here, the worse my English gets (and it was bad to begin with), therefore, please ignore all punctuation, grammatical, and spelling errors.

1. Transportation: Road rule #1 - Cars have the right away, especially taxis. Time is money in the taxi business, therefore, taxis do not slow down when people are in the road; instead, they hit the gas thus insuring that people move out of their way quicker.
2. Cultural Difference: Traditionally, a Zulu speaker will pass something to you using the right hand only, with the palm of the left hand supporting the right forearm. This is done to show you have nothing to fear and that nothing is being hidden away. (Personal Note: I am left handed and frequently forget to use my right hand, opps, hope I have not offended anyone.).
3. Personal Note: The Peace Corps experience is the most emotionally challenging experience I have ever had.
4. Country Fact: The president of South Africa is Jacob Zuma, also referred to as JZ. Zuma has been married 5 times (polygamist) and has 20 children.
5. Food Fact: The staple food in the Zulu diet is maize meal (similar to cornmeal). Maize meal is eaten with nearly every meal. In the morning it is made into porridge (my favorite way to eat maize meal). It is also used to make pap (stiff pap) or phuthu. These are used as the base to a meal (similar to how we would use rice) with meat and gravy on top. In the summer, they enjoy eating phuthu mixed with sour milk.
6. Cultural Difference: Gratitude is often expressed by gestures rather than words. Instead of saying “Siyabonga” (thank you) when receiving an item, one will clap their hands, curtsy, accept the offering with both hands, or place the right hand on the forearm (same as when passing an object, see # 2). It can be considered rude to accept something using only one hand.
7. Food Fact: They love their meat and they do not waste any of it! In the frozen food section of the grocery store you can buy “Walky talky,” chicken heads and feet. They also enjoy tripe (animal intestines). And their idea of a good dessert is to chew on the bones and suck out all the marrow.
8. Personal Note: Thus, I have become a vegetarian while living in South Africa. There are too many mystery meats and they handle the meat much differently (i.e. it sits out for long periods of time while flies enjoy a meal).
9. Transportation: When getting on a taxi at a taxi rink, the taxi must be full (normally 15 passengers) before the taxi will leave. This can take anywhere from five minutes to hours. The longest I have had to wait so far has been four hours. What would normally be a quick errand turns into an all day event when using public transportation.
10. Cultural Differences: The African handshake is a variation of the conventional handshake. Shake hands and without letting go, slip your hand around the other person’s thumb. You then go back to the traditional handshake.
11. Country Fact: South Africa has 11 official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.
12. Personal Note: I have adopted many South African words into my vocabulary including, saying in exclamation: eish, hhybo, how (said really fast), and shame. As well as other common words like braai (a bbq), bhaki (truck), and quantum (taxi).
13. Transportation: Even on the HOTTEST days, no one opens the windows in a taxi. This makes for a great environment for TB to be spread.
14. Cultural Difference: A child is taught to look down when addressing his elders, to speak quietly and to speak only when spoken to. They are also taught not to stand taller than the elders (i.e. elder sitting and child standing). When a child enters a room with elders (any adults) they will get on their knees and speak softly while avoiding all eye contact. This is a sign of respect.
15. Observations: Everything runs on “African time.” Nothing starts or ends on time and it can take hours, days, weeks, months, and even years to get anything accomplished.

Coffee Bay

I must first apologize to my loyal fans as I have negated to write in quite a while. The truth is, not much is happening on this end. Life is the same, day in and day out. One of the reasons for this has been because of a big strike that has been taking place. I won’t get into specifics but pretty much the teachers were striking for about a month. When there are no teachers, there are no students, and when there are no students, there is no work. The issue has still not been resolved; however, the strike has been suspended for 21 days. We are still waiting to see if the government will meet their demands.

In August I took my first South African vacation! Two friends (fellow PCVs) and I headed to a rural village in the Eastern Cape called Coffee Bay. What a truly beautiful place! We went on a couple hikes, sat on the beach, and just relaxed. I even jumped off a few cliffs! Here are some pictures from my trip.

Jill Kim and me on a hike

Watching the sunset

















Kim and Jill















My host family's store.

It's A Kodak Moment

As I sit here alone in my room, I am listening to the pider pader of the rain on my roof and the drip drop as it hits the floor; I thought that I would post more pictures for those of you who do not have facebook. Hopefully there will be some never-before-seen pictures as well. So here is a hodgepodge from the previous six months in South Africa.

This is Kim and me on a weekend getaway. Both a little chubbier than before, and somehow we always manage to dress alike. We have actually been mistaken as the same person on several occasions.


During the month of the World Cup the kids were on Winter Holiday. As part of Noah, we put on a week long camp for the kids. This is a picture of some of the kids and volunteers.

As part of the camp we had a soccer (football) tournament.


For our In-Service Training we were back up in Mpumalanga so I got the opportunity to go back to Bundu and visit my host family that I lived with during training.
Kabelo & Mibebeza


Ruby & Kabelo
(Ruby is still as fat as ever!)


And then of course it would not be complete without a couple pictures of my adorable (yet sometimes terrors) nieces.
This is Akona showing off ALL the hair stuff that Ashley mailed me


And this is Wandile enjoying the musical birthday card my sister sent me

My Creative Side

As I have probably mentioned before, I have a lot of spare time on my hands. Many PCVs use this time to take up new hobbies such as learning to knit, sew, sing the alphabet in reverse, juggle, and even compete to see how long they can grow their armpit hair. As for me, my most resent endeavor has become building shelves using scrap materials. I saw a need for shelves because I have a lack of storage space in my rondival. My first goal was to build a spice rack for my kitchen. All I used was some cardboard and string and BAM, I have a spice rack that hangs from the beams above. I was so proud of my spice rack/shelf that I decided to try my hand at building a bookshelf. My books were not getting used; I just had them stored away in a suitcase. So yesterday I gathered up wooden boards and bricks to construct a little bookshelf. After adding the final touches to my bookshelf this morning, I brought my host mom to my room to show her my new amazing shelves that I was extremely proud of. I guess she was not as impressed because she just stood there and shock her head in disapproval saying, “We must fix this” and then turned around and left. After about ten minutes she returned with newspaper, bigger boards, and better bricks and got to work building me a better bookshelf. After she completed that she moved on to my spice rack to make it look more presentable… whatever makes her happy. I think she just enjoyed helping out her new daughter, so I just let her do what she felt needed to be done. After all, mom knows best!

I have now lived in my rondival for four months and this whole time there has been some sort of animal body part hanging from the ceiling beam. I never took it down because I knew it had some significant meaning. So today, while we were constructing my better bookshelf I asked my host mom why exactly I have an animal part hanging in my room. She continued to tell me that they slaughtered a goat in here as an offering to the ancestors. That body part symbolizes the offering and now the ancestors watch over my rondival. Mom and Dad, you know longer have to worry, I not only have a guard dog and burglar bars, I also have goat intestine (ancestors) to protect me.

As for my armpit hair…it’s getting pretty long.

Pictures:
1)Spice rack in my kitchen
2)New and improved bookshelf (resource library)
3) Goat intestine protecting my rondival.