Well it’s been a busy few weeks in rural Swaziland. Tomorrow starts the project I have been working on since January! I can’t believe that it’s already time for it to happen. Monday through Wednesday, our RHMs who are the community health volunteers (like informal nurses) are having their trainings on HIV/AIDS one day, TB the next, then basic care and hygiene, family planning and circumcision the next day. Then next weeks starts our three weeks of community training sessions that the RHMs will teach. The past few weeks, the RHMs have been conducting surveys of the community to see what their knowledge of these topics was before the training, then we’ll do it again in September and hopefully there will be an increase in knowledge of these topics.
This past weekend was extremely busy preparing for the next few weeks of trainings. On Thursday, my counterpart and I had a marathon afternoon in town buying and printing and photocopying everything we need for the next four weeks. From 400 notebooks and pens to two thousand rand of food, we bought it all. It was crazy. On Friday afternoon we went on a chicken scouting adventure (Ali, you might want to skip this part). We picked out five chickens for the RHM training lunches and told the Make we would come back tomorrow to buy them before a few of the RHMs came to kill and clean them the next afternoon. As we were leaving, my counterpart said there was a good chance she would have to go into town tomorrow and could I handle the buying and carrying and oversee the killing and cleaning tomorrow by myself? Um, excuse me? I hesitantly agreed, because there was really no other option, and prayed she wouldn’t have to go. That whole night I kept thinking that if it were at all possible, I would call my mom and she would come down to pick me up and we’d go and buy some already killed and cut pieces of chicken from the store, and then go get a Caribou of course. But I guess there’s a time in everyone’s life where they realize they can’t just call their mom to fix the things they don’t want to do, and boy did I learn that one the hard way. Fortunately, my counterpart did not have to go to town the next day. Unfortunately, she called me at 8:30am to tell me this, as well as ask if I could buy the chickens and bring them to our kaGogo Center (across the community) by 10? Um, excuse me? Again? I mean at least I don’t have to worry about killing them, but I still couldn’t buy them from a lady whose language I don’t speak, and certainly can’t carry five chickens. So I grabbed two of my sisis and we ventured off to buy the chickens. It was awful. I’m not sure exactly how many of you have ever carried a chicken before, (Ali, you REALLY won’t want to read this), but you grab its wings and hold them behind its back together in one of your hands. So my sisis grabbed one chicken in each hand and I grabbed one, thinking, “Okay, I can do this.” Well, a few minutes down the road, I look down and see that my chicken is clearly suffocating. I don’t think they’re supposed to be carried like that for long distances. And we weren’t anywhere near where we were dropping them off. So I ask my sisis for help, who reply with “Oh yes, he’s dying.” And then a “Hey you! Why are you dying on Sethabile?” and knock another chicken against him to wake him up. Well of course its one of those things you cant stop watching and I tried to help him but there really wasn’t anything I could do. I kept shifting him from one hand to another, wondering why MINE had to die and not anyone else’s, and he’s not getting any better. And at this point I REALLY just wanted to hand him off to someone (mom?) who would fix it and so I wouldn’t have to deal with it, but my sisis were already holding two chickens. I HAD to carry this guy the rest of the way. I’ll save you the more gruesome details of his wing breaking and blood all over my hands, but lets just say I practically ran the rest of the way and dropped him as quickly as possible. He lived, just barely, until obviously he was killed. After we finally got there, I met up with my counterpart, said thank you to my sisis and headed off to the community garden for some vegetables. After a pit stop at a homestead to play with a baby and some incwancwa for breakfast (you know you’ve been here too long when you actually kind of like the sour, fermented, maize porridge breakfast), we then picked bunches of green peppers, dug out a ton of carrots and beet root, and chopped some cabbage, and hauled our hundred rand of groceries back across the fields, to our dying chickens. I was dreading this part of the day for a while and almost got sucked in to the killing when the bomake didn’t show up at first. But they came eventually, and they killed, cleaned and cut the chickens, and I bought them all fat cakes and sat around the corner. Then I grabbed my bags of cleaned chickens to throw in my family’s fridge and left as quickly as the five heavy chickens would let me.
Needless to say, I did nothing today, resting from my horrifying day yesterday, and gearing up for three weeks of trainings! Here’s hoping it all goes well! And on that note, its bedtime because tomorrow is an early day – just wanted to give you all a quick update on life. Hope you all have a great Memorial Day and eat lots of hamburgers and potato salad!
Love you all and miss you tons,
Megan
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Cape Town Live
Hey all!
First and foremost, a Happy Belated Mother’s Day to the best Mom in the world! : ) Miss you lots Mom and can’t wait to see you in six weeks!
Well, we obviously survived Cape Town. We have all decided that Cape Town is one of the coolest cities on Earth and I highly recommend everyone go there if you ever get a chance. Though, one of the reasons I think it is so cool is because its so far removed from other large cities like it, as opposed to large cities in Europe and the US which are not too far, even Joburg pales in comparison to Cape Town, I think anyway.
We arrived in Joburg to a trash collector’s strike. Yeah. It was gross. Trash everywhere, piled on every street corner and overflowing into the street. It was such a busy city, with the same sort of dirty old buildings we saw in Maputo, just more. You could tell what had been put in or redone specifically for the World Cup and what had obviously not been touched since at least 1960. Interesting fact about Johannesburg, it is the largest city in the world, not on a body of water. Or so I heard from someone and don’t have the internet access to check it for accuracy, so just roll with it. We made it to our hostel and promptly asked for the nearest McDonald’s. We took a cab to the mall with a young man from England who was traveling also, and when we got there we quickly parted way when he said he wanted to shop around and we said we were going to McDonald’s, yeah we’re not obviously American or anything. The mall is apparently the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, though I don’t think it was bigger than the Mall of America, and I proceeded to inform everyone of that fact. ; ) But we found McDonalds on the rooftop food court and proceeded to devour our first McDonald’s meal in ten months. After which I immediately felt sick and it only got worse over the rest of our time at the mall. But did that deter me from getting Micky D’s for the rest of the trip? Not even at all. The next day we packed up and headed out to see Johannesburg before catching our bus to Cape Town that evening. We walked to Museum Africa, which was pretty much a museum about everything and anything that had gone on in South Africa, ever. From the geology of the continent and platetechtonics to fashion and obviously the apartheid. Then, after asking some lovely large policewomen where the best place to eat was (coincidence I swear) they promptly lead us to a place that served only fried chicken, but in every way possible. (I could not make this up.) And it was delicious. We then proceeded to the South African Brewing Company brewery where we were taken on the oddest tour ever, full of mummies, movies with just pictures of water and fire, and something that looked like a scene in the Log Chute at Camp Snoopy. But the free beer at the end was obviously worth it and we got a cool glass too. We then went to our bus, which was great. It was an overnight sleepliner bus so the seats reclined and you could put your feet up and pretty soon 17 hours later we were in Cape Town!
We got there at about 2 and after finding and settling into our hostel; we promptly headed to happy hour. And I’m not even going to lie; we pretty much spent the rest of the day and night in bars drinking real drinks and beers other than Sibebe and watched soccer… that part was unavoidable.
The next day we explored the city and spent a considerable amount of time at both the bank (mine was the only one of all of us Swazis whose bank card worked) and the V & A Waterfront. I would have to say the Waterfront was probably my favorite place in Cape Town, with its boardwalk atmosphere and huge mall and all kinds of different places to eat and drink. I even had potato skins. What’s not to love??
The next day was Good Friday, aka Race Day! We got up early (though not as early as our friend running the half marathon the next day… suckers) and headed to the race. It started and ended at the University, which is at the base of Devil’s Peak, the other end of Table Mountain, aka gorgeous views. The race was so fun, though I’d call it more of a hike you had to do as fast as you could. There were parts I literally could not run because of rocks along a river or a steep steep dirt incline or tree roots all around, and parts where the trail was so narrow, only one person could go through at a time so if the person in front of you was walking, so were you, which sometimes I didn’t mind so much. But I finished feeling great, pretty much sprinting the last 4K or so, so I was pretty happy. After showers and a change of clothes, we promptly headed back to our favorite spot, the Waterfront, and celebrated our race being over.
The next day we got up early again, this time to watch a race. We had a few friends who were running the Half, some volunteers from Lesotho and one of our fellow Swazi volunteers, and we saw them all that morning so it was great. We then decided to take advantage of the good weather we were having and hike Table Mountain. It was a good thing we did because that was the last of the sunny days for the rest of our trip. We, being very smart people, decided to head up there around 2. We took the cable car up to the top and got up there around 3:30. It was so extremely beautiful and we walked all around just taking in the view. After about an hour, we realized we better get going if we wanted to hike down. The map said it would take an hour and fifteen minutes, which would get us down to the bottom just before sunset so we could get a cab and get home. Well, no. If you’ve seen Table Mountain, it is literally a cliff. The path we took was a gorge that ran down the cliff, but it was still pretty steep and ended up taking us a good two and a half hours. I’ll spare the details, but it was way passed dark when we reached the road and called a cab. And having run a race the day before and just climbed down a mountain, my dogs were barking. So we headed back to our hostel, by way of a grocery store, and laid down and fell asleep, much to the chagrin of our friends who had just run the race and were now free to go out and celebrate.
The next day was Easter and we decided to take a trip to Cape Point. Good idea if you have a car. Bad idea because we didn’t, but how could we have known? We took the train to Simon’s Town, which I was extremely happy about because the penguins were there. Well turns out the others only had us stop there because that’s as far down that the train would take us. But I was determined to see the penguins. The train was eventful to say the least. When we were buying our tickets, the lady asked me if I wanted first class and I was so tempted to say “Lady, just because I’m white doesn’t mean I have money!” (that’s what being in the Peace Corps does to you I guess) so we bought third class tickets (apparently there is no second class?) and jumped on our train. The train looked pretty rugged, with the cracked vinyl seats and graffiti EVERYWHERE – but nice graffiti that said things like “be positive!” When they came around for our tickets, the conductor said “You should be in third class.” We said uh yup. And he said “this is first class.” I laughed pretty hard before I realized he was serious. So we got up to move to third before we were quickly informed they do not let tourists go to third class because “you WILL be robbed.” That was all I needed to hear and quickly upgraded our tickets to stay in our current “first class” seats. But we got to Simon’s Town with all of our possessions, thankfully. Unfortunately, as I said, we had no more sunny days, and not only was it not a sunny day, it was raining pretty hard, and we had no rain jackets. And it was Easter, so nothing was open. Except churches I guess, but we were more in the bar mood at this point, never mind it was 10am. We saw a sign for the tourism office, which turned out, obviously, to be closed and tried to ask how to get to the point at the Naval Museum, but got guilted into staying a while because the woman was so happy to have people there. When we finally escaped, we asked directions at a park, where we got the unfortunate news that there was no transport that day because, well, it was Easter. So we stopped at a café to mull over our options, where I made my plea for the penguins and after warming up with some coffee, we headed down to Boulder Beach! The penguins were so cute! It was one of my favorite things we did. We walked out onto a boardwalk where you could get close to many of them, we then walked down to Boulder Beach, which was sweet in and of itself because you could climb all over these HUGE boulders and swim (if it hadn’t been freezing cold and rainy). But the best part of the beach was that the wild penguins were there too! So we were literally walking on the beach with the penguins. It was amazing. Here’s some interesting facts about these cute little guys: two pairs of penguins colonized the beach and now there are a few thousand of them, they were originally called “jackass” penguins because they sound like donkeys (its true!), and they bite. We were crawling through some boulders on the beach to get back out of the park as this was the only way, and what of course is in the small passage but a penguin. Well they’re so darn cute in a zoo, but once one is a foot from you and you know they bite with their sharp beaks, all of a sudden not so cute anymore. And these guys aren’t afraid of humans, obviously, so I had a stand off with this penguin for a minute or so before he quickly lost interest and waddled back out the other side. On our way out to grab something to eat and figure out our next move, we ran into our friends from Lesotho who were headed to the point after a quick stop to see the penguins and who had cars! So we squeezed in with them and headed south. Well, unfortunately we didn’t get to the point, we got to the gate, realized it was R80 per person to enter and the 10 Peace Corps Volunteers decided “no way” and turned around. We did stop at a different beach that was breath taking and it had a peninsula, so I say we say the point. A point anyway. We did see some baboons on our way as well on the side of the road. Here are some baboon safety tips from our visitor’s guide: slow down and stay in your car, keep doors locked and windows closed, if baboons get into your car, get out, open all doors and don’t block their exit, if your bag is taken, remain calm and don’t confront the animal, wait until it leaves and then retrieve your bag, watch out for baboons when you picnic – if they arrive, move, when hiking and carrying a backpack, be aware that baboons might rip it off, place the backpack on the ground beside you – be vigilant and try to guard the bag. Who knew?
The next day we spent the whole day eating and drinking our way around the city, enjoying our last day of good food and real drinks. After dinner we headed to our favorite bar where the boys had beer to go with their Cuban cigars and I obviously had a few Cosmos. It was great. We stayed out with our favorite Lesotho-ans until it was too late to go to bed, as we all had an early exit the next day and obviously had not packed. So we stayed up all night, packed quickly and headed to the train station. As I stood on the platform waiting for the train, I almost fell over twice from falling asleep, vowing never to stay up all night again. We jumped on the train, sat down (as there were no sleeper cars available to upgrade to) and promptly passed out. Two hours later I woke up and for the first time, was not happy to see the Cape Town skyline and beautiful Table Mountain. We had pulled out of the train station and stopped just outside (so we could have a nice view while we sat there??) and had not moved in two hours. It only got worse after that, after having vowed not to stay up all night again, we did again that night as the car was too cold and uncomfortable and bright to sleep. I have honestly never been so cold, I thought we were driving through Antarctica, because definitely couldn’t be Africa. Finally, 30 hours later (five hours late) we stopped in Joburg, jumped on a khumbi, ate the take away dinner of rice, cole slaw, chacolaka, spinach and beef that we have come to know and love/hate, that day it was love, and headed back to Swaziland. I’ll spare you (mom) the racing the border gate closing story and how fast we were actually going as well as what time we finally got to our hostel. But we did, and slept like the dead that night, only waking up to Burke calling unknowingly at 10am. If it wasn’t for that, we probably would have slept past noon for the first time on this continent. We had a nice relaxing Thursday and a great goodbye party for our Country Director Eileen on Friday, before I finally got back to my good ole hut on Saturday and slept and slept and slept all weekend.
All in all it was a fantastic trip, with great friends in a great city. We are all already planning our return trips and I can’t wait to get there again soon (Sue and John??). There is so much we didn’t get to do (the point obviously, the winelands, the seals, robben island) and all we did do, I would love to do again a million times over. Minus the train in the sitter car without blankets. That was just dumb. I also cannot wait to do another trail run, or run in general. I’m planning on the Swazi Half Marathon in September and maybe the 20K Trail Run next year in Cape Town, who knows!
But now that I’m home, that means its project time! We had a meeting with our RHMs on Thursday, handed out our surveys and t-shirts from our MP (Member of Parliament). It was so exciting to get stuff going, but now there is so much that needs to be done in the next three weeks, and we still haven’t gotten our money yet, so there’s a lot of angst along with the excitement. But I’ve decided to roll with it and whatever happens happens because it never happens how you plan it to and, let’s face it, this is Africa. Things won’t happen on time, much less go how you want it to.
I’ve also gotten involved with World Food Programme and their initiative to monitor food distribution to malnourished patients at the local hospitals. I have yet to get to our local hospital so this will be a good chance to help out and to get involved. They also have a program monitoring the NCPs (care points for orphans) that they deliver food to. Unfortunately they aren’t the ones who give food to my NCPs so that isn’t something I am involved in with them, but it gave me some ideas and after June when this project is over, I hope to see where our NCP monitoring is at and see what we can improve on that. Another volunteer has set up a system of taking measurements of the children at the NCPs each month to monitor them for malnutrition, which seems easy enough and can be linked up with NCP monitoring. So lots of activities and ideas in the pot, we’ll see what actually comes to fruition. Right now though, the Health Project has full control of my thoughts.
Whew, ncesini, this was a long one. But its nice to finally have something to update on, I feel like I’ve been slacking a bit lately, but things were a bit boring for a while when we were just waiting of funding to get things going. But its picking up now which is good. And we’re already into May, which means next month will be a year! Can you believe it?? Neither can I.
Well I think that’s all I have, but not before it’s time for my Happy Birthday section…
mkay I think just about all of my family has a birthday in May, so at the risk of leaving anyone out I’m just going to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY and you all know who you are. ; )
Also a big CONGRATS to ALLLLLL my friends and family graduating!!! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you all, high school or college, I am most definitely at your grad party in spirit. Most specifically to my little bro, I know you technically finished a few months ago, but congrats bud, and good luck in college this week!!
Miss you all and love you tons!
Love, Megan
First and foremost, a Happy Belated Mother’s Day to the best Mom in the world! : ) Miss you lots Mom and can’t wait to see you in six weeks!
Well, we obviously survived Cape Town. We have all decided that Cape Town is one of the coolest cities on Earth and I highly recommend everyone go there if you ever get a chance. Though, one of the reasons I think it is so cool is because its so far removed from other large cities like it, as opposed to large cities in Europe and the US which are not too far, even Joburg pales in comparison to Cape Town, I think anyway.
We arrived in Joburg to a trash collector’s strike. Yeah. It was gross. Trash everywhere, piled on every street corner and overflowing into the street. It was such a busy city, with the same sort of dirty old buildings we saw in Maputo, just more. You could tell what had been put in or redone specifically for the World Cup and what had obviously not been touched since at least 1960. Interesting fact about Johannesburg, it is the largest city in the world, not on a body of water. Or so I heard from someone and don’t have the internet access to check it for accuracy, so just roll with it. We made it to our hostel and promptly asked for the nearest McDonald’s. We took a cab to the mall with a young man from England who was traveling also, and when we got there we quickly parted way when he said he wanted to shop around and we said we were going to McDonald’s, yeah we’re not obviously American or anything. The mall is apparently the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, though I don’t think it was bigger than the Mall of America, and I proceeded to inform everyone of that fact. ; ) But we found McDonalds on the rooftop food court and proceeded to devour our first McDonald’s meal in ten months. After which I immediately felt sick and it only got worse over the rest of our time at the mall. But did that deter me from getting Micky D’s for the rest of the trip? Not even at all. The next day we packed up and headed out to see Johannesburg before catching our bus to Cape Town that evening. We walked to Museum Africa, which was pretty much a museum about everything and anything that had gone on in South Africa, ever. From the geology of the continent and platetechtonics to fashion and obviously the apartheid. Then, after asking some lovely large policewomen where the best place to eat was (coincidence I swear) they promptly lead us to a place that served only fried chicken, but in every way possible. (I could not make this up.) And it was delicious. We then proceeded to the South African Brewing Company brewery where we were taken on the oddest tour ever, full of mummies, movies with just pictures of water and fire, and something that looked like a scene in the Log Chute at Camp Snoopy. But the free beer at the end was obviously worth it and we got a cool glass too. We then went to our bus, which was great. It was an overnight sleepliner bus so the seats reclined and you could put your feet up and pretty soon 17 hours later we were in Cape Town!
We got there at about 2 and after finding and settling into our hostel; we promptly headed to happy hour. And I’m not even going to lie; we pretty much spent the rest of the day and night in bars drinking real drinks and beers other than Sibebe and watched soccer… that part was unavoidable.
The next day we explored the city and spent a considerable amount of time at both the bank (mine was the only one of all of us Swazis whose bank card worked) and the V & A Waterfront. I would have to say the Waterfront was probably my favorite place in Cape Town, with its boardwalk atmosphere and huge mall and all kinds of different places to eat and drink. I even had potato skins. What’s not to love??
The next day was Good Friday, aka Race Day! We got up early (though not as early as our friend running the half marathon the next day… suckers) and headed to the race. It started and ended at the University, which is at the base of Devil’s Peak, the other end of Table Mountain, aka gorgeous views. The race was so fun, though I’d call it more of a hike you had to do as fast as you could. There were parts I literally could not run because of rocks along a river or a steep steep dirt incline or tree roots all around, and parts where the trail was so narrow, only one person could go through at a time so if the person in front of you was walking, so were you, which sometimes I didn’t mind so much. But I finished feeling great, pretty much sprinting the last 4K or so, so I was pretty happy. After showers and a change of clothes, we promptly headed back to our favorite spot, the Waterfront, and celebrated our race being over.
The next day we got up early again, this time to watch a race. We had a few friends who were running the Half, some volunteers from Lesotho and one of our fellow Swazi volunteers, and we saw them all that morning so it was great. We then decided to take advantage of the good weather we were having and hike Table Mountain. It was a good thing we did because that was the last of the sunny days for the rest of our trip. We, being very smart people, decided to head up there around 2. We took the cable car up to the top and got up there around 3:30. It was so extremely beautiful and we walked all around just taking in the view. After about an hour, we realized we better get going if we wanted to hike down. The map said it would take an hour and fifteen minutes, which would get us down to the bottom just before sunset so we could get a cab and get home. Well, no. If you’ve seen Table Mountain, it is literally a cliff. The path we took was a gorge that ran down the cliff, but it was still pretty steep and ended up taking us a good two and a half hours. I’ll spare the details, but it was way passed dark when we reached the road and called a cab. And having run a race the day before and just climbed down a mountain, my dogs were barking. So we headed back to our hostel, by way of a grocery store, and laid down and fell asleep, much to the chagrin of our friends who had just run the race and were now free to go out and celebrate.
The next day was Easter and we decided to take a trip to Cape Point. Good idea if you have a car. Bad idea because we didn’t, but how could we have known? We took the train to Simon’s Town, which I was extremely happy about because the penguins were there. Well turns out the others only had us stop there because that’s as far down that the train would take us. But I was determined to see the penguins. The train was eventful to say the least. When we were buying our tickets, the lady asked me if I wanted first class and I was so tempted to say “Lady, just because I’m white doesn’t mean I have money!” (that’s what being in the Peace Corps does to you I guess) so we bought third class tickets (apparently there is no second class?) and jumped on our train. The train looked pretty rugged, with the cracked vinyl seats and graffiti EVERYWHERE – but nice graffiti that said things like “be positive!” When they came around for our tickets, the conductor said “You should be in third class.” We said uh yup. And he said “this is first class.” I laughed pretty hard before I realized he was serious. So we got up to move to third before we were quickly informed they do not let tourists go to third class because “you WILL be robbed.” That was all I needed to hear and quickly upgraded our tickets to stay in our current “first class” seats. But we got to Simon’s Town with all of our possessions, thankfully. Unfortunately, as I said, we had no more sunny days, and not only was it not a sunny day, it was raining pretty hard, and we had no rain jackets. And it was Easter, so nothing was open. Except churches I guess, but we were more in the bar mood at this point, never mind it was 10am. We saw a sign for the tourism office, which turned out, obviously, to be closed and tried to ask how to get to the point at the Naval Museum, but got guilted into staying a while because the woman was so happy to have people there. When we finally escaped, we asked directions at a park, where we got the unfortunate news that there was no transport that day because, well, it was Easter. So we stopped at a café to mull over our options, where I made my plea for the penguins and after warming up with some coffee, we headed down to Boulder Beach! The penguins were so cute! It was one of my favorite things we did. We walked out onto a boardwalk where you could get close to many of them, we then walked down to Boulder Beach, which was sweet in and of itself because you could climb all over these HUGE boulders and swim (if it hadn’t been freezing cold and rainy). But the best part of the beach was that the wild penguins were there too! So we were literally walking on the beach with the penguins. It was amazing. Here’s some interesting facts about these cute little guys: two pairs of penguins colonized the beach and now there are a few thousand of them, they were originally called “jackass” penguins because they sound like donkeys (its true!), and they bite. We were crawling through some boulders on the beach to get back out of the park as this was the only way, and what of course is in the small passage but a penguin. Well they’re so darn cute in a zoo, but once one is a foot from you and you know they bite with their sharp beaks, all of a sudden not so cute anymore. And these guys aren’t afraid of humans, obviously, so I had a stand off with this penguin for a minute or so before he quickly lost interest and waddled back out the other side. On our way out to grab something to eat and figure out our next move, we ran into our friends from Lesotho who were headed to the point after a quick stop to see the penguins and who had cars! So we squeezed in with them and headed south. Well, unfortunately we didn’t get to the point, we got to the gate, realized it was R80 per person to enter and the 10 Peace Corps Volunteers decided “no way” and turned around. We did stop at a different beach that was breath taking and it had a peninsula, so I say we say the point. A point anyway. We did see some baboons on our way as well on the side of the road. Here are some baboon safety tips from our visitor’s guide: slow down and stay in your car, keep doors locked and windows closed, if baboons get into your car, get out, open all doors and don’t block their exit, if your bag is taken, remain calm and don’t confront the animal, wait until it leaves and then retrieve your bag, watch out for baboons when you picnic – if they arrive, move, when hiking and carrying a backpack, be aware that baboons might rip it off, place the backpack on the ground beside you – be vigilant and try to guard the bag. Who knew?
The next day we spent the whole day eating and drinking our way around the city, enjoying our last day of good food and real drinks. After dinner we headed to our favorite bar where the boys had beer to go with their Cuban cigars and I obviously had a few Cosmos. It was great. We stayed out with our favorite Lesotho-ans until it was too late to go to bed, as we all had an early exit the next day and obviously had not packed. So we stayed up all night, packed quickly and headed to the train station. As I stood on the platform waiting for the train, I almost fell over twice from falling asleep, vowing never to stay up all night again. We jumped on the train, sat down (as there were no sleeper cars available to upgrade to) and promptly passed out. Two hours later I woke up and for the first time, was not happy to see the Cape Town skyline and beautiful Table Mountain. We had pulled out of the train station and stopped just outside (so we could have a nice view while we sat there??) and had not moved in two hours. It only got worse after that, after having vowed not to stay up all night again, we did again that night as the car was too cold and uncomfortable and bright to sleep. I have honestly never been so cold, I thought we were driving through Antarctica, because definitely couldn’t be Africa. Finally, 30 hours later (five hours late) we stopped in Joburg, jumped on a khumbi, ate the take away dinner of rice, cole slaw, chacolaka, spinach and beef that we have come to know and love/hate, that day it was love, and headed back to Swaziland. I’ll spare you (mom) the racing the border gate closing story and how fast we were actually going as well as what time we finally got to our hostel. But we did, and slept like the dead that night, only waking up to Burke calling unknowingly at 10am. If it wasn’t for that, we probably would have slept past noon for the first time on this continent. We had a nice relaxing Thursday and a great goodbye party for our Country Director Eileen on Friday, before I finally got back to my good ole hut on Saturday and slept and slept and slept all weekend.
All in all it was a fantastic trip, with great friends in a great city. We are all already planning our return trips and I can’t wait to get there again soon (Sue and John??). There is so much we didn’t get to do (the point obviously, the winelands, the seals, robben island) and all we did do, I would love to do again a million times over. Minus the train in the sitter car without blankets. That was just dumb. I also cannot wait to do another trail run, or run in general. I’m planning on the Swazi Half Marathon in September and maybe the 20K Trail Run next year in Cape Town, who knows!
But now that I’m home, that means its project time! We had a meeting with our RHMs on Thursday, handed out our surveys and t-shirts from our MP (Member of Parliament). It was so exciting to get stuff going, but now there is so much that needs to be done in the next three weeks, and we still haven’t gotten our money yet, so there’s a lot of angst along with the excitement. But I’ve decided to roll with it and whatever happens happens because it never happens how you plan it to and, let’s face it, this is Africa. Things won’t happen on time, much less go how you want it to.
I’ve also gotten involved with World Food Programme and their initiative to monitor food distribution to malnourished patients at the local hospitals. I have yet to get to our local hospital so this will be a good chance to help out and to get involved. They also have a program monitoring the NCPs (care points for orphans) that they deliver food to. Unfortunately they aren’t the ones who give food to my NCPs so that isn’t something I am involved in with them, but it gave me some ideas and after June when this project is over, I hope to see where our NCP monitoring is at and see what we can improve on that. Another volunteer has set up a system of taking measurements of the children at the NCPs each month to monitor them for malnutrition, which seems easy enough and can be linked up with NCP monitoring. So lots of activities and ideas in the pot, we’ll see what actually comes to fruition. Right now though, the Health Project has full control of my thoughts.
Whew, ncesini, this was a long one. But its nice to finally have something to update on, I feel like I’ve been slacking a bit lately, but things were a bit boring for a while when we were just waiting of funding to get things going. But its picking up now which is good. And we’re already into May, which means next month will be a year! Can you believe it?? Neither can I.
Well I think that’s all I have, but not before it’s time for my Happy Birthday section…
mkay I think just about all of my family has a birthday in May, so at the risk of leaving anyone out I’m just going to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY and you all know who you are. ; )
Also a big CONGRATS to ALLLLLL my friends and family graduating!!! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you all, high school or college, I am most definitely at your grad party in spirit. Most specifically to my little bro, I know you technically finished a few months ago, but congrats bud, and good luck in college this week!!
Miss you all and love you tons!
Love, Megan
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Cape Town Bound!
Goodness it’s hard to believe April is already half over! Where has the time gone? And not only that, but race day is almost here! The day I’ve been looking at and training for that has been off in the distant future for so long, the race we’ve been talking about since we landed in Joburg (literally) is on Friday! Crazy!
And we’re off to Cape Town! We’re in town today before we head to Joburg tomorrow and catch our bus to Cape Town on Tuesday. We’ll arrive in Cape Town Wednesday afternoon. We’re heading out a bit early to avoid any of the potential residual protests hanging over from last week. But I mean, I’m all for starting vaca early, so here we go! The Peace Corps is always talking about sustainable development, well we’re talking about sustainable vacation this week. ; ) Here’s hoping we get extended on the other end of our trip too!
Not a lot has been going on lately. Mid Service Conference was fun, as every time is when our whole group gets together again. We started off with a workshop with our counterparts, talking about designing and implementing projects. A lot of it was review for us, but it was important for our counterparts to hear, so a lot of the workshop was in siSwati. As important as it was for us to be there with our counterparts, it was pretty boring. We had a few days of a Grief and Loss workshop as well, which I was indifferent about a first (mostly I just wanted to stay the extra days for cooked meals and showers), then I was kind of dreading it the first night because it seemed a little hokey, but after the first day it was actually pretty good. We all have a lot of baggage, significant or insignificant, we carry around and when you come here and sit in your hut, by yourself, it all tends to come up. And that compounded with the loss we see here everyday, it can be a bit much. So it was good, a little long because we all love to talk about ourselves, but good none the less. We also had a day of administrative stuff, talking about new medical policies, that state of the country, practicing our plan incase of natural disasters or civil unrest (which every country does at mid service, but we’ve just had extra practice), taking a look at where we’re at now and how we want the next year to go, and talking about third year extension options and Peace Corps Fellows opportunities. That’s right, time to start thinking about life after Peace Corps! Though it’s still a little far away, it’s coming up quickly! This time next year will be our Close of Service Conference. eek.
I’ve been doing a little “Life After Peace Corps” research of my own too. I’ve been watching “Long Way Down” with Ewan McGregor, where he and some friends ride motorcycles from London to Cape Town. It’s the second one, after “Long Way Round,” but obviously this one is a little more exciting at the moment, as they travel from Cairo to Cape Town, which I hope to do, in reverse, at the end of service. We’ll see if it happens, but watching this makes me extremely excited. I was hoping to finish and watch them get to Cape Town before I left for Cape Town, but unfortunately I didn’t get all of the episodes and they only got to Tanzania. Hopefully I can get the rest at some point.
Things with my Health Project are moving along. I finally got approval from everyone that needed to see it. Unfortunately this Cape Town trip came at a bad time, so once I get back I’ll have someone from the office come talk to my counterpart about what this money means, what needs to happen with it, that I am personally responsible for it, etc, etc. Then, two weeks after that I’ll get the money. Which is unfortunate because we wanted to start the surveys to gather the community’s baseline knowledge on HIV the week I got back. Hopefully NERCHA will come through with printing the surveys for us and we can continue on without the money at this point. Then we’ll get the money a few weeks before the trainings begin to buy 400+ notebooks and pens and 150+ boxes of cookies among many other smaller tasks. So it’s Go time when I get back from Cape Town! Which is fairly exciting actually, I feel like this project has been stuck not going anywhere for three months, but in just a few weeks, we’ll be started and it’ll be over in June and I’ll have to think of the next project to start! But not before I see my parents at the end of June! : )
Well, that’s all for now… South Africa awaits.
Love and Miss Everyone!
Megan
PS: Go Hawks and Pens! :) :)
And we’re off to Cape Town! We’re in town today before we head to Joburg tomorrow and catch our bus to Cape Town on Tuesday. We’ll arrive in Cape Town Wednesday afternoon. We’re heading out a bit early to avoid any of the potential residual protests hanging over from last week. But I mean, I’m all for starting vaca early, so here we go! The Peace Corps is always talking about sustainable development, well we’re talking about sustainable vacation this week. ; ) Here’s hoping we get extended on the other end of our trip too!
Not a lot has been going on lately. Mid Service Conference was fun, as every time is when our whole group gets together again. We started off with a workshop with our counterparts, talking about designing and implementing projects. A lot of it was review for us, but it was important for our counterparts to hear, so a lot of the workshop was in siSwati. As important as it was for us to be there with our counterparts, it was pretty boring. We had a few days of a Grief and Loss workshop as well, which I was indifferent about a first (mostly I just wanted to stay the extra days for cooked meals and showers), then I was kind of dreading it the first night because it seemed a little hokey, but after the first day it was actually pretty good. We all have a lot of baggage, significant or insignificant, we carry around and when you come here and sit in your hut, by yourself, it all tends to come up. And that compounded with the loss we see here everyday, it can be a bit much. So it was good, a little long because we all love to talk about ourselves, but good none the less. We also had a day of administrative stuff, talking about new medical policies, that state of the country, practicing our plan incase of natural disasters or civil unrest (which every country does at mid service, but we’ve just had extra practice), taking a look at where we’re at now and how we want the next year to go, and talking about third year extension options and Peace Corps Fellows opportunities. That’s right, time to start thinking about life after Peace Corps! Though it’s still a little far away, it’s coming up quickly! This time next year will be our Close of Service Conference. eek.
I’ve been doing a little “Life After Peace Corps” research of my own too. I’ve been watching “Long Way Down” with Ewan McGregor, where he and some friends ride motorcycles from London to Cape Town. It’s the second one, after “Long Way Round,” but obviously this one is a little more exciting at the moment, as they travel from Cairo to Cape Town, which I hope to do, in reverse, at the end of service. We’ll see if it happens, but watching this makes me extremely excited. I was hoping to finish and watch them get to Cape Town before I left for Cape Town, but unfortunately I didn’t get all of the episodes and they only got to Tanzania. Hopefully I can get the rest at some point.
Things with my Health Project are moving along. I finally got approval from everyone that needed to see it. Unfortunately this Cape Town trip came at a bad time, so once I get back I’ll have someone from the office come talk to my counterpart about what this money means, what needs to happen with it, that I am personally responsible for it, etc, etc. Then, two weeks after that I’ll get the money. Which is unfortunate because we wanted to start the surveys to gather the community’s baseline knowledge on HIV the week I got back. Hopefully NERCHA will come through with printing the surveys for us and we can continue on without the money at this point. Then we’ll get the money a few weeks before the trainings begin to buy 400+ notebooks and pens and 150+ boxes of cookies among many other smaller tasks. So it’s Go time when I get back from Cape Town! Which is fairly exciting actually, I feel like this project has been stuck not going anywhere for three months, but in just a few weeks, we’ll be started and it’ll be over in June and I’ll have to think of the next project to start! But not before I see my parents at the end of June! : )
Well, that’s all for now… South Africa awaits.
Love and Miss Everyone!
Megan
PS: Go Hawks and Pens! :) :)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A Not Too Exciting Update...
Hey Hey Everyone!
Whoops, sorry it’s been a while since I last updated. I really don’t even have an excuse; I haven’t been doing anything really and don't really have too much to report, just wanted to check in so you all know I'm still alive and kickin'. Ha. I’ve settled into a nice groove lately, teaching two days a week, having a meeting or two a week, with the other days just spent doing the wash, cleaning the hut, and recuperating from the week’s activities.
Teaching is going well, we are starting the Decision Making Skills unit in both grades, talking about role models (the only ones they could come up with were “my mother” and Torres) and goals (the only definition they could think of was “putting the ball in the net.” I can’t make this stuff up…). It is still a bit of a struggle sometimes. The small group work I have them do usually doesn’t work out well and I have to just tell them what I wanted them to get out of it, which isn’t engaging for anyone, but hopefully the message is going through, at least to someone. But I hope when we start talking more in depth about having goals in life, that it will be more interesting to them and hopefully they’ll think more about finishing school, going to university and making good choices to get them there. I would be willing to bet about 90% of the girls have children before they are 22 and certainly before they are married. The other day, a grade 4 teacher came in and said a girl had been absent from her class all week and came to find out she dropped out because she was pregnant. Grade 4. More astonishing was when I found out this was not the first time a Grade 4 girl has become pregnant. So hopefully getting them thinking about what they want to do with their life will help at least a few to break the mold. I’ve come to realize the idea of goals and the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” is something we obviously take for granted in our culture that isn’t here so much. Maybe, just maybe they learn about goals in a religious education class, which it seems is the place where they throw everything else that doesn’t fit in the math, science, agriculture classes, but it is definitely not more than breezed over. When I asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grow up it was either a soldier or a nurse. Not a lot of variety from it, so maybe with goal setting and an introduction to other job forces, they can see a world outside of what they know. Or a few can anyway, that’s all you can really hope for. There is a girl in my grade 6 class who said she wanted to be a vet. I almost fell off my chair. There is another boy in grade 5 who speaks almost perfect English, writes notes religiously and volunteers answers for everything; a teacher’s pet I guess you’d call him, but you love those kids when you’re teaching a class of 12 year olds who don’t speak your language and know you won’t beat them. He also told the teacher he loved Ms. Shabalala’s class and proceeded to list off everything we had talked about and all the big words I had written on the board like communication and assertive and peer pressure. I was so happy and proud!
But other than teaching, I’ve just been hanging out the past few weeks, waiting for my grant to be approved, not that I could do anything yet even if I got the money tomorrow with the project not starting until May. So March has been full of nothing but hanging out at site, hanging out with Eric and Dan’s parents when they visited, and eagerly anticipating Cape Town in a month and my own parents visiting in 3 months! It has been kick my butt in gear time in terms of this race. Only a few weeks left till race day! And next week is our Mid Service Conference in town. More like 9 month service but oh well. It will be great to have a week of cooked food, showers, and a bed that isn’t caving in. I don’t know what the deal is, but the beds we bought in town suck. If I have any advice to the new group coming in it is: bring earplugs and eyeshades and don’t skimp when buying a bed. That and it does get cold here in some places, aka my site, which is near where you are training, is. Like cold cold. Bring warm clothes. And I’m from Minnesota.
Lets see what else is going on? Not much. It is hot here now, but it gets cooler at night so winter is coming, as evidenced by the 6:30pm sunset and getting later every day. The kids on my homestead are growing up fast. The almost 2 year old can say just as much English as he can siSwati and I’m taking full credit for that. Though his “I’m fine” sounds more like “I’m dying” which I find hilarious. The preschooler comes home with his English chants they teach in school that I love hearing. The latest concept is “How many days are in a week?” to which he replies “Saturday and Sunday we do not go to school!” Close bud, close.
Well, I’ve tried to stretch this out to give you more of an update on my life. But really nothing is happening. Ha. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. As far as I can tell, Saint Patrick hasn’t made it to the Swaz like his fellow Saint, Valentine, but I haven’t been to town all week so maybe I just missed him. Well I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring Breaks and getting ready for spring! Miss you all!
Love, Megan
Whoops, sorry it’s been a while since I last updated. I really don’t even have an excuse; I haven’t been doing anything really and don't really have too much to report, just wanted to check in so you all know I'm still alive and kickin'. Ha. I’ve settled into a nice groove lately, teaching two days a week, having a meeting or two a week, with the other days just spent doing the wash, cleaning the hut, and recuperating from the week’s activities.
Teaching is going well, we are starting the Decision Making Skills unit in both grades, talking about role models (the only ones they could come up with were “my mother” and Torres) and goals (the only definition they could think of was “putting the ball in the net.” I can’t make this stuff up…). It is still a bit of a struggle sometimes. The small group work I have them do usually doesn’t work out well and I have to just tell them what I wanted them to get out of it, which isn’t engaging for anyone, but hopefully the message is going through, at least to someone. But I hope when we start talking more in depth about having goals in life, that it will be more interesting to them and hopefully they’ll think more about finishing school, going to university and making good choices to get them there. I would be willing to bet about 90% of the girls have children before they are 22 and certainly before they are married. The other day, a grade 4 teacher came in and said a girl had been absent from her class all week and came to find out she dropped out because she was pregnant. Grade 4. More astonishing was when I found out this was not the first time a Grade 4 girl has become pregnant. So hopefully getting them thinking about what they want to do with their life will help at least a few to break the mold. I’ve come to realize the idea of goals and the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” is something we obviously take for granted in our culture that isn’t here so much. Maybe, just maybe they learn about goals in a religious education class, which it seems is the place where they throw everything else that doesn’t fit in the math, science, agriculture classes, but it is definitely not more than breezed over. When I asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grow up it was either a soldier or a nurse. Not a lot of variety from it, so maybe with goal setting and an introduction to other job forces, they can see a world outside of what they know. Or a few can anyway, that’s all you can really hope for. There is a girl in my grade 6 class who said she wanted to be a vet. I almost fell off my chair. There is another boy in grade 5 who speaks almost perfect English, writes notes religiously and volunteers answers for everything; a teacher’s pet I guess you’d call him, but you love those kids when you’re teaching a class of 12 year olds who don’t speak your language and know you won’t beat them. He also told the teacher he loved Ms. Shabalala’s class and proceeded to list off everything we had talked about and all the big words I had written on the board like communication and assertive and peer pressure. I was so happy and proud!
But other than teaching, I’ve just been hanging out the past few weeks, waiting for my grant to be approved, not that I could do anything yet even if I got the money tomorrow with the project not starting until May. So March has been full of nothing but hanging out at site, hanging out with Eric and Dan’s parents when they visited, and eagerly anticipating Cape Town in a month and my own parents visiting in 3 months! It has been kick my butt in gear time in terms of this race. Only a few weeks left till race day! And next week is our Mid Service Conference in town. More like 9 month service but oh well. It will be great to have a week of cooked food, showers, and a bed that isn’t caving in. I don’t know what the deal is, but the beds we bought in town suck. If I have any advice to the new group coming in it is: bring earplugs and eyeshades and don’t skimp when buying a bed. That and it does get cold here in some places, aka my site, which is near where you are training, is. Like cold cold. Bring warm clothes. And I’m from Minnesota.
Lets see what else is going on? Not much. It is hot here now, but it gets cooler at night so winter is coming, as evidenced by the 6:30pm sunset and getting later every day. The kids on my homestead are growing up fast. The almost 2 year old can say just as much English as he can siSwati and I’m taking full credit for that. Though his “I’m fine” sounds more like “I’m dying” which I find hilarious. The preschooler comes home with his English chants they teach in school that I love hearing. The latest concept is “How many days are in a week?” to which he replies “Saturday and Sunday we do not go to school!” Close bud, close.
Well, I’ve tried to stretch this out to give you more of an update on my life. But really nothing is happening. Ha. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. As far as I can tell, Saint Patrick hasn’t made it to the Swaz like his fellow Saint, Valentine, but I haven’t been to town all week so maybe I just missed him. Well I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring Breaks and getting ready for spring! Miss you all!
Love, Megan
Monday, February 28, 2011
Oprah!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Hello to the New Group Invitees!! (Already?? Really??)
Hello Everyone!
Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day! I had a great Vday and Bday in town, just hanging out those two days. It was nice and low key and a good break from site.
I heard exciting news the other day over Chinese food at the new restaurant that just opened up in town (it was a VERY exciting day). Rumor has it that the new Group 9s are coming to the Swaz on June 9. Though its still February, I’m assuming lots of them have already gotten their invitations and are Googling the Swaz like mad trying to find out as much as they can. Though if they’re like me, they won’t get their invitation until 4 weeks before they come. But I noticed on the stats of my blog (which by the way has had THREE THOUSAND views. Wow) that the traffic from the Peace Corps Journals site has increased dramatically so I’m guessing some have already started searching for blogs from Swaziland to see what their next two years will be like, I know I did. So if you are one of those people, Congrats!, can’t wait to meet you, and if you have any questions I’d be happy to help! :) But it’s weird to hear that the new group coming in 3 months. I feel like we just got here! Ha. It’s like when you become the seniors in High School, suddenly you’re the old ones and everyone looks to you for advice and asks you questions. It’ll be weird when they get here and the Group 7s who came before us start leaving. What’s even weirder is that this time next year, we’ll be the ones leaving. Crap, I better get going on my projects, I need to start packing! Don’t look now guys, but I’ll be home soon! Well I’ve got about 16 or 17 months left, but when I’ve been here 8 already, and the last three I’m not allowed to do anything but wrap things up, pack and say goodbye, time is a tickin’!
Anyway, things are still going well here. I finally started teaching Life Skills. It is going to be a bit of a struggle because they’re so young, but its fun and I enjoy it. I have a teacher helping me with the 5th graders which is good but I’m going to have to come up with some new stuff to teach them because our Life Skills curriculum is a little above them so we’ll have to see how that goes. The 6th graders are fine; one class is great, nice and well behaved (so far anyway) the other class is a bunch of punks. Usually when I’ve been in front of a class they are all so in awe or scared of me that they don’t utter a word, even when I ask a question. But this class had no problem goofing off and chatting while I was trying to teach. They’re a little older than the other class so they must have figured out I’m not going to beat them and since I don’t give out grades in this class, we’re going to have to figure something out there too… It’s a bit annoying because I was given classes at pretty awkward times. I spend all of Friday at the school, with one class in the morning and one in the afternoon. With the half hour walk to the school and the heat of the African sun, I just hang out with the secretary typing up things for them. They’re amazed at my typing skills, thank you Tanglen Elementary! And I have one half hour long class midday on Tuesdays. That is the most annoying because when people don’t start their day until 10 and finish at 2, I can’t schedule a meeting that day because of the class and it’s a half hour walk down to the school, just for a half hour class. But try to go and make use of my time there, I’m working with the schools to fill out some grants to get their libraries up and running so we can get some books donated and a librarian trained starting in November. And the English teachers and guidance counselors and science teachers (once they found out my degree) like asking me for help. The Practical Arts teachers ask for lots of help because they have a few lessons on technology. How do you explain the Internet to someone who has never used a computer? (It’s a series of tubes?) Or a fax machine? Or how does satellite TV work? Its hard enough for me to try to explain it to these teachers, but then they are expected to turn around and teach it to some 5th graders who don’t go into town, have never used a computer, seen a fax machine or Xerox machine. It’s a different set of problems you don’t usually think about.
The classes here are interesting. Failing a grade is not as uncommon as it is in the US, and most students do it many times. We went around the classroom and had everyone say their name, age and what they wanted to be when they grow up. Most of the 5th graders are around 11 or 12 and the 6th graders are between 13 and 15. It obviously gets more spread out as you get to the High School levels where people in Form 5, Grade 12, are between 17 and 24. Though lots of the kids that have to repeat multiple grades probably won’t end up reaching Form 5 and will drop out (or in some cases be told not to come back) somewhere around Grade 7. The kids have to pay for their schooling here, so it can get expensive if you have a child who keeps repeating. But the government pays for University, if you can get in, and have started paying for primary school. This year is Grade 1-3, adding a year more each year so next year Grade 4 will be free too. The government also pays for the OVCs school fees as well. In theory, it works. Get your child through high school and we’ll get them through college. But, you know.
Anyway, between Life Skills, my project, laundry and random people who want help with grants or applications or business plans of some sort, I usually have something to do every day. Which is nice. I am busy, but not exactly. I have something to do every day, which is a little tiring after the last 5 months of doing nothing at least 3 days a week. But I’m usually home by 1 at the latest every day, so naps and general lounging around are still not in short order. Today, I baked muffin/cookies in my makeshift stove oven with empty tuna cans as the tin. But after I made my first one I realized the batter was more delicious than it was when it was baked (I take after my mother I guess…) so I made about four then just ate the batter. And now I am about to turn on some West Wing, so obviously, with things picking up, life is still pretty tough for me here. ;)
Well I think that’s all I have for now, just a quick update on life. There are a few sets of parents visiting this week, which is making me VERY excited for my parents to come in three months! Can’t wait to see them again, considering the last time I saw them it was from the other side of security at the airport and they were a little fuzzy from the obnoxious amount of tears I was crying. Ha. So it’ll be good to see them again, halfway through!
But I think that is all for now, but I want to say a quick GOOD LUCK to my UMN Synchro Team at Nationals next week and a big CONGRATS to Scott and Pamela on their wedding next week as well!! Wish I could be there for both of those, but have a great time everyone!
Miss and Love you all!
Love, Megan
Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day! I had a great Vday and Bday in town, just hanging out those two days. It was nice and low key and a good break from site.
I heard exciting news the other day over Chinese food at the new restaurant that just opened up in town (it was a VERY exciting day). Rumor has it that the new Group 9s are coming to the Swaz on June 9. Though its still February, I’m assuming lots of them have already gotten their invitations and are Googling the Swaz like mad trying to find out as much as they can. Though if they’re like me, they won’t get their invitation until 4 weeks before they come. But I noticed on the stats of my blog (which by the way has had THREE THOUSAND views. Wow) that the traffic from the Peace Corps Journals site has increased dramatically so I’m guessing some have already started searching for blogs from Swaziland to see what their next two years will be like, I know I did. So if you are one of those people, Congrats!, can’t wait to meet you, and if you have any questions I’d be happy to help! :) But it’s weird to hear that the new group coming in 3 months. I feel like we just got here! Ha. It’s like when you become the seniors in High School, suddenly you’re the old ones and everyone looks to you for advice and asks you questions. It’ll be weird when they get here and the Group 7s who came before us start leaving. What’s even weirder is that this time next year, we’ll be the ones leaving. Crap, I better get going on my projects, I need to start packing! Don’t look now guys, but I’ll be home soon! Well I’ve got about 16 or 17 months left, but when I’ve been here 8 already, and the last three I’m not allowed to do anything but wrap things up, pack and say goodbye, time is a tickin’!
Anyway, things are still going well here. I finally started teaching Life Skills. It is going to be a bit of a struggle because they’re so young, but its fun and I enjoy it. I have a teacher helping me with the 5th graders which is good but I’m going to have to come up with some new stuff to teach them because our Life Skills curriculum is a little above them so we’ll have to see how that goes. The 6th graders are fine; one class is great, nice and well behaved (so far anyway) the other class is a bunch of punks. Usually when I’ve been in front of a class they are all so in awe or scared of me that they don’t utter a word, even when I ask a question. But this class had no problem goofing off and chatting while I was trying to teach. They’re a little older than the other class so they must have figured out I’m not going to beat them and since I don’t give out grades in this class, we’re going to have to figure something out there too… It’s a bit annoying because I was given classes at pretty awkward times. I spend all of Friday at the school, with one class in the morning and one in the afternoon. With the half hour walk to the school and the heat of the African sun, I just hang out with the secretary typing up things for them. They’re amazed at my typing skills, thank you Tanglen Elementary! And I have one half hour long class midday on Tuesdays. That is the most annoying because when people don’t start their day until 10 and finish at 2, I can’t schedule a meeting that day because of the class and it’s a half hour walk down to the school, just for a half hour class. But try to go and make use of my time there, I’m working with the schools to fill out some grants to get their libraries up and running so we can get some books donated and a librarian trained starting in November. And the English teachers and guidance counselors and science teachers (once they found out my degree) like asking me for help. The Practical Arts teachers ask for lots of help because they have a few lessons on technology. How do you explain the Internet to someone who has never used a computer? (It’s a series of tubes?) Or a fax machine? Or how does satellite TV work? Its hard enough for me to try to explain it to these teachers, but then they are expected to turn around and teach it to some 5th graders who don’t go into town, have never used a computer, seen a fax machine or Xerox machine. It’s a different set of problems you don’t usually think about.
The classes here are interesting. Failing a grade is not as uncommon as it is in the US, and most students do it many times. We went around the classroom and had everyone say their name, age and what they wanted to be when they grow up. Most of the 5th graders are around 11 or 12 and the 6th graders are between 13 and 15. It obviously gets more spread out as you get to the High School levels where people in Form 5, Grade 12, are between 17 and 24. Though lots of the kids that have to repeat multiple grades probably won’t end up reaching Form 5 and will drop out (or in some cases be told not to come back) somewhere around Grade 7. The kids have to pay for their schooling here, so it can get expensive if you have a child who keeps repeating. But the government pays for University, if you can get in, and have started paying for primary school. This year is Grade 1-3, adding a year more each year so next year Grade 4 will be free too. The government also pays for the OVCs school fees as well. In theory, it works. Get your child through high school and we’ll get them through college. But, you know.
Anyway, between Life Skills, my project, laundry and random people who want help with grants or applications or business plans of some sort, I usually have something to do every day. Which is nice. I am busy, but not exactly. I have something to do every day, which is a little tiring after the last 5 months of doing nothing at least 3 days a week. But I’m usually home by 1 at the latest every day, so naps and general lounging around are still not in short order. Today, I baked muffin/cookies in my makeshift stove oven with empty tuna cans as the tin. But after I made my first one I realized the batter was more delicious than it was when it was baked (I take after my mother I guess…) so I made about four then just ate the batter. And now I am about to turn on some West Wing, so obviously, with things picking up, life is still pretty tough for me here. ;)
Well I think that’s all I have for now, just a quick update on life. There are a few sets of parents visiting this week, which is making me VERY excited for my parents to come in three months! Can’t wait to see them again, considering the last time I saw them it was from the other side of security at the airport and they were a little fuzzy from the obnoxious amount of tears I was crying. Ha. So it’ll be good to see them again, halfway through!
But I think that is all for now, but I want to say a quick GOOD LUCK to my UMN Synchro Team at Nationals next week and a big CONGRATS to Scott and Pamela on their wedding next week as well!! Wish I could be there for both of those, but have a great time everyone!
Miss and Love you all!
Love, Megan
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