Greetings from Alexandria!

As of Friday I have been “moved in” to my new home in Alexandria! This weekend was certainly a whirlwind of events and very busy indeed. I can say that I’ve had more “cultural experiences” in these last 48 hours than I did in a full two months at my home stay in Limpopo. It was really sad to leave my family there on that note. I’m going to miss my Gogo and host sisters but when one door closes another one opens and I have a new host sister and little brother here in the Eastern Cape!
Despite thinking that I was going to be homeless, I was able to move into my new room upon arrival Friday afternoon. I will be staying in a room attached to the main house but the entrance is separate. It already has burglar bars (still need the burglar door) but the door already had a lock and key! I will be sharing the kitchen and bathroom with the family both in the main house. This time around there is not a cockroach or ant problem in my room either! I have seen two cockroaches in my room but that was on the first day and not since then (any they were small) KNOCK ON WOOD. I’m going to have to make sure I keep my room nice and clean, but so far it’s been a very good experience! The kitchen does have a cockroach problem but I’m hoping to take care of that with some good old pest control.
This weekend has consisted of me getting to know my host family, getting as set as I can in my room (which is hard when you don’t have any furniture to do that with), a quick visit to Port Elizabeth (nearest big city) for some essentials shopping, and attending a traditional Xhosa event at my supervisors mom’s house. The following are some of the highlights of this weekend:

-Making some friends! I’ve been meeting so many people and luckily people have been very nice and outgoing!

-Meeting my new family: Host sister, her boyfriend, and their adorable three year old (who I was told is now also my child by my host sisters Aunt(?)). Family terms are commonly thrown around in not completely accurate ways by American standards. Everyone is sister, brother, cousin, aunt, uncle, mother, father…regardless of actual relation. So keeping the family trees straight is not that easy!

-Getting to go to a traditional Xhosa event - the slaughtering of a cow for the ancestors. Luckily I arrived late, after the slaughtering had taken place and was there just in time to try some of the meat. The meat is either cooked in pots or grilled over open flames in the yard of the family. It then must be served on tree branches. No plates or silverware necessary and everyone just digs in, grabbing the pieces they want and going at it. I did try some and it was amazing! The only things they can add are salt and water but it was awesome – any meat lovers should be jealous!

-Being appreciated by attending this event. Many people came up to me and said how happy they were to see “someone like you” at this event and how much it meant to them. They were very shocked to see a white person at a traditional event.

*Side note: I’ve heard the phrase “someone like you” thrown around a lot in the last 48 hours and it means “white person” but is just a more polite way of saying so. This has shown me one of my own assumptions that I didn’t even know I had. I assumed that I would go into the Peace Corps and my defining characteristic would be that I’m American, not necessarily my race (even when I knew I was going to Africa). This will clearly not be the case here in South Africa. Race is THE key defining characteristic so instead of being known as “that American girl” I will be known as “that white girl”.

The following are some of the “cultural experiences” that I had this weekend. What I mean by that are situations I found myself in that I was unfamiliar with. Most are humorous. Some had varying degrees of awkwardness. There weren’t any awkward moments like in the U.S. where both people knew the situation was awkward, it was mostly me thinking to myself “what is happening?!?!”.

-The most humorous to me is the fact that I somehow was designated shot pourer to the group of women I was sitting with at the traditional event. There was no introduction to this role. All of a sudden I was being told to stand up and “pour drinks”. Well, I was thoroughly confused as the only drink around was vodka and three large glasses while there were probably ten women sitting on the floor with me. I stand up, and they inform me I’m pouring drinks – clarified by me “shots”. With probably ten different people yelling instructions at me I squat to pour the drinks. Then I get yelled at to stand up, I must pour the shots standing. I pour shot after shot as the glasses are passed around to all who want a taste of the Smirnoff Vodka. Afterwards I set the bottle down standing and everyone starts yelling “you must lay it!!!”. I asked why, and was told that it’s for the ancestors, and you just must lay it down on its side instead of standing it. I was shot girl for the rest of the night, even when we had to switch rooms so that all the Gogos could come in from outside because it was cold.

-Being stroked/touched/hugged by very enthusiastic people. Not to generalize, but most of these people were drunk. I even had my hand kissed twice by two different Gogos. In two of these cases I had awesome defenders who actually started yelling at the offender that he can talk to me, but is not allowed to touch me. In both cases that that happened it was kind of extreme and actually made me feel even more uncomfortable but I was happy to have people protecting me.

-Being invited to the wedding of the tavern owner’s daughter happening next weekend approximately five minutes after meeting him.

-Having multiple people ask to take my picture or just start taking them with their camera phones.

-Getting asked for money by quite a few people ranging in amount from ten rand to 10 cents rand.

-Being told by multiple people that they love me. Not like, LOVE. Everyone from a Gogo, to the man who came by to ask if he could have two rand for a smoke.

-Being laughed at. This is something that I’ve already accepted and become accustomed to. I have been renamed Zoleka (which means “with calmness” in Xhosa). EVERYONE has the same reaction when they ask me my name and I tell them Zoleka. They do one of several things: laugh hysterically, tell me I’m lying, ask for my real name. Usually it’s all three reactions in one. To some people I say my name is Alana but you can call me Zoleka. That gets less of a reaction and they are satisfied because it doesn’t really matter how slow I say my name the first time they think I’m saying Ivana.

-Being hit on. And it’s important to mention that subtlety is not the way things are done here. I have decided to tell a small fib and to all that pursue me “I’m taken” by an American. I would leave it at that, but “I’m taken” is not a satisfactory response when being pursued. Am I married? Engaged? NO. But I’m not interested – sorry. Eeeish! (My new favorite South Africa phrase). I might invest in a ring for myself but I have a feeling that wouldn’t really stop anyone from asking anyway.

I think that covers most of the things that have happened to me in the last 48 hours. It’s been quite eventful to say the least! Tomorrow I will walk to work (by myself like a big girl!) and it will be the first time I’ve walked the neighborhood on my own. It’s at 8:30am so it should be fairly easy, but I’m not sure what to expect! Lots of people already know my name and I hear “Zoleka!” anywhere I go, even if I have NO IDEA who the person is.
Can’t wait to see what this week will bring! Tomorrow is my first official day of work and I’m nervous in some ways. I realized the other day that this is my first job after college and I’m the one who has to come up with the job description, work, projects, and define what I’ll be doing with minimal guidance. Kind of terrifying, but I’m trying to take it slow at first. Good thing the first three months are all about getting to know your community, I can ease into what will be the next two years!