Life in South Africa...the first few weeks!

The first few weeks in South Africa have been a whirlwind, mix of excitement, anticipation, longggg days, and the surreal realization that this is my home for the next two years.

I could write forever about all of the details of what have happened and would probably bore you to death so I’ll try to focus on some of the more important things, and the things I know you all have questions about.

COMMUNICATION (or lack thereof until the end of training)…
At this point, you have probably figured out that in my 8 weeks of training I have very limited communication capability. I got on the internet for the first time this last weekend – the beginning of week “4” after 25 days of ZERO internet. (I’m pretty sure that’s my personal record with the exception of maybe when I was in second grade when we didn’t have internet at my house…) We discovered the internet café that’s in town though so hopefully over the next 3 weeks I’ll have some additional access!

Then there is the phone dilemma. I have a calling card and our village is actually really lucky and we have a pay phone with international capability right in our village. Before we got to our village though PC staff would have to drive us to phones in groups so you can imagine how annoying that was. It took three weeks alone to get a hold of my family due to the 8 hour time difference. Add with my early curfew and it’s a recipe for communication disaster.

Then there are the letters. Thank you SO MUCH for anyone who has sent me a letter/package in the last few weeks!!! I wish I could express to you how much your letters have meant to me and made not only my day but week(s)! I have not been able to send all my letters like I would love to, since Peace Corps can sometimes be challenged when it comes to logistic planning (more to come on this topic I can assure you). I have been able to purchase four stamps, and send two aerograms so I promise you have mail coming, it’s just going to be about 2 months late. I’ll make up for it in e-mails promise! : ) So I’m “over it” but let me just say the lack of stamps in my life has probably been one of the biggest things that has been difficult for me to deal with. Here I am COMPLETELY cut off from my family and friends and I can’t even send them a freakin letter in the mail?! The one system that’s been around since almost the beginning of time?! Okay, I’m done.

WEATHER (it’s no 24 inches of snow that’s for sure!)…
It is HOT. Training is in Limpopo the “hottest Province” in South Africa and so far I’m willing to believe that. It’s been not so bad lately because it’s threatened to rain (yet only sprinkled once in four days) so it has been cloudy. It rained our first day and a half in country and since then has been cloudless and hot 24/7. Also, most of us sleep with our windows closed due to bugs, and in my case the noise around my house which means I’m sweating at all points in my day.

TRAINING…
So Peace Corps training (PCT) can be described as really fun, supportive, really stressful, and exhausting. Many of us have been confused that we are SA23 (the 23rd group of trainees to come to South Africa) and with some things it just seems like “did you NOT know that we were coming?!” (Today someone said to be “you would think we were SA -1) This mainly applies to seemingly obvious things that any PCT class before us has probably requested. Examples: adequate # of stamps (you know how I feel about this…), adapters (SURPIRSE! SA has its own special unique-to-only-South Africa plugs so you need special adapters), hand sanitizer (pit latrine + no running water = really wanting hand sanitizer).

It is fun and supportive in that we are all living in the same general area, we get to see each other on a daily basis and we are each others sanity at this point. It is also supportive because you have Peace Corps staff around you to ask questions to face to face. Despite my complaining, they are very helpful and want to help us learn as much as we can during this time.

It is exhausting and stressful because of the long days, which can often be “hurry up and wait” but add the heat, the walks to where we need to go (in the heat), learning a new language, not necessarily uplifting informational sessions, and all of the cultural changes – they are BOTH mentally and physically exhausting.

We are on such tight leashes in training and have the personal support of other PCTs that today I was thinking of how nervous that makes me for my transition to my permanent site. There is basically zero direction by the Peace Corps at that point, and at this time I have no idea how close I’ll be to another PCT. A lot of things have been really helpful though and I now feel like I’m starting to understand some ways that I can be an effective PCV (pc volunteer).

Some interesting things I have learned about PC SA in training….
-Most of PC Africa gets medically evacuated to South Africa so I’m in the right spot if I have a serious medical issue!
-South Africa has one of the highest (if not THE highest) rate of ETs (early terminations) in the whole PC. We have kind of been asking everyone why this is and yesterday we got a good answer. If the PC knew why, they probably wouldn’t have one of the highest rates. For example the group that is getting ready to be done with service this year is ending with 10 out of the original 25 volunteers that started two years ago. (Not that comforting of a statistic).
-“African time” is alive and well. Someone came up with the “statistic” that for every 1 African minute it’s 7 American minutes. Might as well get used to it now I suppose.

HOST FAMILY…
I am staying with a lovely family – the Mokonyane family in the village of Maroteng which is only a 10 – 15 minute car ride from the town Mokopane (lots of M names I just realized). My family consists of my 60 year old Gogo (grandma) Christina, and her 8 year old granddaughter Nikki. Every other week Nikki’s 30 year old mom Mashela comes home from her rural clinic nursing job as it is 7 days on 7 days off. But usually it’s just me, Gogo, and Nikki. Nikki has a best friend Palesa who lives with my friend and fellow PCT Sam. He is the closest PCT to me, across the street, down a house. There are two other PCTs on our street besides us.

To say that I have been having the stereotypical PC experience would be a bold faced lie. I have more “luxuries” here at my home stay house then I do at my own home in Illinois.

My life in the village…
-two TVs with satellite TV
-Wii game system
-Trampoline
-running water
-flushing toilet (inside)
-bath with shower head hose
-cleaning/cooking/washing lady Mon-Fri

Needless to say, I am the envy of many other PCTs. My situation is by no means “normal” for the other PCTs in our group or village. Most have pit latrines, and if they are lucky a spigot of water in the backyard. But many even if they don’t have running water have TV so the thing that people are most jealous of is that I can take a “shower” and have a flushing toilet. I’m not the only one, but we’re pretty rare.

My room is situated in a separate area than the main house (but very close to it) and in my little compound I have my own bathroom which is awesome! I get locked into the compound at night, and have burglar bars so I feel really safe.

My feelings about not having to take a bucket bath/use a pit latrine/do my own laundry is that I’m not really getting trained on the things I will mostly likely have to do at my permanent site. So, not only will I be adjusting like everyone else, but I’ll also have to be dealing with adjusting to all of those things which aren’t even bad just take some practice and getting used to. While I am defiantly NOT complaining AT ALL, a small part of me is a little worried for that initial shock I might face when it comes to my accommodations for two years.

LEARNING XHOSA (or attempting…)
I am SO EXCITED about this aspect of training, however challenging it is. Within the 46 PCTs myself and 5 other people are learning Xhosa. This is exciting because that means that we are moving to the Eastern Cape!!

Moving to the Eastern Cape is exciting for a variety of reasons…
-It’s a Cape, therefore ocean, therefore beaches….etc.
-It is beautiful!
-We are the FIRST group of volunteers to be placed in the Eastern Cape EVER! We are the pioneers of the CHOP (Community HIV/AIDS Outreach Project) program in the Eastern Cape!
-Everyone is going to want to come visit us because the Eastern Cape while not as popular as the Western Cape for tourism, is probably the second highest for tourists and includes such awesome things as the Addo Elephant National Park and the Garden Route which is a “must” in South Africa! Whooo hoooo!

Learning Xhosa itself is another story. At this point I would not call myself conversational at all, but it’s only been 2 ½ weeks. And funny story – so I do not consider myself to know any Spanish, but all of a sudden I’m speaking Spanish because I don’t know how to say words in Xhosa.

I think it’s fair to say that Xhosa is a difficult language to learn. First, I can barely pronounce the language itself due to the X being a click sound. Awesome. There are some other clicks in Xhosa, the main ones being x, c, and q. Individually I can pronounce all of them. Add other sounds around them…not so easy. In fact my feelings about the “q” click is it’s impossible. Additionally Xhosa is nothing at all like English, so “normal” sentence structure is out the window. Then come the “rules” of the language, which is more accurately a LACK of rules. EVERYTHING is contextual, has multiple meanings, and is irregular, yet there is no “rule” to explain why it might be irregular. (You may think I’m just exaggerating – since I have a tendency to do so…but I swear I’m not). Nkosi is our teacher and awesome – he’s hilarious! But he has said multiple times when we are confused about why something is…”you can’t ask why, there is no reason that’s just the way it is! Don’t worry you have two years, you’ll get it”.

And I’m not sure what this could be described as, but it is mostly roots of words, and then to change the meaning, you prefix and suffix things. I have a great one word sentence to demonstrate. Ndiyazikhusela = I protect myself. Khusela means to protect, so the Ndiyazi is all things that you add which give it the context. Ndi = I, ya = present tense, zi = reciprocal. I hope you were as confused by that as I am. The good news is I’m only expected to get to the “intermediate low” level of the language and then I’ll be assigned a tutor. Yessss.

We are also staying with families that speak Sepedi sooooo living with host families during training, while extremely useful for cultural immersion has not helped me one bit with language. Except with my greetings in Sepedi…Thobela! Other than greetings we don’t learn the other languages.

CULTURAL STORIES…
The following are some examples of what I’ve encountered that’s stuck out in my mind.

1) First day with my host family being offered chicken feet/heads/intestine at dinner. I ate the entire time with my head down because I couldn’t even watch it happen. Oh, by the way, I’ve decided to remain mostly vegetarian while in SA. AKA I refuse to eat any meat unless it’s boneless which is none (unless it’s from a restaurant). I’m willing to eat things that were made with meat juices, but if I can see that it was at one point living…no dice.
2) Being proposed to/asked to be brought back to America. This has happened on several occasions at this point. I’ve even had some girls tell me to bring them back. I usually respond “but I don’t think I could fit you in my luggage…”
3) Drunkenness at all points of the day, any day of the week. Unemployment in South Africa is rampant, in some areas (especially rural) you almost can’t believe how high the rates are. This leads to lots of down time, which turns into alcoholism. (This public drunkenness only applies to men where I am. I have yet to see a woman drunk, and I’ve only seen one even drink in public).
4) Being called “Hannah Montana” (Disney character) by my host sister and her best friend.
5) Being told that if I drink beer, especially straight out of the bottle I will be grouped with those that are “hopeless in society” since I’m a woman.

That’s all I have for now! We only have one more week until we go visit our permanent sites for a week! Training is flying by! Miss you all, nisale kakuhle

Singama Xhosa

"We are Xhosa" is what Singama Xhosa means...and pretty soon I will be Xhosa (or in theory!)

So much has happened since I landed here 4ish weeks ago and I have a ton I could say! I wrote out a blog on my computer and forgot to save it to my flash drive so I'll have to save the details for later because internet minutes are expensive but I have been learning Xhosa which means I should be placed in the Province of the Eastern Cape (whoo hoo that's where Nelson Mandela is from! : ))

I wish I could say more but just know I'm safe and sound right now with a family in the village of Maroteng in the Province of Limpopo for only several more weeks! I'll give you lots of details later!

Sala kakuhle! (Stay well).