The 26th of January marked the one year anniversary of living in South Africa for myself and the rest of my SA 23 group. It is the most bizarre feeling. While it’s almost impossible to wrap my mind around that figure: one year, it in some ways feels like so much longer than that. I have done a lot of reflecting about the last year, and I am feeling so satisfied and fulfilled.
I believe that in most things – it takes a full year to truly find your footing. I consider myself a fast learner – but to truly understand how things work I believe it takes at least a year. Which is why I am so happy that I have 14 more months here in South Africa, I finally feel as though I have some things figured out.
Thinking back on the last year I have learned so much that while it was happening I wasn’t able to really understand. I had lots of people say things to me like “you must be learning so much about yourself and changing” and honestly when people would say that I would think…well if that’s true I have NO IDEA what those things are. I think that’s because the first year living in South Africa it was basically survival mode. Not in a physical sense (I’ve always felt safe) but constantly being in a state of “am I doing this right?” or “is this rude?” or “can I say that?” or “should I do that?”. It was one uncertain feeling and question after another. And at the end of the day – after constantly being in situations that were new – I didn’t have the energy to attempt to reflect back on the day about all of the things I may or may not be learning. As much as I loved and appreciated reflection time on Alternative Spring Breaks – when you are LIVING an ASB the deep reflective time goes out the window and all you want to do is NOT think about the fact that you have no idea what’s happening most of the time, and if your honest – very little control over anything.
When it hit me that I’d lived in South Africa for a year – it almost felt like a switch flipped and I no longer feel unsure. I belong in this community – it’s my home, has been for a year and will be for the next 14 months (since it’s now almost thirteen months to the day). I have friends, I know what I’m here to be doing, and I can accomplish the things I want to accomplish. I’m so excited about my remaining time in South Africa and about all of the projects and programs I am working on. I no longer always worry if something I’m going to do or say may be interpreted in a certain way. There are a lot of things I have learned about myself and others. I would say one of the biggest lessons I have learned in the Peace Corps is no matter where I am in the world – I can only be myself – and I should embrace the strengths that I have to offer (and continue to work on the weaknesses). I can only be me and there is such a great feeling in becoming secure in the person you are! I’m so incredibly happy right now!
The Year of Action…
So far, 2012 has been a year of action for me! I came back from my holiday with a renewed sense of where my focus should be – the youth. Not only do I love working with youth – but I also happen to believe that if you’re going to make a change – a good place to start is the youth. So – this year my focus is almost 100% youth driven. And, I thought I was busy before…HAH! Now that I have my set schedule down – I’m busier than ever. Throw training for a half marathon into that mix and you got yourself someone on the go 24/7! I’m pretty sure that I’ve done more in the last two months than I did in the first six. So far in 2012 I’ve been up to the following…
Training:
Training for Longtom the half marathon in Mpumalanga. I’m on week five right now, and feeling GREAT! Some days, I hate running, but most of the time I love it. Actually what I’ve decided is that I will never really enjoy long runs – my ideal run length is three miles, but I’m really enjoying the challenge and pushing myself both mentally and physically. I can say that before this – I never even ran five consecutive miles in my life (I was a sprinter after all!). Well now five miles is almost easy! Longtom is a Peace Corps affiliated event, in that it is used as a fundraiser for the KLM Foundation. The KLM Foundation was started by two former PC SA volunteers and is a scholarship for rural South African learners. If you are interested in learning more, or in donating please go to: http://www.klm-foundation.org/. If you feel inclined to make a donation, please make sure to include that you are donating on my behalf. It is an amazing cause – the gift of education has no price really. Thank you to anyone who has donated! The actual Marathon is five weeks away and I am SO EXCITED! Although I am slightly nervous. One friend suggested what great lung capacity I was going to have after training in Africa, which is when I realized, quite the opposite. I’m training at sea level and the marathon is going to take place wayyyyyy up high near the Northeast boarder of South Africa. So much for lung capacity.
Girls Clubs:
My girls clubs started back up again in January, and we just finished our third topic this week. So far we’ve covered the dimensions of wellness (we’re using a model that includes seven dimensions), peer pressure, and most recently healthy loving relationships. I LOVE this project. I look forward to my girls club meetings every single week. My friend Noxolo and I run them at the two local secondary schools. I was VERY worried earlier this year when Noxolo was hired by the Department of Social Development that she was going to have to give up the club. I actually couldn’t believe our luck when they told her she could as long as she reported about them! When she called me to tell me the good news I was walking to town and literally jumped up and down in the street screaming. Literally, jumping for joy. Someone was smiling on us from above! She is PERFECT for this job, and an amazing counterpart.
The actual clubs are so interesting. Each has its own unique dynamic that is completely different than the other. One is a small group, but very close. They share extremely personal and deep things and we’ve really gotten close. They are sharing things that they’ve never told anyone before and it’s really powerful. The other one has a much bigger attendance and is full of sassy ladies. Each one has its positives and negatives. I really enjoy learning about the differences between the two clubs. I could go on forever about some of the things that have sparked debates among us (namely, cheating – we could talk about that topic FOREVER!).
One of the things we have is the “question box” which is a converted shoe box that says either “umbuzo” or “vraag” which are “question” in the respective languages of isiXhosa and Afrikaans. One of the clubs makes me feel like Dear Abby every other week when I have to answer their relationship questions. Each week, the amount of relationship questions seems to be increasing; only they are all asking the same questions just with different words. Most common are some sort of version of the following…“is it bad to have two boyfriends….”, “my boyfriend is cheating, but he denies it, but I love him….”, “I love my ex boyfriend but he ignored me after we had sex what should I do…”. Some of the questions make me laugh; others really stick with you and make you seriously worry about the girl that wrote it. We do our best to answer them the best that we can.
We had an activity today (which we do on some Saturdays). It was a movie day, and since our topic was relationships I thought I would show them The Notebook. No one here has heard of The Notebook which boggles my mind, as it’s such a huge hit (at least in my generation). I cried, as I always do, numerous times. It was only slightly embarrassing. They really liked it and a few of them said they were going to come overseas to try and find a man like Noah…uh, get in line ladies. ; )
Tyhulwazi Disabled Center:
Twice a week I and a caregiver from Ikhwezi go to the disabled school in our location which is just a block away from my house. This place is run by Mrs. Bloko who is a truly amazing woman! They have learners of all ages and all abilities. There is a very large range of disabilities. None of the learners have had any of their disabilities labeled or diagnosed officially by a doctor. What we do with them is give them a chance to get active outside in a safe and encouraging space. We take them to the sports center which is a short walk away and play different games. My favorite to play with them is kick ball which we call rounders (which I guess is a game in South Africa which actually isn’t the same a kick ball, but whatever it works). We don’t actually REALLY play kick ball but we play with the principles and forget some of the rules. For example we let one whole team kick and when the last person has kicked we switch teams. A typical game includes us all having to yell “Baleka! Balekaaaaaa!” (run!) and point to the next base that player is supposed to go to (for almost each player). I have a BLAST with these learners and they make me laugh and smile each time I’m with them. I like playing this best because it gets every person involved and each one has the chance to kick the ball and participate. Maximum group participation = my goal!
On other days if the weather isn’t nice, or it’s too hot we work on an art project. This is slightly tricky because again their level of comprehension and ability is a huge range. The message I’m trying to get across to them is no matter what you draw it’s “right” and beautiful. Unfortunately that message isn’t always conveyed by other people who work there, but I’m working on every time we do a project stressing how “they can do whatever they want – there is NO right or wrong picture for them to draw”. I really enjoy working on these projects with them, although it is a personal challenge for me to find something that can be a good project for their huge range of abilities. (Anyone who has any experience or resources for working in special education I would REALLY appreciate some tools or ideas! I need some suggestions and advice!)
Computer and Life Orientation Classes:
At the beginning of the school year I approached the schools that I have my girls clubs with and offered my services in whatever way I could. At one of the schools that was to begin to teach computer and life orientation classes. For both of these I have made sure that I have a counterpart with me from Ikhwezi. I try not to do any projects on my own since after all one of my biggest goals is to transfer skills to South Africans. And I shouldn’t overlook the importance of transferring the skill of transferring skills. ; )
So far I have taught two days of computer class. On Tuesdays I head to Ukhanyo and (in theory) teach four classes. Both days I’ve only taught three classes for some reason or another. I started with the grade 10s (which there are four classes of). They are pretty great kids. I really enjoy teaching them as a matter of fact. So far, only one boy has asked me for my number by typing it out when he should have been practicing typing something else. Gut reaction which I thought later might have been too harsh was to laugh and say “in your dreams”. Then I teased them by saying they really wanted the number of my counterpart for the class Abongile. Other than that and asking if I have a boyfriend/husband/child there haven’t been any issues. There is one class that is the largest of them (35ish students) and extremely talkative. It doesn’t even matter though – after each Tuesday I’ve obviously strained my vocal cords and have a bad sore throat.
The computer lab at the school hasn’t been used in (ever? a long time?) I’m not sure HOW long. The computers are very old school – Windows 2000 to be specific. I would say less than half actually work. Some days 10 will turn on and work, most recently it was 13 were working. There is no telling. So the students come in and sit two (or more if the class is bigger) to a computer. It’s not ideal – but I learned very quickly that “ideal” is often not what I have to work with. Therefore – we make it work no matter what the issues are. I remember a while back struggling with this kind of thing – and saying I thought I was flexible but soon realized once I got to South Africa I really wasn’t as flexible as I thought. Well, I can say with confidence that I’ve achieved flexible. And now I realize why South Africans are so chill. They’re used to NOTHING going according to plan their whole lives so they don’t ever freak out because it’s normal to have things go wrong. They are also used to needing to have not only a plan b, c, and d but also a plan e. And if plan e doesn’t’ work…well then guess it wasn’t meant to be, and I think it’s close to 1:00pm anyway which is hour lunch time soooo….
Oh I also have to jerry rig the projectors cord to stay into my computer so that my PowerPoint slides actually project. I have to get the computer that doesn’t work next to my laptop in just the right position then set it down on top of the cord to hold it in. The actual computer lessons were created by Trevor – a former? current? PCV here that was kind enough to add them to our flash drive that we got in training. I take his workshops and turn them into PowerPoint presentations. They so far have been really good! (Thanks Trevor!) The kids are really eager to learn about computers so that actually really helps I’m sure. My only other qualification for this job is that I’ve been using a computer since before I was even five years old.
I haven’t actually really started teaching the life orientation classes yet. LO classes are the equivalent of health class in the States. I really want to work with the grade 8s, and LO is the class that I REALLY want to teach (as in, I’m teaching computer classes because the school asked me to – I don’t feel any real passion for teaching about computers but it is an important skill and I realize that. And as a PCV we are supposed to respond to community needs and wants so hence the computer classes.). I want to work with grade 8s because I know a lot of them from SKILLZ last year, and Ikhwezi – and I just really love that awkward age. They are so absurd and hilarious. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stories once that does really pick up. I did teach it this Thursday, but only because the LO teacher was out sick and no one else was taking over his class (so they would have just sat for the whole period without a teacher and I figured that seems silly when I can give them something) so we talked about our values and our goals. None of the classes were grade 8s but it was fine. It was actually really cool to get to hear their values and see what some of their long term and short term goals were. I feel really strongly about helping out in the LO classes because I don’t believe that they are getting enough straightforward lessons about very important health topics (one in particular - sexual health). Through my other interactions with youth (girls club, SKILLZ) I’ve seen the level of understanding on some critical things and heard the myths and beliefs that get circulated about very basic and important health issues.
Pseudo Guidance Councilor:
At the other school in town the Principal had something different in mind for me instead of teaching. He had an issue with some of his learners that he was concerned about. He asked me to start by helping to talk to the students involved and do what I could to help them. I have not ever been trained as a social worker or as a councilor so this job has actually made me a little bit nervous. (I guess I don’t officially have teaching experience either but I have a LOT of facilitation experience which I think is very similar to teaching so I haven’t been nervous about teaching at all – only excited!). So anyway, this situation is definitely over my head, and I am certainly not qualified to be dealing with the issues that I am, but there is no one else at the moment so I’m making do. The case will get referred to the appropriate people though. It has helped me to realize the larger picture needed at this particular school which is education on what sexual harassment and sexual abuse is.
It’s become obvious that what I and others would consider extremely alarming behavior is neither alarming nor abnormal to the youth of this school. I’ve also realized that they don’t even know what sexual harassment or abuse is. I have talked to the principal I’m going to put together a presentation about these issues that I’ll give in same sex assemblies. It is things like this that I get worked up over and really feel a strong need to teach about.
On the back burner:
Those are the major things I have going on currently. There are other things that I’m trying to work on but they keep getting pushed to the back burner. Our final SKILLZ intervention will begin in March which will just add to my hectic schedule. I’m really looking forward to SKILLZ though – it’s a really fun program. We will be doing it at Ukhanyo with grade 8s (yay!). I say final, but really it’s just the final intervention which is part of the pilot program that I’ve been doing. Hopefully afterwards they give us the “okay” to continue to do SKILLZ with the same materials so that we can expand and provide that program to an entire grade over the course of the year instead of just one group of 30 or so learners. Other things in my thoughts: planning Camp GLOW for September, coming up with projects for when I work with another local organization this year, and projects for when Allie my college roomie of four years comes to visit in July! This year is going to be so epic!
If you're going to be passionate about something, be passionate about learning. If you're going to fight something, fight for those in need. If you're going to question something, question authority. If you're going to lose something, lose your inhibitions. If you're going to gain something, gain respect and confidence. And if you're going to hate something, hate the false idea that you are not capable of your dreams.
- Daniel Golston
Ps. Fun story from last night: You know that sensation that you get on the back of your neck where it feels like something is crawling on you? But usually it’s just a stray hair or something? Well last night at 3:30am I woke up to that sensation on my neck. I jolted up, and after turning the lights on and checking under pillows I found what I feared: a large cockroach. I shudder just now thinking about it. Anyway, I killed it with my flip flop, or at least I think I did. I couldn’t find the body which was really weird, but it probably fell under my bed. The best part is my attitude. I was/am disturbed, but…whatever. I would rather a spider be on me than a cockroach, but what can you do? I’m just going to use this as a reason to believe that – I’ve had this horrible thing happen – and I have to believe that a huge cockroach will not ever walk on me in my sleep again. I mean – what are the odds?! That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Holiday In The Sun
Happy New Year! I can feel it in my bones that 2012 is going to be an epic year. So far it’s proved to be pretty great!
I got home on the 6th of January from a wonderful, beautiful, much needed vacation. The original plan was for me to go to Cape Town with my South African friend but unfortunately that plan didn’t work out. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason though and I know I will eventually get to Cape Town (next Christmas maybe?) so I wasn’t disappointed. The trip I ended up taking was the PERFECT vacation! What was really cool was that I didn’t miss any work! My organization closed the day before I left, and opened the first Monday I was back. Now we just need to transfer this long holiday to the United States…
Here is the breakdown of my holiday.
Port Elizabeth.
First weekend away was just in my normal stomping grounds of PE. I showed my friend Will off as he was going to the land of all things wonderful – aka – the United States. We had a great time hanging out in the city and I looked ridiculous with my mass amounts of luggage. Most of which were only necessary for the first five days during our hike. Because normally I don’t travel with garlic salt and a huge knife…
The Shipwreck Hike.
This was my first real hiking experience. It was in a nutshell – amazing! We left from Port Alfred (which is supposedly my “shopping town” only 45 minutes from Alexandria and where my host sister works, yet no public transport goes there…therefore I never go there). Anyway – it was actually really cool doing something so unique right near where I stay! The hike was five days and four nights along the coast and going inland to the different accommodations. A lot of the hiking was along the beach – which was cool, but also can be the worst. It can be the worst when you aren’t on compact sand and you LITERALLY feel like you are hiking a stair master machine…for hours…and it never ends. We got smart eventually and realized that wearing shoes on the beach (while annoying with sand constantly getting in) is much preferable to no shoes. We had great weather the whole time – in that it was overcast therefore not sweltering hot. We had some wind, but it was always at our backs so that was fine. And on the very last day it did rain a little on us, but it wasn’t bad. Also I should mention we “slack packed”…so really didn’t have much work to do other than walking. Our bags were picked up and dropped off at the next accommodation daily. It was pretty sweet. This was a self guided hike (which at first terrified me) but the posts and signs were actually pretty easy to follow. Here are the highlights.
Day One: me being the only one who refuses to make it more difficult by walking over continuous dunes. Please – I’ll stick by the water thanks. There was an awesome sunset, and the little cabin we were staying in was sweet. My friends also got chased by bulls when they went for a walk (all of the accommodations are on farmers land who have partnered with this hiking company). Luckily they avoided real injury by running as fast as they could and hiding behind a bush. Crisis averted. This is also the day that I shouted “penguins!” only to have it NOT be a flock of penguins….oops.
Day Two: MY FAVORITE DAY! We were along the beach for a while but then went up a river to the camp of tree houses we were staying in. It was a long walk, but this was the coolest thing ever. The scenery was a combination of Indian Jones meets Jurassic Park. This was even more apparent when I tripped over a stump, shouted back to the group to watch out for the root, and was the only one to see a GIGANTIC lizard sprint away into the woods. I was TERRIFIED. Everyone heard it but only I had seen it. We asked about them, and apparently they are called monitor lizards. Google it. Anyway – it just confirmed that we were in our own version of Jurassic Park. We even had electrified fences that we had to navigate (dangerously close at points I might add). I guess that’s what you get when you hike through farm land.
The camp was the coolest. We also saw a crab on the rocks in the river (I was really taken with any and all wildlife we saw if you can’t tell). So there was a low tree house and a high tree house. I got to sleep in the high tree house and it was so fun! This whole day was my favorite because I loved the mystery and surprise of the terrain that we were hiking (jungle type) and then who doesn’t love getting to sleep in tree house?
Day Three: we had a delicious Mexican themed dinner. Even though we didn’t have electricity at any of the places except the last night we ate so well. We really did a good job on that front considering no planning went into it until we were at the grocery store buying our food. Also we were ironically staying at a building that had been used by the United States Navy during the Cold War. I don’t remember any other history of the place besides that.
Day Four: typical day, but started out bad. We meant to take the long hike option that went down to the beach to see these rock formations called the “Three Sisters”. Well, thirty minutes into the trail we realize we’re on the shortcut. The boys decide that it’s a good idea to try and go through the bush (so cut straight onto the beach) versus back tracking and taking the paths. I flatly refuse this option. I live in the Eastern Cape – I’ve seen the bush. I do not want to attempt to walk through it without a path. So, Veronica agrees with me and we back track. It’s not until AFTER we have split up in half that we realize maybe it might have been a good idea to discuss the possible options. Like, where we should meet for example. Or, if they can’t get through the bush – what will happen? Also – no one had really been keeping their cell on them since we weren’t connecting to the outside world. So, here we are, group split with no plan, and no idea what’s going to happen. Veronica is the kind of person who apparently does not freak out and can keep her cool. I was trying my hardest to not have a breakdown. All I know is I probably asked TOO many times….”but seriously Veronica…what if we can’t find them. WHAT are we supposed to do? This was a bad idea. A really bad idea. Ohmygod, I’m trying to not freak out”. Well me trying to not freak out was kind of failing but because V was so cool I figured I should try and keep my cool too…I didn’t want to look like a nut job. Yet the whole time in my mind I was going over every single possible horrible situation that could happen. One of them might break their foot and we will not know!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flash forward to V and me getting to Three Sisters and being like…wellllllll now what? We try to call/text both of them. Ethan finally answers and is like “we are by the big rocks”. Well, we knew there was no possible way they could be by the same big rocks we were by if they had cut straight across from the point of the trail we had been on when they decided to go through the bush. So we walk in the direction we are supposed to and go looking for the next big set of rocks. Long story short – they WERE at the same big rocks as we were – how we did not see each other is absolutely beyond me. But the morning started with us backtracking twice. I was not happy. The rest of the day was typical though and we got to spend the night in this really old original farm building that had electricity! A hot shower was pretty awesome.
Day Five: Almost the whole hike was on the beach which by this point I was dreading because it is really difficult to walk on sand for hours and hours. The best surprise came though when we were approaching something and I cried penguin again – this time I was right! We found a lone penguin on the beach. He had just gotten out of the water or so it seemed. He was really far away from where he was supposed to be and looked sad. Still, we were all really, really excited about this development in the day! I wish we had the phone number to the nature organization that picks up birds like that and rehabilitates them. There is one in the area but we didn’t have the number and honestly I didn’t even think of it until much later. All in all – it was a really great experience and I want to do more hiking! I have decided that one hike along the beach is all I need, but I would love to do more hiking like on day two. I like a little mystery in my hike!
Wild Coast.
At this point in the trip we rented a car which was great. It was like being real functioning adults again! We only had two drivers because it was about R200 for each additional driver. Just being in the car with people I know driving was enough to make it great though. Plus, I think driving on the opposite side of the road might have thrown me through a loop.
Cinsta: This was the first stop on our trip and where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas. I am obsessed with this place. We stayed at this massive backpackers – Buccaneers. It was amazing! I had so much fun there I really want to go back! We got Chinese food for Christmas Eve which was a nice treat because it was a really fancy restaurant and was actually really nice and delicious! Then we had enough left overs that we had Chinese left overs for Christmas dinner too. The backpackers had a huge party on Christmas Eve which we gladly participated in. It was really fun getting to spend the holiday with people from all over the world, traveling and doing the same thing we were.
Then there was a Christmas miracle. On Christmas morning the sun came out and shone for the first time in over five days! It had been raining nonstop but Christmas morning it was hot and sunny! We went down to the beach and spent the morning playing in the waves (where I had to have a life guard rescue me because the tide was so strong) and laying out. This was after our complementary champagne breakfast I might add! We weren’t supposed to get it for free, but the owner said it was cool if we did because he was friends with the guy who ran our hike. Yay for connections! Anyway – I was actually having so much fun that I wasn’t even able to be sad that I was missing Christmas back home. I of course missed my family and friends – but it was not a bad way to spend the holidays! Side story: there were two people on this trip that I have to mention. The first is Brett. That is not his real name, but is the name of the Flight of the Concords band member that he [one of the Buccaneers staff members] is the long lost twin of. On the night before Christmas Eve I’m pretty sure I freaked him out when I basically stalked him due to this. “You know who you look like? Have you ever seen Flight of the Concords? This is crazy! Have you seen that show?! [To anyone willing to listen…repeatedly]. You look EXACTLY like Brett!!!!!”. Then I only referred to him as Brett, and I think I might have stared at him for a while. The next day I felt the need to apologize…but I do not apologize for being in love with him because it is the closest I will ever get to the real Brett. If you haven’t seen the TV show Flight of Concords you need to get on that.
Morgan Bay: We were camping at a camp grounds called Yellowwoods. This place was really cool, but we didn’t really get a chance to see much. This is also where the incident happened. So, Ethan and I wanted to go down to the beach and check it out one afternoon while V and Andrew were fishing. Ethan had mentioned that he wanted to hike up to these cliffs and see what was up there and I was totally down. So, we hike up and it is beautiful! It was so cool, we’re having fun climbing down and Ethan needs to go down at a steep spot so he asks me to hold his backpack.
Well, I also need to go down a steep spot so I think, ‘I’ll drop the bag onto this landing that I need to jump down onto’. Well, I drop the bag but instead of stopping on the landing like it’s supposed to - it rolls, and then rolls faster, and faster, and faster, down, down, down and then disappears off a cliff. While this is happening Ethan is screaming that he is going to kill me and I feel like I’m watching a scene from a movie. So, we establish that his wallet, phone, and camera are with him and not in the bag. Good. But there are other things that he really wants to save. So, we are looking to see where the bag has fallen, and I spot it…floating in the ocean…
Ethan tells me to stay where I am while he climbs down. The next 15 minutes (which felt like forever) were spent by Ethan almost drowning in the ocean to retrieve his bag (which he did by the way) and me watching this process from above crying, and praying that he doesn’t drown. There isn’t really good news to this story – but he did get his bag back. The bad news is that I killed his iPod. Which was just out of the warranty time frame by weeks. Ugh. It is not good. I still feel so bad about this, and wish that I could do something now to help him replace his ipod. Sadly, I’m a PCV – so I can’t. In 15 months though he can expect a gift. Oh, I also forgot both his towel and mine at this place. Nice.
Wild Lubanzi:
This place was another one of my favorite spots. This backpackers is in the middle of nowhere. All that surrounds it is a Xhosa village spread out on small plots of land. The backpackers is situated right on a cliff above the ocean. The views are breathtaking. They are relatively new and really alternative. They don’t have electric during the day, but turn on their generator at night. Their showers are solar powered and they make meals for the guests with fruits and veggies from their fresh organic garden. It was awesome! It was also really cool to go down to the secluded (basically private) beach where the only other people were the local children. They can swim like fish! It was so cute to see them all run into the sea and then play in groups. This is also the only beach I’ve been to where right on the grass at the edge of it cows roam freely.
I actually was so happy to be on this trip (I had wanted to see the Wild Coast) and it was really educational for me to see how other Xhosa people live. Where I stay is township style, so even though it’s in a rural area, the houses are close together like in a suburb and it’s very populated. Out on the Wild Coast it is totally different! There are rolling hills for miles and miles and you see colorful spots where people’s rondovals (the traditional round houses…which we only have one of in my township) are. The buildings are situated on small plots of farm land. It was amazing to see this different way to life from the one I know as Xhosa.
Port St. Johns:
We were at Amapondo Backpackers camping for the New Years. We had heard absolutely raving reviews of this place from our friends who had been there during the off season and we’re really excited. Well, we arrive and can’t even park because there are so many cars. When we go up to the office to check in they seem worried that we have three tents. Despite the fact that we booked two months in advance AND paid half of the cost in a deposit. Well, surprise, surprise there is not really any room for us. Excellent. We make do squeezing our tents into places that they really should not be, including a rather steep incline for Ethan in his tent…on top of rocks. Despite this – we can tell that this would be a cool place if it wasn’t packed to the absolute brim with people.
This has got to be one of the most hippie places I have ever been in my life. We were celebrating New Years Eve here and the party theme was “Anything But Clothes”. Before you’re too scandalized by the theme you should know that my first ABC party was when I was 18 at a fraternity. It was our first exchange as new members – GO GREEK! So, due to my vast experience with this party theme I suggested that we do what I did the last time which was a garbage bag dress. I did not take into account how freaking hot it was however. We were sweating profusely immediately. Ethan went with garbage bag pants. Andrew was the only unique one who did a big leaf over his briefs. Oh, and at this point we had picked up Sami another friend from our group who had done a different hike and then met up with us. We also unintentionally met up with two other PCVs from SA22 (group before us) that were also staying here the same time as us.
The party began and it was immediately trance music. I guess they were going for a certain vibe. So, for those of you more experienced in certain things might know what I mean when I say “trance” music. For those of you who don’t know what that means (like me before I was exposed to it and probably a majority of the population) it means really hardcore techno music while people can be in a “trance”. You can rest safe knowing that I am still innocent and only less naive. My friends and I didn’t participate in what we suspect some other people at the party did, but we did dance the night away like maniacs! If you know me, you know I love to dance. We were up until 5am and saw the sunrise while dancing. As Sami would quote me later while she’s trying to convince me and V to go to bed “if you don’t stay up to see the sun rise, the whole thing is a waste Sami!”. Truth.
The next day we moved from Amapondo to another backpackers in Port St. Johns that wasn’t as crowded and we had beds in the dorms. It was really nice to have a bed and not have to go to bed sweating or wake up by 7am with the temperature being at lest 90 degrees in our tent. What a NYE. Side story and person number two I must mention. There was a girl working at Amapondo – probably my age who I swear to God (and ask anyone else that was there with me) was time traveling from the 1800’s. We called her DH short for Dance Hall because – she is the image of a dance hall girl from the wild west. I kid you not, the first time I saw her I was taken aback because it was like looking at a history book (or an old fashioned photo of a dance hall girl). I’m not sure exactly WHY she looks so much like a dance hall girl (although her hair is in that style constantly…not sure if that’s on purpose or what) but anyone who I mentioned it to agreed wholeheartedly. It was very bizarre. Anytime I saw her I felt the urge to tell her my time traveling theory but figured she already looked angry enough she didn’t need someone harassing her.
Durban:
From the Wild Coast we went up to Durban in KZN for a few days. I had not originally planned on doing this but since Cape Town was canceled I figured why not see some of my PC besties and Durban (which is another city in SA that I’ve really wanted to see, right up there with Cape Town). It was really great to see my friends and also meet more PCVs (different ones from SA 22 although the ones that we had met in Port St. Johns came the day after we did to the same place in Durban). We had a lot of fun just hanging out and relaxing. We also went out dancing on my last night and that was so much fun! Sam who stays in KZN is my dancing partner in crime so whenever we get together now we try and have a night out of dancing. We also ate out at this place called Taco Zulu which is the first GOOD Mexican food I’ve had in South Africa – it was delish!
Fun fact about Durban, it is the largest Indian population outside of India. I kid you not. I knew this information, but was still a little taken aback by the sheer number of Indian people everywhere. At the movie theater where we saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie – half of the movie choices were Bollywood films! We got some delicious bunny chow in the Indian sector of town. It was R8 for a quarter of a loaf of bread filled to brim with curry! To put that in perspective – R7 gets you a can of diet coke. It was my first time eating it – and it was soooooo so so so good. I was full the rest of the day also.
Leaving Durban was pretty sad, but it was wayyyyy to hot. It was so humid that after you got out of the shower, you never dried off. No exaggeration. I should mention that I bought my bus ticket last minute and was going for the cheapest option. Well, my ONLY option was to take the bus service that everyone says to NOT take (which was still way overpriced). SA Roadlink. A few years ago they faced the government shutting them down because of so many accidents and problems. Well, obviously they had to have cleaned up their act or get shut down, but still – no one takes that if they can avoid it. Now I know why. The seats are TINY, tiny, tiny and they don’t have an arm rest separating them. Well, many South Africans are not tiny tiny. This wasn’t an issue for the first half of the ride when I had two seats to myself – yay! Flash forward to the bus stop right before it’s time to go to sleep and a massive man chooses ME to sit next to. I spent a lot of time doing the whole moving my arm to get him off of me throughout the night. At one point I remember saying “scoot over” and just pointing the direction away from me. Thank goodness my vacation had exhausted me so I slept the whole night through anyway no problem.
Even once I got back to Alexandria the holiday wasn’t over. I spent the weekend with Michelle’s family at Cannon Rocks for the Cannon Rocks Kite Surfing Classic that Michelle was competing in. She did really good by the way! It was so cool to actually get to see people competing – it looks really fun actually.
All in all it was an epic vacation. I got to see 16 different PCVs, stay at 11 different places. I met people from all over the entire world and made some really great friends. Most importantly I was able to escape my own mind and get refreshed for 2012. I didn’t think about work ONCE (unless we were sharing stories) and was able to be totally relaxed. In the end, I was ready to come back home and get back down to business. I’m so thankful though that I was able to take that vacation though. Thank you to anyone who helped me out (you know who you are!). You are the best. : )
A post will come really soon about the exciting things I have ahead of me in 2012. Like I said, I can feel it - it’s going to be epic.
“Find life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life”.
- Lawrence K. Fish
I got home on the 6th of January from a wonderful, beautiful, much needed vacation. The original plan was for me to go to Cape Town with my South African friend but unfortunately that plan didn’t work out. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason though and I know I will eventually get to Cape Town (next Christmas maybe?) so I wasn’t disappointed. The trip I ended up taking was the PERFECT vacation! What was really cool was that I didn’t miss any work! My organization closed the day before I left, and opened the first Monday I was back. Now we just need to transfer this long holiday to the United States…
Here is the breakdown of my holiday.
Port Elizabeth.
First weekend away was just in my normal stomping grounds of PE. I showed my friend Will off as he was going to the land of all things wonderful – aka – the United States. We had a great time hanging out in the city and I looked ridiculous with my mass amounts of luggage. Most of which were only necessary for the first five days during our hike. Because normally I don’t travel with garlic salt and a huge knife…
The Shipwreck Hike.
This was my first real hiking experience. It was in a nutshell – amazing! We left from Port Alfred (which is supposedly my “shopping town” only 45 minutes from Alexandria and where my host sister works, yet no public transport goes there…therefore I never go there). Anyway – it was actually really cool doing something so unique right near where I stay! The hike was five days and four nights along the coast and going inland to the different accommodations. A lot of the hiking was along the beach – which was cool, but also can be the worst. It can be the worst when you aren’t on compact sand and you LITERALLY feel like you are hiking a stair master machine…for hours…and it never ends. We got smart eventually and realized that wearing shoes on the beach (while annoying with sand constantly getting in) is much preferable to no shoes. We had great weather the whole time – in that it was overcast therefore not sweltering hot. We had some wind, but it was always at our backs so that was fine. And on the very last day it did rain a little on us, but it wasn’t bad. Also I should mention we “slack packed”…so really didn’t have much work to do other than walking. Our bags were picked up and dropped off at the next accommodation daily. It was pretty sweet. This was a self guided hike (which at first terrified me) but the posts and signs were actually pretty easy to follow. Here are the highlights.
Day One: me being the only one who refuses to make it more difficult by walking over continuous dunes. Please – I’ll stick by the water thanks. There was an awesome sunset, and the little cabin we were staying in was sweet. My friends also got chased by bulls when they went for a walk (all of the accommodations are on farmers land who have partnered with this hiking company). Luckily they avoided real injury by running as fast as they could and hiding behind a bush. Crisis averted. This is also the day that I shouted “penguins!” only to have it NOT be a flock of penguins….oops.
Day Two: MY FAVORITE DAY! We were along the beach for a while but then went up a river to the camp of tree houses we were staying in. It was a long walk, but this was the coolest thing ever. The scenery was a combination of Indian Jones meets Jurassic Park. This was even more apparent when I tripped over a stump, shouted back to the group to watch out for the root, and was the only one to see a GIGANTIC lizard sprint away into the woods. I was TERRIFIED. Everyone heard it but only I had seen it. We asked about them, and apparently they are called monitor lizards. Google it. Anyway – it just confirmed that we were in our own version of Jurassic Park. We even had electrified fences that we had to navigate (dangerously close at points I might add). I guess that’s what you get when you hike through farm land.
The camp was the coolest. We also saw a crab on the rocks in the river (I was really taken with any and all wildlife we saw if you can’t tell). So there was a low tree house and a high tree house. I got to sleep in the high tree house and it was so fun! This whole day was my favorite because I loved the mystery and surprise of the terrain that we were hiking (jungle type) and then who doesn’t love getting to sleep in tree house?
Day Three: we had a delicious Mexican themed dinner. Even though we didn’t have electricity at any of the places except the last night we ate so well. We really did a good job on that front considering no planning went into it until we were at the grocery store buying our food. Also we were ironically staying at a building that had been used by the United States Navy during the Cold War. I don’t remember any other history of the place besides that.
Day Four: typical day, but started out bad. We meant to take the long hike option that went down to the beach to see these rock formations called the “Three Sisters”. Well, thirty minutes into the trail we realize we’re on the shortcut. The boys decide that it’s a good idea to try and go through the bush (so cut straight onto the beach) versus back tracking and taking the paths. I flatly refuse this option. I live in the Eastern Cape – I’ve seen the bush. I do not want to attempt to walk through it without a path. So, Veronica agrees with me and we back track. It’s not until AFTER we have split up in half that we realize maybe it might have been a good idea to discuss the possible options. Like, where we should meet for example. Or, if they can’t get through the bush – what will happen? Also – no one had really been keeping their cell on them since we weren’t connecting to the outside world. So, here we are, group split with no plan, and no idea what’s going to happen. Veronica is the kind of person who apparently does not freak out and can keep her cool. I was trying my hardest to not have a breakdown. All I know is I probably asked TOO many times….”but seriously Veronica…what if we can’t find them. WHAT are we supposed to do? This was a bad idea. A really bad idea. Ohmygod, I’m trying to not freak out”. Well me trying to not freak out was kind of failing but because V was so cool I figured I should try and keep my cool too…I didn’t want to look like a nut job. Yet the whole time in my mind I was going over every single possible horrible situation that could happen. One of them might break their foot and we will not know!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flash forward to V and me getting to Three Sisters and being like…wellllllll now what? We try to call/text both of them. Ethan finally answers and is like “we are by the big rocks”. Well, we knew there was no possible way they could be by the same big rocks we were by if they had cut straight across from the point of the trail we had been on when they decided to go through the bush. So we walk in the direction we are supposed to and go looking for the next big set of rocks. Long story short – they WERE at the same big rocks as we were – how we did not see each other is absolutely beyond me. But the morning started with us backtracking twice. I was not happy. The rest of the day was typical though and we got to spend the night in this really old original farm building that had electricity! A hot shower was pretty awesome.
Day Five: Almost the whole hike was on the beach which by this point I was dreading because it is really difficult to walk on sand for hours and hours. The best surprise came though when we were approaching something and I cried penguin again – this time I was right! We found a lone penguin on the beach. He had just gotten out of the water or so it seemed. He was really far away from where he was supposed to be and looked sad. Still, we were all really, really excited about this development in the day! I wish we had the phone number to the nature organization that picks up birds like that and rehabilitates them. There is one in the area but we didn’t have the number and honestly I didn’t even think of it until much later. All in all – it was a really great experience and I want to do more hiking! I have decided that one hike along the beach is all I need, but I would love to do more hiking like on day two. I like a little mystery in my hike!
Wild Coast.
At this point in the trip we rented a car which was great. It was like being real functioning adults again! We only had two drivers because it was about R200 for each additional driver. Just being in the car with people I know driving was enough to make it great though. Plus, I think driving on the opposite side of the road might have thrown me through a loop.
Cinsta: This was the first stop on our trip and where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas. I am obsessed with this place. We stayed at this massive backpackers – Buccaneers. It was amazing! I had so much fun there I really want to go back! We got Chinese food for Christmas Eve which was a nice treat because it was a really fancy restaurant and was actually really nice and delicious! Then we had enough left overs that we had Chinese left overs for Christmas dinner too. The backpackers had a huge party on Christmas Eve which we gladly participated in. It was really fun getting to spend the holiday with people from all over the world, traveling and doing the same thing we were.
Then there was a Christmas miracle. On Christmas morning the sun came out and shone for the first time in over five days! It had been raining nonstop but Christmas morning it was hot and sunny! We went down to the beach and spent the morning playing in the waves (where I had to have a life guard rescue me because the tide was so strong) and laying out. This was after our complementary champagne breakfast I might add! We weren’t supposed to get it for free, but the owner said it was cool if we did because he was friends with the guy who ran our hike. Yay for connections! Anyway – I was actually having so much fun that I wasn’t even able to be sad that I was missing Christmas back home. I of course missed my family and friends – but it was not a bad way to spend the holidays! Side story: there were two people on this trip that I have to mention. The first is Brett. That is not his real name, but is the name of the Flight of the Concords band member that he [one of the Buccaneers staff members] is the long lost twin of. On the night before Christmas Eve I’m pretty sure I freaked him out when I basically stalked him due to this. “You know who you look like? Have you ever seen Flight of the Concords? This is crazy! Have you seen that show?! [To anyone willing to listen…repeatedly]. You look EXACTLY like Brett!!!!!”. Then I only referred to him as Brett, and I think I might have stared at him for a while. The next day I felt the need to apologize…but I do not apologize for being in love with him because it is the closest I will ever get to the real Brett. If you haven’t seen the TV show Flight of Concords you need to get on that.
Morgan Bay: We were camping at a camp grounds called Yellowwoods. This place was really cool, but we didn’t really get a chance to see much. This is also where the incident happened. So, Ethan and I wanted to go down to the beach and check it out one afternoon while V and Andrew were fishing. Ethan had mentioned that he wanted to hike up to these cliffs and see what was up there and I was totally down. So, we hike up and it is beautiful! It was so cool, we’re having fun climbing down and Ethan needs to go down at a steep spot so he asks me to hold his backpack.
Well, I also need to go down a steep spot so I think, ‘I’ll drop the bag onto this landing that I need to jump down onto’. Well, I drop the bag but instead of stopping on the landing like it’s supposed to - it rolls, and then rolls faster, and faster, and faster, down, down, down and then disappears off a cliff. While this is happening Ethan is screaming that he is going to kill me and I feel like I’m watching a scene from a movie. So, we establish that his wallet, phone, and camera are with him and not in the bag. Good. But there are other things that he really wants to save. So, we are looking to see where the bag has fallen, and I spot it…floating in the ocean…
Ethan tells me to stay where I am while he climbs down. The next 15 minutes (which felt like forever) were spent by Ethan almost drowning in the ocean to retrieve his bag (which he did by the way) and me watching this process from above crying, and praying that he doesn’t drown. There isn’t really good news to this story – but he did get his bag back. The bad news is that I killed his iPod. Which was just out of the warranty time frame by weeks. Ugh. It is not good. I still feel so bad about this, and wish that I could do something now to help him replace his ipod. Sadly, I’m a PCV – so I can’t. In 15 months though he can expect a gift. Oh, I also forgot both his towel and mine at this place. Nice.
Wild Lubanzi:
This place was another one of my favorite spots. This backpackers is in the middle of nowhere. All that surrounds it is a Xhosa village spread out on small plots of land. The backpackers is situated right on a cliff above the ocean. The views are breathtaking. They are relatively new and really alternative. They don’t have electric during the day, but turn on their generator at night. Their showers are solar powered and they make meals for the guests with fruits and veggies from their fresh organic garden. It was awesome! It was also really cool to go down to the secluded (basically private) beach where the only other people were the local children. They can swim like fish! It was so cute to see them all run into the sea and then play in groups. This is also the only beach I’ve been to where right on the grass at the edge of it cows roam freely.
I actually was so happy to be on this trip (I had wanted to see the Wild Coast) and it was really educational for me to see how other Xhosa people live. Where I stay is township style, so even though it’s in a rural area, the houses are close together like in a suburb and it’s very populated. Out on the Wild Coast it is totally different! There are rolling hills for miles and miles and you see colorful spots where people’s rondovals (the traditional round houses…which we only have one of in my township) are. The buildings are situated on small plots of farm land. It was amazing to see this different way to life from the one I know as Xhosa.
Port St. Johns:
We were at Amapondo Backpackers camping for the New Years. We had heard absolutely raving reviews of this place from our friends who had been there during the off season and we’re really excited. Well, we arrive and can’t even park because there are so many cars. When we go up to the office to check in they seem worried that we have three tents. Despite the fact that we booked two months in advance AND paid half of the cost in a deposit. Well, surprise, surprise there is not really any room for us. Excellent. We make do squeezing our tents into places that they really should not be, including a rather steep incline for Ethan in his tent…on top of rocks. Despite this – we can tell that this would be a cool place if it wasn’t packed to the absolute brim with people.
This has got to be one of the most hippie places I have ever been in my life. We were celebrating New Years Eve here and the party theme was “Anything But Clothes”. Before you’re too scandalized by the theme you should know that my first ABC party was when I was 18 at a fraternity. It was our first exchange as new members – GO GREEK! So, due to my vast experience with this party theme I suggested that we do what I did the last time which was a garbage bag dress. I did not take into account how freaking hot it was however. We were sweating profusely immediately. Ethan went with garbage bag pants. Andrew was the only unique one who did a big leaf over his briefs. Oh, and at this point we had picked up Sami another friend from our group who had done a different hike and then met up with us. We also unintentionally met up with two other PCVs from SA22 (group before us) that were also staying here the same time as us.
The party began and it was immediately trance music. I guess they were going for a certain vibe. So, for those of you more experienced in certain things might know what I mean when I say “trance” music. For those of you who don’t know what that means (like me before I was exposed to it and probably a majority of the population) it means really hardcore techno music while people can be in a “trance”. You can rest safe knowing that I am still innocent and only less naive. My friends and I didn’t participate in what we suspect some other people at the party did, but we did dance the night away like maniacs! If you know me, you know I love to dance. We were up until 5am and saw the sunrise while dancing. As Sami would quote me later while she’s trying to convince me and V to go to bed “if you don’t stay up to see the sun rise, the whole thing is a waste Sami!”. Truth.
The next day we moved from Amapondo to another backpackers in Port St. Johns that wasn’t as crowded and we had beds in the dorms. It was really nice to have a bed and not have to go to bed sweating or wake up by 7am with the temperature being at lest 90 degrees in our tent. What a NYE. Side story and person number two I must mention. There was a girl working at Amapondo – probably my age who I swear to God (and ask anyone else that was there with me) was time traveling from the 1800’s. We called her DH short for Dance Hall because – she is the image of a dance hall girl from the wild west. I kid you not, the first time I saw her I was taken aback because it was like looking at a history book (or an old fashioned photo of a dance hall girl). I’m not sure exactly WHY she looks so much like a dance hall girl (although her hair is in that style constantly…not sure if that’s on purpose or what) but anyone who I mentioned it to agreed wholeheartedly. It was very bizarre. Anytime I saw her I felt the urge to tell her my time traveling theory but figured she already looked angry enough she didn’t need someone harassing her.
Durban:
From the Wild Coast we went up to Durban in KZN for a few days. I had not originally planned on doing this but since Cape Town was canceled I figured why not see some of my PC besties and Durban (which is another city in SA that I’ve really wanted to see, right up there with Cape Town). It was really great to see my friends and also meet more PCVs (different ones from SA 22 although the ones that we had met in Port St. Johns came the day after we did to the same place in Durban). We had a lot of fun just hanging out and relaxing. We also went out dancing on my last night and that was so much fun! Sam who stays in KZN is my dancing partner in crime so whenever we get together now we try and have a night out of dancing. We also ate out at this place called Taco Zulu which is the first GOOD Mexican food I’ve had in South Africa – it was delish!
Fun fact about Durban, it is the largest Indian population outside of India. I kid you not. I knew this information, but was still a little taken aback by the sheer number of Indian people everywhere. At the movie theater where we saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie – half of the movie choices were Bollywood films! We got some delicious bunny chow in the Indian sector of town. It was R8 for a quarter of a loaf of bread filled to brim with curry! To put that in perspective – R7 gets you a can of diet coke. It was my first time eating it – and it was soooooo so so so good. I was full the rest of the day also.
Leaving Durban was pretty sad, but it was wayyyyy to hot. It was so humid that after you got out of the shower, you never dried off. No exaggeration. I should mention that I bought my bus ticket last minute and was going for the cheapest option. Well, my ONLY option was to take the bus service that everyone says to NOT take (which was still way overpriced). SA Roadlink. A few years ago they faced the government shutting them down because of so many accidents and problems. Well, obviously they had to have cleaned up their act or get shut down, but still – no one takes that if they can avoid it. Now I know why. The seats are TINY, tiny, tiny and they don’t have an arm rest separating them. Well, many South Africans are not tiny tiny. This wasn’t an issue for the first half of the ride when I had two seats to myself – yay! Flash forward to the bus stop right before it’s time to go to sleep and a massive man chooses ME to sit next to. I spent a lot of time doing the whole moving my arm to get him off of me throughout the night. At one point I remember saying “scoot over” and just pointing the direction away from me. Thank goodness my vacation had exhausted me so I slept the whole night through anyway no problem.
Even once I got back to Alexandria the holiday wasn’t over. I spent the weekend with Michelle’s family at Cannon Rocks for the Cannon Rocks Kite Surfing Classic that Michelle was competing in. She did really good by the way! It was so cool to actually get to see people competing – it looks really fun actually.
All in all it was an epic vacation. I got to see 16 different PCVs, stay at 11 different places. I met people from all over the entire world and made some really great friends. Most importantly I was able to escape my own mind and get refreshed for 2012. I didn’t think about work ONCE (unless we were sharing stories) and was able to be totally relaxed. In the end, I was ready to come back home and get back down to business. I’m so thankful though that I was able to take that vacation though. Thank you to anyone who helped me out (you know who you are!). You are the best. : )
A post will come really soon about the exciting things I have ahead of me in 2012. Like I said, I can feel it - it’s going to be epic.
“Find life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life”.
- Lawrence K. Fish
Monday, December 12, 2011
Happy Holidays - It's Time To Soak Up The Sun!
Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised that I am immensely enjoying the beach as part of my holiday season celebrations. While it is extremely bizarre that it will not be a white Christmas for me – and I spent my birthday at the beach when it’s normally freezing – I can’t say that it’s “bad”. I love the beach, the sun, and warm weather so basically – I could get used to this!
Thanksgiving was so much fun! I spent the weekend at Jeffery’s Bay with my South African friend and two fellow PCVs. We met some cool kids at the backpackers we stayed at and invited them to join in on the feast. It. Was. Delicious. I love green bean casserole so very, very much. It was great weather the whole weekend except for Sunday which was perfect because we didn’t resent having to spend the whole day cooking when we could be at the beach. Jeffery’s Bay is one of the most famous surfing spots in the world and the Billabong Pro happens there every July. I hope to go to Jeffery’s next year during the competition – how awesome would that be?! It is a really cool beach town and has that chill, laid back surfer vibe. It also looks like it’s owned by Billabong with at least five Billabong stores in this one tiny town (including a factory shop which is awesome but still absurdly over priced). I didn’t get to try surfing, but I did get to SEE surfing. It was pretty sweet. All in all an excellent Thanksgiving!
My birthday was also really great! I felt like I was celebrating the whole weekend long (because I sort of was). I had a birthday party on Friday with my family in the location. It was so sweet – they decorated the house and sang to me. We had chips, cold drink (soda), ice cream, and dinner. We just hung out and watched TV but it was so nice to spend time with them. And I got the sweetest birthday card in the world from the youngest of my “sisters”. I had to try really hard to not cry. It was so nice because you can often find yourself on a tough day thinking “who am I even helping?” or “does anyone notice what I’m doing?”. Her card let me know that she has noticed and that felt so good to hear that by just being friends with her she has been impacted by me. It was a much needed message and I’m so grateful to know her. I know someday she’s going to come visit me in the States (I’m personally hoping for her to do a student exchange program) but I can’t wait to show her around!
On Saturday I had SO MUCH laundry to do, but I actually don’t mind doing laundry and it was such a beautiful day that it was perfect. After laundry I met up with my friend and we went out for a small lunch and rented movies for our sleep over. That night we had a delicious dinner with her family and watched one of our rental movies – The Time Travelers Wife (I fell asleep actually but I think it’s because I was so confused). The next day we knew the power was going to be out for the whole day because of some sort of routine power maintenance (on my actually birthday of course!). But it didn’t matter because we slept in and then spent the day at a pool and the beach! It was a lovely and relaxing birthday. Later that night I read some of my new book that I have been so excited for “The Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me” (which is hilarious), and watched Breakfast at Tiffanys. It was such a lovely birthday weekend! Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes – I really appreciate it!
I am so very excited for this weekend when my vacation starts! I was supposed to leave for Cape Town but that trip has actually been postponed and instead I’m going on a four day hike along the coast with my friends that I am traveling along the Wild Coast with! Myself and three fellow PCVs and I will be spending our time around Christmas and New Years traveling up the Wild Coast stopping at different destinations and ending in Durban (another big city I’ve been dying to see) where we meet up with more PCVs. I am so beyond excited for this vacation I can’t even explain! It’s going to be awesome! Am slightly nervous for this four day, “self guided” hike along the coast. I have never done something so intense before but I’m really excited for the challenge! I love hiking so I hope that this is a positive experience! Besides I need to condition myself for if I want to hike the Inca trail someday. Granted we are slackpacking so I’m not sure if it’s going to be all that hard.; )
The holiday season for me here (in my small town) is so different than in the States. Since I don’t watch TV or listen to the radio I have literally seen two indications that it’s about to be Christmas. At the PEP store in town (like an Old Navy) they have a small Christmas decorations section. The other indication is the Christmas tree design on the plastic grocery store bags. That is IT. It is SO weird to think about how Christmas is on steroids in the States and here you would barely be able to tell that there is some big holiday coming up. I can’t tell which I like better. You certainly get so into the spirit in the States but you don’t really have a choice. I’m not sure if that will make sense, but it’s almost like you are forced to obsess about everything holiday at this time of the year. Here – it’s just like normal life only with a long holiday included. This I appreciate…
South Africa celebrates Christmas by basically taking a country wide vacation for a month. Seriously – they basically shut down for weeks (except the tourist things aren’t shut down they are on overdrive). My organization is closed from December 16th to the 9th of January. Can you believe it?! It’s almost a whole month! I am not at all complaining about this I should clarify. Although I’m not sure I know anyone that would complain if they had such a long break from work. It’s awesome! I’ve gotten into the holiday spirit myself by listening to my Christmas music (while doing laundry) and have been watching the Christmas episodes of the TV shows I have and the Christmas movies. I’m most excited for It’s A Wonderful Life and Love Actually – my two favorite holiday movies. I’ve been holding out on watching them waiting for holiday season. I’m so glad it’s finally here!
And this is my Holiday Wish for all of you…
May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours wherever you may roam...
-Irish Blessing
Thanksgiving was so much fun! I spent the weekend at Jeffery’s Bay with my South African friend and two fellow PCVs. We met some cool kids at the backpackers we stayed at and invited them to join in on the feast. It. Was. Delicious. I love green bean casserole so very, very much. It was great weather the whole weekend except for Sunday which was perfect because we didn’t resent having to spend the whole day cooking when we could be at the beach. Jeffery’s Bay is one of the most famous surfing spots in the world and the Billabong Pro happens there every July. I hope to go to Jeffery’s next year during the competition – how awesome would that be?! It is a really cool beach town and has that chill, laid back surfer vibe. It also looks like it’s owned by Billabong with at least five Billabong stores in this one tiny town (including a factory shop which is awesome but still absurdly over priced). I didn’t get to try surfing, but I did get to SEE surfing. It was pretty sweet. All in all an excellent Thanksgiving!
My birthday was also really great! I felt like I was celebrating the whole weekend long (because I sort of was). I had a birthday party on Friday with my family in the location. It was so sweet – they decorated the house and sang to me. We had chips, cold drink (soda), ice cream, and dinner. We just hung out and watched TV but it was so nice to spend time with them. And I got the sweetest birthday card in the world from the youngest of my “sisters”. I had to try really hard to not cry. It was so nice because you can often find yourself on a tough day thinking “who am I even helping?” or “does anyone notice what I’m doing?”. Her card let me know that she has noticed and that felt so good to hear that by just being friends with her she has been impacted by me. It was a much needed message and I’m so grateful to know her. I know someday she’s going to come visit me in the States (I’m personally hoping for her to do a student exchange program) but I can’t wait to show her around!
On Saturday I had SO MUCH laundry to do, but I actually don’t mind doing laundry and it was such a beautiful day that it was perfect. After laundry I met up with my friend and we went out for a small lunch and rented movies for our sleep over. That night we had a delicious dinner with her family and watched one of our rental movies – The Time Travelers Wife (I fell asleep actually but I think it’s because I was so confused). The next day we knew the power was going to be out for the whole day because of some sort of routine power maintenance (on my actually birthday of course!). But it didn’t matter because we slept in and then spent the day at a pool and the beach! It was a lovely and relaxing birthday. Later that night I read some of my new book that I have been so excited for “The Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me” (which is hilarious), and watched Breakfast at Tiffanys. It was such a lovely birthday weekend! Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes – I really appreciate it!
I am so very excited for this weekend when my vacation starts! I was supposed to leave for Cape Town but that trip has actually been postponed and instead I’m going on a four day hike along the coast with my friends that I am traveling along the Wild Coast with! Myself and three fellow PCVs and I will be spending our time around Christmas and New Years traveling up the Wild Coast stopping at different destinations and ending in Durban (another big city I’ve been dying to see) where we meet up with more PCVs. I am so beyond excited for this vacation I can’t even explain! It’s going to be awesome! Am slightly nervous for this four day, “self guided” hike along the coast. I have never done something so intense before but I’m really excited for the challenge! I love hiking so I hope that this is a positive experience! Besides I need to condition myself for if I want to hike the Inca trail someday. Granted we are slackpacking so I’m not sure if it’s going to be all that hard.; )
The holiday season for me here (in my small town) is so different than in the States. Since I don’t watch TV or listen to the radio I have literally seen two indications that it’s about to be Christmas. At the PEP store in town (like an Old Navy) they have a small Christmas decorations section. The other indication is the Christmas tree design on the plastic grocery store bags. That is IT. It is SO weird to think about how Christmas is on steroids in the States and here you would barely be able to tell that there is some big holiday coming up. I can’t tell which I like better. You certainly get so into the spirit in the States but you don’t really have a choice. I’m not sure if that will make sense, but it’s almost like you are forced to obsess about everything holiday at this time of the year. Here – it’s just like normal life only with a long holiday included. This I appreciate…
South Africa celebrates Christmas by basically taking a country wide vacation for a month. Seriously – they basically shut down for weeks (except the tourist things aren’t shut down they are on overdrive). My organization is closed from December 16th to the 9th of January. Can you believe it?! It’s almost a whole month! I am not at all complaining about this I should clarify. Although I’m not sure I know anyone that would complain if they had such a long break from work. It’s awesome! I’ve gotten into the holiday spirit myself by listening to my Christmas music (while doing laundry) and have been watching the Christmas episodes of the TV shows I have and the Christmas movies. I’m most excited for It’s A Wonderful Life and Love Actually – my two favorite holiday movies. I’ve been holding out on watching them waiting for holiday season. I’m so glad it’s finally here!
And this is my Holiday Wish for all of you…
May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours wherever you may roam...
-Irish Blessing
Sunday, November 13, 2011
When Animals Attack
The last three days of my life have felt like I’m on that show on Discovery? Animal Planet? whatever - where people talk about their bizarre and terrifying encounters with animals. It all started Friday morning….
Friday, 11:00am
I’m at the office, normal Friday. All the staff is gathered around the big table in the main room of our office for the weekly staff meeting. Part way through I get up to use the restroom. Nothing out of the ordinary. Until I flush the toilet. As soon as I do the pink tail and gray behind of a RAT becomes visible as it attempts to not get flushed down the toilet. Let me try and set the stage. Our office toilet has no actual seat, so it’s just the rim. I would not have sat down if a rat was visible. It was HIDING IN THE TOILET under the seat somehow. I could have been bitten for all I know! So, obviously I panic, scream and run out of the bathroom into the main room where everyone is looking at me like - what just happened - and all I can say is “RAT! In the bathroom!” while freaking out. Now everyone groans, and acts like “oh, she’s being so dramatic our wimpy American can’t handle anything” – typical. They think I’m such a baby because I don’t handle cockroach/rat encounters well. So the men go into the bathroom as I hide in the kitchen attempting to find it. My manager assures me that on Monday all the boxes will be taken out and searched for rats. I am amazed at how no one thinks this is a big deal.
So we sit back down as she’s telling me about the cleaning plan and I say “well, in the mean time no one better go to the toilet because it’s hiding IN THE TOILET”. Now this garners what I thought the appropriate reactions should be when I ran out in the first place. Lots of “YYYOOOHH! Zoleka?!?! In the toilet??”. YES. IN THE TOILET. Now people respond with the shock and disgust I thought the situation called for. The men go back into the bathroom, armed with a stick, kill the poor (but gross) thing, and flush(??!!) it down the toilet after attempting to fish it out of the water with wires. I didn’t watch any of it I was too shaken up by my VERY close encounter. I just saw lots of entering and exiting of the bathroom with wires/stick. Man. What a terror. Needless to say, I’m not sure if I’m ever going to be able to use that bathroom again.
Saturday, 1:00pm
In my last blog I told you about the family of birds that was living in-between the ceiling and the roof in my host sisters bedroom. This was not only noisy but also as you may know birds carry bugs like lice and bed bugs. Gross. Well, the only way to get them out was to take off the roof, which our handyman did Saturday afternoon after sealing off all holes that were there between the wall and roof (to prevent further bird nesting situations). Well, as expected the birds freaked out when the roof came off and he tried getting them out. The two baby birds (which were adult sized I might add) haven’t left the nest yet, so aren’t sure how to fly properly. SO. Imagine, I’m minding my own business, reading a lovely column in a magazine about adventurous South Africans, lounging on my bed when all of a sudden a bird is flying through my burglar bars INTO MY ROOM in a panicked state. This was very startling. I also have a tiny room and I didn’t want to be attacked. I’m screaming at the top of my lungs (much more so than with the rat to my surprise…I think it’s because the bird was also freaking out). I jump off my bed, and run out of my room. All the while thinking…how am I going to get it out?! Well the brave Aunt of my host sister runs in as soon as I run out, grabs the bird and throws it out of my room. Poor thing, it was really struggling. What a traumatic first flying experience. I hope it made it somewhere safe! Thank goodness for brave South Africans. I would have needed a broom at least…
Sunday, 10:30am
I’m having a lazy Sunday morning in bed, watching Inception (which I really enjoyed this time – first time I saw it I was just confused). All of a sudden I hear something moving in my ceiling…and I hear chirping. F-in a. All I could think at this point was, are you JOKING?! Now there is a bird in MY ceiling. So I go outside to the party that has picked up where the night before left (it was my host brothers fourth birthday party and it was a rockin’ party Saturday). So, I find my host sister outside and explain that, I think there is bird in my ceiling now. This is when I am told that only one of the baby birds got out of the house yesterday (of course, why only one flew into my room. Duh.). The other one flew to my side of the house. Wonderful. I’m told nothing can be done about it now because of the impending rain and the not so sober state of our handy man. Fabulous. So, all I can do is be annoyed and go back to watching Inception with the occasional chirp added.
I am happy to report that all is quiet on the bird front currently. Hopefully it’s off sleeping somewhere other than above my room. But what’s next? Is a cow going to ram me? Is a goat going to bite me? Chicken attack? I can only imagine. I’m going to try not to think about it because as soon as I do I’ll just draw it to me. I’m hopeful that my animal bad luck streak is OVER. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
The good news is that I had a really fun time at my host brothers birthday party – he is just too cute! I got him a toy monster truck and some strawberry candies. I hope he likes them! I also made some new friends at the party that are my age which is really exciting! I had a blast. And today I made delicious pizza and got to watch Extreme Couponing on TLC for the first time. Have you seen that show before?! A lady had a grocery bill of $600-something and she ended up paying $2-something!!!!! Can you believe it?! On the one hand those people are totally insane and all boarder on just really OCD hoarders…but on the other hand…genius. But mostly insane. All in all a wonderful weekend, except that I didn’t actually do any of the mass amounts of work that I intended/needed to do sooooooo. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, which will be tomorrow morning at 9am. Yay!
Take care, and remember, always check for rats in your toilet!
Friday, 11:00am
I’m at the office, normal Friday. All the staff is gathered around the big table in the main room of our office for the weekly staff meeting. Part way through I get up to use the restroom. Nothing out of the ordinary. Until I flush the toilet. As soon as I do the pink tail and gray behind of a RAT becomes visible as it attempts to not get flushed down the toilet. Let me try and set the stage. Our office toilet has no actual seat, so it’s just the rim. I would not have sat down if a rat was visible. It was HIDING IN THE TOILET under the seat somehow. I could have been bitten for all I know! So, obviously I panic, scream and run out of the bathroom into the main room where everyone is looking at me like - what just happened - and all I can say is “RAT! In the bathroom!” while freaking out. Now everyone groans, and acts like “oh, she’s being so dramatic our wimpy American can’t handle anything” – typical. They think I’m such a baby because I don’t handle cockroach/rat encounters well. So the men go into the bathroom as I hide in the kitchen attempting to find it. My manager assures me that on Monday all the boxes will be taken out and searched for rats. I am amazed at how no one thinks this is a big deal.
So we sit back down as she’s telling me about the cleaning plan and I say “well, in the mean time no one better go to the toilet because it’s hiding IN THE TOILET”. Now this garners what I thought the appropriate reactions should be when I ran out in the first place. Lots of “YYYOOOHH! Zoleka?!?! In the toilet??”. YES. IN THE TOILET. Now people respond with the shock and disgust I thought the situation called for. The men go back into the bathroom, armed with a stick, kill the poor (but gross) thing, and flush(??!!) it down the toilet after attempting to fish it out of the water with wires. I didn’t watch any of it I was too shaken up by my VERY close encounter. I just saw lots of entering and exiting of the bathroom with wires/stick. Man. What a terror. Needless to say, I’m not sure if I’m ever going to be able to use that bathroom again.
Saturday, 1:00pm
In my last blog I told you about the family of birds that was living in-between the ceiling and the roof in my host sisters bedroom. This was not only noisy but also as you may know birds carry bugs like lice and bed bugs. Gross. Well, the only way to get them out was to take off the roof, which our handyman did Saturday afternoon after sealing off all holes that were there between the wall and roof (to prevent further bird nesting situations). Well, as expected the birds freaked out when the roof came off and he tried getting them out. The two baby birds (which were adult sized I might add) haven’t left the nest yet, so aren’t sure how to fly properly. SO. Imagine, I’m minding my own business, reading a lovely column in a magazine about adventurous South Africans, lounging on my bed when all of a sudden a bird is flying through my burglar bars INTO MY ROOM in a panicked state. This was very startling. I also have a tiny room and I didn’t want to be attacked. I’m screaming at the top of my lungs (much more so than with the rat to my surprise…I think it’s because the bird was also freaking out). I jump off my bed, and run out of my room. All the while thinking…how am I going to get it out?! Well the brave Aunt of my host sister runs in as soon as I run out, grabs the bird and throws it out of my room. Poor thing, it was really struggling. What a traumatic first flying experience. I hope it made it somewhere safe! Thank goodness for brave South Africans. I would have needed a broom at least…
Sunday, 10:30am
I’m having a lazy Sunday morning in bed, watching Inception (which I really enjoyed this time – first time I saw it I was just confused). All of a sudden I hear something moving in my ceiling…and I hear chirping. F-in a. All I could think at this point was, are you JOKING?! Now there is a bird in MY ceiling. So I go outside to the party that has picked up where the night before left (it was my host brothers fourth birthday party and it was a rockin’ party Saturday). So, I find my host sister outside and explain that, I think there is bird in my ceiling now. This is when I am told that only one of the baby birds got out of the house yesterday (of course, why only one flew into my room. Duh.). The other one flew to my side of the house. Wonderful. I’m told nothing can be done about it now because of the impending rain and the not so sober state of our handy man. Fabulous. So, all I can do is be annoyed and go back to watching Inception with the occasional chirp added.
I am happy to report that all is quiet on the bird front currently. Hopefully it’s off sleeping somewhere other than above my room. But what’s next? Is a cow going to ram me? Is a goat going to bite me? Chicken attack? I can only imagine. I’m going to try not to think about it because as soon as I do I’ll just draw it to me. I’m hopeful that my animal bad luck streak is OVER. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
The good news is that I had a really fun time at my host brothers birthday party – he is just too cute! I got him a toy monster truck and some strawberry candies. I hope he likes them! I also made some new friends at the party that are my age which is really exciting! I had a blast. And today I made delicious pizza and got to watch Extreme Couponing on TLC for the first time. Have you seen that show before?! A lady had a grocery bill of $600-something and she ended up paying $2-something!!!!! Can you believe it?! On the one hand those people are totally insane and all boarder on just really OCD hoarders…but on the other hand…genius. But mostly insane. All in all a wonderful weekend, except that I didn’t actually do any of the mass amounts of work that I intended/needed to do sooooooo. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, which will be tomorrow morning at 9am. Yay!
Take care, and remember, always check for rats in your toilet!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
My Adventures/Misadventures in October
Molweni friends!
Yoh, things have been hectic (that’s a really South African expression by the way). Where did the month of October even go?! It seems like it just disappeared! So much has happened this is going to be quite the long post but since it’s been over a month – I think it is okay. ; )
I got to go to PE and spend some time with two of my PCV friends that were in town visiting from Kwa-Zulu Natal (the Province that they live in). It was over the school holiday and then I met up with them for the long weekend in PE. We had lots of fun shenanigans in PE. We stayed at a backpackers I haven’t stayed at before and it was great. That was exciting – a new favorite find! We went out dancing with a Canadian and French guy we met at the hostel which was a blast and then got late night McDonalds (hello, were we in America?!). It was also great because we got to cook our food to save money which was actually fun and tasty. Well it wasn’t actually fun because the hostel only seems to believe in extremely, extremely dull knives. Which were then all stolen(?) so the next night we had ONE very dull knife. Not conducive to good cooking, but eh. Whatever. It made for just yet another hilarious situation in our usually hilarious lives. Cutting veggies with a butter knife. Typical.
Sam and Kelley were able to confirm for me that the Eastern Cape really is in its own world compared to the rest of South Africa (although I think the Western Cape is like it too, but there are no PCVs in the Western Cape so I can’t confirm that). SO MUCH about it is just different than at least the other places in South Africa that I’ve been, and the stories that I’m told by other SA PCVs. In a way, it seems like the Eastern Cape is a little more modern and more diverse. Now, I haven’t been into the heart of the Eastern Cape really (the very rural areas) so it might be totally different there but the part that I’m in, and from what all of the other PCVs in the Eastern Cape have said (some of which are really in the heart of it) it is like that all over. It usually shocks other PCVs from different Provinces that we have regular contact with white and coloured people. It’s just interesting when the now five of us that are in the EC have such unique experiences to other PCVs. Each placement within a country will be unique and different but for all of us in the EC we have some group differences in our experiences compared to the rest of SA PC. Sam and Kelley were telling me that it’s true – at least compared to their experience at site.
*Tangent: in South Africa due to their history there are very distinct racial groups just like in the States only they are different which makes sense since race is a social construct which is to mean that it is not a universal – obviously since it can mean something different in different places. Anyway, coloured people are what we would called mixed race. Obviously in the states it’s not okay to call someone colored because of our own historical context but here it is a defined and distinct group of people with their own culture…it was one of a few option to mark you were coloured on the census. Which is another story by the way…I filled out the census and it was so interesting to see the differences between US census and SA census! The sociology nerd is coming out again.
All in all, the visit with Sam and Kelley was so fun, and much needed break! I have a pretty insane life here anyway (for example Tuesday night I went out and ate pizza at a restaurant…another example of my unique PC experience…I don’t really think many people here are doing things like that). BUT sometimes it’s just nice to get to talk to my fellow Americans about life. To hear about different sites, different successes and challenges of other people. We get to share ideas and stories for projects and programs – it’s nice to know that we’re all for the most part having the same things happen. We also have a blast together which makes any get together worth it!
South Africa in the month of October held their 2011 census. I was counted! It was really interesting to me for a couple reasons. One, the race category compared to ones you see that in the States was very short. Then I found it really interesting that if you weren’t a South African citizen they didn’t have a whole section asking what you were doing there, or how you came to be in South Africa. I just had to list that I was in fact not a South African citizen. I did then also explain that I was from the United States because it asked for what country you were from, but no sections about why you are in South Africa. Wouldn’t they want to know that? Maybe not. I’m not sure what the US census is like in that area. I was just surprised I didn’t have to say what I was doing here! The other sections it asked about were I think typical. Jobs, education, normal stuff. It was really interesting because they asked information about your house and you had to say how many rooms you have – but you couldn’t count bathrooms. It was really bizarre to me! I think it was kitchens and bathrooms or something – you couldn’t count those. I was confused about that. It was really fascinating to me.
On to new things. We have finished our first SKILLZ intervention! We had 12 kids graduate. In order to graduate they couldn’t have missed more than four of the 11 practices. So, considering our attendance challenges I was happy with 12! It was a really young group (10-13) and so they were at times a challenge to manage behavior wise. But they were so cute, and a really funny group. This next team starts this week and we have to have three practices a week because we need to finish the second intervention by December 1st. It’s going to be a tight squeeze but we gotta do it. It’s all grade seven learners which is the oldest grade at the primary school. I’m hoping that it can go a bit more smoothly due to the older audience. Plus, they are actually about to graduate in January and go to the secondary school. I’m not-so-secretly hoping they will be easy to manage!
The girls clubs started last month and were AWESOME. Noxolo and I have been so excited about them, and they went so well! We had introduction meetings at each of the schools and had 41 girls come to one and 46 come to the other! It was a great turn out! We’ve realize since it’s so late in the year, and they have exams this month we can’t really meet in November. And then December is school holiday when we won’t be meeting at all. So really, the main clubs will start in January and go all next school year. The school year here is January to December. We got a great package of goodies and supplies for our girls clubs which is fantastic – shout out needed to Dave! Thanks SO MUCH! We have so many things we can do with them now – it’s really exciting!
There has been major drama at my org this last month. I’m not going to get into it, except to say that I have been very, very, very stressed, confused, and worried. I’m finally at a place though that I’m optimistic about the future. We have the opportunity for a fresh start so to speak! Although we always seem to be in a state of small-to-huge crisis at my org. The panic levels correlate with the level of crisis. So, we’re always sort of in crisis/panic mode. It’s exhausting. Luckily I’ve been able to focus on my projects and sort of remove myself from the insanity although I can’t escape it altogether. My dream would be to get us to a place where we in fact are NOT in a state of constent crisis/panic. It’s a matter of setting up systems and organization. There was very REAL example of how we are hindered by our lack of organization. So, there is this amazing funding opportunity that we are eligible for. Of course we found out about it the week before the application was due (typical). Which happened to be the week that our management and lots of staff were out for the week at a training. Well, we were going to have to post our most recent audited financial statements and our NPO certificate to them to London – so we needed to send it ASAP. Now, we have filing cabinets but we might as well not. We simply couldn’t find the most recent audited statements and no one could tell us over the phone where they were. So, we lost the opportunity to apply for $100,000 in US funding that we would have been able to use on OVCs. I explained this to everyone at the staff meeting yesterday in an attempt to point out how the small things – like putting something in the correct place on a day to day basis actually does have a HUGE impact on the big picture of our organization. We lost out on a major opportunity.
I should also mention that we’ve been attempting to re-file since the end of August. We did organize the office in August (you may recall the close encounter I had with a giant rat during that episode) and part of that was suppose to be refilling. Well that didn’t happen and still hasn’t happened. And I refuse to do things like that on my own because what’s the point if I re-file for us – to a logic and system that suits me – and I’m leaving! It’s not sustainable, or useful to set people up with a system that they won’t understand and won’t use. So, I’ve sort of sat back and waited for someone to take the initiative on it. In addition I’ve been so insanely busy with girls clubs and SKILLZ that I haven’t even had the chance to put a fire under anyone to get started although I have voiced remainders. I hope this whole lost chance at funding has shaken some people up and it will get done sooner rather than later.
The REALLY REALLY AMAZING news though is that we FINALLY received our funding from the Department of Social Development. You know, seven months late, but who’s counting. Well, probably the people who have been working and not getting paid for the last seven months!!!! The only thing I can say about that is thank God. Well and although it is good news the Department expects us to spend the money as quickly as we can now so adding to the panic and crisis we have to spend over R200,000 as soon as possible. I don’t even want to think about it…I’m so overwhelmed with the idea of all the planning we have to do and then implement in the next month and a half. I think I have a hectic time ahead of me too.
Things at home have been wonderful! My room is put together in the way I want it – and definitely feels like home. Luckily cockroach sightings in room are very low (two in last couple months although one was on my bed – major negative), and as soon as I finally buy some more hangers for my wardrobe I will have no random excess luggage still sitting around. Our refrigerator is working and has stayed working after months of not working - yay! Thanks to the very generous help from the Smith family and many attempted fixes by the electrician it is finally working! Thank goodness! For so long I was eating so unhealthy because it’s hard enough to cook for one person. But when you can’t keep anything for a long time it’s really hard! I couldn’t buy really anything fresh because it wouldn’t last. But, all that is in the past (hopefully for good!). It does seem like one thing after the other though happens at our house. So my window broke (which I think I blogged about…it was scary). Well the same window broke AGAIN. Only this time the glass thank goodness didn’t and it’s just the wooden frame. So I can’t open one of my windows (the other one already broke but I can still open it, eish). Then, the spring in my door handle has been broken so if the wind is blowing in one direction and my door isn’t locked the top half will blow open (we have those doors where you can have it half open or totally closed). I need to recruit someone to fix those things. Add to all this that we NOW have a family of birds living between my host sisters roof and ceiling in her bedroom. As I’m sure you can imagine that is very noisy and not okay. I’m so happy it’s not in my part of the house! But I feel really bad for her, because they are literally in her bedroom keeping her up at night. I would hate for the only solution to be to kill the birds but I have no idea how else it’s going to be taken care of. Eish. She asked me how I think we should handle it and I told her the only way I know of to get rid of things like that is to call an exterminator. You know…like in the States. Her idea is to put a cat into a hole in the ceiling in the garage and let run free in our ceiling until it kills them. She just doesn’t know where to get a cat, and my question was…well how do you get it out then? I am personally advocating for a human intervention. Also, we need to get something to go around the roof to ceiling line and block the holes so this doesn’t happen again!
It has been SO WEIRD to not have any Fall references in my life at all. Except on Facebook. I really miss Fall – who knew!? I would literally kill someone for a Starbucks drink. I can’t even handle the fact that it’s now “holiday” season and I won’t be able to drink my favorite - caramel brulee latte. It was also really weird with no signs of Halloween – and now Thanksgiving. But I actually have lots of really good things to look forward to in November and December! On Thanksgiving weekend I’m going to Jeffery’s Bay which is about two hours away from here. Jeffery’s Bay is one of the most famous surfing beaches in the world and the Billabong Pro takes place there every July. I’m going with my South African friend and meeting other PCVs there (if they can make it). I’m going to make garlic mashed potatoes and green been casserole – my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. I’m drooling just thinking about it! Then, in December I’m going to Cape Town with my South African friend – and then I think meeting up with PCVs to do some things in the Eastern Cape! So, I have lots of things to look forward to! : ) It should be a really great time! YAY. Even though it won’t be a white Christmas it will be a beach Christmas! Yesssssss.
OH! I totally forgot that a man on the street told me he was going to send his Uncles to America to negotiate labola (bride price) and would my family be interested in cows. He was joking, but I was like…well that would probably only work if I wanted to marry you which I don’t. But Mom and Dad…are you interested in becoming cow farmers? I have an idea for a business venture…
“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.”
- Christian D. Larson
Yoh, things have been hectic (that’s a really South African expression by the way). Where did the month of October even go?! It seems like it just disappeared! So much has happened this is going to be quite the long post but since it’s been over a month – I think it is okay. ; )
I got to go to PE and spend some time with two of my PCV friends that were in town visiting from Kwa-Zulu Natal (the Province that they live in). It was over the school holiday and then I met up with them for the long weekend in PE. We had lots of fun shenanigans in PE. We stayed at a backpackers I haven’t stayed at before and it was great. That was exciting – a new favorite find! We went out dancing with a Canadian and French guy we met at the hostel which was a blast and then got late night McDonalds (hello, were we in America?!). It was also great because we got to cook our food to save money which was actually fun and tasty. Well it wasn’t actually fun because the hostel only seems to believe in extremely, extremely dull knives. Which were then all stolen(?) so the next night we had ONE very dull knife. Not conducive to good cooking, but eh. Whatever. It made for just yet another hilarious situation in our usually hilarious lives. Cutting veggies with a butter knife. Typical.
Sam and Kelley were able to confirm for me that the Eastern Cape really is in its own world compared to the rest of South Africa (although I think the Western Cape is like it too, but there are no PCVs in the Western Cape so I can’t confirm that). SO MUCH about it is just different than at least the other places in South Africa that I’ve been, and the stories that I’m told by other SA PCVs. In a way, it seems like the Eastern Cape is a little more modern and more diverse. Now, I haven’t been into the heart of the Eastern Cape really (the very rural areas) so it might be totally different there but the part that I’m in, and from what all of the other PCVs in the Eastern Cape have said (some of which are really in the heart of it) it is like that all over. It usually shocks other PCVs from different Provinces that we have regular contact with white and coloured people. It’s just interesting when the now five of us that are in the EC have such unique experiences to other PCVs. Each placement within a country will be unique and different but for all of us in the EC we have some group differences in our experiences compared to the rest of SA PC. Sam and Kelley were telling me that it’s true – at least compared to their experience at site.
*Tangent: in South Africa due to their history there are very distinct racial groups just like in the States only they are different which makes sense since race is a social construct which is to mean that it is not a universal – obviously since it can mean something different in different places. Anyway, coloured people are what we would called mixed race. Obviously in the states it’s not okay to call someone colored because of our own historical context but here it is a defined and distinct group of people with their own culture…it was one of a few option to mark you were coloured on the census. Which is another story by the way…I filled out the census and it was so interesting to see the differences between US census and SA census! The sociology nerd is coming out again.
All in all, the visit with Sam and Kelley was so fun, and much needed break! I have a pretty insane life here anyway (for example Tuesday night I went out and ate pizza at a restaurant…another example of my unique PC experience…I don’t really think many people here are doing things like that). BUT sometimes it’s just nice to get to talk to my fellow Americans about life. To hear about different sites, different successes and challenges of other people. We get to share ideas and stories for projects and programs – it’s nice to know that we’re all for the most part having the same things happen. We also have a blast together which makes any get together worth it!
South Africa in the month of October held their 2011 census. I was counted! It was really interesting to me for a couple reasons. One, the race category compared to ones you see that in the States was very short. Then I found it really interesting that if you weren’t a South African citizen they didn’t have a whole section asking what you were doing there, or how you came to be in South Africa. I just had to list that I was in fact not a South African citizen. I did then also explain that I was from the United States because it asked for what country you were from, but no sections about why you are in South Africa. Wouldn’t they want to know that? Maybe not. I’m not sure what the US census is like in that area. I was just surprised I didn’t have to say what I was doing here! The other sections it asked about were I think typical. Jobs, education, normal stuff. It was really interesting because they asked information about your house and you had to say how many rooms you have – but you couldn’t count bathrooms. It was really bizarre to me! I think it was kitchens and bathrooms or something – you couldn’t count those. I was confused about that. It was really fascinating to me.
On to new things. We have finished our first SKILLZ intervention! We had 12 kids graduate. In order to graduate they couldn’t have missed more than four of the 11 practices. So, considering our attendance challenges I was happy with 12! It was a really young group (10-13) and so they were at times a challenge to manage behavior wise. But they were so cute, and a really funny group. This next team starts this week and we have to have three practices a week because we need to finish the second intervention by December 1st. It’s going to be a tight squeeze but we gotta do it. It’s all grade seven learners which is the oldest grade at the primary school. I’m hoping that it can go a bit more smoothly due to the older audience. Plus, they are actually about to graduate in January and go to the secondary school. I’m not-so-secretly hoping they will be easy to manage!
The girls clubs started last month and were AWESOME. Noxolo and I have been so excited about them, and they went so well! We had introduction meetings at each of the schools and had 41 girls come to one and 46 come to the other! It was a great turn out! We’ve realize since it’s so late in the year, and they have exams this month we can’t really meet in November. And then December is school holiday when we won’t be meeting at all. So really, the main clubs will start in January and go all next school year. The school year here is January to December. We got a great package of goodies and supplies for our girls clubs which is fantastic – shout out needed to Dave! Thanks SO MUCH! We have so many things we can do with them now – it’s really exciting!
There has been major drama at my org this last month. I’m not going to get into it, except to say that I have been very, very, very stressed, confused, and worried. I’m finally at a place though that I’m optimistic about the future. We have the opportunity for a fresh start so to speak! Although we always seem to be in a state of small-to-huge crisis at my org. The panic levels correlate with the level of crisis. So, we’re always sort of in crisis/panic mode. It’s exhausting. Luckily I’ve been able to focus on my projects and sort of remove myself from the insanity although I can’t escape it altogether. My dream would be to get us to a place where we in fact are NOT in a state of constent crisis/panic. It’s a matter of setting up systems and organization. There was very REAL example of how we are hindered by our lack of organization. So, there is this amazing funding opportunity that we are eligible for. Of course we found out about it the week before the application was due (typical). Which happened to be the week that our management and lots of staff were out for the week at a training. Well, we were going to have to post our most recent audited financial statements and our NPO certificate to them to London – so we needed to send it ASAP. Now, we have filing cabinets but we might as well not. We simply couldn’t find the most recent audited statements and no one could tell us over the phone where they were. So, we lost the opportunity to apply for $100,000 in US funding that we would have been able to use on OVCs. I explained this to everyone at the staff meeting yesterday in an attempt to point out how the small things – like putting something in the correct place on a day to day basis actually does have a HUGE impact on the big picture of our organization. We lost out on a major opportunity.
I should also mention that we’ve been attempting to re-file since the end of August. We did organize the office in August (you may recall the close encounter I had with a giant rat during that episode) and part of that was suppose to be refilling. Well that didn’t happen and still hasn’t happened. And I refuse to do things like that on my own because what’s the point if I re-file for us – to a logic and system that suits me – and I’m leaving! It’s not sustainable, or useful to set people up with a system that they won’t understand and won’t use. So, I’ve sort of sat back and waited for someone to take the initiative on it. In addition I’ve been so insanely busy with girls clubs and SKILLZ that I haven’t even had the chance to put a fire under anyone to get started although I have voiced remainders. I hope this whole lost chance at funding has shaken some people up and it will get done sooner rather than later.
The REALLY REALLY AMAZING news though is that we FINALLY received our funding from the Department of Social Development. You know, seven months late, but who’s counting. Well, probably the people who have been working and not getting paid for the last seven months!!!! The only thing I can say about that is thank God. Well and although it is good news the Department expects us to spend the money as quickly as we can now so adding to the panic and crisis we have to spend over R200,000 as soon as possible. I don’t even want to think about it…I’m so overwhelmed with the idea of all the planning we have to do and then implement in the next month and a half. I think I have a hectic time ahead of me too.
Things at home have been wonderful! My room is put together in the way I want it – and definitely feels like home. Luckily cockroach sightings in room are very low (two in last couple months although one was on my bed – major negative), and as soon as I finally buy some more hangers for my wardrobe I will have no random excess luggage still sitting around. Our refrigerator is working and has stayed working after months of not working - yay! Thanks to the very generous help from the Smith family and many attempted fixes by the electrician it is finally working! Thank goodness! For so long I was eating so unhealthy because it’s hard enough to cook for one person. But when you can’t keep anything for a long time it’s really hard! I couldn’t buy really anything fresh because it wouldn’t last. But, all that is in the past (hopefully for good!). It does seem like one thing after the other though happens at our house. So my window broke (which I think I blogged about…it was scary). Well the same window broke AGAIN. Only this time the glass thank goodness didn’t and it’s just the wooden frame. So I can’t open one of my windows (the other one already broke but I can still open it, eish). Then, the spring in my door handle has been broken so if the wind is blowing in one direction and my door isn’t locked the top half will blow open (we have those doors where you can have it half open or totally closed). I need to recruit someone to fix those things. Add to all this that we NOW have a family of birds living between my host sisters roof and ceiling in her bedroom. As I’m sure you can imagine that is very noisy and not okay. I’m so happy it’s not in my part of the house! But I feel really bad for her, because they are literally in her bedroom keeping her up at night. I would hate for the only solution to be to kill the birds but I have no idea how else it’s going to be taken care of. Eish. She asked me how I think we should handle it and I told her the only way I know of to get rid of things like that is to call an exterminator. You know…like in the States. Her idea is to put a cat into a hole in the ceiling in the garage and let run free in our ceiling until it kills them. She just doesn’t know where to get a cat, and my question was…well how do you get it out then? I am personally advocating for a human intervention. Also, we need to get something to go around the roof to ceiling line and block the holes so this doesn’t happen again!
It has been SO WEIRD to not have any Fall references in my life at all. Except on Facebook. I really miss Fall – who knew!? I would literally kill someone for a Starbucks drink. I can’t even handle the fact that it’s now “holiday” season and I won’t be able to drink my favorite - caramel brulee latte. It was also really weird with no signs of Halloween – and now Thanksgiving. But I actually have lots of really good things to look forward to in November and December! On Thanksgiving weekend I’m going to Jeffery’s Bay which is about two hours away from here. Jeffery’s Bay is one of the most famous surfing beaches in the world and the Billabong Pro takes place there every July. I’m going with my South African friend and meeting other PCVs there (if they can make it). I’m going to make garlic mashed potatoes and green been casserole – my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. I’m drooling just thinking about it! Then, in December I’m going to Cape Town with my South African friend – and then I think meeting up with PCVs to do some things in the Eastern Cape! So, I have lots of things to look forward to! : ) It should be a really great time! YAY. Even though it won’t be a white Christmas it will be a beach Christmas! Yesssssss.
OH! I totally forgot that a man on the street told me he was going to send his Uncles to America to negotiate labola (bride price) and would my family be interested in cows. He was joking, but I was like…well that would probably only work if I wanted to marry you which I don’t. But Mom and Dad…are you interested in becoming cow farmers? I have an idea for a business venture…
“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.”
- Christian D. Larson
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