....SO HOT in fact that my legs drip sweat all the live long day, my heart stops for a beat or two when I walk into the sun and dirt films around my lips and slowly seeps into my mouth, leaving this nasty gritty taste in my mouth, also, all the LIVE LONG DAY! This change came about overnight and I fear will not change until April. In fact, it's only September, meaning in two or three months it will be ten times worse. Clearly it's time to buy a fan! And to think so many of my fellow friends and colleages here say, "But Lethabo, this is the best country. Here, it gets cold!" Cold? Cold? I"m still waiting for WINTER! It does not exist here. Sure, down by Lesotho there is such a thing as Winter. However, I don't live there. I live here, in Limpopo, less than 100K from the northern borders. I'm near Musina, which means nothing to me, or you, but apparently is lamen terms for CENTER OF SUN! Musina is a village or town or something on the border of SA and Zimbabwe. Apparently, I"m told it's the hottest place in SA. Lovely.
I can tolerate heat. My dad calls me the sun goddess for a reason. How many hours each summer to I rush home, grab a towel, undress and bask in the sun. Melissa, you can attest to this!!! Days on end, hours upon hours, I can tolerate the heat and sweat it out. And I have to admit, I love the fact that I turn golden brown and smooth! It was like, MY THING! I forget that with that I had fans, cool evenings, air conditioning, running water, ice, oh and such a thing called Seasons! I knew that the hottest summer days were only a few weeks, if that out in good ol Oregon. I had the ocean, rivers, swimming, ice cream...all the necessities of summer days. And there was always an end in sight.
My end is in 8 months. I suppose I'll acclimate or whatever. But I tell you this! When I have a chance to stay near a swimming pool, I"m afraid I will never get out! It seems so unfair that there is this gorgeous Ocean out there with dolphins and penguins and turtles, and I can't even get to it! Today, I"m wondering how in the hell I am meant to survive this heat for the next several months, and it's only day 2. Any suggestions????
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Catching up
So much has been going on in the past two months. I feel like I don't even know where to start. When I returned to site after Kruger, all kinds of things had changed. There is a taxi rank in my village now. Not sure why since there are not really any people going anywhere, but whatever works. We had a huge hiv drama event in the village where several schools came to Makgato and performed poems and drama, all in English, about safety and hiv and condomizing etc. It was so fun. There were hundreds of students there and they performed so well. I am happy to say that my high school took first place in the drama. The kids write their own dramas and create their own storyline. They did great.I was so impressed. It was nice to sit in the crowd watching these 9 year olds and 15 year olds speaking out against the spread of hiv/aids. It was one of those days where I was reminded of why we are all here.
I attended a wedding in Kibi, a village north of here where it was so much fun. We danced until 9 at night adn they had a live band. It was fantastic. The cake was massive, and they had leopard print table cloths. Pretty classy. It was really fun. We drank champagne and danced wedding dances literally until I could not move anymore. Weddings are always fun because everyone gets all dressed up and there is so much culture and tradition just swirling through the air.
I went to Venda with a teacher I work with for the weekend to visit his home and his family. Venda is full of mountains and waterfalls and known for the best production of fruits and vegetables. I've never seen mountains so high and so green. We stopped at fruit/veggie stands along the way and it was full of color and sounds. Dozens of women were sitting in Venda wear yelling and haggling and selling their goods. It was so amazing and so GOOD! We attended a funeral one morning as well as church. I learned to bake a special bisquit for weddings and traipsed around with a towel for extra warmth tied around my waist all weekend. I forget I live in the center of the sun and most other places experience "winter." Church was four hours and after hour 3 I snuck out and went for a lovely walk. I found a great lookout point staring at mountains and rolling hillsides. It made me miss Montana. There are some similarities, minus the tin shacks, burning garbage, multiple marriages and languages and litter filling the roads. Other than that, it's practically the same!!! (That's a joke!)
We also visited my pcv friend Christy who was living in the area. We saw Thoyhondho and she and I were able to spend the day together which was really nice. Where Bolton lives (my friend) is near Louis Trichard, just East of me and it was shockingly similar to Missoula. Small streets, mountainous with a mix of a beach town/mountain village. It was strange to drive into town and feel I could have been driving into my college past. It was a fantastic weekend. I even got to make a special American meal (Mac and Cheese spiced up with meats) for the family which went over well. It's a shame Cheese is not more of a priority in diet here. Maybe that can be my secondary project hey!
Recently I went to PST to help with language and some cultural adjustment for the new group of trainees. It was really fun although we had no running water for a week. Bathing was interesting, and scarce. We survived on 12 boxes of cornflakes and 9 cartons of milk, which we learned later was expired, explaining my severe stomach cramps. We played Idiot and drank lots of wine each night, reminiscing over our days at pst. It was nice to hang out with friends and great to realize not so long ago I was the PCT, anxious and curious. Now I'm giving advice and calming those around me. How did that happen? How have I been here so long???
After PST I spent the weekend in Pretoria which was fantastic, until it wasn't. Steph and Nathan and some others all hung out, went dancing and I ate loads of cheese! Cheese sandwhiches, cheese pizza, cheese bagels ( I found bagels!!!) and cheese sticks. It was wonderful. Nathan and I got pierced together (he his ears, me my eyebrow-Sorry DAD!!!) and we saw great movies. And the last night there, as most of you already know, I was awakened at 4 am to screaming and yelling and somethign about a knife and "my bags!" Turns out two men broke into the hostel and took bags. One girl was stabbed. They were in my room and took my phone, I"m just thankful nobody was hurt and who really cares about a phone. Although I was never happier to get out of Pretoria and back to my bubble of a life in my village. It sucks knowing you are never really safe. It was a shock and I'm sure I'll be nervous for a while!
And now, today, I've been playing soccer with dozens of children with balls that were donated from a friend I've made in the area. I've never seen my feet the color that they are! It's kind of sad how gross I can tolerate myself being when I'm at my site! Oh well, not like anyone cares anyway. So, that's pretty much the update. I'm sorry it's been so long, but I was away from computers for some time. However, some miracle came upon me and my high school somehow acquired 15 computers with internet out of nowhere. I feel it's best not to push how they managed that! Don't ask, Don't tell seems to work wonders here.
Things are happening. Just when I think they aren't, I look around and see both small and large changes that are happening in this world here. Someday sometime I'll upload tons of pictures of Venda, weddings, PST etc. I have a million to put up, but will have to wait for another time.
Peace to all!
I attended a wedding in Kibi, a village north of here where it was so much fun. We danced until 9 at night adn they had a live band. It was fantastic. The cake was massive, and they had leopard print table cloths. Pretty classy. It was really fun. We drank champagne and danced wedding dances literally until I could not move anymore. Weddings are always fun because everyone gets all dressed up and there is so much culture and tradition just swirling through the air.
I went to Venda with a teacher I work with for the weekend to visit his home and his family. Venda is full of mountains and waterfalls and known for the best production of fruits and vegetables. I've never seen mountains so high and so green. We stopped at fruit/veggie stands along the way and it was full of color and sounds. Dozens of women were sitting in Venda wear yelling and haggling and selling their goods. It was so amazing and so GOOD! We attended a funeral one morning as well as church. I learned to bake a special bisquit for weddings and traipsed around with a towel for extra warmth tied around my waist all weekend. I forget I live in the center of the sun and most other places experience "winter." Church was four hours and after hour 3 I snuck out and went for a lovely walk. I found a great lookout point staring at mountains and rolling hillsides. It made me miss Montana. There are some similarities, minus the tin shacks, burning garbage, multiple marriages and languages and litter filling the roads. Other than that, it's practically the same!!! (That's a joke!)
We also visited my pcv friend Christy who was living in the area. We saw Thoyhondho and she and I were able to spend the day together which was really nice. Where Bolton lives (my friend) is near Louis Trichard, just East of me and it was shockingly similar to Missoula. Small streets, mountainous with a mix of a beach town/mountain village. It was strange to drive into town and feel I could have been driving into my college past. It was a fantastic weekend. I even got to make a special American meal (Mac and Cheese spiced up with meats) for the family which went over well. It's a shame Cheese is not more of a priority in diet here. Maybe that can be my secondary project hey!
Recently I went to PST to help with language and some cultural adjustment for the new group of trainees. It was really fun although we had no running water for a week. Bathing was interesting, and scarce. We survived on 12 boxes of cornflakes and 9 cartons of milk, which we learned later was expired, explaining my severe stomach cramps. We played Idiot and drank lots of wine each night, reminiscing over our days at pst. It was nice to hang out with friends and great to realize not so long ago I was the PCT, anxious and curious. Now I'm giving advice and calming those around me. How did that happen? How have I been here so long???
After PST I spent the weekend in Pretoria which was fantastic, until it wasn't. Steph and Nathan and some others all hung out, went dancing and I ate loads of cheese! Cheese sandwhiches, cheese pizza, cheese bagels ( I found bagels!!!) and cheese sticks. It was wonderful. Nathan and I got pierced together (he his ears, me my eyebrow-Sorry DAD!!!) and we saw great movies. And the last night there, as most of you already know, I was awakened at 4 am to screaming and yelling and somethign about a knife and "my bags!" Turns out two men broke into the hostel and took bags. One girl was stabbed. They were in my room and took my phone, I"m just thankful nobody was hurt and who really cares about a phone. Although I was never happier to get out of Pretoria and back to my bubble of a life in my village. It sucks knowing you are never really safe. It was a shock and I'm sure I'll be nervous for a while!
And now, today, I've been playing soccer with dozens of children with balls that were donated from a friend I've made in the area. I've never seen my feet the color that they are! It's kind of sad how gross I can tolerate myself being when I'm at my site! Oh well, not like anyone cares anyway. So, that's pretty much the update. I'm sorry it's been so long, but I was away from computers for some time. However, some miracle came upon me and my high school somehow acquired 15 computers with internet out of nowhere. I feel it's best not to push how they managed that! Don't ask, Don't tell seems to work wonders here.
Things are happening. Just when I think they aren't, I look around and see both small and large changes that are happening in this world here. Someday sometime I'll upload tons of pictures of Venda, weddings, PST etc. I have a million to put up, but will have to wait for another time.
Peace to all!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Kruger National Park
In July Ryan and I went to Sabie, Graskop and Kruger National Park. I have to say it was much better than anything I could have expected. Sabie and Graskop are just north of Nelspruit in Mmpumalanga province. It's absolutely gorgeous there with surrounding mountains and it's so green, I nearly forgot how green trees can be. Ryan adjusting to driving on the other side of the road was a bit terrifying at moments but I held my breath and just looked on at the scenery. Our first night we stayed in Sabie at this adorable bed and breakfast. It was like heaven. This amazing shower, swimming pools and a great breakfast. We spent the evening eating amazing lasagna and had drinks at this cute little mountain pub. As the evening went on, there were some very drunk afrikaners who made friends with us. They were ridiculous and amusing at the same time. But it made for fun jokes for us.
Our second day we toured through Graskop and ran into Kaitlin near Hazyview area before entering the park. It was really fun to see her, realizing peace corp is small. Never know when you'll run into anyone!!! And then, we entered my heaven and it was like being on excstacy for me, or so I would imagine at least.
Not five minutes into the park we saw the first of literally thousands of impala. And literally another five minutes in we saw a heard of elephants, thus the beginning of my infatuation with their big ears, strange trunks and ability to destroy a tree in a matter of minutes. Throughout the next four days, we saw Elephant in herds, one by one, with babies and in different geographic settings. We saw them marching through rivers, disappearing into thick trees and wandering through the savannah.
That evening as we arrived at the first bungalo resort, we decided to go for a drive. Ignoring the rather large signs and all instructions, we clearly missed the part that says NO DRIVING AFTER DARK! LARGE FINE! So, while trying to maneuver through the signs and having Giraffe nearly stick their head into our car, we followed the safari trucks as dusk was falling to find two female lions on the side of the road. It was amazing...before the drivers yelled at us that it was illegal and we had to go back. he said it was a 2000R fine if we did not return to camp. Scared and annoyed we went back to camp. Where as, we had to then wait to recieve our ticket for ignoring the signs and driving after dark. So, we then purchased a lot of alcohol, returned to our lovely bungalo, listened to the monkeys in the trees and drank away the worry of having to go to court tomorrow and pay 2000R. Our fine ended up costing nearly nothing but we did spend our first morning in the district court at Kruger National Park. But, we saw a large family of warthog on our way out and the rest of the day was unreal.
We vistited watering holes and saw crocodiles, hippo, cheetah, hyena, elephant, zibra and giraffe, as well as many other fabulous things. The landscape changed often and it was really fun to drive around. At any rest stop to eat, there were monkeys waiting to grab anythign they can. The baboons are the park clowns for sure, as Ryan said. He fell in love with them. And on our third day, we were robbed by monkeys.
Waiting at a beautiful lookout point above the Olephants River, we got out to take a picture, one of few places you are allowed to "alight from your vehicle at own risk." As we were, some young vervot monkeys charged us and before knowing what happened, they were attached to the car and when we looked around, there was one inside the car, taking our apples and our bread. They are smart. He pulled the bag and wrapping off the bread, threw it aside and jumped out of the window into the trees. THey looked on smug and successful. It was too funny to be angry.
After seeing lions at night and cheetah during the day, we left Kruger and visited my site for a few days. The entire week and a half was fantastic and Kruger went far beyond my expectations. I am excited to go back again and spend more time in Sabie. After years of loving animals, watching safaris on tv and drooling over leopard print and cheetahs, seeing them in the wild in real life was like a dream. And doing it with Ryan made it that much more perfect.
Our second day we toured through Graskop and ran into Kaitlin near Hazyview area before entering the park. It was really fun to see her, realizing peace corp is small. Never know when you'll run into anyone!!! And then, we entered my heaven and it was like being on excstacy for me, or so I would imagine at least.
Not five minutes into the park we saw the first of literally thousands of impala. And literally another five minutes in we saw a heard of elephants, thus the beginning of my infatuation with their big ears, strange trunks and ability to destroy a tree in a matter of minutes. Throughout the next four days, we saw Elephant in herds, one by one, with babies and in different geographic settings. We saw them marching through rivers, disappearing into thick trees and wandering through the savannah.
That evening as we arrived at the first bungalo resort, we decided to go for a drive. Ignoring the rather large signs and all instructions, we clearly missed the part that says NO DRIVING AFTER DARK! LARGE FINE! So, while trying to maneuver through the signs and having Giraffe nearly stick their head into our car, we followed the safari trucks as dusk was falling to find two female lions on the side of the road. It was amazing...before the drivers yelled at us that it was illegal and we had to go back. he said it was a 2000R fine if we did not return to camp. Scared and annoyed we went back to camp. Where as, we had to then wait to recieve our ticket for ignoring the signs and driving after dark. So, we then purchased a lot of alcohol, returned to our lovely bungalo, listened to the monkeys in the trees and drank away the worry of having to go to court tomorrow and pay 2000R. Our fine ended up costing nearly nothing but we did spend our first morning in the district court at Kruger National Park. But, we saw a large family of warthog on our way out and the rest of the day was unreal.
We vistited watering holes and saw crocodiles, hippo, cheetah, hyena, elephant, zibra and giraffe, as well as many other fabulous things. The landscape changed often and it was really fun to drive around. At any rest stop to eat, there were monkeys waiting to grab anythign they can. The baboons are the park clowns for sure, as Ryan said. He fell in love with them. And on our third day, we were robbed by monkeys.
Waiting at a beautiful lookout point above the Olephants River, we got out to take a picture, one of few places you are allowed to "alight from your vehicle at own risk." As we were, some young vervot monkeys charged us and before knowing what happened, they were attached to the car and when we looked around, there was one inside the car, taking our apples and our bread. They are smart. He pulled the bag and wrapping off the bread, threw it aside and jumped out of the window into the trees. THey looked on smug and successful. It was too funny to be angry.
After seeing lions at night and cheetah during the day, we left Kruger and visited my site for a few days. The entire week and a half was fantastic and Kruger went far beyond my expectations. I am excited to go back again and spend more time in Sabie. After years of loving animals, watching safaris on tv and drooling over leopard print and cheetahs, seeing them in the wild in real life was like a dream. And doing it with Ryan made it that much more perfect.
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