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!