Belated Christmas Presents

I’d been procrastinating a trip to the post office to see if I had any Christmas mail, but I’d finally decided to go when my Principal, David, calls and says we need to meet at school for work.  I negotiate some work time for a trip to the post office, and off we went!  I actually accomplished very little at school, just enough to know that we’ll be hosting a camp for 12-15 outstanding students next week, and that it would be nice if I’d prepare some games for them.  We rush to the post office before it closes and wait in line for me to find 3 packages!!  I have to pay a small customs fee, buy some extra stamps, and proudly carry out the physical proof that people love me. 

At home, Lebo helps me carry in the packages, and to him this means he deserves a treat from inside them. I open the box first, I know it’s full of books my sister sent.  Also included were two small wrapped packages of Christmas presents for Lebo and Resego.  They got a kick out of unwrapping presents (that doesn’t happen in the villages) and discovered new toys.  They each had a bag of McDonald’s Happy Meal toys and random little plastic dinosaurs or lizards that my niece wanted to send them.  They were very grateful and immediately started to play and plan how to scare their granny with the lizards.  I shooed them out so I could open my presents in private.

My mom sent 2 envelopes and divided stuff between them very well.  I got sunflower seeds (I’m addicted), chocolate pudding powder, cards, head bands, pancake mix, biscuit and gravy mix, random things she’s gotten while couponing, a new Nalgene that glows in the dark and was stuffed full of pixie sticks.  Awesomeness in 2 envelopes.  Thanks, Mom, I love you!!

The box of books was also my nieces, stuff she’s outgrown but my school here desperately needs.  There are a few little toys here and there too, mostly soccer related that I’ll have to hide from Lebo or he’ll just walk out of my room with them and not think twice.  I am letting him borrow one book at a time until I take them all to school; the first thing he chose was an Activity Book.  So thanks, sister and niece!!

Lebo's 10th Birthday

My brother (nephew really, but he lives here full time and family relationships aren't well defined) Lebo turned 10 years old today.  He's been talking about it all week, so excited to have a cake and presents.  Just like any other kid, right? 

I'd told him that I had him a birthday present, and yesterday he saw me on my computer highlighting kids movies, I said he could watch one today as part of his present.  This morning he was gone to the tuck shop when I got up.  I passed mom and said something offhand, like “is Lebo having a friend over for his Birthday?” and she started this weird embarrassed-laughter.  She explained that she's forgotten his birthday was today.  She's his grandmother, and he's been living with her for like 4 years now.  Maybe Birthday's aren't as important here, but he's sure been making a big deal about it.

Several minutes later, mom must have been feeling bad (or noticed my shocked face) because she came to my room and justified herself.  She was tired from the Holidays still, it was so hot (about 101 degrees F today), she forgot to change the calendar.  She called Lebo's parents and found out that they'd bought him new school clothes for this year, she says they'll be his birthday present.  But it's too hot to bake a cake. 

Lebo comes back, bursts into my room and demands his birthday present.  I feel pretty bad for the kid so I ask if he wants to go get a friend to watch a movie with him.  He returns quickly with Thato, Resego wonders in, and they all start A Bug's Life.  At some point Thato wanders out and Lebo doesn't seem to mind.  Resego sees the 3 little matchbox cars I had tucked behind the computer and starts to play.  I explained that those were also Lebo's birthday present.  But Resego is still a crybaby and wailed every time Lebo or I tried to take them from him.  I was all for pushing through but Lebo said to forget it, he'd play with them later.  After the movie and a little conversation I had to push the boys out of the room so I could have lunch. 

Lebo tells me that his uncle Kenny is bringing him a cake from Delarey and he's very excited about it.  He then asked about those blue balloons.  I'm stumped.  I finally get him to explain that he saw my stash of balloon animal balloons and pump, but he doesn't know what it's for and says I told him I'd show him on his birthday.  I don't remember the last part, but I wasn't about to rummage through all my belongings to get to the balloons only to have him and Resego begging me for the rest of my stay for more.  Or telling their friends about it and them asking me at school.  That happened with the new ink pens, friendship bracelets and coloring books that my sister sent me and I don't want to repeat history. 

A little while later Lebo comes in to show me his birthday present, his new school clothes.  He's got new pants, shorts, shoes, three shirts and a jacket.  And three little metal cars from me.  Happy Birthday, Lebo!  He was disappointed that Kenny didn't bring him a cake, didn't know why and hadn't asked.   No one even sang Happy Birthday.

My first South African Birthday was great!  I got banana bread, homemade cakes from my crazy host-mom at the time, a card and lots of well wishes.  I had a movie party and a generally great time with people I'd barely known for a month.  This kid's own family forgot his 10^th Birthday.  I am so humbled today. 

Happy New Year!

Most of the family came back in for the New Year's Eve celebrations, and I was happy for some conversation after my day at the funeral.  The family had slaughtered a sheep on Christmas for a cookout, so we had plenty of meat to cook.  Even though there were like 8 capable adults, the food was prepared one item at a time.  First, a brother-in-law grilled the meat.  That was put into a bowl (at least there was a lid) and a nephew made pap.  Pap takes the longest amount of time of any of the food.  When it was finished, we waited for a sister to make a tomato salad.  They started cooking before 6pm and it was almost 10 when we finally ate.  This is typical of South African cooking, and just like always, half the food was cold before we could eat.  Multitasking, anyone? 

By 11:30, Lebo had pulled out the “crickets,” these 5 foot tall firecrackers/sparkler things.  Everyone in the house was given one, and Lebo tried to attach a few to the fence outside, but he ended up just holding those too.  At midnight we lit our crickets from a coal in the grill.  They sparkled and shot out fireworks that exploded after about 30 feet.  Most of the adults were smart enough to hold the shooting end up to land in the sky, but a few of the younger kids got excited and shot their crickets into the trees.  Lucky it's the rainy season.  Somehow, one of the crickets dropped and started shooting out of the ground under my 16-year-old nephew’s feet.  He jumped like you see people in old Western movies and I laughed until I dropped my cricket too. 

Most of the houses around us had crickets or fireworks too, I loved it.  Back in the house, we had a time for prayer and thanksgiving, a little more talking, and I was one of the first to bed.  My oldest brother, Nelson, insisted that it wasn't safe for me to walk to my room alone, so he and his baby-mama walked me out.  She brought her plate with her and sat to eat while I got ready for bed.  As this is only the second time I've met her, I decided to skip the bucket bath in front of her, I’m not quite enough of an African woman yet to completely forgo modesty, but I did make lots of good conversation.  I went to bed a little after 1am.

New Year's Day I slept in only until 9:30, I was proud of myself for getting up early, until I walked around the front of the house to see EVERYONE awake and sitting under the trees.  Cousins came and went all day, I got out my new camping chair and sat under a tree to enjoy the breeze.  I brought out my Kindle to read, it received less attention than I expected and I had a good day.  Resego kept trying to be the center of attention and would yell at me until I looked at him.  Lebo was super bored and kept asking me “what can we do?”   After a few hours of all this I retired back to my room. 

Another great family meal with pap and sheep parts rounded out my first African New Year’s Day.

Goodbye, 2011!!

I spent the last few days of 2011 hiding out in my room, hiding from the world.  After more than 3 weeks of sharing a room and being around Americans all day and night, I was happy to be back to my own space, my own routine.  My family got new couches, so they put a “comfy” chair in my room, and I enjoyed curling up with my Kindle and burning through a few books.  I listened to 2 solid days of the village men singing in a crawl near my house, they'd all just gotten back from the boys' Traditional Initiation School.  It was a nice background while I read.  Lebo really really doesn't understand how I can spend all day in my room reading.  He pokes his head in the room every so often to check on me.  I finally made him walk to the library with me so we could get him some books to read too.  Surprise, surprise, the library was closed for the holidays.

On the 30^th, my Principal, David, called me and said that someone from the Primary School would pick me up in the morning for a funeral.  I didn't even have time to ask whose funeral we'd be attending.  At 6am on New Year's Eve. I went all the way to Delarey to attend the funeral of a brother-in-law of a teacher from the Primary School.  The service was LONG, it started at 6:30am and we sat in the sun until after 10 when we left for the cemetery.  At one point there were 2 men (preachers?) screaming at and over each other, I was told they were reading the Word of God.  I've known some really enthusiastic Bible Thumpers in the US, but these guys earned spots near the top of my Religious Nuts Scale. 

The woman who came with me from the village, Mrs. M, was embarrassing to be around.  She told me she didn't know the deceased, but only came to sing and dance.  She doesn't speak much English and resorts to over-the-top hand signals to communicate with me.  Mrs. M is shaped like a Maytag washer with 2 basketballs stuck to her front, has a voice like nails scraping a chalkboard and looked like she got dressed in the dark that day.  None of this stopped her from starting most of the songs and dancing more than any other person at the funeral.  The family all looked at her in surprise, I could tell some of the older ladies were upset, so I tried to put a lot of distance between the two of us.

Another hour standing at the graveside, singing and dancing, praying and preaching.  I was speechless when Mrs. M pulled me to the front of the throng of people and tried to get me to sit in the “Family” section, in chairs under a tent.  This is reserved for the grieving family and I caused a scene trying to make her understand that I wouldn't sit there.  She shrugged and pushed me into the middle of a group of dancers so she could start a song.  Thank God that Grace saw me then and rescued me to stand with her in the back or I probably would have started walking to the car.  I had a clear view of Mrs. M's singing, dancing and claiming a family member's chair whenever she got tired. 

The deceased was involved in politics, and the funeral turned into a political rally.  Over the coffin at the house and again at the grave, people started chanting “Viva ANC!! Viva President Zuma!! Viva ANC!! Viva!!”  I wonder if these people know that “viva” is Spanish or that they really shouldn't hope for one President to live and have power for a long time.  As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I'm not supposed to get involved in politics, and I'm going to use this excuse to avoid funerals in the future. 

Back at the house, Mrs. M pulled me by the hand like a child with her in the back of the cue for food.  Luckily, a Principal I know from Mpho's village talked to me until my Principal, David, pulled me out for a special plate.  I do like being taken care of like this, I guess being the only minority can be a good thing.  Sometimes.  David sat me between his wife and Grace so I'd have company I knew and liked.  Lots of people stopped by to say hello to me until finally one guy sat down and tried to convince me that we should date.  He did have impressive arguments, like the fact that he's dated a white woman before (like we're a special breed who needs practice handling) and he knew that my mother would approve of him since Grace remembered him from school (as a Principal who keeps a whip in her desk, I fear it's only the bad kids she remembers).  I told him I lived in the village and if he wanted to see me it'd have to be at the school.  I'm not holding my breath. 

Before we left, David gave me a couple of Savanna's Dry Ale.  I was pleased until I saw that my driver had also been drinking and was bleary-eyed.  I offered to drive, I had plenty of practice last week, but he said he'd take a back road and be fine.  He did creep along like an old man, but the dirt track was full of water from the recent rains and we scrapped the undercarriage a few times. 

Finally, I made it home safe, at 2pm.  An 8 hour ordeal for the funeral of a guy I didn't even know.  I realized at home that I'd gotten a pretty bad sunburn on my chest and arms.  When I think about 2011 and all that's happened to me since it began, I can’t even find the words to describe all I’ve felt or how much I’ve changed.  Wow.  Time really does fly. 

Back to the Bucket

How do you get around South Africa if you don't have a car?  By taxis, particularly mini-bus combie taxis.  These 14 passenger vans are parked at the taxi ranks in cities and towns and don't leave for their destination until they fill with at least 15 passengers.  The taxi I needed to get from Pretoria to Vryburg took about an hour to fill up.  Since it's a long distance taxi, everyone was going home for the holiday and had luggage.  I sat in the back aisle seat with luggage filling the floorboards and aisles.  There were 15 adults and 4 or 5 kids perched on top of the luggage.  The trip was faster than I expected and I was able to get off in Delarey since from there it's easier for me to get home.

I managed to catch the last taxi to my village, with a driver that I know.  A lady and small child on the taxi became my instant best friends.  The girl kept playing with my hands and feeling my smooth skin.  The woman sitting beside me started coughing and asked me, “Don't you have some water for me?”  Ah, I'd gotten used to being on vacation and not having people ask me for money or something everyday. 

It's now rainy season, and the dirt roads into my village were kinda scary.  Largely washed out, with huge puddles, I can totally understand how school attendance drops dramatically during the rainy season.  The taxi took these obstacles in its normal fashion, at bone jarring speeds in across the path of least resistance.  It was pouring the rain when I finally made it home, where Mom told me that all her kids and grandkids were waiting on me.  Only one daughter and 3 grandkids were home and awake when I arrived, so it was nice and low-key.  I had to have Lebo help me open my door since the rain had swelled it so much it was stuck inside the frame.  There's a LOT of dust in my room but it really wasn't as bad as I expected. 

Back in the main house, I meet all 5 of mom's kids and 4 grandkids.  We talked and played cards.  The men told me about this “traditional beer” that women make but only men drink.  They even gave some to the 9 and 3 year old boys.  Somehow it ends up just me in a room full of men and they start joking with me, telling me all about “traditional initiation schools” and what happens there.  My oldest brother, Nelson, tells me that he'll take me tomorrow to the initiation school.  The boys' initiation school is coming back from the bush tomorrow, after 42 days away from home.  The only thing I know about these schools is that it's where boys get circumcised, they learn “to be a man” and kill wild animals with their bare hands.  The scarier the animal they kill the better men they will be.  Nelson said he killed a wolf and Kenny, another brother, said he killed a python.  I make my escape to the kitchen, and the women.

Later, Nelson goes to collect his girlfriend so she can meet me.  He comes back with his baby-momma and two of her brothers.  They are all drunk to the point of not being able to stand.  She is really quite and one brother only wants to ask me about my marital status.  The other brother goes on this ridiculous rant about Titanic, Romeo and Juliet and Caesar of Rome.  I guess he's trying to impress me with how enlightened he is.  He knew the gist of the stories, but there were several flaws in his lecture that I didn't bother to point out.  He didn't believe me that the Titanic is a true story.  At midnight, exhausted, I went to bed.

The next day most of the family left with promises to return for New Years.  Resego was in a grumpy mood all day and cried at the drop of a hat.  Literally, at one point his hat fell off his head and he started crying.  I took a wheelbarrow for water and was surprised at how shaky my arms were afterwards, I've been spoiled with running water the last 3 weeks.  I chased Lebo and Resego out of my room a few times so I could organize my things and start typing these blog posts.  Lebo has a bad habit of pretending to be reading or playing with his phone when he's really reading the computer screen over my shoulder.  He gives himself away when he comments or asks a question about something I've typed. 

At the tuck shop I got some fresh tomatoes (fresh in December!) but they didn't have bread or eggs.  So I'll try again tomorrow.  Just outside the shop a grown woman started talking to me and asked me to give her some sweets.  She didn't believe that I'd go into a shop and come out without something I could share.  I just ignored her.  Welcome home!

VACATION!!!

Immediately after IST, myself and 3 other girls went on our holiday.  Most of the rest of our training class was going to Durban a week later, so we got to be some of the first with awesome Facebook statuses about our adventures. 

We had the Peace Corps taxi driver (a very grumpy man) drop us off at the car rental place and we laughed at our tiny clown car.  Out of Pretoria, we drove for Bloemfontein to spend the first night.  Arriving at almost dark, we quickly got a pizza and relaxed with cards and big dreams for the coming days.  Day 2 of driving was almost 10 hours thanks to some road work.  It definitely gave us practice with stopping and going in a manual transmission.  That night we celebrated with steak dinners.  We ate the cast of the Lion King, I had eland (antelope), and tried the warthog (Pumbaa's cousin), zebra and ostrich.  The warthog and ostrich were my favorite. 

In one place we stayed in a converted train right on the beach.  I love the beach, having been there a total of 3 other times in my life.  Here at the Indian Ocean, I had a blast swimming and buried my friend in sand up to her neck.  I was in a modest swimsuit, and was surprised to see a lot of men and boys in speedos, and lots of women and girls in just their panties and bra.  Culture shock. 

We found a neat little tourist trap at a dock one day and a flea market and bought lots of presents for our families back home.  Another day, we started at an ostrich farm, where a guide led us around to stand on eggs, hold the baby ostriches, pet and hug the adults, and some people even got to ride an ostrich.  That was maybe the funniest thing I'd seen in Africa.  We went from there to a set of caves for a walking tour.  The 2 girls in my group who'd rode the ostrich also did the “wild cave tour” and came out a little dirty.  It was nowhere near as wild or dirty as the caving I'd do in Kentucky, and I really missed my friends that day.  We visited the first Post Office in Africa, a tree.  In 1500, someone put a message in a shoe under the tree and it was later found and delivered.  Nowadays, that tree has a big brass letterbox shaped like a shoe. 

At The Elephant Sanctuary we got to hold out our hands and lead the elephants by their trunks through a small wooded area.  The trainers gave us a demonstration about what an elephant is capable of and let us pet and play with them.  I learned that elephants have really thick hairs all over their bodies and later found and bought an elephant hair bracelet that I'm quite attached to already.  Elephants are really amazing animals, between their trunks and their feet they know when rain or an earthquake is coming.  After lunch at Monkeyland, myself and another Volunteer nearly had our ice cream stolen by a very bold monkey.  He actually managed to grab a handful of her ice cream before she pulled away.  Then he tried to swipe her souvenirs bag and we decided to go back inside.  Without even going on the tour, we saw 4 or 5 species of monkeys that day. 

We spent the afternoon in a giant wooden maze.  Since I'd missed October and corn mazes at home this year, I was thrilled.  At Puzzleland we had to navigate to all four corners of the maze in a specific order.  One Volunteer quickly made it out of the worst corner of the maze and helped lead myself and an older Volunteer around from her vantage point on top of some stairs.  The rocks hurt my feet through my flip flops (everyone here calls them “thongs”) and the sun was hot, but I really did enjoy myself.  Again, I missed home and the huge corn maze in Lexington. 

On our “Adventure Day” we went bungee jumping and zip-lining.  The Bloukrans Bridge in South Africa is the highest bungee jump in the world; you fall for about 180 meters (570 feet).  Only 3 of us jumped and it was crazy.  The workers there are so amazing, so full of energy and enthusiasm.  Everyone shakes your hand and jokes with you about the jump.  I more fell than jumped and in that first moment I only remember complete silence.  I didn't even hear the wind rushing by my ears or my heartbeat or anything.  It was bizarre, I was in shock, I guess.  Then I bounced around upside down for a while, felt all the blood rush to my head and my eyes watered.  A man lowers himself down and shakes your hand again and asked “the million dollar question: would you do it again?”  Still hanging upside down and being pulled upwards toward the bridge, I didn't even realize that I said “not today, but I'll bring more friends later” until he started laughing.  Back up on the bridge, I danced and jumped around to burn off the excess adrenaline and watched a few other random people jump. 

That afternoon we all 4 went for a zip-lining tour over a gorge.  This place had 8 or 9 zip-lines over 3 waterfalls.  It was so much fun to be suspended like that and in control of your speed.  We took lots of pictures and videos, and laughed until we were breathless at a girl who literally got a bug stuck in her teeth during a zip-line.  Our guides were amazing and we took our time through the course.  I like to judge adventures based on how many bruises I get, so this “Adventure Day” was amazing. 

The last days along the coast included some disappointing farmers markets and at least 3 troops of baboons crossing the road right in front of our car.  We ate at an American-1960's-style diner, complete with an Elvis jukebox and Marilyn Monroe pictures everywhere.  We let the staff know that their American flag was hanging upside down and the manager came to apologize and thank us for the correction. 

The drive back to Bloemfontein started out with almost 2 hours on maybe 30 miles of terrible dirt roads in the mountains.  It was hairpin turns every few feet on narrow roads trying to avoid the oncoming traffic barreling down on us.  The scenery was gorgeous up that high in the mountains, looking down the valleys that you could imagine were unspoiled, untouched by human hands.  Except for the other cars, it felt like we were alone in the wilderness.  The other 3 girls were terrified, it reminded me of home.  I gasped a few times too at the close calls, but mostly I thought about the summer drives with friends from home where we tried to get lost and see where this road took us.  Really homesick right then. 

Another pizza, another night in Bloemfontein.  The drive to Pretoria on Christmas Eve was quick and uneventful, we made it much earlier in the day than we expected, despite getting lost a few times in the city.  A quick trip to the backpackers and the supermarket, then we dropped the car off and called a cab.  One of our group went back to her village that day, and 3 of us stayed a couple nights in a wonderful backpackers in Pretoria to round out the holidays.  Christmas day I spent hanging out by the pool.  It was my first Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere and the first time I'd ever gotten sunburned on Christmas. 

In Service Training

After our first 3 months at site, Volunteers attend an In-Service Training (IST) session.  This is usually 3 or 4 days at a mediocre hotel and may or may not include Life Skills Training where Volunteers bring a Counterpart for additional training.  Thanks to PEPFAR (google it) my training class could afford a little more style.

At one of the nicest hotels I've ever been in, I spent 10 days at IST.  It was wonderful to see my friends that'd I'd missed for the past 3 months.  We ate at a buffet for every meal and took hot showers every day.  There was a nice swimming pool, a hot tub (that never really got hot but easily held 30 people) and a sauna.  We played volleyball and used the work out facilities, awed over a television set and played games in each other's rooms every night.  A great reunion. 

The first few days of training were awful, “experts” from the Department of Education tried to lecture us about rural schools.  It was painfully obvious that these “experts” had never even set foot in a village, and had no idea what village schools are like. My favorite conversation went something like this:

PCV: My school has kids in grades 3 and 4 in the same classroom, how am I supposed to apply what you are saying to my situation?

Expert: Schools like that don’t exist anymore.

PCV: Come to my village and see that that is how my school works.

Lots of Volunteers walked out of these sessions.  A few took the opportunity to correct theses “experts.”  None of us hid the fact that we were on our phones.  The APCD's apologized to us later and promised never to bring those particular people to a training again. 

Training picked up when our Life Skills Counterparts arrived.  My Counterpart was a Life Skills teacher from the Primary School.  The Trainers now were other Volunteers and 2 British men who travel the world in their work with the CDC to educate people about HIV and AIDS.  We talked openly about sex and STIs, my CP was amazed that Americans actually talk to their parents about these things.  In rural South Africa, no one talks about sex, most families wouldn't even know their daughter is pregnant until she really shows or gives birth.  With the British men, David and Neil, we had fascinating discussions about HIV/AIDS and all kinds of ways to live healthy.  I learned about the importance of zinc and selenium in your diet and how to drink diluted aloe juice to keep parasites out of your stomach.  They gave us a game about HIV to play with kids, similar to Shoots and Ladders, except in this game you slide up the condom and fall down a virus. 

The Counterparts left and our last couple of days were devoted to language, Afrikaans in particular.  I missed most of those sessions, thanks to a trip to the Peace Corps office and a pressing need to watch a movie with another Volunteer.  The very last session was a cultural session.  On the schedule, it was listed as “cleanliness” and we all groaned at the thought of ANOTHER importance-of-the-bucket-bath talk.  Instead it turned into a talk about the supernatural.  My village believes in witches, ghosts and ancestor worship, some other volunteers are dealing with vampires, or a giant “water snake” or other forms of magic. Apparently really “talented” witches can turn themselves into a pig to escape an angry mob, or bewitch a wheelbarrow to transport them around town.   My favorite quote from the moderator of the session “our government does not like us to carry on burning witches anymore” (but it still happens).  So I learned to stop saying “I have magic in my fingers” when I do something impressive on a computer at school. 

Leaving the final morning was a hassle, as everything is in Africa.  When we finally got a taxi full enough of people and luggage to satisfy the driver, my little group headed to the car rental place to start our vacation!