End of PST and Swearing-In

Ya, ya ya, long time no talk. What can I say, we`ve all been busy. Anyways, here we go...

I`ve forgotten what the last thing I wrote was so I`ll start with our On the Job Training (OJT), which had to have been a few weeks ago. Wow, it has been a while since I`ve wrote anything now that I think about it. So every volunteer is assigned a Swazi Counterpart, who is the Kagogo Center Manager for the community we`re staying in. Quick Swazi cultural lesson: “Gogo” is the siSwati word for Grandmother. Just about every homestead has a Gogo`s hut: a small round room with a thatched roof separate from the main house. Traditionally, this is where the Grandmother lives, but not always. Some volunteers actually spend their two years in one of these huts. The interesting thing about the Gogo`s hut is that it`s a sort of “safe place”. A child does something wrong and is going to be punished (hit), but if they can make it to this hut they can call sanctuary and escape punishment, at least temporarily. So fairly recently, the government started funding the construction of these Kagogo Centers in just about every community in the country. Each one is different and they all do a variety of things, from pre-school to cooking meals for needy kids. OJT is our first time actually seeing the community we`ll be living in and family we`ll be staying with for the next two years so it was a pretty big deal. It was also the first time traveling a long distance without supervision for most of us. Luckily our counterparts came in the night before so they helped us navigate all of the buses and get to our permanent sites. My permanent family had people from out of town staying with them for a wedding the first night so I stayed with my Counterpart`s family. His name is Njabulo, by the way. The first night is always the most awkward since you can`t really do anything for yourself. You don`t have food or a stove so someone has to prepare food for you, again. For myself and some others, our permanent rooms weren`t ready yet so someone else got kicked out of their room for a few days. (Thanks Thapi, your bed is great). And then there`s the joy of giving yourself a bucket bath in a complete stranger`s “bath room”. Lucky me, of course, got to go through all of that again the next night when I finally met my real permanent family.

So first thing the next morning, Njabulo took me to meet my family, the Mtetwa`s. Njabulo was there for about 5 minutes before he took off. After a few minutes of “Hello`s” and “Nice to meet you`s”, my Babe says, “Come, we`re going to the wedding.” (Traditional Swazi weddings take about 3 days). Unfortunately for me, there was a non-violent rabies incident with a puppy a few days earlier (R.I.P. Tfowile) and I had to wait for the Peace Corps Medical Officer to come to my site to give me an extra rabies vaccine, so I was unable to go with the family. So instead, I spent the afternoon watching South African soap operas. (Rhythm City is my favorite). It feels weird taking the time to write about something that happened weeks ago, but do ask me to tell you the Peacock Story some day. Suffice it to say it involves a broken window, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and, of course, some peacocks.

OJT was a very long 4 days, then it was back to normal at our training village for another few weeks. We had our final tests in everything about 2 weeks ago and I`m pretty sure I barely passed my language interview. (If Intermediate Low is good enough for the government, it`s good enough for me). Then we packed up all of our things and moved to a conference center in the capitol for a few days. Here, we got another tour of Mbabane and had our swearing-in ceremony. A lot of us wore traditional clothes to the ceremony, so that`s my explanation if you see any pictures of me in some sort of animal skin. Also, Swazis never really smile in pictures so that`s why mine mostly look like mug shots; just trying to fit in. After a LONG night of celebrating, they dropped us off at our permanent sites the next morning and said, “See you in 3 months.”

So this part of our Peace Corps experience is called Integration and it`s kind of meant to be 3 months of isolation. During this time we aren`t allowed to start any big projects and we only get one night away from our site per month. Its purpose is to get to know the people of your community and what they really need so you can plan what you do for the next two years. With that said, you still have a lot of free time so I am in search of new hobbies. I`ve been reading a lot. Yesterday, I bought a stove/oven so I will be learning to cook/bake over the next two years. I`m training for a half marathon in Cape Town in April. I`m going to find a carpenter and have him help me build the most amazing bed/desk you have ever seen. I`m going to buy a guitar, although 6 strings still feels like 2 too many. And of course practice my siSwati, yada yada yada. Feel free to send any suggestions my way.

Of course there are some things I won`t be doing anymore as well. Some may say I`m missing out on valuable cultural experiences that I will only have the opportunity to take part in for this short period of time...I say it`s progress. Pit latrines, bucket baths and hand-washing clothes: it`s for the birds. 50 feet away from my door there is a bathroom. One more time, BATHROOM. I`m talking real toilet and a shower. The shower only has cold water, but I think it`ll be pretty nice on a hot day, plus I`m designing an elaborate system of ropes and bungee cords to hook up my solar shower inside the real shower. Hand-washing clothes; there`s just no point, at least for me. I`m all about self improvement but this is one thing I will be comfortable going to my grave not knowing how to do. My Make actually forbid me from buying more white socks because I`m not capable of cleaning the ones I have thoroughly. So tomorrow, for the first time in Swaziland, I will be finding the laundromat in Manzini and enjoying a luxurious meal at KFC. (For some reason, there`s no shortage of KFC`s here).

Almost forgot, last weekend was the Umhlanga or Reed Dance. Google it or look it up on Wikipedia. I don`t want to give too much away, but it`s a pretty big deal here. All of the tourists come out for this thing. When you do see some pictures, keep in mind the SWAZI cultural context, not American. With that said, you may want to make sure the little kids are in the other room. (Sorry Jess and Zach, I`ll show you when you`re older, or when your Mom isn`t looking).

It`s late and I`m tired. I know I`ve said this before, but this time I really will make an effort to update more regularly. I should have the free time, plus it really is easier that way, but we`ll see. Talk to you next week...hopefully.

P.S. Twitter is stupid, but it is much easier and quicker to update than the blog, so I can do that more often. My tweets (ya, dumb) go to facebook, which is mostly how the volunteers here communicate (cheaper than texts), so they might not all make sense to those back home. You should be able to see my updates on the right side of the page ---->. Twitter is still dumb.

P.P.S. I`m finally able to upload my pictures from all of the above so check out the little slide show and link to my Picasa page on the right side of the page as well ----> (I like making arrows)