First Week at Site and Trip to Mbabane

Hey look! Another post and it`s only been a week!

This is mostly due to the ridiculous amount of free time I have right now. I mentioned the “Integration” period last time and it`s still going strong. Last Wednesday I met with my Counterpart, Njabulo, at the Kagogo Center to talk about things I can do right now to get to know the community. Wednesday also happens to be the same day the Inner Council meets at the same place and Njabulo takes notes for their meetings, so we didn`t have long to talk. I met with him again yesterday when he had some more free time and was able to learn some more about what he and the Kagogo Center do exactly. In Zombodze, the Center is mostly used to teach pre-school. There`s no limit to the number of kids they take so I`m sure you can imagine how crowded a room that is 20` x 20` can get. Right next to the Kagogo Center is a Neighborhood Care Point (NCP). These “schools” were built and are funded by some religious group from America. Here, they provide free 1st and 2nd grade education to 40 kids (the amount they have room for) and also cook free lunches for all of the kids (pre-schoolers from the Kagogo Center included). The staffs from both work very closely and the kids all play together, even though there is a fence in between (not sure why it`s there).

Other than that, the highlight of my week is usually going to town. Matsapha is technically my closest shopping town, but because of transportation, Manzini is easier to get to. Matsapha is much less crowded so I usually don`t mind the extra walk and do my regular grocery shopping here. If I do go to Manzini it`s mostly to meet someone or to find something the smaller town doesn`t have. Of course Mbabane is the nicest of all, but it`s so developed I feel weird when I spend too much time there. I`ll probably try to go once every couple of weeks just to do my laundry, go to the internet cafe and get some good food. Mbabane is also where the Peace Corps office is. There are (free) computers with (decent) internet and a (warm) shower, so it`s a nice little treat. My Make works in Mbabane for the Government and I can usually get a ride with her, so I`m pretty lucky. Tomorrow in Mbabane is a farewell BBQ for one of my bosses, Chad. In order to keep things fresh, Peace Corps has a rule that staff can only work for PC for (I think) 4 years. Chad has gotten a couple of extensions and has been with the Peace Corps for 8 years plus his 2 years of service. Obviously, he`s been doing something right and he will be missed. There are also a couple of birthdays coming up so a bunch of us are planning on staying at a hostel in town. This will be our one night away for the month, so hopefully it`ll be good. It should be a nice little get-away.

Hopefully, you saw I was able to upload a bunch of pictures to my Picasa page the other day. In case the little slide show thing on the right isn`t working, here`s the link: . I`m going to take some pictures of my homestead, family, the Kagogo Center and whatever random places I feel like, so I`ll have those to upload next time I go to town.

Like I said, lots of free time. I was feeling ambitious yesterday so I decided to try out my fancy new oven and baked some cookies. I was missing a couple of ingredients (baking soda isn`t that important, is it?), but I think they still turned out OK. At least my family was impressed, though I think anything I made that was edible would`ve gotten the same reaction. Next up: pizza.

Today should be a relatively busy and, hopefully, productive one. I`m going to the Kagogo Center to meet Njabulo in a few minutes and he`s going to take me to the clinic and a few schools to talk to people about doing some work there. It`ll be nice to get out and do something “work-related”, even though it`s still Integration. Later on, my Babe was invited to speak at some youth church group, so I think I`ll tag along. All in all, just another boring day in the life of a Peace Corps volunteer.

P.S. Oops, I forgot to post this when I went to Mbabane last Friday. The man that was supposed to introduce me and Njabulo to the schools and clinic wasn`t available, so we postponed until this week. That seems to happen a lot. Chad`s party was fun and it was nice seeing everyone again. I had no idea so many people could fit in such a small office. Staying at the hostel in Mbabane was pretty nice; almost nice enough to forget where we are. I guess that`ll have to do until next month. When I got back home Sunday I discovered something had chewed through the bag and ate my bread. After buying more yesterday afternoon, I barely slept last night because of the rat that decided it was a good time to show himself. Once I got tired of chasing him away and fell asleep, he snuck down and ate my brand new load of bread and apples. I`ll be going to town in a few to find some sort of rat trap or poison and another big tub to keep the rest of my food in. Once I get the little guy, I will hang his lifeless body somewhere all of the other critters can see to teach them all a lesson. I`ll be sure to post those pictures are well.