Just another lazy dog-dangling Sunday afternoon. I went into town to do some grocery shopping and to go to the internet cafe. I feel like I should post something while I`m here, even though there isn`t much to write about. I went to a couple of meetings this week (and by "went" I mean sat there quietly while they talked about who-knows-what in siSwati). Other than that, a lot of reading and aimless wandering.
I think I fixed the little slide-show thing on the right side so you should be able to see some pictures there. If you click on the link that says "Picasa" right beneath it, you`ll go to my Picasa page where you can see all of the pictures I`ve uploaded so far.
I`m working on writing something up about the family I`m staying with and some other people I`ve been working with, but that requires actually sitting down with them long enough to learn something, which isn`t as easy as it sounds. I`ll figure it out eventually.
P.S. Battlestar Galactica is good.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Pictures
Ok, so for whatever reason the slideshow on the side wasn't working so here's the link for the pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/beanchjodges?feat=email. Hopefully, that'll work.
-- Post From My Hut
-- Post From My Hut
Monday, September 14, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Pictures
I had a bunch of pictures to upload last week, but the internet was pretty slow and it was taking forever. Hopefully I`ll have better luck today. You should be able to see them if you go to my Picasa page (there should be a link on the left --->). If they still aren`t there, just bear with me. There`s no hurry in Swaziland. Yesterday was the 41st anniversary of Swaziland`s independence from Great Britain, but, oddly enough, no one seemed to notice. Other than that, not a whole lot going on.
Friday, September 4, 2009
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)
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)
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