my first live post from SA!

I know it’s been awhile but...hey, I live in Africa now, which means many things, amongst them: I have pretty limited access to the internet and time has ceased to have any meaning to me. I’m working on figuring out my cell phone so I can turn it (magically it seems) into a modem. Until then I’m reliant on my new access to internet cafes in “town” (more on town in a moment). My goal is to be more regular in these posts and to post them myself instead of relying on mailing them to the US and having my WONDERFUL, AMAZING, KIND, INTELLIGENT father post them. We’ll see how it goes, but to those of you still bothering to read this, thanks.

Time really does mean something different here. I was taught to arrive on time (or early) by school bells, a brother who hated being late, and a culture where “time is money”. Living in South Africa is teaching me that it is actually pretty nice to just sit for hours with people whom I only sometimes understand, dinner should take at least an hour to cook, multitasking looses its charm when you have nothing to do for an entire day and even school starts and ends on a flexible schedule. In SA “Your furniture should be delivered two weeks before you move in” translates into at least a week of sleeping on the floor. As an American this has proven to be pretty maddening but I’m getting over it and embracing a more general conception of time.

Since my last post I’ve become an actual Peace Corps Volunteer. Until now I was just a trainee but I’ve moved up in the world. I took my language test and did well (something I’m pretty proud of). I met the American ambassador to SA. I swore to uphold the constitution (!). I listened to inspirational speeches. It was like graduation but multi-lingual and not as long.

I also moved to a village outside of Mafikeng. Mafikeng is in the Northwest Province near the Botswana border. It is the provincial capitol and is a pretty big city (not like Jo’Burg or Pretoria... more like an African Akron). My new host family has made me feel welcome and the two schools I’ll be working in are going to be exciting because the teachers and administrators seem really committed to improvement. My host family has running hot water (this is a true luxury here) but I’m living in a small room across the driveway that has electricity but no water so I’m still getting that “I carried water on my head” Peace Corps experience (I’m not really carrying water on my head... yet). I’m getting settled in and starting to explore my new village. It’s a slow process because I have to figure out what is safe/culturally acceptable but yesterday my host sister took me on a walk around the village and this morning I went for my first run so I’m starting to get a feel for what lies beyond my house and my schools.

Running has become a really important stress relief for me. I run in the morning when there are not too many people out and it is still cool. The visual stereotype of African sunsets and sunrises has proven to be pretty dead on and each morning I see the sun rise over baobab trees. Constantly working to integrate into a culture is hard work, and the time when I’m running has become a really important way for me to take time to be outside of my room but not working so hard to fit in. Greeting is really important in this culture and running also gives me a great excuse to greet lots of people in Setswana without feeling obligated to stop and have extended chats with them. I plan on running a half marathon while I’m here and that plan has left me with a good, attainable, personal goal to attend to every day.

The first waves of loneliness are starting to hit me. It’s harder than I expected to try and relate to people when my language skills are so limited and I’m still trying to figure out how to navigate cultural differences. I’ve had the luxury of fellow trainees to debrief and relate to throughout training but now that we’re full-fledged volunteers we’re all living scattered across three provinces. My first three months of service (from now until right before Christmas) I am on “travel restriction” which means I’m not really supposed to leave my village except to go to town for groceries so I won’t be seeing many of my fellow volunteers but luckily some of my closest volunteer friends share my shopping town so we’ll meet up every once in a while to go grocery shopping and maybe eat lunch together. I’ve also met some volunteers who have been here for a year and I’m encouraged by their optimism and their assurances that they are not isolated hermits. It’s hard to be away from everything that is familiar and the people I love but I’m tough (and spoiled by things like having some internet access) so don’t worry about me.

I’ve become obsessed with Chackalacka which is a popular dish here. I’m so obsessed I’ve sent the recipe to some of you but this is the improved recipe AND I’m trying to start a Chackalacka craze in the US so for those of you who I haven’t shared this wonder food with...

CHACKALACKA

- Carrots (1 bunch)
- 1 Onion (diced)
- Hot peppers (I think they're just called "chilis")
- 1 Green Pepper (diced) – totally optional
- Cooking oil
- Approx. 1 tsp. Curry Powder – also optional but I’m a pretty big fan
- 1 can baked beans (the blandest, most generic you can find)

Peel and grate the carrots. In the bottom of a pot big enough to fit all of the ingredients sauté the onions and hot peppers until the onions are just starting to brown. Add the carrots, curry and green peppers. Continue sautéing until the carrots are cooked (not at all crisp). Add the baked beans and cook for two(ish) minutes. Enjoy on bread or just by itself. Think of me when you’re eating...

Thanks for the letters and the emails (as of yesterday I can check my gmail on my phone but it’s really hard for me to write emails on my phone key pad!). It means a lot to me to be connected to all of you.


As I am about to post this it started raining... the first rain they've had here in almost a year. I feel as excited as if it had been a year for me without rain... just thought I'd share a little, happy moment with all of you...