no power... etc.

I'm in Pretoria on a very rainy day. Next week I'm going to a training and I'm taking this weekend to get ready, to see some important people and to drink absurd amounts of coffee. It's been less than a month since I came back from Christmas/New Year's vacation and already I'm away from my village again which feels sort of strange.
I've told many of you that South Africa is like two countries in one because the economic divide is so great that you literally have both a developed nation and a developing nation within the same border. This week there was a little reminder that the "developed" portion of South Africa still developing. Eskom, the South African power company has been instituting "load shedding". This means that for hours a day (sometimes three or four, sometimes more) every day the electricity is just out. All over the country. Eskom announced this week that these blackouts will continue for the next five years. FIVE YEARS. The damage to the economy is already in the billions of Rands.
I've seen a lot of other Peace Corps Volunteers in the last few days, including my friend Michael who I'd count as one of the smartest people I know. Peace Corps South Africa volunteers are an interesting group of people, and the level of conversation when we get together tends to be pretty intense.
There were people from Peace Corp's DC offices here this week doing a program evaluation. One of the questions they asked was if Peace Corps should be in South Africa. It's an interesting quesiton. There have been some really great conversations about it this weekend. South Africa of 2008 is not Ghana of 1969. There is a huge number of university educated South Africans well qualified to work in schools. Many of the reforms teachers, students and others are calling for in the educational system are not grassroots reforms, they are system wide, broad based changes. These are not the types of changes new university graduates from the US are going to be effective in instituting. This argument is made pretty well in a recent OpEd piece in the New York times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/opinion/09strauss.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin)
I'm learning a lot. I'm working my tail off to do what I can in the schools I work in. I'm growing as a person and as a teacher and eventually I'll bring that growth back to the US. It's strange because I am questioning what role Peace Corps South Africa can really play in educational development but at the same time I'm in now way feeling less committed to my individual work. I don't see my work as futile, but I'm not sure how much of an impact I can realistically make.
An unavoidable lesson to be learned serving in South Africa (and I suspect elsewhere) is that as the world changes and as global markets dictate more and more the fate of haves and have nots devlopment is also changing. If you picture me as a dusty hippie PCV from the late '60's teaching English under a tree you're vastly wrong and probably in good company. I think most Americans like the IDEA that there are other Americans (mostly young, smart, well educated Americans) out there in poor countries making the world a more even playing field. I don't teach under a tree, in fact I don't teach at all because this country has qualified teachers. I also have come to realize that the level playing field is such a distant possibility that I'm not willing to fully give up hope in it but I'm also not willing to pretend that it is possible in the current state of international interdependancy and political affairs. It's a nasty beast we're all a part of. I'm going to keep hammering away at my part...

2007 minutes in heaven.

Last year for New Year's I spent a surreal period of time with Matt, Matto, and Stewie reaffirming that I wanted to live fully and wildly. It was wonderful. We decided that along with the ever-appropriate "on to glory" "2007 Minutes in Heaven" should be the slogan for this year.
I lost track of my time counting and I've had some decidedly un-heavenly experiences in 2007 but overall I think I've at least approached the goal. It's weird to think how different my life is today than it was a year ago.
I'm on vacation in Durban with a group of Peace Corps friends. We're eating way to much, sitting on the beach for innumerable hours (it's a last minute cram to reach 2007 minutes), wowing Afrikaners with our karaoke skills, and having smart conversations. It's a good vacation but I'm also excited to get back to my village and get working again.
I know this is short but internet time is expensive here.
happy new year's. 2008 will be the only year I spend completely in South Africa which means I need to make the most of it!
someone please ride the monorail for me tonight. it's the best way to honor me.

World AIDS Day

Hello friends. I only have a minute and I realize I'm a few days late on my World AIDS Day message but I'm oporating on the better late than never assumption.

Before I came here I never knew someone with HIV or AIDS. People in the US seem to have stopped talking about HIV and in some ways this has led to it disappearing from our consciousness. HIV is a serious problem in South Africa, it has lowered the life expectancy by almost twenty years, it has left hundreds of thousands of children orphaned, and it contributes to the economic problems this country faces. HIV is not just an African problem. It is a worldwide problem and the privlages we have in the US do not protect us from HIV.

Living in South Africa I'm seeing first hand how horrible HIV and AIDS can be. I'm also meeting people living healthy and productive HIV+ lives. Above all, I'm beginning to realize how essential it is for people to be tested and to know their status.

PLEASE. Please, go and get tested. It is simple, it is confidential, and it's essential to your health and to stopping this disease. If for no other reason please go in honor of me and the work I am doing here. But really, you should go to honor yourself and any partner you have now or you may have in the future.

the ongoing heartbreak of no pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful for me. I spent the last week visiting other volunteers in my area, meeting lots of teachers and principals and spending some really good times with friends. I was in the constant company of my friend Megan for the week and it was great. She's really cool in that special "we can make fart jokes AND talk about serious stuff" sort of way. The fart jokes are obviously the more important part of that equation. Megan and I whipped up a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner of store bought bananna bread, pasta with red sauce and tea.

Now I'm spending the weekend with my friend. I made him my world famous (people on three continents know about it... so it counts) pizza dumpling. Tonight I'll make make-shift green bean cassorle because I can deal with no pumpkin pie, I can survive no stuffing, I can even endure no Wild Turkey with Matt, Pete and Matto but I refuse to leave Thanksgiving weekend without some sorto fo green bean cassorle. Actually, Thaksgiving is a great holiday for me here because I'm so preoccupied with food and Thanksgiving gives me an excuse to expose that preoccupation to everyone.

I'M OFFICIALLY ERIN GANNON, MA!!
My ass of an older brother (who will go unnamed but I suppose you might guess who I'm writing about) has been keeping this information from me for awhile. It's really cruel to mess with your little sister who is all alone, thousands of miles away, crying herself to sleep every night because she's not sure if the only thing she worked for in the last five years was actually acheived. He's a cruel man. Don't let his peaceful exterrior fool you.

All is well.

its getting hot in here!

It is starting to get really hot here. I know the heat is really coming in December and January but November has been pretty sweaty for me so far. Along with the heat November has brought a formidable fly and mosquito population into my room. I finally gave up and put up my mosquito net. Now I fall asleep listening to the high hum of mosquitoes who I imagine are pretty pissed they can’t get to me. The roaches are starting to show themselves too... especially in the pit toilet. They’re spectacularly big, the smallest are usually the size of two quarters next to each other. My friend Erin has implemented a policy of killing the big lizards in her room and adopting the small ones as insect eating pets. I have adopted a seven-legged spider as my pet... although I must admit he has only seven legs because of an early skirmish where he narrowly survived my swat. My tolerance for all things creepy crawly has grown exponentially. So, seriously, who wants to come and visit me??
Every week I feel a little more settled here, a little more at home. Some of the surreality of a new lifestyle on a different continent is wearing off. At the same time at least a small amount of the novelty of having a white girl living in the village seems to be wearing off which is a relief. There is something pretty exhausting about being stared at all the time.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still regularly causing a stir. Last weekend I was running through the village and a driver was so busy staring at me he didn’t realize he had stopped his car in the middle of the road blocking another driver’s way. The little ones still yell “la kgoa” (“white person!”) when I walk down the road. The bus and taxi drivers still refuse to believe I live in my village and not somewhere in town. Maybe I’m just getting used to being a novelty.
Last week my supervisor came to see me at school. She was having a hard time finding the school so I told her I would walk out to the tar road so they could spot me and then we could take the dirt road back to the school. I told her, “I’m wearing a black sweatshirt and a black and white skirt”. She laughed so hard. Apparently I forgot I was the only white person in the village and I’m pretty easy to spot.
I’m giving a workshop on encouraging critical thinking in the classroom tomorrow. I’m pretty excited about it, and I’m hopeful it goes well. I’ve worked pretty hard to make it practical and interesting for the teachers at my school. It will be nice to step back into a teacher role. I really miss teaching kids but language is such a barrier between me and the students at my primary schools.
I’ve been reading with small groups of forth graders after school which has been really fun. Literacy is a huge problem here. It is compounded by huge class sizes, incredibly high adult illiteracy rates (which means parents often feel they can’t help their kids learn to read) and the fact that students are supposed to be literate in both their mother tongue and English by the time they are in fourth grade. I’m doing my little part by reading with kids, helping them sound out words and praising them for their efforts.
I only have two and a half weeks of school left before the December break. It’s hard to believe I’ve already completed training and almost an entire school term! I suppose time flies when you’re disoriented, stressed, excited, homesick, learning, and adjusting.

Halloween.

I love Halloween. I've tried to explain it to people here and they are willing to try to understand but it's pretty hard to express exactly why it is so fun to dress up and eat candy. So, alas, here I am on Halloween without anyone to make cool costumes with or get a candy belly ache with. I hope all of you in the US eat an extra Snickers in my honor.
I have so many good memories of Halloween. Digging in the leaves on the front porch in Blue Ash, looking for candy not found by the trick-or-treaters. FILLING pillowcases with candy (including the big candy bars from the Blue Ash cops). Mom hiding our candy in the dog food so we wouldn't all simultaneously develop diabetes. Crazy Halloweens in Kent (Abe Lincoln, Y2K girl, "No, You're Stupid", Mario and Luigi, the bloody wig, Tom crawling down the hall in Terrace, Denine dressed as Danny DiVito). Waiting for trick-or-treaters at Everett and no one ever coming. Athens. I suppose I can take two years off from the mania without losing my ability to create an absurd costume and eat sweets all night.
I've finally started to get mail here but I know there is a stash of mail that was sent to Pretoria that I have yet to see... it gives me something to look forward to! Thanks for writing to me. Thanks for sending me emails. It makes Halloween alone on the other side of the world seem not so bad.
Maybe I'll go to town and get some candy so I can at least have the belly ache...

These photos are pretty awful but they give you an idea of what it looks like where I live. Don't let the mountains fool you. My new village is very flat... these photos are from my training.

It has been about two and a half months since I arrived in South Africa. I’ve started wondering how this experience is going to change me. So far I’m pretty much the same person I was when I left the US. The following is a list of ways I have changed/habits I have developed/skills I have acquired since my first day in South Africa:

- My hair is slightly longer
- I’m more tan
- I pee in a bucket at night
- I drink at lest two cups of tea a day
- I know that “now, now” actually means some time in the near(ish) future
- It takes me no less than an hour to get ready in the morning
- I read more than I ever thought possible
- I am getting really good at sitting and thinking for extended periods of time
- I can speak a little Setswana
- Hoards of children shout my name as I walk down the street and (I swear) it doesn’t go to my head
- I’ve lost any inhibition I had about saying “I don’t want to talk to you” to persistent men
- I’m becoming more tolerant of being called “sweetie”
- I’m becoming less tolerant of being called “baby”
- I sweep my room two or three times a day
- I polish my shoes a few times a week (although I should polish them every night)
- I no longer cringe when I see someone litter
- I go to bed around 8:30 most nights
- I have given in and started sending SMS’s (text messages)
- I carry my money (and sometimes my jump drive, my cell phone, my id, my bank card...) in my bra
- I’ve finally accepted that the flies are just part of my décor
- I know how to wrap my hair in a scarf and not look like a total idiot
- I’ve become inordinately possessive of my “good pens”
- I eat oatmeal almost every single day
- I have become obsessed with ice cream and rarely escape a trip to town without caving to the urge to buy a cone from the grocery store
- Children touch my hair so much I have become almost completely oblivious to it.
- I have learned that lots of wind can make you very tired.
- I now know most of the words to every ABBA song (they are inexplicably popular here)
- I find myself giving in and saying “black American” because explaining the term “African American” to African people is laborious and often slightly maddening
- It no longer bothers me to be openly mocked, laughed at or talked about and being stared at is just an accepted reality.
- I now know that rain on a metal roof is a pleasant sound but hail on a metal roof is one of the loudest, most horrific sound experiences possible.
- I’ve convinced myself I actually look better now that I only wash my hair every four days.
- I’ve taken to saying “aaaysh!” when I am tired, exasperated, frustrated, confused, amazed, clueless...
- Amazingly, I’ve become pretty neat.

Don’t worry, you’d still recognize me if you saw me on the street (especially if you saw me on the street in my village because I’m pretty much the only white person around). I’m the same awkward, absurd person I was when I left. I’m just developing some new quirks that may or may not become part of who I am permanently.