Getting To Know My Village

Hey....

This week I'll spend time getting to know my village. Each week I have an assignment to follow that Peace Corps has given us. Some people aren't big fans of the assignments, but being the nerd I am...I actually enjoy the structure. Each week builds on the next. Anywho... I've finally finished unpacking and setting up my "condo", well except for my clothes which are still in my suitcase until my wardrobe is delivered.

Yesterday and today I went on walks with my host sister around our village and the surrounding ones. There are no signs that signal when one village ends and the other begins. It's pretty much left up to landmarks like a spazaa (small street shop) or a small bridge. It's interesting. I'm starting to recognize my own landmarks though. I have to draw a map of my village with landmarks included, so I'm glad to be walking around and getting more acquainted with my surroundings.

I decided today that I won't openly tell people I'm an American if they ask where I'm from. I'm just going to tell them the village I live in, which isn't technically lying because that's where I'm from.....now. Being an American in a foreign place has it's pros/cons and I decided that right now the cons slightly out weight the pros. I want to fit in as much as possible, and claiming to be an American doesn't necessarily help. Clearly I'm in a different situation than some of my friends because it's obvious they are not from the village. But for me it's a little different. I speak decent enough Sepedi where you can't hear my American accent so I'm going to see it goes for a few days.....

I'm actually enjoying cooking for myself again, but I can already see that I'm going to get tired of pasta and peanut butter. It looks like I'll need to learn to cook something else. Thankfully the Peace Corps provides us with cookbooks that help us use ingredient we actually have access to. Last night I made tuna fish patties, which may sound nasty but was actually pretty tasty!

Mmmmm....