Politics....Far and Away

I finally did something Saturday that I've been waiting to do for almost a full year now. VOTE!!! It felt great to fill out my Federal Write-In Absentee ballot. I placed my ballot in the mail Saturday, and now I'm saying extra-crispy prayers every night to make sure the ballot arrives safely in the hands of the people at my home Board of Elections. It is now, officially and technically, out of my hands. But it still felt GREAT to mark the ballot box for this historic elections.

As many of you may or may not know, I was highly involved in Senator Obama's nomination before I left for my service here. It has been VERY difficult being here and out of the "political loop", but THANK GOODNESS for internet news. I went from having my television tuned into MSNBC at all hours, to reloading Google News, MSNBC's website, and the "Huffington Post" to keep up with the politics going on back home.

What has been great and refreshing is the excitement for Senator Obama over here. I've been surprised at the number of SAs who ask me if I like Obama or think he is going to win. It's been a great excuse to talk politics, which I miss doing. Thankfully alot of volunteers in my group enjoy political conversations. Several of us held our breath as we waited to hear who Obama and McCain chose for their running mates.

It's been one month since I've been here in my village, and I have to admit, it feels like I've been here A LOT longer :) I had a very relaxing weekend. Saturday I spent time with other volunteers in our shopping town taking care of business like buying my two staple foods: cereal and peanut butter, dropping off my absentee ballot, receiving political magazines in the mail from a friend back in the states (THANKS MARK!!!), receiving a copy of Obama's Democratic Convention acceptance speech in the mail (THANKS TREVOR!!!), and enjoying some chips and chicken dust at a local food hut while catching up w/ friends. French fries are called chips here. And chicken dust is chicken cooked on an open braai (grill). It's delicious!!!

I spent today reading my gifts, the TIME and Newsweek magazine while sitting under a tree in my yard with my sister, and just shooting the breeze. The afternoon was interesting b/c a snake was spotted in my year, so my family had an adventurous time trying to find the snake and kill it. It was spotted by a neighbor, and my buti (brother) found that it was hiding in a tire against our barbed wire fence. As I (obviously) stood back (a distance) and watched, the snake was jolted from its hiding spot and went under the nearest banana tree. The family then tried to smoke it out. They lit the banana tree (no banana's were on it) on fire in the hopes that the snake would come out. I guess the snake was took scared to come out b/c by the time the fire went out....there was no snake.

The family wanted to make sure the snake was dead b/c we have little kids playing in our yard and chickens running everywhere. The snake, possibly poisonous, could cause some serious harm to someone or something. All-in-all it was an adventurous 30 minutes ordeal.

So lately I've been hearing the difference between my Sepedi and the native speakers. They speak with more of a guttural tone, as opposed to me speaking more through my nose (at least that's how my sister humorously explained it to me, I just hear a difference). I'm trying to mimic my sister when she speaks, but its difficult. People hear that I sound different but don't automatically think I'm from America. They just hear how different I sound. I've been accused of sounding like I'm from Zimbabwe and Malawi! Today someone guessed I was from Cape Town (I didn't correct him). Maybe in a year or so I'll be able to mold my Sepedi speaking accent into the local dialect. We'll see....

Tomorrow begins another week of observing teachers at my two schools. I'm still working on building trustful relationships with the teachers and developing ideas of where I'm needed and how (exactly) I can help during my two years of service here.

Till next time...