A New Home

Thobela!!

It's been a while since I've been able to post a blog. There is an internet cafe in the closest town to me, but it is usually closed once I'm finished with class and it is a SUPER DUPER slow connection.

So yesterday we recieved out site placements, so my nervousness/excitement/anxiety is finally over.....well almost. Next week we will visit our new homes, I can't pronunciate the village and I don't have the sheet with the name on it. My shopping town Acornhoek sits right next to Kruger National Park!!! Which means I'll be in (pretty much) the most beautiful part of South Africa, next to The Cape. I'm very happy! My village is not near Acornhoek, but that is where I'll go to buy my basic necessities.

So next week will consist of me meeting my new supervisor, my new host family who is providing me with a room seperate from the main house, the village chief, the schools/teachers, and other things that need to be taken care of. I'm also excited about getting to see more of this country. My site is very far from where I've been training the past month.

The one bummer about my site location is that I'll be required to take Malaria medication because of my close-ness to Kruger National Park :(

Once we get back from out site visit, we'll have two more weeks of training which will also include my Language Test. I've really picked up on the language and I try to speak it as much as possible with my family and friends. All the pieces are starting to fall into place. It's a good feeling, let's just hope I can pass the test :)

My host family here is still AWESOME and I'm going to miss them alot. I know that I'll be able to come in visit them which is a comforting feeling. The food is still good and I'm learning how to cook some of the local cuisine like bagobe (pap), potato dishes, mashed pumpkin, and maize rice (which tastes JUST LIKE GRITS so you know I'm loving it!). I'm also getting alot better at hand washing my clothes and taking bucket baths. Hand washing clothes is a very tedious and arduous back-breaking task. My 16 year old cousin says I need to "not be so lazy" when washing them. I guess I wasn't scrubbing hard enough, but my back and hands didn't feel that way.

My internet time is running out. I hope I'll be able to get to an internet cafe some time next week so I can post some of my pictures.

I miss all of you and hope all is going well in the States. I'm staying healthy mentally and physically.

Gabotse!!!

Village Life

Thobela!

I have about 10 minutes or so to sum up all that's been going on with me the past few weeks. I live in a somewhat large village with my two host parents, Lydia and Chico who are absolutely wonderful. They own a supermarket and tavern (bar) in the village, so I consider them entrepreneurs. I am living very comfortably with my own room, and have made it my own space by putting my poster from home on the walls. Also living with us are my two bobutis (brothers), two cousins (I don't know that word yet), and my Makoko (grandma).

The food has been very very good, but different. I have adjusted well to life here in my village. Everyday I have language class (I'm learning Sepedi) and then I go to the local teaching college to attend classes that are preparing me to work in the field starting in September. I won't know where my permanent site will be or what my responsibilities will be until the end of August. I will either be a teacher trainer, work with school management, work the school governing board, and/or work with youth in schools/communities. It all depends on what is needed at my site.

I am turning into a mini superstar b/c people are surprised to see a Black woman with an English accent! While walking home, the village kids call my name everyday and shout "how are you" even though I'm no sure if they understand what they are saying. People ask me the same question all the time "how is America compared to South Africa?"

My family has named me Lerato, which means "love", so that is what the village has started calling me. All-in-all, I'm very happy to be here and I'm loving village life! Letters from home take a while (3-4 weeks) to get here, but please please please write. It's a great moral booster since I don't get a chance to call home or get to the Internet on a regular basis.

gabotse!

P.S. this country is breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL!!!

Sepedi!

Well....

I've finally settled into the country and have about 10 minutes to describe whats been going on this past week. We left DC Monday at 5:40 and got into Jo'burg at 4:40 on Tuesday. The flight was close to unbearable at one point, b/c the lovely air conditioner decided not to work. We fell asleep nice and cool, but woke up in our own sweat :).

Once we arrived, we drove about an hour and a half to our training site, and since then we've been geting to know each other and our trainers. Today, we found out what our target langauge would be. As you can tell from the title, I will be learning Sepedi (along with bits and pieces of Afrikaans and Setswana). This means I'll be placed in Limpopo. We have also been interviewed so the local staff can get an idea of where we'd like to be placed for our two years. I hope I get what I want, which is as rural as possible. All locations have electricity, but some may have to walk a short distance to water or will atleast have water outside their home.

Tomorrow we go home with our host family and I'm really looking forward to meeting them. That's about it for now. The other volunteers are awesome and the local staff are GREAT.

Shala Kabotusi (spelling?)....this means "bye" ....

Old School Communication

Well....I'm currently on a two day vacation in Florida with my mom and a few other family members who will be here tomorrow. My goal is to do absolutely nothing.

It was difficult saying goodbye to my father as he dropped us off at the airport this morning, but I know he and my mother will make a trip out to see me, so I had that to fall back on. Plus he's very proud of my decision to serve in the Peace Corps :)

Packing turned out to be way way way more difficult than I originally thought, and now I'm lugging around a 70 lb bag (my 2nd 70 lb back is waiting for me in Washington D.C.), a loaded down backpack, and my guitar which is getting heavier and heavier by the hour. I decided that I'd rather pay the "excess weight" fee than to try to figure out which clothes and shoes to take out to bring the weight down. Plus, it doesn't help that it's winter in South Africa which means warmer (aka heavier) clothing. Oh well...I'll either pull, break, or build up my arm muscle.

I wanted to post my address in case those of you reading my blog want to participate in some "old school communication". Yep....you guessed it....LETTERS! We've been told that we won't have consistent access to internet during our three months of training, so they advised us to write letters home and have our friends and family write to us. I received a great going away gift of postcards and stationary (thanks E), so I have plenty of writing material. But it'd be really nice to hear (or read) what's going on back in the States. So for those of you who have decent penmanship and the patience, you can write me letters (or send me care packages with newspapers, TIME magazines, or anything that involves Stateside current events) to the following address:

LaTosha D. Parker
Peace Corps
PO Box 9536
Pretoria 0001
South Africa

I leave for staging in two days, and my nervousness/excitement is rapidly increasing!

Paz...

Countdown

I'm down to the last two days at my apartment, and I'm using every free moment to finish packing up my place. It has been an extremely tedious task. I'm also down to the last three days of saying goodbye to my friends. Luckily, I'll have a few more days to spend with the family, but saying goodbye is going to be difficult for all of us.

Oh yea.....and I'm also discovering how difficult it is to pack all the items I need w/o going ridiculously over the airline weight max or w/o making my bags so heavy that I can't comfortably carry them. It is also necessary for me to organize my belongings into two categories: "essential and non-essential". The "non-essential" bag needs to be full of items that I won't need during my three months of training, while the "essential" bag stays with me.

I'll spend the latter half of this week on vacation with my family in Florida, and then it's off to Washington D.C. for three days of staging. Once we arrive in Jo'burg next Tuesday, we will travel about an hour and a half north of the capital (Pretoria....I know, I thought it was Jo'burg for the longest times too) to our training site at Marapayne Education Center near the town of Bela Bela in Mpumalanga Province. We'll be assigned to our host families later on in the week, and I'm really looking forward to meeting the people I'll be living with over the next few months. I hope they like the gifts I'm bringing from the States.

We've been informed that we won't have access to internet on a regular basis during training, so we'll be relying mostly on old-fashion communication: writing letters. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update my blog during training. I'm hoping atleast once a week like I'm doing now, but we'll just have to see.

Oh well....back to packing up my dishes.....till next time......

Much To Do...Little Time Left

As each day goes by, I realize their is something else I need to take care of before leaving in TWO WEEKS. Whether it's packing up my kitchen, buying a second pair of eye glasses for the trip (Peace Corps requires all volunteers who wear contacts/glasses to bring two pair of glasses), purchasing minor things like thick socks or a pair of binoculars, choosing which pair of shoes to take or leave, painstakingly picking which UNC t shirts stay or go, and making time to squeeze in one more hair appointment :)

I've also enjoyed spending time with my friends and family. I participated in an Obama House Party event this past weekend and watched the Euro Cup final with some friends. I found out South Africa is hosting the 2010 World Cup, how kick-butt would it be to catch a game (or at least be in the vicinity of an arena)?!?! I'm also realizing how interesting it's going to be living overseas and watching the presidential election play out back here in the States, especially since I was so involved locally. I'm personally looking forward to experiencing first hand the reactions of the world towards Senator Obama and his run for the White House. He has to be an inspirational figure to so many outside of the States.

With all my free time, I've been able to read Nelson Mandela's autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom". It's a lengthy read (625 pages), but he's an amazing writer and his story is unbelievably compelling. It's hard to believe he turns 90 this year, the man is a marvel of his time. I like to set high standards for myself, so one goal of mine while in South Africa is to try to hear Mr. Mandela speak in person.

A girl can dream, can't she....

Mission Accomplished (....sort of)

Well, I have officially completed the unique/some-what complicated task of selling off all my furniture. Craigslist is amazing, but there sure are some sketch people cruising that site. With three weeks left, a HUGE weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I am now in the process of putting the rest of my life in boxes and beginning the arduous task of packing. Also, I'm still trying to find a home for Carina (my doggy) which is a challenge all on it's own.

I received information regarding my orientation (Staging) a few day ago. I will fly into Washington D.C. July 12th for three days of orientation. This process includes getting a basic idea of travel and safety precautions, meeting the other volunteers, getting various vaccinations, and a brief over view of what we can expect during our three months of Pre-Service Training (PST). As a group, we'll fly out the evening of Monday July 15th and arrive in Johannesburg Tuesday July 16th. It's about a 17 hour flight, which I believe is the longest (if not one of the longest) flights in the world.

I'm getting more and more excited as the time draws near, but feelings of sadness come and go as well. I'm also trying to enjoy myself as much as possible. This includes going to movies and concerts, eating "American" junk food that I haven't had in years, playing with my dog, watching music videos, downloading iTunes, etc. Without a 9-5 in the way, these next few weeks will be spent enjoying the little things that I found myself missing when I traveled abroad in the past.

Paz....