Welcome to the Texas Lounge

I am now spending my first night in the Northern Cape province where, come the end of training, I will be spending the next two years of my life. I am currently in the small town of Warrenton, which with its adjacent township of Ikhutseng, has a population of around 25,000. For those unfamiliar with the term, a township is a collection of humble houses and shacks that lies on the outskirts of a town and is usually comprised almost exclusively of blacks.

Prior to arriving at Warrenton, the other Northern Cape trainees and I, had attended an education workshop, where we (gasp!) got to stay in a hotel. Believe me when I say that that first hot shower seemed like something sent from the Almighty himself. I suppose weeks of bucket bathing will do that to you.
After finishing the workshop, I traveled by car with the two principals I will be working with the short distance to Warrenton and Ikhutseng. Upon the way I was struck by just how much the area reminded me of Texas. Large swathes of land were covered with brush and sand like a scene one might encounter on a drive to El Paso. These shades of brown would then be interrupted by explosions of green which were irrigated fields belonging to local farms. Continuing in the Texas vein, sure enough, one of the agricultural endeavors was none other than a pecan farm. Needless to say, I was already beginning to feel at home.

We entered Warrenton and turned down the street leading to the house where I will be spending the next several days with a host family. Wouldn’t you know it, but almost right across the street from the host family’s house the huge words of “Texas Lounge” jumped out. And no, the town had not simply painted this as a way of designating the area of town where I would be staying. There is actually what seems to be a bar right across the street from me named after the Lone Star State. The sign is accompanied by a mural of a man wearing a sombrero sitting amongst cactuses in the desert under a blazing sun. Not the usual stereotype of Texas, but then again we were once a part of Mexico, so not entirely inaccurate.

Once dropping off my bags, my principals took me to the township to show me the schools where I will be working. The area is definitely a humbler existence with more latrines than flush toilets and square footage much reduced from the houses in Warrenton. That being said, the roads were still relatively good and even more importantly, the people I got to speak to were incredibly nice and welcoming. If I end up living there, something tells me that I will be the first white resident of Ikhutseng, which I think is a very cool thought.

This whole experience was capped off by me being transported to the local soccer stadium, where the local school teams of 13 year olds were competing. Naturally, I was asked to serve as referee for the last two games of the day, a responsibility I eagerly accepted. At halftime, I also managed to display some of my juggling ability and skills with the game ball. So, at the very least, word is now being passed around Warrenton/Ikhutseng that there is some tall white guy in town who hangs out with blacks and can do some pretty sweet tricks with a ball (not to mention superb refereeing skills).

Well, I, as always am exhausted and need to get a good night’s rest for tomorrow’s activities. I’ll be observing in the schools where I will be teaching as well as being introduced to various important members of the community. Best that I bring my A-game. So that’s the way the world was Wednesday, August 24, 2011.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, or at least the rest of your service

Well, it was a big day today.  The time for site announcements arrived, and we finally discovered where our two years of Peace Corps service will actually be spent.  Peace Corps, however, in a very sadistic fashion, has a tradition of requiring trainees to wait all day long and only announce the sites at the end of the day.  I guess now that waterboarding is outlawed, they had to come up with something.  Because of this, the readers will also be required to read the narration of the day’s events before finally finding out what new part of South Africa I will be heading to.

Upon arrival at training this morning, we had our usual weekly debrief where we discuss highs and lows of the past week.  The high I offered was the league soccer game I participated in last Sunday in which I became the first white person to ever compete in that league.  Pretty powerful stuff.  Following the debrief, we engaged in a training session discussing resiliency in life and Peace Corps service and how to go about achieving it.  All of that was well and good, but not nearly as nice as receiving our biweekly living allowance (read money) directly afterward.  With money in my pocket, I headed to eat the lunch I had packed, not taking part in the pizza plan that had been organized or rather disorganized as discussed in the last post.  Shockingly, the pizza had not yet arrived, and I grinned a slight smile of satisfaction in my good judgment as other trainees were forced to sit hungry as I expected would happen.

Following lunch, I have listed “Site Visit Prep” on my calendar, but I think I must have been asleep or just daydreaming about where I would be serving in Africa because I honestly can’t remember what we did.  Despite the protests of the trainees, yet another break was then taken before the site announcements began.  Peace Corps, like I said, takes pleasure in the pain it inflicts on its do-gooders, and so rather than simply quickly announce the sites, we were forced to play a sort of game.  Questions about South Africa were asked and correct answers were rewarded with different types of food.  Only then were sites handed out.  Readers will be happy to know that I correctly answered the question of “Name the 5 African countries that took part in the World Cup last year” and selected a bag of tortilla chips as my prize.  The other Texans in the group also answered their question correctly and duly chose the Mexican salsa.  Needless to say, there will be an all-Texan chips and salsa lunch tomorrow.

Anyways, without further ado, I have been assigned to the Northern Cape region in a township by the name of Ikhutseng.  The site is about 80 km away from the large town of Kimberley.  And yes, Mom, you are now free to Google Map the place.  Apparently, with 25,000 people, I am going to be in one of the most urban sites of all the volunteers.  The description on my paper says that there will be “a lot of opportunities for youth development in business entrepreneurship, life skills, and sports.”  Did anyone else just hear heaven described?  Even better, in addition to my target language of Setswana, Afrikaans, and Xhosa, Nelson Mandela’s native language, are also spoken.  So it looks like I might be able to pick up not one but three new tongues in addition to the ones cow variety that I will undoubtedly be consuming at some point.

Alright, well I feel that this post is beginning to drag a bit, so I will save more information about Ikhutseng until tomorrow.  Before you go, though, remember: let’s be careful out there.

Crossing bridges before they're built

I think my internet situation has finally been solved (fingers crossed), so I will try to diligently update the blog from now on.  I have just finished a grueling study session of Setswana, which is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, and the main language in the area of the country where I will be working.  Needless to say, then, I am tired and am currently looking longingly at my bed of 6 blankets which will be keeping me warm tonight in my unheated, uninsulated house.  Please feel free to offer your pity at this point. J

And yet I soldier on.  Before I go any further, though, let me preface this post by saying that I am absolutely loving my time here in Africa, and that any flaws I might find with certain aspects of life are far outweighed by the positives.  

Okay, now that have you heard the disclaimer, for tonight (or today for my American followers), I just want to say a word about planning and organization.  There seems to be very little of it here in South Africa, and it can be quite maddening at times.  Just to offer a quick tidbit of what I am talking about: tomorrow, all of the Peace Corps trainees will be meeting in one location for an all day session in which we will receive our permanent assignment and location for the next two years.  Everyone is really stoked to find out where the next chapter of their life will be lived.  Someone apparently decided that it would be nice to have pizza delivered for lunch as a way to celebrate.  Sounds easy enough, right? 

Not quite.  Today, at 1:30 pm, when everyone was just about to leave for the day, we discovered that the people who would be partaking in the pizza feast tomorrow needed to pay 20 Rand (the South African currency) today rather than tendering it tomorrow.  No announcement was ever made previously, so if someone hadn’t brought the money with them, too bad.  When the pizza eaters inquired as to how much pizza their 20 Rand would entitle them to, the answer was unknown.  A call was made to the secretary to figure out the quantity, and the secretary also didn’t know nor did she know how the order was going to be placed i.e. individual small pizzas for each person, several large pizzas to be shared amongst people, toppings, etc.  There was also no set plan for how the money collected would make its way to the Peace Corps office.  Basically, there was almost no plan at all.

All of these things seem like basic questions to Americans that would be answered as a part of organizing such a lunch, yet in the South African mindset that does not seem to be the case.  None of the management seemed to be worried how the pizza order would actually be completed.  Such an event is indicative of one of the great cultural differences between the Americans here and the South Africans.  The attitude towards planning is at quite opposite poles.  As the head of training, a South African, jokingly put it, Americans don’t cross bridges when they come to them, they like to cross them before they have even been built.  Fair enough.  To all those out there, good night and good luck.

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

To all my readers, if you're even still following this blog, let me offer my deepest apologies for the absence of posts.  I sent out an email before leaving for Africa saying I would be posting, but unfortunately, my access to internet since arriving has been extremely limited.  I am at a mall today, though, and am hoping to purchase a modem that will allow me to access the internet with my netbook using the cell phone network.  If I'm successful, my posting should become more frequent.

That being said, I'm not sure where to start with this post, given ttat there is so much to tell about my experiences so far.  The title above is the national anthem of South Africa and means "God Bless Africa" Xhosa, which is the native language of Nelson Mandela.  I figured that would be appropriate to start my tales. When I first arrived in South Africa, the other volunteers and I stayed at a college for the first for days of training.  There was electricity, hot showers, catered meals, and tea breaks, and I think we were asking ourselves if South Africa and the Peace Corps were really going to be that difficult.  The only thing that really made us realize we were in Africa was the presence of a game reserve next to our lodgings.  This resulted in one seeing the random baboon from time to time, just strolling outside of the dining hall.  And in raccoon-like fashion, they also enjoyed going through the outdoor trash cans, or rather the rubbish bins (South Africa still displays many evidences of British influence).  The training while as the college consisted of basic linguistic training in 4 of the 11 official languages of South Africa as well as seminars on safety, health and the like.  Nothing to really write home about.  By the way, Mom, I did mail, I mean post, a letter last week, so check your mailbox in about 2 weeks.

After 4 days at the college, the Peace Corps experience experience began in earnest.  We were transported to the village of Makapanstad where we are training for 8 weeks.  I was introduced to my host mother, a wonderful, hard-working widow in her 50's with a son, 2 grandsons, and another relative also at the house.  The house has running water; however, it comes from a water tank, which runs out from time to time.  When that happens, I have to switch on a water pump that causes a hose connected to the municipal water supply to begin filling the tank.  We were told by Peace Corps that we should always boil and filter the water before drinking it, but I have had it several times straight from the tap and haven't yet experienced any problems.

While the house does have running water, it does not have a water heater and consequently also has no hot water.  Given that it is winter here in South Africa, this could cause bathing to be quite unpleasant if nothing were done.  I have a large basin in my room that I use for bucket bathing, and in order to prevent hypothermia, I heat up water on the stove before taking a bath.  And yes, I did say bucket baths.  You pour the water in the basin, strip down to your pants, and use a soapy washcloth to wash your upperbody.  You then take off your pants, step into the basin, and wash your lower body.  The first few times I did it, it looked like I had opened up a waterpark in my room, but I've gotten skilled enough now that I can keep most of the water contained.

Luckily, though, my family also has a bathtub in the bathroom that one can use to take a normal bath.  To do so, you make a fire outside and then place a huge bucket filled with water on top.  After about 45 minutes, you have enough hot water for a decent bath.  I do this most nights and then take an abbreviated bucket bath in the morning where I only wash my face and upper body.  Despite having hot water, it can be very cold at night and in the mornings (like 45 degrees Fahrenheit cold), and taking a bath always requires some psychological preparation for the frigidness.  Oh and in case you were wondering, there is no heating, so like I said, things can be very cold.  Well, I need to attend to Facebook and email for right now, but hopefully another blog post will be soon to follow.  Like I said, there really is a lot to tell.