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.