Ode to my Hair

Throughout my life my hair and I have developed a love/hate relationship. There are times when the thick, lucious curls are a great sense of pride: perfect prom hairdos, soft tendrils framing my face, and the constant compliments. Then there are those weaker moments it its history: frizzy, uncontrollable days, the fro, and the now infamous and dreaded George Washington haircut. My hair is unique in that it has a mind of its own; a lot of times I don't know what's going on back there. Frequently it picks up debris: leaves, dust, small sticks, that astro pop back in high school. Today it took itself to a whole newlevel of infamous behavior. As I was washing it, in my four inches of water, I realized something was in it that didn't necessarily belong. Yes, it's true, a cockroach had moved in and made a comfy nest ( not too difficult in my hair). My only question: how long had it resided there?

You might be a Peace Corp Volunteer if you contemplate shaving your head after you discover that large insects have begun using your hair as a home.

The Sun

If you want to check out some pictures of us go to Eric's blog: www.ericsteffen.blogspot.com

(I started this in a letter to David and then wanted to share it so he'll have to bear with me as he'll be getting it twice)

Some days are frustrating. Training can get monotonous and we are all ambitious people with the ultimate desire to make it to our sites so we can "begin saving the world" (or perhaps teach a workshop on group work in the classroom). It is not uncommon to find us sitting in a group complaining about something.

What is uncommon is to see us all in awe. For a group of us to actually to be appreciative of something together is rare. Today we had that moment. Today it was the sun.

We were piled into a taxi coming home from Polokwane. Unfortunately I found myself in the back. The back of the taxi is not the preferred seat. It is a van bench on which four people must squish no matter what the size or what they are carrying. The idea of "personal space" is a myth at the back of the taxi. Luckily, I got to share the back of the taxi with three other volunteers. We tend not to mind the back of the taxi as all of us are love deprived and any excuse to get next to another human being who is going through the same experiences is a good one.

As we were all gabbing about something not of significant importance, probably food as that is the subject of many a conversation, we noticed the sun.

The African sun is unique. It's as if they got one sun and the rest of the planet hast o share its less beautiful sister. If there is anything I could let you have a glimpse of it would be the sun because no words or pictures can actually capture it like the experience of it.

We stared out the taxi, across the savannah (yes, I use the word savannah in description because I actually experience the reality of it and not simply the cartoon rendering in The Lion King) at the sun. Everyone immediately dismissed the notion of possibly damaging their eye sight because the gift of sight is not really precious until seeing this sun. It has shades: there is a layer of blood red, followed by a subtle, more demure red, and ending in a warm tangerine orange. It's shape is perfect: a huge round circle without blurs or impurities.

As it dipped below the mountains, across the savannah, I remembered the words in books describing it, the oscar winning pictures that filmed it. They didn't even come close to the magic it emulate They gave me a glimpse, here I discovered the world.

Back to Moletsi

Making Apple Pie


My Birthday

It's good and bad to be back in Moletsi after the site visit. I want to go back to my site but at the same time I don't want to leave the rest of the volunteers. They all start to feel like family after the things we go through. My birthday was pretty slow but nice. My family got a cake and coke and the volunteers all sang Happy Birthday to me. My new host sister, Mapula, called me three different times. It was nice to feel loved. Language is really starting to make sense and that has been inspiring. I've learned how to form simple sentences such as "I like my tea" or "I don't like to eat chicken neck and worms." We also learned phrases to repeat to the constant harassing we get such as "Thank you for reminding me I'm white. I almost forgot." Today was a great day, we had indian food and got to come into town. Being next to modern anemities always does wonders for the spirits. Next weekend we're going to the hot springs. I can't wait! I miss everyone so much and feel so desperately out of the loop. I have no idea what is going on in anyone's lives (I haven't gotten to talk to my brothers since I've been here) and the only American news I've heard is about Hurricane Katrina and that Britney Spears had her baby (they focus on the important stuff here). Please, please update me with letters or email or anything. I love you all :)

Random Amusing Ideas

-Today I saw monkeys, in the wild, they were just chilling and hanging with one and other. If you're interested in what they look like check out: vervet monkey

-I live very near a forest. They use the trees from this forest to make Vicks Vapor Rub. If you break open the leaves you can smell the Vicks.

-Here they call a bar a shebin. Right next to my new home is a "granny shebin." The granny's all collect and drink traditionally brewed beer and dance. My host sister told me that some of the grannys can shake their hips better than hip hop dancers.

-I have been proposed to by half of the men in Rasewana within twenty years of my age. When a man wants to marry a woman he pays her family what is referred to as a lobola, around here the customary lobola is ten cows. I was asking my host brother how many cows I was worth and if he was going to sell me. After all the proposals and cows I feel that I may come back to the U.S. with a very big ego.

The New Home

I am thrilled about the fact that I live in a room outside the main house. This should do wonders for my sanity and privacy. I live across the street from my key school, Letseku. Behind this school is a small dam. The area is beautiful with mountains and trees everywhere.

The actual statistics on my family are as follows: I live with the mother and father who don't speack much English. The mother is really interested in learning. Actually, there seems to be a number of people interested in learning English. It may be something to look into, starting a class.

The oldest brother who lives in the house is Sello who is 23 (there is an older brother, States 26, but he resides elsewhere). Next is Mapula who is 18 and in grade 12. Both her and Sello speak English very well. Mapula is wonderful and we are now inseparable. She keeps telling me how happy she is to have a sister and how lonely it has been as the only girl in the family. The next brother is Oupa and he's 17. In addition, there are also two nephewys Marvin is 12 and the youngest is Kudjo (which means peace) is 7. I am so happy with my new home. Many of the other PCV's have complained about things in their new communities but so far everything is wonderful for me.

Site Trip

Mapula and Bogobe
Sello and Marvin
Mapula and Marvin
Mapula and Bananas
Mom
Khutso
Oupa and Marvin
Dad

Side note: I have been informed that this journal is being read by many. Therefore, if you choose to comment keep it very appropriate.

This is going to information based:

I have now found out about my permanent location. I don't meet my host family until tomorrow but nevertheless I'm thrilled to be involved in the process of getting facts about my life for the next two years.

Village: Ga-Raswewana (if you find it on a map you've done better thant me)

Nearest area that you should find on a map: Modjaji, This village as well as my village is lead by the rain queen. She leads a festival every year to bring, what else, the rains. Most villages are lead by a man, but this one is a woman. For anyone who knows me you will understand that I find this thrilling. Unfortunately, the current one died in June (three have died since 2001) and a new one won't be crowned for a year, but I still get to meet her court on Tuesday. In addition, my new African name is Makobo which is the former rain queen's name.

Host Family: Surname: Monyela, I don't know much only what I've been told: there is a mom who is a housewife and four children: 3 boys and a girl. The oldest boy is 23. The girl is in grade 12. There's a boy who is 11 or 12 and there's a boy who is 7 (similar structure to my own family which is wonderful)

The Schools:

Letseku: Students: 520 R-7 (grade R is kindergarten) preschool students: 20 teachers: 14 classrooms:8

Matshwi: Students: 888 R-7 teachers: 22 classrooms:16

Leakhale: Students: 630 R-7 Preschool students: 50 Teachers: 20 Classrooms: 17

Possible projects we've discussed: building classrooms, working with teachers on math and science teaching, building libraries, teaching about computers, froming a girls soccer program

Moletsi 3

My family here is great and loves to have a good time. I've previously mentioned that I live with a granny and four grandchildren. All the grandchildren's mothers are away working in other cities. One visited the past week and she was hilarious. I think her favorite past time was making fun of me. It was great to be in an atmosphere that it was comfortable to do that in. It really makes you feel like part of a family. While she was here one of her sister's had a birthday, though the sister wasn't there. Never mind that, we still had cake and sang. We know how to live it up out here.

Tomorrow I will discover the location of my permanent site and in the next week will visit it. It feels like a lot of pressure. I get to meet all the principals and teachers I will be working with as well as my permanent family. I've been reviewing cultural rules in the hope that I keep from offending anyone.

Moletsi 2

Quick update because there are a lot of us trying to use the internet. This is going to be my letter to everyone this time since it gets to a wider range:

So the first person from our group went back home. There are only 87 of us now. She got sick and had to go to the hospital and decided from there that this just wasn't the right choice for her. It hit us all pretty hard. We all joke around about making football pools about who will leave first but when it happens you realize how vulnerable you are. Life is hard here. The food is different, the bathrooms different, the people different, the gender roles different, the safety issues different. Two years is a ridiculously daunting time period to all of us right now. Time moves slowly here and not a lot happens. In addition, we aren't doing any projects right now so we feel more of a burden than anything. The goal for now is to get through this day, this moment.

Yesterday I went to my first school visit. It was great to actually be inside a classroom. I got to teach the kids about quadrilaterals. It took some improvising to remember exactly what a rhombus was but they were good and eager to participate. I'm going back on September 19th and I'm going to co-teach two lessons with another volunteer: one on area and perimeter and one on solids, liquids, and gases (thank god for unit planning) in grade 7.

I've decided I will never complain about laundromats again. No matter how expensive or inconvenient they are it is way more back breaking and inconvenient to do it in a tin basin. Unfortunately I'm not very smart and did my darks first. My whites will never be the same again.

On Monday we're leaving Moletsi for a workshop as well as a visit to our permanent site. It's scary because what we see next week will be where we are for the next two years. Perhaps even scarier is the fact that they drop us off and we have to find our way back to Moletsi, by taxi. It's definitely time that I lose my lack of sense of direction.

I'm dying to hear more information. We get bits of information about the hurricane and it sounds horrendous. We got newsweeks yesterday so I caught up a little on what was happening in Gaza (Josh you should be sending me stuff on this). I got a cell phone today. My family will have the number if anyone is interested. Keep me posted!!

Cheers :)