Changes!

 We moved in with our temporary host families Monday, in a village called Nkamandzi. I live in a room next door to a woman about my age and 12-year-old twin girls. I have met the mother of the woman my age (make — the “k” is a “g” sound) but not the father or the brothers. The village is in a town surrounded by mountains.

The family’s house is the highest up in elevation, so I have an amazing view of the valley. I have my own room with a double bed, a chair, and a small table and chair. We have electricity, and there’s a TV. The family has an electric stove but mostly cooks with a wood stove inside or over a wood fire outside. There’s a latrine on top of a small hill behind the house, and it’s very clean.

The twin girls cooked dinner, which consisted of white rice, cabbage fried in oil and salt, cooked tinned fish and baked beans. It was delicious.

The Peace Corps provides us with a gas stove, utensils, basins for bathing/dishes/washing and buckets. They also provided a huge bag of food for the family and for me. It’s meant to supplement their food because the family will cook dinner with me for the next two weeks. I’ll have to cook for myself after that. The twin girls, Lindela and Sindela, fetched bread from the store for me so I could make myself a peanut butter sandwich to bring to school for lunch.

The family farms, and there are cows, dogs, goats, chickens and cats on the property. I haven’t met any of the men yet. My siSwati name is Nonhlanhlha, which means “we are lucky to have you.” I won’t even try to write out the pronunciation.

I’ve had my first bucket baths, though I haven’t quite mastered them yet. I’ve also started the three-step water process.

We travel back to the school campus for class on some days. This morning, 21 of us crammed into a van, called and ikhumbi, to come to school. On other days, we’ll stay in our village and have lessons from our language teachers, who are staying in the village with us. My teacher is Metzi. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the country director’s house for a Fourth of July picnic. I’m excited to do that because we’ll be able to meet with the Peace Corps volunteers who are here now.