Bread, transport, etc.

Sanibonani!

Here are some weather words for you:
Emafu = clouds
Liyana = rain
Lilanga = sun (this word also means day)
Futfumele = warm
Kuyabandza = It's cold
Kuyashisa = It's hot

And some from my current activities:
Ngibheka sinkhwa = I'm baking bread
Ngifuna kulala = I want to sleep
Ngiyagijima = I am running
Ngine umhlangano = I have a meeting

A PC friend taught me how to make challah and biscuits this past Monday. It was a gray, cool, rainy day, perfect for that activity. She lives less than an hour's drive from me, but transport in Swaziland meant that I had to travel an hour to Manzini, meet her in the bus rank at 8 a.m. and get on a bus to her spot. We sat on the bus/van for about 45 minutes until it was full. The bus carried us through the hilly bush, easing through places where water was running over low bridges.

We arrived at her place after an hour or so and went to work, making the dough and letting it rise. We chatted about challenges we were facing with our work and drank delicious coffee. About four hours later, I had a lovely loaf of challah to share with Jack and a handful of biscuits for me to munch on.

I could have spent the night at her place, but PC restricts how many nights we're supposed to spend out of our village per month. I knew I'd be out for other reasons, so I decided to try to get home. I waited for about half an hour on the road that would have taken me the short way toward my place. Nothing. No cars, no bikes, no motorcycles (not that I'd have taken one, strictly forbidden). After about half an hour, I spotted the same bus we'd come in on, this time heading back to Manzini.

"Is it better for me to take this to Manzini and go back to my place?" I asked a woman who was also waiting.
"Yes, it is much better."

I hopped on the rickety bus and headed back down that sketchy, hilly dirt road. There was less fog this time, and the ride was beautiful. It was also nerve-racking. It was nearly 4 p.m. when I got on the bus, and I knew I'd have an hour's ride to Manzini. I also knew that I'd have to get right on transport back to my site and hope like hell that I'd make it by dark. Being out after dark is a real no-no in the SWZ. No one does it in the rural areas (the cities are different), and the night is ruled by scary dogs and unsavory types. So I was getting stressed. Darkness falls between 6 and 6:30 these days.

The bus labored into Manzini by about 5 p.m., getting caught in a huge line entering the bus rank. Rush hour, y'know? So I hopped out and made a beeline for the spot where my khumbis hang out. I was the second-to-last person on. These modes of transport, basically minibuses, leave when they're full. That means you could wait on one for five minutes or for more than an hour. It's a crapshoot. And sometimes you find that there isn't one heading to your location, so you have to wait in line for who knows how long. It's a logical system for the SWZ, but it can certainly be a pain in the ass.

In summary, I scored big time by being almost the last person on. We rolled out just after 5, and I knew it'd be smooth sailing as long as we didn't break down or hit something. I made it to my bus stop by 6 and was home in time to keep my host family from worrying. Success!

Also that day, I dealt with my first electrical issue in a while. The night before, my lights had gone out. This was strange because my other electrical sockets were still functioning. I got ready for bed in the dark and puzzled over it a while. It took make and babe's help plus a call to the electrician to nail down the problem: blown fuse. Duh. That was the first thing babe told me to check. Host dad doing a great job at typical dad functions.

Electricity in SiSwati: igesi

That's all for now! I'm at Jack's school filling in for their volunteer computer teacher today. We're selecting our girls for the girls empowerment camp soon, and I have a support group meeting Friday. I haven't seen those ladies for months, so I'm pretty stoked.

AND Jordan visits starting March 22, if I didn't mention that. It'll mean SWZ adventures and EIGHT DAYS in amazing Cape Town. Hurrah!