Two more photos

 More photos! Here's a photo of the bride from the wedding I went to a while back. This one is appropriate for all users; she's topless in some of the others.

I love these trees! They're all around here.

HELLO!

 Hi, team! This is so exciting! Here's a photo of me and my counterpart, Jabulile. She looks great. I look a little ragged out because it was cold and rainy this day. But now you see her. She's wonderful!

 Babe wanted me to take his photo with his cows. There are so many!

 Babe and my host bhuti (brother) have been plowing with the team of oxen and this old-school farm implement. Make follows along and plants more maize behind. This is the field behind our homestead.

Here's a photo of the mountains in the distance behind my homestead. Beautiful! The photo's not great.

I just got two packages from Meaghan (I am eating M&M's from it, which is AMAZING) and one from each of Jack's aunts. Thanks, Marcie and Leslie! You are all so wonderful!!

Here's a blog entry I wrote a while back:

September 17, 2012

Sanibonani!

I’ve now been at site almost four weeks, which is crazy. I’m trying not to think of things in terms of time — one month down, what have I accomplished? A Group 8 volunteer told me that it’s important to not think of Peace Corps in terms of two years. You really ought to take it day by day. It’s early yet, but that seems like sound advice.

PC promotes something called “intentional relationship building,” which they abbreviate to IRB (big contrast to its meaning in the public health world). The idea is that a big part of what we do is just getting to know people. The term itself sounds like a robot programming mechanism. NOW WE WILL INTENTIONALLY BUILD RELATIONSHIPS SO AS TO ENDEAR OURSELVES TO THE HUMANS. In all seriousness, it serves as a legit reminder that we’re doing things even when we’re not “doing things” in a traditional workplace sense. I suppose that’s part of what I’ve been up to.

I attended a support group on Friday, which was really nice despite some nasty cold, rainy weather. The women at the group were extremely friendly and welcoming. The children who joined later were also lovely, and there was a kind of hilarious photo shoot where one of my new friends pulled my hair over her head so she could be blond. This might be on the Facebook somewhere …

I’m still spending a couple of days a week at the clinic, and I make sure to get out of the ol’ hut every day. I don’t have a table yet; that’s the next big capital purchase. We’ll see how soon I get that done. As many of you know, I tend to procrastinate where the comforts of home are concerned. The local carpenter has a sign with a coffin on it. I haven’t yet spoken to him of my needs.

We had several consecutive days of cold, rainy weather last week. I know what you’re thinking: cold + rainy = Africa? It’s true. It happens. Today was gloriously sunny, and the mountains are starting to look green and beautiful. I’m sure in the heat of summer I’ll long for a nice cold rain.

I’ve started running by myself when my host brother’s not available. So far, everyone has left me alone. I say hello to people who walk by, and no one’s given me any trouble. I think it bodes well for the future. Also, major props (do people still say “props”?) to my parents for sending the rubber workout bands. I loooooove them.

Thanks for all the wonderful mail and packages, friends, while we’re on the subject. Jack’s mom sent this excellent mug with his and my photo on it and delightful snacks (gone within a week, I’m embarrassed to admit), along with a great NYT crossword book. Jack sent art supplies, envelopes and my favorite gum. Nice work, people. Thank you!

Xes and O’s from the SWZ.

Salani kahle!

Update!

Sanibonani, all!

I've been at my permanent site for two weeks. So far, I've spent several days at the clinic and have visited the nearby World Vision office. At the clinic, I help by weighing and registering HIV-positive patients and counting their antiretroviral pills. This is part of checking to see whether they're complying with their treatment regime. The clinic is busy, and I encounter more than 60 patients the days I'm there. It's a short walk from my house, maybe half an hour.

I bought a bed and a fridge for my hut, and that's all the furniture I have for now. My friend Walker helped me build a hanging armoire. It consists of a long stick on top to hang clothes and then five wood shelves that hang below, also for clothes. I walked an hour and a half to Walker's to make it, and it would have been a rough walk back (in the rain, no less) if I hadn't been able to grab transportation.

I'll post photos when I have wi-fi; right now I'm on a public computer in an Internet cafe.

My counterpart has been just fantastic. I love her. She has taken me to a wedding, at which I attempted to dance (hilarity ensued), and to a party. I helped cook at the party. The women arrived at 4 a.m. to start working. We got there at 7:30 or so. They cooked in iron three-legged pots over an open fire. I helped with the chicken stew and by chopping veggies. Everyone has been extremely friendly, though getting so much attention can be overwhelming. I'm sure the community will get used to me before long.

I went out with my host dad to find his cows on Saturday. He checks every day to make sure none are stolen, sick or otherwise missing. It was a bit like going out to check cows with Uncle Frank in Indiana. In this case, though, the cows are roaming around without electric fences or anything like that. Free range, man. The SWZ is all about it.

Speaking of, a goat almost walked into my hut the other day. That would have been interesting.

It's been raining for three days, which is excellent for the animals, the crops and our water tanks. There isn't even anywhere to put the water anymore; all the containers are full. This is not a bad problem to have. I have filled both my 100-liter barrels and my two 25-liter jugs. I told my family about conflict over harvesting rainwater in Colorado because someone already has laid claim to the water. They couldn't believe it.

My 17-year-old host brother has done me the courtesy of jogging with me every few days. I really, really appreciate it. I'm not sure if people would yell at me or disrupt me if he weren't there. Perhaps I'll find out the first time he can't come along. Not a lot of people go by the field where I run, so I doubt it will ever be too crazy. I'm just grateful to be able to run for now. A lot of PCVs find it uncomfortable.

I haven't found a language tutor yet, but I haven't been looking that hard. School's on break right now, and that seems like a promising place to start. I'm sure I'll get one locked down.

I have tried goat again, and I liked it much better the second time than the first. My family gave me some, and I added it to vegetable soup I'd made. Pretty tasty.

On the whole, I'm happy and things are going well. Jack plans to head this way in November, which is VERY exciting. Please tell him happy 30th on Sept. 24 and give him a hug for me if you see him (any and all of you).

Thanks for all the love. I haven't picked up mail lately, but I know I have some letters and packages waiting. Thank you! It makes things so much more awesome to get missives from home.

Salani kahle.

Photos!

Hi, all! We're back at our training site for a few days before swearing in, which is Thursday. I'll be one of the speakers that day, so I'm sure I'll say something AMAZING.

It was really sad to leave our temporary host families. They gave me a lovely lihiya (wrap) that I'll wear for our ceremony this week. I will definitely try to provide photos.

Below are photos from the village we just left. Two are the view from my homestead on the hill on foggy mornings. I have more photos that show more of the village, and I'll try to upload some of those soon. The crocs are from the game park we went to several weeks ago. They were enormous.There were signs at the restaurant reminding people to avoid leaning over the railing because of the danger. Crazy. The photo with the mountain and the moon is of our village. There were mountains on the back side of it, and some of us climbed them. I did not climb the one shown, but some more hard core than me did. The last photo is me, my host make (mother), host bosisi (sisters) and host cousin. Nephew? Something along those lines.

We had our last language test, and I should get results for that today. I think it went OK, though I didn't know what to do when the tester lied to me. He told me he was born in 1995. I stared at him. I should have called him a liar, which is "unemanga," I believe. Whoops.

I move to my village on Friday. It's really nice to have a few days together as a group first, and we're having a good time. We have integration for three months starting Friday. That means we're only allowed to leave our village overnight once a month, and we're really expected to be there just about all the time. That's fine, it just means a LOT of alone time. We'll see how that one goes.

Thanks to everyone who has sent more packages and letters! Rae, I received yours, and I got packages from Debi and Larry and from Brie and Jay. Can't remember if I mentioned those here. Mama T sent me some clippings from the Post-Dispatch, which is excellent, and I've gotten a couple of letters from Jack. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You guys make me feel loved. That is a great feeling.

You can still use the same address if you'd like to send a letter; that one will be good for the next two years.

It's exciting to almost be a Peace Corps volunteer!

Salani kahle, all.

Written Aug. 10

Sanibonani!

I know, I know, I haven’t updated in forever. I’d like to update more often, of course, but I don’t have regular Internet access. It’ll be easier for me to keep you apprised of what’s going on when I finish training in two weeks. At that point I’ll be on my own and can come and go as I please (mostly). That will mean more opportunities to hit up the Internet cafes. I’ll also plan to post photos at that point; I know many of you would like to see what I’m looking at here.

I got my site placement. I’m not allowed to give details publicly on the interwebs, but I can tell you that I’m in the Manzini region. The country has four regions: Manzini, Hhohho, Lubombo and Shiselweni. Manzini is central, so I’ll be fairly close to the big cities. I’ll be working with a huge clinic, which I’m really excited about. They offer inpatient services and have a public health arm. Very exciting! Email me directly if you want to know the specifics. Props to Peace Corps for giving me everything I asked for. I definitely appreciate their consideration.

I met my permanent host family, too. Everyone is very nice and speaks at least some English. My babe (father) tells me Jack owes him 17 cows for my hand. I think the figure is low, personally, but I suppose I should take Jack’s lack of access to cows into consideration. He’s getting a bargain wife, I can tell you. I’ll have brothers and sisters on the homestead, and a host mother as well. I have my own hut with electricity. I know what you’re thinking: not exactly roughing it. I won’t have access to water on the homestead, though, so I’ll have to figure out how to get it from the river. My counterpart is having her father negotiate with a local man who might be able to transport it for me. That’s the ideal situation — assuming the cost isn’t too high. I don’t yet know what the going rate is.

The counterpart I’m working with is passionate about community health. She seems like she’ll be an excellent partner.

We are scheduled to be sworn in Aug. 23 and move to site the next day. Training is still going well. I’m not making as much progress on learning siSwati as I’d like to, but I hope to continue my learning once I hit community. The patients at the health center seem to speak mainly siSwati. That should help a great deal. We’ll see how I go.

Y’all have done an amazing job of sending letters and packages! Jack sent me an MU snuggie, which is VERY exciting. I was pleasantly surprised that he bought such a thing. I also got my first coffee shipment, some Starbucks from Lindsey. That was killer. The sweatshirts from my parents arrived, and I’ve gotten letters from Jor, Uncle Dick and Aunt Kathy, Susannah (x2), Meggie, Sara and Jack. I think that’s it. Thank you all! It really does mean a lot to me, and I hope you’re able to keep up the wonderful correspondence. I’ll have three months of integration where I can’t really leave my site, so all notes will be very much appreciated. Rest assured they’ll be decorating my hut, as will any postcards or images you send. And Lindsey sent a newspaper, which was awesome. All newspapers and crosswords are welcome!

I’m going to miss my temporary host family when I leave. They’ve been so wonderful and accommodating; it’s really been a pleasure.

Word on the street is that Mama and Papa T are considering a visit. Those of you around them should pressure — ahem, encourage — them to act on that impulse. When else will they have a free tour guide in southern Africa? Peer pressure, folks. It’s very in right now.

Today’s siSwati lesson:

Inyoka (k sounds like g, remember) = snake

Tinyoka = snakes

Invubu = hippo

Ingwenya = crocodile, to be found during summer in the river near my village

Ngifuna ube umfati wami = I want you to be my wife (taught to me by my new babe; he said men in the village would tease me by saying it to me)

Ngitsembisile ngitawushada masinyane = I’m engaged to be married soon

Ngijabulile kukwati = I’m happy to meet/know you

Thanks again, everyone.

Living the dream

Sanibonani!

We had our first language test the other day, and I think it went OK. I’m not an expert, but I’ll probably be at the level I’m supposed to be by the time we finish pre-service training. We have to test Intermediate Low, which means essentially that we can get our point across in siSwati when dealing with a “sympathetic listener.” Here’s hoping most of my listeners are sympathetic over the next two years.

It’s been a lot warmer, and I don’t even have to wear socks at night. Pretty exciting!

Also on Sunday, some PC friends and I got together for breakfast. We (well, my friend Walker) made pancakes of flour, sorghum meal and oats. They also included cinnamon, sugar, apples and bananas. He made syrup of oil, water, brown sugar and orange zest. My standards might be lower after more than three weeks here, but the pancakes were to die for. I mean, these were extremely legit pancakes. Soooooo good. The breakfast party included my new friend Tim, who is a fellow St. Louisan. We’ve had the pleasure of talking some Missouri/StL stuff, which is definitely nice.

We learned health words the other day. HIV is ligciwane lembulalave. In siSwati, C’s are a click made by pressing the tongue against the back of the top teeth and releasing air (almost a “tsk” sound).

Ligciwane lembulalave translates to “the virus that is killing our country.”

We had a visit from staff members from three clinics in Swaziland that are operated by Baylor. We talked more about HIV and what’s driving the epidemic. The women who spoke to us said to slow the rate of new infections, men in Swaziland will have to change their attitudes. This is partly because women often don’t have the power to insist upon condom use. In Swaziland, women are more often aware of their HIV status because they are tested at prenatal clinics and are provided with treatment to avoid transmission to the baby. It’s complicated, though, because then some men believe the woman brought HIV into the relationship. Although this is sometimes the case, it can lead to negative domestic consequences. The situation is complex. I’m by no means an expert, but I look forward to learning more.

We also watched a South African movie called “Yesterday.” I highly recommend it to all of you. It’s about HIV, and the story is simple but powerful.

We’re scheduled to learn our placements on Friday. I’m excited to find out where I’m heading, though I won’t be able to give out my exact location on the blog (PC asks us not to do that). Regardless, I’ll be able to tell you the region of the country. I’ll be able to receive mail at the address I provided earlier for the duration of my service, so please send any notes that way until you hear otherwise.

I’ll also get my cell phone this week. It’s cheaper for people to call me than it is to call out, but calls to and from the U.S. are still pretty expensive. I do plan to get one with Internet capabilities, so y’all will be hearing from me more frequently (I hope).

I’m on my sixth book of service, having entered one of the classics anthologies on my Nook. I’m finally reading some E.M. Foerster. Having read some Arthur Conan Doyle and Edith Wharton, I’m starting to tire of the prim writing style. I wish I had some Hunter S. Thompson floating around, but I can’t remember if I brought any in my other bag. I also wish I had some works by African authors to nose through; I don’t think I brought any (for shame!). On the whole, though, I’m very happy with the lifestyle and all the reading I get to do. Getting up at 5 a.m. and going to bed at 8 p.m. suits me here.

Sala kahle!

Notes

* I've gotten a request to talk a bit more about the men's role in Swaziland. Honestly, I don't encounter a whole lot of men. The father on my homestead is a farmer, and he's very busy. I see him occasionally. There are some brothers-in-law on the homestead as well, but I haven't officially met them. Everyone seems very nice. Some of my friends have gotten marriage proposals. This is pretty common. A neighbor also is trying to marry me to another volunteer. (Don't worry, JMW. I politely declined.) Marriage is definitely a crucial union between families, and it's important financially as well. More on this in time.

* I got more mail! Thank you so much to Anne, Jor, Sara and Meggie. You guys are the best. Please keep it coming if you have the time and inclination. The letters will always make me happy. Postcards are good too, and I'll be able to decorate my hut with them.

* We get cell phones next week, which will make Internet access a bit easier. Please be patient with me in the meantime. Also, please feel free to let me know when major news breaks (saw the horrible stuff about the shootings in Colorado). Please also keep me apprised of your news as you see fit. I want to stay plugged in!

* If you want to send me ground coffee, feel free. =) I can get it here, but I definitely am open to something tasty from the U.S.

* I have Sunday off this week, and I'm hoping to make it to church with my family. I haven't gone yet. They attend an apostolic church in the village.

* My language test is Monday. Think good thoughts!