When people visit me, I like to show them more of South Africa than the tourist sites. So I made sure to take my family to the Nkomazi area to see “real” South African life.
Our first stop was the best eating house ever:
Bonus graffiti:
We also stopped in to visit a few PCVs. Check out the used booze collection of this mystery PCV (it’s not the one pictured):
In September (yeah, I’m a little behind on the blogging…), I had another set of visitors–my great aunt Louise, my uncle Joe and his wife Laurie, and their 8 year old daughter Mia. Much fun was had by all.
Their primary reason for being on the continent was to visit Joe’s Kenyan host family from his time in Nairobi back in 1980 (more on that in a few weeks), but they swung through SA to see Cape Town, Soweto, and their favorite Peace Corps Volunteer.
They stayed with me where I live, which was super awesome of them. But we still made sure to enjoy to many things to see and do here. And at the top of that list, as always, is Kruger National Park.
BUT…
It’s funny visiting Kruger now. Half of the animals are found in my backyard:
I hate monkeys now, I really do. They’re like racoons. Sure, they’re cute. But they’re pests and they’ll totally mess you up despite how adorable they are. The monkeys are always going through trash around where I stay, which would be bad enough. But they also steal food right out of people’s hands, cause people to cut down fruit trees to keep monkeys away, and one day even came into my office (while I was there) and fearlessly stole my lunch. They aren’t cute anymore–they’re a herpes vector. For real.
There were a few pictures posted right when the puppies were born, but here are some more…
Joy the dog had 8 puppies. Here they are as newborns, crowded under mom:
I had never seen puppies so young. Their ears and eyes were shut when they were born:
But after awhile, they got cuter:
Two of my teaching colleagues slaughtered a cow for their sister’s wedding.
NOTE, ONLY PROCEED IF YOU WANT TO SEE BRUTAL DEAD COW PICTURES. I’M TALKING TO YOU, AMERICANS AND VEGETARIANS. Nobody in South Africa blinks at the site of a dead, vivisected cow. It’s food! Yum!
The funerals just don’t stop, sadly.
From the cemetery, you can see a distant group of government houses:
The burial begins
We already spent 2 hours in church before coming to the cemetery in procession.
There’s a lot of dirt to move:
I don’t understand:
Less than two months to go before I possibly die trying to run 56k. I’m going to run some sort of race to raise money for the KLM foundation, which sends promising rural South African students to private school. I’m still well short of the goal of $5600. So looks like I’ll be running a mere 13.1k. Weak.
I know some of you hate me, now’s your chance to take me out and not have to worry about legal repercussions. I’m looking for that big, fat $5600 check. That’s half what a hitman would cost, and you can’t be found guilty of conspiracy. The only thing you’ll be guilty of is helping to make the world a better place.
The KLM Foundation was started by some former Peace Corps Volunteers with the goal of educating the future leaders of South Africa. From the KLM foundation website:
Kgwale le Mollo (KLM) Foundation gives educational scholarships to girls and boys from economically disadvantaged, rural communities of the Mpumalanga province to attend secondary school at one of South Africa’s leading institutions. The programme emphasizes scholarship and service and as a result, award recipients are talented, motivated young people who wish to better themselves and their country. We recruit young people who want to change their world.
In collaboration with Uplands College, the KLM Foundation offers tuition and maintenance scholarships to young South African students entering secondary school. Each year, one recipient scholar is selected to enroll in the 8th grade at Uplands College. Tuition, room, board, academic fees, travel expenses, tutoring and a modest allowance are provided to the recipient scholar for five years.
KLM Foundation identifies and nurtures young South Africans with the potential to lead their country into the future. Despite the barriers of poverty and economic deprivation, South Africa’s rural communities possess the talent, innovation and vision that brought about the democratic transformation of the country a decade ago. Now, more than ever, young South Africans of talent and promise need the education to carry forward that legacy.
Donating is easy:
1) Go to the KLM Foundation Website and click the Donate button in the top right corner. (Or just follow this direct link)
2) Fill out the form. You can donate (much) less than $100 if you want. Even a few bucks is awesome.
3) In the Longtom Marathon box (“If you are making this donation in support of a participant in the Longtom Marathon, please indicate the runner’s name”) put my name, Michael “Shin Splint Mothership” Sherman .
4) Revel in your support of a future South African leader and government-funded physical therapy.
You can also donate by check. Ask me for help or read the instructions on the Donate page.
Please let me know if you have problems or questions, or have a peek at the KLM website.
Thank you all for your consideration.
After National Science Week, I made a quick jaunt up to Limpopo to visit my buddy Mike. His site is extremely rural.
This was my welcome dinner:
Mike’s life is a little strange, as he has 2 sites. The first is accessible by taxi from a major city. The second, however, requires an adventure…
Clearly, we’re up for an adventure.
There’s a bus, but it only runs on certain days (and only leaves the village in the morning and returns at night). So we had to slog:
I sit at home, dealing with a re-occurrence of a totally sweet rash I got last year. Thus, I have time to ponder.
At some point in the last few months, life in the Peace Corps became normal. I think it was during the “festive season”, which is basically a 3 week party in South Africa leading up to New Years. Previously, I hadn’t really gone out much at my site, but in the festive season drinking and partying is pretty much all anyone does (many places of business close for a week, even two). I didn’t do anything too crazy, just spent time with people I like and had a few drinks. It was satisfyingly normal.
Drinking and partying were the final frontier. Many things that I enjoyed doing in the States I’m unable to do here. But many things I enjoyed doing in the States are available here. Social drinking was the last available also-in-America pastime that I hadn’t taken up. I’m not talking about getting hammered, just having a few drinks and spending some time with friends.
There’s always been something about drinking here in Peace Corps South Africa (or as we call drinking in South Africa, taking alcohol). During our first few months in South Africa (training) we were repeatedly warned to not drink publicly, as it can cause embarrassment. Not to mention the additional risk you create for yourself. I had my days of drinking prior to the festive season, but they were always big affairs involving planning, the company of multiple trusted persons, and paranoia about being seen by people from school or church, even while I would run into respected members of the community far drunker than I ever got publicly.
Alcohol consumption was not the only thing I adjusted to. When I first arrived here, everything was completely insane. People said the craziest stuff, monkeys raided the trash, cars gave you no room, darkness was the most terrifying thing ever, every other woman I met hit on me, and everybody asked me for money all the time. None of these things faze me at all anymore. They’re part of my day, as normal as a morning cup of coffee would be back in the States.
I think it’s a combination of apathy, comfort, savviness about the culture, and familiarity with my home, but drinking and partying here now are just like drinking and partying in the States. And drinking and partying were the final frontier. It’s somewhat ironic that as Peace Corps Volunteers adjusting to our new cultures, we first become comfortable with the most exotic things–eating crazy foods, traditional dance, religious ceremonies, perpetual funerals. Something about total unfamiliarity makes things easier to adjust to. It’s the social rituals that most resemble things we do at home–family time, raising children, dating, partying, workplace politics, even simply hanging out that have been the most difficult for me to adjust to.
On one hand it’s fantastic that my totally not-in-Kansas-anymore life is no longer a drain on my mental energy. On the other hand, being in the Peace Corps has become…boring. I now find myself living a life that’s perfectly decent with an interesting job that pays terribly. Yes, Peace Corps is now a job. It’s a pretty cool job, but no longer nearly cool enough to justify making shy of $300 a month (which is high by Peace Corps standards; middle income country!). So I find myself with 8 months of service left, somewhat eager to get back home, get a job, and resume a “real life”. Whatever that means. (Although, I’m also dreading saying goodbye to this place and all the amazing people here…that’s going to not be fun).
I think these sorts of feelings are relatively common for Peace Corps volunteers with just a few months left. But that does not make these feelings any more surprising to have. Peace Corps life becoming normal is probably the strangest thing that’s happened to me here.
Previous Science Week Posts: Opening Ceremony, Our First National Science Week School Visits, 1500 High School Students, Science Demonstrations at a Shopping Center, Surrounded by Students During a Science Week Visit, National Science Week at my School
On Friday of National Science Week, we returned to the Educational Development Center to do a final day of programming with some visiting students. Check out the info spread:
We started with my sweet presentation about corn meal and aliens:
The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government, the United States Peace Corps, or any organizations I am associated with.
I am currently a Peace Corps volunteer serving in South Africa through September, 2012. I am a member of the Schools and Communities Resource project. I volunteer at a local Secondary School, a nearby Educational Development Center (teacher support and training center), as well as in my community. I live in a large township (all black town) in Mpumalanga Province. I like unicorns and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
