Thursday, June 30, 2011

Winding Down and Gearing Up

June 28, 2011
Morning from Sekameng. I won’t say good morning because this is the most miserable cold I think I have ever experienced, possibly in my life. I know it sounds like I just like to complain (and to some extent, I’m sure I do), but it is legitimately cold. I wake up in the morning and my house is 45 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s cold, folks.
As my mom found out, I don’t generally heat water unless it’s to drink or bathe in, so each time I wash dishes, my hands freeze. I basically have an endless mug of coffee or tea or plain hot water with me wherever I go. Enough about the cold.
It’s hard for me to believe that only a week has gone by since my mom and I went our separate ways in Cape Town. I flew back to Bloemfontein and actually (surprisingly!) made it all the way home to Sekameng in one day. She had a longer journey back to the States but is now safely home and hopefully readjusted to Central Standard Time.
After I got back, I stayed home barely long enough to do laundry before taking off on another mini-trip. Some friends and I did our own version of “Christmas in July” even though it was June. We figured it was more like “Christmas and a Half” since in exactly 6 months, it would have been Christmas Eve and Day. We planned a feast (and shopped accordingly), lugging all sorts of food items up to one of the more remote places in Lesotho. On Friday, as we were in town gathering supplies, there was snow in the air. I’ve only seen snow here one other time and I just remember it being miserably cold. I had no clue what we were in for…
We made it to this friend’s house early afternoon and it was just as cold (if not colder) at his place. At least every PCV is given a heater for the duration of their service. He had no gas for said heater, but at least the shop wasn’t too far. We decided to go the next morning (“Christmas” morning) to try to get a refill so we wouldn’t freeze too solid the next day. Unfortunately, part of the joy of being at such a remote site is that there really is not much there. None of the shops (near or far) had any gas refills. So we stuck it out (not like we had much choice, ha), crowding in the kitchen, sipping tea and cooking delicious things for later.
After everyone was awake (I woke up to a fistful of snow in my face and then ran outside only to find that there was not much on the ground), we did our own little Yankee Swap gift exchange. The rule was that the gifts had to come from our houses (we’re all sort of poor and have big vacations coming up). I contributed some instant Starbucks coffee packets, clay and a Clif Bar (highly valued, given my next big vacation). Other gifts included a t-shirt, a Lego version of Dumbledore (my winning), a book and DVD that actually belonged to someone else there (shockingly enough, he ended up with that gift), stickers and pencils, and coupons for a various assortment of prizes. We had a fold-out tree complete with small wooden decorations, and a lovely garland (thanks to my father) to decorate the house – it almost felt like real Christmas.
Around noon, some of us went for a run. It was absolutely gorgeous, across the river and along some really neat rock formations that conveniently shielded us from the wind. I’d heard a lot about the various running routes my friend had (especially training for the Ultra-Marathon in Cape Town) so it was great to see his part of the country. An added bonus was that we all warmed up considerably – I think I may have even sweat a little!
We all left on Sunday and after waiting over an hour for the taxi, finally piled on to one of the longest taxi rides of my life. The road (for all but maybe 20 minutes of the ride) was dirt and rock, quite bumpy. We crossed a river at several points in the journey and were lucky because it was low – had the river been much higher, I’m fairly certain we would have all had to get out and walk across (and pray the taxi made it).
Several stops after we got on (just before the taxi was full way past capacity), a very drunk (and still drinking) man got on and sat next to Eric, who was sitting next to me. This man was loud and obnoxious, constantly talking and gesticulating wildly. Eric was a champ for dealing with him and even managed to poke fun at him for a while (telling him we were going to Lesotho but we didn’t know where it was, etc) before we realized this guy was not going to tire. Eventually, he did. Miracle of miracles, he passed out and sort of collapsed into his own little area (rather than expanding onto his neighbors as some do). Relief! After more than 2 hours, we reached town and let me tell you, KFC has never tasted so good.

Now I have just over a week before I head to Maseru to finalize some things for the Diversity Committee, then Adam and I fly to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro on the 8th. We’re both pretty excited, obviously for the climb, but also to just spend some time in airports: people-watching and restaurant-hopping (Mugg & Bean has delicious bottomless coffee and the best muffins you’ve ever tasted… I think we’ll spend a few hours and cups of coffee there before our flight). It’ll also be nice to be near the equator (WARMTH!), if only for the first couple days of our climb.
I’ll do my best to post again before Kili, but if not, you can definitely expect an update after we return. I hope all is well at home, I’m excited to be there in 6 months!
Love from Africa,
-Katie

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Mom! In Africa!

Winter vacation is here!
My students completed all their exams (successfully, I believe) and have begun helping their family to harvest their crops: maize, sorghum, beans, etc. The external classes (Forms C and E) are still coming to school for winter classes. Luckily these start an hour later than school did and only go until about 1pm.
When I wrote last, I was in Maseru working on some things for Peace Corps but mostly just waiting for my mom to arrive. On Wednesday morning, I got up early, took a hot shower (!!!) and made it to the border fairly early. I met Kimiko there (she was coming with us on safari) and we found the taxi to Bloemfontein, where we’d rent the car to drive to Joburg airport and pick up Mom. The weather was pretty bad, cold and rainy with no sunshine in sight. We found our taxi and were the second and third people in a taxi that was supposed to hold 22 people. When planning, I’d built in extra time in case we had to wait for a taxi to fill or couldn’t quite get to the border early enough. When we got to the taxi before 9 and it still hadn’t filled at 11, I started getting nervous. Finally we had enough people to fill a small taxi (only 15 people needed) and we took off towards Bloemfontein just before noon. I managed to calm down, but then, naturally, we hit road construction.
Mom’s flight landed around 4:30pm and we were stuck on the road to Bloem when we were supposed to be driving to the airport. After three more delays thanks to construction, we were finally cruising. And then the kicker. After all the rain, the final stretch of road had been flooded so badly we couldn’t pass. We had to pay more money, turn around and take a long detour. This not only meant we were going to be lateR to pick up our car, but in addition, now we wouldn’t be passing the junction airport, so we’d have to take an extra (expensive) taxi to the airport.
Approximately 3:30pm we finally left the car rental place in Bloemfontein to head to Johannesburg. I was absolutely livid. We had had these grand plans of going to the Joburg airport and drinking bottomless coffee and eating delicious muffins all day long while waiting for my mom’s flight. When she arrived, we’d happily run into each others arms, smiling and crying… Instead, she was the one who had to wait in the airport for us.
We made it to Joburg several hours after she arrived and picked her up (there were indeed tears) and made our way to the place we’d be staying that night.

The next day we left for Kruger National Park to go on safari. We had quite a drive, but once we got past Nelspruit, it was beautiful. The plan was to stay in the park for three nights at two different camps, and during the days drive around the park to see as many animals as we could.
That day, we barely arrived at the gate in time. The man admitting us told us we had to go as fast as the speed limit would allow us or we might not make it into the camp. We were not to stop for any animal because otherwise we might be locked out, stuck in the park after dark. (Actually, I’m not really sure what would have happened to us if we didn’t make it into our camp, but we didn’t really want to find out.) So we drove… but within the first five minutes of being in the park, we had to stop because there were so many cars blocking the road, all looking at lions. No big deal, LIONS were the first animals we saw upon entering the park. We could only look for a short while before continuing on. Next, we saw rhinos off on the left, and after a little while more, we had to stop. There was an enormous elephant right in the road. It walked around eating for a while before we could pass it but eventually, we did make it past and made it to the camp in time.
The next two days we left our camp early to go out and see as many animals as we could. The list of animals we saw includes: lions, elephants, rhinos, buffalo, kudu, impala, waterbuck, crocodiles, hippos, hyenas, giraffes, zebras, vultures, monkeys and probably several more that I’ve forgotten about. After two and a half days total of driving around, my legs were stiff from lack of exercise but my camera was full and I definitely had a new appreciation for all of Africa’s animals. Safari was incredible.
After safari, we headed back to Bloem to return the car and as an intermediate stop before reaching Lesotho, the second stop on our voyage. We had lovely accommodation there and enjoyed muffins and bottomless coffee before returning to Lesotho. That day, as my mother is proud to report, we took 6 taxis in order to get back to my stop, and then had to walk 45 minutes to get home. We didn’t reach my stop until dark but several students came to pick us up and help carry luggage in to Sekameng.
Over the next few days, Mom learned what it was like to live in Sekameng. When we arrived, there was no running water, so we had to wait and hope and pray that it’d be there the next day. We cooked by candlelight and went to sleep fairly early after a busy and exhausting day.
Tuesday and Wednesday we walked around my village. She met the other teachers at my school and many of my students. We did laundry in cold water, baked bread and ate chaka-laka, motoho and papa. I think she really enjoyed it; I know I loved showing her the life I've made here.
On Thursday, we climbed the nearby mountain, Kolo. It was an all-day affair. We left around 8am and made it back to my house just before 3pm. We had to walk there, then go up, come down and walk back… by the end of the day, I think we all had blisters on our feet and our legs were definitely sore.
That night we went to stay with my Kenyan friends so Mom could meet them too, and the next day was a trip (back again) to Bloemfontein to fly to Cape Town, where we are now. I still love this place. So far, we’ve seen penguins at Boulders, climbed (the back of and hiked around) Table Mountain, shopped for gifts, eaten at Eastern Food Bazaar (honestly one of my favorite restaurants), and gotten lost driving around the city plenty of times. It’s great to be back here.
Today, we were supposed to tour Robben Island, but unfortunately the weather has not been cooperative. It has rained off and on and is just generally cold and windy. Instead, I think we’ll head over to the waterfront and shop more.
Tomorrow, we have a wine tour scheduled. We’ll visit several vineyards and taste wines, cheeses and chocolates. Tuesday is the day we split; she’ll go back to Joburg to fly home and I’ll go back to Lesotho.
It has been a whirlwind two weeks with three great mini-vacations. It’ll be sad to see Mom go but I know the rest of the family at home misses her a ton. She’ll go home with lots of good pictures and memories and it’ll be really nice for me to be able to talk with her about Lesotho and South Africa once I get home.
Time to get ready for another day – hot showers are so great!
Love from Africa,
-Katie (&mom)

Saturday, June 4, 2011

World on Fire

School is almost out and winter is definitely here.
My house is consistently 45 degrees at night and in addition to sleeping in long pants, wool socks, several layers on top plus gloves and a hat, I have 4 very warm blankets on my bed at all times. It. Is. Cold. Last winter was never this bad (or my memory has just faded with the heat of summer). I've used my heater. Multiple times. I admit it. Last year I hesitated (we were having a contest to see who could last the longest without using their heater and in my mind, I won) but this year I've come around. Plus, the previous volunteer left me several partially full tanks of gas. Plus, it's just not worth it. Cold is miserable. Everyone turns into monsters and my students hate it even more. Imagine sitting in a freezing cold classroom with no heat and broken windows. It's basically sitting outside (in the shade)... you wouldn't like it either.
Enough complaining about the cold. We have one more week of exams at school... I cannot believe the first semester is already almost finished! I actually finished my exams (and grading and reporting!) yesterday because my MOM IS COMING ON WEDNESDAY!!! We have quite the vacation planned: safaris, my school, climbing some mountains, and then we'll end our time together in Cape Town (probably my new favorite place). I am so thrilled to be able to share my new life here with someone from home. I put plenty of blankets on her bed too, and will graciously share my heater :)
As always, I have many stories from the past month to share and I'll do my best with the time I still have in town before Vodacom closes for the day. First and most recent...
The other week I made a batch of chili. I started with dry beans, cooked them, let them soak, added spices, cooked them some more (dry beans take FOREVER to cook), and worked on the other ingredients too. I was so excited. I'd inherited chili powder and cumin from other volunteers when they left so I had the fixins for a really delicious pot of chili. It turned out really well. Not so spicy that I couldn't taste everything, but it packed enough heat to warm me up. I've also almost perfected bread-making, so I had some tasty bread to go with my chili. The first batch was so good that when it was finished, I decided to make another batch. Now, I decided this late in the evening. Ok, it was actually only about 6:30 but I usually crawl into bed to read or watch a movie on my iPod around 7. It was getting late. I put the beans on to boil and got ready for bed. I crawled into bed and watched a movie, blew out my lamp, rolled over and went to sleep.
The next morning I woke up to one of the most foul smells I have ever encountered. I had left my burner on. All night. The beans had hydrated, cooked, and completely dehydrated to tiny little shriveled black nuggets of burn. To make matters worse, I had unplugged my carbon monoxide detector because it goes off whenever I bake bread or have my heater on, both of which I had done. Before you scold me, please understand I completely realize all the dangers of this. I could have burned my house down. I could have suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. I could have... and the list goes on. I am alive and completely fine (I sleep with my bedroom door closed which helped a lot), though my house still smells terribly of burned beans. This was on Tuesday night. It is now Saturday and my house STILL gives off the odor of burn. My students tell me I smell like tobacco. Gross. Lesson learned. I will not cook dry beans overnight ever again.

In better news, the alternator for the school's main generator has been fixed. I finally got all the money from Hilbert Middle and High Schools and my principal will go and pick it up hopefully sometime this week! One more step on the long way to electricity! Thanks again, Hilbert - we could not have done it without you!

Last week we decided to take the students out to the dirt road from the main road to my village and do some road work. They had shovels, pick axes, wheelbarrows and a lot of patience. We split the students by class, so my group, the Form B students, were second farthest from school. In all modesty, I worked harder than most of my students, but it was great fun. We picked up rocks and put them into the big crevices in the road to try to even it out. Some of the boys would go and chop up termite mounds and bring big chunks of them to smash into the smaller cracks that wouldn't hold rocks. We had it down to a system.
It was interesting though, trying to explain to students why exactly we were out doing work on the road. "It's just the right thing to do" didn't quite cut it, so I took a different approach. I asked them where they ate lunch each day and how they thought the food magically appeared in the kitchen. That seemed to work a bit better... Ultimately, I'm not sure if they really understood the significance or the reason we were out there, but I was so proud of all the students. Plus it gave me an excuse to throw some big rocks around and impress them with how strong I am. Ha.

As I was walking out of my village this morning (before I got a lift - all the way to town!), I walked past some funeral tents. Apparently the former chief of a neighboring village passed away. Men were out working on the tent and manly things while the women were bustling around making preparations involving food and hospitality things. At that same moment, Sarah McLachlan's song "World on Fire" shuffled onto my iPod. If you haven't heard the song, give it a listen. Actually, even better, go to youtube and look up the music video. Homework for the weekend - ponder that song.
I've been reading a book called "Dead Aid" ... about how aid in Africa is not only not helping, but actually hindering African development. It's an interesting concept - check it out if you get a chance. It's really an interesting combination. The song and the book... it really struck me this morning.

The rest of the weekend will hopefully be relaxing. I have some laundry to do before Mom comes, but depending on the water situation I may have to postpone that. Too bad. A teacher friend and I are planning on baking apple pie tomorrow, even though I have never in my life successfully made a pie crust. I can make graham cracker crusts like it's my job, but pie crust will be interesting. (Brian - I'll let you know how it goes!) I am, thankfully, an apple expert, so that part is well taken care of.

Well, my computer is about charged and actually my fingers are getting a little chilly. Hope all is well at home in the great US of A. Enjoy the summer (and being done with school)... congrats to the graduates (my brother and several friends :) !!)
Love from Africa,
Katie