"perhaps as you went along you did learn something. i did not care what it was all about. all i wanted to know what how to live in it. maybe if you found out how to live in it you learned from that what it was all about." -hemingway
a friend sent me this quote and i find it very fitting. i still am no closer to figuring out what i am supposed to do here in middle of nowhere south africa, but i still learn things everyday. it may not be the right things or the most important things, but i learn nonetheless, and from the same same that is my life now, i am growing. i am trying to live in it.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
so where do you work?
want to know how to make yourself look like an asshole?
get on morning taxi to work, like usual, with coffee and book to read. wait for taxi to fill up and have someone sit next to you. wait for person to ask you random questions about how you live in a village, etc., etc. in attempt to try and make conversation with random person, ask where in town they work. then have the person tell you that they work at THE SAME PLACE AS YOU. now you are an asshole.
that's right folks. i did this just the other day on my way to work. the woman, whose name i still do not know, was someone new and i don't think she is permanent staff, but she works at world vision all the same. she just looked at me and asked, "didn't you see me at work yesterday?" then she proceeded to name people who i work with, in case i thought she was making it up. i didn't know what to say. i couldn't bring myself to ask her anymore questions, in case i was already supposed to know the answer (hence the reason i still don't know her name!) anyways, that was a great start to the day.
in further life news, today is saturday and i am at the office. tomorrow i will also be at the office. this is a lot of overtime, seeing as how i get paid NOTHING. such is life. things are quite hectic here as we are behind in putting data into the computer. there are 5 or 6 of us who are working around the clock. the other night, jamie (sa15 pcv) and i stayed at the office, taking turns working on the computer and sleeping on a mattress on the floor. i don't know if i will be doing that again. i spent the next day exhausted and cranky, and i ended up leaving early. part of me feels like saying screw it to the whole thing but i feel really badly for the women who are working their butts off to get it done, so i will stay and help. it should all be over by wednesday...
in addition to the wonderful data entry, world vision recently received a gift from BIC of pens, pencils, crayons, highlighters, etc. lots and lots and lots of all of these products. i was put in charge of going through all of this stock and organizing it. nothing like hours of manual labor. boy do i love lifting heavy boxes over and over and over again. once i sorted and wrote out all of goods, i then have to divide it into 4 and resort it all. did i mention that i love my life??
... since i returned from the wonderful peace corps training, i have had a series of mishaps occur in my life. i threw my back out like an old woman and was unable to leave my bed for 4 days. those were 4 thrilling days, spent alone with my kitten and my dvds and some pain meds. i dropped my lovely cell phone in a bucket of water (surprised it hasn't happened before now) and it stopped functioning properly. it works again, but i can't let the battery die because if i do, it is almost impossible to recharge it. it also doesn't like to connect anymore with the charging cord, so it takes a bit of blowing and jiggling to get it to work. and yesterday, to top it all off, my water kettle stopped working. no more coffee in the morning or hot bucket baths for me. the piece of shit was only a month or two old, and get this, i think it stopped working because it got wet. doesn't that seem odd.
next weekend i am planning an escape. so are about 12 other peace corps volunteers. we are going to durban for an i need a break from work/i don't have a site/i am leaving in 4 weeks type of get away. i have not yet been to durban ever, so i am quite excited... mostly to see the ocean again. and lets be honest, to party the nights away.
get on morning taxi to work, like usual, with coffee and book to read. wait for taxi to fill up and have someone sit next to you. wait for person to ask you random questions about how you live in a village, etc., etc. in attempt to try and make conversation with random person, ask where in town they work. then have the person tell you that they work at THE SAME PLACE AS YOU. now you are an asshole.
that's right folks. i did this just the other day on my way to work. the woman, whose name i still do not know, was someone new and i don't think she is permanent staff, but she works at world vision all the same. she just looked at me and asked, "didn't you see me at work yesterday?" then she proceeded to name people who i work with, in case i thought she was making it up. i didn't know what to say. i couldn't bring myself to ask her anymore questions, in case i was already supposed to know the answer (hence the reason i still don't know her name!) anyways, that was a great start to the day.
in further life news, today is saturday and i am at the office. tomorrow i will also be at the office. this is a lot of overtime, seeing as how i get paid NOTHING. such is life. things are quite hectic here as we are behind in putting data into the computer. there are 5 or 6 of us who are working around the clock. the other night, jamie (sa15 pcv) and i stayed at the office, taking turns working on the computer and sleeping on a mattress on the floor. i don't know if i will be doing that again. i spent the next day exhausted and cranky, and i ended up leaving early. part of me feels like saying screw it to the whole thing but i feel really badly for the women who are working their butts off to get it done, so i will stay and help. it should all be over by wednesday...
in addition to the wonderful data entry, world vision recently received a gift from BIC of pens, pencils, crayons, highlighters, etc. lots and lots and lots of all of these products. i was put in charge of going through all of this stock and organizing it. nothing like hours of manual labor. boy do i love lifting heavy boxes over and over and over again. once i sorted and wrote out all of goods, i then have to divide it into 4 and resort it all. did i mention that i love my life??
... since i returned from the wonderful peace corps training, i have had a series of mishaps occur in my life. i threw my back out like an old woman and was unable to leave my bed for 4 days. those were 4 thrilling days, spent alone with my kitten and my dvds and some pain meds. i dropped my lovely cell phone in a bucket of water (surprised it hasn't happened before now) and it stopped functioning properly. it works again, but i can't let the battery die because if i do, it is almost impossible to recharge it. it also doesn't like to connect anymore with the charging cord, so it takes a bit of blowing and jiggling to get it to work. and yesterday, to top it all off, my water kettle stopped working. no more coffee in the morning or hot bucket baths for me. the piece of shit was only a month or two old, and get this, i think it stopped working because it got wet. doesn't that seem odd.
next weekend i am planning an escape. so are about 12 other peace corps volunteers. we are going to durban for an i need a break from work/i don't have a site/i am leaving in 4 weeks type of get away. i have not yet been to durban ever, so i am quite excited... mostly to see the ocean again. and lets be honest, to party the nights away.
Friday, June 20, 2008
ten new computers and some time off work
today is friday. today is also the last day i will be in bergville for quite some time. tomorrow i head off to far away provinces and long lost friends. well, not quite. tomorrow i leave for a peace corps training in polokwane. that is right- i am returning to the province where this experience all began. i will also be reunited with the rest of sa17. some people i will be happy to see again, after three long months. others i could do without seeing, well, forever. i am not entirely sure what this training is about and i don't really care. i am just excited for a break from the same same that is my life. i am also excited to have my lockdown end, so that i can start taking weekend trips to explore different parts of sa. and, in all honestly, i am excited to have hot running water (even if it is only a bath) for a few weeks. i will actually smell nice again... i hope.
did you know that i can go about 4 days without bathing and my hair only starts to look gross on the 4th day? that is pretty amazing to me. i have stopped bathing, usually doing it twice a week at most. it is too cold. and it takes too much time to heat the water and pour it in my shower bag (repeat this 4 times) and then struggle through bathing in the middle of my room in a bucket when it is cold and the bucket isn't big enough. then i have to get dressed (quickly to prevent freezing) and mop up all the water on the floor and dump out all the water that i used and so on... the process is annoying and wastes my time, especially when i like to be asleep by 8:30-9. plus the only one who has to smell me is my kitten and he doesn't smell that great either (typical man).
today is friday. today is also the day that the ten slightly used desktop computers are being put in the new computer lab at my work. i am very proud. this is the first task that i have accomplished at my work. granted, it wasn't as hard as it could have been since there isn't a lack of funding at my ngo. but either way, i helped get them here. yay! i have to put passwords on them all and i plan to use animal names on 9 of them. the last one is getting michigan, so that i can represent.
today is friday. today is a good day.
ps- i won't be posting for the next 3-4 weeks. i am sure this will upset you all.
did you know that i can go about 4 days without bathing and my hair only starts to look gross on the 4th day? that is pretty amazing to me. i have stopped bathing, usually doing it twice a week at most. it is too cold. and it takes too much time to heat the water and pour it in my shower bag (repeat this 4 times) and then struggle through bathing in the middle of my room in a bucket when it is cold and the bucket isn't big enough. then i have to get dressed (quickly to prevent freezing) and mop up all the water on the floor and dump out all the water that i used and so on... the process is annoying and wastes my time, especially when i like to be asleep by 8:30-9. plus the only one who has to smell me is my kitten and he doesn't smell that great either (typical man).
today is friday. today is also the day that the ten slightly used desktop computers are being put in the new computer lab at my work. i am very proud. this is the first task that i have accomplished at my work. granted, it wasn't as hard as it could have been since there isn't a lack of funding at my ngo. but either way, i helped get them here. yay! i have to put passwords on them all and i plan to use animal names on 9 of them. the last one is getting michigan, so that i can represent.
today is friday. today is a good day.
ps- i won't be posting for the next 3-4 weeks. i am sure this will upset you all.
Friday, June 13, 2008
exciting news (for me) on the home front
so my bestest peace corps friend therese is moving sites. currently she is living in a town called pietermaritzburg, which is a two and a half hour taxi ride from bergville. all things considered, that isn't too bad but it isn't just the next town over. but soon that will all change. my good friend is moving (as i have already said) to a town called estcourt, conveniently located 45mins away from bergville. my life just got a whole lot better. now i can go visit her on weekdays and still get back to work in time. now we can travel together a whole lot easier. now on boring weekends we can just take turns visiting each others villages. it is going to be great.
... and she has hot water and a bathtub. OH YEAH!
... and she has hot water and a bathtub. OH YEAH!
Monday, June 9, 2008
i went hiking and camping and didn't hate it
that's right folks. i not only went camping (in the winter!) but i also went hiking and i must admit, i didn't hate either one as much as i thought i would. now granted, my two months of living without electricity probably helped open my mind to the camping idea a bit, but i have never liked hiking in my entire life. i do it from time to time cause usually there is something amazing to see at the end of a hike, but i hate the entire time it takes to get to the amazing thing and the entire time it takes to get back. i am too fat to be a happy hiker.
so the two volunteers who live in bergville, kristen and jamie, decided that they wanted to go hiking over the weekend. jamie's boyfriend was coming into town and he had a friend from american visiting, so showing him the drakensberg mountains was important. the group of us headed out to the cathedral peak area after work on friday and set up tents in the campground at the bottom of the mountains. we all sat around cooking dinner, drinking wine, making s'mores and trying to stay warm as the temperature dropped lower and lower. i must admit that sleeping was difficult and that i spent a good 12 hours not being able to feel my toes. however, that is the price one pays.
the next morning we woke up bright and early and packed everything up and headed to the start of the trail. we were doing a hike called rainbow gorge, which follows a river and leads, in the end, to a huge rock that has fallen and wedged itself into the gorge (the amazing sight at the end). the beginning of the hike was very steep and i was out of breath in about 5 mins. i thought i was going to have to tell them all that i was too out-of-shape to do the hike when kristen told me it got better. this is another reason i hate hiking- i am always the fattest or most unhealthy and it makes me feel like shit. everyone i seem to go with is skinny and fit and could probably run the whole hike (like the group i went with this time and the norwegians, to name a few).
anyways, she wasn't lying and it did get better. the hike probably took 5 hours total and involved some climbing on big rocks and a lot of hopping on stones back and forth across the river. i only fell in once and only with one shoe, so i consider it a victory. i must admit, the boulder at the end was beautiful and with the sun and the water coming down, it was well worth the hike there (probably not the hike back though). but throughout the whole thing i was laughing and having fun. maybe it was the company. maybe it was the fresh air. or maybe i have changed and i am the type of girl who now LIKES to camp and hike. i don't know. i don't want to know.
it was a good weekend.
so the two volunteers who live in bergville, kristen and jamie, decided that they wanted to go hiking over the weekend. jamie's boyfriend was coming into town and he had a friend from american visiting, so showing him the drakensberg mountains was important. the group of us headed out to the cathedral peak area after work on friday and set up tents in the campground at the bottom of the mountains. we all sat around cooking dinner, drinking wine, making s'mores and trying to stay warm as the temperature dropped lower and lower. i must admit that sleeping was difficult and that i spent a good 12 hours not being able to feel my toes. however, that is the price one pays.
the next morning we woke up bright and early and packed everything up and headed to the start of the trail. we were doing a hike called rainbow gorge, which follows a river and leads, in the end, to a huge rock that has fallen and wedged itself into the gorge (the amazing sight at the end). the beginning of the hike was very steep and i was out of breath in about 5 mins. i thought i was going to have to tell them all that i was too out-of-shape to do the hike when kristen told me it got better. this is another reason i hate hiking- i am always the fattest or most unhealthy and it makes me feel like shit. everyone i seem to go with is skinny and fit and could probably run the whole hike (like the group i went with this time and the norwegians, to name a few).
anyways, she wasn't lying and it did get better. the hike probably took 5 hours total and involved some climbing on big rocks and a lot of hopping on stones back and forth across the river. i only fell in once and only with one shoe, so i consider it a victory. i must admit, the boulder at the end was beautiful and with the sun and the water coming down, it was well worth the hike there (probably not the hike back though). but throughout the whole thing i was laughing and having fun. maybe it was the company. maybe it was the fresh air. or maybe i have changed and i am the type of girl who now LIKES to camp and hike. i don't know. i don't want to know.
it was a good weekend.
Monday, June 2, 2008
a new hut for me!
so i moved recently into a nice one room hut. some features that make this property so valuable are:
- the tin roof, which prevents earwigs from raining from your ceiling
- electricity (need i say more)
- a proper outhouse that is clean and not too smelly
- a water tap in the front yard (what an idea!!)
- a wonderful and kind new family living right next door
- a shorter trip to and from town, lying only 15km outside of glorious bergville
- the view of the mountains and the lake
yes, my new hut is MUCH smaller than my old one and i have to sleep, bathe, cook, wash clothes/dishes, and do work all in the space of a small american bedroom. but i wouldn't give up this new life for my old one ever. my life has gotten a million times easier which has taken a weight off of my shoulders. i really wanted to prove that i could live without electricity and easy access to water, and i guess i did make it two months, but i never realized how stressful it actually was. you think when you don't have any of the annoyances of a modern life, things should be more relaxed. not true. modern life is easier. no way around that. and sadly, i am not the type of girl who is cut out of the 'camping' lifestyle. using an outhouse and bathing in a bucket is about as much as i can handle, and i don't feel bad about admitting that!
anyways, i am happy again. i don't expect it will last long, but i am glad that i feel it. i was a little unsure for a few weeks there. also, the desks were built this weekend in the computer room that i am getting up and running and work, so one small success has been achieved. gonna give myself a little pat on the back now...
- the tin roof, which prevents earwigs from raining from your ceiling
- electricity (need i say more)
- a proper outhouse that is clean and not too smelly
- a water tap in the front yard (what an idea!!)
- a wonderful and kind new family living right next door
- a shorter trip to and from town, lying only 15km outside of glorious bergville
- the view of the mountains and the lake
yes, my new hut is MUCH smaller than my old one and i have to sleep, bathe, cook, wash clothes/dishes, and do work all in the space of a small american bedroom. but i wouldn't give up this new life for my old one ever. my life has gotten a million times easier which has taken a weight off of my shoulders. i really wanted to prove that i could live without electricity and easy access to water, and i guess i did make it two months, but i never realized how stressful it actually was. you think when you don't have any of the annoyances of a modern life, things should be more relaxed. not true. modern life is easier. no way around that. and sadly, i am not the type of girl who is cut out of the 'camping' lifestyle. using an outhouse and bathing in a bucket is about as much as i can handle, and i don't feel bad about admitting that!
anyways, i am happy again. i don't expect it will last long, but i am glad that i feel it. i was a little unsure for a few weeks there. also, the desks were built this weekend in the computer room that i am getting up and running and work, so one small success has been achieved. gonna give myself a little pat on the back now...
Monday, May 26, 2008
sometimes you just need a little music
i had a good weekend. i had a weekend that made me want to smile again. the type of weekend where you expect nothing and are surprised by a boost in your soul. that is what this past weekend was like for me. after having some stressful weeks dealing with bugs and huts and being homeless WITH a kitten, i decided to take a break from my life here and visit a friend. i dropped my kitten off at the bug infested hut and fled, feeling depressed and confused about why i was in sa.
first of all, seeing a good friend always helps. sometimes you just need someone to slap some sense back into you. sometimes you need someone who will cook you a good dinner and let you watch an entire season of the office in a row on her computer. sometimes you need to spend time with a person who vows that she will also quit the peace corps if you quit. that is the type of friend i went to see. just by being around her, my spirits lifted and i felt like a) things would probably get better and b) i could do it.
as if that wasn't enough, we found out that one of my favorite south african bands was playing in town on that very weekend! i was super excited and demanded that we go, which, being a good friend, she agreed to. we went to the very odd festival that they were playing at, which was something like a farming fair. we wandered around and saw all of the huge tractors and the cows and the farming crap that i know nothing about and then we went to the concert. it was small and there weren't a ton of people there, which means that i was able to get nice and close to the band. and then, I ROCKED OUT! i listened to freshly ground play old songs that i love and new songs that appreciate. one song was clearly meant for me. it is called pot belly and the chorus goes something like: "fat thighs, flabby arms, a pot belly still gives good loving..." this is the reason i love this band so very very much.
sidenote- i also got to talk to my best friend dana (right before the concert), who had just gotten married and was at her reception. it made me so happy to hear her voice and to know that she was having the perfect day that she deserved. love you dana!
after this wonderful concert my friend and i went to a club where we danced our butts off. it was all the same crap music that i used to dance my butt off to in america and it made me feel like i was at home. it was exactly what i needed to feel myself again. what i realized was that i didn't need a new hut to live in. all i needed was some good music and a bit of booty shaking with some friends.
first of all, seeing a good friend always helps. sometimes you just need someone to slap some sense back into you. sometimes you need someone who will cook you a good dinner and let you watch an entire season of the office in a row on her computer. sometimes you need to spend time with a person who vows that she will also quit the peace corps if you quit. that is the type of friend i went to see. just by being around her, my spirits lifted and i felt like a) things would probably get better and b) i could do it.
as if that wasn't enough, we found out that one of my favorite south african bands was playing in town on that very weekend! i was super excited and demanded that we go, which, being a good friend, she agreed to. we went to the very odd festival that they were playing at, which was something like a farming fair. we wandered around and saw all of the huge tractors and the cows and the farming crap that i know nothing about and then we went to the concert. it was small and there weren't a ton of people there, which means that i was able to get nice and close to the band. and then, I ROCKED OUT! i listened to freshly ground play old songs that i love and new songs that appreciate. one song was clearly meant for me. it is called pot belly and the chorus goes something like: "fat thighs, flabby arms, a pot belly still gives good loving..." this is the reason i love this band so very very much.
sidenote- i also got to talk to my best friend dana (right before the concert), who had just gotten married and was at her reception. it made me so happy to hear her voice and to know that she was having the perfect day that she deserved. love you dana!
after this wonderful concert my friend and i went to a club where we danced our butts off. it was all the same crap music that i used to dance my butt off to in america and it made me feel like i was at home. it was exactly what i needed to feel myself again. what i realized was that i didn't need a new hut to live in. all i needed was some good music and a bit of booty shaking with some friends.
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