In the Middle

Is That a Full or a Satisfied Dog? Both!

2011-06-19T03:18:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks back we decided to switch things up and try a new camping location. So we traveled towards Loskop and made our way to Injasuthi (inja = dog; suthi = full). To go 40km it took us about 4 hours and 5 different rides including a long one perched on top of maize meal bags. It was slightly frustrating when we were unable to explain to people that distance is not relative -it may look far but really 40 kilometers here is the same as 40 kilometers anywhere. Nope - it is so very far. Ah!

That night we made the best hamburgers I have ever eaten and roasted our green beans - try it!

Midlands Meander

2011-06-19T02:58:00.000-07:00

Our latest vacation took us to fall in New England - or so it felt. The Midland Meander was great. We ate a ton of awesome food - from paella to a German style fried pork leg and visited a few great wineries and cheese farms. We camped the first couple nights and then stayed in a sweet little cabin where we watched the coverage of Osama bin Laden's death! It was beautiful and relaxing!

I should also mention that we rented a car which is kind of a big deal! It was wonderful and now we are totally geared up to get our own wheels! We are American for goodness sake!!!!!

I Wonder Where Olwethu Is?

2011-06-19T02:21:00.000-07:00

After our brother paid Labolla for Nonhlanhla, her and their three year old daughter Olwethu moved to our compound permenantly and now it seems we have a permenant weekend child! When she is not there to greet us bright and early on weekend mornings we quickly find ourselves asking "I wonder where Olwethu is?" She is so bright, saucy and funny and has come to almost completely fill the void left in my heart when I had to leave Caroline, Ireland, Emma and Nichole in Denver (who she is able to name as she points to their pictures on our refridgerator along with Eli and Anna Rose - pronouced anyadarose).

She helps with our laundry and dishes, flirts with Derek and eats all the food we offer her even if it makes her gag as the hummus did last week! When I introduced her to hot chocolate she nearly lost her mind and started running around yelling "siyaphuze ichocolate" (we are drinking chocolate). She talks non-stop in isiZulu to us and must think we have some sort of learning diability becuase we answer her back inappropriately over and over. "Eish Melissa." But the other day she did say as clear as anything "it is hot" before eating her eggs. Then she proceeded to ask who had cooked them and if they were nice because she only likes nice eggs. One of the best parts of my week is listening to her and Derek have a full on conversation where neither one of them has a clue what the other is talking about for ten minutes but they are finally able to agree that if she stops messing with his paint brushes, he will give her some juice, but she must clean up the floor if she spills it. I wish I could video tape the fiasco that has become laundry since she is always present to help us - it takes double the time as we have to correct her without her knowing we are doing so lest she loose her mind and reprimand us very sternly.

We have made an agreement with her mom that if she matriculates with good grades from high school we will pay for her to fly to the states for a visit so you all will be able to meet her some day about 15 years from now if you don't come to visit before then.

Montana Louise!

2011-06-19T01:59:00.000-07:00

Although I had made it very clear to Jenna and Trey that they were not to get pregnant while I was in South Africa they annouced that they had completely disregarded my wishes back in July of 2010 when they told me they were expecting their first baby in the early part of 2011. I was not planning on going home, but as the time drew near, I made a good decision, bought a ticket on short notice and rushed home.

I had expected the whole labor and delivery to be well over by the time I got there since it was well passed her due date, but when my plane touched down in Phoenix at 10:00 on the 25th of February Jenna had not even begun to have contractions. About an hour later they started and later that night Montana Louise was born while I suffered from jet-lag curled up in a chair in the waiting room. How nice of her to wait for her Auntie. I was very grateful as it was a special time and nice for me to share in those moments since I missed the whole pregnancy. I spent the first two weeks of her life sleeping on the couch of their rental home, waking up so I was able to be present for most of the night-time feedings even if it was just to sit there, the first couple poop explosions, shopping misadventures and was the first one Jenna left alone with her!

It was clear, to me at least, that my time in South Africa has changed me. This I realized as I calmly watched a movie and did a little yoga while my sister had contractions in her bedroom! Normally I would have been freaking out insisting she go to the hospital or that we google something! But no, Africa has taught me that things will work out however they will regardless of whether I freak out or stay relatively calm! Relatively - I am still very rarely in a state of complete calm! I still found extreme satisfaction in organizing her clothes but imagining Jenna disregarding all my efforts as soon as I left did not upset me at all!!!

Montana is so freaking perfect and right away was flung full force into the lifestyle of Jenna and Trey. Dinner out at two days old and before she turned three months old she had traveled to California, Vegas, been camping and hiking and done a little boating. Come to think of it, she made her first trip to CA before she was a week old. No big deal!

I miss her desperately and can't wait for her first African adventure next April!

Sweet Home Tenneessee

2011-06-19T01:47:00.000-07:00

Derek and I both took a time out earlier this year to head back to the states to visit family. We both spent two weeks there and it was lovely. Lots of showers, good quality ice cream, Oregano's (well in AZ at least), unlimited freedom that comes from having a car and quality time with family.

Here are few snap shots of Derek's time in Tenneessee after he distributed some African swag - Anna has gotten so tall and slender!

Rhino Sighting #3. Okhahlamba. 10.4.2011

2011-04-25T04:18:00.000-07:00

Each time I go to Spoinkop the experience gets better. This time the sites were taken in on horseback and unlike the guided horse tours in America with all their lame rules, here you can go wherever and as quickly or slowly as you desire! We saw all the animals there were too see and thanks to Derek being along this time, some fine photo's were taken! That is right: Derek saw the rhinos up close and in person!

Rhino Sighting #2. Okhahlamba. 15.01.2011

2011-04-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

On my second trip to Spoinkop we once again spotted the Rhino family. They were so close we could hear them breathe and see the dust stir as they walked. It was nuts. In the pictures you will see that as the rhinos got closer, the photos began to be snapped from inside a car. This is not because we were afraid, but because one's natural instinct when approached by such magnificent tank-like creatures is to take cover. It was an amazing bonus to a lovely picnic. My only regret is that Derek once again missed out!!! Shame!

That "shame" above is not me being sassy. It is the normal everyday response here to anything even remotely shameful, sad, disappointing or down right bad. If I trip on the way to the bank everyone around will either say "sorry" or "shame" and if I drop my lemon cream biscuit on the floor, everyone, including myself, will say "shame." It took me some getting used to, because it seems so patronizing, but really it is a heartfelt and genuine expression of feeling badly about another's misfortune. For example, when I was rather frazzled last week Sthembile said "oh shame on you Melissa." I was taken aback because although I was frazzled I did not think I had done anything wrong. Then I realized she was simply expressing her pity for my frazzled state!

Who would have thought some pictures of rhinos would be followed by a brief lesson in word useage and canotations in different areas the world?

Where's the Loo?

2011-04-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

Ngidinga i-toliet! Well, at our house, before this past weekend, you would need to not only ask for the toilet, but also borrow a machete, put on some hiking boots and then go on a major jungle trek. Can you even see the toilet in the picture below? It was intense and let me tell you that the intensity went up a good 10 to 20 degrees when one needed to use the loo in the middle of the night! Enter the pee bucket into our lives. That’s right!

I also took the liberty of giving you a glimpse of what it looks like once you are seated in the little outhouse – are you in a African village or somewhere along the Amazon river? Does it really matter?

This past weekend Derek and I declared war and remade the path through the corn, butternut, melon and snap pea mess. The next day we were not rewarded for our efforts, but instead given a reprimand because apparently we should have asked before we destroyed some of the crops that the gogo from next door had planted. I still think the gogo from next door should have asked us before she blocked our access to the toilet with her out of control butternut!

Flash Flood at Zamimpilo

2011-03-29T03:58:00.000-07:00

On Friday Derek and I went to stay with Kim at Zamimpilo where she is the volunteer and where the projects from Philakahle often hold workshops. This particular weekend one such Life Skills workshop was taking place and some of our funders from Australia were going to be stopping by. This is how we came to decide upon this visit and then ended up staying until late Sunday afternoon as opposed to leaving just after lunch on Saturday, teaching two sessions and surviving a flash flood in the middle of the night with 34 teenagers. The project manager, Vusi, had to leave the workshop early on Saturday and ending the whole affair would have been a huge waste of time and money so we agreed to take over. If we had known that at around 11:00 pm a river would be diverted through the property we might have still agreed to do so (it was very exciting and none of our stuff was in risk of being damaged), but we might not have!

Kim and I were watching a movie as Derek slept when we were awakenend by the sound of rushing water pouring in from under the door. The rounduvalls at Zamimpilo are set one foot into the ground for some reason I do not understand and so there was within a matter of an hour about a foot of water in Kim's room and the two rounduvall's where the teenage girls were sleeping. It was hard to rouse Derek, but when we did he offered us real nuggets of wisdom like "put a towel under the door" and quickly advised me to stop running around like a teenager myself!

Another Mountain Adventure

2011-02-16T02:01:00.000-08:00

This hike through Tugela Gorge (not to be confused with Rainbow Gorge) was probably the best one I have done. Derek might have a different one. It rained on and off most of the way to the cave and there was a serious torrential down pour on the way back. The water was cold and the rain chilled us to the bone. Even though it was summer, my hands and feet were numb. Not just numb – I might have been experiencing the first stages of hypothermia because I could not get my arms to move the way I needed them to in order to change my shirt or my hands to button my pants after a quick potty break. The scenery was breathtaking though. This part of the world… ay-bo!

Our Christmas Holiday

2011-02-14T02:02:00.000-08:00

Derek and I did some good travelling over the coast for our Christmas break from work. It was not at all like any other Christmas we have had, but it was memorable and a bunch of fun. We saw some great stuff, ate some really great food, met some new exciting people and did a lot of relaxing and laughing. We camped everywhere we went up and down the coast expect for the last two nights in Port Shepstone and Durban. I got sick towards the end of the journey which really put a damper on things for a bit. Everything is back to normal in my body I am happy to report. Here are some selected snap shots of the travelling!

Let's Get Together

2011-01-22T02:21:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas Derek and I, with Mummsy and Mamello, conducted our first joint garden workshop. It went really well – great stuff actually! Mummsy rocks, but I think I have mentioned this before. Since then we have started two other big or semi-big projects together – we like to pretend we are big-time consultants for start up NGOs here. I guess that is what we are, minus the “big-time” part. We are working with two groups from around our area helping them understand organizational governance, proposal writing and business plans and the like. The first group is OTD (Okhahlamba Tertiary Developers) who are working to increase the amount of learners (that is what students are called here) that go on to further studies, creating a sort of Big Brother Big Sisters mentorship program African style and working to improve the status of the education system in general here. The other group, Incuqbo Youth Group (there are two clicks in this name, so I normally call it Musa’s group) is in the process of starting an organization that responds to the needs of abused boys and sexually assaulted girls in the area. Both are being led by passionate, determined and hardworking young people. We are honoured to help them make their country stronger!

Got My Hair Done

2011-01-03T01:07:00.000-08:00

That’s right – I had my hair braided. It required sewing! At night I had to wrap my hair and Derek felt like he was sleeping with Aunt Jimima! I know he liked it though because he kept snapping shots of my new do! At least he found it entertaining. It did not stay as long as I had hoped because my hair is still pretty short so, if I do not decide to chop all my hair off into a pixie cut (Derek is really pushing for this so maybe he didn’t actually like the braids), I will wait for it to grow a few more months and try again.

Chain Ladder

2010-12-22T22:02:00.000-08:00

It was a folkloric hiking adventure with Farah and Dan. We felt like Voortrekkers (hence the serious and tough, hardcore women you see in the photos). It rained on and off, but was worth it to see the clouds rolling in between the mountains beneath us!

A Fancy New Device

2010-12-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

While our younger sister, Dakalo, was home from school for the Christmas break she busted out the washing machine our family has but that our sister, Nondumiso, never uses. I was thrilled and did a little dance. While her first load was in I hovered over the machine and watched the magic take place. I was amazed at the invention and felt that my life in Woodford had really peaked!

When I said haul above I literally meant haul. The machine has to be pulled from inside the house to be hooked up to the water supply outside. That is not too big of a price to pay for a machine washing your clothes for you and for getting your clothes cleaner than they have been in a long time, right? Well that would be the case except that is not where the human work ends! You have to stand near by and turn the water supply on and off as the cycles change so the pipe does not burst and when the machine drains (three times) you have to empty the basin so the water does not all seep into the foundation of the house. The amount of water is equal to more than four of those big basins full. It might have been more work than doing it by hand. Actually I know it was, because when you wash by hand you get to stand or sit still instead of carrying a million full buckets of water to the other side of the compound. So, I think the machine has gone back into retirement to await the next burst of youthful enthusiasm!

World AIDS Day 2010

2010-12-08T03:52:00.000-08:00

The staff from Philakahle and I worked really hard to pull this World AIDS Day event together and off. There were a few moments of terror like when I woke up on the morning of the event to pouring down rain and nothing but gray skies as far as I could see. When that happened Busi and I rushed to the office and called everything off. Then we looked at each other and realized we made a huge mistake - this is African after all and everything always works out. And it did. One hour later the skies were clear and the stinking birds were singing.

The event was held in the taxi rank and include lots of dancing, speeches, singing and poetry reading. All the mobile clinics came to partner with us and tested more than 200 people for HIV.

It was a really great day and possibly one of the best moments I have had here because I was able to see how well everyone can work together towards a common goal. Oh and I love to dance!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T03:46:00.000-08:00

Not to worry....

Derek and I had a great thanksgiving. On the actual day of thanks we went to, guess it, Bingelela and then to a Christmas pageant in the mountains. On Friday though, we were invited by an American couple we meet awhile back to a big traditional thanksgiving at their friend's farm. There were about eight Americans and more than 20 Africans, but it really felt like home. All the traditional food was there (Turkey, but also Lamb and Venison, with all the delicious side dishes we had been hoping for) and we even read Obama's Thanksgiving Address out-loud. It made me proud to be an American and thankful for all our blessings.

Rainbow Gorge

2010-11-24T04:24:00.000-08:00

There are too many places here to explore!!!! This was an excellent trip with good friends who all have a make-your-own-adventure spirit. We ditched the path and hiked down the river. Actually, we hiked through the river from stone to stone and from pool to pool.

Shoes of Hope

2010-11-24T04:13:00.000-08:00

Trina Reisch (as in Sam's mom) recently organized for some of the children from her synagogue to collect and design shoes for kids here. We were all so excited to get them - we took them out of the box and lined them up along the wall! 39 kids and their families were blessed with cute and durable shoes and we all had a good time giving them out.

Thanks Trina!!!!

Mantis and Moon

2010-11-01T00:42:00.000-07:00

We took a week off and headed to the beach to spend a few days in Durban and the rest of the week in a tree house in Port Shepstone. Yep. A tree house. With monkeys playing outside. It rained a few days, but the weather was great the rest of the time. Check out the video tour of the place in Port Shepstone! We had a great time – a lot of seafood and a lot of sun time and a whole lot of just hanging out without World Vision or Philakahle!

My Favorite Pastime

2010-10-29T01:23:00.000-07:00

So.

I love weddings. I love all events in the community actually. In fact, I love them so much that I gladly left the comforts of the home in town and the unlimited supply of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Mad Men” to travel back to Woodford for a wedding and 21st birthday celebration a couple weekends ago.

Here are some pictures of one of the most recent weddings I have attended. I don’t take too many pictures nowadays usually and try to get away with not carrying the camera. I mean, hello, I am not a tourist! But, these were our neighbors right across the street and I got sick of hearing “Simphiwe, you shoot me” so I went and got the camera. And boy was I glad I did when I saw my favorite dancing group pull up!

That’s right. I have a favorite. That is how many weddings I attend! I decided that me and the saucy girl (watch the video) should be friends and now we are. I am groupie – she sent me an SMS this past weekend to let me know where they would be dancing! The dancing group gave me a lift back to town where Derek was and my neighbors were afraid I was running away to become a Zulu dancer. You never know – if the job market in the states does not pick up……

I am starting lessons soon!

The ceremonies involved in the traditional weddings remind me of being at a musical – it is totally unrealistic and yet completely believable that everyone knows the words and the dance moves and exactly when to bust out in them!

PermaGarden

2010-10-26T01:16:00.000-07:00

Mamsy and I traveled to Pretoria for a permagarden training. Mamsy is our garden facilitator and a total rock star. She is great at what she does and I am honored to be working with her to improve her delivery of gardens to HIV and Tb patients. The treatment for both of these diseases makes patients very hungry and also, the medication is much more helpful if coupled with good nutrition. Hence the household gardens. We spent a lot of time planting a sample garden using the double dig and berm methods. We also made some awesome compost. Yes, we dug in mud and played with horse poop, but we did this at an amazing hotel and spa! It was beautiful and we had a blast and it was brought to you by the American tax payers and PEPFAR! 33 of us (15 Peace Corps Volunteers and 18 of our counterparts) were trained and put up at a great hotel for four days for only $3000! You can’t beat that. And, although money could have been saved by staying at a less posh place, it was very exciting sharing in the excitement of many of our counterparts who had never been to a big city or, in many cases, never bathed in a stand up shower. And, we have been living in villages long enough to be equally excited as them!

One man, Baba Zulu, an older gentleman, had a bit of a breakdown (it was actually pretty extreme) at the end when he was filling out the evaluation because working side by side with “white” people who respected him and wanted his opinion had become too much. He had never experienced such a thing and he started to cry and carry on. He said it was too different to be with us all treating him as an equal and it seemed as though this paradigm shift was painful for someone who had grown up and worked under the apartheid regime. Good Lord this world and each of its inhabitants is more intense than any of us will ever fully understand.

Excusing Me, But I Think Your Goat is Calling You

2010-10-19T12:16:00.001-07:00

Derek was recently riding in a kombi on the way home from doing some work in Pietermaritzburg and was minding his own business for the first half hour when a blood curdling scream was let loose. He was sure it was either a child getting extremely sick or some religious person being consumed by the spirit. The driver pulled over and came around the side to deal with the problem and went back to driving. This happened a few more times, but Derek was not able to see the source of the noise, which seemed weird until, at the end of the trip, he realized it was a full grown goat tied up and forced under a seat that had been expressing its extreme displeasure at being forced onto its side under a chair! That same week, as I was walking across the dirt road in front of our home, a drunk gogo started yelling at me. It took me a moment to process what she was saying, which was that I gave my husband “muti” (a potion) in order to trick him into doing housework including cooking and laundry. I slowly walked towards the irate woman with my hands out and open like I would with a scared child or an angry puppy and was able to explain in my broken Zulu that where we come from, when both the husband and wife work, they share the work in the house. She seemed skeptical at first, but I think I finally got her to understand the Derek and I like to work together on the household tasks and I am in fact not tricking him! Ah! Cultural exchange and learning moments can happen when you least expect it!

Brew Haus

2010-10-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

Derek has finally done something that has been on his bucket list for awhile now. Brewed his own beer. His first batch was a simple lager called “Make Shift Ale” and the batch currently in process is an IPA titled “First Rain IPA.” It is quite the scientific process. The other day I returned to our house after he had bottled the beer and found a tidal wave had gone through the village, missing everything but our home!

Food Parcels

2010-10-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some snap shots of the food parcels we distributed to the Home Based Care Workers that do not get a stipend for their work. I am not posting these here because I am particularly proud of giving away the food (I am more into teaching skills, blah blah, give a man a fish…..), although these women work very hard and are usually very poor themselves, but I am proud that we were able to pull this off because it became quite the fiasco. I wish I could explain why it was a fiasco, but the truth is, it won’t make sense, and if it would make sense, I wouldn’t need to explain!

Another reason why I do not like this food parcel distribution is that no one is ever satisfied – there is always someone who considers themselves left out and then we all feel bad!

Khanya Africa

2010-10-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

A couple Saturdays ago two of my favorite co-workers and I went to an event out in the rural area of Okhahlamba. RURAL. It is like a totally different country out there. All the government sectors partnered with the Department of Health to bring needed services to this extremely under-served area. The people may be physically poor, but I know plenty of people who would die for a view like they have. The first time I went out to this area I walked an hour and crossed two rivers, but this time we decided to just take army trucks! It was very exciting (and hot) to be inside them. On the way out one of the tires of the truck ahead of us slipped off the road (I was standing up in the sky roof and saw it happen and almost passed out), but all was fine.

Spy Hill

2010-10-16T00:26:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was invited on an outing to the local game reserve with some of Philakahle’s funders from the Commart Foundation in Canada whom were here for a visit. I was amazed to see what was right in my municipality! That is a Rhino – there was a mommy, daddy and baby. We saw lots of other animals, but I am no good at photography and only had our cheap camera. We spent too much time gawking at the rhinos and missed the giraffes (reason to go back), but thanks to John’s driving talents and his willingness to ignore his wife’s pleas to stay on the road, we were able to get really close to the rhino family. The place is called Spoinkop, which means Spy Hill in Afrikaans. It is a significant location to the Anglo-Boer war.

Zulu Beer

2010-08-25T03:21:00.000-07:00

Never known a man to have to choke down beer before!!!!!

Sangoma

2010-08-10T03:51:00.000-07:00

A member of the family on whose compound we live came home from Durban this past weekend to become a Sangoma. It was pretty intense.

From Wikipedia: A sangoma is a practitioner of herbal medicine, divination and counselling in traditional Nguni (Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi) societies of Southern Africa (effectively an African shaman). The philosophy is based on a belief in ancestral spirits. Both men and women can be called by the ancestors (a consequence of refusing the calling is usually ongoing physical or mental illness), though sangomas are usually female. A trainee sangoma (or twaza) trains under another sangoma, usually for a period of years, usually performing humbling service in the community.

At times in the training, and for the graduation, a ritual sacrifice of an animal is performed (usually a chicken, a goat or a cow). The spilling of this blood is meant to seal the bond between the ancestors and the sangoma.

You should google "Sangoma" and learn more. Working with the traditional healers to promote TB and HIV education and health is a major challenge and opportunity.

It's an IST Dance Party

2010-08-05T03:42:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from a weeklong training (in-service training = IST)where we worked with a member of our organization to develope some project plans and such. Much of the week was kinda a drag, but a lot of it was also pretty great (for example: the dance party!). We spent the two weekends on either end of the training in Pretoria which is always nice. We were also able to take a short trip over to see the Mabona's. Unfortunately most of my pictures from the week were lost.

A week was a long time to be away and we were both glad to get back to Woodford and our jobs.

First Visitors

2010-08-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

We finally hosted some of our fellow Peace Corps volunteers, Claire and Angie, in our new home for a couple days. It was great fun. This picture was taken at, you guessed it, Bingelela!!!

Unveiling

2010-08-03T03:31:00.000-07:00

I went to Petermaritzburg to attend a tombstone unveiling at Sanele’s home. This is nothing like a funeral – for one thing the people whom the tombstones are being unveiled for have often been dead for several years. The unveiling occurs at least a year after the funeral, but often longer as the party and the tombstones are very expensive. At this particular event three tombstones were being unveiled (there were five cakes though – two for people whose tombstones are elsewhere). It is truly a party with lots of food (meat and amacaki) and dancing and drinking and used as a time to honor the lives of those departed. I got to Sanele’s home on Friday night and hung out until late in the night when I went to bed with Sanele’s fiancé and sister. I woke up early in the morning and helped to decorate the tent and cook the food. Decorating and cooking are not to be considered a prelude to the event, but are actually a main part of the day not to missed out on. I am becoming an expert on peeling butternut with dull knives without cutting myself and chopping beetroot without staining every item of clothing fuscia. For me it still hard to tell when the preparations stop and the party begins because the really blur together and overlap all day, but at least I know now not to expect an official start time.
Some ways I know I am adapting to my new environment:
1. When fresh cow liver is offered as a midnight snack after a few beers I don’t even bat an eyelash.
2. I find it very intelligent as opposed to weird when a cabinet door is used to carry the meat into the tent even though the hinge has not been removed which makes the cutting of the meat (an uneven surface) very tricky. Come on, it’s got a handle to carry the meat in with!!!!!
3. When one of the first things I see in the morning is men taking machetes to the four cow heads in order to get the brains out and I am perfectly content to watch while I brush my teeth.
4. When my reaction to a strange woman peeing in my bath bucket is not anger over the act of peeing in my bath water (I was done after all), but anger over her not greeting me! I then wondered who was now responsible for throwing it out.
Alena met us there in the afternoon after 11 hours or traveling from her site and shortly after that Jamie and Justin (former Peace Corps volunteers now living in South Africa and working here) came to pick us up for dinner. From the unveiling and it’s numerous induna greetings, Zulu dancing, raw meat, leering drunk men and smoky rounduvalls to a nice Italian restaurant in town with bottles of red wine, spinach stuffed pasta, anchovies (as opposed to pilchards), daily specials and waiters in long white aprons! I am learning to move quickly and easily between the two worlds of South Africa and often don’t realize how very strange it is until I reflect back.

Sushi, Enchiladas and Bunny Chow

2010-07-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

Derek and I took a few days off work and headed out of the cold mountain air down to the beaches in Durban. Durban is only a couple hours away by taxi and so I am sure we will make many more quick trips there over the next couple years. We had some great food (Bunny Chow, Sushi and even Enchiladas at Taco Zulu) and some good beach time. I even took a surf lesson. Some fellow Peace Corps volunteers met us there and, although we had decided to stay at a different backpackers then them, we enjoyed spending time with them. We watched a World Cup match on the beach while there.

18 Cows and Counting

2010-07-23T02:44:00.000-07:00

Labolla: Bride-price
I have attended several weddings here – both “white” (as in a white dress) and traditional, but I had not yet attended a Labolla ceremony. That is until this past week. I went with some of my co-workers to the Labolla ceremony of Mlekeleli’s sister. This part of the marriage process here is very similar to the bridal showers we have in the states. Well, similar in that the bride is the main attraction and people give her domestic gifts and money and there is a lunch served. That is really where the similarities stop because in the states a cow is not usually slaughtered as part of the process nor is the groom kept hidden on the property. I have also never been to a bridal shower that involved costume changes unless one considers the toilet-paper wedding dress game a costume change! This party is actually the second step in the Labolla process. The first step being the actual paying of Labolla, which is attended by men only.
As I have gotten to know some of the women in my life better we have had some good conversations about the Labolla process. Once Labolla is paid, the man and woman are considered married, but the paying of Labolla is not a simple process. For a young, healthy women with no kids it is around 13 cows or the equivalent in Rand. Someone recently offered to pay Derek 18 cows for me and Sanele (our isiZulu teacher) told me that since I have an education and no children and am very healthy I would be very expensive. Well. Well. Anyways, what often ends up happening is that the process takes so long that either the woman gets pregnant (either because her clock is ticking or in an effort to lower her price), but then often the Labolla is still never paid. Marriage rates are very low although birth rates are very high. I also am not really a fan of Labolla, because, come on – you cannot put a price on a person. Way too old school for me. This practice, to me, seems to be perpetuating the belief that women are not equal with men and so therefore can be priced and paid for.
I was not in a picture taking mood so I missed many of the best photo opts. There was of course traditional Zulu dancing, but at lunch time a DJ busted out some dance music and we shook our booties. At first I thought they were laughing at my inability to dance, but I was told that the people were laughing because they didn’t know white people could dance! Lucky for them this white person spent much of her formative years under the guidance of the lovely women from Karline’s and was taught how to correctly get down! This is a photo of the bride with money stuck to her head and some of my lovely co-workers and me on our way home.

Some Okhahlamba Snapshots

2010-07-22T02:24:00.000-07:00

Good-Bye Gugu and Hello Gates of Heaven

2010-07-22T02:20:00.000-07:00

Although Derek and I live in a village, 7km away from us (a 45 minute walk) is a lovely little place called Bingelela, which is seriously straight out of the Florida Keys or Jamaica or somewhere even greater. After a couple weeks in the village and some stressful days at work we will often find an excuse to go eat dinner there. It is a great escape – I tried to capture the gates as the gates to heaven as they sometimes feel to me as we walk through. This Bingelela trip was to say “good-bye” to Heather (Gugu), the Peace Corps volunteer Derek replaced. It was great to have her around from time to time as she delayed her return trip back to the US with African travel adventures and World Cup games.

Graduation Celebration

2010-07-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

I was invited by some of my sisters to attend a graduation celebration in a nearby village. It was held for all the graduates (college) from the past year. There were about 20 people being honored and, something that no longer surprises me, sadly, all the graduates were women. Once again I find myself asking, "where are all the men?" The party was fun - some good music and some good food. Being the only white person, or maybe simply because I was a guest, I was asked to say something. So, I introduced myself and then went into a diddy about the importance of education and the need to never stop learning. Arghhh... So cliche, but you know me. After my rousing speech (sarcastic) the graduates asked me to take a picture with them. Individually!!! I told them I was not that special, but one woman told me I was in fact that special just because I was there and trying to speak isiZulu. Wish I would have known long ago that a good effort and simply showing up is all it takes to make someone special!!!

A Wedding Story Part Deux

2010-07-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

Possibly to the disappoint of some of you I will not be continuing my ravings about the wedding ceremony I attended with Phumelela. Why? Because since then I have attended several other weddings and other celebrations and realized that my experiences at that wedding were not out of the norm. Instead I will post some additional pictures and consider myself lucky to be invited to share in the lives with so many great people in this country.

Koombi Rides and Motown

2010-06-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

by: Derek

The morning was grey with overcast clouds. The rain that made the dirt walking path leading to the taxi stop sticky with mud had come down throughout the night. Large drops reverberating, hitting hard on our tin roof had caused me to awaken a few times throughout the night. A chill in the air had been brought by the storm and was still quite present this morning. Coming from the United States, who would have ever thought it gets this cold in Africa? There is a general perception back home that all of Africa is constantly hot due to it being a vast continent of unending deserts and scrub-land. This stereotype, however, along with many others I had carried with me from many kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean, has been proven to be a misperception.

We arrived where the path meets one of the village’s main roads, also made of dirt and muddy this morning. My wife and I wait here at this junction Monday thru Friday for a taxi to come along and take us to the town where we work, about 10 kilometers away. Our attempts to dodge the puddles and thick mud along the way were mostly successful. Still, I looked down and saw little mud splatters on the bottom half of my pants. After waiting for about 15 minutes, with hands in jacket pockets to keep the chill at bay, I looked down the road to my right and saw a blue taxi, known in Zulu as a “kombi”, slipping and sliding around the corner on its way to pick us up.

The word “taxi” is a misnomer for this form of public transportation found throughout Southern Africa. A misnomer at least to the western mind, who usually equates the term with yellow or white sedans with decals along the side panels noting which company it belongs to and a lighted protrusion coming from the roof telling the hopeful passengers along the street whether it is “on or off duty”. These taxis in South Africa, “kombis”, are nothing of the sort and just another example of a western mind needing to adjust to new surroundings. One similarity, however, between the taxis found in the US and kombis in South Africa is it is as easy to spot a kombi as it is their “yellow cab” counterparts in the States. Koombis are mini-vans, predominately of Toyota or VW make, and, with a few exceptions, manufactured no earlier than the mid-1980s, likely to be falling apart in some form or fashion. It is a country full of little “hippy-wagons” hauling people to and fro. There must be tens of thousands of these square little boxes of metal throughout South Africa.

While it is possible to generalize the make and model of kombis, the actual aesthetic appearance, both inside and out, can vary quite widely, albeit subtly. Each seems to have its own unique character given by its owner. Kombis can be blue, red, white or almost any color imaginable. Inside the setup usually consist of four bench-style seats covered in a myriad of upholstery choices with little rips and tears, remnants of many passengers loading and unloading. It is possible to fill these seats with a minimum of 15 passengers, but often as many as 20 or more can be accommodated if necessary. Another general aspect of the interior, found in almost every kombi, is some type of after-market speakers rigged in numerous ways to the nooks where the side panels meet the roof. Hanging from the rear view mirror, in each of these kombis, is always some type of dangling item, another chance for the driver to impart his own sense of character. These items are as wide and varied as the drivers themselves: a fluffy, feathered neon green boa; a child’s stuffed bear that looks to be the victim of a lynching with a rope tied around its neck upward to the mirror; a big bushy mess of fur, tail-like, that looks like a trophy from a fox hunting expedition; and possibly my favorite, a gigantic fishing lure, the type you would use in the open ocean when trying to hook a blue-finned marlin. The list could go on, and I am always a little anxious to see what bit of creativity dangles from the rearview mirror when I enter a taxi I haven’t taken before. All of these characteristics make kombis at once the same, generally, and yet quite unique, subtly.

Even though I had questions about the speed in such conditions, I was glad to see this blue kombi sloshing its way toward us, as my light jacket was proving not to be quite warm enough. When it was around 75 meters away, I began to hear the low thumping of bass, produced undoubtedly by an apparently high-powered example of the above mentioned make-shift sound system. At around 50 meters, higher notes and lyrics started to become audible. It wasn’t until the kombi had almost reached us, though, that I notice the actual song being played: “My Girl” by the Temptations. This song selection took me by surprise, at first, but I brushed it off and figured it to be an anomaly in the driver’s playlist.

We step aside, so as not to get splashed with mud, as the kombi pulled up and stops in front of us. The creaking door slid open, eventually, as a couple good yanks were needed to coax it down the worn out tracks upon which it slid. Stepping up to board, I look at the driver and offer the usual, polite greeting, “Sanibonani”. Despite yelling and being only a few feet apart, there is no way he could possibly hear my words. I couldn’t hear them myself. The music was so loud that it almost had a physical presence, something actually pushing against you and reaching inside to thump around the vital organs. He must have read my lips or just assumed correctly what I was saying, since this is what everyone says when they get on a kombi, because he nods his head, smiles, and replies with “Yebo”, at least according to the motion of his lips. In the time since arriving in South Africa, I have ridden in many kombis with blaring music. Actually, it should be expected as standard operating procedure to be assaulted by high volume levels when traveling on public transport here. This, however, this sustained explosion of sound that literally made your insides rattle was a first in my kombi-riding experiences.
Gradually, we make our way to the third row of seats. This seemingly simple task of bending over and putting one foot in front of the other was challenging to complete due to pathways in my brain being jarred loose. As we pull away, onward to pick up more passengers, the classic Motown hit began to fade to completion. I thought, “Maybe that was his favorite song, thus the reason for such ungodly listening levels; maybe things will go back to “normal” now, the volume knob will be turned down and the usual African-styled gospel music will be played…”. After the short pause of silence between songs, my wishful-thinking was proven null and void. From no direction in particular because it was omnipresent, the next song began in the same manner of unabashed assault.

I must say the song selection was quite good, however. Apparently the driver had acquired a complication disc of Motown’s greatest hits, for the next song was Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”. I laughed to myself about the slight irony of the song being played, given that South Africa suffers from one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world. I guess I was the only one who saw the cruel connection, for the driver, the man in charge of the volume knob, just cranked it up a few more notches and with emotion that isn’t natural at this hour in the morning bounced in his seat, snapping his fingers and pounding on the dash to keep the beat. As we slowed to let the next passenger on, I saw it was a gogo (i.e. grandmother). Surely, I thought, he would have mercy on our bleeding ears when she boarded, for gogos are highly respected throughout this culture. This hope of mine was also diminished as the gogo took her seat directly underneath one of the overhead speakers without even flinching as Gaye’s lyrics, “…honey I know you'll be there to relieve me…” made no apparent change to her demeanor.

We made our rounds through the village, eventually reaching maximum capacity of about 20; everyone crammed nice and close together. The whole time as people boarded, sat, and rode peacefully there was never any indication that anything was askew with this taxi ride. We reached the tar road, and as we were turning right onto it toward town I noticed in the distance, behind the mountains, the skies were starting to clear with a few delinquent rays breaking through the grey. Just then, a new song was beginning. Otis Reddings words, “Sittin’ in the morning sun, I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes…” couldn’t seem more appropriate, no matter what volume they were played. I looked up at the taxi driver, still groovin’, moving his head side to side and now belting out the lyrics with all he could muster. This type of joy was contagious. I forgot about my permanent loss of hearing due to this kombi ride, began to smile widely, nodded my head subtly with the beat, and thought how alike we all really are. Public transportation and love of music are fairly universal, whether you are in the U.S. or South Africa.

A Wedding Story

2010-06-26T09:21:00.001-07:00

The back of a cattle truck.

Standing up and gripping the side with two dozen other women.

20 pound blanket wrapped around me and an over-stuffed bag with everything I won’t need for the weekend at my feet.

As we rode through Ogade (pronounced Oh-Gah-deh), a village, my white face raised quite a ruckus. “Unlungu!” By the time we reached our first destination of the weekend it was extremely cold and past my bedtime. Since starting my Peace Corps service my bedtime has crept ever earlier. Always one to turn in before my husband, it was now not uncommon for me to head to bed with a book in hand at 8:00. So, naturally, I ask my friend and guide for the weekend, Phumelela, a 34 year old single mother of three (well, actually her fiance just paid labolla for her) and the sister to the groom of the wedding we were attending, “silalaphi lapha ekuseni namthanji?” Is this where we are sleeping tonight? I was to hear the first of many yeses to this question, but none were to be exactly true.

After standing around for a half hour or so I was taken to a small rounduvall and promptly left alone with five gogos (grandmothers). A steaming bowl of “insides” (exact translation) and tea was brought in for our dining pleasure and panic quickly set in. From a previous experience with this foul meat substance, I knew I should think of some way to avoid eating it quick. The liquid the insides are cooked in or the juice from the meat or perhaps a combination of both produce a “shrink-wrap” effect on ones whole mouth as soon as something cold to wash down the flavor is imbibed. My feeble attempts to explain that I was full fell short, but I was not willing to use the lie of vegetarianism as I was sure the weekend would hold many excellent carnivorous experiences that I did not want to miss out on. So, I wrapped the gray slimy meat in some Ujeqe (steamed bread) and swallowed it like a terrible pill. Fear of the shrink wrapping caused me to promptly begin dehydrating myself, and thank god I did, because a couple hours later I found myself crammed into a koombi with 25 other women, 2 men, a driver and all of our huge blankets and weekend bags. Had I needed to use the restroom during the next five hours it would have been quite the fiasco as I was wedged into the corner farthest from the door so tightly that I could hardly move to remove my cheek from the window.

I attempted to sleep, but the bumpy road, the loud music that was only turned down every hour or so to allow Phumelela to yell from somewhere in the front of the van, “Simphiwe, you right?” and the terrible breath and breathing from the old woman to my left largely prevented me from doing so. At 1:30 in the morning, we came to a stop. We all fell out and as I noticed the homes around us in the dark I once again asked, “silalaphi lapha ekuseni namthanji?”

Yebo.

Great, let’s go.

No Simphiwe. Here, here.

Oh. On the road?

Yebo.

That’s fine. I am flexible and was very tired. So I wrapped myself in a ball, covered myself in my big pink blanket in an attempt to protect myself from the cold mountain air and went to sleep lying against a chain-link fence. Shortly after falling asleep it was time to move again and on some cue I missed, the 25 other women busted out with a song. It was beautiful and it raised my sleepy spirits, until we came to a stop at a closed gate and I began to worry that perhaps we were singing the song in order to get the owner of the compound to open it up for us. My Americanism rose to the surface for the first time that weekend as I silently screamed “it is 2:30 in the morning, we have been sleeping on the side of the road, just come open the flipping gate” as I saw the family of the compound walking slowly towards us on the other side of the fence singing a different song. At this moment I decided to ask what the song we were singing meant. “Baba Nomsana…..” translates into:
Father Breadwinner, please come open the gate so we can come inside.

The thought entered my head that perhaps we had been sleeping on the side of the road in order to give them time to lock the gate so that we could then sing this song to encourage them to open it. This fear was confirmed when I asked why we waited to start singing. I was told that the bride’s family had not been ready for us. Where I come from “ready” would mean an unlocked gate, but here it apparently means a locked gate. At 2:30 in the morning.

By slow dancing procession we made our way to a smoky room and I asked once again whether I could expect to make this place my bed for the evening. Once again I was told yes. I wedged myself up against the wall and slumped to the floor between two unknown women who were quickly becoming two of my 25 very best friends. Waiting for us to all lay down to sleep I was soon dismayed when I realized that the three old men in the room were extremely drunk and wanting to know all about me. I gave them the low-down on me and then was further discouraged when we were brought tea and biscuits. I quickly consumed what I had been given, did my best to answer some personal questions in isiZulu and when I leaned towards the center of the room to replace my cup I noticed that not even four feet away from me lay a dead and partially slaughter cow. Blood oozing and open eyes still intact. I can only assume that I missed it when I first entered the room because I was sleep walking through a smoke cloud and very disoriented. The beast was so large that I had to wonder how it had even made it through the door. When I leaned back against the wall my neighbors made a little nest for me to lie in. Unfortunately the way I had to position myself forced me to make eye contact with the dead cow. I covered my face with the blanket, but when you know there is a large dead animal staring at you a few feet away, it is hard, at least for me, to not keep checking on it. Sleep finally came at half past three. I know the time because one of the drunken old men was apparently also inflicted with poor eyesight and so he kept pressing his special watch every ten minutes to allow the whole room to benefit from the loud female voice the sexily proclaimed that “the time was now 3:38.” Soon after I fought past the smoke, the sexy watch woman and the cow to find sleep, I was abruptly awoken by the marching band drum that had been brought into the room. Half of the women were dancing the traditional Zulu dances and I wondered where the energy was coming from. Maybe they understood that soon we will go to sleep and be allowed to sleep late into the morning.

Fully awake I was told that we were moving once again. It was now somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 in the morning and we made our way to a larger rounduvall on the other side of the compound. This new room presented the best option for sleep with its clean appearance, the availability of sleeping mats and the warm fire so I started to get settled after asking the same old question once again and being given an affirmative response once again. Before I had a chance to put my head down, more biscuits and tea were brought in. These were quickly followed by three buckets for bathing and hot water. Oh well, I thought, there are 26 of us and only 3 buckets so I will sleep and go last. (Don't worry, fresh water is brought in for each round of bathers.)

That was not to be as I was informed that those three buckets belonged to Phumelela, her best friend and me. Alright. Now I am not particularly overly modest about my body. Actually, I would be mildly okay with taking a bucket bath with 25 other women lining the circular walls watching. My real concern was how to do this correctly. I bathe in a bucket almost daily except when I say “in” a bucket, I am actually in the bucket because it is a large oval thing in which I stand while alternatively dipping my cup into the bucket with clean water and the one with soapy water. It is, in fact, a three bucket system. Also, I was not sure how naked I was supposed to get. Do I strip down or leave some layers on? Overwhelmed I decided to kill time until Phumelela took the lead. I followed her moves, but apparently I was not doing an appropriate job because three gogos got up from their spectator positions to help me with my back.
“Should we wash your hair?”
NO!
“You need more bubbles.”
That is the least of my concern – I am just trying to get this over with.
“Now you rinse all the soap off.”
I am twenty-seven years old.

Following the lead of others, I am crouching completely naked in a small bucket while all this is taking place. I had been afraid that if I took all my clothes off they would think I was gross and was alternatively afraid that if I didn’t remove everything they would also think I was gross. But, in reality no matter what I did they were to think I was gross for instead of washing my underwear in the used bath water, I jammed them back into my bag. In Zulu culture women never put their dirty undergarments in the laundry pile nor do they wash these articles of clothing with the rest of the washing. And forget about hanging these things up for anyone to accidentally see. Instead, after one is done bathing, the dirty water should be used to wash the undergarments and then they should be discreetly hung up to dry. In conversations with co-workers I have learned that although no one thinks twice about popping out a breast for any old occasion, hanging underwear on the line or even letting dirty underwear exist in the house is unheard of.

This experience was anti-climatically followed by several hours of idleness where I watched the remaining women bathe, ate my weight in biscuits and dressed myself for the wedding in my shiny Old Navy dress I wear at all such occasions in this country. When I felt I could not sit around one more minute thinking about how I could have and should have been sleeping, I put my long-johns on under my dress and headed out to see what was going on. What I found was 20 or so of the elders from the bride’s family being wrapped in blankets, towels and aprons galore. This was just fine considering it was freezing cold out – actually these plump balls of adoration seemed quite content to be wrapped up but this ritual takes place in the dead of summer as well. Spring wedding? Not if you’re an elder of the family who has to sit for hours wrapped up in 33 layers. Give me a winter celebration please! This was followed by a long discussion with the ancestors by a small wiry man who then pronounced that the celebration could continue. Continue it did, right out the gate and into the awaiting koombies.

Then it was off to America. Not literally, but it was quite a different world in the town of Estcourt. The church was just like those smallish wannabe mega-churches in the states and decorated in rather modern wedding decor. I did not forget I was in South Africa though as the wedding party, in their western style outfits, danced down the aisle (and it was not a parody of The Office) and between each speech the whole congregation was lead in prayer and song. Service over. Back in the koombies for a rushed meal or three. First I was whisked off to a secret “women’s only area” where ujeqe and chicken curry was being cooked in several huge cast iron pots over open fires. I have come to understand that this food is meant to sustain those on whom the wedding’s functioning relies. Apparently my hostesses were so concern that I might waste away from only eating biscuits for almost 24 hour that not only did they take me to this exclusive dining area, but I was also thrust into the middle of a goat fest. It was literally a goat-fest which is, should you not know, a dozen or so women crouched around a whole cooked goat. I was building up the courage to pull a chunk of the meat off the animal when I was handed a dripping handful. It was delicious, but before I could finish, I was summoned to the tent and given another full meal. No worries about being too full – there was no time to eat. Hurry and scoop it all into a piece of plastic wrap that was provided and then run, literally run, to the koombies to get a spot. An hour of fighting and jostling and we are all packed into the automobile so we could wait one more hour for dark to settle so the cops would not see how over full the taxi was. Finally, off we go, a mobile dance party back to where we had started, five hours away. At midnight when we get back to the groom’s family compound I am handed an energy drink and I realize that tonight no, we will not even pretend to sleep.

Within minutes I and all my companions are busy chopping and peeling and frying. To me it seems that everyone amazingly knows their role and falls right into it whereas I am walking around in circles concerned mostly with the threat of salmonella and the need to understand why the beets and coleslaw need to be chopped so perfectly when everything else is in complete disarray. In fact the compulsion of my companions to spend hours and hours perfectly chopping the veggies begins to really wear on me and I decide it is time to put myself to bed at 3:00 am before I raise my fist and go off on a feminist rampage. I wander into the next room and find the only place to sleep is spooning with a gogo I have never seen before. She knows me by name and raises an arm to welcome me into her bed without question. Snuggling with this stranger does not even bother me in the least. I am that tired and within a moment fast asleep. I awake three hours later to singing and dancing and the smell of the 400 pieces of fried chicken surrounding my sleeping spot. The coleslaw and beet makers are still at, but after my nap this no longer raises my blood pressure. Instead I dive head first into the remaining nine hours of preparation.
As this continues activities of the utmost importance are taking place outside.

To be continued.....

More Hiking Pictures!

2010-06-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this is where we live? Maybe it helps you to see the mountains so I can tell you that it is so super cold here at night and in the mornings. Seriously, the other morning I slipped on frozen grass as I ran to catch the Koombi! By 10 or 11 each day it is usually very nice out, but once the sun is gone I make my way quickly to the warmth of my bed and read under the covers until I fal asleep sometime consistently before 9:00. Seriously, that is how early I go to sleep - what is worse is that it is too cold to get out of bed and be productive in the morning when I wake up at 4:00. Bathing is very unpleasant, let me tell you! Supposedly winter is short. Here's hoping. At least I now have a kick-butt pair of boots to wear thanks to my mom and dad and my birthday! This post was suppose to be about the splendor of the landscape! These pictures are from a camping trip we took with our friend Mary awhile back. We had a great time that weekend - even made it to a local restaurant on our way back home called Tower of Pizza. Don't mind the fact that since we don't have cars we had to take Koombis and so were forced to get there at 8:00 in the morning and wait for the place to open at 11:00. Ah well...... The pizza was worth it and Derek and Mary played their guitars for the whole three hours like real laid back hippies while I frantically tried to find a warm spot to sit in.

I am not pouting in the last picture - it was sunny!!! I love that picture because Mary captured a sweet moment between us (or so it would appear). Yep, that is my booty as I climb a super scary chain ladder. It gave me a racing heart going up it and a nauseous stomach coming down.

A Day in the Life

2010-06-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

So I know I have been super lame about posting on here. There is so much to tell that it is overwhelming. Truly, truly I am so happy here. Derek is too, but I cannot speak for him, only myself. My greatest fear was coming here and finding it a challenge to stay busy. Luckily it has been quite the opposite. Often days I am so busy at work that I don’t have time to take a lunch break – Derek thinks this is ridiculous, but many of you will know that I am happiest when busy and needed. So, happy I am. Lots of you ask for details about what our days are like (or at least our families do) so I thought I would give you all a rundown of an average week so far. Once again, I cannot speak for Derek, but will fill in for him as I can.
Here goes....

Between 4:00 and 5:00 we wake up before my alarm (see bedtime) and, depending on the temperature, I either lie in bed until I build up the courage to face the cold air/last minute or get up and do random things around our little home like fill up our water buckets, dump out the face washing water from the night before (I have come to find the act of throwing water out of a bucket to be very therapeutic) or put the dishes that were left to dry next to our counter-top oven away. By 6:30 I have heated up a kettle of hot water to add to the cold bucket of water to take a bath with. At 7:30 we head out to catch a koombi by walking across our lawn, behind Nontomiso's house and across the lawn of Nonhlanhla and Victoria, our Gogo, where we are always asked if we are going to work, Uyasebenza, and how we slept, ulale kanjani? Then it is out the back gate to be greeted, on most mornings, by our apparently Jamaican neighbor, Vusi (same name as Derek). Vu-si. Sim-phi-we. Howzit? This is sad in a very Rastafarian way and I often suspect he is having his first joint of the day when we see him standing out behind his house at 7:30 in the morning. On the taxi, we once again go through the greeting process, often several times, and enjoy the ride as we circle our village until the koombi is full and we head the 10 kilometers to town.

Around 8:00 (if everything goes smoothly, which is only about 60% of the time) I am in Philakahle’s boardroom ready for devotions. We sing a song. I ask for a translation after the first stanza so we all stop while I get it down and then we start again. We read a passage from the Bible. We pray and then we have announcements. I have found devotional time to be a great way to learn the language and so my plan to not attend every morning was quickly abandoned. I think my original decision had come from my whole separation of church and state up bringing! Often the songs are very repetitive so I have the chance to really get the word or phrase drilled in and everyone speaks nice and calmly so I can use all my brainpower to listen and pick up familiar phrases. A month ago the board asked me to be the operational manager of Philakahle and so after announcements I will usually ask everyone what they are doing for the day. At first this seemed to really agitate people, but now if I don’t do it, the person who has led devotions that morning will. I still think it is a good idea for us to tell each other what we have planned, but I fully understand that the plan stated at 8:30 will be completely different than what actually takes place. After devotions I do one of several things:

1. One of the Community Support Project field facilitators and I and maybe Mummsy, the garden facilitator (this women is so great in so many ways – whenever she sees me getting frazzled she gets a serious look on her face and says, “Simphiwe, I love you.” She doesn’t speak English very well, but we are actually able to communicate fairly well. I owe much of my Zulu speaking ability to her actually because she just keeps talking and I am kinda just forced to figure out what is going on. For example, Tuesday I got out of the car at a clinic in a very bad mood because Phumelela had just eaten most of the cheese that we bring for the volunteer referral network/community health worker’s lunch. True to Scarlet Ohara I stormed off to the meeting area, but didn’t make it far before I hear Mummsy’s high-pitched voice calling me back. She goes on and on about something until I realize she is telling me to stop acting a fool and help carry the bread and huge slab of polony!) Wow. That was a long tangent. So, we head off to a Referral Network Monthly Workshop at one of the clinics we work with nine times a month. I will not be going to these for my whole two years, but right now I am going to better understand what we are attempting to do with our 200 health volunteers, implement the monitoring, reporting and evaluation system we need at the clinics and organize the many volunteers that are not getting a stipend into groups that can operate as non-profits and thus apply for grants from the Department of Health. Ah! These meetings are supposed to start at 9:00, but never get going until around 11:00. We don’t help the situation as we usually spend the 9:00 hour fetching the car, going to the bank, going to the gas station to get change (we pay the referral network volunteers for their taxi fare) and going to Spar, the local grocery store, to get lunch – the bread, polony, Rama and cheese mentioned earlier. The meeting lasts three hours and consists of us listening to the challenges the women face as they visit patients in their homes to encourage treatment adherence and general health. The field facilitator provides support and I attempt to get the whole thing documented so we have something to report. Then I try to move on to the NPO process which never goes very far (this week I was told it was too cold to talk about that. Seriously!) Then we take an hour to pay transport money out and make crazy sandwiches! After the meetings we go with one or two of the volunteers to follow-up on difficult patients (TB or HIV). This is always an adventure with too many stories and once again I am trying to document what we do so that we can show that we actually work! We usually get back to the office right at 4:30 so all the plans I had for the afternoon after the meeting which was suppose to be over at 12:00 are postponed. Again.
2. Lately I have been trying to get the assessment of our 114 home gardens done so that we can begin using money given to us by Canada and Australia to plant more gardens in patient’s homes. These gardens are meant to encourage healthy living and treatment adherence (TB treatment and ARVs make you very hungry and so often people will stop taking the medication – this is very, very bad!!!!) As of this posting we only have 3 assessments left! That is a serious accomplishment – so big in fact that I am bringing a treat to work tomorrow! It sounds like a lovely task: go out and check on the state of the gardens, fill in a form and then when you are done, plant more. But it is not so simple. These homes are often very difficult to get to and so we can drive around for a whole day and only see four gardens. Also, the families want you to spend the afternoon with them, which Mummsy is often willing to do. The other day it was raining and so cold but we pushed on and managed to see nine gardens and I was so proud of us I almost cried.
3. Attend some nuts-o-meetings with ridiculous agendas and minute taking requirements which invariably leave me in a frustrated and frazzled state because so much time was just wasted. On these days I attempt to work on the monitoring and reporting system in the three projects (Life skills, Community Support, and Asset Based Community Development) which is sometimes a lovely way to spend the day and sometimes leaves me in tears. Literally. But who I am kidding, even when the frustration drives me to tears, I am loving it. Lately the manager, Mlekeleli, has been gone much of the time, so I end of dealing with all matters of things like moving phone lines, writing proposals and trying to figure out what to do about staff members who go for lunch and never come back.
4. Plan or help facilitate a workshop on one of the many, many topics we give workshops on. No matter how many good intentions I have to plan these things to run smoothly, I have already come to realize that chaos is expected and so I should just go with the flow. One workshop that we are funded to run which is something I am very passionate about is on gender inequality and how it contributes greatly to the high rate of TB and HIV in this country. I am excited to do this one, but getting it organized is proving to be a fiasco.

While I am doing these things, Derek is having a nice time in his quite office over at World Vision. At least that is what I imagine. He was recently asked to manage the agriculture project and so is trying to find a way to successfully use the entire budget for the year in the next 6 months because up until now nothing has really been accomplished! He also spends much of his time in long, drawn out meetings and, often times, I fear his might be worse than mine.

At 4:30 Derek walks across the street to Philakahle to pick me up and we head out, often stopping by Spar for some last minute groceries and the bottle store for a Milk Stout on the way to the taxi rank. Up until this past week or so I would give Derek my bag and run home three times a week. Lately these runs take place either in the morning and end at a warm shower of one of our friends in town or are forced to wait for the weekend when I can run during the day because it is too cold by 5:00 and it gets dark very early now that we are in winter. Once home Derek usually cooks and I clean up. Once or twice a week we play Scrabble or Phase 10 (thanks mom), but usually I read while Derek writes and plays guitar. By 8:00 I am in bed and on my way to sleep. Seriously! I blame it on the cold because it forces me to hide under the blankets. It is so flipping cold!

So that is a normal day. Kinda.

On the weekends I will usually participate in some activity in one of the communities (a wedding, a graduation party, a labolla ceremony) when we are not going away, in order to experience what is going on around me and to give Derek some space to be alone and paint. Yep, he has started painting again! I love going to this functions! On either Saturday or Sunday we hand wash all our clothes, which takes a few hours from start to finish and do other chores in our little abode such as mop our red floor or burn trash!

May Birthdays

2010-06-19T05:32:00.000-07:00

These are two of my co-workers: Mum Nkhuta and Sthebile. Mum Nkhuta is one of my favorite people here - she is bright and kind and a great listener. Sthe is a ton of fun - often we have impromptu dance parties in the office. At a labolla ceremony last weekend her and I got down to some South African club music and everyone thought this was hysterical. I was concerned that maybe they were laughing at my dancing ability, but I was told it was only because I am white and they did not know white people could dance like them! Hello! They obviously did not know that I spent my college years under the wing of Karline Ricketts, Kin Winn, Mrs Faye and the rest of my Jamaican mentors! At least I am hoping they were really laughing at the color of my skin and not my moves - now I am paranoid again.

Anyways, Sthe, Mum Nkutha and I had a joint birthday cake celebration.

Philakahle's Fairy Princesses

2010-06-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

We were cleaning out the crowded-with-junk closets to prepare for some major office moving and look what we found!

Cave Women

2010-06-05T05:12:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago our new friend Ariadne and I went on an overnight camping trip. It was a beautiful hike that ended in us finding and settling into a cave for the night. We did not just stumble upon the cave - it had been the final destination all along, but was actually kinda tricky to find. No, my photo taking abilities did not vastly improve overnight - Ariadne is a photographer by profession!!!!

A South African Wedding

2010-04-21T01:23:00.000-07:00

We went to the wedding of one of Derek's co-workers. It was our second wedding in South Africa and once again we were struck by the merging of western wedding styles and tradition practices. The following day we were also invited to attend the more tradition portion, but it was quite a bit away from Bergville at the groom's family home so we were not able to go. The following pictures of some of my co-workers - yes that is a mo-hawk you are seeing. Her name is Busi and I like her very much.

More Pictures of Our Home

2010-04-21T00:29:00.001-07:00

Play Me A Song

2010-04-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Peitermeritzburg with one of our new favorite friends to buy Derek a guitar. It was a successful trip. We did not have much time so Derek was forced to make a speedy decision (in his world it probably felt like a split second decision). He wasn't even able to shop around! I think he made a great decision and have enjoyed listening to him and his new friend become acquainted each night. He has not named her yet - I am sure it is a female though. While on our shopping adventure we also visited the kwaZulu Natal Art Museum. It was very nice and even had a Picasso and it was free. Beat that. Bet you can't.

We did spend way too much time in taxi's though. The way the system works here is that all the taxi's (vans) line up at the rank. There is a rank manager (or something like that) who knows where each taxi is going, but often the lines are labeled. Sounds easy. It is. The hard part is the waiting. The taxi will not leave until it is full so if you are unfortunate enough to be the first one on a taxi with an unpopular destination - pull out your book and get comfortable. Luckily when we catch a taxi home from Bergville to Woodford, we rarely have to wait more than 5 minutes. That was not the case for this trip. Not at all.

Our home in Bergville

2010-04-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

So we are pretty much all settled in our new home in Bergville and feeling quite content and happy. Our home is small, but very cute I think you will agree. The first night we spent here (and for the next couple nights) it rained. Rain on a tin roof is super loud. Super loud. When the rain really got going we had to yell to hear each other. The rain also messed up the water supply for our village (Woodford) so the water would only be on for a short periods. It was fine though because we had a large bucket and our brita filter and we are now experts at conserving water after having lived in Bhundu without running water for almost three weeks. OK. I am not lying. I was a little stressed about it. I was afraid it would always be this way and many of you know about my love affair with water. My tension level really starts to rise when I realize I don't have access to water. My freak out session about the water was over pretty quickly though and since then it has been fine.

The actual reason I mentioned the rain in this post is to say that in South Africa it is considered good luck for it to rain when one moves to a new place or gets married. I mentioned this before because it rained on the night we arrived in this country. So far we have had very good fortune. Here's to hoping it continues (I am raising a glass of Milk Stout to you - our new favorite beer here although it does not compare to Guinness).

I Swear!

2010-03-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

We are officially Peace Corps Volunteers. I am thankful training is over! The ceremony was nice and we are on our way to getting settled in Bergville.

Today I am a Woman

2010-03-23T05:34:00.000-07:00

During our last weekend at the Mabona's home it was requested that we dress in the traditional clothing of the Ndebeles. Our neighbor and fellow Peace Corps Trainee was also involved as was a back drop and artificial lighting. You heard me. Artificial lighting was brought in for the photo shot! The rings around our legs are very heavy and make it hard to move (and dance) and they actually hurt! These are the outfits girls where on their 14th birthdays. They, along with their friends, dance and the girl of honor is given gifts. The main difference - they do it bare chested. Luckily my outfit included a tank top.

The Site is Right

2010-03-15T00:18:00.000-07:00

Finally! We know where we will be living for the next two years. We will be in Bergville. You know. Bergville!!!! Should you not be familiar with the town let me give you some pointers. When looking at a map of SA find the country of Lesotho and then along the eastern border of that country and SA locate the Drakensburg Mountains. Now, a little east of the Drakensburgs lays Ladysmith (a slightly larger town). Bergville is between Ladysmith and the Mountains. We are in the foothills and it is so beautiful.
Derek will be working with a section of World Vision and I will be with an organization across the street called Philakahle Wellness Center. It is not necessarily a wellness center per se, but they do many things within the community to support wellness such as: 1) building home gardens for families that lack basic nutrition as a result of HIV or TB; 2) life skills courses and afterschool groups for vulnerable children in the villages and 3) tracking down and encouraging patients who have been reported to Philakahle by the referral network because they have defaulted on their HIV or TB treatment. It is a growing organization and I am excited to discover where best I will fit. While at site visit I was able to go out into the field with all three programs and it was great. World Vision is much more established as I am sure many of you know. Derek might be working with the agriculture project, but there are many other areas he will also fit nicely so we must wait and see what develops.
So, we spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday learning about our organizations. Then for the weekend we went camping and hiking with the volunteer Derek is replacing at WV (Heather) and Jamie and Justin who were PCVs 2 years ago in this area. When their service ended both were offered jobs at local NGO’s. Don’t freak out Janine and Becky! That does not mean we will do the same! Although we really like them and I was excited to hear their stories and to know that it would be possible to find jobs internationally shortly after finishing. The area here is so amazing. We can’t wait to have visitors. We never thought that we would be in the mountains so soon again.
Our new home was not finished when we visited but we got to see it. It is a small two room home in the nearest village: Woodford. It is a nice size, has electricity, running water right outside the door, a nice lawn, an orange tree, a perfect place for a garden and a clean pit latrine. It will be just perfect for us, we hope. Our organizations also showed us a back up option should we be unhappy living in the village. This other one was a three bedroom western style flat with a complete kitchen and fully functioning bathroom. We choose the former and some of you might be thinking we are insane. Well, we might be, but let me explain our reasoning:
1) As it is now, white people live in the towns and only black people live in the villages. This is one of the problems left over from apartheid because the amenities and service provision in the villages are never as good as they are in towns or cities. We know we will not be able to change the country or even our area, but maybe us white people living in the village and doing all the things that that entails will begin to change the thinking of a few people.
2) Derek’s supervisor owns the apartment complex in town, which could lead to blurry lines.
3) Living in a modern flat would not really afford us the opportunity to experience the life led by most South Africans. If we end up doing development work internationally later in life, there will be plenty of time for us to live comfortable lives on the periphery of the developing world.
4) We were afraid that Jenna and Trey would disown us if they found out we joined the Peace Corps only to live in an apartment bigger than what we had in Denver.

Above is a picture of Derek and Bonga (his counterpart), Mlekeleli (my supervisor) and me, and some pictures of our hiking. Those are views from the top and that picture of the rock in the distance is what we climbed up!!!

The Race is On!

2010-03-12T00:45:00.000-08:00

We were informed one week ago, ONE, that our training group was going to host a 5K race to benefit a local Home Based Care center. I would like to think that maybe they sprung this on us with such little time to plan in order to teach us some valuable life lessons, but I am afraid that the disorganization and last-minuteness might simply be a indication of how things occur here.

Well, even though we were only given a week to plan it, the race was quite a success and actually lots of fun. Almost 300 kids came out to run and a good amount of rand was raised. Derek worked on the committee responsible for collecting donations from local businesses and I headed up the registration table.

Meet the Mabonas

2010-03-01T00:22:00.000-08:00

Our home until March 25th:

We have moved in with our host family in Bhundu: the Mabona family. It is a large and fluid family so I thought I would start by giving you a rundown of the members.

Annah: Our Gogo (grandmother) is the matriarch of the family. She was a domestic worker in Pretoria for some 30 years and is now receiving a pension. She is constantly concerned with our happiness – asking, “you stay nice here?” Uhlala mnandi lapha? She is very proud of her culture and her family and her family loves her very much. She is the mother of five children.

Identities here are often found in the role you play within your family, so much so that one’s behavior and dress changes as a person takes on a new role. Gogos are often found sitting on their mats with their shawls or blankets pinned around their shoulders (even though it is already unbearably hot). Gogos will help with cooking and cleaning when they want, but it is not their main responsibility once they have children old enough to do such things. Annah meets all these criteria as much of our interactions with her take place in the shade on a matt and I have rarely seen her cook or do laundry – those tasks fall to the other members of the family who share the home with us.

Maria: Our sister (one of three, but the only one that lives in Bhundu full time) is 31 and the mother of 2 girls, Simpewe and Fundela. She is the main driving force in the family and is the primary guardian of the six children that live with us because the mothers of the other four children work in Pretoria full time. She is currently in a relationship with the father of her second child although he lives in a different village and so is rarely seen. He is supposedly trying to collect the labola (bride price), which her parents require. Maria stated that the price set is too high. Maria is a lot of fun to be around and is always teaching us new things. In addition to making sure the children are ready for school and deciding upon what will be cooked for dinner, she is often found fully engaged in the games often played in our yard. These games are not card games but range from soccer to crazy keep-away with the 20 to 30 kids that are constantly around.

Kleinboy: Our baba (grandfather) has been working at a hotel in Pretoria fir more than 40 years. He is hoping to retire this year. When he comes home on the weekends, even though he is tired, he pays individual attention to all the children and engages with his wife. He works very hard and is proud of his family and what he has accomplished. Although Derek and I do not know him well, I can honestly say he is a good man with a kind spirit.

Jane: She is Maria’s older sister and the mother of two boys (Percy and Leseugo). She is unmarried. So far we have only met her once as she works in Pretoria as a seamstress. Jane is very hip with coordinated jumpsuits and done-up hair and even a gold tooth. She is quiet, but very friendly.

Nomsa: She is the youngest of Annah’s children and the mother of Nothantha and Cezwe. She also works in Pretoria as a seamstress, but wishes she was able to stay in Bhundu all the time. Nomsa has a sweet face and a sweet personality. Her English is great and I loved her dresses.

Percy: He is 16 years old and very sharp. He loves electronics and switches between wanting to be a lawyer or a social worker. Percy is always interacting with the other children even though they are all significantly younger than he is. He loves children. I think he is very handsome and funny. A couple years ago he had a minor stroke, but the lasting damages are only apparent after you get to know him. He is amazed at Derek’s drawing skills.

Simpewe: She is 12 and the queen bee around the house. Very saucy. The kitchen is her domain and she loves to be busy – always acting like a little home-maker. She is petite and very pretty and also very clever, so, although she will make a great wife and mother, I hope she realizes there are many things she can do with her life. Recently she told me that she does not want to have children until she is very old (not sure what very old means – I might be very old to her) so she can go to school and do other things too. Teenage pregnancy and under-educated females are one of the problems plaguing rural areas of South Africa.

Nonthanda: She is also 12 and although she is not as motivated as Simpewe, she is much more kind, loving and easy to be around. She is a little chubby and everyone is fond of saying that she likes to eat too much. She will even say it herself. When she broke her arm (for the 3^rd time in 2 years!!!!!) a couple weeks ago and I was so very worried about her, she looked at me as she cradled her damaged limb and said “please don’t worry about me Melissa, I’ll be fine. Be happy.” She is so sweet. She is also very smart. I worry that she does not realize how smart she is.

Cezwe: He is 9 (or maybe 8 – it is hard to get a straight answer on his age for some reason) and is the only child currently attending private school. I think this is because he father pays for it. He is a big trouble maker and very active. Annah said to me shortly after we arrived, “if you hear me beating Cezwe, don’t worry. He goes to private school and is a problem.” Ha! I have never seen him get beaten but I have seen him worried about the possibility. This boy talks so much and is quite the story teller. He is funny and maybe a little crazy, but he has the best smile ever. Simpewe and he compete over who gets to brush my hair at night. If he lived in the states he would for sure be an exclusive hair stylist!

Leseugo: He is another one with a great smile and a mischievous air about him. He is nine, but will turn 10 before we leave him. He may be mischievous like Cezwe, but he is much quieter and rarely causes problems. On the contrary, he is much like Simpewe in that he is always busy being productive. The other day he came home from school and washed the dishes and then took the trash can out to the water faucet and started to deep clean it. I had not seen anyone tell him to do these things so when I asked if these were his chores Maria said, “No, Leseugo likes to be busy with good things.” What!!!! He is a nine year old boy. Also, one day he was gone for a bit and came back with some crazy looking contraption he had made from scrap metal. He claimed it was a bird trap and sure enough, after an hour or so up in a tree he had caught himself a bird. This boy will also catch flying bugs and patiently ties a string around them to make live kites. He is great!

Fundela: She is two and quite the diva. The whole house revolves around her and she is very aware of this fact. She has even decided not to respond to her given name, but to Smundi instead. I think she might be confused about her age because she often acts as those she is 22 instead of two. It is quite a funny thing to watch. For those of you who know Ireland and Caroline from Denver, Smundi is their South African equivalent. She is super cute and a bunch of fun. When she left for a week to go stay with her father’s family, I was devastated. She vacillates as to whom she likes better, Derek or me, and tells us and everyone else, who her chosen white person of the day is.

Pretoria: This may or may not be his real name. He is the second oldest of the five children (the oldest son lives elsewhere and we have not met him) and I affectionately call him “my drunk brother!” When he is in Bhundu he is constantly inebriated. CONSTANTLY. Or else he is sleeping. He works in New London as a plaster contractor and is supposedly very good at what he does. But, “he likes beer too much.” He is lazy and the entire family teases him about this, but he seems to not to care. When he is semi-lucid he expresses great concern regarding the children’s education and health, so he is not a bad guy. Just a drunk guy. Often he falls asleep outside and the children argue about who has to go fetch a blanket to cover him up with!!!!

So, that is our family. We love them very much and will be so sad to leave them come March 25^th.

The children ready for school

This is the view from our front lawn. Bhundu!!!!

At a wedding. It was great fun.

Nomsa and Smundi

Jane

The girls. Annah and Maria are not mad, adults just don't smile in photos - it is serious business

Derek, Percy, Cezwe and Leseugo

Homework time!

Our bucket baths - this model has been modified.....

Finally....

2010-01-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

I am writing this from our hotel room in D.C. a measly hour before we begin staging (training). We are very excited to be here. A little nervous, but mostly excited. We will be in meetings all afternoon and all day tomorrow up until we leave for the airport and South Africa. I have already had a mini self-esteem attack when I began to think too hard about my outfit choice - "you never get a second chance to make a first impression!" I had a little meeting in the mirror while Derek napped (CAROLINE!!!!) and reminded myself of what really matters and of all the thinking we put into our packing decisions. Wish us luck as we go meet the rest of the people going over to SA with us - I am sure we will make a lot of great new friendships, but it is always a little intimidating entering into such an unknown situation.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us along the road to here. We love you very much and would not have been able to get here alone.

Some Real Right-wing Fun

2010-01-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Derek and I went shooting with Jason and Brooke. I had shot a rifle before, but not a handgun like these. The first handgun Jason had us shoot, a .45, packed a serious punch and was extremely scary. Although I didn't drop the gun and start crying (Jenna!!!!), I was on edge the whole time. The second gun, a .22, was a lot softer to shoot, but the cartridges (or whatever they are called) kept flying back and falling down my shirt or hitting my forehead. See the videos below! I have some real biker-babe type scars on my chest now and understand why police women don't wear low-cut pink tops! We had a lot of fun!!

Christmas Round 5

2010-01-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

We finally made it to Nashville to celebrate Christmas with the Eli's. We got a bunch of nice gifts to add to the other gifts to get us ready for our move to South Africa. The tutu I made for Anna Rose was a little overwhelming at first, but after a little bit of time, she realized it wouldn't attack her and agreed to put it on!

Christmas Round 4

2009-12-29T19:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas Round 3

2009-12-28T13:29:00.001-08:00

Oklahoma City Memorial

2009-12-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

On the way from Phoenix to Minneapolis we stopped in OK City to visit the memorial and have a beer at a local brewery. The memorial was very nice.

Christmas Round 2

2009-12-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

And a farewell AZ breakfast. It was sad.

Random AZ Fun

2009-12-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

Camila lives in Tucson so we took turns between the valley and Tucson for visits. It is always awesome to spend time with her.

Dinner at the Krolls

Nancy and her new boyfriend, Charlie, whom we liked ever so much, came out to Phoenix to visit old co-worker friends and us. We had a nice time spending some time with them although it was not nearly enough!

Family Fun in Show Low

2009-12-16T19:37:00.000-08:00

Trey's family graciously allowed us to use their beautiful cabin (if you can call this place a cabin) for the weekend. We had a great time eating, playing games, reading and just being together even though I had a disgusting eye stye the whole time!!!

Petrified Forest

2009-12-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

Jenna and Trey helped dig up this skeleton.

While we were staying at the cabin in Show Low we took a day to go visit the Petrified Forest National Park. It was great hearing all the information Trey has come to know about the park and to see his enthusiasm about the history and natural surroundings. The petrified trees were neat to look at and also very beautiful, but a very big and important element to the park is the history including sundials to mark the soltices and hieroglyphics used to spread information and tell stories.

Christmas Round 1

2009-12-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas with Mom, Jenna, Jimmy, Trey and Lynda at the cabin in show-low with some gifts exchanged and a nice turkey dinner. It was lovely.

Turkey Killing 2009

2009-12-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

Leaving Denver

2009-11-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

Saying good-bye to my Denver mini-friends:

I have spent many hours over the past two years with these wonderful kids. Being their nanny/babysitter/friend has been very special to me and has been such a great job while finishing school. I can't express how grateful I am to have had such a fun and relaxing job that helped and allowed Derek and I the freedom and flexibility to live the life we did in Denver. I am so sad that when I see these buddies again they might not remember me - hopefully their parents will!

The always fun and crazy Emma and Nichole

Miss Saucy Pants, Ireland

The hysterical diva Caroline

The always charming and ever funny Samuel

Saying good-bye to the girl-friends whose friendships have molded me the most in Denver:

Sara, M, Rachael, Theresa, Ashley

M, Lara and Charlotte

Gandalf has been resettled in Portland and all reports are positive. The garage sale was a huge success and all other unnecessary items have been donated or given away. The POD has been packed and shipped off to Nashville for storage for the next two and a half years. Good byes have been said: drinks toasted, bread broken, tears shed. Tomorrow we say good bye to our second apartment shared as a married couple - it has been a good place to call home, full of good memories, challenges met and overcome, and growth. We will be sad to leave, but excited for the travels and adventures awaiting us.

1st Annual Chili Cook-Off

2009-11-20T17:44:00.000-08:00

Melissa and Erin

Derek and I, along with Rachael, Chris and Theresa, started a new tradition: a fall chili cook-off. We are planning on hosting one every fall from here on out. It was a lot of fun and a super success (even though Derek did not win) due in part to my strict following of the preplanned rules and the good food and company. I only have a few pictures but am hoping to get more soon.

Missy and Milly

Oh, and of course, congratulations Chris Fellabaum, this year's winner!!!!

2009-11-15T18:18:00.000-08:00

On January 28th we will be leaving for South Africa.

We will be living in the Northeast region

of the country working as an NGO (non-governmental organization a.k.a. international non-profit) volunteer.

Derek's Birthday in Nasville

2009-11-15T15:01:00.001-08:00

Opening Presents with his Assistant:

Cookie Making Fiasco:

A walk in the Park

2009-11-01T14:57:00.000-08:00

Let it Snow

2009-10-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

Snowman, woman and cat - the snow was too fluffy and dry to make three segments. Yep, that's strawberries, pineapple, grapes and carrots!

The snow is up to my knees!

We were hoping for another good snow before we left Denver in a month - yesterday and today we got it. It started snowing Tuesday night and it is still lightly falling now on Thursday evening. It is so beautiful and the situation is made even better by the fact that I got a few snow days out of it to stay home and enjoy it!!!! Gandalf even came out to play. You may see these pictures again because they would look super cute on a holiday card I must say!

My mom and sister were suppose to come in tonight but my poor mom is sick (hopefully not with H1N1) and so we decided to push the whole trip back so us 3 can be together. We were also planning on having a garage sale this weekend, but that may not happen either....

Arches National Park

2009-10-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

After the race we went to the national park. It was amazing and we really enjoyed it even though we were tired. The way the arches were formed is also cool, but I won't bore you with that now. Go here to learn about it.

The Other Half

2009-10-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Theresa, Rachael and I went to Moab to run a half Marathon called "The Other Half." My goal was to run the whole way, which I did even though at times walkers were moving up the hills faster than me. The excuses I have to offer: 1. I have been busy and so wasn't able to train; 2. My asthma came back and ruined my life; and 3. I have short legs. Rachael finished in the top 10% for her gender and age and Theresa was only a few minutes behind her. Whatever..... It was so beautiful. I can't imagine a better race because the weather was perfect and the scenery was amazing. And, of course, the company was wonderful. We really did have a great time.

The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes

2009-09-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

We didn't make it to MN this summer so I took a long weekend to go visit mom and Nana. We had a fun filled, museum going, big time eating weekend. The Science museum has the Titanic exhibit going on - at the start of the exhibit each person is given a card with details of a real person from the ship and during the viewing of the artifacts actors treat you as if you are that person. At the end you are able to find out whether "you" lived or perished. We went to several other museums while I was in town and I was happily reminded of where I got my love of learning experiences from: my grandmother!

Oh Brother

2009-09-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Derek, Ryan, and Jim

Ryan and Jim

Brooke and Melissa - this was one of our last Hurrahs before she left for Paris!

Good Pic!!

Ryan at the Tour de Fat party/festival

Jim and Miss

The parade - this picture doesn't really do it justice

We look so chill!

Jimmy and Ryan (his long time friend) drove up from the valley to spend the weekend with us. We went to 2 baseball games and went to Ft Collins for the Tour de Fat. It was a great time. The tour went to Tempe a few weeks later and Jim and his friends went and dressed up!!!! Too bad he doesn't have a blog to post pictures to.

Friends of a friend

2009-08-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

One of the first people I met in Denver was Erin who is a long-time friend of my Super Nashville Snappy friend Rachel. Erin and I hit it off right away because she is awesome (and is now an awesome ER nurse) and we often have fun times playing around. Rachel decided at the last minute to come out to Denver and I was thrilled. We had lofty plans involving a long bike ride, a movie, dinner out, but instead we ended up staying in and laughing till it hurt!

Jon and Baseball in August

2009-08-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Jon came out to visit Derek and see the cubs play the rockies. They went to two games and rode some super fancy bus chartered by a local pub! It was a fun weekend.

Three Years Ago

2009-08-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

Derek I celebrated our 3 year anniversary this week. We had a wonderful dinner at the Vesta Dipping Grill a place we have been waiting to go to. I can't imagine a better partner to share life with. We both consider ourselves lucky to have found someone who shares the same passions and desires in the important areas and yet is perfectly opposite in the areas each of us needs balancing out in.

Can you believe that 3 years has already gone by?

Hello Big Melissa and Good Bye Gandalf?

2009-08-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

Melissa (Big Melissa as opposed to Little Melissa), my old roommate from college and our very dear loved friend came out to Denver and CO Springs for a visit. We had a blast. She brought her new love, Russ, with so we were able to meet him too. He was great. Gandalf was suppose to leave with them and move to Maine. This is what Melissa, Derek and I had always talked about happening to Gandalf when we left for the PC, but when the morning came, we couldn't bare to part with him. Surprising to some and not so surprising to others, it was Derek who was the major advocate for keeping him. I of course hated the thought of being here without him, but I was slightly more prepared than Derek emotionally I guess. After much debate we decided to send him to Maine later because, as Derek said, "it just doesn't seem right to be here without him."

Idaho Springs Hot Springs

Melissa and Russ

Daddy of Them All

2009-07-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

So we went out to Cheyenne for Frontier days, which is suppose to be the biggest Rodeo event around. Actually, "the daddy of them all." The rodeo was a big deal, but I must say we were a little disappointed in the town. It is the capital and everything but it felt like a ghost town even with "Big Daddy" in town. Oh well. We had a lovely day together and took ourselves on our own walking tour using a brochure and tasted the local flavors at the TWO restaurants in town! We even visited two old trains!!!!! Jealous.....

Forth of July at the Ballpark

2009-07-05T10:50:00.001-07:00

Everyone from the Rock Pile (where we were sitting) moved down on to the field for the fireworks.

Melissa and Ashley

It started raining and we were a little worried. Luckily it cleared up but not before we were able to snap some pictures. We rode our bikes there and then after got settled Derek noticed that I had my head through and arm hole of the rain cover!

Will Work for Travel

2009-07-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Derek and I headed up with Sam's family to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs near Salida so I could watch Sam while his family went white water rafting one day. I have been watching Sam since March of 2008, right after we got here. He is a really great kid and we always have a blast together. The hot springs at this place were amazing. There were small pockets of hot water literally built out of the cold river by rocks so you would be sitting in a nautral hot tub with freezing cold water running just on the otherside of the rocks. There were also large pools of varying temperatures.

We went camping nearby the next night and spent the evening enjoying our new favorite pass time: Scrabble! I do not know why I didn't realize how much Derek would like this game before - it was tailor made for him it seems. We first played it together at a local bar that provides board games and we (Derek) were hooked! We have invested in a delux travel version so we can play it all the way to Africa and whenever we come to visit you! In the morning Derek surprised me with reservations to go horseback riding. I have really missed being around horses and he rode a horse for the first time since he was a little boy (hence the helmet)!!!! It was beautiful.

Twin Peaks Hiking

2009-06-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

I Will Make You Fishers of Men

2009-06-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

While I was in Steamboat, Derek headed to FL with his dad, Jason, and Eli. Once again Derek was taking all the pictures so there is no way to prove he was there! But he was and we have the fish to prove it. All together (10 people in their group) they caught over 400 pounds of Red Snapper, King Mackerel, Amber Jack and Rudder Jack.

Derek carried a good portion of it in a cooler back to Denver and we promptly had a super delicious fish fry/grill!

Near Death Experience in the Mountains

2009-06-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

So apparently I am a nerdy middle-schooler again. I am referring to the reemergence of my childhood asthma. It has been super annoying and almost earned me a trip in an ambulance in Steamboat this past weekend where I ran a 10k. Luckily my main reason for going was not to win the 10k (let's be honest - my goal is never to win, but to simply finish) but to cheer on Theresa during her marathon (she finished in under 4 hours!!!!!) Besides the brush with suffocation it was a nice trip with good friends and beautiful scenery.

Good Bye Sweet Camila

2009-06-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

My favorite grad school friend told me just a few days before her departure that she was leaving Denver not to return until after Derek and I were gone. Oh Camila. I was terribly upset since she was a major positive element to my life here. Sad, but she is off to exciting internships in DC and Geneva.... It was especially upsetting because it happened so fast. I am beginning to realize that my time in Denver is wrapping up and once again a chapter is beginning to close.

Grad school classes - check!

2009-06-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

Me, Rachael and Theresa at our favorite breakfast place: Snooze. We meet there at 6:00 a couple times a month and are often there before the lights are turned on or the pancake of the day has been decided.

I have officially finished my coursework at DU and it is thrilling and liberating. The momentous period was celebrated very well - birthdays and graduation parties galore!

Me and Camila

Nurse Erin!