Saturday, October 3, 2009

Settling in at site and first field trip

September 17th I arrived at my site, which is a very small village about 20 miles from Kuruman in the Kalahari Desert. There was less than one week of school left before the spring break, so I most observed, then help the educators compile some final reports. I helped do some typing, and the librarian scheme about how to make good changes for the school library. But mostly lots of sitting and waiting. That has been the hardest part, not being busy or not knowing what to do. Just waiting.

The nights are cold but calm, the days get hot and windy, but usually dies down in the evening. Yesterday it rained, which was quite noisy under a tin roof, but pretty exciting. I felt, for the first time, like I was having a true "Peace Corps experience" sitting in my own little house drinking a glass of wine and smoking a cigarette, listening to the rain, snacking on some olives. I get home from school around 3pm, wash my dishes, rest for about an hour (that usually means reading) then do yoga for an hour, then run for an hour. It's really nice to be finished right as the sun is setting.

Sunday night I went with my school on a field trip to Capetown. Capetown, the magical place! It's amazingly beautiful and very different from any other place than South Africa. It was nice to bond with the learners (grade 6 and 7) and my educators. Good to see the bright spots and know that we will all gain from each other.

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