The Sepedi Way

Where to start?! Up until now I have only had limited internet access via my kindle. It turns out my host brother has a computer w/internet. He uses it for work so I still might not be able to use it very often. I live with a mother and her two children Amos who is in his mid-20s and Kelly a teen with 6 month old twins, a newphew and a slew of other people who come through.

I am learning Sepedi and I will stay in the Limpopo Province, but I do not have my permanent site yet. I will find out in a couple of weeks. Everything is going well. Despite my family having electricity, a tv and a computer there is no running water and I use a pit latrine and clean myself by bucket bath. Those are adjustments, but I only arrived here on Saturday and I will be here for about six weeks. On the plus side, from my front yard I can see the Drakensberg mountains.

In the mornings I have language class in the garage of Robin and David's host family. My language group is taught by Jan (pronounced John), a very sweet 20-something. Robin and David are retired teachers from Ithaca. They're a very nice couple. My class is rounded off with Ethan, a 22/23 year old from Rochester, NY. In the afternoons we meet up with the three other Sepedi language groups for cultural sessions. It is a constant stream of information and I am not sure how much I retain at times. Even though it is entering fall, the sun is brutal and it wear me down. It's a constant fight to stay dry and feel clean.

My first week and a half here we stayed at Mokopane College. I didn't quite savor the delightfulness of having running water, a shower and flush toilet. I quickly got to know the 40-ish people in my group and in a surprise twist we acquired three more volunteers who were re-assigned due to the Niger program closing. My roommate during this intro time was Barb, a 70-something year old volunteer. I can honestly say I was the envy of all trainees. I can't begin to describe what an amazing woman she is. I think the word "spitfire" may give you an idea of what she is like. Witty, snappy, sassy...she is someone to look up to.

As for the rest of the group I think the breakdown is 70/30 women to men. There are three couples and surprisingly quite a few people in long-distance relationships. The age range starts at college graduates to 70s. I'm not sure anyone is my age. I've already made some good friends and future travel partners. Depending on my location within the province, I'll be relatively close to Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

As for communication, I will not have a cell phone until the end of March when I officially become a volunteer. In the meantime I am at the mercy of Peace Corps as to when I have transport to a pay phone. Peace Corps still hasn't distributed mail, but I'm looking forward it! I'm sure I've left out a lot. Please send me questions. I will post photos when I can.

p.s. In the future for mail I was told it's best to send it via air mail and mark it with religious symbols to minimize customs tampering. Also, you can label it "for education purposes." I don't know how much that really helps, but it's worth a try. Oh, and if you send postcards can you please send ones with scenery/landscapes/monuments so I can show my community different parts of the U.S.?