Well, hopefully this post and the last one make it onto our blog tomorrow…we are planning a trip to manzini, and I really hope that we get on the internet tomorrow. I guess if you are reading, then my hopes have come true! Right now I am typing by candlelight, which is pretty funny. It’s not even candle light per se, but those old timey glass lanterns with paraffin inside, which I actually really like to eat dinner by.
Our community is wonderful…I will admit, it started a bit rough for me without electricity, but I am starting to really enjoy “the simple life”. Our family here is very kind and open, and they are really nice to talk to and help us with SiSwati.
The other day I had a truly “Peace Corps” experience. We got a call from our counterpart telling us to meet her at the community center. We didn’t know what for, and figured it would just be a meeting. When we arrived, however, there was a HUGE group of mothers (bomake) and children. Apparently today was child registration day for world vision, so all the children in this section of the community were there to get their physical and height/weight. We asked how we could help, and within minutes I was weighing and measuring kids. Reid was taken somewhere else, and when I went to take him water a few hours later, I realized he was helping take pictures of each child. The amuzing part of his assignment was that all the young babies are terrified of him because they have never seen a white man (it took us quite a while to get the Swazis to admit this was why they were afraid, because they are so polite). So the make would set her child down in front of him, and right before the camera flashed, when turned to look at him, they would just start screaming. Halarious.
Needless to say, we are settling in nicely, I have been nesting. We will try to get a little video of our place once it is all put together. If you are reading this, then that means that hopefully we were able to order our furniture in Manzini.
Well, we will try to post more often now that training is over. Trust me, we have been thinking of everyone…it is very difficult to leave everyone behind and know that you all are so far away. We think of you every day, and we miss you dearly. God bless.
P.S. I added some other entries that I have been storing on my flash drive waiting for internet, so make sure you don't miss them!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Swearing-In
Ok, so trying to make a good post, since everyone says we don’t update enough (sorry!). We are in Mbabane for Swearing-in. I just found out that we passed our language tests, which is a relief. We are both very excited to get to site…our host family is really great. Our make is a primary school teacher, and our babe manages a public transport business. We are very close to a really nice shopping town, and also near the game reserve in lubombo region.
Yesterday we had the snake lecture, and man the snakes are scary…I think the scariest part was when I asked which snakes could catch up to us if we ran away, and our safety and security coordinator said the cobra likes to chase you, and can actually circle around and be in front of you. Pretty freaky!
We really miss everyone back home, and we are still working on getting a international calling plan set up, but if you have a calling card, you can reach me at 0112686937690 and reid at 0112686937691.
We love everyone!
Reid and Brooke
Yesterday we had the snake lecture, and man the snakes are scary…I think the scariest part was when I asked which snakes could catch up to us if we ran away, and our safety and security coordinator said the cobra likes to chase you, and can actually circle around and be in front of you. Pretty freaky!
We really miss everyone back home, and we are still working on getting a international calling plan set up, but if you have a calling card, you can reach me at 0112686937690 and reid at 0112686937691.
We love everyone!
Reid and Brooke
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Yes we are alive and well
We are settling in to our host family home which we will be staying in until mid-august. We have a very nice family- they are very modern in their ideas and very understanding of Americans. Writing letters has been a bit difficult… apparently the post office in the closest town (Piggs Peak) only sells stamps for local mail, and tends to be closed a lot. I think it will be easier to send letters when we are at our permanent site. We are learning the language slowly…it is hard to really get into it because most of the Swazi people also speak English. Our SiSwati instructor Themba is really cool, and he is a great teacher too. We miss everyone over there, and want you all to know we are doing great! A note to Donna: yes, they sweep their yards everyday. You were right on when you said it would be like coming to America a few generations ago.
Our nights consist of eating dinner and watching sopas, or soap operas. They are big into sopas here. We also watch the news out of South Africa. I think the hardest adjustment so far is trying to stay so clean. Swazis are very clean people! They wash at least once a day, and we are supposed to do laundry every day (we haven’t been able to do that yet). They also sweep and mop every day, and sweep the yard, to keep it a hard clay like consistency. This at first drove me mad, because I thought it was stupid, but now I see it serves several purposes- if it rains, it isn’t muddy, there are these giant ants that live underground, and it seems to keep them away, and it also deters rodents, bugs and snakes.
Our days consist of classes…technical, language, culture, and medical. Most days are long, and it gets dark at 6pm because we are up in the mountains and it is winter. I am really looking forward to longer days! We love you all, and I am going to wrap this up so we can go start a quest to find a non-stick skillet. Companies that produce skillets that stick should be out of business now, I can’t believe people still buy that crap!
Our nights consist of eating dinner and watching sopas, or soap operas. They are big into sopas here. We also watch the news out of South Africa. I think the hardest adjustment so far is trying to stay so clean. Swazis are very clean people! They wash at least once a day, and we are supposed to do laundry every day (we haven’t been able to do that yet). They also sweep and mop every day, and sweep the yard, to keep it a hard clay like consistency. This at first drove me mad, because I thought it was stupid, but now I see it serves several purposes- if it rains, it isn’t muddy, there are these giant ants that live underground, and it seems to keep them away, and it also deters rodents, bugs and snakes.
Our days consist of classes…technical, language, culture, and medical. Most days are long, and it gets dark at 6pm because we are up in the mountains and it is winter. I am really looking forward to longer days! We love you all, and I am going to wrap this up so we can go start a quest to find a non-stick skillet. Companies that produce skillets that stick should be out of business now, I can’t believe people still buy that crap!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sawubona from Swaziland!
(Added later, sorry)
Well, we we’ve made it at last. We are finally here in Ngonini at a Farmer’s Training Site owned by both the Swaziland Government and a Lutheran Church. The mountains and plants are absolutely breathtaking. The people are very friendly and patient with us. Today we had a few children living on the training site to teach us how to wash clothes…it’s amazing how well they can speak both SiSwati and English. The food is really good. There are lots of veggies and they cook meat really well. We had mashed potatoes for dinner tonight (Yay, Pat!) We aren’t really sure when the next time we will be able to use internet is, but we will be at our training host family’s house by the end of this coming week, and we will know our assignment (if we make it) by the end of the month. We are supposed to get together with the group 5 and 6 volunteers that are left for July 4th and have BBQ. We love you all and keep you in our thoughts and prayers. Hamban Kahle (Go Well).
To the Buddies:
Thanks to everyone who called as we were leaving (and to Yingna for actually notifying everyone). And to those who I didn’t give a proper send off, I apologize for the vanishing act. It was one of those “it all happened so fast” moments. In the chaos, I lost valuable sleep and one sandal in DC. Unexpected perk was a visit from John. We all went to dinner where he had Chinese and sushi for the second time in one evening. Everyone in DC was very nice and accommodating and I didn’t get shot one time, so that didn’t go as planned. Then it was a day/night/day of firsts: the first time to leave the country, to ride on a plane that served meals (three) and played movies, to see an ocean (not counting the Gulf, there were more. We stayed in Johannesburg that night and then took a bus into the Swaz the next morning which lasted about 5.5 hours.
So that’s getting here, but since we parked it’s been awesome like camp. I am next to an orange orchard and I saw some banana trees on the way in. This, to me, is a good thing. Again, you can’t find a jerk around. Everybody’s cool and they all know both English and siSwati and they all coach you on it if you want. The kids showed Brooke how they wash their clothes and then we played hop scotch and I demonstrated both head and hand stands and they all tried to teach us siSwati (they were all fluently bilingual). And, I am about to lose power on the computer so I have to stop here. Love you all and Drive safe,
ReiD
Well, we we’ve made it at last. We are finally here in Ngonini at a Farmer’s Training Site owned by both the Swaziland Government and a Lutheran Church. The mountains and plants are absolutely breathtaking. The people are very friendly and patient with us. Today we had a few children living on the training site to teach us how to wash clothes…it’s amazing how well they can speak both SiSwati and English. The food is really good. There are lots of veggies and they cook meat really well. We had mashed potatoes for dinner tonight (Yay, Pat!) We aren’t really sure when the next time we will be able to use internet is, but we will be at our training host family’s house by the end of this coming week, and we will know our assignment (if we make it) by the end of the month. We are supposed to get together with the group 5 and 6 volunteers that are left for July 4th and have BBQ. We love you all and keep you in our thoughts and prayers. Hamban Kahle (Go Well).
To the Buddies:
Thanks to everyone who called as we were leaving (and to Yingna for actually notifying everyone). And to those who I didn’t give a proper send off, I apologize for the vanishing act. It was one of those “it all happened so fast” moments. In the chaos, I lost valuable sleep and one sandal in DC. Unexpected perk was a visit from John. We all went to dinner where he had Chinese and sushi for the second time in one evening. Everyone in DC was very nice and accommodating and I didn’t get shot one time, so that didn’t go as planned. Then it was a day/night/day of firsts: the first time to leave the country, to ride on a plane that served meals (three) and played movies, to see an ocean (not counting the Gulf, there were more. We stayed in Johannesburg that night and then took a bus into the Swaz the next morning which lasted about 5.5 hours.
So that’s getting here, but since we parked it’s been awesome like camp. I am next to an orange orchard and I saw some banana trees on the way in. This, to me, is a good thing. Again, you can’t find a jerk around. Everybody’s cool and they all know both English and siSwati and they all coach you on it if you want. The kids showed Brooke how they wash their clothes and then we played hop scotch and I demonstrated both head and hand stands and they all tried to teach us siSwati (they were all fluently bilingual). And, I am about to lose power on the computer so I have to stop here. Love you all and Drive safe,
ReiD
Monday, June 15, 2009
Bittersweet Goodbyes
Reid and I just got back from a wedding, and it was the last time I will be seeing my Corps buddies (I will miss you guys!) Reid and I are both getting very anxious, and are staying pretty busy. It is so weird to realize we will be in another country soon. I am going to figure out how to post our address on a sidebar- I promise I am decent with computers, I have just never had a blog before^_^ It should appear right below the title of our blog. Here it is again, and this is if you are sending mail or packages through USPS. If you have to use Fedex or DHL, let us know and we will give the alternate address.
Mbaban
Swaziland
Reid and Brooke Golden, PCV
U. S. Peace Corps
P.O. Box 2797
Mbabane, H100
Swaziland
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