Exhaustion

WARNING!  The following is pretty rambly and interlocks several different things.  It all makes since in my head so here’s hoping you can follow my train of thought.

So this is the second idea for a blog post I had on Sunday.  The first was about riding combos (taking 3 of them in one day really inspired me).  This one came to me when I was sitting in the back of a truck on the way home from Letlhakeng.  I was coming home from celebrating our 1 year in Gabs with my fellow Bots 11s when I realized exactly how tired I was.  I mean I had noticed it for a while, but that was when it really hit me.  And not tired in my normal way.  Sure, I was up later than normal the last two nights, but this tiredness was not physical.

It took me awhile, but I finally figured it out.  All of my interacting with people was just leaving me utterly drained.  I can honestly say that I am currently more drained than I have ever been in my life.  And it wasn’t even the people themselves, it is just that I am not used to it to this degree.  I have always been used to being tired.  There was one point in college that I was working 40 hours a week on-campus, an extra 20-25 off-campus, interning at the YMCA and still taking a full course load.  So I am used to being busy and tired, but this is different. 

When I was growing up I was never that outgoing.  I mean I only talk to 2 people from my high school anymore.  And I don’t think anyone from my grade school.  So when I went to college I really made a conscious effort to try and be more approachable and outgoing.  And I think I did an ok job at it.  But here, relationships are much more difficult for me.  And I am going to break this down into two reasons why I think so.

First is just based on how much of my time relationships/relationship building dominates.  In the US you can go through most of your day without having to probe too deeply into another person’s life.  At work you can get by with pleasantries and small talk.  Maybe more than that if you are friends with people from your work.  Here, I cannot get through a work related conversation without at least 10 minutes of home/personal life problems.  A short meeting yesterday for example to talk about a workshop I am planning ended up leading into talks about a relative who may or may not have murdered their boyfriend in South Africa.  And while I have no problem lending a sympathetic ear, the sheer volume of these instances is just exhausting.  And since work is based on relationships, every time I talk to one teacher I get to hear them go on a rant about whatever other teacher they are accusing for the day of being lazy/not doing their job. 

Later in the day, when all I really want is some alone time, it is seen as culturally abnormal to not socialize, go have tea and so on.  Most days I still just go home, but for a while it led to people asking if I was feeling alright.  Luckily, at least my work mates, all figured out that I like to read a lot and that I need alone time to do that. 

Even when I am away from home (or simply in transit one way or the other) you cannot avoid people.  Even if I am reading on the combi people will still talk to me.  Walking down the street you greet everyone (and some of them get really chatty building up the nerve to ask for money).  It is hard to write all of this without sounding like I hate people.  Really, I don’t.  But the culture here is just so different from America in regards to interpersonal communication.  I miss the luxury of being anonymous.  It is tiring having to be “on” 24/7. 

You would think it would be better with other Americans (aka my fellow PCVs), but actually it isn’t.  Seeing them every weekend (while very nice) is still exhausting.  Usually because of the large group numbers.  I never did well with large groups of people to begin with, so when I am seeing 27 others at once it is a bit much.  Also, having my weekends planned so far out (as in till mid-November) also means that I am sacrificing valuable alone/recharge time.  I really do enjoy seeing my friends here, and haven’t cancelled on any plans, but always at the end I am inevitably tired.  I cannot even image how those who live in bigger areas and always seem to have people running in and out of their houses manage it. 

My second problem is that while relationships and talking to people seem to be very important, it almost always seems highly superficial to me.  Part of the blame for that I lay at the feet of others, and part at my own.  The superficial conversations on the part of other people generally fall into 2 categories: people who are fishing for answers or people who are hypocritical. 

The people fishing for answers always want to hear exactly what is already in their heads.  Two big fishing questions are “How do you like/find Botswana?”  and “What is America like?”  In response to the first question they never, ever want to hear anything bad about Botswana.  So while I may be having a bad day and thinking things like “the people are always asking for handouts” (that usually happens to me in Moleps, not really ever at home) or “everyone is just trying to marry an American” I never say these.  Or rather I shouldn’t say these (I think I might have once or twice).  Even on good days I still want to say things like “Well, Botswana could do with a little less protocol.”  But the thing is, no matter what I think negatively about Botswana, most people don’t care.  They just want to hear “oh Botswana is very nice, the people are very friendly” and so on.  All they are looking for is an affirmation of their culture.  Or in regards to American culture, they never believe me when I say there are homeless people.  They want to hear about how all Americans are rich.  And ask which celebrities I know.  And when I know that going into the conversation then I immediately lose interest in talking to them and it becomes a chore.

Then there are the hypocrites.  And boy do these people piss me off.  Generally this breaks down into three different categories: religious, dating and work.  People start and end every meeting with prayer.  They talk about how important religion is.  Most of them go to church every Sunday.  But then these are the same people who are having multiple partners at once or talk about how sex is a way to prove love.  Say what now?  There are some people who I have never seen go to church.  And since my house is on the only church compound in the village I should know if they go.  Yet these same people (and even on Sunday when I am walking by their house) ask why I don’t go to church since I “should be there.”  But when I ask them why they don’t go, they get offended.  This is the only one of the three hypocrisies that has gotten better with time.  Very few people ever ask me about it anymore, and respect that I do not attend church. 

There is one that has not gotten better; in fact it happens every day.  This would be work related grievances.  Right now I probably know enough information to destroy 80% of the working relationships at my school.  Everyone here loves to talk about everyone else behind their backs.  “Ah, Ms…… is never in her class.  Mr…… is a very lazy person.  He never does any work.”  And so on and so forth.  From nearly every one.  And the best part is, while they are complaining to me about these things is almost always during class time when they are leaving their own classes unattended.  The problem is that in Botswana confrontation does not happen usually.  So instead people talk about each other secretively and nothing changes.  I swear that a little confrontation in this culture would go a long way.  And I can honestly say I am not the only one who realizes this work behavior is a problem.  One of the other teachers (one of my favorites and the only one I have not seen engage in this behavior) talked to me about this problem the other day. 

Dating.  First of all, did you know that white people and black people can’t pace a relationship in the same way?  That is what one of the male teachers at my school told me.  Several of us were having a conversation one night at the police chief’s house (we walked her home after a funeral) when the topic of dating came up.  The male nurse and male teacher talked about how you need to have sex to prove you are in a relationship with that person and love them.  If you are waiting it must mean you have another guy on the side.  The two female teachers were countering that it may just mean that the woman is not that experienced and wants to take things slow.  I sided with the female teachers and put in my two cents.  Well that was when I was told that yes that works for white men but it isn’t the same for black men.  He said it was a cultural difference between Botswana and America.  This is ridiculous since I took the side of two Batswana women in this discussion.  The other issue I have with dating is people trying to hook me up all the time.  So many Batswana tell me I need to find a Batswana woman to marry.  Often times this is also right after they talk about how much they want to find an American woman to marry.  So I ask them, “If the Batswana women are so amazing that I must marry one, why are you trying to find an American instead?”  Usually I don’t get an answer to this.  The truth is they think all Americans are rich, and want to marry one to get money.  Sorry to sound cynical and jaded, but this has happened to me so many times.  Seriously, these conversations happen about once a week at least.

I wanted to end with dating because it is a nice lead in to how I have also been a culprit in these exhausting, superficial conversations.  My problem has been that I am constantly holding back, and am always afraid to get close to people.  And that is because I am always on my guard.  And a lot of that has to do with people’s curiosity about dating.  It is funny, you never really tell your parents if you are dating in this country, but it is such a popular topic otherwise.  And that means that I always am worrying about how the conversation will turn.  I am always making sure that I am ready to lie at a moment’s notice (and that my lies are consistent).  And when I have a conversation where I am constantly thinking about holding back some things, it leads to me closing myself off more, losing interest in the conversation/relationship and finally just more exhaustion. 

The thing is if this was the biggest factor to my mood in Botswana, I could always just leave.  But, despite how exhausted I am I am still enjoying the work I am doing.  This is an amazing experience to begin with, and I love my job on top of it.  Sure there any tons of stressors, but working with kids at the school has just been amazing.  The PACT club is going well.  We actually finally just started the garden.  And I have a few teachers that are actively joining in to do sport and game activities with the kids.  Then there are still the kids I am teaching to type as well.  So all in all I am still glad I am here, just some moments are a lot more trying than others. 

Now I don’t know if I needed to go into all of that long winded explanation on everything, but I wanted to at least let people understand why I say I am exhausted by people.  It is really a large culmination of factors, and in no way represents that I hate people.  I do like seeing you all, but just know that if I seem a bit short tempered (which did happen a couple times during and leading up to our one year party) it isn’t anything against you and I just need some time alone for a few.  Sorry about the snapping at some of you.  Also, it helped me to write it all down to understand it better since this kind of tiredness is new to me.

How to ride a combi

First of all, before I get to the meat of this blog post, about that surprise I promised last time.  Well, if you didn’t already see it on Facebook, I am coming back to the US next May for about 2.5 weeks.  In fact I have already purchased tickets.  I leave from Jo’burg on May 13^th, get in May 14^th to O’Hare airport.  Then I leave again from O’Hare on the 31^st, getting back to Botswana on June 2^nd.  My schedule (still somewhat tentative but mostly set) is: May 14-arrive in the afternoon, staying in IL with Aunt Rose and Uncle Tom from then until May 19^th.  May 19^th leave for Grand Rapids and stay there till Thursday, May 23^rd.  Friday the 24^th leave for Katie and Sean’s wedding.  Sunday the 26^th, head back to IL.  Finally, I am staying in IL from then until departure.  I am not making any dinner dates or such like that yet, but I will accept them when we get closer. 

Now then, with that out of the way, onto today’s post.  This one is meant to be more light-hearted.  This is because I am working on two simultaneously and the next one which will come very soon is going to be full of rambling and introspection, so leading into that with this. 

How to ride a combi.  Now, riding in a combi has multiple facets.  I will start with the biggest issue: selecting your seat.  Here is a terrible artist’s (me) rendition of a combi.  Seats are numbered for sake of ease.  Note there is also a conductor on board, but he is not assigned a seat, in fact if there are enough passengers he actually stands/crouches over the person in seat 18.

	1   2    Driver (18?)   3  4  5 (17?)   6  7  8  9    10  11  12 13  14  15  16

 

See what I mean by bad art?  That is just a rectangle for crying out loud, and a text box rectangle at that.  But combis are just large vans so it isn’t too far off.  Row 1 and behind are all the back seat.  So let’s take this seat by seat. 

1 and 2: if this is open take it.  1, 2 and the driver are the front seat.  I don’t care if you have to drive through the window past an old woman, you do it.  There is one minor exception to this.  If you have a large bag with you that cannot fit in back, take seats 3-5.  There is a small shelf area to put your bag, and you will be more comfortable there.  As such, if 1 and 2 are taking 3-5 is prime real estate.  Take that next.  Preferably 5 over 3 or 4.  Oh, and 1 is better than 2.  Reason?  Window control.  You want it because even if it is 40 degrees people will still shut the windows.  Keep that control in your hands.

At this point we have moved beyond the ideal positions.  In fact I would even say beyond the good positions.  For someone my height, if I get anywhere else I have no leg room.  And in the very back row my head touches the ceiling if I don’t hunch over.  The other day I was in the back row and was with some other PCVs (also in back).  When I got out of the combi everyone heard my knees creak and groan when I got to stretch my legs.  So if you end up in 6-16 here is the order you should take them.  8, 12, 16, 6, 9, 13, 7, 10, 11, 14 and finally 15.  8, 12 and 16 come first for once again, window control.  Some combis have windows at 6, 9 and 13 as well, hence why they come next.  Those three seats have a drawback though.  They are the path out (folding seats) so you may have to move a lot if you are in 6 and getting out last.  But, these are also the last seats to be filled usually.  Which means that if you are in a full combi and in one of those seats, when someone leaves you suddenly have extra leg room.  Not quite as valuable as a constant window but still nice.  Those middle seats in the back just suck.  Only take them if you have to.  Finally we have the two question mark seats.  Sometimes if the combi wants more money they will put people in those.  I will say about half do and half don’t from my experience.  Both suck, and are just extensions of the same problems in the back row.  But 18 is the worst.  Remember that thing about the conductor hovering over you.  Awkward. 

There is one final consideration for your positioning, when you are getting out.  If you are dropping at a village along the way to the final destination of the combi, sit closer to the front and to the aisle.  It makes for a quicker get away and less people have to move out of your way.  On the other hand, avoid that area if you are at the end of the line (back row aisle is alright) because then YOU will have to get in and out and in and out and in and out whenever anyone wants to leave. 

Now, general tips for riding a combi.

1.       If you have a lot of luggage, load it on wherever you can before people get in.  Especially if your stuff is heavy people won’t want to lift it and then you are guaranteed not to have it on your lap.

2.       Have you money accessible.  I do not mean in your pocket.  Ever try reaching into a pocket with 4 people sitting in a seat area really designed for 2.5-3 people?  Doesn’t work.  Keep money for the combi in a front pouch of your pack (or purse for you females out there).  This doesn’t mean have it there the whole time you are walking around.  But move your fare to that spot right before or upon entering, aka before the combi is too crowded.

3.       Repeat tip 2 for cell phones.  Also hard to dig out of pockets. 

4.       Don’t close the window.  Ever.  Even in the mid of winter combi interiors get hot and sweaty really fast.

5.       Have a book (or headphones).  You need a distraction.  But be warned even these aren’t fool proof.  I was reading on my last combi ride from Moleps to Gabs and the people in the combi still would not leave me alone.  While I don’t mind conversation, it is tedious when the conversation is a bunch of people (both men and women) talking about how they need to get me a “sugar momma.”  Yeah, that seriously happened.

Ok, that is about all I got for riding combis.  See also my tips for riding the bus.  Oh wait, nevermind, busses suck.  Never take them.  Ever.

New Youtube video!

Man, this one took a long time to get up there, but I finally got the video from Commonwealth Day on Youtube.  So check out the link at the top of the page.

Update, with an interactive game!

I’m going to kick off this blog with a game.  Let’s see who is successful.  The game is “Count the animal references.”  I have a funny animal story to kick off this blog, so I will talk about the rest of it in terms of animal references just for thematic fun.  Also, since this is going to be doing a more just general update on what I have been doing and am going to do, I thought I would at least make it more interesting.

First my chicken story (this is the only one I will give away, the rest you are on your own to find).  I came into Gabs today due to some meetings starting tomorrow and while I planned to hitch from Moleps, the first thing that came by happened to be the bus.  So I regrettably got on it.  I hate busses here. First of all, it was packed.  Like really packed.  It was a fricken cattle car in there.  And somehow I ended up standing next to this woman holding a rooster.  All in all not that abnormal, I can’t even count the rides I have been in that have chickens in them.  But this rooster was something special.  Something about him held me captivated.  Maybe it was how calm he was.  Maybe it was his tiny eyes, or maybe, just maybe it was when he pecked me in the crotch. 

This past month (actually make that 2-basically ever since Youth Forum in Salajwe) I have felt like a damn snail basically carrying my home on my back.  After getting back from Durban I had 3 days in my village; then I left for a retreat in Maun with the Ministry of Education.  Of course, right after I left my village and reached Moleps the retreat was postponed.  So I hung out in Moleps for the weekend then went back home for about a week and a half.  Following this brief stay at home I then had to move into social butterfly mode by going to Bots 12’s IST for a week.  And without even a brief stop at home I was off to Werda to help with a day camp for boys and girls.  The event went well, except for the jackass moment I had when I was showing the strength of condoms and broke it pulling it over my hand.  Then it was back home for just 5 days. 

Currently, I am in Gabs to attend a meeting with the Ministry of Education.  What started as a 3 day retreat in Maun for some R&R somehow morphed into a 2 day event of meetings in Gabs.  Needless to say my mindset going into this isn’t the best.  In fact, my latest horoscope (Cancer the crab for those that didn’t know) says, “You can't believe everything you hear -- and right now, you feel like you can't believe anything at all! Your suspicions are easily aroused, but you need to temper them with respect and trust.”  Might be the first time a horoscope might actually be right for me.

Following this I get to go home again for about 8 days.  And then party time for our one year anniversary!  One week after that I will be at Bots 13’s PST for Diversity Day.  The week after that school closes for a week for midterm break and I will be going to PST again for one day, then hiking the trails of Lesotho for a few days like a mountain goat.  3 days after I get back from that we have a meeting in Gabs for PSDN to work on selecting our new members.  And then two weeks after that I have to go to PST for the 3^rd, and last time, for an entire week.  And then it is November.  So from now till November I am basically running around like a chicken with its head cut off. 

And with that I think I have given people a decent general update on what I am doing.  During my time at home I am still chugging along with Life Skill classes, girls, and now boys too, soccer and various clubs.  Plus I now have an active teacher to help with the garden!  Which if that gets off the ground I can maybe get some more rabbit food. 

Also, while a touch premature, happy one year anniversary Bots 11!  On the 15^th we will have officially been here for a year!

And finally, I have a surprise coming soon, one I hope to reveal on my next blog post.  And while some of you know this surprise already, don’t spoil it for those that don’t!

Durban vacation

“….”  “….”  Damn this lack of a voice. 

That was my biggest thought while on my unintended mime adventure in Durban recently.  This was my first Peace Corps vacation, and during the first full night in Durban, I completely lost my voice.  I was so angry.  It came back on the train ride back to Jo’burg.  But anyway, let’s talk (since I couldn’t then) about the awesomeness that is Durban.

 See, look at that.  Awesome

First of all we left from Gabs via bus to Jo’burg.  A bus ride I was very depressed on.  I was promised terrible movies being played and they did not play a single movie!  I love watching bad movies, so this was a bit of a let-down.  Despite this let-down the bus was quite pleasant, and I even finished a book on it.  We had a several hour layover in Jo’burg while we waited for the train to Durban.  John, Carol and I spent it in the most appropriate place.

 BOOYAH!

That is right.  World of Beer.  We got a private 1.5 hour tour, a taste of traditional brew, a half beer draft of Castle Lager (in a souvenir cup we got to keep), and two beers at the end.  And how much did all this cost us?  55 rand.  Which is about 7 dollars.  Yup, 7 dollars.  So far the vacation is off to a success.  Including drinking wine like a homeless man on the train.  When I went to the bottle store to stock for the train they wrapped my bottle of wine (the cheapest in the store) in newspaper.  Naturally I had to keep it in there. 

Here was where we had the first real hiccup.  The train was a few hours late in departing.  Since we were scheduled to arrive at 7am it was not a huge deal.  We just arrived a bit later in the morning, but still with plenty of time for lunch.  The train did have another issue though.  The heat went out at night, so it was pretty cold.  But we convinced them to give us all free blankets in recompense.  And on the ride back the heat stayed on all night, so nothing too catastrophic. 

 But look at that killer view!

And then we arrived at the final destination (no, not that overly drawn out film series), Durban.  The beach area has several taglines, including “Summer all year round.”  And boy are they right.  The weather was amazing.  It was so nice.  We swam in the Indian Ocean and it was the perfect temperature.   And the hotel we stayed at was right on the beach.  I mean look at that view.

 Just look at it!

But now for the real highlights of the trip.  First of all, nightlife!  There were things to do at night.  A few of us went out to this bar that had karaoke our first night there.  We also found a street that had a ton of bars, restaurants and such.  Most impressive there?  Durban’s largest pizza.  1 meter in diameter.  The thing was massive.  3 of us split it…for 2 meals.  Very cost effective.  Also, 32 rand long island iced teas (4 dollars).  All of that was just amazing. 

But there were two big highlights that topped the rest.  The first is shark tank diving.  At the uShaka Marine World you can swim in a tank in the shark exhibit for very cheap (especially with the half off tickets we found).  So I got to spend 10 minutes in a tank while sharks swam around nearby (Karla was in the tank with me).  And you better believe I was singing the Jaws theme in my head the entire team.  I would have done it outloud if I had a voice and wasn’t underwater.  It was cool, and definitely a new experience, but only my second favorite moment in Durban.

 Jaws theme!

And now for the best moment of the vacation.  Many of you already know I did this, but for those that don’t I partook in the world’s largest bungee swing at Moses Mabhibi Stadium (where World Cup games were played in Durban).  It is 220 meters (or 721 feet)!  Scary, exhilarating, “feels like you took a bunch of drugs” were all phrases used to describe what it felt like.  While I did not say the last one myself I can see why someone would say that.  After the long climb up

 Yeah, you have to walk up those stairs on the arch

you then have to go down this tiny ladder to the platform

and then comes the big moment.

This was John's turn

If you aren’t fast enough they push you.  I did manage to jump and did not even hold on to the cord for the way down.  John and I had this as our big goal.  After the swing is done you hang there for a minute, then they slowly winch you back up to the platform.  During the swing itself I felt like I was crazy.  Why in the world did I do this?  But as soon as the cord caught and I wasn’t in freefall those thoughts went away to thoughts like, “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”  Most just that.  I could not scream it, because remember, no voice.  As soon as I finished swinging I started tingling all over and could not help but grin like the Cheshire Cat for about an hour.  So I can see why it is compared to doing a bunch of drugs (disclaimer-never actually done a bunch of drugs, but from stories I hear this sounds about right).  In face if you head over to my youtube page you can see Kristen’s film of my jump from her spot in the stadium. 

And of course as soon as this was done (and while we were waiting for the company to finish our films of the jump) we went and had a drink.  Or three. 

The way back was bittersweet.  Great vacation, sad to be leaving, but also rejuvenated for work again.  Well after a quick stop at the McDonalds in Jo’burg for fries and a chocolate shake (there is no McDonalds in Bots).  And the bus ride back did deliver with bad movies, so all in all a fantastic vacation and one of the best I have ever taken!  Although whether that is because it is true, or due to PC lowering expectations…well ga ke itse. 

For more pictures of Durban head on over to the pictures page!  Also, can you believe that in one month and 12 days I will have been out of the USA for an entire year?!?!?!  This experience is just going crazy fast!

New youtube video!

I think the title says it all.  Just click the link at the top of the page.

23 things for a 23 year old

In commemoration of turning 23 recently, I present a list somewhat similar to what I did for my six month mark. However, instead of varying lists of top 6’s, here is one list of top 23 memorable moments so far in Bots.  Remember, memorable does not mean good necessarily.  A few of these are repeats, but plenty are new.

23.  Getting sick from the water at Rocklane Lodge-This was the first time that I ever really got sick in Botswana.  So it makes the list, but not at the high end.  And before anyone asks, the water in Bots is fine.  This lodge was low on water and storing it in dirty tanks, hence why I got sick.

22.  New Years-First, and up till now only, time I have gone into Khutse Game Reserve.  Sure it was cool, but not the right season to see a lot of animals, and I didn’t see a lion or leopard.

21.  Village name-So village names in Botswana usually mean something.  Mia’s village of Metsibotlhoko means “painful water.”  Becky’s village, Hatsalatladi, wins the award for best name, “Cracked by thunder.”  So when I finally found out my village name I was…disappointed.  Kaudwane means “old skin.”  Yeah, Becky gets cracked by thunder and I am stuck with old skin. 

20.  The first night I felt cold-OH MY GOD!  This was amazing.  After months of trying to just not sweat while sleeping I finally felt cold.  Thank you winter!

19.  Standing-No, not standing on a bus or hitch.  I mean the evil, painful standing PC staff made us do right after we got to Bots.  They didn’t want us to get jetlagged so when we were in Gabs for the night we had to do skits and weren’t even allowed to sit until 8pm.  GRRRRRRR!

18.  Abby’s farewell party-This is memorable to me for two different reasons.  First, it signaled the departure of Bots 9.  They were the first group we saw leave.  Secondly, it made Bots 11 Life Skills volunteers the oldest group of Life Skills people (not including John Rusiecki in his 4^th year and Mary Konege’s 3 month extension).

17.  PMS workshop-Another painful one.  This exemplified the Batswana ability to take forever to do things.  A 2 day workshop lasted 2 weeks!!!!  But, it may be beneficial to my service down the line since I got what I wanted in our school’s strategic plan.  The question is will it be followed…

16.  Python sighting-Ah snakes.  I see too many of you.  I mentioned this one once before, but seeing a python that had swallowed a goat is too amazing not to list twice.

15.  The wrong way hitch-This was the biggest test of my patience so far.  And I mentioned it once before under my post about the types of hitches.  So if you want more details refer to that.

14.  Running in Kanye-Every morning with Julia, and some mornings with the dog from my home stay.  Fun, and a great way to start the days.  Especially the course we had to the top of the giant hill.

13.  Caltex bar-I am sure this bar has a real name, but I don’t know it.  And even if I did, I wouldn’t call it that.  This is the place that a lot of our intake went to in Kanye after long days of PST to unwind, chat, and get to know each other better.  We even threw a birthday party there. 

12.  The paint can-My butt still hurts thinking about this.  Hitching to Letlhakeng and everyone in the back of this truck is sitting on paint buckets.  We hit a huge bump, I get air, and come back down wrong and bruise myself for weeks.  OUCH!

11.  Swearing in-The day that training stopped and I actually reached the point of being able to call myself a Peace Corps Volunteer.  I mean, it will always be memorable for obvious reasons.

10.  Getting rent-UGH!  First big instance of having to deal with government.  It took 2 days, and several offices just to get the money to pay my landlord.  Four months late no less.  And with how often I have been doing claims lately, I can easily say I learned a lot from this experience and am wiser for it.

9.  Site announcement-This is my most memorable moment from PST, even more than the end of it at Swear in.  I mean, this was the day I learned where I would spend the next two years of my life.  And I will always remember telling Rachel who was sitting next to me when we were waiting to get our sites that I wanted the one right under the game reserve.  And about 15 minutes later, I got it!

8.  Mass exorcism-This one is probably raising a few eyebrows.  Well, I went to another Youth Forum last week, this time in Salajwe.  Well the last two days were just a bunch of exorcisms.  The first time they did it they locked over 200 people in the main hall (blocked the doors with tables) and did “deliverances” to root out the demons that some Satanists attending the event had called to corrupt the children.  4 of the participants were the Satanists (and rumor has it one facilitator too).  It was honestly a very scary experience (even though I was not in the room luckily-but I could still hear it).  I won’t put any more details about it here, but if you want to know more send me an email: hiiadam89@gmail.com

7.  First funeral-So far I have only gone to one funeral.  But because of it I can say that I have aided in burials on two continents thanks to my summer working for the City of Grand Rapids at Oak Hill Cemetery.  A weird claim to be sure.

6.  Showing kids Skype-There was one weekend where I was skyping Ryan at the computer lab at school and some of the kids were around.  They were able to meet someone else from America, who was actually in America at the time.  It was really cool to see.

5.  Killing a snake-Really, this is the 3^rd time it has made an appearance in my blog.  If that does not mean I find it memorable, nothing does.

4.  Dirt eating-When having a girls’ soccer practice was the first time I saw this.  A girl was hungry so she just ate dirt to fill her stomach.  I couldn’t believe it.  It was so heartbreaking to see people be so hungry that they resort to eating dirt.

3.  The sky-During the day it is just so vast.  And during the night even more.  Almost every night I can see the Milky Way.  Simply breathtaking. 

2.  Getting the gas for the fridge-This is memorable because it taunts me every day.  I received thegas for my fridge back in November.  As of today I STILL DON’T HAVE THE FRIDGE!

1.  Driving to site-And this is my number one.  The very first time I ever got to my site.  After dropping of Corey we took a fire break line past Salajwe, then turned to Kaudwane.  I got to see ostriches on the road, and in general my breath was just taken away with the thought that I would be living here for the next two years.  Nothing so far has been able to compare with that initial moment of seeing your site.  Sure, finding out where you are going is memorable, but it can’t hold a candle to actually seeing it.