Decorating….

Part of an email that I sent earlier….

I have my bedroom (backroom) totally decorated now.  I have my bed and wardrobe setup and all my clothes put away in the wardrobe.  I situated my bed under a window, my wardrobe is in the corner, and I have some plastic shelves that all my bathroom\hygiene stuff is on.  Then in the other corner, I have my red plastic tub that I take a bath in…I bought the biggest one I could find so I could sit in it…but my legs still hang out…LOL!! I have a small desk\table that the school is letting me use that my computer is on that’s near the bed…I sit on the bed when I use the computer, and just pull the desk over to the bed…it works out well this way.  It’s convenient, because I can lay on the bed and watch movies on the computer right next to it. I made curtains and hung them up; along with a mirror I got in Pretoria.  Then on the other walls, I hung up cards and stuff that people has sent me in the mail…the decorating in here reminds me of how everyone decorated their dorm rooms!! However, I like it and I’m happy with it, and it feels more like a home…I spend most of my time in the bedroom area.

The front room is a whole nether story…I have the fridge, a table with the stove and kettle on it, then I have a metal strip with pegs with my pots and such hanging from it. I also have a small plastic shelf with dishes on it.  Then, I have an old love seat that my host family let me use.  Then, I have the extra full size be setting in the middle of the floor in the way…cause it takes up most of the room!!  My host family should be moving it out in the next few days I hope…’cause I can’t really hang-up the other pictures I have of my family and friends until the bed is gone.  I’m hoping that I can find a small bookshelf for cheap that I can add to the front room.  I did get curtains up for the front room, so I have curtains on all the windows in both rooms now.  I’m also going to save up so that I can get a small rug for each room, since it’s only concrete floors. I want a small one to go next to my bed, and one to go in front of the door in the front room.  The circuit is still supposed to bring me a table and two chairs to go in the front room.  So, it’s coming together little by little.

I was missing everyone pretty bad last night.  I spent a bit of time looking at all the pics on my computer of when me, you, Kay, and Sarah when to the lake, camping, 4-wheeling, etc.  Some of the pics really made me laugh….we had so much fun together!!

I’ve really been missing Daisy….

TALE OF THE ATTACKING SPIDER

TALE OF THE ATTACKING SPIDER

BY: SHERRY WOODEN, PCV

What you are about to read is based on a TRUE story!!!

Once upon a time there was a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Acornhoek, South Africa.  The volunteer, Malebo, lived in a two room concrete home.  The walls of the home were concrete, the floor was concrete, and the roof was metal.  The volunteer had weekly phase two assignments to complete for the Peace Corps, so she stayed fairly busy working on the assignments.  Late one evening, as Malebo was lounging on her bed completing her assignments, she thought she saw a bird fly by.  Now, considering that she had left one of her windows open earlier, there was a distinct possibility that a bird did fly by.  It is a common site to see chickens, lizards, birds, etc. in South African homes, because doors and windows are frequently left open because of the sweltering heat.

However, when Malebo turned to look at the wall to the right of her bed, she saw the biggest spider that she had ever seen…this beast was science fiction BIG…easily the size of the palm of her hand!!  So, since Malebo wanted to follow Peace Corps tradition, she did what all prior Peace Corps volunteers have done in the past when faced with such a foreign beast…she jumped off her bed and screamed!!  Now, since the beast had already caught the scent of Malebo’s blood, and since it had been tracking her for some time, it decided to follow its prey.  When Malebo jumped from the bed, the beast jumped from the wall and landed in the middle of her bed, so that it didn’t lose sight of its next tasty meal.  Malebo realized that the beast was coming after her, and also realized that screaming wasn’t going to solve the situation.  Malebo remembered that during Peace Corps Pre Service Training she was taught that she must call Gert (the Peace Corps security master-he knows spider & black mambo Kung-Foo) if she was ever in a dangerous situation.  She reasoned that Gert would know the safety and security protocol for escaping attacking beasts.  She figured that he would advise that everyone in the Acornhoek area would need to quickly go to the safety consolidation point at the mall in Pretoria.

However, Malebo realized that her cell phone was on the other side of the room and she would never be able to reach it before the beast attacked.  Darn the Peace Corps for finding such large rooms for PCV’s to live in.  But just in the nic of time, Malebo remembered that a flip-flop can be used as a weapon…a valuable skill she learned during PST.  So, Malebo grabbed her pink Old Navy (the best type for slaying attacking beasts) flip-flop and the duel began.  Malebo raised the flip-flop high over her head and brought it crashing down on the dreadful body of the attacking beast.  She then stepped back and smiled at her quick thinking, bravery, and quick PCV reflexes.  However, when she was done gloating, she realized that the beast was still alive.  All she had managed to do was irritate the beast, because it then rose up on its back legs and started waving its fangs at her.  Its fangs were the size of snake fangs, and glinted with poison.  Not wanting to be medically separated this early in her service, Malebo struck the beast two more times with her trusty flip-flop.  However, the beast just wouldn’t die.  So, Malebo knocked the beast off the bed onto the concrete floor, and hit it three more times.  The last blow of the flip-flop sent the beast back to its maker.  In its dying breath the beast said, “Awww, I hate PCV’s with their shimmering Old Navy flip-flops and their cunningness learned during PST.”

Malebo looked at the slain beast and felt an air of victory flood over her; she had survived her first attack as a PCV.  However, as she stood gloating at her expertise at slaying the deadly beast, she realized there may be more beasts lurking about.  So, she jumped onto her bed as fast as her PCV reflexes would allow.  She stayed on her bed the rest of the evening completing assignments, but making sure to keep a look out of any other beasts.  Before she turned in at the late PCV hour of 10 pm, she thought she should sweep up the dead carcass of the beast.  However, realizing it was dark and other beasts could be lurking about, she decided to stay on the bed, and sweep it up the next morning.  As Malebo reached to turn off her headlamp and get some well deserved sleep, she saw the rotting body of the beast lying on the floor, illuminated by the pale South African moonlight.  She was startled again by the size of the beast, and by the poison still glistening on its enormous fangs.  Malebo didn’t sleep peacefully that night, because she dreamt of gigantic attacking beasts.  When she awoke the next morning at 6:30 am (late for PCV’s), the first thing she thought of was her battle the previous evening.  She immediately arose to sweep the beast out the door and hopefully out of her mind.  However, after fetching the broom Malebo realized the beast was gone!!  How could this have happened, she was sure she had killed it, because she had to clean it guts from the bottom of her pink flip-flop. 

As Malebo sat on her bed (because the furniture still hadn’t arrived) drinking her delicious South African Frisco instant coffee, she began to realize that the beast’s family had probably collected the dead carcass, and was almost certainly plotting their revenge against her.  She looked around her ridiculously large room, and realized the beast’s family was probably secretly spying on her at that very moment.  She jumped from her bed to call Gert; terrorist beast attacks should defiantly be a reason to plan an emergency evacuation back to the states, or at least to the consolidation point at the Pretoria mall to shop for some new flip-flops with metal spikes!!            

NEW FAMILY MEMBER-AMBER KAY

Just wanted to report that my nephew Jeromie had his first baby…well, his wife Melissa had her yesterday.  My sister Rhonda sent me an email with the good news…she’s now a grandmother for the first time.  They named her Amber Kay, and she apparently look like her Dad.  She was 8 pounds 2.7 ounces & 20 inches long.  Rhonda is supposed to be sending me pics and videos of her, I’m very excited.

Don’t dye your hair when you don’t have plumbing….

Monday, I met two of the other volunteers in Hoedspruit, and we did some shopping at a grocery store that’s similar (well almost) to grocery stores in the states.  The store doesn’t have the same brands or the same selection, but it’s nicer than the one in Acornhoek.  Since I couldn’t find a store that sold file cabinets, I checked two used furniture stores. One of them had a cabinet, but it was locked and they didn’t have the key.  The lock would have to be busted, and would ruin the locking mechanism on it.  Also, they wanted way too much for it considering it was locked and used.  So, I will look somewhere else.  We also went to a restaurant that has pizza…it’s not the like pizza we’re use to but it was close.  However, we all had terrible stomach aches later from the cheese on the pizza. There was nothing wrong with the cheese, but our stomachs hurt because we are not use to eating cheese anymore!!

Also, since it was 5:30 when we arrived back in Acornhoek at the taxi rink, the other two PCV’s ended up having to stay at my room, because it was getting too dark for them to ride the taxi’s back to their homes…we are not allowed to travel after dark because it can be dangerous…they would have had to walk to their homes alone after the taxi dropped them off at the rinks near their villages, so it was safer for them to stay here.  However, it was fun to be able to have some company, we cooked and chatted.  One ended up sleeping on the love seat that the family is letting me use, and the other one slept on the floor in my sleeping bag.

Then, Tuesday morning we got up at 4:30am, because Heather’s (one of the PCV’s that stayed here) principal was going to get her truck serviced in a nearby town that has a mall.  She said that we could come along and she would take us to the mall there.  So, we all rode in the truck for the two hour drive there.  We were pretty cold because it was 5am, but we all agreed it was worth it to get to go…it’s too far us to go in the taxis, because it would take several hoursl.  The mall was sort of like the malls in the states…the stores are different…not the stores we are used to.  And of course, we couldn’t afford really afford to buy anything, but it was fun to get out and look.  I did buy a washrag, because I only brought one with me.  I also found a tee-shirt on a clearance rack and bought it.  Heather and I also found some hair dye and we each bought a box…it was rather expensive on our income, but we bought it anyway.  When we got back to Acornhoek, it was early enough for LaTosha to go back to her village on the taxi, but it was too late for Heather because she lives further away…so Heather stayed the night again.  However, since the circuit had delivered my furniture while I was out, it was nice to have Heather here to help me put the bed and wardrobe together.  The bed is full size, and the wardrobe is big enough to hang all my clothes, and it also had two drawers.  I’m  also supposed to be getting a table  and two chair soon.  Since Heather spent the night again, we decided it would be a good time to dye our hair.  So I dyed hers and she dyed mine.  However, you should have seen the mess we made trying to get it all rinsed off in a bucket of water!!  It was pretty humorous…we should have taken pictures…it’s a good thing I don’t have carpet and just a concrete floor, because we made a complete mess!! We didn’t realize how difficult it would be without running water!!  LOL!! 

I walked with Heather to the taxi rink this morning so she could go back home.  Then I came back and arranged my furniture and finally got to unpack my clothes and such.  I also made curtains for my back room (bedroom) and hung them up.  I was also finally able to hang up pictures in my backroom, since I got the furniture arranged.  I hung up pictures, and the cards and letters I’ve received here on the walls, since I don’t really have anything else to hang-up…but I liked hanging the cards and letters up, because it reminds me of everyone at home.  I had also bought a wall mirror when the PC took us to Pretoria, so I hung that up too…my host Dad let me borrow his hammer.  So, I guess my bedroom it completely “decorated” now…and it makes me feel more at “home”!!  However, I can’t work on the front room…the kitchen\living room yet, because I couldn’t get my host father to take the bed back they were letting me borrow, so it’s in middle of the front room now.   My host mom is gone until Saturday on a trip with their church, and he said he didn’t want to take the bed back into their house until she got back because he doesn’t know where she wants to put it.  So, I guess I’m stuck with it until Saturday or Sunday!! When they get the bed out, I’ll hang-up pictures in that room too.

The principal from Chayiwe and his wife stopped over right as I was finishing the bedroom to visit…they like to stop by on occasion and chat…which consists of them asking me a million questions about America.  Gladys…the Principals wife (the principals name is Paul by the way) asked if I would teach her how to cook some American meals, and I told her I would.   Paul had brought two desks (there like a table) from the school for me to use to sit my stove on one, and use the other as a desk.  I asked him if he would bring another one that I could use as a table, and he said it wasn’t a problem, and I could have two more if I wanted them and I could push them together to make a bigger table.  This way, the school doesn’t have to buy a table, which they have no money for anyway.  I will just buy two plastic chairs from somewhere for cheap so that the school doesn’t have to buy them. 

I also asked Paul if he could drive me to a larger town to look for file cabinets for the school sometime soon, and he said he would.  He then asked if I would help him with the school budget sometime in the next few weeks, for the new year (it starts in January), and I told him I would be happy too.  Apparently the circuit gives the school a few hundred rand for each student that’s enrolled at the school, and that’s all the school gets for money for the entire year to budget with…the money is for everything that’s needed at the school for the entire year, except the teacher salary.  However, the money does have to pay for the janitor’s salary!!  I’m hoping to work the filing cabinets, securities bars, and paint into to budget.  However, I might have to rely on some type of fundraisers or donations.

Buying Groceries…

This is part of an email that I sent to Marea, and thought I would share here….

I don’t really have any stories for today, since it’s Saturday and school is out.  When I got up this morning, I went and bought groceries.  Grocery buying is quite an event, because I have to walk there, and then walk back carrying everything. I put the heavy stuff in my backpack, and then carry bags for the lighter stuff. I bought two small basins today, one to wash dishes in and one to rinse dishes in.  I also bought some African material and made curtains for my front room. The front room is my kitchen and living room.  The back room is my bedroom, and washroom.  I’m going to buy more material to make curtains for the back room soon.  The circuit still hasn’t delivered my furniture yet. They are supposed to bring a bed, wardrobe, table, and two chairs. The principal at my school, let me borrow two small tables that they weren’t using for now…I have my stove and kettle setting on one. I’m using the other one for a desk.  I’m hoping to get to keep the tables to use for the two years that I’m here. I will take pictures and videos of my rooms and send them to you, once I get my furniture and get it all organized. 

I’ve been trying to buy an assortment of healthy things to cook to eat.  I hoping that will help keep me from getting sick.  Since I don’t eat the meat here, I have to be sure to get protein from other sources.  So, I fix egg omelets with onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms, and I also fix beans with onions.  I also found pasta noodles, and I’ve make homemade spaghetti sauce with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and garlic.  They have cornflakes here, so I have cornflakes and milk for breakfast, and sometimes I cut up a banana to add to it.  Oranges are plentiful here, so I try to have an orange a couple of times a week.  There are many fruits and vegetables here that I’m not familiar with.  So at some point, I might try experimenting with them.  Cooking here takes much longer than in the states, because everything has to be cooked from scratch.  Then cleanup takes longer too, because of lack of plumbing.  However, if I can continue to eat a balanced diet, then the diet here will probably be better for my health, since I’m not eating processed foods! The PC gave us a cookbook, so I plan to try some of the recipes from it, so that I don’t get tired of eating omelets, pasta, and cornflakes!!  

I found the ingredients to make no bake cookies, and made some the other day. I gave some to my host family and they loved them.  My previous host mother in Troya gave me a tub of homemade cookies as as going away gift—they were similar to the cookies that come in the tins at Christmas. Anyway, an army of ants invaded the plastic container she put them in, so I was going to throw them out.  However, my current host mom saw me getting ready to throw them out, and ask if she could have them…there were probably about 30 cookies left. I told her she wouldn’t want them because the container was full of ants. However, she just laughed and said the ants aren’t poisonous, and then she took one out and wiped the ants off and ate it!! Then she laughed again, and said, see I’m ok. I told her that I wasn’t going to eat them and she could have them and just bring the container back when they were done.  Then yesterday morning, she came knocking on my door and gave me the container, it was full of biscuits she had made….and they were really good…I’m still eating on them…there’s probably 20 more.  They aren’t quite like the biscuits we are used to, they are a little harder and sweeter…but very delicious.

Termites…

I may have found some resolution to the termite issue today. First, I posted a message on the PC SA message board to see if any of the other PCV’s has faced termite issues, and what they did to solve it. I haven’t received any replies and might not receive any, but it’s worth a try.  Also, I spoke with several of the teachers this morning individually about the termites and got some interesting responses.  I really wish I was better at speaking Sepdi or Songa, because the language barrier causes issues at times.  I’ll share a bit of a conversation I had today to that you can understand how my basic knowledge of the local languages is a challenge.

 

Me: Are there any company’s near here that specialize in termite removal, poison, spraying, etc.

Teacher: Company?

Me: Yes, a company or business?

Teacher: A business?

Me: Yes, a business that has poison to kill termites

Teacher: Poison?

Me: Yes, poison to kill bugs

Teacher: Bugs?

Me: Yes, bugs…you know like termites, spiders, mosquitoes, etc.

Teacher: Alright…you mean bugs…you want to kill bugs? You have bugs in your room?

Me: Yes, I want to kill bugs…but at the school not in my room.  Could the dept of education hire someone to come to the school and kill the termites?

Teacher: Dept of education…you say you want them to come and bring fire extinguishers?

Me: At this point I led the teacher into the store room and said: “The holes in this book, was caused by termites…they ate this book…I need to find a way to kill the termites that are eating the books and records”

Teacher: Termite?

Me: Yes…termite…like a mosquito that jele puku (ate the books).

Teacher: Oh, you mean a ???? (I can’t remember the name). You want to kill the what did you say …termites…ok, I understand now.  Yes, I know someone that might be able to come and spray poison that lives about 60km from here.

Me: Ke bokae go spray termites (how much to spray for the termites)?

Teacher: I don’t know, I will call him in a few weeks and ask

Me: Can you call today, or could I have the number to call and check the cost?

Teacher: I don’t have the number right now…I will call after the break. I thought you were asking about fire extinguishers.  Yes, this room needs to be sprayed; the termites in this room are very bad. (The break the teacher was talking about is a term break…school is out all next week.) So

 

So, you can see by the above that my lack of language skills makes things difficult. 

 

So back to my termite story…just to see what other teachers had to say, I went to another teacher and brought her to the storage room. I asked if she knew of a company that would come and spray, or if she knew where I could buy poison to kill the termites.  She told me that they had someone to put poison down in the room after I left yesterday, and there weren’t any more termites…so I could go ahead and start with the organizing.  I had told them yesterday, that I didn’t want to start on the library or cleaning up and organizing until the termites were killed. I told them that I didn’t want to move the books to the room I want to put the library in, until the termites are dead, because I don’t want the termites to move with the books to the library.   So, I checked the 5 storage rooms, and didn’t see any termites at all today…so I’m hoping that whatever they did took care of it!!  If it didn’t work, I’ll see how much it costs to have the person to come and spray.  Just finding about the above information about the termites has taken two days…whewwww…I’m glad I’ve learned to be patient.   

 

Oh, I also found out that the reason the school struggles for money. The students are also supposed to pay school fees…however, since most of the students at Chayiwe are orphans, they are exempt from paying the fees…so the school struggles for money. 

 

I’m going to try and check the cost of the file cabinets…there are stores near here that sell them…however, I just can’t hop in my car and go check the price!! A store that might have them is 30km away…and that’s an all day taxi ride adventure here…and the cost of the taxi comes out of my pocket!! I’m going to go on Monday and check at a used store that’s 30km from here….and see if they have any. 

 

I also found out today that they had another computer, but it got stolen. Apparently the school gets broken into all the time.  So, another thing I need to work on is getting burglar bars installed on the doors and windows, so that things will not get stolen.  I found out last night while doing online research, that I can fill out a grant application with Dell S.A. division, to get computers donated to the school. However, they require that the room that the computers will be in must have burglar bars on the doors and windows before they will make a donation.  So, one of my first tasks needs to be trying to get funding to get the bars along with making sure that all the termites are gone!! However, I have to keep reminding myself to take it one task and one day at a time!! It’s just difficult to remember, when there’s so much need here

 

Now for some rambling….

 

Time is considered very different here… that’s one of the things that I had to learn quickly after arriving.  South Africans consider time much different than we do in the U.S.…things move very slower here and patience is required.  Also, we learned during training that SA aren’t direct speakers…meaning if you ask someone to do something or come over, they may tell you yes, but may never do it or never come…they seldom ever say no. 

 

Anyway, I guess that’s all for now…sorry about all the tangents….

Plenty to do….

I made interview forms for the teachers at my two schools to get a better understanding of the needs of the school…this is part of my assignments. Most of the teachers at Chayiwe have turned in their interview forms, and I discussed some of their answers with them today…I think they are starting to trust me a bit more, which helps a lot. There are many things they want help with:

Administration (financial budgets, filing, clerical work, etc)
They don’t have filling cabinets…so they would like to obtain cabinets and learn how to file. They don’t keep emergency contact records for the students with names & telephone numbers of parents in case of an emergency…so they want me to help them obtain this info and file it. They want help with the school budget. So, I’m going to try to raise money to get filing cabinets, and then help them to get organized. I’m going to teach them how to file and keep records. I also plan on making a contact sheet for each student with all pertinent information (including names and numbers of their parents) that they can take home for their parents to fill out. Then, I plan on making a file for each student for all this information to be kept. There is an office clerk that knows the basics of computing; however all the teachers and principal would like to have computer classes. They only have one computer and one printer for the entire school that the clerk uses…the principal doesn’t even have a computer. So, I definitely need to try and get computers donated and then give everyone computer classes. The teachers also want help with how to make lesson plans and follow curriculum standards.
School Grounds & Maintenance
The teachers also want help with school grounds. For instance, there are not toilet seats on any of the toilets for the kids or the staff. There is also a lot of painting that needs to be done. There is not designated outside play area for the kids, and no playground equipment. There is no sporting equipment.
Resources
One o f the main concerns of the teachers was lack of resources. There is no library at the school. There is only one computer. The teachers don’t have enough books or teaching aides to use to teach or books for the kids to learn from. The teachers don’t have basic stuff to hang on the walls, like ABC’s. They don’t have books written in the students native languages…the few things they do have is written in English. There is no lunch room…the kids eat at their desk or outside…when there’s lunch for them.
Organization
One of the other main areas of concern for the teachers was organization…or the lack there of. There are areas\things at the school that they would like me to help them organize…they want me to teach them how to organize, file, etc. There are several rooms with bookshelves in them, which contain everything from outdated textbooks, gardening equipment, old records, etc. Most of the stuff is outdated; and the principal said it could be thrown away or donated. I think most of this stuff could be organized into one or two rooms. Then, the extra rooms could be used for a library, computer lab, teacher’s lounge, janitor’s area, lunch room etc.
I definitely will not run out of things to do here. However, all the things I want to do takes money…I will need to do fundraising and fill out grant applications for the following:
*Library Books
*Text Books
*Paint and other maintence stuff
*Computers
*Filing Cabinets & Folders
*Teaching Materials
*Paper & Pencils
*Art Supplies
*Sporting Supplies
*Termite control….termites have taken over some of the storage rooms, and they are eating the few books the school has!
And the list goes on and on….
There are many workshops and projects that I plan to start…all requested by the teachers…library, computer classes, lesson plan workshops, reading club, organization, filing, etc. So, as you can see I don’t think I will run out of things to help with at the school…and…this is just at Chayiwe…I didn’t even mention Ndabeni!!

Washing my hair…

I pasted part of an email below that I sent to Marea today…thought I would share….

 

If you want to hear stories about the kids, I’m happy to share. However, I don’t have any stories today, because school is out today. So, I plan to meet my friend LaTosha in town today for lunch and to check my po box.

Then when I get back home, I plan to wash my hair. I’ve got the hair washing thing down now, but it’s still time consuming to wash…with having to carry all the water and heat it and all that drama. Everything here takes soooooooo much time…and it’s the simple stuff that takes so much time…I guess mainly the stuff that involves water…like cooking, washing dishes, washing hair, washing clothes, taking a bath, etc.  I didn’t realize how much having indoor plumbing makes life soooo much easier!! You can’t just turn the tap on in the house and have cold or hot water. First, you have to carry the water in, then either heat it if you want hot, or put it in the fridge for awhile if you want cold….then you can get down to doing whatever you need to do with it.  Of course, if you plan to drink it, you have to sterilize it first. I’ve figured out a few shortcuts but not many to speed things up. For instance I have a bucket for dirty water and a bucket for clean water. Now, what would you need two…well, it speeds things up a bit. For instance, you have a bucket of clean water sitting in your house at all times. You can take water out of it to drink, use for cooking, or taking a bath or whatever.   However, then what do you do with the dirty water when you’re done taking a bath or washing dishes?  Well, I had been just putting it back in the same bucket I was using for the clean water, and then having to clean the bucket out again next time I needed to put clean water in it. However, I got the bright idea to have a dirty bucket too. So now after I take a bath, I can just empty the bath water in the dirty bucket or the dirty dish water….then I can just go dump the dirty bucket when it gets full and not have to worry about cleaning it.  It’s esp helpful when I have a bucket of clean water, and didn’t have a place to put dirty water…get the point…there’s no drains here. When you bring water in to use it for something, you have to have a way to get it back out too. It’s quite a chore and time consuming!!  I have to say that indoor plumbing had to have been one of the greatest inventions to free women’s time to do other things back in the day…for instance to get educated and overthrow the male dominated world!! LOL!!  If you had a house full of kids and a husband, you would have been fetching water all day to have enough for all of them. Your day would have revolved around fetching water and doing other tedious chores like washing clothes by hand…it can take me several hours just to wash mine, so I can’t imagine what it was like to wash clothes for an entire family…no wonder they don’t have all the clothes like we have now…they would have spent all their time trying to keep them clean.

I’m starting to learn to use as little water as possible, and you would really be surprised at how much water that I realize I and everyone else in the U.S. wastes on a daily basis.  It really doesn’t take as much water as we think it should to do minor things. For instance, say that you’re cooking and you need to rinse your spoon off. What do you do…you go over to the nice sink, and turn on the faucet and let the water run while you rinsing off the spoon.  So, how much water do you think you just used to do that simple task…1/2 a gallon?? I’ve learned to just keep about ½ a gallon of dish water in a dish pan for most of the day, and just stick the spoon in it and rinse it off that way…then use the same water to wash the dishes all day.  Of course, I’m sure I’ll learn many more useful tricks over the next two years to consume less water and speed things up…at least I hope so…LOL!

So, sorry I didn’t have any kid stories for you today, but I hope my water story will suffice.  It might have been a bit boring, but my life revolves around water!! Someday I’ll tell you about my pee bucket…but that’s for another day….don’t want to give you too much stories all at once.

Reading at school

Today, I went back to the schools to see if any of the teachers had their forms completed-only 2 teachers had them done! So, I stayed at Chayiwe (grades R-4) and went into each of the classes and read them a book.  I read to every class this morning. I think it will help with their English skills to hear someone read to them in English accent.  Anyway, I read a book to all the classes about a dog and cat that became friends and played with a ball.  I wanted them to get into the book and be interested, so I made animal noises and acted out the book while I was reading to them…when it said the dog jumped, I jumped, when it said the cat cried, I also pretended to cry.  The kids loved it and laughed their cute little heads off at me.  Even some of the teachers started laughing at me too…I don’t blame them.  Anyway, after I finished reading the book in each class, I then asked the kids questions about the story.  When I asked the about what the dog did after the ball went missing, they said JUMP. So, I then told them they had to act out their answers and jump too. They loved it and were laughing even more!!  So, I plan on continuing to go by the classes on read to the kids on occasion since they liked it so much.  I think I might also start an after school reading club when I’m able to start projects.  I think for about 20-30 minutes after school once a week, I will pick a book and read to the ones who want to come, and then ask them fun questions about the book. I think this will help with their English. I also plan to keep the older kids (4^th graders) longer at the end of the club meeting and let them read to me in English, so that I can help them with their reading skills. I hope to make it as fun as possible for them, cause they don’t get to have much fun. I think they will really enjoy it, because most of them don’t have books at home.

I’m back at my room getting ready to cook some lunch…

Refrigerators are COOL!!

Hello,

I just realized that I failed to let everyone know my new address here in Acornhoek (thanks for the reminder Marlena).  So, here you go….

Sherry Wooden

PO Box 3749

Acornhoek 1360

South Africa

I was advised by the PCV that lives near me that all packages sent to Acornhoek should be insured, or they will be stolen.  She has been here for a year, and she said that all the packages that her family and friends sent that didn’t have insurance were stolen.  However, I know that Daddy & Joyce spoke to 3 different post offices in KY, and they were told that packages mailed to Acornhoek couldn’t be insured.  So, since the PCV is away from Acornhoek for the next two weeks, I’m not able to verify this information with her…maybe she meant it should be sent Registered Mail???  I’ll try to verify this with her when she returns.  However, you don’t have to insure letters…letters should arrive fine.  Of course, emails are free and instant. 

Ohh…and I’m sick again!!! I’m so tired of being sick!! This is the 3^rd time that I’ve been sick since I arrived in SA with the same mysterious illness.  I’ve had the exact same symptoms (fever, sore throat, lack of energy, headache, and stuffiness) all three times.  I’m calling my illness mysterious, because the first two because I’ve had it so many times.  I contracted it again last week, and when the nurse examined me Friday, she told me that I was suffering from allergies.  So, she gave me Claritin and said it would make me better in a few days.  However, I’m still sick and my fever was 102 today.  So, I called the nurse and told her the allergy medication didn’t help, and she told me that she would fax a prescription for antibiotics to the closest pharmacy.  So, I’m hoping the antibiotics help again; they did the first two times.  The nurse thinks that I have allergies, and since I wasn’t taking allergy medication, it just turns into something worse. So, hopefully the allergy medication will help me from getting sick.Wow…that was a long explanation of my illnesses….sorry!

On a happier note, I’m happy to report that I’m now the proud owner of a mini refrigerator…wahoo!! It is amazing how small things can bring so much happiness, and I find it even more amazing that I never considered (while in the U.S.) that refrigerators are one the “coolest” (LOL) inventions ever made.  Of course, I probably never considered it because I’ve never been without a refrigerator before.  However, since I’ve been without one since last Friday, I can tell you that life without a fridge isn’t very cool (ok, sorry I’ll stop)!!  Consider that to get a drink of water you must actually leave your dwelling, and walk in the sweltering sun to locate water.  Then, you must wait in line to fill up your bucket.  Then, you must walk back to your dwelling while lugging you precious (but very heavy) bucket of water.  When you reach your dwelling, you must then filter, sterilize, or whatever you must do to make your water drinkable.  Then, you must locate your water bottle (which is never too far from you grasp) to fill with water.  Then, when it’s time to take that first precious drink, you become very excited because you are about to enjoy the spoils of you labor (especially when you throat is raw and sore).  However, when the water hits your mouth and you realize it’s the same temperature as it is outside (800 degrees), it’s all you have not to want to spit it out and curse the heavens (ok, I didn’t actually curse the heavens, I just wanted to add some dramatic flair to the story).  However, since I’m now the proud owner of a fridge, I can keep a cold jug of Brita filtered water stored in my refrigerator.  Now I can have a nice cold drink of water anytime I want!! Wahoo!! To make it even better, I’m going to buy a toaster oven tomorrow that has two burners on top!! Wahoo!! No more peanut butter sandwiches for me!! Also, I want to say Happy belated Birthday to Joyce & Beverly!!  Hope both of you had a wonderful birthday!!

Take care