Floodgates are open!

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Tomorrow I will be sworn in as a PCV! Do you remember the letters you were taught in the previous blog? Well, PC according to the rules of all gov't agencies is rife with acronyms. Yesterday, we gave our LCF a gift, took our LPI test, and Monday our APCD will accompany us to meet our new principals in our new homestay.

Thembi Mthumunye was our isiNdebele language teacher. (Language Cultural Facilitator-LCF) She is under 5 ft, soft-spoken with a cute little giggle; she has earned the name Thembi the Tiger for how she negotiates with the taxi drivers when they try to raise the price on us. Her cellphone ringtone is some religious song with "In the Name of Jesus" in it; it's quite hilarious in the middle of isiNdebele!

Yesterday I took my LPI test to see if I can get to Intermediate Low placement on the basis of this Language Placement Interview. The interview was by Baregile who handles all the transport and homestay for us trainees (PCT's) from July 13 until we become volunteers (PCV's) tomorrow. He is quiet and solemn (who wouldn't be with the big job he has to do?), and has a great laugh...we compare it to the Count on Sesame Street,a very low "Ha Ha Ha." He took part in our language group's dance last Sunday to entertain our host families. He has a deep vibrating singing voice which stands out from all the other singers. Our language group of five trainees, Eva, in her 20's, Sharon, Pat, and me, in our 50's and up, and George Nishikawa, in his upper 20's, performed a dance with the help of Thembi and Baregile. There were three parts, the two young girls, the three u-gogos, and the two men. We brought down the house! There is something about these white people trying to dance the traditional dances that makes the South African people laugh. OUr host families helped dress us in traditional clothes. All the PCT's, helped by the LCF's, cooked huge pots of food outside over wood fires and fed about 200 people at this homestay thankyou function.

My APCD is Morgan. Assistant Peace Corps Director, I believe is what this stands for. He and Lydia have the job of deciding where we'll be placed, what kind of living situation and job we will do for the next 2 years. I don't know how they decide this...it's a mystery to us. My placement is less than an hour from the training area Watervaal/Siyabuzwe so I am really close to Pretoria. Our language group will be near each other, and I will be the third PCV my village, Kameelpoort, has had. I actually will be following a math teacher in the high school, and expect to continue her work. Shilpa has been granted a 3 month extension to stay and see her students through the end of the year Dec. 7. She had stepped into math teaching 6 months into her service when the only math teacher left. On finding her students demoralized about their math skills, she started lots of remedial work, competitions, afternoon and weekend labs. She got the principal to add the Math literacy track to the Pure Maths (college prep w/algebra, etc) and students have begun to experience success! So, I'm very fortunate to get her help, and then I'm pretty sure she is a 20-something PCV so me being an "u-gogo" won't feel like I will be expected to be just like her either!

I have many more stories to tell, of course, but sticking to the acronyms of the PC gave this some structure....there is a goat story to come (what would South Africa experience be without a goat story?) and what I've learned about the history here. For tomorrow's swearing-in ceremony we will sing our national anthem and the SA anthem. It has 4 parts, 4 languages, and 4 melodies. The first two are isiZulu and siSwati, then Afrikaans, then English. The first two verses have the most beautiful melodies. I think loving music is going to help me get through tough times. Our homestay function with all the cooking, cleaning, sitting in a hot crowded room for 2-3 hours of words, song, and dance, etc. could have been tough except I just love the music. There is music everywhere, basically continuous from Friday night to Sunday in our village. It echoes through the village, along with the roosters crowing. And it's a strange mix, from Adele to country music to soul, to South African music which is really the best.

Stay tuned for whenever I can get to an internet cafe, or IF I can figure out how to use my internet phone to send a blog. I'm quite challenged...but it will come.

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Comments

[Kristen]

Got photos of Carolyn dancing?
Hi Carolyn! What a great adventure. Thanks for introducing us to some of the people in your life there. I can almost hear the music from the weekend in your letter.I'd love to see a picture of you in the native garb, learning traditional dance. DO send photos!!! Sounds like if you get the teaching position you will be following a wonderful teacher who really cares about her students, and you'll be lucky to have a partner for a while. That should be a great advantage. Kristofer and I are still adventuring right here at home, putting a floor in our attic today. Johanna left Berlin last week and is traveling in Norway, and Kaia flew back to NYC after an all-too-short visit home. I guess growing up at Holden didn't coddle them too much. Nor you, my dear!!!!! Thanks for the blog and for keeping in touch.

[Diane Euting]

Hi Carolyn, So happy to hear from you!It sounds like you are enjoying the new life you have chosen for yourself. I can\'t wait to hear the \"goat\" story....must be a good one. I hope your taking pictures of some of these events, as they sound priceless...a video would be even better!! :0) Keep us updated on the next step you take......Hugs and kisses! Diane

[Barbara Budd]

Congratulations!
Congrats on making it through your training and becoming an official PCV! Looking forward to the goat story.

[Mary Kate Denny Ziesmer]

First Blog from Carolyn
Reading your blog made me feel as if I was there seeing it all. I loved hearing about the swearing in and knowing who you were talking about . How encouraging to read about the PCV's result with the math class. You will make a difference, too. I could empathize with the long day at the homestay function. The music sounds wonderful. I did not get to experience that at my homestay, which was so detached as far as my homestay host. Are children interacting with you from the homestay? I eagerly await your next story!