Blogs from Barberton, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton November 27th 2013

I attended two functions outside of my village; invited by Jane (Ouma) Aphane, a 22-yr old who likes to visit with me (and likes to eat my food!). In both cases I never really know what to expect. As hard as I try to pin Jane down on how long I will be gone, or how we will travel, I can't get a straight answer. The first was an initiation ceremony for a 16 yr old girl cousin of Jane’s. Jane was already at the girl’s home helping with the preparations, so I travelled from Kameelpoort to Mashiding with two of her friends. We hitch-hiked and caught two taxis to go maybe 40 miles in over 2 hours. So, I guess Jane had arranged transport as she’d said.. .she had told her friends to take me ... read more

More PCV photos

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton November 27th 2013

2012; Shilpa Vashista!

CGinPCSA

Enjoy the photos and captions.... read more

Recent Trials and Tribulations

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton November 4th 2013

CGinPCSA

“Poverty and misery aren’t encouragements to an orderly life.” Inspector Wexford in a Ruth Rendell mystery novel. “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.” Woody Allen “The tragedy of growing old is not that one is old but that one is young.” Oscar Wilde I was sick recently. Friday lunch I ate spinach (umrhoho) that had been cooked at the school the previous day, with no refrigeration overnight. My better sense should have stopped me, but I love spinach and it’s a break from the regular lunch fare of pap or samp and beans. I was in my shopping town that afternoon thinking my dizziness was due to dehydration. (I have low blood pressure and have to be sure to drink water and eat salty snacks to retain water.) I warned the ladies ... read more

October is Crazy

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton October 11th 2013

CGinPCSA

Just want to type something to all; that I have much to report and no time to write. This month is the last big push on our Gr 12's who will write their final exams in November. The teachers met with parents 2 weeks ago and decided to have supervised study time at night. 7:30 until 10:00 along with classes before school, and after school sessions. Listed on the agenda for this meeting was "how to deal with destructions". I asked what they meant by that and figured out the teacher really meant distractions. (which I didn't correct, because it has a certain amount of truth to it!) What are their distractions? TV and cell phones, duh! Some parents had already taken action on this. And the teachers are pitching in heroically with all this extra ... read more

PCV friends

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton June 22nd 2013

July 2013

CGinPCSA

Hello! It’s morning; I’m typing with fingerless gloves and wearing long underwear under pajamas with wool slipper socks and a fleece jacket. It’s our winter, and gets quite cold once the sun goes down at 5:30 until it comes up at 6:30. It’s the end of term 2 and I look forward to a 3 week holiday (when I will attend district curriculum training and teach extra class sessions for Gr 12) . And most importantly, it will soon be a year since I arrived in South Africa. I attended a short training for those of us who plan to host SA28’s, due to arrive in two weeks. Peace Corps Trainees will shadow an experienced PCV (that’s me!)for one weekend of their 10 week training. They will meet my host family, walk around my ... read more

Dear friends,

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton May 28th 2013

CGinPCSA

Dear friends, It’s a Friday night...and as it is for all teachers, classroom work is over; but a stack of tests to “mark” and lessons to be prepared await my attention. Tomorrow I meet 4 or 5 other PCV’s at Kwagga where there is a nice little place called Roman’s Pizza which makes the best spinach/feta pizza anywhere! And I found licorice candy at Shop-Rite the other day...Oops! I got distracted talking about food...really, what I’m glad about is that I get to spend time with other PCV’s besides communicating by WhatsApp on our smart phones. Well, the others do 95% of the texting, becuz I cn’t keep up wth their speed, conversation, etc. (a bit of a generation gap) The last few weeks I have accompanied Sele (my school) learners on two Sat. field trips ... read more

Still adjusting

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton April 15th 2013

CGinPCSA

Every once in a while I am reminded that I am indeed in a different part of the world. When I am tired and stressing about work, I may not see everything with a good sense of appreciation and humor. At these times I get frustrated.....for example, I couldn’t take pictures of the school (my excuse for no school blogs yet) because I have no batteries. I bought AA’s at KwaMhlanga, but the camera said the batteries were exhausted. One of my learners told me that I had to buy Duracell to work in a camera. The next time I was in the grocery store, I could only find this generic kind (I guess they are only good for clocks and such things). While there, I ran into Laze (Lazarus) Ramolefo, a teacher at Sele who ... read more

Random Conversation

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton April 15th 2013

CGinPCSA

A primer on my host family: In the house or outbuildings live: Martha Simelane (73); her youngest daughter, Zanele, and her youngest son, Samuel (who works in Pretoria and has a girlfriend in KwaMhlanga, so he is not here every night), and Zanele’s daughter Thandeke, who is in Gr 1. Others have stayed here for 1-2 month visits. Another of Martha’s daughters, Ouma, and her husband Edison, live down the street with 3 of their 4 daughters. Their youngest daughter, Queen, is one of my Gr 10 learners, and she has been staying at Martha’s house most of the time for the past month. She helps with housework, and helps Martha, because Zanele just got a job at Shop-Rite, the grocery store in KwaMhlanga. I am finishing up a two week holiday ... read more

Tidbits

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton February 23rd 2013

CGinPCSA

I don’t know if I’ve ever written the word tidbits before. (one of those words that after you write it, looks slightly foreign) Anyway, during school terms I doubt that I will be sitting down and writing much, so I thought of three random tidbits...shouldn’t most tidbits be random?...that I can share. And, if I sound a little spacy as I begin this, let me blame it on the heat. I blame everything on the heat. My cellphone not working, my irritation level, (we won’t go into that), the increasing number of insects flying around at night...talk about irritating..., and fatigue. It is amazing how much the heat takes it out on you. I am glad for a rotating period schedule which means I see classes at different periods of the day, because the personality of ... read more

Different Reality

Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Barberton February 7th 2013

CGinPCSA

Here is a collection of some events with an animal theme and a snapshot of a day, 24/01. (the 24thof Jan) First day of school: I was talking with Gr 12 Pure Maths (advanced track), and we heard excitement outside the open classroom door. My girl learners started to scream when they saw a snake slither into our room. Not having any fear of snakes myself, I grabbed my broom to brush him back out. A Gr 12 boy, named Innocent, took the broom from me and I watched dumbfounded as he beat the snake about 4 times, until the bleeding snake left us. I said I was sorry for the snake, but I knew people here felt otherwise. When the girls left class, they screamed again when they saw the dead snake lying 2 ft ... read more

Brief history of South Africa

After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjug...more history

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