So,
for two weeks I had to chase the little shits away from my garden. For two
weeks I kept a metal rake next to my door
so that at a moments notice (anytime I herd their vile grunting and snorting) I
could run out screaming and yelling, waving it around, attempting to hit as
many as possible; I’ve come to cherish the sound of their little squeals. Those
are moments I wish Peace Corps kept secret cameras hidden around to document
our two years at site; The Real World Peace Corps style. God only knows what the local people were thinking
when they saw me do this (because it happened, on average, 15-20 times a
day—they gave me quite a workout).
Then,
one day, I had to leave my precious garden to attend my Mid-service conference
(it’s the conference we have to officially mark our 1-year of service as a PCV,
the point where if we early terminate our service we can still call ourselves
Returned PCVs, or RPCVs. The R is a big deal) held in Morija. I was gone for 3
days but when I returned to Tiping I found my beautiful garden completely
destroyed. No more green beans or peas, no more carrots or onions, no more
lettuce, not even tomatoes or green peppers. Everything was gone. All that hard
work, gone. Whelp, there is always an upside to every situation; no need to
chase after pigs anymore--unless I want to hear them squeal. Hehehe
Aside
from the pigs, all is well here on my end (no, I am not going nutty, I
promise). Great news! When I finally gave up hope that the cell tower was going
to be anything but landscape decoration, it began to work. I am now the proud
owner of a phone that gets service (most of the time). It’s all still a little
buggy; every now and then the service will cut out for an hour, or a day, but
overall it’s a huge improvement! I still can’t quite believe it’s working. I
was able to have a conversation with my parents while sitting on my bed just
the other day. Ahh what a luxury!
School
started, finally. After being postponed for two weeks, we opened this past
Monday, the 28th. The postponement means we will continue the school semester
two weeks into the winter break. Remember, my students have to walk to school
everyday—it’s cold in June! It snows! This isn’t Texas. I don’t foresee a remarkable
attendance rate but at least I live on the school compound.
Once
again, I mentioned this in my last post, but I am now teaching Mathematics to
Forms A, B and C. So far I am really enjoying it. It is definitely keeping me
busy; our school day has 9 periods in it, Tuesday and Wednesday I teach 6 out
of those 9 periods. The added workload forces me to stay well organized and I
find that I work well under pressure.
Not
only am I increasing my class load, but also I am busy preparing to receive books
from the African Library Project for a school library at Tiping. I was
volunteered by the other teachers to take care of the school lunch program
(which includes collecting money from students who can afford a school lunch,
budgeting the money throughout the year, pricing food stuffs, and purchasing it
all—or telling Mé Mathabo to purchase everything). I have officially started my
girl’s soccer team. Finally, I plan to introduce the idea of a student senate
to the school. Along with all of that, I seem to be something resembling Mé
Mathabo’s personal assistant. Am I a pushover? Maybe.
I
am doing quite well: very happy to be back at school. As always, I wish you all
the best and I miss you terribly, but this year is going to fly. Truly. I’ll be
seeing you sooner than you know.
Love
and hugs,
Sadie
P.S. Yes, I do still shave my underarms. And yes, I do still
bathe everyday. Living without running water is considerably easier than living
without cell service.
