Ode to the Pigs of Tiping Secondary School (I think I smell bacon in my near future)

              Pigs are, I have decided, most definitely the bane of my existence. Upon arriving home after vacation in Cape Town I was given only a couple days of rest and relaxation before I was aggravated by the filthy creatures that roam the school compound. They have pens! They should stay in them! Now, Mé Mathabo claimed, when she came out before school opened, that the pigs broke their gates. I know for a fact that she opened the damn things. There are four grown pigs and 19 piglets roaming the school compound as we speak. Why? Because they are starving. Mé Mathabo claims the school cannot afford the feed needed to keep them. But what happened to the money gained from selling the last bunch of little monsters? I have no idea. As my father put it, ‘you have to be a pretty poor farmer to loose money on a pig project’. The best part about this situation is that she was once the agriculture teacher at one of the larger high schools in Quthing. Hmmm, something is not quite right.

           

            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.