The rains over Africa: my first week at site

Pula e nele thata!

The rain came and came hard. On Wednesday, the wind picked up and clouds moved in "Maru a thibile" (literally 'clouds have blocked out the sky' but figuratively, danger is brewing). I sat on the families porch and watched the storm sweep across the savanna, over the salt pan and finally hit. The storm raged for nearly 12 hours pouring rain and hail down and creating a spectacular lightning and thunder display. It's the kind of weather that four years in tame California has made me hunger for. The next day, the sandy streets had become deep dry river beds and the salt pan had turned into a large but shallow lake. Electricity was out for two days and it took about a day to get cell reception back again.

More fun foods:

The teachers at my key school were generous enough to let me share their lunch for most of the week. The first day we had fat cakes (basically fried dough) and soup. Then yesterday, I had a plate of cow intestines, chicken feet, and chicken heads with some good old bogobe/pap. I actually found the chicken heads quite good. Lots of interesting little bits and textures.

Getting around town:

I did a lot of groundwork at the schools this week, meeting as many teachers as I could and setting up interviews for next week. I also met the clinic staff, the police, the post office, and several shop owners. I was unsuccessful at catching the chief/kgosi but will try again next week. I also missed the honey factory people. I also got to watch a local soccer game and found out one of the guys I've met is actually a coach. The field is dirt/sand but these guys play really well. The village is split into two sections. The one where I live has three of my schools and the post office. The other part has my last school, the tribal office, police, and clinic. It's roughly 6-7 km between the two so I got a lot of good walking in. As I've been getting to know people, I've also been able to get rides in pick ups and donkey carts. Hopefully, I'll get a bike soon and have more freedom of travel.

An Environmental Dilemma:

So I had been able to avoid this issue for a while but no longer. Trash collection doesn't happen in villages. Trash is just thrown onto the road or ground or burned. Lots of plastic fumes greet you in the mornings. Now that I am living in my own small house, I have my own trash and had to make the difficult decision about whether to just throw or to burn. I chose to burn feeling it was the lesser of the two evils. I know some PCVs were going to start compost piles and I may look into it for at least reducing what I have to burn. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

The Setswana gauntlet:

This week has been most challenging probably because the only member of my household that speaks good English has been out of town leaving me to test my Setswana skills as best as possible. It's turned out alright but has definitely been frustrating at points. I want to learn what is being said but explaining it in words I can understand is not always possible. Some people are also much easier to understand than others. Part of it has to do with the speed at which they speak but there is also something else that I can't put my finger on. Regardless, I've learned a lot and figured out a lot of things that I need to learn.

More pictures have been added to my webalbum. Check out the previous link to find it.