I have been at site for a week now, and I am happy to say that I am moved into my new house. However, the road to get here, has been a bit rough and bumpy...
This week has been pretty stressful for me, as I was hoping to have arrived on Friday, ready to move into my new house, but instead my first day consisted of me making invitations and programs to an event held on Sunday and I moved into a motel for a few days. My week mostly consisted of running around getting quotations in order to furnish my house and get utilities up and running. And today, I am still waiting to get my refrigerator; and put the water in my name (and hope it doesnt shut off before I get a chance to do that).
So besides the whole housing situation, I have found myself starring straight into a big ole' bowl of awkwardness and boredom. Most of my mornings were spent sitting in the office, doing absolutely nothing. And my afternoons were spent in the car, running around to a million different places to get quotations. And as thrilling as that seems-add in 3 other people not speaking a word of english, heat blasting, and the smell of strong cologne. Now thats what I call a party.
I know I've only been here for a week, and all of the above is completely negative; but these are the things I'm experiencing, and unfortunately I'm not really enjoying myself at the moment. I was looking forward to taking a breather during the weekend and re-evaluating my situation and try to put it all into perspective. However, I found out today that I am supposed to be attending an event tomorrow (Sat) and another one on Sunday. So much for my breather. Oh and put the icing on the cake, after being told I was going to have the afternoon off to get settled+get my refrigerator, I ended up spending 4 hours in the car getting quotations, and then when Im finally getting dropped off at home; the car breaks down.
But on a happier note, I've been able to vent and relieve some of my stress to another PCV here and I'm definitely feeling a lot better. I was also able to have some down time this morning to get my house in order and finally do some laundry (since it is a 2-3 hour ordeal).
And from a few weeks back- A fellow PCV created a video with pictures and videos of our experience during training to show to our host families at the party we had for them a few weeks ago (when I was head chef). She has uploaded it online and can be found at: http://vimeo.com/12525764
I'll try to upload pictures on facebook next week...but also, unfortunately, during swear in my camera broke, so I am in the process of trying to get money from the insurance company to pay for a new one.
Up Next: Hopefully defining my role as a PCV in my DAC office and trying to get out into the community so that I can do the PC Assessment and build relationships with those around me.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Not quite settled in...
On Thursday, 56 trainees, including myself, were sworn-in as official Peace Corps Volunteers!!! My host mother had gotten a traditional skirt made for me, and like many others, we got all dressed up for the occasion! The swear-in was held at MCE and we were accompanied by several head figures including, the US Ambassador, the head Kgosi, our Country Director and several others. We all recited an oath together, and although I feel no different, it's pretty cool to say that I'm officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. Now the next step would be to say, "I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer that has finished my 2 years in Botswana." I think I've got awhile...
On Friday, I moved out of my host family's house. They have been a great family to stay with and I am going to miss them. Unfortunately I found out that my housing got switched around, and I am actually going to be staying at a different place than what I had seen. It is also not ready to be moved in-as there is no furniture and the water and electricity are not turned on. We stopped by my new house, and since there has not been a tenant in awhile-its a bit messy. I'm going to have some cleaning up to do inside and outside in the yard. But on the up sides, I'll get new furniture and now I have 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a sitting room, and a bathroom.
I am currently residing in the Oasis Motel...and by residing, I mean living out of my suitcase. They have said that I should be able to move into my new place around Wednesday. Although I had hoped to start making my place feel like home this weekend, I have no doubt that it will all soon come into place. Flexibility is key...
On Friday, I moved out of my host family's house. They have been a great family to stay with and I am going to miss them. Unfortunately I found out that my housing got switched around, and I am actually going to be staying at a different place than what I had seen. It is also not ready to be moved in-as there is no furniture and the water and electricity are not turned on. We stopped by my new house, and since there has not been a tenant in awhile-its a bit messy. I'm going to have some cleaning up to do inside and outside in the yard. But on the up sides, I'll get new furniture and now I have 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a sitting room, and a bathroom.
I am currently residing in the Oasis Motel...and by residing, I mean living out of my suitcase. They have said that I should be able to move into my new place around Wednesday. Although I had hoped to start making my place feel like home this weekend, I have no doubt that it will all soon come into place. Flexibility is key...
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sloppy Joe's for 250 people...
So this past week, the trainees were responsible for planning a Host family thank you party-which was yesterday (Saturday June 5th). Naturally, I signed up for the catering committee, and I was deemed head chef! We set our menu to be Sloppy Joe's, a vegan Mac n' cheese (made with butternut squash and coconut milk), baked beans, coleslaw, and rice krispie treats!!!
Another volunteer and I teamed up to get things ready and it ended up being a pretty stressful process. We got to see the kitchen we were cooking in(which was similar to a school cafeteria), but we found out later in the week that we had to find pots and pans and utensils to cook with. We also had to figure out how much food to get in order to feed 250 people! Our shopping list consisted of some: 36 loaves of bread, 60 lbs of meat, 30+ cans of coconut milk, 20+ bottles of ketchup; 5 3kg bags of macaroni, and so on.
After a lot of side work, we finally got enough food, and on Friday we found enough supplies to cook with. On Saturday, I was up at 5am to pick up our food and supplies to bring to the stadium, where the event was being held. We had a catering committee with us, and we had things cooking by 7am! We had people chopping cabbages, onions and carrots; boiling pots of macaroni; and you should have seen the huge thing of 60 lbs of ground meat. We actually finished early, and we were serving food around 11am!! The food was a great success and there were TONS of leftovers! However, everyone heard there were leftovers and people were filling empty jars with food! Needless to say, the party was a huge success!!
Next up: This is my LAST week of training!! We swear in on Thursday and leave for site on Friday!! I'll be moving into my own house (which is pretty crazy, this is the first time i've ever lived alone!!) We are pretty much on lockdown for 2.5 months, until IST, which will be the next time we will all get to see eachother!!
Another volunteer and I teamed up to get things ready and it ended up being a pretty stressful process. We got to see the kitchen we were cooking in(which was similar to a school cafeteria), but we found out later in the week that we had to find pots and pans and utensils to cook with. We also had to figure out how much food to get in order to feed 250 people! Our shopping list consisted of some: 36 loaves of bread, 60 lbs of meat, 30+ cans of coconut milk, 20+ bottles of ketchup; 5 3kg bags of macaroni, and so on.
After a lot of side work, we finally got enough food, and on Friday we found enough supplies to cook with. On Saturday, I was up at 5am to pick up our food and supplies to bring to the stadium, where the event was being held. We had a catering committee with us, and we had things cooking by 7am! We had people chopping cabbages, onions and carrots; boiling pots of macaroni; and you should have seen the huge thing of 60 lbs of ground meat. We actually finished early, and we were serving food around 11am!! The food was a great success and there were TONS of leftovers! However, everyone heard there were leftovers and people were filling empty jars with food! Needless to say, the party was a huge success!!
Next up: This is my LAST week of training!! We swear in on Thursday and leave for site on Friday!! I'll be moving into my own house (which is pretty crazy, this is the first time i've ever lived alone!!) We are pretty much on lockdown for 2.5 months, until IST, which will be the next time we will all get to see eachother!!
All Things Awkward...
Site visit: On Wednesday, my counterpart and office driver picked me up and drove me back to Tlokweng. On the way there, we passed an accident, and everyone was getting out of their cars! Everyone was pulling off, getting out and taking a look...so naturally, we did too. Apparently the accident had happened earlier that day but there was a truck that had managed to get stuck in a huge ditch the windows were all smashed in; a TV was randomly in the front seat; and there was no driver to be found. It was said to most likely have been a drunk person. (Which by the way, drinking and driving is incredibly common here. Its scary to see a person drive by and blatantly have 2 beer cans sitting in the cup holders. Not to mention, they already drive pretty crazy. So obviously the two mixed together, would be a deadly combination.)
Anyways, my house in Tlokweng was not ready for me to move into, so I was going to be staying at a lodge during my site visit. However, as stated in the previous post-all of this didnt really come together until the day before. So wednesday was spent driving around getting quotations from 5 hotels even though they already knew which place I was going to be staying in. In order to get the government to pay for whatever it is that you need; you have to get 5 quotes for the GPO (goverment processing order). About the first 4 hotels we went to, the person who does quotes wasnt there, so we had to go to about 5 more. This took about 4-5 hours. Why it took that long...I have no clue. I just sat in the backseat of the car; desperate to have the windows down (a lot of people believe the air is what gets you sick). But finally, at the end of the day I was left to my room at the Oasis Motel.
Thursday morning we went to our office, which is a small space at the Kgotla (the main court). I've been told they are trying to move offices, so that we are over at the main sub-district office space. I kinda just sat there for a bit, while my DAC typed up minutes from a previous meeting. Then the in afternoon, I drove around with 4 other co-workers to find more quotes for a binding vendor.
Friday morning I went to a VMSAC (Village Multi Sectoral Aids Committee) meeting. They were expecting like 15-20 people, but only about 8 showed up. The meeting was set to start at 9 and definitely didnt get started until like 9:45; and then at the end of meeting, we waited for like 30 minutes for the tea and sandwiches to get there. The whole meeting was in Setswana-which was pretty nerve racking, seeing how I understood like 5 words out of 2 hours of speaking. Luckily my afternoon was spent seeing the Post office, bank, meeting the Kgosi, and seeing the outside of my house. I will be living in a small governmental house, that has 1 bedroom, a sitting room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Im pretty sure I have electricity and running water-but they didnt have the keys, so I couldnt look inside.
If you cant tell by my comments, I think the two main things that are going to be HUGE adjustment for me are: government protocol and time management. As most know, I like being on time and I like keeping busy at work. It seems like the government protocol is going to make a lot of my tasks take awhile, and require me to go through a lot of hoops and people.
The whole week consisted of meeting a TON of people, seeing Tlokweng, and seeing how things run at the DAC office. Sorry i've been a bit negative and kind of all over the place...but on a VERY positive note...
I am SUPER psyched that there is an NGO that works with people with disabilities and my counterpart knows I am VERY interested in working with them! The NGO works with people with disabilities in educating them about HIV/AIDS. So not only will I have an NGO to work with in my town, but as I had mentioned in a previous post, I hope to work with 2 other PCVs at Camp Hill, a school for people with disabilities!
So a little about Tlokweng...It is a suburb of Gaborone and in terms of AIDS, two of the main issues are: sex workers and squatting. Since there has been a ton of construction, leading to job openings in Gabs; people come to Tlokweng to stay with families and squat while they work in Gabs. Apparently there are some households that have like 5-6 families staying on one family compound. Tlokweng is also a bordertown, as the South African border is about 5km away. I was told that there is a big sex worker industry in Tlokweng, and young girls are being subjected to this profession, so that they can provide an income for their families.
On a good and somewhat bad note, being in Tlokweng definitely allows me to have access to a multitude of things (but it can also mean my money can disappear pretty quickly)! The Riverwalk mall is within walking distance to my house, and theres a Choppies food store a few km away for my grocery shopping.
To those who are thinking about sending packages: I was unable to get a PO Box, as they are full, but while I wait for one, I'll use my district office as a mailing address. I dont have that yet, so as soon as I get to my site, I'll let you know! DO NOT SEND ANYMORE PACKAGES TO THE PC BAG 00243 in Gabs!
Again, sorry this post was kind of all over the place and I probably forgot a bunch of things. I'm quickly trying to write this before the internet goes out!!
Oh, and I have officially come to peace with the fact that the next 2 months are going to be incredibly awkward. Yay.
Anyways, my house in Tlokweng was not ready for me to move into, so I was going to be staying at a lodge during my site visit. However, as stated in the previous post-all of this didnt really come together until the day before. So wednesday was spent driving around getting quotations from 5 hotels even though they already knew which place I was going to be staying in. In order to get the government to pay for whatever it is that you need; you have to get 5 quotes for the GPO (goverment processing order). About the first 4 hotels we went to, the person who does quotes wasnt there, so we had to go to about 5 more. This took about 4-5 hours. Why it took that long...I have no clue. I just sat in the backseat of the car; desperate to have the windows down (a lot of people believe the air is what gets you sick). But finally, at the end of the day I was left to my room at the Oasis Motel.
Thursday morning we went to our office, which is a small space at the Kgotla (the main court). I've been told they are trying to move offices, so that we are over at the main sub-district office space. I kinda just sat there for a bit, while my DAC typed up minutes from a previous meeting. Then the in afternoon, I drove around with 4 other co-workers to find more quotes for a binding vendor.
Friday morning I went to a VMSAC (Village Multi Sectoral Aids Committee) meeting. They were expecting like 15-20 people, but only about 8 showed up. The meeting was set to start at 9 and definitely didnt get started until like 9:45; and then at the end of meeting, we waited for like 30 minutes for the tea and sandwiches to get there. The whole meeting was in Setswana-which was pretty nerve racking, seeing how I understood like 5 words out of 2 hours of speaking. Luckily my afternoon was spent seeing the Post office, bank, meeting the Kgosi, and seeing the outside of my house. I will be living in a small governmental house, that has 1 bedroom, a sitting room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Im pretty sure I have electricity and running water-but they didnt have the keys, so I couldnt look inside.
If you cant tell by my comments, I think the two main things that are going to be HUGE adjustment for me are: government protocol and time management. As most know, I like being on time and I like keeping busy at work. It seems like the government protocol is going to make a lot of my tasks take awhile, and require me to go through a lot of hoops and people.
The whole week consisted of meeting a TON of people, seeing Tlokweng, and seeing how things run at the DAC office. Sorry i've been a bit negative and kind of all over the place...but on a VERY positive note...
I am SUPER psyched that there is an NGO that works with people with disabilities and my counterpart knows I am VERY interested in working with them! The NGO works with people with disabilities in educating them about HIV/AIDS. So not only will I have an NGO to work with in my town, but as I had mentioned in a previous post, I hope to work with 2 other PCVs at Camp Hill, a school for people with disabilities!
So a little about Tlokweng...It is a suburb of Gaborone and in terms of AIDS, two of the main issues are: sex workers and squatting. Since there has been a ton of construction, leading to job openings in Gabs; people come to Tlokweng to stay with families and squat while they work in Gabs. Apparently there are some households that have like 5-6 families staying on one family compound. Tlokweng is also a bordertown, as the South African border is about 5km away. I was told that there is a big sex worker industry in Tlokweng, and young girls are being subjected to this profession, so that they can provide an income for their families.
On a good and somewhat bad note, being in Tlokweng definitely allows me to have access to a multitude of things (but it can also mean my money can disappear pretty quickly)! The Riverwalk mall is within walking distance to my house, and theres a Choppies food store a few km away for my grocery shopping.
To those who are thinking about sending packages: I was unable to get a PO Box, as they are full, but while I wait for one, I'll use my district office as a mailing address. I dont have that yet, so as soon as I get to my site, I'll let you know! DO NOT SEND ANYMORE PACKAGES TO THE PC BAG 00243 in Gabs!
Again, sorry this post was kind of all over the place and I probably forgot a bunch of things. I'm quickly trying to write this before the internet goes out!!
Oh, and I have officially come to peace with the fact that the next 2 months are going to be incredibly awkward. Yay.
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