Onward and Upward... literally, AK here I come

Well, after several great months in Chicago, reconnecting with High school friends, meet great new ones and being closer to family... I got the itch again, I had to take off. As most of you know, I am off to Cordova, Alaska for 3 months of living in a tent, using a pit toilet and having a shower some where in town... oh and getting to take tourist around on a glacier ! ( I am pretty sure I might have a rougher living situation than what i had in S africa.., ha)



I will be working as a glacier hike guide along with 5 other guides who are also raft guides. I also just received my Commercial Vehicle Drivers License (CDL) so that i can drive the bus, yes I will be sure to get a picture of me with my hot ride!



I dont believe I will have much phone access but I will try and keep you all up to date on stories from the summer. I am sure plenty of entertaining things will happen for me to write about. So enjoy feel free to comment those were my favorite last summer! and as always please please pardon my poor spelling, casual writing style and overall lack of care given to typos and grammar!



PS- thanks to Patagonia for hiring me so that I could A. hear about this gig and B. supply me with 90% of my clothing.



Cheers!

Back to life... back to reality...

Well i have been finished for a little over a week now. I came back to "civilization" Yoh, it is a suprise to come back to a big city and see all sorts of people.

I spent the first weekend with my program directors and saw more of Joburg. We went to Soweto, which is where the kids started protesting against the gov't b/c the were being forced to have class in Affricans... in a poorly abridged version of the story... the police opened fire on the kids and killed several. I went to the memorial there , really amazing story... this happened only a few years ago.
Then on Sunday i went to an all day concert. ALL south african bands... fantastic. Once again i was the only white person, but just coming from Venda i was used to it,... but the other concert goers, I clearly suck out to them... my program director actually noticed it first...made the comment of how even in the city it is segregated and that it is sad that it isnt integrated ...
But I had a fantastic time, got up and danced regardless of everyone watching me... and soon many around us we having me going them to dance in their groups... heaps of fun

Then i just got back from Being down near Durban on a beautiful dairy farm. Visiting with a friend's family. Very relaxing...

So only 1.5 days left here and i am flyign back. Landing in Chiacgo on Thursday afternoon. Yes i am so excited to get back and see family and friends and ride my BIKE! but Yoh... i really love africa... it is true about the saying they have here," once Africa is in your blood..."

See you on the other side.

Volunteer ... learn so much

http://www.zoteworldwide.com/Education.htm#vol

So above is the website of the program Zote Project that i worked for. Please check it out, it is always being updated.

Also, if you or anyone you know are interested in doing service work for a few weeks.. to several months this is an amazing group to do it through...

and always, you can ask me more questions about it

Cheers

Bitter sweet...part deux

Well, 10 weeks has gone much faster than i expected... though there were days when i didnt think it was going to come.
I had my last day of class yesterday ... tear. It was so hard to leave my class. I took them cookies and candy for my last day. Let me tell you ... they truely app[reciate it. we took heaps of pictures. Oh major detail. I bought a the traditional clothes and i wore them to school... Big hit... everyone was so suprised. My class started yelling and clapping when i walked in... really good fun. Some of the wrote me letters telling me how much they will miss me and how much they liked having me as a teacher... wrote messages on the board. So sweeet.

It was pretty funny b/c then they each wanted an individual picutre with me... i felt like a celebrity.

All day b/c i had the traditional clothes... "Christa... today you look so beautiful..."
All the teachers threw me a going away party with juice and cookies(buscuits) . A few of the staff stood up and spoke and said some really kind things. It is sometimes hard to tell if they approved of what i was doing or if they thought i was doing a good job, it was really nice to hear their thoughts.

Oh some things i think i might not have mentioned but thought i would throw in... everyone's name in Venda... has a meaning... so i was often asked... what does your name mean...? I have no idea... this would get a strange look. i think my parents named me this b/c they like the sounds with my surname...
But they all know what their names mean.. so my family gave me a Venda name... Malondi...which mean "someone who cares"

Also, names are not based on gender like ours are. All names are for both men and woman. Which toook me some time to get used to. amazing how gender roles are ingrained in what we do... also colors. and behavior. For example.. boys here willl have pink back packs for school with flowers on it... to us CLEARLY a girls bag. but nope. it carries books so who cares. Or my sister had colored lip gloss the other day and the boys wanted to put it on... if my brother asked to use my lip gloss that was colored...?! what...
Or behavior... boys and grown men here hold hands, sit close, or put their hand on one sholder as they walk. This is just a sign of friendship...

Oh since i am in my last few days i have been reflecting back and thinking. I feel badly b/c i think in this blog i may have seemed critical of the differences that i noticed. That was not intended. but was also a lesson that all of us clearly have discrimination towards something... also judgment. Who am i to say that the western way is the correct way... i mean i think all of us in the world( for the most part) agree that killing peopel isnt right... but things like having multiple wives, or belieeving in a witch doctor... who am i to say that is wrong.

Overall this has been a very mentally challenging experiance to who i am , what i believe and what i will continue to believe.

I am sure i will have a few more entries left as i think of more things to share.
Cheers!

Praise Jesus

Wow how i forgot to include this...
So yesterday my sister and i went to church... wow... wow... so she normally goes to a different church but wanted to check this church out...
Experiance. Frst off it was 4 hours long. and you arent allowed to leave, for any reason. I didnt realize it was going to be this long... so i forgot my waterbottle... dear lord i was dying... i tried to leave to find some water... nope.. these ushers that i are stretigically everywhere stopped me... "you can drink after church..." which went on for another 45 mins or so...

okay so this service was like (springfield people0 calvary temple on crack/ steroids.... alter calls, people flaling about..." speaking in tongues"... "casting out of deamons"... "healing"... the preachers yelling constantly... my ears where killing me in the end...
On lady kept yelling... "FIRE" and "Heavy rains are coming"... other than that is was all in Tshivenda... but for the sermon there as a translator... for me... yep that ONLY white person amongst hundreds of people... fortunately i am used to being starred at ALL the time here... so no big deal... i am used to everyone looking and talking about me... but the prechers kept looking at me while they spoke... so trying not to have an expersion and look like i was listening for the entire 4 HOURS!!! was difficult... ISH...

So chalk that up for an experinace. Oh so my sister also thought it was ridiculous... she bought a DVD to show here mom. and family. We were all in hysterics laughing about it...

"HEAVY RAINS ARE COMING..." my brother Zwido says to me... in mocking tone... " Christa... buy an umbrella... heavy rains are coming..."
We were all laughing so hard.

On the plus side... if satan was living in me... he might now be cast out of me. :)

Bitter sweet

Well here i am the last week of volunteering... i had some things i planned to write but i have now forgotten.
But anyway. i guess this last weekend i have just spent some time really reflecting on the past 10 weeks. Wow what an experiacne... if you are so inclinded or have ever remotely thought of doing something like this! DO IT!!!!! what are you waiting for.

Though this has probably been the hardest, most personally challenging, cluture thrown in my face..etc experiance in my life. I have also learned more about myself and other in such a short amount of time.

I have realized basically all people are the same. Teenagers are really ALL the same... :) we all cry, laugh, sing, dance... want to bond with others. yes there are wonderful peopel and crappy people everywhere you go. But it is the relationships with the wonderful people that really make the difference.

I will so miss my learners. We have had such a good time, teaching each other. Lots of laughs and hard work all together. I will miss fire side chats with my family. Smell of fire in the morning, i will miss the sunrise on my walk to school on the rocky, dusty road, the overly crowded (20+) people in a "taxi" when you are tired hot and everyone is bring back heaps of things back home... even that...

But i wont miss the blantant hitting on that happens when you are a female here. Sexism is a problem. If i am with a guy (volunteer) and we are walking around together... no one will approach you b/c it is assumed you are eithe r married or in a relationship. But since all the male volunteers have left or i am in town with my sister... Ish... men approahc every single time...
" My sisiter... hello... what is your name... where are you from... i want to see you again... what is your number... " i am not kidding this is pretty much how it goes. No, i dont feel unsafe or threatened.. b/c it is in day light of a busy town... but holy cow... guys give it up.
Nothing about my responces or body language gives you any idea i am interested... they keep on badgering at times... keep in mind many of these men are already married...
Yes i have had teachers at my school hit on me.. multiple times.
I have no come to saying ... "you can have my husbands phone number..." "What...oh i just want to be your friend... " ....sure that is what you want...

my sister was telling my mom and brothers many of these stories and my responces to them... we were all laughing and laughing... so i should say not all the men are like that here... like my brothers and many of the teachers at school are very respectful.

Those few that ruin it for the rest...

But as i said overall i will really miss Venda and how hard people laugh here and enjoy life, even when they have so little. I look forward to coming back to visit...

Like a proud parent

So i gave my first exam to my students. I have 40 learners in my class.. yes over crouding is a big problem. but i just finished marking the tests and all but 5 passed. I am so proud of them. they are definately getting it! I woke up this morning and realized in one week i leave Venda... i only have 3 days of class left! Where has all the time gone.



One of the things to get to learn about when you truely live with people is all the customs of the region. And one that happens here that is quite known is the circumcision ritual. Basically, what i have picked up on is that when a boy is 9-11 ish older boys who have done the ritual take the boys to the bush.

They dress in the traditional clothes and parade though the town roads, singing a specific chat... you hear them coming from a long distance away. then the go out into the bush. this is winter time and it gets down to freezing at night. they are out there for i think about a week... perform the task.. clearly things are not sterile ... and i cant image in the knife/blade is all that sharp. Ouch.

I know they are also taugh some secret saying or something so other men/ boys know if you have done the ritual... kind of a passage of manhood. There are other things that go on, but stories are vague. b/c it is very secretive.. if you are found spying you are beaten VERY badly.



My mom maria refused to let her boys do it.. b/c no surprise here, infection is a huge problem and sometimes can leaad to death. Maria didnt want her boys to die, so she refused and sent them to a medical doctor.